Sherdog’s Top 10: Regional MMA Promotions

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1. Shooto

Shooto is the granddaddy of them all. Its roots go all the way back to the Japanese wrestling scene of the mid-1980s, beginning as an attempt to develop a real fighting system based on the takedowns and submission holds of professional wrestling; it developed from there into a worldwide system of amateur and professional mixed martial arts.

Many of the greatest fighters of several generations fought their way through the Shooto organization. Anderson Silva scored the first major victory of his career, against Hayato Sakurai, under the Shooto banner. Its roots always remained in Japan, however, and that country’s immense wave of talent in the early 2000s was weaned in Shooto shows. Norifumi Yamamoto had his first three fights in the organization, while Tatsuya Kawajiri and Takanori Gomi fought almost exclusively for Shooto until their first appearances in Pride Fighting Championships.

The downturn in Japanese MMA after the fall of Pride hurt Shooto, as well, and an organization that had regularly brought in world-class talent from around the globe became more and more of a regional promotion. Still, the Brazilian branch -- Shooto Brazil -- is under the direction of Nova Uniao frontman and coach Andre Pederneiras, and many of that country’s greatest fighters got their start under the promotion’s auspices.

Shooto’s glory days are long past, but it is still the most reliably excellent Japanese promotion, and its impact on the world of MMA cannot be overstated.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS: British Association of Mixed Martial Arts, Titan Fighting Championship, Deep, Watch Out Combat Show, Fight Nights, CES MMA, Xtreme Fighting Championships, Cage Fury Fighting Championships

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