ESPN Mixed Martial Arts

The most high profile mixed martial arts card this weekend is undoubtedly Strikeforce's venture at the Playboy Mansion.

While Tetsuji Kato is hardly representative of glamour or decadence, the experienced Japanese fighter finds himself in the main event against undefeated Strikeforce 155-pound champion and rising star Gilbert Melendez in a non-title affair.

With a decade of pro MMA experience behind him, Kato's biggest moment came in March 2000, when he fought then-undefeated Shooto 168-pound world champion Hayato Sakurai to a hotly-contested split decision.

In recent years Kato has spent time fostering the development of MMA in Saipan, where he runs the Trench Tech gym, an affiliate of longtime friend and mentor Enson Inoue's Purebred network. Kato has also fought sporadically in neighboring Guam, an area seen by many as an emerging MMA hotbed. His last fight took place there when he was knocked out by journeyman Joe Camacho in April.

For the 25-year-old Melendez, the bout with Kato will be his first MMA match of the year following Zuffa's tumultuous buyout of PRIDE. Melendez's most recent bout saw him victorious on New Year's Eve over standout Japanese lightweight Tatsuya Kawajiri via unanimous decision -- the biggest win of his young career.

While the bout will be an uphill battle for the 10-year veteran Kato, who has been cast as "the opponent" for Melendez, he has said he is extremely focused for the fight. He flew to San Diego early last week to prepare for the fight, where he's working on techniques with grappling star and former MMA competitor Baret Yoshida at his SD Undisputed gym.

Chonan joins Gono in UFC

On the heels of Akihiro Gono's announcement that he'll step into the UFC as a welterweight comes word that "DJ Gozma" won't be the only Japanese competitor making his Octagon debut and dropping to 170 pounds in November.

The Nov. 17 UFC card at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., will also host the debut of reigning DEEP 181-pound champion Ryo Chonan. Chonan will be dropping to the 170-pound division for the first time in his career. He will take on rising welterweight dynamo Thiago Alves, a source close to the 23-year-old Brazilian told Sherdog.com.

Alves is fresh off of a destructive victory over another Japanese competitor, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, at the Sept. 19 UFC Fight Night card. Chonan, who spends the bulk of his training at Team Quest in Temecula, Calif., with former adversary Dan Henderson, last saw action in June. He took an easy victory over South Korean import Seo Do Wong in front of his hometown crowd in Yamagata, Japan.

Chonan's move to the welterweight division was much anticipated. After his loss to Paulo Filho in August last year, DEEP president Shigeru Saeki said it would be in Chonan's best interest to drop a weight class to regain a competitive edge and avoid being outmuscled by larger, more physical opponents.

UFC may rekindle relationship with WOWOW

In the most recent issue of Japanese combat sports periodical "Gonkaku," Zuffa co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta said he hoped to ink a new deal with Japanese satellite channel WOWOW next year. He added that an agreement could be accomplished sooner rather than later.

While a deal is far from complete, this is good news for Japanese MMA fans. As of March 2007, WOWOW has just over 2.43 million subscriptions in Japan. After the channel's UFC 70 telecast in April, network executives had officially announced that they could not reach a contractual agreement with Zuffa to continue broadcasting UFC events.

Zuffa's relationship with WOWOW began five years ago with the April 2002 broadcast of UFC 36. However, the relationship was always considered a hindrance to the UFC's popularity in Japan because the events were broadcast on the hard-to-access private satellite pay station as opposed to the considerably more popular SKY PerfecTV! -- Japan's main provider of satellite television, which had broadcast PRIDE's live pay-per-views.

WOWOW's inability to reach a new agreement with Zuffa earlier this year likely correlated with Zuffa's acquisition of former PRIDE fighters such as Mirko Filipovic, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Quinton Jackson, who are considerably popular among Japanese MMA fans.

Since its departure from WOWOW, Zuffa has been unable to secure a TV deal in Japan. Meanwhile many Japanese fans have lamented their inability to view marquee UFC main events such as Liddell-Jackson II, Couture-Gonzaga and Jackson-Henderson.

A Rookies' Gig at GIG West 8

Leading Shooto promoter Sustain will head back to Osaka on Saturday for the eighth installment of its GIG West series.

The Azalea Taisho Hall event was scheduled to be headlined by a Class-B 154-pound bout between fast-rising Hiroshima native Shinji Sasaki and Italian transplant Paolo Milano, who trains out of Paraestra Tokyo under Yuki Nakai. However, Sasaki sustained a dislocated left elbow in training earlier this week, nixing the bout from the card.

Kobe native "KODO" Junya Kudou, who headlined the last GIG WEST event in April, will now headline against Yasuhiro Kanayama in a 132-pound rookie tournament semifinal.

Kudou has already fought three times in pro Shooto this year. He is coming off a tight draw against veteran Seiji Otsuka in a July non-tournament bout.

Kanayama, a former All Japan amateur champion at 143 pounds, has largely underperformed as a pro. He needed the luck of the lottery to advance to the semifinals after his draw with Nobuhiro Hayakawa at the last installment of GIG WEST. The winner of his bout against Kudou will meet Hiromasa Ougikubo in the final later this year. Ougikubo, who trains with Paraestra Matsudo, scored a dominant first-round submission over Kazuya Tamura on Sept. 22.

In other rookie tournament action, 123-pound favorites "UK" Suguru Inoue and Tatsuro Kamei will square off with a finals berth on the line.

Inoue is an experienced second-year veteran. He fought to a draw with last year's 123-pound rookie champion, Ryuichi Miki.

Kamei was last year's All Japan amateur champion at 123 pounds. He won his pro debut in the rookie quarterfinal against Kenya Kato via triangle choke. The winner of Inoue-Kamei will meet Kenji Hasoya in the tournament final later this year.

The third rookie semifinal will pit last year's 143-pound amateur champ, Toshihiko Yokoyama, against Kazuhiro Ito.

Yokoyama got a rude welcome to pro Shooto in a non-tournament bout in June, when he was pulverized by Class-B up-and-comer Shintaro Ishiwatari. Ito made quick work of his quarterfinal opponent, Takumi Ota, armbarring him in a slick and quick 26 seconds in front of his hometown Hiroshima crowd in May. The winner of this match will advance to the 143-pound rookie final to face Tomonari Taniguchi, a Hayato Sakurai student.

The evening's other bouts match Toru Ishinaka and Class-B veteran Hirosumi Sugiura, and 132-pound up-and-comers Teriyuki Matsumoto and Kousuke Eda.

Pancrase Keeps Kansai Weekend Popping at Umeda

GIG West is only the beginning for Osakan MMA fans this weekend. Pancrase will bring the 2007 RISING TOUR back to Umeda Stella Hall on Sunday afternoon.

Just like Shooto's GIG West offering, turmoil struck the card's main event. Colorful hometown favorite Daichi Fujiwara was scheduled to face French standout Emmanuel Fernandez. However, the Frenchman withdrew from the bout due to personal reasons related to his family.

Thankfully, Pancrase regular Mitsuhisa Sunabe stepped in on a week's notice to challenge the Inagaki pupil. Sunabe's willingness to fight on such short notice may stem from the fact he was still in fighting shape after drawing earlier this month with striking specialist Koji Yoshimoto.

Fujiwara returned to action in May after sustaining a scary-looking back injury in the ring with Miki Shida last December. He took a unanimous decision over Yuichiro Shirai.

One of Fujiwara's teammates and a fixture of Pancrase's Osaka excursions, Naoji Fujimoto will also see action. He squares off against Nobuhiro Yamaguchi, a Dokonjonosuke Mishima pupil.

Fujimoto last competed in April, fighting an uninspired draw with Tatsuya So in Okinawa. Yamaguchi suffered a minor upset in March, when kickboxing convert Tomoki Murayama knocked him out.

Undefeated former Shooto rookie champion turned sporadically competing journeyman Yu Shiori will also be on the bill. He makes his Pancrase debut against the also well-traveled Satoru Takadaya.

The 30-year-old Shiori made easy work of Yuta Nakamura in February, his only fight this year. Takadaya, who has fought in many of western Japan's grassroots shows such as RED ZONE and POWERGATE, hasn't competed since July's Neo-Blood Tournament Final in July, when Nao Yoshida dispatched him.

Osaka native Kiichi Kunimoto will also compete on the card against Yuta Nakamura. Kunimoto is coming off a win in August over Tim Ager in Wisconsin's Freestyle Combat Challenge.

The Japanese fighter has spent additional time in America's dairy capital, training with Dave Strasser's Freestyle Academy. In honor of his time spent working with the UFC veteran, Kunimoto has changed his ring name to "Kiichi Strasser."

Jordan Breen covers mixed martial arts in Japan for Sherdog.com.