Shooto Rankings

Monday, 30 June 2008

I have been asked if there are any rankings in Japan. The answer is that there is none that I know of, exept for he ones the different organizations maintain. This is the latest Shooto ranking, and it is NOT new. This is more a post signaling that I will try to keep you up to date with the latest Shooto and Pancrase (coming soon) rankings.

The June rankings look like this (appologies, I had to guess on 2 names):

Bantamweight:
Champ: Shinichi “BJ” Kojima (8-3-4)
(From October 14 2006, Defended 1 times)1. Mamoru Yamaguchi (20-4-3)
2. Yasuhiro Urushitani (14-3-6)
3.Yuki Shoujou (7-4-2)
4. Masatoshi Abe (8-2-1)
5. Ryuichi Miki (6-2-3)
6. Junji Ikoma (10-9-3)
7. Shimokawa Yusei (5-3-0)
8. Yasuhiro Akagi (6-4-0)
9. Setsu Iguchi (8-2-1)
10. Jin Akimoto (10-11-4)

Featherweight:
Champ: Masakatsu Ueda (8-0-1) (From March 28 2008, Defended 0 Times)
1. Marcos “Louro” Galvao (6-2-0)
2. Daniel Lima (8-3-2)
3. Koetsu Okazaki (5-1-1)
4. Eduardo Dantas (5-1-0)
5.Atsushi Yamamoto (11-5-1)
6. Kenji Osawa (13-7-2)
7. So Tazawa (8-3-2)
8. Tetsu Suzuki (8-5-3)
9. Takeya Mizugaki (9-2-2)
10. Ryota Matsune (15-1-1)

Lightweight:
Champ: Hideki Kadowaki (13-7-2) (From March 28 2008, Defended 0 times)
1. Akitoshi Tamura (12-6-2)
2. Antonio Carvalho (10-4-0)
3. Savant Young (9-7-0)
4. “Lion” Takeshi Inoue (14-3-0)
5. Hatsu Hioki (15-3-1)
6. Rumina Sato (24-4-2)
7. Bao Quach (14-8-1)
8. Katsuya Toida (10-9-3)
9. David Lejenas (5-3-0)
10. Hiroyuki Takaya (9-5-1)

Welterweight:
Champ: Takashi Nakakura (10-2-1) (from May 3 2008 Defended 0 times)
1. Yusuke Endo (11-2-1)
2. Ganjo Tensuku (9-3-2)
3. Bendy Casimir (14-4-2)
4. Jani Lax (8-7-0)
5. Brian Cobb (12-4-0)
6. Mizuto Hirota (9-2-0)
7. Willian Chiqueirinho (6-0-0)
8. Eiji Mitsuoka (13-5-2)
9. Giovani Diniz (6-2-0)
10. Tatsuya Kawajiri (22-4-2)

Middleweight:
Champ: Shinya Aoki (From February 17 2006, defended 1 times)
1. David Baron (15-2-0)2. Scott Henze (21-10-2)
3. Wim Deputter (18-2-0)
4. Grzegorz Trendowski (5-0-1)
5. Niek Tromp (4-2-2)
6. Zelim Felican (2-1-0)
7. Roemer Trumpert (7-6-0)
8. Ronald Jhun (22-23-2)
9. Brent Weedman (9-4-1)

10. Keita Nakamura “K-Taro” (14-3-2)

Light-Heavyweight:
Champ: Siyar Bahadourzada (13-3-1) (From July 15 2007, defended 0 times)
1. Leandro Silva (10-5-0)
2. Akihiro Murayama (9-3-4)
3. Shiko Yamashita (10-4-3)
4. Grazhuydas Smailis (8-4-0))
5. Masashi Yozen (5-2-1)
6. Nathan Schouteren (12-6-2)
7. Petras Morkevicius (17-6-2)
8. Rolandas Agrba (3-3-0)
9. Edward O’Daniel (1-2-0)
10. Dustin Denes (12-4-3)

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FEG (K-1 MAX and DREAM) Presents Akasaka Fight Fest

Sunday, 29 June 2008

From June 30 to July 6 FEG will hold an event in Akasaka Sacas (Click here for directions) . Every day next week some of the biggest stars of FEG and DREAM will be there.

If you are in the area, this is something you should go and check out!

6/30 19:00-20:00 DREAM: Yamamoto "Kid" - Q&A
7/1 18:00-19:00 K-1 MAX: Masato - Open practice
7/1 19:00-20:00 DREAM: Shinya Aoki, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Masakazu Imanari, Hidehiko Hasegawa - Special interview/talkshow and open practice + price giveaways.
7/2 18:00-19:00 K-1 MAX: Haruaki Otsuki, Daisuke Uematsu. Susumu Daiguji, Saiga Kizaemomu, Hirotaka Tode - Open practice and interview.
7/2 19:00-20:00 DREAM: Masakatsu Funaki, Katsuyori Shibata + more pro-wrestlers
7/3 18:00-19:00 K-1 MAX: Yoshihiro Sato, Yasuhiro Kido - Open Practice
7/3 19:00-20:00 DREAM: Caol Uno, Hideo Tokoro - Open Practice and interview

7/4 18:00-20:00 K-1 MAX: Buakaw, Andy Souwer other foreign MAX fighters - Interview and charity auction
7/5 13:00-15:00 DREAM: Yoshihiro Akiyama and others, making promotion for DREAM special on July 13.
7/5 16:00-20:00 K-1 MAX: Special match, 3-4 fight + Muay Thai/Karate fights

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Joachim "HellBoy" Hansen Looking for Sponsor

Anyone who reads this site knows that I have my favorite fighters (even thought I took the list down). At the top of my list is Joachim "HellBoy" Hansen. If I want to introduce someone to MMA, I put on the Hansen vs. Uno fight from 2005. In my opinion he also had the best fight of DREAM 1 and 3, and I am sure his fight with Alvarez will be close to the fight of the year in 2008. He will fight in DREAM 5, which will air LIVE on HDNet in the US.

He is a fighter that always is noticed in the press-conferences, and his comments are often discussed for weeks afterwards by fans. This has in turn led to a huge following of fans around the world.

Hopefully there is someone out there who can see the value of building a long-term relationship with a fighter like this. Joachim Hansen is a name that any MMA fan around the world would recognized.

If you would be interested in working with Joachim Hansen and his team, send me a mail and I will relay contact details. japanmma@hotmail.com

As a gesture (not a thing of great value, I guess...), in addition to the benefits of the deal with Joachim, I am happy to put an ad on my site for anyone who sponsors Joachim.

Now for some highlights:




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6/29 K-1 Japan GP Fukuoka ***Live Play-by-Play***

The broadcast has started. It is 5 years since K-1 has been in Fukuoka! They have drawn a good crowd in, Marin Messe looks full.

Will we have a new Heavyweight or Superheavyweight champ tonight? Time will tell. In my eyes, it would be a huge upset if Schilt were to lose, but anything can happen.

Opening Fights (not shown):
2.Shinkyu Kawano vs. Takashi Tachikawa
1.Tournament Reserve fight: Keigo Takamori vs. Taisei Ko

RESULTS:

12. Final Japan GP: Ewerton Teixeira Def. Keijiro Maeda 3-0
11. Super-Heavyweight Title Fight: Semmy Schilt (champion) Def. Jerome Le Banner by decision 2-0
10. Heavyweight Title Fight: Badr Hari (champion) Def. Glaube Feitosa by KO/TKO
9. Semi-Final: Ewerton Teixeira Def. Tsuyoshi Nakasako by decision 3-0
8. Semi-Final: Keijiro Maeda vs. Takumi Sato by decision 3-0
7. Tsuyoshi Nakasako vs. Bernard Ackah by decision 3-0
6. Ewerton Teixeira Def. Tsutomu Takahagi by KO
5. Takumi Sato Def. Mitsugu Noda by decision 2-0
4. Keijiro Maeda Def. Musashi by decision 2-0
3. Superfight: Peter Aerts Def. Jan "the Giant" Nortje by TKO Round 3


12. Final Japan GP: Ewerton Teixeira Def. Keijiro Maeda 3-0
Time for the Japan GP Final! Fighters are making their way to the ring. Should be a very good fight, both fighters have impressed on their way the final.
Round 3: Maeda not running as much in the start of this round. And he is winning some of the exchanges as well. Maeda looks like the stronger fighter now, was able to hit with a good combination of punches. This round went to Maeda in my book. Maeda's corner looks very confident. Ewerton gets the decision 3-0 in a very close fight!
Round 2: Maeda continues to run away. Maeda slips as he is trying to run away after throwing a leg kick. This is a very boring fight... Eweron is the stronger in the exchanges that happen, but they are few. Maeda throws a leg-kick and then runs away. Maeda is gaining confidence (or getting tired of running) at the end of the round and we had a few exchanges. It is a close round. Round 1: Final has started. Maeda is circling and throwing leg -kicks. Ewerton left to chase after Maeda so far, when he get a chance he is good with the punches and Maeda looks in trouble. Maeda is warned by the ref. for his constant running away. Boring round, I would give it to Ewerton.

11. Super-Heavyweight Title Fight: Semmy Schilt (champion) Def. Jerome Le Banner by decision 2-0
It's time for the big boys. Schilt has been invincible lately, can Banner threaten him? Fighters making their way to the ring now.

Round 3: Final round! Schilt comes out jabbing and even throws in a spinning back kick that doesnt hit. Banner hits with a strong left that gets the crowd going, but Schilt gets back. Schilt is in control and goes for the big KO. The bell rings and both fighters raise their hand, but this should go to Schilt. Good fight and close fight on the cards! Schilt gets the decision 2-0.
Round 2: Schilt starts of with kicks, front, body and high. Clearly trying to keep distance to Banner that is now chasing to close the distance. Schilt's reach is very hard to get around, he hits with just about every jab he throws. Schilt is looking for the KO with a knee. Round over, I thinkg Schilt slowed down a bit at the end, but he did enough to win the round. There is some swelling around Banner's right eye.
Round 1: Its on! Schilt starts with a front kick, Banner circling. Banner looks stunned after a punch. A knee to the thigh from Schilt hits well. Good kick to the body from Banner. Round to the champ IMO.

10. Heavyweight Title Fight: Badr Hari (champion) Def. Glaube Feitosa by KO/TKO
We are ready for one of the highlight fights of the night! I think this will be an awesome fight. Feitosa has been good lately and I think he has a change to de-throne Badr Hari. Melvin Manhoef is giving Badr Hari his pep talk.
Round 1: Its on! Hari starts off with a straight right that goes through Feitosa's guard. Hari very agressive with punches and leg-kicks. High-kick from Hari hurts Feitosa. Hari followes up with punches and Feitosa has to take count. Feitosa gets up the first time, but is knocked down immediately after and the ref stops it. Awesome display of power by Hari!

9. Semi-Final: Ewerton Teixeira Def. Tsuyoshi Nakasako by decision 3-0
I will go with Ewerton in this one.
Round 3: Ewerton still tries the leg-kick at every oppurtunity. Keeping Nakasako at a distance. Nakasako is mainly punching and he is able to hit with a few combinations. Nakasako is able to get close, but Ewerton pushes him back. Ewerton in trouble at the end of the round. Fight to Ewerton IMO. Decision to Ewerton 3-0.
Round 2: Nakasako takes count after a leg-kick. He looks hurt. Nakasako tries to avoid the leg-kicks, but Ewerton is still able to hit with them. Round ends, clearly to Ewerton. Nakasako's left leg is looking damaged.
Round 1: Ewerton more agressive, but not much damage done. Nakasako gets a few jobs through Eerton's guard. Ewerton attempts a knee and is working with leg-kicks. Close round.

8. Semi-Final: Keijiro Maeda vs. Takumi Sato by decision 3-0
The first semi-final of the night! Fighters entering the ring! I think Maeda will be too strong in this fight. Sato might still have a swollen eye, but lets see how it plays out.
Round 3: Again a barrage of punches from Maeda, who gets Sato in a corner and is T'ing off. Sato still fighting back though. Amazing fight, but Sato is looking damaged now. Sato is still coming at Maeda! Maeda is in danger just as the bell rings, but surely Maeda will get this decision. Maeda by decision 3-0
Round 2: Sato's left eye is still swollen from the first fight. Sato looks to close the distance, but Maeda is good at keeping him back. Again Maeda hits with a good combination of punches, I am impressed that Sato is still standing! Not only is he standing, but he is still coming at Maeda. Maeda in control as the 2nd round finishes. Clearly to Maeda.
Round 1: No damage done in the first minute. Sato is pushing forward, but Maeda is keeping good distance. Maeda hits with a combination of punches. Sato stands and takes it, like he did in the QF. Round to Maeda IMO.

7. Tsuyoshi Nakasako vs. Bernard Ackah by decision 3-0
This is a big chance for Ackah, but he is up against an experienced opponent.
Round 3: Ackah starts the 3rd like the first, and he is not tired! His punches could be more efficient, but there is no break for Nakasako. Ackah looks tired now, and there is half a round left! Wild punches from Ackah, Nakasako also a bit tired. This will be close, but I would give it to Ackah, who was so tired he was barely standing at the end of the fight. Nakasako gets the decision 3-0.
Round 2: Nakasako better in the start, a high-kick hits. Pace is lower now, and that suits Nakasako better. Ackah is not driving the pace like he did early. A very close round Nakasako is back in the fight. Is Ackah tired? He seemed to slow down, maybe the high-kick did some damage?
Round 1: Nakasako looks very relaxed before the fight. Ackah goes out with a lots a puches tha force Nakasako back. Ackah does not seem to do much damage though. Spinning back kick attempt from Ackah, who has control so far. Ackah impressed me so far, some punches were not efficient, but he had full control against a much more experienced opponent.

6. Ewerton Teixeira Def. Tsutomu Takahagi by KO
Fightters are in the ring. I think Ewerton will take this, but lets wait and see.
Round 1: Good kicks and punches in the start of the round, looks like both fighters hit, but I think Ewerton is doing more damage with his punches. Takahagi takes count after a knee. He is back up. Spinning back kick attempt from Ewerton, it does not hit. KO win to Ewerton! Takahagi goes down from a knee that doesn't look like it hits! BAD decision by the ref IMO.

5. Takumi Sato Def. Mitsugu Noda by decision 2-0
Round 3: Starts off with some kicks from the fighters, then its slug fest again. Both fighters giving and taking an amazing number of punches in this fight! Sato's left eye seems to be swelling a bit, no wonder, this fight is no stop punches! What a fight!! Who won? From damage, I would say Noda... But think it might be another round in this fight. Sato got the decision! 2-0
Round 2: Noda is attempting knees, but does not seem to do any damage. Sato has Noda damaged now, a barrage of punches and Noda looks like be will go down. Some how he keeps on his feet! Now it is Noda's turn to have the upper hand, Sato on the ropes and Noda T''ing off. Non stop punching from both fighters! Very good 2nd round. I would give it to Sato, but tis was close. Round 1: Fight has started. A very agressive fight, fighters mostly exchanging punches and Noda has Sato on the ropes and Sato looks like he might go down, but he is able to defend himself. A high paced fight, I would give the round to Noda, in an entertaining 1st round.

4. Keijiro Maeda Def. Musashi by decision 2-0
Two very experienced Japanese fighters. Should be a good fight. The fighters are making their way to the ring now.
Round 3: Meada circling again, but Musashi closes the distance and they are exchange punches. Musashi is driving the fight now, but it is very close, hard to tell who gets the better of these exchanges. Maeda stuns Musahi with a punch, but Musashi is able to stand and take the following punches. Musashi hitting with some good shots now. 3rd round it finished and it is very close. Musashi took a lot of leg-kicks that might hurt him later, if he wins this fight. Maeda wins a VERY close decision 2-0.
Round 2: Musashi looks to close the distance. Hits with some good kicks and punches. Does not seem to do any damage though. Maeda gets back to a better distance and continues to circle. Musashi a lot more agressive in this round. An exchange of puches now and the fight has gotten a lot more agressive at the end of rouund 2. Awesome end to the 2nd round. Again a very close round, I would give it to Musashi think he did more damage.
Round 1: Fight has started. Both fighters standing back a bit, exchanging kicks, but nothing does any damage. Maeda works on leg-kicks. Seems to be his strategy early on. A lot of kicks in this round, Maeda keeps good distance and I would give him the round. Very close though, and not much damage done.

3. Superfight: Peter Aerts Def. Jan "the Giant" Nortje by TKO Round 3
Fighters are in the ring.
Round 3: A tie-breaker. Aerts goes out agressively. Nortje fights back, but Aerts is in control now. Nortje is cut and the doctor will check it. A very exciting fight! It is abig cut over hte eye, but not on the eyelid. The fight continues. Nortje is looking tired now, and there will be another doctor check on the cut. The fight continues again. Aerts again is very agressive. Nortje is able to come back though. High-kick hits for Aerts and he followes up with punches. The ref steps in to save Nortje. TKO to Aerts, in a very good opening fight.
Round 2: Second round looks closer, both fighters are very agressive and there is no real breaks in this fight. I still think Aerts is getting the better of it. Until Nortje hits with a good straight punch and an uppercut that seem to stun Aerts. I think Aerts was held up because be fell against Nortje. This round to Nortje IMO.
Round 1: Aerts gets Nortje to the ropes and has control early, but Nortje comes back. Aerts working some leg-kicks that looks liek they are starting to hurt Nortje, who is looking a bit tired now. Notje is still coming towards Aerts, but Aerts seems to get the best of the exchanges. Round is over, and I would give this round to Aerts.

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6/26 Shooto - Kitazawa Townhall - RESULTS

Sorry, a bit late with these ones... This is a good little Shooto card, with not too many surprises. Hiroyuki Abe continues to add to his wins.

Homare Kuboyama Def. Shinichi Hanawa by decision 3-0
Hiroyuki Abe Def. Kenichi Sawada by arm-bar Round 1 4:13
Miura vs. Paolo Milano DRAW
Kosuke Eda Def. Yuki Baba by arm-bar Round 2 2:31
Issei Tamura Def. Yasuhiro Kanayama 1-3-3 by Decision
Makoto Yamauchi Def. Tatsuya Nakashima by Triangle-choke Round 1 2:28
Ikuko Tamada Def. Kaio Nagayasu by decision 2-0
Yasuko Shigeki Def. Ayumi Takeuchi by Rear-naked choke Round 1 2:45

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8/3 Shooto - Gig Central Vol. 15

Saturday, 28 June 2008

Shooto will have their Gig Central Vol. 15 on August 3. As usual, Hioki appears as the main-event on a Nagoya card. This looks like a very interesting card, and should be a good event.

Main-Event:
11. Hatsu Hioki 15-3-1 vs. 5-3-3 Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura

10. Daisuke “Amazon” Sugie vs. Max Fernandez
9. Komei Okada 5-7-1 vs. 8-8-3 Takahiro Kajita
8. Takeshi Okada 5-3-2 vs. 6-9-2 Akira Kibe
7. Kenichi Hattori 4-3-3 vs. 4-1-1 Hisaki Hiraishi “Kotobukimaru”
6. Hiroshi Sakamoto 2-3-0 vs. 4-5-0 Keisuke Kurata
5. Kenya Kato 1-3-0 vs. 0-2-0 Teppei “Bull” Masuda

Rookie Tournament:

4. MW: Takesuke Kume 3-0-1 vs. 1-0-0 Yoichiro Sato
3. WW: Kunio Nakajima 1-2-1 vs. 7-1-3 Yukinari “Hibiki” Tamura
2. FeatherW: Yasuaki Nagamoto “Aki” 3-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Keita Yoshida
1. FlyW: Run vs. Mikiyomi Yamagami

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7/5 DEEP X03 - Shinjuku Face

Thursday, 26 June 2008

DEEP is holding their 3rd "X" grappling event. The card has some big stars on it, and it should be a good night of grappling in Shinjuku Face. With guys like "K-Taro" on the card, you can bet that it will be packed on a Saturday.

Main Event:
9- 79kg: Keita Nakamura “K-Taro” vs. Cicero Costa

8- 69kg: Raphael Mendez (?) vs. Kohei Yasumi
7- 52kg: MIKU vs. V一
6- Open: Shigenori Yamashita vs. Togyu (fighting Bull) Sora
5- 70kg: Takayuki Hirose vs. Masanori Kanehara
4- 51kg: Mika Nagano vs. SACHI
3- 62kg: Gilermi Mendes (?) vs. Yusuke Honma
2- 77kg: Ryotaro Endo vs. Roberto Souza
1- Open: Marcinus Souza (?) vs. Yuji Sakuragi

Opening Fights:
5- 80kg: Sotaro Yamada vs. Ryohei Arai
4- 75kg: 半谷泰佑 (?) vs. Yohei Ota
3- 70kg: Noritsugo Shimazaki (?) vs. 井上誠午(和術慧舟會GODS)
2- 62kg: Makoto Sawada vs. Kiyoshi Kitamura
1- 75kg: Kendo Kokubuda (?) vs. Takaya Asano

Future Fights:
4- 80kg: Yusuke Shinmei vs. Huan Kaio (?)フアン・カイオ
3- 62kg: Satoru Ida vs. Hitoshi Makino
2- 50kg: Asami Kodera vs. Mika Hamasaki
1- 65kg: Atsushi Sakuma vs. Yuto Hirao

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7/21 DREAM 5 - Mark Hunt is back?!?!

Wednesday, 25 June 2008

As some of you will notice, and NoB has done as well, the graphics on the left side (the DREAM 5 graphic) has announced some new participants in this event! Who are they?

None other than:
-Mark Munt 5-3-0
-Joachim Hansen 17-7-1
-Mirko CroCop 23-6-2
-Minowaman 39-28-8

Other participants (previously announced):
-Yoshihiro Akiyama 10-1-0 (1NC)
-Denis Kang 29-10-1 (rumored)

This card is really taking shape!

I have a feeling Joachim might be in a reserve fight, but lets wait and see. For me, I am thinking this is enough to buy my ticket!

Already confirmed:
Lightweight semi-finals:
Eddie Alvarez 14-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki 16-2-0 vs. 25-10-4 Caol Uno

Non-tournament:
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-1-0 vs. 7-0-0 Joseph Benavidez

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8/24 Sengoku 4 - 1st Fight Announced

Sengoku has announced the first fight for their event on August 24. This should be a much better event than Sengoku 3, it certainly looks like it at this point.

The first fight announced will be between K-1 veteran Peter Graham (who competed in Sengoku 1 as well), facing off against the much more experienced Moise Rimbon,
NoB has posted links to some of his fights. It should be an interesting fight, and press conferrance! Will Peter Graham be able to get a fight started this time? I would be willing to put some money on it!

Announced:
Peter Graham 0-1-0 vs. 12-7-3 Moise Rimbon

Participating:
Takanori Gomi (28-3-0)

Lightweight Tournament Participants:

-Satoru Kitaoka (20-8-9)
-Eiji Mitsuoka (13-5-2)
-Kazunori Yokota (6-1-3)
-Duane Ludwig (16-8-0)
-Rodrigo Damm (8-1-0)

There has been some discussion around where the Sengoku name originates and what it means (maybe not a lot, but I will use it any way). The Kanji's might be different, but I thought this was an interesting read. Have a look if you are interested in a bit of Japanese history.

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6/22 Cage Force 07 - Pictures

Tuesday, 24 June 2008


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Originally uploaded by japanmma
Time for the pictures from my Cage Force experience. I was very honest (maybe too honest) when I came home from the event, but Cage Force always puts on a great show. This time, I thought it was not as good. Still, over all a very good production and I enjoyed myself.



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Originally uploaded by japanmma
This is from the opening fight, Ando and Miyazaki fought to a draw in a good fight.



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Tekaji was a guy I had not heard of before, but this was an exciting fight. I wonder if he had a weight advantage, but Tekaji was fun to watch with his arrogant style, no guard needed.



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Hoshino vs. Ota in another quick fight. Hoshino winning by TKO.



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That was the end of the opening fights and it was time for the ring-girls to take the stage.



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The place was packed!



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Sotoyama submitted Okuyama in a good fight.



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Mako dragon reminds me of someone the way he is holding his guard here... Ikkei won the fight, and I would again question if they were the same weight... But exciting non the less.



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Murayama vs. Fujii. Fujii on the right won a close fight.



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Son vs. Hori. Unfortunately, Hori suffered a cut on his eyelid early in this one, resulting in a doctor stoppage. This looked to be a very good match-up.



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Originally uploaded by japanmma

Is it an eye? Is it a condom? No... Its actually Tetsu Suzuki entering the ring against Katsuya Toida. Suzuki might have looked stupid walking in, but Toida was the one leaving the ring with egg on his face... Not event raising his guard in the fight.

***UPDATE*** Suzuki was entering as "Medama Oyaji" from a famous Anime called "GeGeGe no Kintaro". Unfortunately, I dont watch much anime, so I missed that. You can read more about "GeGeGe no Kintaro" here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeGeGe_no_Kitaro



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Originally uploaded by japanmma
This is what he looks like without the mask. I cant wait for his next fight.



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Mizugaki vs. Fujiwara.



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Fight ended in a huge KO to Mizugaki, Fujiwara did not know what happened and had to be restrained as he was ready to fight on. Mizugaki was already posing for the photographers...



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The main event. Carvalho vs. Hoshino. Carvalho would probably have liked this fight standing, unfortunately, Hoshino was able to take him down and was too strong on top. Hoshino got the decision.



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Just some pictures of the ring-girls... Cant go wrong with that....



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6/29 K-1 WorldGP Fukuoka - Fight Order

The card has had some changes. Noticeably, the changes have lead to no reserve fight! This is a very high risk in these K-1 tournaments… The fighters have to go through 3 fights and it’s not unusual to have to call in the reserve in these tournaments. Either way, this should be a very good night of fighting in Fukuoka and I am actually surprised that they have put that many stars on this card (2 title fights in addition to the tournament). If you’re in Fukuoka, this is the place to be on Sunday.

****UPDATE****
I totally missed that the first opening fight was the reserve fight... Thanks to Fire Fist for correcting me!

K-1 Japan GP Final
12. Winner fight 8 vs. Winner Fight 9

11. Super-Heavyweight Title Fight: Semmy Schilt (champion) vs. Jerome Le Banner
10. Heavyweight Title Fight: Badr Hari (champion) vs. Glaube Feitosa

K-1 Japan GP Semi-Finals
9. Winner Fight 6 vs. Winner Fight 7
8. Winner Fight 4 vs. Winner Fight 5

K-1 Japan GP Quarter Finals:
Block B
7. Tsuyoshi Nakasako vs. Bernard Ackah
6. Ewerton Teixeira vs. Tsutomu Takahagi

Block A
5. Mitsugu Noda vs. Takumi Sato
4. Musashi vs. Keijiro Maeda

3. Superfight: Peter Aerts vs. Jan "the Giant" Nortje

Opening Fights:
Shinkyu Kawano vs. Takashi Tachikawa
Tournament Reserve fight: Keigo Takamori vs. Taisei Ko

Read more...

7/18 Shooto - Tradition 02 - "Wicky" Akiyo's opponent announced

Finally Shooto have announced the opponent for "Wicky" Akiyo. It is Finnish Shooto fighter Matteus Lahdesmaki who will make his Japan debut.

**Correction***
Matteus Lahdesmaki has Has fought in Japan once before, that was in 2006 the organization that time was MARS and the arena Shinjuku Face.He lost that fight to Un Sik Song by rear naked choke.

This card is looking awesome!

Added:
"Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura 7-2-1 vs. 5-3-3 Matteus Lahdesmaki

Previously announced:
Main-Event: Shooto Bantamweight Title-fight:
Shinichi “BJ” Kojima 8-3-4 vs. 20-4-3 Mamoru Yamamguchi
Co-main event: Pacific Title-fight:
Yusuke Endo 11-2-1 vs. 7-5-5 Kenichiro Togashi
Hiroyuki Tanaka 6-4-1 vs. 4-0-1 Hiromasa Ogikubo
Shinji Sasaki 6-2-0 vs. 8-7-2 Jin Kazeta
Takehiro Harusaki 5-3-0 vs. 4-0-1 Shinya Murofushi
Teriyuki Matsumoto 5-2-0 vs. 4-4-1 Takahiro Hosoi
Akihiro Yamazaki 9-2-1 vs. 1-0-0 Naoko Hirayama

Rookie Tournament Round 2:
Daiki Tsuchiya 1-0-0 vs. 2-1-0 Naohiro Mizuno
Yuta Nezu 4-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Haruo Ochi
Rookie Tournament:
臼田育男 Ikuo Usuda (?) vs. Junpei Konno

Read more...

6/22 Cage Force 07 - RESULTS

Sunday, 22 June 2008

I just came home from this event, and I decided to make this review a bit more personal than I normally do...

Cage Force has always been very good to me! Today, it was just ok... Probably because of some (one) of the results, and some fighter performances.

To be honest, there were 4 fights that made this card. That were the 4 tournament fights. The others were a bonus (and a nice one at that). I think GCM did well this time, the event was pretty much sold out and the atmosphere was much better than what it normally is at events in Japan. It started good, some good pre-liminary fights got the night of to a good start.

I think Hiyoshi can look forward to a bright future, he is 4-0 now and it might be time to get a really good opponent.

The fights went on, and there were some good performances, some mis-matches but all enjoyable. Then it was time for the money fights, the final 4, the tournament fights.


Sorry, for those reading carefully, I had the fight order wrong earlier. It is corrected here.

Faijin Son won an early doctor stoppage in a fight that really looked to have potential.

Then it was time for Tatsu Suzuki vs. Katsuya Toida! An awesome match-up (I thought)! Suzuki came in wearing a mask that got the crowd laughing. Toida clearly tried the same by standing around in his corner when the bell rung. Suzuki knocked him on the head, and Toida went down. Suzuki pounced on it and the ref had to jump in. I am guessing it took about 20 sec. HOW CAN YOU LOSE TO A GRAPPLER LIKE THAT???? Man, I had this picked as one of the best match-ups of the night!

Next was Mizugaki vs. Fujiwara. No real surprise here... Mizugaki was stronger, Fujiwara tried to take him down. Mizugaki KO'd Fujiwara from the clich. A BIG KO! Fujiwara woke up long after Mizugaki had been announced as the winner and tried to continue the fight. He appologized later to Mizugaki. A solid performance from Mizugaki who moves on in the tournament.

The main-event! Carvalho vs. Hoshino! The crowd (me included) was really into this one! Carvalho is one of my favorite fighters and today I am sad... He lost this fight... No discussion... Hoshino took him down and Carvalho had no answers from his back. No doubt these were to of the best fighters on the night, and they both brought everything. I just wish the result was different. Today Hoshino was stronger, and it was an emotional victory for him. I am sure most of you know by now by the Wajyutsu Keisyukai suffered a tragic loss of their coach. And Hoshino was clearly emotional after getting his win (very understandable).


The results:
Yuji Hoshino Def. Antonio Carvalho by decision 3-0
Takeya Mizugaki Def. Daichi Fujiwara by TKO
(how this was not a KO I dont know) Round 1 2:38
Tatsu Suzuki Def. Katsuya Toida by TKO Round 1 0:16
Fanjin Son Def. Tomohiko Hori TKO Round 1 1:28

Non-Tournament:
Motoki Miyazawa Def. Shiko Yamashita by decision 3-0
Rikuhei Fuji Def. Akihiro Murayama by decision 3-0
Daisuke Endo Def. Tomoaki Ueyama Rear-naked choke Round 1 2:13
Ikkei Def. Mako Dragon by arm-bar round 1 2:53
Shinpei Sotoyama Def. Kenta Okuyama by Kimura round 3 0:55

Preliminary Fights:
Daisuke Hoshino Def. Daisuke Yamamoto by TKO Round 1 1:57
Nobutaka Hiyoshi Def. Ryo Saito by TKO Round 1 1:16
Tekaji Def. Wataru Suzuki by decision 3-0
Koji Ando vs. Naoto Miyazaki DRAW


That leaves these as the 2nd round/semi-finals tournament match-ups:
Featherweight:
"Wicky" Akiyo vs. Fajin Son
Yuji Hoshina vs. Takeshi Yamazaki

Bantamweight:
Takeya Mizugaki vs. Taiyo Nakahara
Tatsu Suzuki vs. Masahiro Oishi

Read more...

6/21 Shooto - Shooting Disc 5 - RESULTS

The main event for yesterday's Shooto even was the re-match between the 2 veterans Jin Akimoto and Junji Ikoma. They fought in January in what was an exciting draw. Yesterday they fought again, the result being much the same...

All the results:
Jin Akimoto vs. Junji Ikoma DRAW
So Tazawa Def. Junya Kudo “KODO” by decision 3-0
Noboru "Shinpei" Tahara Def. Atsushi Takeuchi by arm-bar Round 2 3:25
Yoshitaro Niimi Def. Taisuke Okuno by decision 2-1
Eiji Murayma Def. Yuji Inoue by triangle choke Round 1 4:40
Seiji Otsuka Def. Ayumu “GOZO” Shioda by KO Round 2 0:59
Daisuke “Hunt” Okumiya vs. Shin Kochiwa DRAW
Hidenori Nishino Def. Kenichiro Marui by TKO Round 1 0:52

Rookie Tournament Bantamweight:
Hiroaki Ijima Def. Nari Fujita by decision 2-1

Nozomu Otsuka Def. Yosuke Saruta “Flying Monkey☆No.2” by TKO Round 2 3:25

Read more...

Antonio Carvalho - Sherdog Interview

Saturday, 21 June 2008

Sherdog has posted a video interview of Antonio Carvalho. I am really looking forward to his fight tomorrow and it is interesting to see how his Japan experience is.

For the record, I have been in Japan for 4 years. 2 of those I lived in Oimachi. Japan is not an easy place to live!! I think people have no idea of the sacrifices he makes to live and train here. For me, I can imagine what its like and I have a lot of respect for what he does (same goes for anyone doing the same he does, and I know a lot of them!).

Tomorrow he will win, and you should check out this interview!

http://www.sherdog.com/videos/videos.asp?v_id=1653

Read more...

7/27 DEEP 36 Impact Osaka - Card taking shape

DEEP have announced a couple of fights for their upcoming event in Osaka. Main-event will most likely be the welterweight title fight between Hidehiko Hasegawa and Seichi Ikemoto. This is a re-match of their fight in 2005, which Ikemoto won by decision. It should be a good fight between 2 very experienced guys, will we have another new DEEP champion?

DEEP Welterweight Title Fight:
Hidehiko Hasegawa 14-9-5 vs. 16-14-5 Seichi Ikemoto

Tomoyuki Fukami 7-1-4 vs. 4-1-0 Koichiro Matsumoto
Isao Terada 4-5-4 vs. 3-2-0 Toru Harai

Participating:
Young "RYO" Choi 9-5-0
Seigo Mizuguchi 2-3-0
Masanori Tonooka 0-1-0
Nobuyoshi Takahara 1-1-0
Junzo Tokunaga1-1-0
Hidehira Yabu 1-2-0
Hiroshi Shiba 4-3-0
Nobuhiro Yoshitake 0-3-1
Makoto Kamaya 8-4-1
Yuya Aikawa 0-1-0
“Crazy” Tsuchiya
Hiroto 5-1-0
Miyamonta
And more…

NEXT LEVEL Fights:
James Low vs. Kareem “Sugarbear” Byron (?)
Hasu (?) Takeno vs. X
Jin Hirayama vs. Katsuki Ishida
Shohei Fujita vs. NakagawaΩJien乙ΩKoki
Suzuna Nakamura vs. Kumiko Nanba

Read more...

7/13 HEAT 7 - ZAPP Nagoya

If you're in Nagoya, HEAT is the organization to watch. They attract some good fighters and are putting both MMA and K-1 rule fights in the same event. HEAT 7 will feature a number of tournaments and I am sure there will be lots of good fights to watch.

Make sure you check out the links I put on the bottom, there are some videos worth watching and some information in English on the HEAT site.

I am sure there will be some additions to the tournaments.

Participants:
HEAT Kick Rule Middleweight Tournament (70kg)1st round
-Yuzo Matsumoto
-Kinji
-Nathan Willet

HEAT MMA Rule Welterweight Tournament(77.1kg)1st round
-Jun Kitou
-Akira Pedro
-Justin Holdaas

HEAT Kick Rule Heavyweight Tournament(100kg)1st round

-Gotoku Onda
-Jason Suttie

HEAT MMA Rule Heavyweight (Open weight)1st Round
-Christiano Kaminishi
-Lee Sang Soo
-Amazon Juninho

New-Age Fights:
60kg Kick-Rule: Gaku Sakai vs. Masaaki Noiri
65kg Kick-Rule: Yoshiharu Ono vs. Takao Niki
70kg MMA-Rule: Kazuyoshi Hioki vs. Kouzaburou Muramatsu
70kg MMA-Rule: Hironobu Yoshida vs. YUSUKE

Ticket Prices:
Premium Seat (20 available) 25,000円
SRS 18,000円/RS 13,000円/S 8,000円/Standing 5,000円
at the door +500円



English information here:
http://heatofficial.com/english

HEAT has posted videos from past events here:
http://heatofficial.com/category/video

Read more...

7/20 ZST SWAT 19 - Genesis Tournament

ZST is holding thier Featherweight Tournament round 1 and 2 in Gold's Gym South Annex on July 20. Should be some good fights in there and a good chance to discover new talent. Prices are very affordable too.

15. MW: Yojiro Uchimura 5-2-0 vs. 2-2-0 Takashi Matsui
14. BW: Shin Katayama 4-1-6 vs. 1-0-0 Tetsuya Fusano
13. Female Grappling Rule: Rina Tomita vs Mamiko Mizuguchi
12. FWT: Winner Fight 7 vs. Winner Fight 8
11. FWT: Winner Fight 6 vs. Winner Fight 5
10. FWT: Winner Fight 4 vs. Winner Fight 3
9. FWT: Winner Fight 2 vs. Winner fight 1
8. FWT: Akira Omura 0-9-1 (2NC) vs. Keizo Hisamoto
7. FWT: Makoto Takenaka 0-1-0 vs.優瑠 (?) Hayasaka
6. FWT: Masanori Hirata vs. Yushi Komori
5. FWT: Takeaki Miyagawa vs. 0-1-1 Tetsuya Yamamoto
4. FWT: Toshihiro Shimizu vs. Kei Sato
3. FWT: Kohei Kuraoka vs. Takahiro Ichijo
2. FWT: Hisamitsu Taniguchi vs. Yuta Meguro
1. FWT: 剛卓(?) Abe vs. Hiryo (?) Okamoto

Ticket Prices:
SRS 5,000円/S 3,000円/ Standing 2,000円

At the door: +500円

Read more...

6/22 Cage Force 07 - Fight Order

Friday, 20 June 2008

Ok, I know... There has been a lot about this event... But it will be awesome! Cage Force has been one of my favorite promotors the last couple of years. They have a very good show, not sure how sound it is finanicially... As we saw earlier this year. But these shows are fun and they attract some very good talent.

Anyway, the fight order for this Sunday.

13. FWT: Antonio Carvalho 10-3-0 vs. 13-7-7 Yuji Hoshino
12. BWT: Katsuya Toida 10-8-3 vs. 7-5-3 Tatsu Suzuki
11. BWT: Takeya Mizugaki 8-2- vs. 6-2-1 Daichi Fujiwara
10. FWT: Fanjin Son 4-2-0 vs. 7-2-2 Tomohiko Hori

Non-Tournament:9. WW: Shiko Yamashita 10-3-3 vs. 3-0-0 Motoki Miyazawa
8. MW: Akihiro Murayama 9-2-4 vs. 2-2-0 Rikuhei Fuji
7. BW: Tomoaki Ueyama 0-1-0 vs. Taityoko Endo
6. MW: Ikkei 0-1-0 vs. 1-1-0 Mako Dragon
5. LW: Shinpei Sotoyama 5-3-2 vs 7-5-0.Kenta Okuyama

Preliminary Fights:
4. LW: Daisuke Hoshino vs. Junichi Ota
3. FW: Saito (?) vs. Nobutaka Hiyoshi
2. LW: Tekaji vs. 1-0-0 Wataru Suzuki
1. LW: Koji Ando vs. 0-1-0 Naoto Miyazaki


FWT= Featherweight Tournament
BWT= Bantamweight Trournament
MW= Middleweight
LW= Lightweight
FW= Featherweight
BW= Bantamweight


Cage Force 07
Originally uploaded by japanmma
This is one of the posters for the event... One of these fighter would probably like a better picture.

Read more...

6/22 Cage Force 07 - Card Final

Wednesday, 18 June 2008

It looks like the Cage Force card for Sunday is final. Today 3 more fights were announced, this is looking like a very good event (I always enjoy these Cage Force cards).

No word on the main-event yet, but I am guessing Antonio Carvalho should have a good chance at getting it.

Added today:
Tomoaki Ueyama 0-1-0 vs. Taityoko Endo
Ikkei 0-1-0 vs. 1-1-0 Mako Dragon
Shinpei Sotoyama 5-3-2 vs 7-5-0.Kenta Okuyama

Previously announced:
Bantamweight Tournament Fights:
Katsuya Toida 10-8-3 vs. 7-5-3 Tatsu Suzuki
Takeya Mizugaki 8-2- vs. 6-2-1 Daichi Fujiwara

Featherweight Tournament Round 1:
Antonio Carvalho 10-3-0 vs. 13-7-7 Yuji Hoshino
Fanjin Son 4-2-0 vs. 7-2-2 Tomohiko Hori

Non-Tournament:
Shiko Yamashita 10-3-3 vs. 3-0-0 Motoki Miyazawa
Akihiro Murayama 9-2-4 vs. 2-2-0 Rikuhei Fuji

Preliminary Fights:
Daisuke Hoshino vs. Junichi Ota
Saito (?) vs. Nobutaka Hiyoshi
Koji Ando vs. Naoto Miyazaki 0-1-0
Tekaji vs. 1-0-0 Wataru Suzuki

Read more...

7/17 DEEP/M-1 - Challenge 5

Saeki announced earlier this week that DEEP will co-produce M-1 Challenge 5 in Korakuen Hall July 17. This is an event format where 2 countries are pitted against eachother and they fight 5 fights in different weight divisions.

There is no doubt that this will be an exciting night in Korakuen Hall. For those who want to stay there over night can watch Shooto Tradition 2 the following day as well!

Participating this time in Japan are:
Group A: France Vs. USA 5 Fights
Group B: Japan V. Nederlands 5 Fights

The fights will be fought like this:

Japan vs. Nederlands
70kg: Daisuke Nakamura 14-9-0 Vs.4-2-1 Bogdan Cristea
76kg: Ken Hamamura 14-4-4 Vs. 2-3-0 Mehemt Uygun
84kg: Yuta Watanabe 8-1-3 Vs. 4-3-0 Jason Jones
93kg: Yuji Sakuragi 9-11-1 Vs. 4-2-0 Kamil Uygun
+93kg: Katsuhisa Fujii 8-14-1 Vs. 4-1-0 Jessie Gibson

France Vs. USA
Samuel Judes 2-1-0 Vs. 1-0-0 Keith Perrigon
Farouk Lakebir 2-0-0 Vs. 0-1-0 Vince Ortiz
Karl Amoussou-Guenou 6-1-1 Vs. 3-0-0 Jason Bukich
Christian Mpumbu Ndjoku Vs. 5-0-0 Bryan Harper
Malick Ndiaye 1-1-0 Vs. 2-1-0 James Jack
Bertland Amoussou-Guenou Vs. X

*I am not a 100% confident in all the records here, but I have done my best. I think most should be ok. Please leave a comment if you have more up to date information.

Ticket Prices:
VIP 10,000円 
Other 5,000円
At the door +500円

Read more...

7/18 Shooto - Tradition 02 - Main-Event Announced

Shooto has announced an additional 4 fights today, the main event will see "BJ" returning to bantamweight, and I am sure I am not the only one to look forward to seeing him defending his title against Mamoru.

There is a very good mix of experienced top fighters and new exciting talents on this card, should be an awesome event!

No opponent for "Wicky" Akiyo yet, but hopefully there will be an announcement soon.

For some reason, this fight does not seem to be on the card anymore:
Naohiro Mizuno 2-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Daiki Tsuchiya

Added to the card:
Main-Event: Shooto Bantamweight Title-fight:
ShinichiBJKojima 8-3-4 vs. 20-4-3 Mamoru Yamamguchi
Co-main event: Pacific Title-fight:

Yusuke Endo 11-2-1 vs. 7-5-5 Kenichiro Togashi
Hiroyuki Tanaka 6-4-1 vs. 4-0-1 Hiromasa Ogikubo
Rookie Tournament:

臼田育男 Ikuo Usuda (?) vs. Junpei Konno

Previously Announced:
Shinji Sasaki 6-2-0 vs. 8-7-2 Jin Kazeta
Takehiro Harusaki 5-3-0 vs. 4-0-1 Shinya Murofushi
Teriyuki Matsumoto 5-2-0 vs. 4-4-1 Takahiro Hosoi
Akihiro Yamazaki 9-2-1 vs. 1-0-0 Naoko Hirayama

Rookie Tournament Round 2:
Daiki Tsuchiya 1-0-0 vs. 2-1-0 Naohiro Mizuno
Yuta Nezu 4-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Haruo Ochi


Participating:
"Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura 7-2-1

Read more...

DREAM vs. Sengoku Poll

Tuesday, 17 June 2008

The poll between Sengoku and DREAM ended in a convincing victory.

DREAM won a KO victory with 112 vs. 12.

I am surprised that the result was that clear, even though I suspected that DREAM would win. Why am I so surprised?

Couple of reasons:

-The talent Sengoku signed, Olympic class wrestlers and judo practitioners would have been very good signings a few years back. Looks like MMA might have changed and fans realize that you need to do more than just to specialize to be successful.

-Sengoku seems to sign more heavy and light-heavy weights, something I thought would lead to some people throw a vote their way.

-The lightweight tournament Sengoku announced looks interesting, my objection would be that Gomi is not in it... I think he should have, instead he is treated like royalty and I guess in some ways he is. But Yokota, Kitaoka and Mitsuoka are very good Japanese fighters, adding Damm and Ludwig and it gets interesting. Sengoku might not have signed the big Japanese stars (as one comment said), but who are the big Japanese stars? And why are they the stars?

I do actually think the Sengoku is attracting a decent amount of Japanese talents and stars, my point is this: The Japanese stars were created in Pride, with Pride going out of business, that stopped the factory. Sengoku is looking to start a new factory and they have signed some potential Japanese stars (in my opinion). DREAM obviously has an advantage in the relationships they have built with some fighters through DSE.

DREAM has the advantage, without a doubt. They had a bigger pool of fighters to start, they have a TV deal, they have the Japanese stars.They DON'T have a solid Heavyweight line-up... Not only are they missing Heavyweights, but the 2 that fought this weekend (Ralek Gracie and Alistair Overeem) both called out the injured star CroCop. Although Overeem made it clear that he REALLY wants to fight the injured star.

My question is: where is Kharitonov? I guess we'll know soon enough.

So there you have it, the results of my little poll and my thoughts on the subject.

Read more...

8/16 DEEP: Gladiators - Okayama

DEEP has announced a new event called GLADIATOR, what looks like it will be the main event will feature non other than Don Frye 19-6-1, fighting Ikuhisa Minowa 39-28-8.

Also fighting will be Daijiro Matsui 10-19-4 and Hwang Sung Pang 5-1-0.

The event is will be held in Okayama, in Momotarou Arena.

Ikuhisa Minowa 39-28-8 vs. 19-6-1 Don Frye
Daijiro Matsui 10-19-4 vs. Eun Soo Lee
Hwang Sung Pang 5-1-0 vs. 5-4-1 Akihiko Mouri (record fromBoutreview.com)

K-1 Rule:
Gary Goodridge vs. Hiromi Amada


DEEP is also doing an event with M-1 soon, I will get back with the details of that later.

Read more...

7/27 DEEP 36 Impact ZEPP Osaka

Monday, 16 June 2008

DEEP started selling tickets for DEEP 36 today. The event will be held in ZEPP Osaka and 5 fighters have been announced as participants.

Some very experienced DEEP fighters on this card! As always, Seichi Ikemoto fights in his hometown. It will be a great week for MMA fans in Osaka.

Participants:
Hidehiko Hasegawa 14-9-5
Seichi Ikemoto 16-14-5
Young "RYO" Choi 9-5-0
Jutaro Nakao 21-13-4
Seigo Mizuguchi 2-3-0

http://www.deep2001.com/news/article.php/20080615125316445

Read more...

7/21 DREAM 5 - Semi-Finals Deceided

Sunday, 15 June 2008

DREAM drew teh semi-final match-ups during the event today. DREAM 4 turned out to be an awesome event, and DREAM 5 promises to further improve on that.

The semi-finals:
Eddie Alvarez 14-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki 16-2-0 vs. 25-10-4 Caol Uno

Also on the card:
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-1-0 vs. 7-0-0 Joseph Benavidez

Participating:
Yoshihiro Akiyama 10-1-0 (1NC)
Denis Kang 29-10-1

Read more...

6/15 DREAM 4 - Live Results ***SPOILER***

For those counting down, 6 hours to go! I am not planning a play-by-play today, but will be giving a live result service.

The weigh-in results, posted in a Sherdog discussion thread with no source, but it looks ligit (DREAM weigh-ins are normally closed):

MW: Kazushi Sakuraba (83.6 kg) vs. Melvin Manhoef (84 kg)

MW: Ronaldo Jacare (83.9 kg) vs. Jason Miller (84 kg)
MW: Kin Taiei (84 kg) vs. Zelg Galesic (83.8 kg)
MW: Yoon Dong Sik (83.9 kg) vs. Gegard Mousasi (83.8 kg)
FW: Hideo Tokoro (62.9 kg) vs. Darren Uyenoyama (62.6 kg)
HW: Gadzhiev Alavutdin (89.5 kg) vs. Ralek Gracie (96 kg)
HW: Alistair Overeem (108.8 kg) vs. Lee Tae Hyun (126.7 kg)
LW: Shinya Aoki (69.7 kg) vs. Katsuhiko Nagata (69.8 kg)

I had a feeling Alavutdin would be giving up a lot of weight, and this seems to confirm it. This time he has to be careful not to get mounted... Think it would be much harder to get out of this time.

Here are the fights coming up:

Lightweight Tournament:
1. Shinya Aoki Def. Katsuhiko Nagata by mounted gogopalata Round 1
(?)
Total domination by Aoki!

Non-Tournament Fights:
2. Alistair Overeem Def. Tae Hyun Lee by KO (Right hook) Round 1 0:35

This next one I am really looking forward to. It will be quick.
3. Ralek Gracie Def. Alavutdin Gadzhiyev by arm-bar Round 1
Alavutdin needs to work on his guard/ground game.

4. Hideo Tokoro Def. Darren Uyenoyama by Decision 3-0
AWESOME fight!!! This will be fight of the night.

They are drawing the LW tournament semi's in the intermission. I am confused as they asked the fans to vote for the match-ups... Either way, we will get the match-up tonight!

Matcu-ups are:
Eddie Alvarez vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki vs. Caol Uno

BTW, I got my wish! This is how I voted!

5. Gegard Mousasi Def. Dong Sik Yoon by decision 3-0
First round was awesome! Both fighters looked like they had their chances, Dong should maybe have finished it, but Mousasi did well in defending himself.

6. Zelg "Benkei" Galesic Def. Taiei Kin by TKO injury to right armduring take down (dislocated elbow)
Again disappointing, 2nd time Taiei Kin got injured against Galesic.

7. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza Def. Jason "Mayhem" Miller by Decision 3-0
Both these fighter would have won some fans on this performance. I have a feeling "Mayhem" is really getting a lot of fans here!

8. Melvin Manhoef Def. Kazushi Sakuraba by TKO Round 1

Read more...

6/15 DEEP Glove 2 - Don't Forget

Saturday, 14 June 2008

Don't forget that DEEP is holding an event in Shinjuku today too! I realize that most eyes will be on the DREAM event though...

MMA: Takashi Ono vs. Hiroki Okano
MMA: Hikaru Shinohara 4-6-0 vs. TBA
Kick-Boxing Rule: Taisuke Degai vs. Yusuke Shimizu
MMA: Hiroaki Chishima vs. Reiji Manbu
Boxing (exhibition): Koji Arisawa vs. Noritsugu Oshima
MMA: Kazuya Tamura 1-2-2 vs. 0-2-0 Kota Ishibashi
MMA: Yashinori Takahashi vs. Tatsyua Nakama
Kick-Boxing Rule: Takashi Makoyama vs. Masakazu Nagase
MMA: Shinya Kateda vs. DanMMA: Yoko Yamada vs. Nanachan Chin (?)

Read more...

DREAM 4 - Warm-Up

Friday, 13 June 2008

Some of the fighters competing on Sunday presented here:

DREAM 4 PROMO



The Middleweight Tournament Fighters:

Kazushi Sakuraba:
Highlight (any doubt he is one of the biggest names in the sport ever?)
vs. Yurij Kiselov
vs. Andrews Nakahara
vs. Carlos Newton
vs. Ebenezer Fontes Braga
vs. Kevin Randleman (last 2 min.)

Melvin Manhoef:
vs. Kim Dea Won
vs. Fabio Silva
vs. Bernard Ackah
vs. Bob Schreiber
vs. Mika Ilmen
vs. Ian Freeman
vs. Shungo Oyama
vs. Yoshiki Takahashi

Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza:
Highlights
vs. Ian Murphy
vs. Alexsander Shamelenko
vs. Jorge Patino
vs. Haim Gozali
vs. Victor Babkin

Jason "Mayhem" Miller:
vs. Katsuyori Shibata
vs. Lodune Sincaid
vs. Sean Taylor
vs. Mark Moreno
vs. Falaniko Vitale

Zelg "Benkei" Galesic:
Highlights
Another Highlight, try to ignore sound quality
vs. Taiei Kin
vs. Magomed Sultanakhmedov
vs. John Flemming
vs. Michael Holmes


Taiei Kin:
vs. Ikuhisa Minowa
vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
vs. Yusuke Fujimoto (K-1)
vs. Sentoryu (K-1)

Gegard Mousasi:
vs. Damir Mirenic
vs. Steve Mensing
vs. Hidetada Irie
vs. Tsuyoshi Kurihara
vs. Stefan Klever
vs. Denis Kang

Dong Sik Yoon:
vs. Zelg Galesic
vs. Melvin Manhoef
vs. Fabio Silva


Some of The Non-Tournament Fighters on the card:

Hideo Tokoro Highlights:




Alavutdin Gadzhiyev vs. Hikaru Sato - A MUST WATCH BEFORE TOMORROW!
- You can see why I am excited about seeing Alavutdin make his DREAM debut. I think Ralek Gracie will prove a better opponent though.



Alavutdin Gadzhiyev vs. Yuji Hisamatsu



Darren Uyenoyama:
vs. Ramba Somdet
vs. Anthony Figueroa

Read more...

6/15 DREAM 4 - Fight Order Announced

No big surprise that Sakuraba vs. Manhoef is the main event, it is the one the Japanese fans are looking forward too and I don't think they are alone this time! It will be very interesting to see how Sakuraba approaches that task.

I am a bit surprised that, again, Shinya Aoki is in the opening fight. Either way, lots to look forward to in this event. I will be giving the results live on Sunday, but no plans for a Play-by-Play this time.

Middleweight Tournament:
8. Kazushi Sakuraba 24-10-1 vs. 21-4-1 Melvin Manhoef
7. Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza 8-1-0 vs. 21-5-0 Jason "Mayhem" Miller
6. Zelg "Benkei" Galesic 8-3-0 vs. 3-2-0 Taiei Kin
5. Gegard Mousasi 21-2-1 vs. 4-4-0 Dong Sik Yoon

4. Hideo Tokoro 19-13-1 vs. 4-1-0 Darren Uyenoyama
3. Alavutdin Gadzhiyev 7-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Ralek Gracie
2. Alistair Overeem 26-11-0 vs. 1-1-0 Tae Hyun Lee

Lightweight Tournament:
1. Shinya Aoki 15-2-0 vs. 4-2-0 Katsuhiko Nagata

Read more...

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