1/18 Shooto Tradition 5 - Pictures

Monday 19 January 2009

Back from the Shooto event yesterday, a lot of the fights went the distance. Fight of the night was easily the Omigawa vs. Ishiwatari fight. It is speculated that Omigawa will participate in one of the featherweight GPs coming up, the question if a draw was good enough. The performance was good though.

The night started with an entertaining fight between Sakae Kasuya and Tomonari Taniguchi. Kasuya was too strong on the ground for Taniguchi and Taniguchi was saved by the ball taking the fight to the judges. The result was the same though, a strong win for Kasuya.



Korean newcomer Yong Jae Jun was able to keep the fight standing for the 1st round with Akihiro Yamazaki. While the fight was standing, the Korean was able to maintain some control of the much more experienced Yamazaki. Yamazaki managed to get the fight to the ground in the 2nd round and showed why he was a clear favorite coming into this fight. Forcing the tap by arm bar early in the 2nd.



With DREAM experience under his belt, "Kodo" came in with confidence against Takahiro Hosoi. "Kodo" was looking to keep this fight standing, while Hosoi made it clear that he wanted this fight on the ground. Early in the 2nd. "kodo" connected though, and Hosoi went down. A good win for "Kodo" and he should be on to look for in Shooto this year.



The punch that sends Hosoi to the ground:



Jin Akimoto has not had an easy time finding wins lately. He has had 2 draws since returning, both to Junji Ikoma. Those fights were exciting though... Yesterday the fight didn't really get the fans going. Ayumu Shioda got the decision and its almost 7 years since Akimoto tasted victory.



The next fight was good though. Ishiwatari was showing great skills in his stand up. Omigawa was able to take everything though, and when on the ground it was his turn to show skills. Both fighters were unable to end the fight, but it was very entertaining.



Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura got a close decision win over Hayate Usui.



Jesse Taitano was again very close to taking the scalp of a top Shooto fighter. He has now drawn with both Urushitani and "BJ". I just hope he gets another shooto fight soon! "BJ" was unable to capitalize on the ground and Taitano was unable to finish it standing. Taitano should debut in the Shooto rankings soon.



The main event was the fight between Kotetsu Boku and current Pacific Champion Yusuke Endo. Boku did get to show some of his superior boxing skills, but most of this fight took place on the ground. Neither fighter was able to establish the upper hand and it ended a draw.


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