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Masked Fighter. Mixed martial arts was born in Japan. 1985

The main character is the professional wrestler Super Rider. He is a former mixed martial arts champion and the first disciple of the first Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama).
He has two sons who are also MMA fighters, and they also fight in the ring to become champion.
The history and the secret story of how Tiger Mask, who took Japan by storm and revolutionized professional wrestling, created MMA in its early days.
How was MMA created?
The history and struggles of Super Rider's family that went along with it.

  • Kenji Ogusu
    Director
  • Takamasa Iwasaki
    Producer
  • Yuichi Watanabe
    Key Cast
    "Super rider"
  • Shooto Watanabe
    Key Cast
  • Kouzou Urita
    Key Cast
    "The Blue shark"
  • Satoru Sayama
    Key Cast
    "Tiger mask"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    仮面ファイター　総合格闘技は日本から生まれた 1985
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 20 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    3,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Japan
  • Country of Filming:
    Japan
  • Language:
    Japanese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Kenji Ogusu

I was a professional MMA fighter.
I was the first fighter in the world to compete in the professional MMA flyweight division.

Former world No. 2 in MMA Shooto
8 fights, 3 wins, 1 loss, 4 draws
Belongs to Kiguchi Dojo

And I am also a creator, so I have written 27 books and produced a lot of artwork at the same time.
In the process, I have had the opportunity to meet many interesting people.
I interviewed these people and made my interview videos, and published them.
There were contradictions, conflicts, and emotions of these people.
I realized that it is a film that can express it.
Then I became a film director and started making films.
And this is my third film.
I have won more than 50 awards at festivals around the world.

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Director Statement

Did you all know about the history?

Mixed martial arts, which has spread so widely worldwide, is a sport created in Japan.
And it was the first Tiger Mask Satoru Sayama and his students, the first shooters(MMA fighters), created it.

The Tiger Mask, a social phenomenon in the 1980s and revolutionized professional wrestling, and the person who created MMA are the same.

I think that is something that MMA fans are not aware of.

I wanted to leave that behind as a documentary film, which is how this film production started. In addition, there is a novel by Naoki Prize-winning author Tsuneo Tomita, wrote about the history of judo Sanshiro Sugata.

Like in this novel, the people who created the sport of mixed martial arts wanted to leave a film like 'Sanshiro Sugata' while they were still alive, and this is what they started to make.