4/29 DREAM 2 LIVE UPDATES ***SPOILER***

Tuesday 29 April 2008

I am doing live updates on this event.

This is being showed on HDNet in less than a week, so if you are planning to watch it there, you might want to not go to this post.

Here is a link to were I am posting. The post is further down on this page.

http://mmamanjapan.blogspot.com/2008/04/dream-2-play-by-play-live-spoilers.html

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5/3 Shooto - Road to 20th Anniversary - Fights added

Shooto has announced a couple of fights for the awesome event they will hold on May 3.

Added:
Shinji Sasaki 6-1-0 vs. 13-4-2 Bendy Casimir
Yusuke Endo 10-2-1 vs. Vince Ortiz

Previously announced:
Takashi Nakakura 9-2-1 vs. 9-2-2 Ganjo Tentsuku
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. 13-2-0 David Baron
Akitoshi Tamura 11-6-2 vs. 24-11-2 Rumina Sato
Ryuichi Miki 6-2-2 vs. 14-3-5 Yasuhiro Urushitani
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue 14-2-0 vs. 8-7-0 Savant Young

Opening fights:
Hayate Usui 8-6-1 vs. 3-2-3 Sakae Kasuya
Katsuya Murofushi 3-2-0 vs. Shinpei Tahara

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4/25 SmackGirl - ReMix Tournament - PICTURES


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Time for the SmackGirl pictures. This was a very good event and I will definitly go to the next event as well.



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These girls are strong and very technical. This is Rin Nakai after her decision victory over Kanako Takeshita. Nakai is still undefeated.



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Windy Tomomi took on karate expert Azuma. Windy was too strong and experienced in this fight.



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Josh Barnett had two of his fighters entered in this event. Ginele Marquez was the first one as she took on Atusko Emoto in the Open-weight tourament.



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Ginele was a convicing victory even though it went to decision she was never really threatened in this fight.



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Then it was Michelli Tavarez against Lisa Ward. This was a close fight.



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But Tavarez was the better on the ground.



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And she took the decision to move on the the final.



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In the other open-weight fight of the night, the very tall Hiroko fought Hitomi Akano. Hitomi looked small compared to Hiroko and even though Hitomi was clearly the more technical, it was a hard fight. Eventually Hiroko got tired.



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Hitomi got an arm-bar victory and moves into the final against Ginele.



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The main event was the undefeated Megumi Fuji against Korean kickboxer Su Hi Ham.



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It was close while the fight was a standing battle. But eventually Mega-Megu got Ham to the ground.



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It was just a question of time and Megumi Fuji got her 15th victory. She also celebrated her 34th birthday on April 26.



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Josh Barnett as always there to support her.



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The final in the light weight tournament will be very good. Michelli Tavarez is a very good BJJ fighter, so this should be close.



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The participants in the event. It was very good and some very exciting fights!

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4/27 Pancrase - Shining Tour 3 - PICTURES

Some pictures from the Pancrase event on Sunday. I really think Pancrase have put on some good events this year and this was no exception.




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The opening fight was a very exciting grappling fight. Both fighter's name was Shimizu, and unfortunately I was unable to work out who won. It was a back and forth sort of fight with both fighters having very good arm-bar attempts. This was the decider though.









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The second fight was a Neo-Blood Tournament fight. SK Absolute's Tanaka was too strong for Tezuka and won a victory by rear-naked choke.













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The fight between Saito and Shimizu was a close decision. Also a very exciting fight in the Neo-Blood Tournament.













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Both fighters had good submission attempts.














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Steven Magdaleno enters the ring.

















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His fight was very close, but despite injuring his knee early in the first round, he was the better fighter. The injury seemed to have everyone fooled... Umpires, doctors and Sherdog all seemed to think he had injured his ankle. Steven was happy about that, as it allowed him to continue the fight.










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In the end, Steven won a decision. I think he will be a fighter to look out for in this tournament.
















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In a very one sided affair, Daisuke Watanabe decided not to listen to his corner in the last 20 seconds of the fight. It was amazing to watch as Ohori managed to pull a submission victory from a fight he had taken a beating throughout the first 9 minutes. Watanabe was left with egg on his face as he was forced to exit the ring with a loss.









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Sweden's Matti Makela took on the experienced "Pink Typhoon" Hisamitsu. Hisamitsu knew he had to get this fight to the ground, and was able to do just that. Once on the ground the Swed was busy defending and Hisamitsu finished the fight in the last seconds of round 1.











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And yes... He is a bit eccentric














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The new fighter from SK Absolute Russia, Curbanov Djamal took on the experienced Katsuya Inoue.













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These Russians from SK Absolute like to go for the big KOs. This time he was not successful and the fight ended in a draw.

















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The Irie sisters presenting the belt before the first title fight of the night.
















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Takuya Wada took on IFL fighter Jason Palacios in the title fight of the night. Wada was the better fighter on the ground and managed to get a decision victory.

















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The Irie sisters do a very good job as the ring girls for Pancrase.

















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This is Yumi Irie.

















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Wada got to pose with the girls after a deserved victory.

















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Pancrase presented the Pancrase fighters that will participate in Sengoku 2. Josh Barnett, Ryo Kawamura and Satoru Kitaoka.















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From the fight between Kei Yamamiya and Yuki Kondo. This was how the who fight was... Yamamiya was backing away from Kondo, and that was enough for the judges to give the nod to Yamamiya... I think I was not the only surprised person in the room...

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4/27 Pancrase Shing Tour 3 - RESULTS

Sunday 27 April 2008

Pancase put on another good card tonight, there were some interesting fights with some good new fighters.

The Neo-Blood tournament offered some great match-ups and I have to say that one fighter that impressed with his determination was Steven Magdaleno, it will be interesting to see how he goes in the rest of this tournament.

In the main event Yamamiya Kei won a victory that I thought was a wrong decision and it was not a fun fight to watch. Yamamiya spent the fight backing away from Yuki Kondo and I thought Kondo should have gotten the decsion.

Big mistake of the night goes to Daisuke Watanabe who had the fight wrapped up when he deicided not to listen to his corner and stand up. Ohori was much better on the ground and managed to submit him in the last minute of the fight. Always listen to your corner!

Keiichiro Yamamiya Def. Yuki Kondo by decsion 2-0
Koji Oishi vs. Shoji DRAW
Takuya Wada Def. Jason Palacios by decsion 3-0
Katsuya Inoue vs. Curbanov Djamal DRAW
Yuji Hisamatsu Def. Matti Makela by TKO Round 1 4:52
Masaya “J Taro” Takita Def. Manabu Inoue by KO Round 2 1:16
Ryuji Ohori Def. Daisuke Watanabe by Kimura Round 2 4:46
Wataru Takahashi Def. Yukio Sakaguchi by arm-bar Round 1 4:23

NEO-BLOOD Tournament:
Steven Magdaleno Def. Pak Il-Gyu by decsion 2-0
Hirotoshi Saito Def. Hayato Shimizu by Decision 3-0
Tanaka Yasutomo Def. Motonobu Tezuka by rear-naked choke Round 2 2:30
Takuya Kosen Def. Ryota Sasaki by TKO Round 2 4:03

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DREAM 2 PLAY-BY-PLAY LIVE ****SPOILERS***

Saturday 26 April 2008

I will post live updates to the card here. If you are planning to watch this on HDNet, you might want to STOP READING!

PLEAS BE AWARE, HDNET WILL SHOW THIS NEXT WEEKEND!!!

I am watching this on SkyPerfect PPV. The event start at 4 PM Japan time.
Broadcast has started. Still cant believe Aoki vs. JZ is the opening fight....

Looks like there are lots of avaliable seats. People might still be walking in.


Results:
8. MW Tournament: Kazushi Sakuraba Def. Andrews Nakahara by face-bar/neck-crank.
7. MW Tournament: Gegard Mousasi Def. Denis Kang by triangle choke Round 1.
6. MW Tournament: Kiyoshi Tamura Def. Masakatsu Funaki by TKO Round 1
5. MW Tournament: Ronaldo Jacare Def. Ian Murphy by Rear-Naked Choke
4. MW Tournament: Zelg “Benkei” Galesic Def. Magomed Sultanakhmadov by arm-bar Round 1 1:40
3. MW Tournament: Yoon Dong Sik Def. Shungo Oyama by decision 3-0
2. MW Tournament: Taiei Kin Def. Ikuhisa Minowa by decision 3-0
1. LW Tournament: Shinya Aoki Def. JZ Calvan by decision 3-0

PBP:
8. MW Tournament: Kazushi Sakuraba Def. Andrews Nakahara by face-bar/neck-crank.
Fighters making their way to the ring now.
Sakuraba is late, they show him driving in now.
Sakuraba, 3 of them are in the ring now.

Round 1:
Fight starts standing, I would think Sakuraba wants this on the ground pretty soon. Sakuraba grabs a leg. Nakahara tries to get away. FIghters scrambling for positions. Nakahara has Sakuraba to the robes, the ref breaks them. Sakuraba takes one to the family jewels just as he himself throws a high-kick. We will have a short break as Sakuraba tries to recover. They are fighting again. Sakuraba takes a high-kick, he needs to get this on the ground. Fighters are circling. A Nakahara low-kick seems to hurt Sakuraba, but he holds on to Nakahara now. Nakahara is pushing Sakuraba around along the ropes. The ref breaks them up and sakuraba gets the fight on the ground for the first time. Nakahara scrambles back up. Sakuraba gets another take down and is in Nakahara's guard now. Sakuraba goes for a leg lock, but Nakahara defends. Now Sakuraba get side control. Sakuraba is punishing Nakahara with punches, but Nakahara is defending well. Sakuraba gets the back now and Nakahara taps. Nakahara was out for a few seconds. Either a rear-naked choke or a type of neck-crank...


I will say Sakuraba by rear-naked

7. MW Tournament: Gegard Mousasi Def. Denis Kang by triangle choke Round 1.
In my book, this is the best fight on the card (except for Aoki vs. JZ). This will be a good battle!! Mousasi has entered the ring, now Denis Kang is coming in.
Round 1: This will be big and its on! Punches to start things off, then Kang takes it to the ground. Mousasi has half-guard now. Kang almost has mount, by Mousasi gets him back in half-guard. Kang working on a kimura from side control. Mousasi is trying knees, and manages to more his way out of the Kimura. Kang stands up and reaches in to punch. He gets caught in a triangel and taps. Mousasi takes his biggest scalp yet! BIG mistake by Kang though....

6. MW Tournament: Kiyoshi Tamura Def. Masakatsu Funaki by TKO Round 1
This fight is very big in Japan. Fighters being presented now.
Funaki entering the ring. Tamura coming in now.
Round 1: This will be a battle of the old gentlemen. Its on! Funaki circling. High-kick by Funaki. This is a standing battle until Tamura takes Funaki down and drops hammer-fists. Fight is over. Very fast and impressive by Tamura, but hard to say how good Funaki is...

5. MW Tournament: Ronaldo Jacare Def. Ian Murphy by Rear-Naked Choke
Fighters are making their way now, jacare looks very relaxed.
Round 1: Jacare tries a knee, the fight goes to the ground. Jacare has Murphys back, has his arm now, Murphy trying to defend. looks like its a matter of time. Jacare is dominating as its moving from one submission attempt to the next. Jacare punching from the back. Still the same position. Jacare is trying to turn. Rear -naked choke. The fight is over. VERY impressive by Jacare.

4. MW Tournament: Zelg “Benkei” Galesic Def. Magomed Sultanakhmadov by arm-bar Round 1 1:40
Ok, I need to find a nickname for Magomed Sultanakhmadov, so I will call him Mag.
Really looking forward to seeing what he can do against Galesic though.
Mag entering the ring now.
Galesic entering to Linkin Park.

Round 1: The Japanese commentators ar expecting this to finish in the first round. Mag is working a guilliotin, but Galesic gets out. Galesic in Mag's guard now. Galesic by arm-bar, working from mount, back to arm-bar that looked sick. Very impressive Round 1 1:40. Galesic is saying that his loss to to Yoon Dong Sik made him want to learn a better ground game, today he showed his new skills.

3. MW Tournament: Yoon Dong Sik Def. Shungo Oyama by decision 3-0
I am guessing a Dong-bar is this one...
Shungo Oyama entering the ring now.
Yoon Dong Sik coming in to "when dowes cry", if you dont know what I am talking about, you are too young...
Round 2: Dong hits with a good punch and Oyama does a back-flip and ends up back on his feet. More entertainment than damage. It is back and forth on the ground and standing now. Dong has Oyama on the ground now. Dong is trying to dive in with a punch, Oyama defends and some how Dong ends up with Oyama's back. Oyama turns around and Dong has mount. A lot of bodypunches from mount 1:30 left. Does not seem to damage Oyama, but Dong still has mount. DOng moves the guard up and the punches to the head are more powerful now. Oyama turns around and is going for a leg-lock as the round ends. I think Dong will take the decision.
Yoon Dong Sik get the decision 3-0
Round 1: Feeling eachother out in the start of round 1, nothing happening. Dong in Oyama's guard. Oyama trying an arm-bar, but Dong gets out. Dong throws some punches to the body, but does not look like any damage is done. Oyama holding on to and arm, but no danger. Dong in side control now. Dong tries to get mount but he ends up in half-guard. Now he gets mount. Dong with punches from mount, but no real damage yet. Dong is holding on to the mount with a few punches. Oyama is trying to get out, but has been unable so far. Dong tries an arm-lock and that allowes Oyama to get out. Dong with guard now. Oyama is kicking Dong's thigh, the ref stands them up. No real action on the feet, both figthers carefully trying some punches and kicks. Clearly both these fighters looking for the takedown. Dong gets it, he is in Oyama's guard now. Oyama trying to get an arm, but Dong gets out and stands up as the round finishes. Close round, but slight advantage to Dong.

2. MW Tournament: Taiei Kin Def. Ikuhisa Minowa by decision 3-0

Minowa is crazy! I am looking forward to seeing him fight someone his own size for ones...
Taiei Kin making his way to the ring now.
Minowa entering now.

Round 2: Minowa is the more tired fighter. Minowa dives in. Minowa is back in Kin's guard. The ref stands them up again. Minowa eats a knee. Punching now, Minowa hurts Kin, then he dives back in. Kin sprawles. Minowa takes a few knees. Minowa is VERY tired. Standing now, Kin hits with another knee. Kin is dominating now. the round is over. Kin should get this decision.

Kin gets the decision 3-0

Round 1: Minowa tries to get Kin to the ground. Kin is able to move away, its still standing. Minowa gets the takedown and is in the guard now. Kin is trying to punch from the bottom, but has no other attack. Minowa tries to pass but he is back in the guard. Minowa tries an achilles hold, but Kin gets out. Kin kicks Minowa off and they are back standing, Minowa gets him back down very quick. Minowa tries another leg-lock, Kin gets out and they are standign. Kin with low-kicks now. The kicks are hurting Minowa. Minowa starts to judge his distance better and moves away from the kicks. They ar back to the ground now. Minowa in the guard again. The ref stands them up. The low kicks are really hurting Minowa. Minowa desperate to get the take down, but they are still standing. Finally Minowa gets the fight down. Kin has done the most damage, but Minowa has the takedowns. 30 sec. remaining. First round is over. Very close round... couldnt say who won... BTW, DREAM judges the fight as a whole (if I remeber correct). First round is 10 min, second 5 min.

1. LW Tournament: Shinya Aoki Def. JZ Calvan by decision 3-0

Fighters are being presented now. Aoki and JZ profiles now, fighters should be entering the ring shortly! I am very excited about this fight!
Hope they manage to get a decision this time.
Aoki comes in to Baka-Surviour now.
JZ making his way to the ring now. Aoki is dancing to JZ's music, he looks very relaxed.

Round 2: Feeling eachother out in the start for round 2. It goes to the ground. JZ ion Aoki's guard again. Aoki has a good arm-bar attempt, but JZ escapes. Aoki jumps in and gets JZ in his guard again. Working his rubber guard Aoki tries another arm-bar, but its too low. JZ wants the fight standing. It goes to the ground again, JZ in Aokis guard again. JZ is stuck in and omopalata. He does well to escape. JZ trying his GNP now, but he goes into Aoki's guard again. The fight is over. This should go to Aoki, but will have to wait for a decision. JZ is not happy. It was an awesome fight by Aoki! JZ had no attack against him today.
Decision Aoki 3-0
Aoki is emotional after his vicory, very understandable.

Round 1: It's on! JZ goes in to tackle, Aoki holds on and pushes him to the corner. Aoki has JZ in his guard. Aoki is working his rubber-guard. JZ escapes and starts GNP. Aoki gets on and goes down. Aoki is working a heal hold. JZ gets out with hard punches. In a corner again, Aoki going for a take down, but gets his back. A standof now, while JZ tries to get Aoki off, Aoki is looking for the rear-naked. Looks more like a head-squeeze.... JZ has no neck! They are still in the same position, Aoki on JZ's back. Sitting down now, Aoki still on JZ's back. 3 min. left of round 1. They move to the middle of the ring, same position. JZ has gotten the bodylock off, he's out. JZ trying to get in a position to GNP . Aoki is gettting the better of him. 30 sec left. Round ends with no real change. Round to Aoki (in my book).

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If you are in Japan...

A couple of things to remeber:

-Pancrase tomorrow at Differ Ariake:
http://mmamanjapan.blogspot.com/2008/04/427-pancrase-shining-tour-3.html

-Cage Force 06 on Tokyo TV from 1:40 - 2:35 (Sunday night)
http://mmamanjapan.blogspot.com/2008/04/45-cage-force-06-card-is-final.html

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5/18 Sengoku - Josh Barnett Fighting Jeff Monson

Just since I totally missed the ball on this... Sengoku announced on Thursday that Josh Barnett's opponent for the May 18. event will be none other than Jeff Monson. This will of course be the main event, and I have to say that this is the first heavyweight fight in Japan that I have really looked forward to in over a year.

The card as it looks now:

Added:
Josh Barnett 21-5-0 vs. Jeff Monson 24-7-0

Previously announced:
Kevin Randleman 16-12-0 vs. 8-2-2 Ryo Kawamura
Eiji Mitsuoka 12-5-2 vs. 5-0-0 Kwang Hee Lee
Satoru Kitaoka 19-8-9 vs. 7-4-1 Ian Schaffa
Yuki Sasaki 21-13-1 vs. 16-7-0 Jorge Santiago
Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao 6-1-0 vs. 9-1-0 Big Jim York
Mike Pyle 15-5-1 vs. 15-1-0 Dan Hornbuckle

Participating:
Roger Gracie 1-0-0

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5/25 Shooto GIG North Vol. 2

Shooto GIG North is happening May 25 in Zepp Sapporo.

This is the card and fight order:

7. Daisuke Ishizawa 3-4-0 vs. 2-5-2 Tomonori Taniguchi
6. Hidekazu Asakura 1-3-0 vs. 0-2-1 Kunio Nakajima
5. Akihito Adachi 3-4-2 vs. 0-1-0 Nobuyasu Fujikawa
4. Hayato Sato 1-4-1 vs. 1-0-0 Fumihiro Kitahara

Shooto Rookie Tournament Flyweight:
3. Tatsuya Yamamoto 1-1-0 vs. Yusuke Sato

2. Yoshiki Noguchi 0-2-0 vs. 0-1-0 “KG Shinto” Hiroki Kuga

Shooto Rooki Tournament Lightweight:
1. Toshihiko Yokoyama “Yokosai” 1-2-0 vs. Mitsuru Kobayashi

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HDNet Announces Deal with DREAM!

Finally, there has been rumors around for a while, but now its official. HDNet will be showing DREAM in the US.

They will start by showing DREAM 1 followed by DREAM 2 next week.

http://www.hdnetfights.com/
http://www.hdnetfights.com/story.php?id=76

DREAM 1 will air May 2.
DREAM 2 will air May 3.

They will also show the following events, but as you can see in the comments, no announcement when these will be showed.
DREAM 3 May 11.
DREAM 4 June 15.
DREAM 5 July 21.
DREAM 6 September 23.

This should be GREAT news for all the MMA fans in the US!

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4/29 DREAM 2 - Fight Order Announced

Friday 25 April 2008

Well, its official. Frank Trigg is out of the DREAM tournament, his replacement is Ian Murphy. I have to admitt that Ian Murphy is a new name to me, according to NoB he is an amature wrestler.

It will be interesting to she how he does in this event.

Other than that, I am disapointed... This card looks very average... There are a few interesting fights in there (and a couple of awesome fights), but the card is thin. For the price they are charging, I would expect more. Either way, the tournament will be exciting. You can see that there is 1 fight missing in the middleweight tournament, that will be fought in DREAM 3.

Another surprice, Aoki vs. JZ has gone from being the main event in DREAM 1 to being the opening fight in DREAM 2.... I bet that has never happened before!

This is the fight order:
8. MW Tournament: Kazushi Sakuraba 23-10-1 vs. Andrews Nakahara
7. MW Tournament: Denis Kang 29-9-1 vs. 20-2-1 Gegard Mousasi
6. MW Tournament: Kiyoshi Tamura 28-14-0 vs. 38-12-1 Masakatsu Funaki
5. MW Tournament: Ronaldo Jacare vs. Ian Murphy
4. MW Tournament: Magomed Sultanakhmadov 4-1-0 vs. 7-3-0 Zelg “Benkei” Galesic
3. MW Tournament: Yoon Dong Sik 3-4-0 vs. 7-10-0 Shungo Oyama
2. MW Tournament: Ikuhisa Minowa 39-27-8 vs. 2-2-0 Taiei Kin
1. LW Tournament: Shinya Aoki 14-2-0 vs. 14-1-1 JZ Calvan

MW= Middleweight
LW=Lightweight

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4/25 SmackGirl - ReMix Tournament - RESULTS

Just got home from what was an awesome event!! It is the first time I have been to a SmackGirl event. There are several reasons why I havnt made it earlier, but finally today I got to it. I was really impressed!! The event was in Korakuen Hall, but they had changed the set-up from what I was used to and I almost didnt reconize it.

The fights where good, and of course the BIG star was Megumi Fuji. Again today she was cornered by Josh Barnett, who was willingly posing for pictures and signing autographes after the event. Mega Megu is celebrating her 34th birthday tomorrow and after her win today I am sure there will be a party.

I was also very impressed by Ginele Marquez, she was very good in her fight and won a very deserved vicory even after receiving a yellow card for punching in the face on the ground.

I will post some pictures from this event on Sunday.

The Tournament finals will be the following:
Lightweight: Megumi Fuji vs. Anna Michelli Tavares
Openweight: Ginele Marquez vs. Hitomi Akano

For the results:
Megumi Fuji Def. Su Hi Ham by Arm-bar Round 1
Hitomi Akano Def. Hiroko by Arm-bar Round 2
Anna Michelli Tavares Def. Lisa Ward by decision 3-0
Ginele Marquez Def. Atsuko Emoto by decision 3-0
Windy Tomomi Def. AZUMA by KO Round 2
Rin Nakai Def. Kanako Takeshita by deicision
Mika Nagano Def. Asami Kodera by decision
Miki Morifuji Def. Benkei by decision
Megu Def. Hitomi Sakamoto by decision

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Hong Man Choi might require surgery

Wednesday 23 April 2008

It looks as if the tumor that stopped Hong Man Choi fight in K-1 USA is a bit more serious than he has let on. Or could it be a ploy to get out of the military serivce (not sure how it works in Korea). Either way, Kamipro is reporting that the tumor might require surgery.

The tumor is pressing on an optical nerve and will result in reduced vision.

http://www.kamipro.com/news/?id=1208934750

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5/18 Sengoku - Randleman's Opponent announced

Tuesday 22 April 2008

Sengoku announced Kevin Randleman's opponent today. He will fight Ryo Kawamura. Kawamura won his fight in Sengoku 1 against Braga Neto and is an up and coming Pancrase fighter.

This should be a good fight for Randleman too, he is coming of a long break and I think he needs a fight to get back into is. This should be competitive.

Added:
Kevin Randleman 16-12-0 vs. 8-2-2 Ryo Kawamura

Previously announced:
Eiji Mitsuoka 12-5-2 vs. 5-0-0 Kwang Hee Lee
Satoru Kitaoka 19-8-9 vs. 7-4-1 Ian Schaffa
Yuki Sasaki 21-13-1 vs. 16-7-0 Jorge Santiago
Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao 6-1-0 vs. 9-1-0 Big Jim York
Mike Pyle 15-5-1 vs. 15-1-0 Dan Hornbuckle

Participating:
Josh Barnett 21-5-0
Roger Gracie 1-0-0

Rumored:
Jeff Monson 24-7-0

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5/3 Shooto - Road to 20th Anniversary - Participants announced

Shooto have added 2 participants to their BIG May 3. card. This will be an awesome event, and one I am really looking forward to.

They have added 2 very talented fighters, Yusuke Endo 10-2-1 and Shinji Sasaki 6-1-0 to this card, their opponets are yet to be announced.

The card now looks like this:

Takashi Nakakura 9-2-1 vs. 9-2-2 Ganjo Tentsuku
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. 13-2-0 David Baron
Akitoshi Tamura 11-6-2 vs. 24-11-2 Rumina Sato
Ryuichi Miki 6-2-2 vs. 14-3-5 Yasuhiro Urushitani
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue 14-2-0 vs. 8-7-0 Savant Young

Opening fights:
Hayate Usui 8-6-1 vs. 3-2-3 Sakae Kasuya
Katsuya Murofushi 3-2-0 vs. Shinpei Tahara

Participating:
Yusuke Endo 10-2-1
Shinji Sasaki 6-1-0

Read more...

5/18 Sengoku 2- Josh Barnett Participating

Monday 21 April 2008

DREAM lost one of their biggest stars for their next event today, Sengoku adds one!

It is confirmed today that Josh Barnett will be participating in Sengoku 2! This is huge, and a big draw-card for them. Add that to the other 2 fighters that are confirmed and we know that there will be a couple of BIG fights added to this card in the coming weeks.

Eiji Mitsuoka 12-5-2 vs. 5-0-0 Kwang Hee Lee
Satoru Kitaoka 19-8-9 vs. 7-4-1 Ian Schaffa
Yuki Sasaki 21-13-1 vs. 16-7-0 Jorge Santiago
Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao 6-1-0 vs. 9-1-0 Big Jim York
Mike Pyle 15-5-1 vs. 15-1-0 Dan Hornbuckle

Participating:
Josh Barnett 21-5-0
Roger Gracie 1-0-0
Kevin Randleman 16-12-0

Rumored:
Jeff Monson 24-7-0

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080421-00000027-spnavi-fight.html

Read more...

4/29 DREAM 2 - Akiyama not participating

Today it is confirmed, Akiyama will not be participating in DREAM 2 and the middleweight GP. Reason is not only a knee injury that was earlier reported, but also fracture in the nose. It seems the knee was ok, but the nose injury is the reason the doctor but a stopper for him entering the tournament.

Either way, no Akiyama this time. But I guess we can hope he gets a spot in a reserve fight or something like that.

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080421-00000029-spnavi-fight.html
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080421-00000033-spnavi-fight.html

Read more...

5/3 Shooto - Road to 20th Anniversary - Lion Takeshi's opponent annouced

Saturday 19 April 2008

Finally Shooto has annouced "Lion" Takeshi's opponent. It's Savant Young, who is an IFL veteran. It will be an interesting fight.

Added:
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue 14-2-0 vs. 8-7-0 Savant Young

Previously announced:
Takashi Nakakura 9-2-1 vs. 9-2-2 Ganjo Tentsuku
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. 13-2-0 David Baron
Akitoshi Tamura 11-6-2 vs. 24-11-2 Rumina Sato
Ryuichi Miki 6-2-2 vs. 14-3-5 Yasuhiro Urushitani

Opening fights:
Hayate Usui 8-6-1 vs. 3-2-3 Sakae Kasuya
Katsuya Murofushi 3-2-0 vs. Shinpei Tahara

Read more...

5/18 ZST 17

ZST has announced most of the card that will "compete" with Sengoku now. Earlier, the only known fighters were Hideo Tokoro and Masayuki Okude. I am a bit disappointed that Tokoro is fighting a tag-team fight, but anyway...

This is the card:

Lightweight Tag-team fight: Hideo Tokoro 19-13-1/ Noayuki Kotani 17-7-6
vs. Takumi Yano 9-8-3/ Erikas Petraitis 12-5-2

Welterweight: Masayuki Okude 4-4-5 vs. 3-0-0 Maksim Nevolia
Bantamweight: Keisuke Fujiwara 4-1-2 vs. TBA
Lightheavyweight: Tatsuhiko Nishizaka 5-1-0 vs. TBA
Lightweight: Hiroyuki Ota 7-4-4 vs. 1-0-0 Tetsuya Yamada
Welterweight: Ichiro Kojima 3-5-2 vs. 1-1-1 Yoichiro Karsuyama
Female Grappling: Ayumi Funakoshi vs. Miki Goniwa (合庭?)

Participating:
Kenji Nagai 4-6-1
Daisuke Yokoyama

Read more...

4/29 DREAM 2 - Fights Announced

Friday 18 April 2008

Most of the Middleweight tournament fights are now annouced with 4 fights announced today, and there will be some surprise additions in this. There are also some fighters that were expected.

Only 1 more fight in the tournament... Will someone get a "free" pass to the 2nd round here too?

Annouced today (all tournament fights):
Ikuhisa Minowa 39-27-8 vs. 2-2-0 Taiei Kin
Magomed Sultanakhmadov 4-1-0 vs. 7-3-0 Zelg “Benkei” Galesic
Yoon Dong Sik 3-4-0 vs. 7-10-0 Shungo Oyama
Ronaldo Jacare vs. 16-6-0 Frank Trigg


Previously announced:
Tournament fights
Kazushi Sakuraba 23-10-1 vs. Andrews Nakahara
Kiyoshi Tamura 28-14-0 vs. 38-12-1 Masakatsu Funaki
Denis Kang 29-9-1 vs. 20-2-1 Gegard Mousasi

Non-Tournament:
Shinya Aoki 14-2-0 vs. 14-1-1 JZ Calvan

Also rumored for this card is Nick Diaz, he had agreed to fight Marcelo Garcia but that did not work out. Hopefully DREAM finds an opponent for him.

http://www.graciefighter.com/?page=news&PHPSESSID=27bee539d74156e1549c0ba56ae466d9

**UPDATE***
Akiyama is gettting his knee checked, there should be an official next week but he might not be able to participate. FEG has now also denied that Akiyama will get a pass to the 2nd round like Caol Uno did.
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080418-00000033-spnavi-fight.html
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080419-00000003-spnavi_ot-fight.html

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5/18 Sengoku - Fight Announced

Sengoku added another fight to their May 18 card today. This one has been rumored on a few discussion forums, and I think it will be a good one: Mike Pyle 15-5-1 vs. 15-1-0 Dan Hornbuckle.

It is also rumored that Roger Gracie has been offered both Jeff Monson and Josh Barnett, but both of these were turned down from the Gracie camp.

Will be interesting to see if Sengoku can get a TV deal with Fuji TV. It would definately give them more publicity. They are putting up some good match-ups and it will be interesting to see if they manages to fill the card this time.

Eiji Mitsuoka 12-5-2 vs. 5-0-0 Kwang Hee Lee
Satoru Kitaoka 19-8-9 vs. 7-4-1 Ian Schaffa
Yuki Sasaki 21-13-1 vs. 16-7-0 Jorge Santiago
Yoshihiro “Kiss” Nakao 6-1-0 vs. 9-1-0 Big Jim York
Mike Pyle 15-5-1 vs. 15-1-0 Dan Hornbuckle

Participating:
Roger Gracie 1-0-0
Kevin Randleman 16-12-0

Rumored:
Jeff Monson 24-7-0

Read more...

Random Bits 4/17

Thursday 17 April 2008

There are some big news for MMA fans in Japan today, if you are not in Japan I guess the news is that good quality stuff will make it to YouTube and the likes.

-Again, credit goes to
Nightmare of Battle!! Don't know how they do it, but they were before the Japanese media with this one... Anyway, DREAM is on SkyPerfect PPV!!! Why am I happy about this? To be honest, I appreaciate the TBS coverage, but the production is not good. I think the live production will be better. They will not have a time limit and will show the full fights. If you are in Japan, here is where you order.

http://www.ppvj.co.jp/battle/dream/dream2.html
http://www.ppvj.co.jp/battle/dream/dream3.html

DREAM 3, Hellboy is fighting, I will be there!!!

Oh, almost forgot, Shooto on May 3 is also on PPV!!!! This has to be one of the best Shooto cards I have ever seen!! Will be worth the PPV.

http://www.ppvj.co.jp/battle/shooto/

-Denis Kang is preparing for his DREAM debut. Here is an awesome article on Combatstyle.com. Well worth the read!!!

http://www.combatlifestyle.com/words/gdetail.php?id=58

Read more...

Random Bits 4/16

Wednesday 16 April 2008

There hasn't been too much happening lately, but some small things. Some news are a few days old, but I haven't mentioned them yet.

-This week it was announced that K-1 is losing one of its biggest stars, litterally... Hong Man Choi is entering the Korean millitary service. He is expected to finish serving his country in 2010. Guess we will have to see if there is something left to save of his career by that point.
Especially considering what He'll be doing there...

-Last week Shooto promoted 5 fighters to Class-A level. All these fighters have proven themselves worthy and I have hight expectations of Ogikubo.

Hiromasa Ogikubo 4-0-1
Hiroshi Nakamura 5-3-3
Shinji Sasaki 6-1-0
Junya Kudo 6-0-2
Taisuke Okuno 4-1-1

-In an interview on the DREAM web-page, Aoki is saying he will fight on April 29, but not May 11. Suki MMA has translated the whole interview.

I am sure he would change his mind, but I kind of see his point. He has to fight one of the world's best fighters and then recover to do it again in less than 2 weeks. I think the winner of the fight between Aoki and JZ will be severely disadvantaged in round 2. You could also say that the fact that Uno got a "free" spot in the 2nd round makes it a bit worse... Aoki vs. JZ could have been a 2nd round fight,but FEG should have made a decision in this fight, either JZ is disqualified or Aoki could not continue (JZ win).

http://www.dreamofficial.com/news/detail.php?id=1208161243
http://sukimma.blogspot.com/2008/04/aoki-interview-with-dream.html

Read more...

5/3 Shooto - Road to 20th Anniversary - Rumina's opponent announced

Rumina Sato has finally got his opponent for the May 3. event. This will be a huge fight, he will meet Akitoshi Tamura who recently lost his title to Kadowaki in a close fight.

This card is looking awesome!

Added:
Akitoshi Tamura 11-6-2 vs. 24-11-2 Rumina Sato

Previously announced:
Takashi Nakakura 9-2-1 vs. 9-2-2 Ganjo Tentsuku
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. 13-2-0 David Baron
Ryuichi Miki 6-2-2 vs. 14-3-5 Yasuhiro Urushitani


Opening fights:
Hayate Usui 8-6-1 vs. 3-2-3 Sakae Kasuya
Katsuya Murofushi 3-2-0 vs. Shinpei Tahara

Participating:
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue 14-2-0

Read more...

5/18 Shooto Grapplingman - Hiroshima

Shooto will hold another event in Hiroshima on May 18. Again, I think the most exciting fights will be in the Rookie Tournament.

Takeshi Okada 4-3-2 vs. 2-14-1 Katsuhisa Akasaki
Daisuke Matsumoto 3-3-0 vs. 3-2-0 Kazuhiro Ito
Tatsuro Kamei 2-1-0 vs. 0-1-0 Jun Nagasoe

Shooto Rookie Tournament
Lightweight: Takumi Ota 3-1-1 vs. 5-1-0 Makoto Akazawa
Flyweight: Masuda “Bull” Teppei vs. 安芸 佳孝
Featherweight: Keita Yoshida vs. Shunsuke Nomura

Read more...

6/29 K-1 WorldGP Fukuoka

Tuesday 15 April 2008

FEG has after a busy week of fights announced a few fighters that will participate in the Fukuoka event. This is a great event for Fukuoka and I am sure it will draw a crowd down there. Fukuoka is also a great city to visit if you are in Japan, kind of my hometown in Japan...

Anyway, FEG has deceided to let a few fighters who impressed during the last week get another chance in Fukuoka. Participating will be:

Peter Aerts
Remy Bonjasky
Glaube Feitosa
Junichi Sawayashiki
Musashi
Yusuke Fujimoto
Ewerton Teixeira
Yosuke Nishijima
Takumi Sato
Mitsugu Noda
Hiraku Hori
Keijiro Maeda

Read more...

Last Week's K-1 Fights

Monday 14 April 2008

Well, at least some of them... I`ve had to be selective, there were so many fights this last week and most of them are available.

Hard to get past this fights one, Enokida (in red) vs. Tachikawa. Tachikawa in dark pants, is a former pro-baseball player who is now trying his hands at K-1.



Musashi vs. JunichiSawayashiki




Musashi Vs. Junichi Sawayashiki
Uploaded by Fightsports


Badr Hari vs. Ray Sefo



Glaube Feitosa vs. Alex Roberts



Glaube Feitosa Vs. Alex Roberts
Uploaded by Fightsports


Mike Zambidis vs. Andy Souwer



Andy Souwer Vs. Mike Zambidis
Uploaded by Fightsports


Yoshihiro Sato vs. Murat Direcki



Semmy Schilt vs. Mark Hunt

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Einemo fighting in DREAM?

Sunday 13 April 2008

Nightmare of Battle found this article on AsgardMMA.com. In it there is an interview with my favorite fighter, and in some ways the reason I got interested in MMA and now have this blog. Jon Olav Einemo was one of the fighters that got really screwed by the Pride deal. When it went through he had 1 fight in Pride and had just signed a deal with them.

From what he says here, he might very well be on his way back to Japan and DREAM. I hope DREAM gets their pen out and sign him soon. Einemo is one of the better unsigned fighters out there and he should definately be a fighter DREAM needs if they are going to build a heavyweight division


Read more...

4/13 K-1 World GP -***SPOILER*** Play-by-Play

I will do a play-by-play of the K-1 event this afternoon. I will be watching it live on TV and if you are in Japan you can watch it live on SkyPerfect channel 721.

If you are planning to watch a delayed broadcast, STOP READING!

The broadcast has started. I am very excited about this event. One fight makes this very special, the return of Mark Hunt 5 years after his last fight. Can he take down Semmy Schilt?

Results:
K-1 Super Heavyweight Title Match : K-1 Rules / 3Min. 3R
Semmy Schilt Def. Mark Hunt by KO round 1
Time for the main event and Mark Hunts return to K-1!!!! Both figthers look very focused in front of this fight.
Fighters making their way to the ring now. The champion on his way now.

Going through formalities, anthems and presentations before the fight starts.

Round 1: Its on. Both fighters with leg-kicks. Hunt with an overhand that gets the crowd going. No damage done though. Schilt with a knee that puches Hunt back. This is a close one so far. Hunt is hitting with some punches, Schilt with a few kicks. Hunt is KOed by a kick to the body. I thought it looked like Hunt could get up, but he was unable to continue and the fight is over.


Ewerton Teixeira Def. Yusuke Fujimoto by KO
Fujimoto making his way to the ring. Ewerton Teixeira on his way to the ring now.
Extra round 2: Last round. This time Fujimoto is backing up less. both fighters hit with some punches and Ewerton has a good high-kick that looks like it hurt Fujimoto a little. Fujimoto goes down from a left hook. He is looking rocked and goes down again. A straight right sends Fujimoto down again. The fight is over.
Extra round 1: Fujimoto tries to keep more distance and Ewerton is chasing. Not much hitting now... Ewerton closes in and a few punches hit the target. A strong punch to the body from Fujimoto, but he hasnt hit with much so far this round. Fujimoto more agressive now, but I think it will be too late. Ewerton won this round in my eyes. On ethe replay I see that Fujimoto hit with more than I remembered, but lets see. Another draw
Round 3: Both fighter come out punching. A bt of holding now, both fighters are getting tired. Fujimoto looks like he is the more tired. But They are still exchanging punches and kicks as the bell sounds. It will be a very close decision, I feel Ewerton should win this, but I am guessing we will see one more round, and we will. DRAW.
Round 2: Ewerton is hurting Fujimoto with leg-kicks. Fujimoto comes back with some good punches. A close round, but looks like Fujimoto is feeling it more then Ewerton.
Round 1: Both fighters trying kicks in the start of round. A leg-kick hurts Ewerton. Ewerton hurts Fujimoto, but Fujimoto comes back with punches. Time in round 1 runs out, with no fighter having a big advantage. Very close round.


Musashi Def. Junichi Sawayashiki by KO
Time for the Japanese battle
Round 2: Both fighter are still fresh and Musashi is looking better in the start of round 2. Sawayashiki goes down from a high-kick. He gets back up. Musashi in coutrol now. An uppercut sends Sawayashiki down again. Sawayashiki goes down a third time and the fight is over. Musashi was dominating the second round. A very good fight.
Round 1: Musashi tries a high-kick, Sawayashiki with leg-kick in the start of round 1. Sawayshiki looks like he is in control, but no fighter is really damaged yet. Sawayashiki getting the best of most exchanges. He got the round in my opinion.

Badr Hari Def. Ray Sefo by TKO Round 1
Time for the second biggest fight of the night in my eyes. Badr Hari entering the ring now. Ray Sefo enters the ring now. The stare down ends in laughs from both fighters.
Round 1: These guys go straight for action. Ray Sefo goes down after punches and knees. He gets back up. Hari is DOMINATING. A straight right send Sefo down again. Hari is T'ing off and the ref steps in to save Sefo. TKO win to Hari in round 1.

Glaube Feitosa Def. Alex Roberts by KO Round 2
Alex Roberts gets his K-1 debut. He is a ver experienced kick-boxer and he has been fighting in Shoot Boxing in Japan where he is ranked 1 (thats #1 contender) heavyweight.
Round 2: Feitose scores with an uppercut and gets one in return. Roberts seems to be taking more damage. uppercuts and kicks to the body has left Roberts very bloody. A high-kick KO's Roberts and the medics storm the ring. KO win to Feitosa.
Round 1: Feitosa scoring more in the opening. Roberts tries to set up for knees, but is not successful. Feitosa scores with some punches. Roberts hits with some knees to the body. A very good first round, Feitosa gets it tough. He was more active and hit with some good kicks to the body in addition to some punches.

Keihiro Maeda Def. Mighty Mo by decision 3-0
I have high expectations for this fight. Maeda is a young and very good fighter, this will be interesting.
Extra Round 1: Mighty Mo is complaining of a low blow, to be honest I think he is hurting from leg-kicks. Then Maeda hits with a low blow, this one there was no doubt about... Mighty Mo is up and the fight can continue. Mighty Mo seems to have gotten his breath back somewhat now. Treis some kicks of his own. Maeda is back to holding. Maeda hits with a leg-kick and Mighty Mo is bleeding from his left leg now. with seconds left Mighty Mo goes down from a leg kick, there is no count and time in the round is up. Decision time again. Maeda gets it 3-0
Decision time. DRAW
Round 3: Maeda hits with a few good leg-kick right after the bell. Then he is back to circling... After the last fight, this is disapointing... Maeda is looking more comfortable now and tries some leg-kicks. Mighty Mo is hurting. Maeda has gotten this fight to go his way, very good tactics. The time runs out in the third round.
Round 2: Continues with Maeda circling and Mighty Mo waiting in the middle. Maeda running away from his opponent now, Bobby Olongun style... Maeda continues to keep distance or hold. Mighty Mo looks like he is getting a little frustrated as the round runs out.
Round 1: Maeda is circling, clearly scared of Mighty Mo's punches.He tries to kick and keep his distance, but not good at keeping his balance. A question of time before Mighty Mo hits with one of them... Round runs out without much happening, a difficult round to score.

Mitsugu Noda vs. Petr Vondracek by KO round 2 2:35 (about)
Round 2: this is turning into a slugging battle. Noda looks to hit more, but its back and forth. Its a question of time before the ref steps in. Petr takes count again. He recovers and hits Noda with some very good punches. How long can these guys keep standing? Peter doesn't go down, but Noda gets the win by KO (I have no idea how Petr Vondracek kept on his feet...) with 25 seconds left in Round 2.
Round 1: Noda slightly more aggressive as the fighters are feeling eachother out. Petr hits with a few good punches and is very aggressive now. Noda hits with some good punches after setting it up with a high-kick, Petr has to take count. Noda in control now, but time runs out.

Aleksandr Pichkunov Def. Chalid “Die Faust” by decision after 2 extentions 2-1 Computer problems kept me off for a bit but I am back
Decision 2-1 to Pichkunov
Ext. Round 2: This fight is VERY close, the fighters are looking tired and continue the way the fought in the previous round.
Ext. Round 1: Continues like Round 2. "Die Faust" mostly punching, Puchkunov trying with knees and leg kicks. A very close round and judges score it a draw.
Judges score it a DRAW
Round 2: "Die Faust" punching, Pichkunov is mixing kick and knees
Round 1: Fighters are exchaning leg-kicks. "Die Faust" looks better with his hands and has a few good punches that hits the target. Round to "Die Faust".

Hiroyuki Enokida Def. Takashi Tachikawa by KO
First up is Tachikawa against Enokida. Tachikawa is a former pro baseball player who won his debut on NYE basically by leg-kicks. Lets see how he does this time.
Round 1: Enokida is knocked down twice in 20 sec. Then he KOs Tachikawa!!! fight is over in under 1 minute.


Remaining fights:
Opening Fights: Not included in the braodcast
Tsuyoshi Nakasako vs. Takumi Sato
Kyoung Suk Kim vs. Tsutomu Takahagi

Read more...

3/30 HEAT 6 - RESULTS

Better late than never... Been so busy the last few weeks that I forgot that HEAT 6 was on in Nagoya.

At least I did remeber to post
the card and the picutres of the ring-girls a while back. Anyway, the results.

Kick-Rule: Tatsufumi Tomihira Def. Ii Yo Sep(イ・ヨセプ) by KO Round 2 0:19
MMA-Rule: Ryuta Noji Def. Ho Min Sok (ホ・ミンソク) by TKO Round 2 0:01
MMA-Rule: Kazuhisa Tazawa Def. Ii San Su (イ・サンス) by arm-bar Round 1 1:49
MMA-Rule: Gil Freitas Def. Masataka Chinushi by knee-bar Round 1 4:47
Kick-Rule (MT): Jotaro Usui Def. Jyunichi Maruyama by decision 3-0
MMA-Rule (WT): Max Fernandes Def. Naoki Kimura by knee-bar
Kick-Rule (MT): Fabikat RS Promotion Def. Danilo Zanolini by TKO Round 3 3:00
MMA-Rule (WT): Imu Hyon Gyu Def. Masu “Bucchi” Hiro by TKO round 1 3:47
Kick-Rule (MT Reserve fight): King Kohei Def. Shunsuke Oishi by decision 2-1

New-Age Fights:
MMA-Rule: Yasutomo Katsuki Def. Daiki Suzuki by result 3-0
Kick-Rule: Hiroaki Suzuki Def. Gaku Sakai by TKO

(MT)=Middleweight Tournament
(WT)=Welterweight Tournament

Read more...

Random Bits 4/12

Saturday 12 April 2008

-Seems everything happening now is about K-1 tomorrow, it is going to be a huge event. It is showing live on SkyPerfect ch. 721 from 3-8 PM. I am considering doing live updates, but not 100% sure yet... Either way, the results should be up quick.
http://mmamanjapan.blogspot.com/2008/04/77-k-1-world-max-final-8-matchups.html


-ZST has announced 2 fighters for their May 18 show. Pretty big names, but remember that Sengoku is holding their second event next doors on the same day... Anyway, participating in ZST 17 will be Hideo Tokoro and Masayuki Okude (Mini Hong Man Choi).
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080412-00000003-spnavi-fight.html

-SmackGirl has added 2 fights to their April 25 card today, undefeated Kanako Takeshita (6-0-0) will meet another undefeated fighter, Rin Nakai (3-0-0).

Also added was the discovery fight between Benkei (2-4-0) and Miki Morifuji (5-4-0). I am sure there will be additions to this card, but its already looking pretty good in my eyes.
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080412-00000025-spnavi-fight.html

-Wednesday's K-1 event scored 12.4% of the viewers. I don't normally pay attention to these, so not sure if that is high or low but have a feeling its on the low side. To be honest, I am not a fan of the TBS production... Something I also had a problem with when DREAM was on...
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/k1/headlines/20080411-00000004-spnavi_ot-fight.html

Read more...

4/27 Pancrase - Shining Tour 3

Friday 11 April 2008

Pancrase is continuing their good year. I think the 2 first events this year have been really good, and this event looks good as well.

This time, they dont have any unbeaten fighters on the main card, but lots fighters/fights to get excited about. The main event is awesome, for the lightheavy weight belt. Shoji is the Lightweight champ, Rafiq and Wada will battle for the King of Pancrase welterweight title.

Then some lesser known fighters, Matti Makela is coming to Japan to face "the Pink Typhoon"... In my opinon, Matti should take this. Also look out for Curbanov Djamal on this card. A few of the SK Absolute Russia guys have taken Pancrase by storm lately. Djamal is the latest to attempt this. He has a wealth of experience in Sambo and Combat Sambo, so look for this guy to get a quick win.

They have also added loads of Neo-Blood fights, I like this as its a good chance to see new fighters.

Yuki Kondo 48-20-6 vs. 32-22-9 Keiichiro Yamamiya
Shoji 6-2-0 vs. 16-7-4 Koji Oishi
Bryan Rafiq 5-2-0 vs. 16-8-8 Takuya Wada
Katsuya Inoue 16-5-2 vs. Curbanov Djamal

Yuji Hisamatsu 10-14-4 vs. 9-5-0 Matti Makela
Manabu Inoue 6-3-1 vs. 8-9-2 Masaya “J Taro” Takita
Daisuke Watanabe 17-27-4 vs. 2-2-0 Ryuji Ohori
Yukio Sakaguchi 1-2-0 vs. 5-10-3 Wataru Takahashi

NEO-BLOOD Tournament:
Steven Magdaleno 3-0-1 vs. 1-0-0 Pak Il-Gyu
Hirotoshi Saito vs. 4-1-0 Hayato Shimizu
Tanaka Yasutomo vs. 6-2-1 Motonobu Tezuka
Takuya Kosen 1-0-0 vs. Ryota Sasaki
Toshihiro Shimizu 1-3-2 vs. Kiyotaka Shimizu

Read more...

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