Ishii Defecting to the United States

Underground
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Ishii has applied for his American citizenship with plans to make a run at Olympic gold under the American Flag. He already has won a gold medal for Japan.
 
This might also end up being good for his MMA career. He is only 26 years old and has wins over Tim Sylvia, Minowa and UG's own slightly temporized Corky.
 
I won't rewrite what has already been written, so I will simply copy+paste the article.
 
 
http://www.teamusa.org/USA-Judo/Features/2013/April/06/MMA-Fighter-Japanese-Olympic-Gold-Medalist-Ishii-to-Fight-At-USA-Judo-Senior-National-Championships.aspx
 

April 6, 2013 – Japanese Olympic Judo Gold Medalist and MMA fighter, Satoshi Ishii, returns to USA Judo’s Senior National Championships next weekend to fight in the open division.

Ishii twice took gold at the prestigious All-Japan Championships in Tokyo and gold in the 100+ kg division at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He moved quickly to pursue a career in mixed martial arts but remained a presence on the tatamis, taking gold in the spring of 2011 in the open division at USA Judo’s Senior National Championships.

 

USA Judo confirmed that Ishii is registered to fight in the open division at the Senior National Championships, scheduled to compete on Sunday, April 14, at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.

Ishii wore the U.S. flag on his gi as he dominated the open division at the Senior Nationals in 2011, and it was reported that Ishii said he wanted to earn his U.S. citizenship and compete for the USA. He has not since been on a team for USA Judo, the national governing body for the Olympic sport.

According to MMA website, Sherdog, http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Satoshi-Ishii-41887, Ishii has gone 7-2-1 professionally since December 2009.

 
 
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Nice………….Nice…..

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You don't defect from Japan. He's not a refugee. He's emigrating to the US...

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Never Paid Wolf Ticket Taxes - 

Welcome home, bro Phone Post



There is a decent article on Fightlinker.com that talks about what this means for the state of martial arts in general over in Japan. 



http://fightlinker.com/satoshi-ishii-is-going-to-compete-for-the-us-national-judo-team/



I did not know he almost signed with the UFC a few years ago!

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Haulport - You don't defect from Japan. He's not a refugee. He's emigrating to the US...

He will still be a Japenese citizen so he's not defecting in that regard. However competing for the US judo team would be an act of defection.

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nice

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Welcome to america mang

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Good luck to him Phone Post 3.0

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Mr Winter - 
Haulport - You don't defect from Japan. He's not a refugee. He's emigrating to the US...

He will still be a Japenese citizen so he's not defecting in that regard. However competing for the US judo team would be an act of defection.


Glad you got it :)