Gegard to Ishii: Don’t go to the UFC

2008 Olympic Judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii fights Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal in the main event of Bellator 169 on Dec 16, 2016, in Dublin, Ireland. Ishii’s friend, top UFC middleweight Gegard Mousasi says the Japanese fighter is desperate to get into the UFC, but cautions him against it.

“He’s going to be in Dublin soon, I’ll be there,” said Mousasi to Coral Barry for Metro.co.uk. “He should be able to win that fight. They’re fighting at heavyweight.”

“He should have beaten Quinton Jackson. He could have been a draw or a win for him, but in the last round when he didn’t get that takedown that screwed him up. Quinton Jackson is from US and he’s big for Bellator so they gave him that decision.”

“But mentally in the best right place, he can beat them all. But mentally he has to have that desire. He could fight in the UFC, but they’re not going to pay him a lot. He wants to go to UFC, but I said many times to him, ‘don’t go.’ They’re not paying him enough. He can make a lot more money fighting in Japan or somewhere else.”

“Doesn’t make sense for him, financially. But he doesn’t care, he really doesn’t care about money. He’s a Judo man, he could have stayed in Judo and made a lot of money in Japan. Gold medallist in Japan is a big thing, he could have done whatever he felt like doing. But the guys doesn’t care about money at all.”

“But he has to think about his future, but it’s me at the moment who is thinking about his future. So when he’s done fighting he has to be settled. Maybe when he’s made a lot of money he can go to UFC. In the end it’s his choice, but I would advise him not to go to the UFC.”

It is not likely Ishii gets signed by the UFC soon. He put together an eight-fight win streak from 2011 to 2014, which would absolutely have interested UFC matchmakers. Unfortunately, he is 2-4 since, and on a two-fight losing streak, dropping a Split Decision to Rampage Jackson at a 225 catchweight, and getting head kick KOed by Jiri Prochazka in the opening round of RIZIN’s tournament.

Image courtesy of Gegard Mousasi