Issue 103
July 2013
Leg lock extraordinaire Masakazu Imanari recently took up vocals in a metal super group formed of members from Japanese metal bands. All to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the official blog of Nippon promotion Deep. Strange but true.
A former champion in Deep and Cage Rage, Imanari does a pretty stand-up job with his cohorts from the groups Outrage, Cocobat and Pulling Teeth. Collectively they’re known as Deep Macs Headbangers. As part of the celebration, the crossover thrash group made a recording and even played a show in Shibuya.
The entire concept was the brainchild of blog curator Deep TM, who was once involved in London’s metal scene, as well as currently being friends with Imanari and Nagoya thrash merchants Outrage. In addition to the Imanari-led group, Outrage wrote and recorded a tribute track for Deep called Dial A Annihilate featuring gang vocals from fighters such as Riki Fukuda and Ryo Chonan. Stranger but true.
Everywhere, The World: MMA community relieved to see end of Harlem Shame craze
It took all of about half a week for the famous Harlem Shake internet meme to get old. Now, says the MMA community, it’s pleased to see the back of it. Mixed martial arts fighters and gyms indulged in the worldwide viral video craze, where one vigorous dancer is joined by a group, when it hit in February 2013.
“It was cool for a bit, but then it just got so boring so quickly,” said the MMA community, in an exclusive interview with Fighters Only magazine. “There’s only so many times you can watch fighters flail around in a cage attempting to be funnier than the video that convinced them doing their own was a good idea.”
It added: “I was worried it hadn’t all been exorcised from my system completely, that it might make a comeback all Cheick Kongo style, but no one of note has done one for ages so I’m safe, I think.
“I suppose it would have been a different story if Arianny Celeste and Brittney Palmer did one though, right?” laughed the MMA community, displaying an occasionally characteristic male chauvinism.
UFC 205lb hero Jon ‘Bones’ Jones and the Jackson’s MMA gym, as well as the UFC’s Alexander Gustafsson and many other fighters and gyms contributed videos to the Harlem Shake craze.
11
Masakazu Imanari has 11 leg lock submission victories on his 27-11-2 record.
2,782
The world spent the equivalent of 2,782 years watching Harlem Shake videos in one month, according to ytddownloader.com
Neo-Nazi groups potentially gaining foothold in German MMA
There are concerning reports coming from Germany that neo-Nazi groups in the country are potentially using mixed martial arts as a vehicle to spread their message and swell their ranks.
German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel recently reported several figures in the country’s neo-Nazi movement are running gyms in eastern Germany with right-wing extremist associations, as well as becoming involved with local MMA promotions. The report suggests the right-wing radicals are visiting events, such as Saxony Fights in Schildau near Leipzig (which, Der Spiegel says is also sponsored by neo-Nazi companies), with a view to recruiting members.
A domestic intelligence chief told Der Spiegel: “We note with great concern the penetration of neo-Nazis into the free-fighting community.”
However, a source tells Fighters Only that the association between neo-Nazi groups and mixed martial arts isn’t a national problem. Rather mixed martial arts and political extremism are independently popular in eastern German states, making the crossover more prevalent than elsewhere in the world.
Historically, the worldwide mixed martial arts scene has strongly resisted any fighters or groups with neo-Nazi affiliations.
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