I’m officially on Yushin Okami’s nuts.

Yushin Okami rules.

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I’ve got a soft spot for Japanese fighters, being in Japan.

The UFC paid all that money and made all the fuss about Nakamura. Nakamura came in, wore a silly outfit with a silly bowl haircut, looked fat, and got punched a lot. Then got busted for pot.

Ryo Chonan looked less fat and more like a piranha, but still lost.

Yushin Okami came in all quiet like, and basically kicked butt. He’s a Japanese fighter who isn’t at a strength disadvantage like many seem to be. He’s calm and calculating in the ring, and lacks that maniacal Japanese kamikaze yamato damashi spirit, which sounds great on paper but ends up with people engaging in striking battles or grappling scrambles they are ultimately doomed to lose. He has the skills, the strength and the composure to be a threat to almost anyone, and he improves with each fight.

He basically pw0zned1 (I just made that up) Evan Tanner at UFC 82, and knocked him out with a sweeeeet knee. He almost beat Richard Frankleton last year. I can’t help but feel if someone from his corner had yelled some kind of reminder that this was an important fight and that he should probably wake up and do something about it, he would have won.

I’d like to see Okami fight one more reasonable fighter to sharpen his finishing skills before he tackles our new Spider Overlord, but alas, I don’t think he will.

Look for Okami to fight Silva in the next few months and I think it will be closer than some people, um, think.