Takanori Gomi Reportedly UFC Bound
Former Pride lightweight champion Takanori Gomi has signed a multi-fight contract with the UFC. “The Fireball Kid” had spoken previously about his desire to move his career to the US as well as his hopes to sign with the UFC. MMAFighting.com reported Friday that though Gomi’s debut is not yet set, and there has been no official announcement by the promotion, Gomi has been signed by the UFC.
Gomi put together a strong record in his early career, losing only to Joachim Hansen, BJ Penn, and Marcus Aurelio prior to 2007, compiling a record of 27-3 up to that point. Those wins included victories over Hayato Sakurai, Luiz Azeredo, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Jens Pulver, Charles Bennett, Ralph Gracie, and Rumina Sato among others. In February of 2007, however, he fell to Nick Diaz at Pride 33 via Gogoplata, but that decision was later overturned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission due to a positive drug test (marijuana) for Diaz.
Following the controversial Diaz bout, Gomi defeated Duane Ludwig and Seung Hwang Bang at Sengoku 1 and Sengoku 4 respectively. He then became the victim of two consecutive upsets, falling to Sergey Golyaev and Satoru Kitaoka in his final two bouts in Sengoku. However, Gomi has bounced back earning a knock out victory against Takashi Nakakura at Shooto: Tradition Final in May, and decisioning Tony Hervey at Vale Tudo Japan 2009 in October.
Gomi is a fighter that possesses quality striking and wrestling abilities and could further complicate the UFC’s current traffic jam of lightweight contenders.
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Gomi vs. Edgar! Book it!
sweet
Officially stoked!
Should be rather interesting to see if he can work his way to a rematch with BJ Penn, but he should definitely have to fight one of the tops off the bat…… Frankie Edgar perhaps?
in jersey?… oo and the adventure begins again. but seriously gomi vs edgar in jersey would only make my night all the better on march 27. im tellin u guys there gonna stack this card in jersey to show ny wat its missin and im all for it! i wonder if i can freeze myself and get woken up on march 26…
and the UFC lw’s grow much stronger. great signing. we could always use a vet.
That would be a scrap for sure.
kenny 1st me thinks!
That is what they are working on, actually.
yes justin i would bc he was the last guy to hold the belt for pride
i would like to see him fight diego
Takanori Gomi vs. Spencer Fisher. Book it.
Dont see them puttin him up against Edgar rite away, theyll wanna get him a fight to hype him up and Edgar could be a snoozer. I think theyll wanna put him up against a mid-tier guy that he has a chance at beating like Fisher just like Ronny sed (be my little baby)
He’s got the Pride belt, they might want to put him with BJ right away. Hendo got two unification bouts right away. I know its been a while, but I’m sure they would do the same if Fedor ever came to the UFC too.
Did they have a 170 champ?
No they did not have a 170 division but I agree with u title unification bout needs 2 happen. Gomi would want a rematch with Penn. Plus bj might want that other belt
Do you really want to still consider him as “having the Pride belt” when he has lost at lightweight twice since Pride died?
Jordan,
Apparently you replied in the wrong place (above), I’ll just reply here, though.
Sure he was the last guy to hold the Pride belt, but considering Pride hasn’t existed for over two years a “unification fight” is incredibly less relevant than it would have been if he had immediately come into the UFC and thus rather silly, IMO. Also, if you would consider him to “hold the Pride belt” even if Pride doesn’t exist anymore, and he no longer fights for pride, then his first loss at lightweight after leaving Pride, regardless of organization (since Pride no longer exists), would mean that guy would then “hold the Pride belt.” That guy was Sergey Golyaev.
(NOTE: I find it completely silly to continue to be concerned with who holds the championship from defunct organizations, or organizations that no longer have those weight classes, ie former WEC champs above 155 and this next bit is just to illustrate how absurd that concept is.) Golyaev then lost to Eiji Mitsuoka making him the “Pride Champ”, and he then lost it to Kazunori Yokota, who just lost to Tatsuya Kawajiri at Dynamite!! Therefore, if you want to say that Gomi continued to be the Pride champ after Pride ceased to be, then you would likewise have to consider Kawajiri the current Pride champ. If you ignore his two losses since Pride expired for the purposes of keeping him the “Pride Champ” there can be no “unification fight” because he apparently can’t lose the belt.
When the UFC did the unification fights with Henderson, the circumstances were much different. The UFC had just absorbed Pride, as well as Henderson’s contract. His next fights in each weight class were against the UFC champions so calling it a “unification bout” made sense as far as hyping the fights. However, following those fights there has been no mention whatsoever of the “Pride Belt” being exchanged, it simply ceased to be. Even Fedor is considered the “former Pride Champion” because Pride is a former promotion.
And where are all the Maynardians screaming for their boy to get a shot at Gomi??
:)
155 is officially the most stacked division…I hope the cannonball kid brings it…
Not the same weight division but Gomi vs Aldo would be a crazy match. I hope Gomi can come back to his former self. If hes the same Gomi of Pride days he can become a contender for sure.
Check out Dana’s 5th video blog near the end he says the UFC has signed Gomi!
Justen, sorry bout replying n the wrong box for some reason my iPhone wouldn’t let me do it. I don’t agree with u on the whole Dan Henderson unifications as totally different. Yea the ufc might have absorbed his contract but wouldn’t that have ment that Pride was a defunct originizarion n like u said u n that those belts were irrelevant. It boils down 2 this if the ufc absorbed pride then they would have 2 champions per weight class n need unification bouts. They killed 2 birds with 1 stone n Henderson so y not with gomi n hopefully someday with fedor. On while we r still on the topic of belts if u purchase ufc86 on DVD check out the special features when rampage is n his warm up room he has both belts n watch when he walks out his training partners r walking with both belts raised n the just ncase u were wondering where that pride belt went.
Well, you replied in the wrong place again, and my iPhone doesn’t have any problems with that, but whatever.
Dan Henderson’s unification bouts were immediately after the UFC bought Pride, and he had no fights in any other organization between fighting for Pride and the UFC, therefore he also did not lose any fights in any other organization between Pride and the UFC.
Gomi fighting in the UFC is not immediately after the UFC bought Pride, he has had fights in other organization (three to be specific) between fighting for Pride and the UFC, and he has in fact lost fights in Sengoku, before fighting for the UFC.
If you can’t see how that’s different, then it’s not worth continuing to argue you with you.