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To Benares,
Caeser Takeshi decided to create a new sport after he got discouraged with how wrong the sport of muay thai in Japan went. He accomplished what the Japanese muay thai community had to; establishing the amateur division. Muay thai in Japan has failed to establish itself as a legitimate sport because there is no amateur division. Because of the yakuza scandal, the majority of the gyms quite ofen disguise as karate schools to attract students.
Shootboxing and Shooto are better organized,and they attract many potential pros. Since the mid-'80s, Japan has had so many of full-contact competitions, thus the best talents do not always go to muay thai. This further causes the decline of the skill level of muay thai in Japan.
Despite many talented fighters compete, both Pride and K-1 are becoming circus acts. They are now heading to the direction which can be no longer called sports. It is just like the late'70s when Urquidez and other American karate fighters began to fight in Japan. No standard for the sport. I myself has been a huge fan of muay thai ( I personally prefer the way Europeans fight). I rather am fed up with the too-much emphasis of heavyweight and middleweight in K-1 and others. I would like to see the calibers of Ronnie Green, Tom Von de Berg, Richard Silla once again.