Issue 073

March 2011

Explosive Venezuelan lightweight Maximo Blanco is blazing a path to stardom at Japanese promotion Sengoku. Photographer Daniel Herbertson documented his journey for Fighters Only

Maximo Blanco likes to talk about “destiny.” He claims it brought him to Japan and then to the Yoshida Dojo, the gym in Tokyo’s Shinagawa ward where he currently trains. Fate is likely to take him even further. This Venezuelan-born Japanese resident is fast becoming one of the most exciting lightweights in the world. He recently rode a five-fight KO and (T)KO streak – culminating in the spectacular 

rag-doll knock out of Kiuma Kunioku at Sengoku Raiden Championships (SRC) 15 in October – and has a reputation for in-ring violence that’s hard to understand when one meets him outside the ropes. Indeed, comparisons to a certain iconic MMA striker have prompted an additional moniker to ‘Maxi’: ‘The Max Murderer’.

“It was destiny,” he reiterates, speaking of when he was first scouted by a Japanese high school to come and wrestle. “I was scouted from Venezuela when I was in high school, then by a Japanese university and then again to become a professional fighter.”

Blanco is one of the SRC ‘Training Players’. These fighters earn themselves a spot on Sengoku’s development program, are provided with funding, sent to appropriate gyms to train and given a program of seminars and training camps. “Life was hard, so I took the opportunities that were given to me,” Blanco says of his upbringing in Venezuela. “We didn’t have much money or food. We all had to share.” 

The in-ring monster had originally set his sights on the military. Luckily for MMA fans, the call to up sticks and move to Japan came just as he was about to enter the Venezuelan armed forces. But it wasn’t easy for the talented wrestler. “There were a lot of bullies at university. I got this scar on my hand from a fight,” he says as he points to a knot of scar tissue. “I wasn’t the same size as I am now though. If I had a time machine I’d go back and beat everyone up.”

This playfulness belies the very real threat of violence that awaits anyone who steps in the ring with Blanco. “When I fight I have a switch. I become someone else, and I don’t know who that person is. I fight to survive.” Blanco currently has a record of 8-2-1 (1NC). The last loss was when he illegally soccer-kicked opponent Akihiko Mori in the face at SRC 8 in May 2009. “I am sick of all the failures I’ve had in my life until now. It all comes out in the fight,” he reveals. What kind of failures? “Like, getting dumped by girls and things,” he says, grinning. 

Despite Blanco’s wrestling pedigree (he was Pan American Freestyle Wrestling 163lb champion in 2007 and All Japan High School and College champion) it’s his wild striking that makes him so dangerous. “I watch a lot of TV,” he comments, “I watch, and remember. Like Jackie Chan, Steven Seagal, Van Damme...”

More jokes, but when it comes from someone with such an abundance of natural talent you can almost believe him. With recent wins against steadily improving competition, Blanco has his sights on the current center of the MMA world: the UFC. “I want to get closer to the top. I’ll fight anyone, and always do my best.” For the foreseeable future, Blanco remains an SRC Training Player. But with electrifying lower-weight scrappers the hot figures of combat sports, watch for Maxi to be exploding onto American screens.