This is a guest post by Rory MacLeod (smoogy)
In June 2008, the now-dead Japanese fight series Sengoku Raiden Championship was still alive and looking to developing new mixed martial arts talent. To that end, the promotion announced that they had signed four highly credentialed athletes in amateur wrestling and Judo, most notably 2004 Olympic Judo gold medalist Zurab Zviadauri. None of the fighters saw MMA action before Sengoku’s demise, but in 2011 another member of the Georgian Olympic Judo team, Levan Razmadze (4-0) emerged as a result of the experiment and can currently be seen wreaking havoc on any Japanese heavyweights unlucky enough to cross his path.
Listed ambiguously as a “freelance” athlete, little background information on Razmadze is publicly available. Since making his January professional debut in Tokyo, Japanese fans have dubbed him “Zangief” for his passing resemblance to the hulking Soviet Street Fighter character. Given his Judo lineage, Levan predictably depends on taking his opponents to the mat to win fights with submissions and controlled ground and pound assaults. Despite his unremarkable physique, he can close the distance on opponents fast and ground them with relative ease once clinched up. Razmadze’s kickboxing is rudimentary at best, but his right cross and left hook are competent enough to close the gap and get him inside grappling range.
So far Levan’s foray into Japanese MMA has been nothing short of a massacre. With the heydey of Enson Inoue and Tsuyoshi Kosaka long gone, the current national heavyweight ranks could charitably be described as “barren”. Radmadze capitalized on this state of affairs in 2011, debuting in the little-known Gladiator event before quickly ascending to the main series of Deep in June. He steamrolled promotional veterans Seigo Mizuguchi (9-10) and Kazuhisa Tazawa (7-2-1) in short order to assert his top status, collecting the Deep Megaton championship in the process.
At this point, it’s unclear what the future holds for Levan Razmadze. Far from a complete mixed martial artist, he needs to improve his striking skills and physical condition to become a credible heavyweight on the world stage. For now, he’s all but cleared out Japan; a promotion to leading series Dream wouldn’t address the issue either. Levan will likely have to go west to find the additional training and depth of competition needed to make his next step toward the world stage.
Footage of Levan Razmadze after the jump…
| Flyweight | Bantamweight | Featherweight | Lightweight |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 – #2 – #3 – #4 – #5 – #6 – #7 – #8 – #9 – #10 – |
#1 – Rony Mariano #2 – Aljamain Sterling #3 – Chris Holdsworth #4 – Josh Hill #5 – Fabiano Fernandes #6 – Claudio Ledesma #7 – Sirwan Kakai #8 – Kyoji Horiguchi #9 – Leandro Hygo #10 – Pedro Munhoz |
#1 – Hacran Dias #2 – Joey Gambino #3 – Brandon Bender #4 – Lance Palmer #5 – Jim Alers #6 – Anthony Gutierrez #7 – Max Holloway #8 – John Teixeira #9 – Cody Bollinger #10 – Bubba Jenkins |
#1 – Fabricio Guerreiro #2 – Alessandro Ferreira #3 – Adriano Martins #4 – Justin Salas #5 – Neilson Gomes #6 – Eduard Folayang #7 – Zorobabel Moreira #8 – Anton Kuivanen #9 – Jordan Rinaldi #10 – J.P. Vainikainen |
| Welterweight | Middleweight | Light Heavyweight | Heavyweight |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1 – Andrey Koreshkov #2 – Dhiego Lima #3 – Brandon Thatch #4 – Nordine Taleb #5 – Hernani Perpetuo #6 – Brock Jardine #7 – Alan Jouban #8 – Mohsen Bahari #9 – Andre Santos #10 – Stephen Thompson |
#1 – Antonio Braga Neto #2 – Marcelo Guimaraes #3 – Claudio Silva #4 – Bojan Velickovic #5 – Ildemar Alcantara #6 – Michal Materla #7 – Elvis Mutapcic #8 – Tor Troeng #9 – Jack Hermansson #10 – Tim Ruberg |
#1 – Wagner Prado #2 – Phelipe Lins #3 – Tom DeBlass #4 – Misha Cirkunov #5 – Kyle Cerminara #6 – Robert Drysdale #7 – Artur Alibulatov #8 – Thiago Perpetuo #9 – Steve Bosse #10 – Juha Saarinen |
#1 – #2 – #3 – #4 – Levan Razmadze #5 – Chris Birchler #6 – Ruslan Magomedov #7 – Adam Parkes #8 – Richardson Moreira #9 – Jan Jorgensen 10 – David Oliva |
Levan Razmadze vs. Kazuhisa Tazawa
Levan Razmadze vs Seigo Mizuguchi
Levan Razmadze vs. Ryota
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