Riki Fukuda: Can the DEEP Champion Redeem Japanese MMA at UFC 127?

It is no secret that Japanese fighters have struggled terribly as of late in the UFC. In fact, through the first two months of 2011, all three Japanese fighters to compete in the UFC this year have been decisively beaten by their opponents. The last Japanese fighter to win a UFC bout? Yushin Okami, who defeated Nate Marquardt at UFC 122 in November. Before that? Yushin Okami again, as he took a split decision over Mark Munoz at UFC on Versus 2 last August.

Riki Fukuda will enter his UFC 127 bout against Nick Ring with nowhere the name that Okami - underrated as he may sometimes be - has in the MMA world. Even so, the Grabaka fighter possesses a stifling, wrestling-based style that has served him well through much of his career. In addition to training in his native Japan, the relatively unknown middleweight has spent time at some of the premier mixed martial arts camps in the United States ahead of his upcoming bout. With time at camps including Xtreme Couture and American Kickboxing Academy, it's not unreasonable to think that he may, if only for a moment, set things right for the Japanese contingent this Saturday.

MMAFighting recently interviewed Fukuda:

A brief look at Fukuda's career - including some fight videos - after the jump.

At 17-4, Fukuda has spent the latter half of his career primarily in the DEEP promotion, where he is currently the middleweight champion. Since making his professional debut in 2004 against Canadian veteran Joe Doerksen, Fukuda has competed in a number of other promotions including Pancrase, Shooto, and Elite XC. Among the highlights from Fukuda's early career are a quick dismantling of Oleg Bazayev,  a TKO victory over UFC veteran Brandon Wolff in 2005, and a split decision loss (turn down your volume before you watch that) to Joey Villasenor at Elite XC: Uprising in 2007.

While fighting in DEEP, Fukuda has beaten Yuya Shirai and also defeated Ryuta Sakurai three times, with the third bout at Impact 49 being a particularly wild affair. Perhaps the competition in the small Japanese promotion has not been quite as stiff as some fans might hope for, but Fukuda acquitted himself well in a victory over Murilo Rua at DREAM 8 just under two years ago. That bout saw Fukuda control the action on the ground, while also connecting with a stiff jab early and catching Rua a number of times late in the first round.