More on Astra Unveiling

What’s in a name? There is something to “Astra,” the title selected for Hidehiko Yoshida’s forthcoming retirement event this April.

J-Rock President and former World Victory Road PR Director Takahiro Kokuho mentioned the Greek deity of Astraea as an inspiration for the name, linking her celestial myth to certain concepts valued in Japanese society -- particularly that of the “strength in numbers” group ethic and community cooperation. Kokuho depicted the community of stars as being like one's friends and family, through which individuals grow and “shine” thanks to their cooperation and help.

This apparently is the basis for his hopes in filling out the rest of Astra's card for Yoshida's swan song. Given the connections that Yoshida and his pupils have made within the community over the course of his MMA career, the hope is that local promoters and fighters would be open to cooperating with J-Rock and participate in Astra to give Yoshida a good send-off.

Astraea is represented in the Greek star constellations Virgo holding the nearby constellation of Libra, which represents her scales of justice. It's an interesting metaphor, given whispers of the bitter split between J-Rock and World Victory Road late last year, just before New Year's Eve's Dream-SRC co-promotion.

Kokuho was the mind behind Sengoku, its sport-focused matchmaking philosophy, the introduction of five-round title fights to Japan, and he pushed toward allying with the Japan Anti-Doping Agency for independent drug testing. Astra seems like a potential second chance for him to balance accounts and finish the work he began in Sengoku before being displaced (or possibly replaced) from it.

While Kokuho claimed to be solely focused on making Astra's April showing a successful one for the sake of Yoshida's retirement, he did not deny the possibility of turning the event into a new series. As crowded as the local MMA scene on this island nation already is, it will be interesting to see whether a new event would further fracture the local community, or if the oft-touted Western sentiment that “competition is good and necessary” will prove true.

A transcendent celebrity name that attracts both MMA fans and lay-people will have to be signed for Yoshida's final bout. Currently, there is no name more attractive to the Japanese audience than the recently retired sumo champion, Asashoryu. Yoshida's pupil Kazuhiro Nakamura even suggested the controversial sumo wrestler as the most ideal candidate to face Yoshida, though his suggestion was prefaced with a mock-conspiratorial, “I really shouldn't say this, but...”

Asashoryu is simultaneously one of sumo's most prolific and controversial champions. Though his 25 championship wins speak to his strength and skill in sumo, his problems stem from his perceived lack of decorum by officials and fans of hyper-traditionalist sport. Things came to a head in January, when the Mongolian-born yokozuna (the highest rank in sumo) was accused of being involved in a drunken brawl at a Tokyo nightclub. Asashoryu then announced his retirement in early February, thus becoming Japanese MMA's next blue chip prospect.

Dream and the new SRC have thus already begun pursuing the former Bad Boy of sumo, as Asashoryu's acquisition would ideally boost either promotion's exposure and secure their immediate future. If Astra manages to land Asashoryu, he might prove key to pushing it forward as Japan's newest event. However, without clear indication of Astra's financial backbone as of yet, it's difficult to tell whether it will be able to accommodate the price the ex-yokozuna will fetch.

Michihiro Omigawa, whose career was jump-started last year by a cut to featherweight, was the only fighter at Monday's presser that adamantly stated his hopes for a particular opponent in Astra. An intimidating and soft-spoken Omigawa bluntly stated that his sights were set on divisional kingpin and WEC featherweight champion, Jose Aldo, or Dream featherweight champion Bibiano Fernandes.

Promotional politics being what they are, it's obviously impossible that either Aldo or Fernandes will face Omigawa on April 25 -- particularly with their bouts against Urijah Faber and Joachim Hansen, respectively, looming in the near future. Omigawa undoubtedly realizes this, and is likely banging the drum for whatever his next step will be after Astra.

By way of confirmation, Kokuho stated after the presser that regardless of Astra continuing or not, relations with promoters such as FEG have been patched up since his days with WVR, opening up avenues for Omigawa's -- as well as the rest of Yoshida Dojo's fighters -- return to either the Dream ring or UFC Octagon.