Japanese promoters continue to mess with Ishii's career; he fights Saturday

Maybe Satoshi Ishii had no intent of being a real mixed martial artist. Aside from nationalistic loyalty and some big paydays, he did himself zero favors by spurning the UFC's offer back in 2009 to sign with Sengoku of Japan. The much-celebrated judo gold medalist from the 2008 Olympics decided to start his MMA career in Japan and it's been a mess ever since. He made his debut against Hidehiko Yoshida, a 16-fight veteran and fought only one more time since that loss. Now you can add one more silly fight to the story. DREAM announced Wednesday that Ishii will face Ikuhisa Minowa this Saturday. Fight Opinion suggests that it's simply a money grab by DREAM, which is having difficulty with its Japanese television deal. "Minowaman" is a favorite of Japanese fans, but frankly he's kind of a sideshow. The 34-year-old is 46-30-8 in his career and is generally matched up against much bigger opponents. There's been talk of the 230-pound Ishii dropping to light heavyweight so it'll be interesting to see how much bigger he is than the 187-pound Minowa. He is a savvy fighter who's won five straight against the likes of Hong Man Choi, Bob Sapp, Imani Lee, Rameau Thierry Sokoujdou and Jimmy Ambriz. The fight makes little sense in the progression of Ishii's career. What's the point of once again putting him at risk to benefit a one-time ticket dash? Sengoku already did it once with the Yoshida fight.  The Ishii-Minowaman fight highlights a pretty solid card featuring Gegard Mousasi, Jason Miller, Joachim Hansen and Shinya Aoki.  DREAM 16 (on HDNet Sat. 2 a.m. ET): Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Satoshi IshiiHiroyuki Takaya vs. Chase BeebeMichihiro Omigawa vs. Cole EscovedoMitsuhiro Ishida vs. Akiyo Nishiura Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Jason MillerShinya Aoki vs. Marcus AurelioKazuyuki Miyata vs. Takeshi InoueHideo Tokoro vs. Joachim HansenGegard Mousasi vs. Tatsuya Mizuno

snowboarding snowmobiling speed biking speed skiing scootering