MMA Weekly reports that the first American to ever win a gold medal in Judo at the Olympics, Kayla Harrison, has signed with manager Ali Abdel-Aziz and Dominance MMA. At this summer’s Olympic games Harrison brought home gold in the 78kg weight class.

Don’t get too excited at the prospect of the twenty two year-old taking her Judo skills to MMA just yet, however. According to MMA Weekly, Abdel-Aziz says that Harrison wants to go for another gold in four years.

“In an interview with MMAWeekly.com content partner Bleacher Report in July, Harrison discussed her potential move into MMA following along with former teammate Ronda Rousey.

‘Not sure as of right now. I never say never but I don’t know if the MMA world is ready for me! I’m a bit bigger than Ronda, and I’m not quite as flashy. I’m also not an entertainer. I do the sport because I love it, not for money or fame. So to make the transition into MMA would be a big one for me,’ said Harrison.”

(Props: NYCulturalPhysician via RedditMMA)

The athletic gaijin in the video above is Pavel Bojar (aka Takanoyama Shuntaro), a Czech sumo wrestler who has worked his way into Japan’s top Makuuchi division, despite being one of the lightest competitors in modern sumo history. At 6’1″ and just 200 pounds, Bojar relies on his judo background to make up for the tremendous weight disadvantages he generally faces, employing a slick arsenal of throws and trips, rather than just bull-rushing his opponents out of the ring. Watch the above video to see how far a little bit of actual grappling talent can get you in this weird sport. Look, I’m not trying to crack on the rich history of Japanese sumo wrestling, but for God’s sake, check out the tits on the guy at the 1:52 mark, who had just finished falling out of the ring like a moron. This is an athlete? Ronda Rousey would ruin half of these guys.

We’re not sure, but we think that the gal in the above video calling herself Sarah Kaufman‘s “number one fan,” is actually Strikeforce champion Ronda Rousey. Kaufman challenges Rousey for her 135lb women’s title belt on August 18th in San Diego and we think the champ might be having a lil fun with this video.

Rousey Kaufman’s super fan goes on for nearly four minutes talking about what a bad, entitled attitude the Strikeforce champ and Judo Olympic medalist has, as demonstrated by her career ambition. There’s also a weird dude taping and joining in on the fun in the video, and then Rousey Judo flips and “arm bars” a vacuum cleaner. Like most things Rousey does, it is impressive, scary and hot.

Really, we have no idea what she’s doing in the video but we still watched it and so should you. After the jump, video of Rousey Judo-flipping and arm barring Bas Rutten. Just because.

(Harrison [top] grapples with Gemma Gibbons of Great Britain during the gold medal match earlier today. Photo props: SFGate)

Without throwing around too many spoilers, it’s been a monster of a day for American women at the 2012 Olympics. And for martial arts fans, it’s a historic one, as women’s 78kg competitor Kayla Harrison became the first American athlete ever to win a gold medal in judo. She’s just the second American woman to medal at the Olympics, following Strikeforce champ Ronda Rousey (her former training partner), who took bronze in 2008. Women’s 57kg competitor Marti Malloy also won a bronze on Monday, making the 2012 London games the first Olympics since 1998 in which the USA has earned two medals in judo.

Harrison, who entered this year’s competition ranked fourth in the world, reached the finals by defeating Vera Moskalyuk (Russia), Abigel Joo (Hungary), and world-ranked #1 Mayra Aguiar (Brazil), all by ippon. She faced Great Britain’s Gemma Gibbons in the gold-medal match, and won 2-0 on a pair of yukos. In your face, world.

After the jump: A Boston Globe video-profile on Harrison’s life and training, and a TV-shot video of the end of her finals match against Gibbons.

(Live UFC 149 weigh-in video, via YouTube.com/UFC. First fighter steps on the scale at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT.)

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(Ann is lucky Bas didn’t have a salt shaker or a bar stool handy, or this would’ve gone down WAY differently.) 

If you are one of those conspiracy theorists out there who believe that Ronda Rousey sold her soul to the devil for the Ultimate Armbar of Absolute Victory (perhaps we’re naming that a little soon), then it’s time for a wake up call. Aside from Ronda’s extensive judo background, her ability to maim and disfigure her female counterparts is equal parts experience and genetics. Because believe it or not, her mother, Dr. Ann Maria Rousey DeMars, was the first American woman to ever win a World Judo Championship. How’d she do it, you ask? Mainly through the help of her friends; Harai Goshi, Uchi Mata, and Mr. Armbar.

Well Taters, it seems that Ronda’s mom has taken some time out of her busy schedule to bestow some knowledge upon us all, via her personal blog. Today’s lesson is titled “How to do a Perfect Armbar.” Enjoy:

Join us after the jump to get your knowledge on. 

(Video courtesy of AOL)

When Gina Carano quietly slipped away from MMA for two years, many thought that Strikeforce was grooming Ronda Rousey to be the next face of women’s MMA.

Last weekend “Rowdy” Rousey spoke with Ariel Helwani about a variety of subjects and the outspoken decorated judoka who faces Julia Budd later this month had a lot to say on what makes women marketable in the sport among other topics.

Check out the quick quotes from the interview after the jump.

Those of you who caught the middleweight match-up between Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch and Nick “The Promise” Ring on the UFC 135 Live Prelims last Saturday were likely transfixed by the gorgeous judo throw Boetsch pulled off in the third round known as the Harai-Goshi, or Sweeping Hip Throw.

The Harai-Goshi is one of the forty fundamental throws created by the founder of Judo, Kano Jigoro. The above video, though not demonstrated in English, most properly demonstrates the necessity of foot placement in both the initial attack and sweep stages of the throw. From there, the throw trades in power for momentum, a basic principle of Judo.

VidProps: ijfchannel/YouTube

Funny thing about literal translations: they’re rarely very good at saying exactly what you mean, rather they tend to sort-of-in-a-general-way communicate a rough idea. And sometimes, they’re downright misleading. Take judo, for example. The Japanese translates into English imprecisely to begin with: ju translates literally as “gentle” or “soft”, while do is “way” or “path”. Both of these concepts relate more to the philosophy of judo — conservation of energy and an emphasis on technique — than a description of the style and action. Ask anyone who’s ever tried a few classes in the “gentle way“, and they’ll tell you that it’s anything but. Any class that begins with learning how to fall down with minimal pain runs a significant risk of being brutal.

Judo was born in the late 19th Century by a Japanese jujitsu fella by the name of Jiguro Kano, known to his brodogs as “Da Jigumon”. Kano had begun training as a result of being bullied growing up –a story that still rings true through time. At the time, “jujitsu” was something of a generic term for unarmed fighting, and schools varied wildy in technique, training methods, and instruction.

(Props: MMA Videos)

Is there such thing as elusive judo?  We may get to find out if this video is any indication of where Japanese judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii is learning the MMA game from.  He even pulls a nice little fireman’s carry on Lyoto Machida at 2:53 in.  You know it’s slick when Machida is smiling even as he hits the mat.

Say this for Ishii, he’s taking his entrance into MMA very seriously and is getting some of the best training he can find.  First he worked out with Randy Couture, and now Machida.  Next maybe he goes to Greg Jackson’s and starts flipping people on their heads.  Better soak it up while everyone still thinks of you as that harmless, nice Japanese guy from the Olympics.  

After the jump, a study in how YouTube’s “Related Videos” feature gets weird in a hurry.

(You call it: happy or sad?)

According to a new article translated into English for us by Robert from betwwx.com, Judo olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii says he is definitely getting into MMA, and he wants to fight Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and…Hong Man Choi?

Japan’s Olympic gold medallist Satoshi Ishii has quit judo to enter mixed martials arts. His ultimate goal is to fight the likes of Mirko Cro Cop and Hong Man Choi also known as the “Techno Goliath”.

The Reuters articles mistakenly nicknames Mirko Filipovic as the ‘Terminator’, although the Croatian fighter has not fought under that name but is widely known among fans as ‘Cro Cop’.

‘This is a new chapter in my life and I’ll have to now start from scratch or with a white belt. Mixed Martials Arts has the words best fighters and I wanted to face many of them even before I won my Judo gold medal . I want to get myself in good shape and want to face the best as soon as possible. There’s no need to hide. That’s is my goal.” Said the 21 year old Ishii.

Let’s say you’re Cro Cop and you hear this. Are you psyched for a potential big money fight with Japan’s most recent judo hero? Or are you blinded with rage at being mentioned alongside Hong Man Choi, as if the two of you are interchangeable? I have to think it’s the second one, but Cro Cop has baffled me before.

(Photo courtesy of Combat Lifestyle. For more pics from this set, click here.)

Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou had a lot of hype to live up to when he made his UFC debut last December. Though his record was a thin 4-1, two of his wins were quick knockouts of top-ten light-heavyweights Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Ricardo Arona, and most MMA pundits had him ranked as a top-ten 205’er himself. Unfortunately, Lyoto Machida proved that the Cameroonian fighter still had a lot to learn, particularly on the ground. Still, Sokoudjou bounced back at UFC 84 in May, beating Kazuhiro Nakamura to a pulp and regaining his ferocious reputation.

This Saturday, he’ll be facing Brazilian Luis Cane on the main card of UFC 89 in Birmingham, England — another fearsome striker with a 1-1 Octagon record and a lot to prove. Ben Zeidler tracked down the African Assassin over the weekend to ask him about his upcoming fight, his loss to Machida, his public call-out of Mauricio Rua, and the “gentle way“…

***

CAGEPOTATO.COM: What potential problems does Luis Cane pose for you?
RAMEAU THIERRY SOKOUDJOU: He’s a good stand up guy and he’s knocked out a bunch of people so I have to watch out for that. He’s got a good left and he throws it all the time. He’s a solid boxer so it’s just something I’m going to have to deal with.

Do you think you would try to take him down? Do you have an advantage on the ground?
I’m not gonna say that yet. I’ll try to be careful around his strong points and show his weakness. I’m gonna be ready to do it all. I’ve been training like I’m fighting the best on the ground and the best on the feet. I’m ready.

How has your training changed to face him?
It depends on what you mean by change. Machida was beating me with technique, not strength. I realized that I couldn’t rely on just my strength. Guys used to roll with me and say I’m the strongest guy they faced but I still need to put more effort into technique. I need to be able to use them together, and that’s how my training has changed. Other than that, it’s the usual camp.

Were you hoping for a bigger name opponent for this fight?
I’m a fighter who is looking for a way to make money. I’m not gonna disrespect Luis by saying he’s not a big enough name. He’s just a fighter like me, he’s never lost other than a DQ, and he’s in the UFC. Anyone in the UFC is a great fighter and I respect that a lot.

What’s it like training with Dan Henderson at Team Quest?
Oh man, they’re hard on me. I wish I were 38 or 39 so I knew some of the stuff he knows. You’re supposed to start falling apart in your 30s, but not Dan.

Would you ever want to take on Machida again?

(Props: MMA Scraps)

When we wrote about American judoka Ryan Reser and his plea for more love from MMA fans, some of you responded with disappointment that there wasn’t a lot of judo on tap during NBC’s Olympic coverage. Here’s a clip courtesy of Korean TV and, no matter what Reser says, I don’t see it catching on the way MMA did. Maybe it’s just me, but the most exciting part of these clips is the announcers losing their minds during the brief bursts of action. Anyway, you people said you wanted to see it. So soak it up, jerks.

Ryan Reser (above, right) is said to be one the United States’ best hopes in judo at this summer’s Olympics in Beijing, but apparently that doesn’t mean he isn’t still chapped about judo being largely ignored in the U.S. while MMA enjoys a growing a fan base. From a story in yesterday’s New York Times:

“It blows me away and upsets me because we’re not to that level,” he said at the Olympic judo trials in Las Vegas. “We’ve been doing a lot of that stuff all along. Not the punching and kicking, but the arm bars and chokes.”

[...]

Reser is hoping that the M.M.A. crowd will watch judo during the Olympics. He said the similarity between the two sports would lend to natural crossover appeal. And maybe get some athletes intrigued by the M.M.A. cage wearing a gi.

“We’re just not a very big sport,” he said. “We have a lot of judo, but it’s spread across the United States. It’s hard for us to get partners and news coverage. We’re hoping we can get more interest in judo.”

This is the second time in the recent lead-up to the Olympics that we’ve heard a judo-lover expressing frustration over the lack of interest in the sport stateside. First it was Karo Parisyan, and now Reser, who says he’s taken up training with some MMA fighters to learn a few new tricks. I’m not going to point out that the issue of “crossover appeal” for an Olympic sport that incorporates one aspect of MMA only reinforces my belief that MMA (which incorporates all the aspects of MMA) should be an Olympic sport all its own.

Instead, I’m going to hypothesize that crossover appeal is never the issue with the Olympics. Not really.