12/7 Pancrase - RESULTS

Just came back from the Pancrase event in Differ Ariake and it didnt disappoint! There were one fighter in particular that I was impressed by, Rin Nakai! She is relatively inexperienced, but showed her talent today by crushing "Windy" Tomomi. Look out for that girl!

Otherwise, there was a few surprises. Maximo Blanco tasted defeat, and might have been exposed as a wrestler with just strength in this fight. No doubt he is a talented fighter, but before this fight I thought he could take on the world... I think that was why Hidehiko Yoshida was sitting next to me also (he was obviously there to see the Maximo Blanco fight). Either way, Hanazawa started the fight by taking Blanco down and was able to control his power. In the second round Hanazawa was able to finish the fight with an arm-triangle choke. Hanazawa took his time in adjusting it, and it seemed like Blanco had time to get out of it, but he was too tired and Hanazawa too strong at that stage.

Blanco might have missed his chance this time, but there will be more! I hope there is for Stanislav Nedkov too! He was very good today, and obviously enjoyed the atmosphere. A good win, and I think you might see him in Sengoku down the road.

Maybe an even bigger surprise, Kawahara lost. It was a fight where Inoue was able to take Kawahara down, but not until the end really get anything going. If it had gone to decision it would have been close, but Inoue was able to take it out of the judges hands and won by rear-naked choke in the 2nd round.

Fight of the night is a very close call... But I will give it to the always exciting Hirotoshi Saito vs. "Akai" Nishiuchi, a battle that ended in a deserved draw. Saito was the winner of the Neo-Blood tournament this year and is an entertaining fighter! Hirose (another Neo-Blood Tournament champion from earlier this year) also secured a good win in a close fight.

The verteran Matsui Daijiro was choked out cold by an arm-triangle. Never really had a chance against Ichiro Kanai.

Pictures tomorrow!

Lightweight King of Pancrase Title Fight
Katsuya Inoue Def. Koji Oishi by decision 3-0

Bantamweight King of Pancrase Title Fight
Manabu Inoue Def. Seiya Kawahara by rear-naked choke Round 2 4:44

Welterweight King of Pancrase
Takuya Wada Def. Masahiro Toryu by Decision 3-0

Middle: Ichiro Kanai Def. Daijiro Matsui by arm-triangle choke Round 1 2:25
55kg: Rin Nakai Def. "Windy" Tomomi Sunabe by TKO Round 1 1:33

Welterweight Tournament Final 3x5min
Tomoyoshi Iwamiya Def. Hiroyuki Nozawa by decision 3-0

Heavy: Stanislav Nedkov Def. Masayuki Kono by TKO Round 1 1:35
Feather: Hirotoshi Saito vs. Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi DRAW
Light: Daisuke Hanazawa "13" Def. Maximo Blanco by arm-triangle choke Round 2 2:19
Fly: Isao Hirose Def. Tokuaki Ninomiya by Decision 2-0

Pancrase Gate:
7. Middle: Shingo Suzuki Def. Makoto Kawawa by arm-bar Round 1 1:13
6. Light: ISAO vs. Yuki Takushige DRAW
5. Feather: Pitan Def. Takanori Iwamoto by arm-bar Round 2 2:00
4. Feather: Masaru Ueda Def. Taro Shimazaki by TKO Round 1 0:28
3. Feather: Masakazu Takafuji Def. Takeshi Egami by arm-bar Round 1 2:12
2. Bantam: Hiroyuki Nakajima Def. Takanori Saito by triangle choke Round 1 3:47
1. Fly: Takashi Nakamura Def. Kago Yamana by KO Round 2 3:53