Abbreviated Fight History: Ogawa began studying judo while in high school, winning many tournaments and became the youngest person to ever win the World Judo Championships in 1987. He graduated from Meiji University in 1990 and joined the Japan Horse Racing Association in April of that year. He won the Silver Medal for judo at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992. Naoya remained with the JRA until 1997. That same year he decided he wanted to go into professional wrestling and began training with Kanji “Antonio” Inoki and the Original Tiger Mask, Satoru Sayama. Inoki and Sayama took him under their wing and Ogawa made his pro debut as a last-minute replacement for Ken Shamrock and beat the IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinya Hashimoto in a non-title bout. Ogawa would also take part in Inoki’s debut UFO show and TKO’d Don “The Predator” Frye. In 1999 Ogawa and Dan “The Beast” Severn battled in a UFO/NWA crossover match for the NWA Heavyweight Championship title with Ogawa defeating Severn and winning the title by choke sleeper in just under 8 minutes. Naoya continues to do professional wrestling and has faced many more notable names including Bill Goldberg and “The Predator” Sylvester Terkay. He is recognized as the first of Inoki’s three protégés to be groomed in his image, the other two being Kazuyuki Fujita and Ryoto “Lyoto” Machida. Below are some of Ogawa’s more significant contests.
Ogawa/Gary Goodridge: Ogawa met Goodridge in his PFC debut at Pride 6. Gary came out from the bell and tagged Ogawa with numerous right hands. He threw upper cuts, hooks, all of the heavy artillery and Ogawa was taking it. He was bleeding but he was taking it. Then Ogawa lands a solid left hand that visibly stuns Goodridge and the pair twists into the ropes and on to the mat. Ogawa quickly works for a keylock but Goodridge is too strong and eventually rolls the pair over putting Gary in Naoya’s guard. Ogawa applies various submissions from his back but cannot sink anything. With blood streaming form his mouth Goodridge stands up to strike and in a bizarre moment attempts a knee bar. Ogawa escapes to side mount and goes back to the keylock. It fails but they stay on the mat and Goodridge is exhausted. Ogawa punches Goodridge in the face at will and eventually seizes Gary’s back. Goodridge rolls to all fours with Ogawa on his back. When Gary rolls to his back, Naoya obtains full mount and pounds down strikes. Ogawa stays in mount and pounds Goodridge for the rest of the round. Early in the second Ogawa seems apprehensive to strike with Goodridge, even cowering away, but when he had the chance to bring it to the mat, he did just that. After softening the arm up in the first round, Ogawa went back and attacked the tender right arm of Goodridge for the keylock win.
Ogawa/Masaaki Satake: The big stare down between these two at Pride 11 was one of the few highlights to a nearly awful event. Satake came out a little wild and was connecting but not solidly. Ogawa did not react well to being punched in the head and Satake seemed in control early. The strike and retreat tactics of Ogawa were no match for the crisp combinations of Satake. The overhand right punch of Satake seemed to haunt Ogawa and he was never able to combat the tactic. Ogawa would come in to try and finish Satake but his plans were derailed regularly by a combination of strikes. On the same note, Satake never put together a strong enough attack to finish Ogawa even when he had him in trouble. The fighters traded strikes in the center of the ring for the majority of the first round and it came off like some contrived sparring exhibition. Satake would begin leg kicking very late in the round and Ogawa was forced to turn up his striking and close the distance in order to preserve his shooting ability for later in the fight. Masaaki easily controlled the first round. In the second round, Satake comes out firing leg kicks and seems to have frustrated Ogawa and it forces him to shoot. On the mat Ogawa gets side mount and works away at the left arm for a keylock. He takes full mount and reigns down punches. Ogawa maneuvers his way from mount to rear mount and works in the rear naked choke for the win.
Strengths And Weaknesses: Ogawa has a judo background and is always looking for the submission on the mat. He has shown the patience to attack a limb and go back to it later after it is already been weakened. He may have a chin but it is difficult to be sure because the majority of his bouts have been works. He also has a pro wrestling move he likes to use called the STO (Space Tornado Ogawa). I don’t know what it is but chances are he won’t be able to pull it off in a real fight. His major weakness, work or shoot, is his stand-up game. He actually runs and looks the other way when being attacked. Sometimes he’ll try to stand and exchange but more often than not, he’ll either go for the takedown or wind up taking punishment. How He Can Beat Leko: On the mat. If he can bring the kickboxer off his feet, it is unlikely Leko is comfortable enough to hang with an Olympic judo grappler on the mat. Ogawa can set up a submission, divert Leko’s attention with strikes and come back to it before he can avoid it.
STEFAN LEKO:
German born Croatian kickboxer, boxer, I.K.B.F. Full Contact World Champion '96, I.K.B.F. Kickboxing Champion '97,W.M.T.A. World Muay-Thai Champion '97, K-1 Europe Grad Prix '98 Champion, K-1 DREAM' 99 Tournament Champion, K-1 World GP 2001 Las Vegas Champion, K-1 World GP 2001 3rd Place, with a 50-12-1-1 kickboxing record (30 KOs), training with Cor Hemmers, Heath Herring, Chalid Arrab and the rest of Team Golden Glory as well as professional boxers from Germany, has recently been training with Daijiro Matsui, Kazushi Sakuraba and Nobuhiko Takada at Takada Dojo, making his MMA debut in the PFC
Abbreviated Fight History: Leko began training karate from the age of 9 and continued with tae kwon do in Croatia until he was 14 years old. At that time his family moved back to Germany and he took up muay Thai kickboxing. He was hooked and began competing. Stefan has been fighting on the K-1 circuit for the last 9 years and has competed against and beaten some of the biggest names in the sport. He began training with Team Golden Glory for two and half years and has been preparing for his MMA debut in the Pride Fighting Championships.
Also worthy of note: Leko battled the following fighters in kickboxing: Peter Aerts (win/TKO), Mark Hunt (loss/KO, loss/decision), Mike Bernardo (win/decision), Ernest Hoost (loss/KO, loss/decision, loss/KO), Alexey Ignashov (win/decision, win/DQ), Jerome Le Banner (loss/decision), Remy Bonjasky (win/decision), Andy Hug (loss/decision), Sam Greco (loss/decision), Ray Sefo (loss/decision), Francisco Filho (loss/decision, win/decision) and Cyril Abidi (win/decision)
Strengths And Weaknesses: As a kickboxer and muay Thai fighter, Leko excels in the stand-up striking game.
How He Can Beat Ogawa: With strikes. Stefan’s game is standing and he is a superior striker. If he can steal a page from countryman Mirco Filipovic’s book and avoid the takedowns, he can punish Ogawa on the feet and score a big win in his MMA debut.
MY PICK: Ogawa. This bout has an underlying “Inoki vs. Takada” theme with Inoki training Ogawa and Takada helping Leko prepare for the bout. Leko is a great kickboxer and a far superior striker but he has to stay on his feet to use those skills. Unfortunately, with fighters such as Semmy Schilt and Heath Herring in house, the camp isn’t exactly known for their extraordinary takedown defense. If Ogawa gets him to the floor, and he will, they will likely stay there until the bout or round ends. I feel it will be Ogawa by submission late in the 1st Rd.