Dana White: Yushin Okami is Best Fighter to Ever Come From Japan

Quote :

Middleweight Yushin Okami is the best fighter to ever come from
Japan. How do we know this? Because UFC president Dana White professed
as much during Tuesday’s conference call.

“In my opinion, Yushin Okami is the best fighter to ever come out of
Japan,” White emphatically stated. “This guy didn’t come up fighting
cans and get this built up, mythological record. This guy has been
fighting the absolute best for years. I’m sure he feels, and a lot of
people feel, he hasn’t gotten the credit he deserves.

“Now he’s going in against the best pound-for-pound fighter in the
world, probably the best fighter ever in mixed martial arts. Not only if
he wins this fight that he’ll get the credit that he deserves, but
he’ll have beaten the best in the world.”

With UFC 134
just 11 days away, White was clearly donning his promoter’s cap when he
made the statement. However, it’s possible he was taking another
indirect dig at Fedor Emelianenko, who has been on White’s bad side for
quite some time.

Since “The Last Emperor” lost his third consecutive fight, White has
taken every opportunity to slight Emelianenko’s resume because his
accomplishments came in Japan – or more importantly, outside of White’s
famed Octagon.

In any event, Okami finally gets his shot at Anderson Silva’s title
on August 27th. “Thunder” holds an underrated 26-5 record and is the
last man to hang a loss on the baddest 185-pounder on the planet.

Okami took a disqualification win over Silva at “Rumble on the Rock
8″ in January of 2006 courtesy of an illegal up-kick to Okami face.

He may be entering Silva’s homeland of Brazil to try and extract the
title, but Okami won’t be stepping into the cage by himself. He knows
his countrymen will be supporting from afar and the 30-year-old refuses
to let them down given the dire state March’s tsunami left The Land of
the Rising Sun in.

“Japan is suffering and is in a very difficult situation,” Okami
expressed through an interpreter. “But those people are cheering me, so
when I bring the belt back to Japan it will add a lot more boost to the
Japanese recovery.”

Source

I agree, no one else from Japan has transitioned as well. But thats because he fights with an american style... with a wrestling base.
Can't wait to see how he fares against Silva and what tricks he has up his sleeve.

Okame is, I agree, probably the best balanced Japanese mma fighter to come out of Japan. But beating Anderson in Bazil is not going to happen.

Krieger wrote:

Okame is, I agree, probably the best balanced Japanese mma fighter to come out of Japan. But beating Anderson in Bazil is not going to happen.

100% agree. Hands down he is the most well rounded fighter out of japan i have ever seen. Still dont think it will be enough to beat Anderson but then again not a lot of people thought Chael would do as well as he did against Anderson, so who knows?

Yea, his wrestling is definitely good enough to get the job done and his sub defense is light years ahead of Sonnen's (not that that's saying much). I just think his striking is too stiff to really set up the takedowns. Silva is just too slick.

But like Bamage already posted, I was saying the same thing about Sonnen and look what happened there...I just want to see a good fight, and Okami will deliver in that respect, win or lose.

Genki sudo

Okami has the best chance of any fighter Silva has faced in the UFC. That isn't saying as much as it seems though. All the same, his style matches up well against Silva. The fight being in Brazil is a problem for him, of course. Mainly because Silva does not want to get embarrassed in front of his people. Take that and add it to the fact that Sonnen handled Silva soundly and you will see a very well prepared Silva. That may be the biggest problem that Okami has going into this fight.