Hisaki Kato will be facing DEEP kingpin Yuta Watanabe at the Nihon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya on April 17th for “Top presents RIZIN .1”. Born and raised in Paris, fighting in a US organization Bellator, Kato talks about himself and how he got into the fight game.

“I lived in Paris until 18”

What kind of sports did you do while growing up in Paris?
I did a little bit of Judo and Karate when I was in grade school, but just for fun and nothing serious. I started competing in handball in junior high. I lived in Paris until 18, and after graduating high school, I moved to Japan to join a professional hand ball team.

So you were a professional handball player for a while.
I played for about 3 years from 2001. And when back to France and continued handball, but with injuries and college taking majority of my time, I decided to try out martial arts, which I was always curious about.

What was your reason in starting Kudo?
After graduating college, I came back to Japan looking for a job as a translator. And after settling, I started at Daidojuku as a hobby.

You started as a hobby, but a year later you were a National champion.
I wasn’t getting paid to fight, so my priority was my job. But I wanted to win it as long as I was taking part of it, so I trained very hard every day.

“The most important thing is, to continue elevating your skills and test my limits”

You ended up winning the Kudo National tournament 5 years in a row. When did you decide to make your transition into MMA?
I got an offer from a local MMA organization called HEAT right after I won my 5th title. I have been practicing at a MMA gym called ALIVE, in order to polish my ground game for Kudo.

Kudo matches are executed with protectors and padding, which is very different than MMA. Were you hesitant at all?
For safety reasons, I’m not going to say I wasn’t concerned, but my original intent for practicing martial arts was to be prepared to protect yourself under any situation, so by that means doing anything to defeat your opponent is the main objective which is the same concept. I still practice Kudo, and the most important thing is to continue to elevate my skill level and see where it takes me.

You became the HEAT middle weight champion, and immediately traveled abroad to fight in Bellator. What are your thoughts after fighting in Bellator, is there any differences than in fighting in Japan?
Everything is more dynamic in the States. The crowd is loud and crazy. So many people talked to me after my fight. It was amazing.

Do you feel the differences between the Japanese and US fight culture?
In the States, people who don’t know about MMA watch the fights, so they all want to see simple, easy to understand fights. I feel that there are more Japanese fans who respect and appreciate technique and process.

“I’m just going to fight my usual, exciting fight”

You will be fighting in the RIZIN ring representing Bellator. How do you feel about that?
I am grateful for Scott Coker for giving me the opportunity to fight in my home town representing Bellator. And Sakakibara san for giving me the chance. I’ll do my best.

What are your impressions about your opponent?
I haven’t done much research on him yet, but he’s got tons of experience and has a good record with many KO’s, so I’m thinking that he is an extremely aggressive fighter.

What are your thoughts about fighting in a ring?
This will be my first time fighting in a ring, so I’m working on that. I’ve practiced in a ring before, but this will be my first official fight in a ring.

You will be representing Bellator, but you will be fighting in your hometown Nagoya.
Yes, it’s a bit awkward. But that is the reason why I really wanted to fight on this card. I was in the area when competing in handball, where I attended college, where I got employed, I know there will be many people to come support me.

A message to the fans
I will be fighting in RIZIN in my hometown Nagoya, representing Bellator. I will do as usual, fight a hard, exciting fight so please look forward for my fight.