The story
Founded by Satoru Sayama in 1985.1
Founding
Shooto was established as "New Martial Arts" (新格闘技, Shin-kakutōgi) in 1985 by Satoru Sayama (the original Tiger Mask), a Japanese professional wrestler trained in shoot wrestling, who wished to create a sport that revolved around a realistic and effective fighting system. Sayama was influenced by his former teacher, legendary pro wrestler Antonio Inoki, who was known for his more realistic style of pro wrestling known as "Strong Style", which mixed various styles of striking martial arts (such as karate) with catch wrestling submission grappling, taught by Karl Gotch. This style eventually evolved into the more developed "shoot-style wrestling", which was also further influenced by more martial arts such as kickboxing, muay thai, judo and sambo. It became very popular in the Japanese professional wrestling circuit, and Sayama was one of the top stars of the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), the leading and pioneering promotion for shoot-style professional wrestling in Japan, which he left after a dispute with its management in 1985. He would draw on the various martial arts and combat sports that had influenced shoot wrestling as a basis for his new martial art. Sayama was also inspired in the Ancient Greek Olympic sport Pankration, which mixed striking with grappling. He also founded his own school named the "Super Tiger Gym" in 1984 for training and development of this new martial art. After its establishment, New Martial Arts was renamed "Shooting" which came from "shoot", a term of professional wrestling meaning a legitimate contest as opposed to a worked match, but this changed to "Shooto" to avoid confusion with shooting sports. Compared with the other professional wrestling organizations of the time, such as the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), Shooto was aimed at having no predetermined results. The first amateur Shooto competition was held in 1986, while the first professional event took place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo in 1989.
In 1986, Sayama published "Introduction to Shooting / The Way of Shooto", a book describing Shooto covering striking, grappling and submission techniques. It is considered world's first technical MMA book.
Due to the origins in the shoot-style circuit, Shooto is considered part of the "U-Kei" system.
Vale Tudo Japan
The Shooto organization hosted the Vale Tudo Japan tournament in the summer of 1994. The objective was to create a more rules-free event similar to the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United States and Vale Tudo in Brazil. The star of the first events was Rickson Gracie, older brother of three-time UFC champion Royce Gracie. Vale Tudo Japan was a smashing success, leading to the popularization of MMA around Japan, and its format and rules were used as a basis for Pride Fighting Championships, which would become the world's largest MMA promotion, which many Shootist would join it. Vale Tudo Japan events were held annually from 1994 to 1999. In May 2009, it was announced that Vale Tudo Japan would return for the first time in ten years on 30 October 2009.
VTJ also had a major influence on the evolution of Shooto itself. Beginning in 1994, the organization used Vale Tudo Japan as a platform for Shooto fighters to compete under a less restrictive ruleset against international opponents, particularly practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). The success of Rickson Gracie in the first two VTJ tournaments demonstrated the effectiveness of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and exposed weaknesses in Shooto's system, encouraging Shooto fighters to develop more sophisticated ground fighting, takedown defense, and submission skills. Shooto also adopted looser rules, allowing for Ground-and-pound and other strikes when grounded. VTJ consequently helped accelerate Shooto's transition from its shoot wrestling roots toward the more comprehensive form of mixed martial arts seen today. It also established Shooto as an important talent pool for the rapidly growing Japanese MMA scene, with many Shooto and VTJ fighters later competing in promotions such as PRIDE Fighting Championships. The event ended in 1999, as Shooto officials considered its purpose fulfilled.
Vale Tudo Japan returned in 2009 after a ten-year hiatus, serving as an opportunity for Shooto officials to test potential changes to its rules, including five-round fights, smaller gloves, and knees and stomps to grounded opponents. VTJ did semi-annual events and three reunion events in 2009, 2012 and 2016. The revived series ran through 2016, and a standalone VTJ 2021 event was held in 2021.
Departure of Sayama
In 1996 Satoru Sayama left Shooto due to disagreements with the board of directors, and was succeeded by Taro Wakayabayshi. In April 1996, World Shooto, the Shooto Association and the International Shooto Commission were formed. This marked the end of Shooto as a single organization, and turned it into a combat sport with governing bodies. Since establishment of ISC, the champions of Shooto are called "World Champion".
In April 1999, Kazuhiro Sakamoto established SUSTAIN, which became the main promoter of Professional Shooto. Sakamoto had been involved in promoting Shooto events through World Shooto before founding SUSTAIN, and the promotion gradually took over the organization of major professional Shooto events. By the early 2000s, SUSTAIN was firmly established as the leading promoter of Professional Shooto, while the International Shooto Commission continued to oversee the sport's championship structure and regulations. This period marked the beginning of SUSTAIN's long-running role in promoting Shooto events in Japan.
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International
Shooto was brought to America in the late 1980s by top student of Satoru Sayama, Yorinaga Nakamura. He began teaching Shooto at the Inosanto Academy in 1991, and is the instructor of Erik Paulson, Ron Balicki, Dan Inosanto, Larry Hartsell, and many others.
Shooto South America, also known as ShootoBrazil, is managed by founder of Nova União mixed martial arts academy, André Pederneiras. Its first event was held in Rio de Janeiro in May 2002 and the promotion has remained active, becoming one of the largest and most established MMA promotions in Brazil and most prominent Shooto organizations outside Japan. Over the years, Shooto Brazil has held events throughout Brazil and provided a platform for numerous Brazilian fighters who later became prominent in international MMA, including José Aldo, Renan Barão, Jussier Formiga and Alexandre Pantoja.
There has been an ongoing effort, spearheaded by Rich Santoro, to promote Shooto competition into the United States and Canada. He was officially named the Director of the International Shooto Commission - SHOOTO Americas division (the North American branch of the Shooto Association) in 2001. He has worked with both U.S. event promoters and state officials to spread the Shooto brand of competition throughout North America. As of 2006 Shooto has taken place in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Nevada, Hawaii, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Promoters of Shooto events in North America have been HOOKnSHOOT (one of the first MMA organisations in the United States to allow Women's MMA), The Ironheart Crown, Midwest Fighting, Tennessee Shooto, RSF Shooto Challenge, TUFF-N-UFF, World Freestyle Fighting, SHOOTO Hawaii and Mannidog Productions.
In Europe, Shooto expanded through a regional structure known as Shooto Europe. Established in the early 2000s, rather than functioning solely as a single national promotion, Shooto Europe served as a broader organization representing and coordinating Shooto activities across several European countries. Individual national organizations and promoters, including Shooto Holland, Shooto Finland, Shooto Sweden and Shooto Germany, organized events within their respective countries under the wider Shooto rules and regulatory framework.
Rule changes
Previous to 2009, Shooto's rules included a knockdown rule giving knocked down fighters an eight-count to recover as well as allowing strikes to the back of the head. Shooto had argued that the potential for a knocked out (and thus unconscious) fighter to receive unnecessary damage while on the ground necessitated the rule, but with Shooto being one of the lone organizations still having the rule, consideration of the potential for injury allowing a knocked down fighter time to recover thus allowing additional blows, and with the original vision of Shooto's founder being a synthesis of striking, throwing and submitting - the rule change was instituted in mid-2008. The disallowment of strikes to the back of the head was done for similar medical reasons.
UFC Fight Pass broadcast partnership
The long-running Japanese league Shooto and sister organization Vale Tudo Japan live-streamed its first shows on UFC Fight Pass in 2016. Vale Tudo Japan bouts are contested in a cage instead of Shooto's traditional ring.
Broadcast schedules for both promotions were announced 20 April 2016 during a press conference in Tokyo.
Shooto made its Fight Pass debut Saturday, 23 April, with "Fight & Mosh" live from Maihama Amphitheater in Urayasu, Japan. Two world titles were on the line, Masaaki Sugawara made his first defense of the 125-pound belt against Hiromasa Ogikubo, plus Koshi Matsumoto and Yuki Kawana vied for the vacant 155-pound mantle.
Shooto followed that up with events on 17 July and 12 Nov., both took place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo as well as VTJ in Osaka" 19 June at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, and "VTJ 9th" on 19 Sept. which saw the organization return to its birthplace of Chiba prefecture.
ONE Championship partnership
In 2019 Shooto entered into a partnership with ONE Championship. Under the terms of the partnership, Shooto champions will have the opportunity to sign a contract with ONE, while their amateur champions will be given an opportunity to train at Evolve MMA for a year.
From Wikipedia’s article on Shooto, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3