FF-FilesThe FF-Files: Fiction (Dreams in Digital)
– Orgy, “Fiction (Dreams in Digital)”
Ever since the FF-Files series came back around in 2021, we have taken great pains to expose fraudsters, hucksters and charlatans when possible. Whether that means bringing to light forged documents, nonexistent events or a guy that actually made it to the UFC before the bottom fell out, we’ve seen it all. Or so we thought.
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Recently, an anonymous tip came in about Ms. Nakano. Was it pointing out that we had missed matches of hers? Did they suggest that some details needed correcting? Nope. Instead, we were hit with a stunning accusation: She was not real. An entirely fake person, generated by AI by someone with far too much time on their hands.
Once we started looking into this bizarre claim, cracks started to
show in the otherwise polished façade of the woman who suddenly
appeared on Instagram in late 2023. That specific detail—the
account date—is not telling, as people build and abandon profiles
on that service all the time. For starters, the Wikipedia
page—which even had its own Japanese-language version—was summarily
deleted for violations of Wikipedia regulations including a
complete lack of references. The author was flagged for writing the
false information in the Wiki page on the exact day the initial
person reached out to Sherdog pitching the profile’s creation. Who
was behind its attempted authoring? A project manager from Germany
who calls himself “Dr.” for earning a doctorate in business
administration, funded by an influencer company called “Ritual Network.”
“Through Silence My Spirit Roars and in the Cage I Find My
Voice.” Riiiight.
We then turned to her IMDB page, as we expected scrutiny would be relatively strict on the international actor’s database. Listed on her page were three “films,” including two that were allegedly released in 2021. Unsurprisingly, the details were all penned by Nakano herself, and any search of those two pictures ran into dead ends quickly. A whole $750 was raised for the first, titled “Death Hike,” from crowdfunding. With those films naught but pipe dreams, we did find one video that could help prove her very existence: her IMDB profile contained a sizzle reel. It lasts almost three minutes, and it decidedly did not sizzle. A keen eye could observe it is just a couple clips repeating, rotating between mostly still shots directly of her face and some woman shadowboxing in the background that is the creation of some generic AI video software and decidedly not “Nakano.”
Just like we determined that this fake scorecard came from Cathal Pendred vs. Sean Spencer in 2015 in Boston, Nakano couldn’t get away with it. A bonus on that IMDB page was a video she posted called “The Silent Roar of Triumph.” With this video, she suggests she made it to the end of a difficult MMA fight and emerged victorious, catching her breath in what is clearly the UFC’s Octagon behind her. She sways back and forth in a UFC Venum fight kit on a blurry, hastily edited clip, complete with a cheap video overlay where one can swap someone’s face. An eagle-eyed viewer might watch the clip long enough to read the backwards scrolling text of Aldrich vs. Hardy which took place at UFC on ESPN 56 in May 2024. Whoops.
That video is part of the big problem here: stolen valor. By her posting early and often that she is an actual mixed martial artist, and temporarily earning a Fight Finder profile because of those claims, she is stealing the respect and admiration that fighters scratch and claw to build over their careers. She did not earn what they have accomplished, putting in the grind and working their bodies to the bone. When she pilfers someone else’s fight photograph, slaps her face on top of it and poorly photoshops out her own belly button and goofs up editing the lapels of her top, it is wrong. The same goes for a fake fight introduction video thieved from Polyana Viana’s appearance at UFC Fight Night 156. It’s even worse when she says it was from a real fight, or worse yet, when she takes opportunities away from others.
Her claim of being a legitimate mixed martial artist falls to pieces in part due to her own boasts. Look for example to a post made reminiscing about a match on January 15, 2024, where she posted a photo of two women in a cage with logos intentionally obscured displaying a floor quite similar to the UFC’s Octagon. There is a small problem with that. No MMA events took place on Jan. 15, 2024. She even referenced the fight later and included a “photograph” of it, which is the same one from above sans belly button. One row above that on her Instagram profile, she indeed has a belly button as well as two protruding, Brandon Vera-esque kidneys that disappear in any other photo where her midriff is showing.
She even managed to trick an American promoter, as she was briefly considered to “appear” at a New Jersey-based org with the create-a-company name of MMA Pro League. Her grift was so effective she briefly made it on their official poster, as well as one of the funniest photoshop jobs one will see. When the promotion learned that Ms. Nakano would not be attending their May 4 event, it left Elizabeth Frey with no one to fight against. Ms. Frey took it well enough.
What’s true is this: based on everything we have reviewed, there is no “MMA Sanctuary Academy” in London, her supposed team. There is no MMA coach we can locate named Cem Gokcen. Her images are doctored, her videos fictional. The three MMA events she claimed she competed in, all in London? Never existed. No London Amateur Fight Night co-promoted by Cage Warriors Academy, no Winter Warrior Invitational co-helmed by Battle Arena and the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation, and no such thing as “London Rumble” through Warrior Fight Series. Battle Arena doesn’t even run fight cards in London, Warrior Fight Series hasn’t put on a show in years and the thorough Cage Warriors organization has no record of staging an event on March 17, 2022. The three fights she had listed on her now-removed Wikipedia page have one thing in common: they’re all imaginary, no matter what this fake article says.
Playing out the very scenario of her, an alleged amateur mixed martial artist based in Britain coming to the U.S. for an amateur match, is patently absurd. Who would pay thousands of dollars incurring training costs, travel and lodging expenses and everything else involved with going across the pond for an unpaid MMA match in New Jersey of all locales? There are plenty of amateur orgs in her self-proclaimed residence of London that would slot her in an event in a heartbeat. Similarly, what would be the point of an alleged offer from Lights Out Xtreme Fighting, where she could no-show in California and catfish Shawne Merriman.
There is a slight slippery slope as it pertains to this individual. It is possible that Sumiko Nakano is indeed an actual human, although there is no genuine photographic or video evidence so far to prove that. With somebody who posts so many gym photos and maintains such an active online presence, one would figure there would be a single clean photograph with a teammate, coach or any actual person. This “news article” about a supposed accident from late 2024 could actually be genuine, although the author Sam Allcock appears to have written practically every piece for that site for the last few months. Devil’s advocate, perhaps someone Nakano-adjacent is behind the keyboard, and this is them living out a fantasy through heaping helpings of AI handling everything from photos and videos to the lengthy, meandering essays attached to seemingly every post. What’s clear is that she is no MMA fighter.
We have one lingering question when faced with this exceptionally bizarre situation. Why? To what end would a person try to create a fictional digital persona with falsified accomplishments? When Askar Mozharov got buzzed for his inflated record and admitted fixes, not only did he end his infamous night in the Octagon looking like Martin Lawrence after tangling with Tommy Hearns, but his entire career—much like his face—was shattered and he became an international embarrassment. Cosplaying as a fighter can get someone badly hurt.
What is Nakano or her progenitor’s end game? While the profile has amassed tens of thousands of followers on Facebook and Instagram since popping out of nowhere in October 2023, is that it? Marginal infamy in a niche industry? She hawks a farcical Martial Arts magazine with alleged contributions from names like Frank Dux and a photographer that could pass for Sagat from “Street Fighter,” but that can’t be the final goal of this project, can it? Selling cheap 100-page novellas for a few bucks a pop on Amazon? Is this just proof of concept, like the development of an influencer-type Hatsune Miku? It just doesn’t make sense. There’s no money in this banana stand.
If you can figure out why someone would masquerade as a fighter like this, please let us know. Otherwise, as long as you are a real person, please send your inquiries to fightfinder@sherdog.com. No AI allowed.
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