12/14 HEAT 8 - Pictures!

Monday 15 December 2008

A great event in Differ Ariake yesterday! HEAT really dont get the attention it deserves, but it will come. Yesterday's event included some great semi-finals, the finals will be held in March and they should provide some very good fights!

The night started with a kick (K-1) rule fight between Kinji and Yuso Matsumoto.


Kinji forced Matsumoto to take count twice in round 1, Matsumoto tried to work his way back into the fight with kicks.


A very good and action packed fight, Kinji got the decision, but it was a good fight to get the night started.


The next fight was the welterweight tournament semi-final between Max Fernandes and Korean Hyong Yo Im. I was really looking forward to this one cause I have heard very good things about the talented Max Fernandes. He didnt disappoint! The Korean come out strong, and looked like he could cause the Brazilian some problems with an arm-bar attempt.


Fernandes shook off the attempt and when he got his chance he didnt waste time, submitting Hyong by a toe-hold (or achilles hold, not sure from my angle).


The win was very popular with his fans that were celebrating, Fernandes is into the final!


The 3rd fight of the night was another semi-final, in the middleweight kick-rule tournament. Thai Fabiakat "RS Promotion" and Jotaro Usui.


Lots of leg kicks in this one, and both fighters were showing the battle scars. But despite being deducted a point of a low knee, the Thai fighter got the decision in an impressive performance.


Max Fernandes' opponent in the welterweight final would be deceided when Justin Holdaas and Yoshitaro Niimi faced off in the other semi-final. Niimi recently lost the Shooto Pacific Rim title fight against Xavier Lucas, and was out to redeem himself. Holdaas had other plans though, and his tactics worked. He took Niimi to the ground and with one exception (pictured here), Holdaas was never in danger.


Holdaas was able to take Niimi to the ground and inpose his will.


A good win and you will hear more from Justin Holdaas in the future!


Goutoku Onda and Yuuki really put on a show for the fans. A very close fight with both throwing leather, this was exciting to watch.


I was impressed that this fight went the distance, a true testament to the determination by both the fighters. It also gave the ring-girls work.


A very strong win by Goutoku Onda


The other non-tournament fight on the card was between Masataka Chinushi and Daiju Takase. Takase had Caol Uno in his corner, but it didnt help today. Chinushi was able to open up a cut in round 1, and Takase changed his tactics in the 2nd.


Coming out in the 2nd, Takase tried to go for a takedown, but Chinushi was able to sprawl and avoid it. With just seconds left of the fight, Chinushi loads and lands this right to end the fight early.


A good win for Masataka Chinushi.


The last 5 fights were part of the heavyweight kick- and MMA-rule tournaments. First up was the kick-rule fight between Moon Bo Ram and Nobutaka Baba. Moon Bo Ram proved to be much stronger than he looked.


Moon lands this uppercut that ends the night early for Baba.


Moon Bo Ram moves on in the tournament.


Makoto Uehara and Sun Wu had an unexpected ending, there was a scramble along the fence and Wu went down with pain in the groin area. The ref did not see an illegal blow, an Wu were not allocated time to recover. He was unable to continue and Uehara got the win in another good fight.


Dong Yi Yang was facing Ryuta Noji in an MMA-rules fight. Dong took Noji down early, and for large parts of round 1 Noji was fighting his way out of submissions.

First an arm-bar


Then a triangle choke


But Noji survived to round 2.


In the end I think Ryuta Noji got tired and Dong Yi Yang got a good win.


The last kick-rule of the night was "Prince" Ali against K-1 veteran Hiromi Amada. This is my pick for fight of the night, an awesome performance by both fighters.

"Prince" Ali looked in control early and was able to use his reach to knock Amada down.


But the veteran was able to fight back. With just 30 seconds left, "Prince" Ali's corner threw in the towel to save their fighter.


Hiromi Amada moves into the tournament semi-final.


The main event saw the return of Sentoryu facing Junpei Hamada. Sentoryu came out strong and had Hamada on the run early.


Sentoryu took Hamada to the ground and I am not sure if he got injured in the takedown or if it was this punch that finished the fight, either way you look like it, Sentoryu showed how strong he is.



A very good night of fights and I cant wait for the finals!!

The March event should include:
Welterweight MMA-Rule Final: Justin Holdaas vs. Max Fernandes
Middleweight Kick-Rule Final: Kinji vs. Fabiakato "RS Promotion" Lukafa (?)

Heavyweight MMA-Rule Semi-Final Participants:
Sentoryu
Dong Yi Yang
Christiano Kaminishi
Sang Soo Lee

Heavyweight Kick-Rule Semi-Final Participants:
Makoto Uehara
Hiromi Amada
Moon Bo Ram
Goutoku Onda


1 comments:

Anonymous,  15 December 2008 at 14:44  

nice pictures
glad to see Sentoryu having success

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