Issue 083
December 2011
US Navy man Jon Shores’ entire 9-0 pro career has taken place in Japan. But it all could have easily been a life behind bars instead for the 29-year-old featherweight…
How did a US Navy man end up fighting professional MMA in Japan?
“When I was in high school, I grew up in Ohio, MMA was illegal so the only thing you could really do was submission fighting. I hung out with the bad crowd and I wasn’t really involved with the scholastic sports like football and basketball, so I found a guy that taught jiu-jitsu and I went there. He started taking us up to tournaments and I did that for a couple of years as a kid and got hooked on it. I always enjoyed it and thought about wanting to do it but when I joined the military I never got to practice or do any of it for almost 10 years. I had a friend I used to train with who had flown out here to Japan and fought back in the ‘90s. He was like, ‘If you ever get a chance to go to Japan, it’s the place for MMA.’ When I came out to Japan with the Navy, it’s only in the last two or three years my job has changed to where I have a little extra time. I went out, found a gym, Rodeo Style here in Yokosuka, and just started training and doing the grind every night.”
What’s your job in the Navy?
“I was stationed on one of the ships out here from 2006 to 2010 and they’re out to sea about 10 months out of the year so I really wasn’t able to train. But I switched my job in the last year and a half and now I’m a search-and-rescue swim instructor. I train all the search-and-rescue swimmers in 7th Fleet which pretty much covers all of Japan. So I’m shore-based now, working at the swimming pool. I pretty much have a 9–5 job for the next couple of years.”
You’re American but you’ve only ever fought in MMA in Japan, coming up through the structured Japanese amateur and pro system. What was that process like for you?
“My first fight was amateur Shooto, which has been around for 20 years or so, as Pancrase has. Shooto has a registration process with photos and they keep very detailed records on you, I lost that first fight by decision, and the trainer who owns Rodeo Style told me it would probably be better if I went the amateur Pancrase route because with amateur Shooto you have to take written tests as part of becoming a professional. I had an amateur Pancrase fight against a really tough guy, got beat up in the first round but hung in there on cardio then I got him in the second round. A week later Pancrase called and asked if I wanted to fight in an eight-man tournament they hold once a year where the winner of the tournament gets their pro license. So I entered the tournament, beat everyone and got my pro license. I notice that a lot of the Japanese I train with hold Shooto in a little higher regard than Pancrase because there’s a comic book out and it’s about Shooto fighters, so, growing up, all the kids want to be Shooto fighters, or Shootors. It’s almost a sport in itself. If you’re a Shootor you don’t fight anywhere else.”
How have people reacted to a Westerner on that circuit? It must be unusual.
“I’ve seen Brazilians and some straight-up African guys in Pancrase. I go there and try and be respectful, go there to compete. I think they really like me. I feel so fortunate because they could easily have thrown me to the lions, but I feel like they’ve grown me and always given me a chance to win every time. It’s really been an honor.”
You obviously enjoy fighting, why did you join the Navy?
“I was around the wrong crowd and I originally wanted to join the Marines but they had strict rules on getting in because, at the time, we weren’t at war. You had to be a good citizen and back then I had drinking violations and had trouble with the law, so neither the Marines nor the Army would let me join, only the Navy. All my friends had gone to college and was like, ‘I’ve got to do something.’ So I joined the Navy and I think it probably saved my life. I’d probably be in prison now because I was getting into some crazy stuff. I’d just turned 18, got a DUI and got thrown in jail.”
The UFC’s set to come over to Japan in February. As someone inside the Japanese scene are you excited for it?
“At first I think a lot of people were excited and then they found out there was another show on at the exact same time in Las Vegas, and they’re holding it at a funny time so they can air it live in America. But the UFC is just trying to reach out worldwide and expand which I understand, and it might be good for the Japanese guys fighting on their home turf as they haven’t been real successful lately.”
Do a lot of your training partners follow the UFC, or are they only interested in the Japanese scene?
“Oh no, UFC is huge. Everyone follows UFC. They always talk about it – because it airs free over here late at night. I watch it on the base when it comes on live for free. My training partners are always like, ‘Don’t tell me, don’t tell me!’ And then we talk about it the next day. They love it, they know those are the top fighters, there’s no question.”
