One of the effects of MMA’s boom in popularity has been, predictably, a rise in MMA-themed merchandising. For a while it seemed everybody and their brother was beginning a line of MMA-themed apparell. Generally these companies featured T-shirts with awful “tap or snap” slogans, pitbulls, skulls, and the like. They were generally, to be perfectly honest, crap. Some have survived, some haven’t. A few, like Triumph United and Six Deuce, actually put out some nice designs — and it’s good to see them do well.

But there was an old guard, too, from the days MMA wasn’t all the rage: and some are still alive and kicking. Bad Boy, whose fight shorts were worn by seemingly every other fighter in the late 90’s, has made a return to the spotlight with such fighters as “Shogun” Rua — and the old “squinting eyes” logo, which I was always found somewhat irritating? It now seems, oddly enough, kind of classy. Of course, the TapOut story is well-known. Far from the days of hilariously cheap commercials like this one which showed up at the end of Hook n Shoot DVDs (and please accept my apologies if the implied nudity there offends anyone — it’s really not my style), they now have a big budget, their own reality TV show, and have become one of the biggest employers in their Southern California hometown.

But there’s one company from the “old days” which, more than any of the others, had two things going for them which would seem to be a combination for success. First, and most importantly, they have always put out great and unique designs. Second, their shirts were worn by Dana White in season one of The Ultimate Fighter, the show that really sparked MMA’s recent surge in popularity. If there were one company I’d have picked to break through, this would have been it.

Yet, despite some continued local success in their native Guam and a few parts beyond, they seem to have disappeared from the US mainland and had no part of MMA’s move to the mainstream.

I’m talking about Fokai International. Anyone else miss them a bit?

So what happened? Back around 2000 or so, Fokai kept a pretty high profile. They sponsored several big name fighters like Enson Inoue, and later, BJ Penn. You saw their logo at jiu-jitsu tournaments all over the place. Fokai retail shops popped up in California, a FokaiDamashii.com site took online orders, and I heard about a Fokai street team in Hawaii. The name was said to be a slang in Guam to “go for it,” and their slogans: “Since Ever Since,” “Exhaust the Body, Proceed the Mind, Cultivate the Spirit” were familiar to fans everywhere. It wasn’t just their designs that set them apart, it was a mellow, vaguely Buddhist, island vibe.

Now, MMA has blown up worldwide, but they seem to be nowhere to be found. I can’t even order from their website — but navigating it, I can see they have a presence in Ireland, of all places. But then, I look a bit more and the Fokai Ireland site appears to have not been updated since July 2009. Mostly the main Fokai site blogs their continued sponsorship of MMA and BJJ in Guam. It appears that their retail shops are still alive there. The Fokai Youtube Channel hasn’t offered anything new since 2008.

I’ve sent out an email to the contact there, and hopefully I’ll be able to find Total-MMA readers some answers this week, because I can’t be the only one who misses these guys.

Here’s a quick Fokai gallery in the meantime:

Dana White with representatives from Fokai at Grapplers’ Quest Las Vegas

The Fokai shop in Tumon, Guam

Fokai-sponsored Mike Fowler against Renzo Gracie at Abu Dhabi 2007

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