In a revealing conversation on the She’ll Be Right MMA podcast, B team’s rising star Kenta Iwamoto shared insights into his martial arts journey, including a troubling experience from his early judo training that helped shape his path to becoming an elite grappler.
Iwamoto, who has been making waves in the competitive jiu-jitsu scene with impressive performances at events like CJI trials, opened up about his introduction to martial arts through judo during his junior high school years in Japan.
“Judo in Japan is tough. I prefer wrestling,” Iwamoto admitted. When asked about his relationship with his coach, he revealed, “Now looking back because I can use the technique that we train, it’s good. But at the time I was still a kid.”
What followed was a troubling account of punishment that would be considered abusive by today’s standards. “If you do something bad in the school, I was playing cards with my friend and you’re not allowed. And then going back to the dojo, the afternoon training, he started just in sparring, he’ll choke me out,” Iwamoto recalled.
Even more disturbing was his revelation that his coach would choke him “to sleep” and then “the coach wakes you up, does it again.” When asked if this was common practice, Iwamoto confirmed, “It happens often. It was used a lot. Well, not now, but back in the day.”
This experience seems to have influenced Iwamoto’s preference for wrestling over judo later in his development as a martial artist. Despite these challenging beginnings, he has gone on to excel in grappling, having trained extensively in multiple disciplines.
Iwamoto’s journey has been an eclectic one. Beyond his martial arts training, he studied physics for six years, including four years of undergraduate studies and two years in graduate school, specializing in experimental physics. He also lived in New Jersey for two years as a child due to his father’s military position in Japan’s Self-Defense Army.
As a competitor, Iwamoto has proven himself versatile, competing in both jiu-jitsu and MMA. “I did three matches and I got three submissions,” he noted about his undefeated MMA record.
Currently training with the renowned B team, Iwamoto continues to evolve his game while sharing his knowledge through a Japanese-language Patreon, aimed at making high-level techniques accessible to Japanese grapplers who face language barriers in accessing international instructional content.
Despite the traumatic experiences in his early training, Iwamoto has transformed those difficult lessons into a successful career as a professional grappler, demonstrating remarkable resilience and adaptability throughout his martial arts journey.
