'The Crusher Project'

TOKYO -- “We did it! It was a success!”

Excited and pleased with how the previous five hours unfolded, Kawajiri celebrated briefly with T-Blood friends and Dream officials upon completion of his first in a series of focused public seminars. Dubbed “The Crusher Project,” Kawajiri’s campaign aims to raise the popularity of mixed martial arts in Japan.

“I was a little bit embarrassed to begin with since I don’t have any experience doing this kind of thing,” Kawajiri says. “But with all the people that came out and helped, it was a success.”

The Oct. 27 seminar focused on bringing females into the MMA fold, allowing them to train side by side for a day with one of the world’s top lightweights.

Held at the Koto Ward Sports Hall on the Japanese holiday of “Sports Day,” the inaugural seminar was a sight to behold. With Judo mats laid out in the center of an indoor basketball court, Kawajiri trained with a group of approximately 30 women, teaching them basic striking, submissions and, of course, ground-and-pound. If a room full enthusiastic females pounding on heavy bags and applying armbars on each other is any indication, then Kawajiri has good reason to be satisfied with his first attempt at improving the state of Japanese MMA.

Popular interest in MMA has suffered in Japan since 2003, as evidenced by Dream’s lukewarm television performance. At such an uncertain time for the sport in Japan, Kawajiri has taken it upon himself to raise awareness through his seminar series.

“I wanted to give something back to MMA and give the public the opportunity to get in touch with martial arts,” the 30-year-old fighter says. “In Japan, it’s safe to say that there are less people interested in it than in the past. It’s not that MMA suddenly got boring -- fighters, techniques and fights themselves have kept getting better. I just think that there’s got to be something done outside of the fights themselves to appeal to the public.”

Despite his calm and soft-spoken demeanor, Kawajiri’s motivations portray a conviction and passion for the sport that reflect the protectiveness and fervor of MMA’s hardcore Internet fan base.

“All I know and can do is MMA. I live and die by it, and with popularity receding, it’s up to my generation to bring the interest back. It’s my responsibility to do this,” Kawajiri says. “I can only do little things like this [seminar series], but if I keep at it, I will bring more people into MMA.”

Noble as his aspirations may be, the future of the sport in Japan remains clouded. Though MMA may never die out in the Land of the Rising Sun, the chance that it will disappear from the mainstream is a very real possibility, especially if Dream fails. What then lies ahead for a man who professes that MMA is all he knows? The savvy fan might point to fighting abroad, and while Kawajiri has not thought much about the idea, he does not deny the possibility.

“If there are really strong fighters in the States, I’d like to go there,” he says. “I’m interested in using elbows and also think that it would compliment my style. If I can get a good deal through Dream, I would think about it.”

However, Kawajiri acknowledges that American fight culture is vastly different from Japan’s -- and not necessarily in a good way. Citing T-Blood stablemate Mitsuhiro Ishida’s most recent win under the Strikeforce banner at the Playboy Mansion, Kawajiri ruminated on his brief experience in the U.S. and how it failed to meet his expectations.

“It’s a different environment. In general, MMA culture in America felt kind of loose and didn’t sit too well with me,” he says. “Nobody was on time, we had to wait for a long time for anything to get done and people seemed to either be looking down on us or just not taking us seriously.

“The American fans get really excited, though, compared to Japanese fans,” Kawajiri adds. “Japanese fans seem to have more respect for fighters. I can’t say which is better, but I do know that if I ever fight in the States, I want to put on a performance that’ll frighten and silence them.”

Kawajiri’s experiences may only be indicative of the audience he encountered at the Playboy Mansion. While the “Crusher” has Western fans, most probably did not make it to Hugh Hefner’s mansion to cheer for team T-Blood. If years of forum activity are any indication, they do exist. The revelation comes as a pleasant surprise to Kawajiri.

“Even though I’ve never met them, I’m very thankful that they’re cheering for me,” he says. “If they ever have the opportunity, I’d like to invite them to come to Japan to see me fight. If I ever have the opportunity, I’d also like to go abroad to fight for them.”

Aside from his trip to California with Ishida, Kawajiri’s last encounter with American MMA came in the form of Eddie Alvarez -- dubbed the “American Knuckle Star” in Japan -- in the Dream lightweight grand prix semi-finals. In an exhilarating “Fight of the Year” candidate, Kawajiri fought an explosive seven-minute war with Alvarez before being dispatched by the Philadelphia native’s punches.

“Until I lost to Eddie, I used to think all I needed was more training, but then I realized my loss wasn’t because of inferior technique,” Kawajiri says. “I lost because I didn’t have the right strategy, the right mindset, nor did I make the right decisions to win that fight. I need to grow more in the mental aspect of my game in order to move on to the next level. The fight with Alvarez was very good for me, even though I lost. All I can do is go forward, so it has become a positive thing in my life.”

Kawajiri acknowledges that he would have liked to have fought in an injured Alvarez’s stead in the final. Instead, Joachim Hansen drew the assignment.

“I was in the same dressing room as [Shinya] Aoki and Hansen, and when the call came for Hansen that he might fight again, I volunteered but was turned down,” Kawajiri says. “There were rules to be observed. And besides, it was Joachim’s day.”

In answering what a potential Kawajiri-Aoki bout would have looked like on that July evening, Kawajiri answered with a good-natured chuckle: “Bam. One punch.”

“Actually, Aoki and I are friends, but since we’re in the same weight class, there will be a time in the future where we’ll have to fight,” Kawajiri says. “I think it’ll be a match that will get the whole country excited.”

Before that can happen, however, there remains the matter of his New Year’s Eve bout in K-1.

“Ideally, I’d like to fight the champion if possible, but I’ll have to wait my turn,” Kawajiri says. “The fans came to [the] seminar speculating on a fight with Caol Uno, probably because I challenged him in May, so it’s got them thinking in these terms. People want to see that fight, and I want it too.”

While rumors abound on Kawajiri’s plans for New Year’s Eve, nothing’s set in stone.

“Whatever the fans want, and whatever I can do to give back to MMA, I’ll do whatever it takes,” he says. “When I turned pro, that’s when the New Year’s Eve events started. New Year’s Eve is also when the general public gets to see a major MMA event, so fighting then is very important to me. If we can make the New Year’s Eve card really exciting, then we can get the public to pay more attention to the sport, like in the past.”

Kawajiri shares the same “crusader” attitude to which MMA’s most ardent fans have clung over the sport’s brief, 15-year history. Soft-spoken, humble and self-critical, his character, approach and performance in MMA have earned him admirers the world over.

While fighters such as Aoki, Kazushi Sakuraba and Akihiro Gono inhabit the highly-skilled-but-wacky niche that many Westerners often attribute to Japanese mixed martial artists, Kawajiri embodies the characteristics of what fans might think of as a modern samurai. His aspirations are lofty.

“Next year’s goal is definitely the belt,” Kawajiri says. “I just want to keep getting stronger and better and keep moving forward. I want to get to a point where, if there are a hundred people around me, when they think of me, I want every one of them to say, ‘Kawajiri is truly strong.’”