3/8 DREAM 7 - Kawajiri Fighting

Tatsuya Kawajiri is one of the bigger stars in Japan at the moment, his KO win on NYE against Kozo Takeda with K-1 rules was certainly noticed (along with the other upsets under K-1 rules). This time he will compete under MMA rules, and against a very experienced opponent.

This time Kawajiri is taking on the American Ross Ebanez from BJ Penns gym. He is a veteran of ROTR and EliteXC, other than that, I know very little but I am sure that will change soon.

Both fighters have faced Eddie Alvarez, and lasted almost to the second as long (7:35 for Kawajiri and 7:32 for Ebanez).

With just over 1 week to the event, I think the card is just about complete now.
Added:
Ross Ebanez 19-6-0 vs. 22-5-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri

Previously Announced:
Shinya Aoki 19-3-0 vs. 16-10-0 David Gardner
Mitsuhiro Ishida 17-4-1 vs. 19-9-0 Daisuke Nakamura

Featherweight GP 1st Round:
Masakazu Imanari 15-6-1 vs. 12-5-1 Atsushi Yamamoto
Hiroyuki Takaya 9-6-1 vs. Kim Jong Won
Yoshiro Maeda 23-6-2 vs. 10-2-0 Micah Miller
Chase Beebe 12-3-0 vs. Joe Warren
Takafumi Otsuka 8-3-1 vs. 3-2-0 Bibiano Fernandes
"Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura 9-3-1 vs. 13-2-0 Abel Cullum

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3/28 K-1 World GP 2009 in Yokohama - Overeem vs. Bonjasky Official

It is now official, Alistair Overeem will face Remy Bonjasky in Yokohama March 28. Also returning to K-1 (again) is Melvin Manhoef after a win against Mark Hunt on NYE, a fight he took on very short notice. This time Manhoef is in the heavy weight tournament.

Also on the card are fighters like Jerome LeBanner, Badr Hari, Glaube Feitosa and Ruslan Karaev. A notable absentee is Semmy Schilt, but I guess there are more fights to come.

Superfights (3min. x 3R, 2R ext.):
Alistair Overeem vs. Remy Bonjasky
Badr Hari vs. Errol Zimmerman
Jerome LeBanner vs. Ewerton Teixeira
Junichi Sawayashiki vs. Glaube Feitosa

Heavy weight Tournament:
Semi-Final 1: Melvin Manhoef vs. Chalid "Die Faust"
Semi-Final 2: Ruslan Karaev vs. Gokhan Saki
Reserve Fight: Tyrone Spong vs. Keijiro Maeda

Heavy weight Final:
Winner Semi-Final 1 vs. Winner Semi-Final 2

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2/28 Shooto Gig Tokyo Vol.1 - Fight Order

This Saturday there are 2 events in Tokyo, Cage Force and Shooto will kick off Gig Tokyo in Shinjuku Face.

The main event is between 2 shooto veterans that have seen competition at all levels and they have faced eachother before as well, in 2005. On that occation, Kenichiro Togashi came out on top in a fight that went the distance.

In Togashi's last fight, he took on Yusuke Endo for the Shooto Pacific title. Tentsuku went the distance with Shooto title holder Takashi Nakakura and went the distance, but he also lost by decision.

Also on the card is the undefeated #2 ranked flyweight Shinya Murofushi, always worth watching. He has improved his standup, his strength is on the ground though.

9. Main-Event - Welter: Ganjo Tentsuku 9-3-2 vs. 7-6-5 Kenichiro Togashi
8. Fly: Shinya Murofushi 5-0-1 vs. 7-6-1 "Heat" Takeshi Sato
7. Welter: Komei Okada vs. 5-8-1 vs. 2-4-3 Shinobu Miura
6. Welter: Koichi Taguchi 1-3-1 vs. Hisaki Hiraishi "Kotobukimaru"

Rookie Tournament Fights:
5. Welter: Junpei Konno vs. Yohei Ota
4. Welter: Yoshio Tokuhisa vs. Koji Nishioka
3. Welter: MIKE vs. Fumihiko Kawamura
2. Feather: Yuki Yasunaga vs. Yoshihiko Matsumoto
1. Bantam: 保貴 (?) Ishigami vs. Yuya Kaneuchi

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2/28 Cage Force EX - Fight Order

GCM have today announced the fight order for this Saturday's event in Tokorozawa. That also means that the card is complete.

It is a good card, and should be a good night of fights. The main event is between 2 very experienced lightweight, and probably 2 of the better lightweights in Japan today (I would put them in the top 10). Add to that the very interesting matchup between Tomonari Kanomata and Yoshihiro Koyama, and this should be good.

As far as talent go, look out for the fight between "Bancho" Takahashi and Koji Ando.

Main-Event - Ligtweight Title Fight:
Mizuto Hirota 10-3-0 vs. 18-6-3 Katsuya Inoue

Light: Tomonari Kanomata 13-3-3 vs. 11-2-1 Yoshihiro Koyama
Light: Katsuhiko Nagata 4-4-0 vs. 1-5-1 Yasunori Kanehara
Middle: Rikuhei Fuji 3-3-0 vs. 5-3-4 Sojiro Orui
Welter (3x3): Yusaku Tsukumo vs. 2-0-0 Kenta Takagi
Bantam (3x3): Yuta Nezu 5-2-1 vs. 8-8-5 Seiji Otsuka
Light (3x3): Yoshiaki "Bancho" Takahashi 4-1-0 vs. 2-0-1 Koji Ando
Light (3x3): Naoto Miyazaki 1-1-1 vs. 3-0-0 Shin Kochiwa

Opening Fights - Valkyrie:
Light (female) (3x3): Kazue Matake 3-1-0 vs. 2-6-1 Kinuka Sasaki
Light (female) (3x3): Kayo Nagayasu 7-6-1 vs. 4-5-1 Maho Muranami

Preliminary Fight:
Bantam: Hirokazu Nishimura 2-3-1 vs. 0-1-0 Ryo Taguchi

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2/23 K-1 World MAX Japan Tournament - Pictures

Monday I went out to enjoy the K-1 in Yoyoki Gymnasium. I got a seat in the budget dating section, but still enjoyed the show and got some pretty good pictures.



The event really had it all, staredowns, KOs, blood, entertaining entrances, fighters dressing up as girls and, eventually, a deserved winner.

Shingo Garyu (black shorts) vs. Hiroyuki Owatari




Hiroya (Red Gloves) Vs. Kizaemon Saiga




Nagajima☆Jienotsu☆Juichiro (white shorts) vs. HAYATO




TATSUJI vs. Yuya Yamamoto


Yasuhiro Kido (blue gloves) vs. Hinata Watanabe


Taishin Kohirumaki vs. Andy Ologun




Albert Kraus Def. Lee Soo Hwan




Nagajima☆Jienotsu☆Juichiro enterance






Yuya Yamamoto (yellow shorts) vs. Nagajima☆Jienotsu☆Juichiro


Taishin Kohirumaki vs. Yasuhiro Kido (white shorts)




Daisuke Uematsu (red shorts) vs. Kazuhisa Watanabe




Yoshihiro Sato vs. Sergey Golyaev




Yuya Yamamoto (red gloves) vs. Taishin Kohirumaki




The winner Taishin Kohirumaki

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4/5 Pancrase Changing Tour 2 - Maximo Blanco Debuts with New Ring Name!

Pancrase have added a very interesting fight to this event. Maximo Blanco have been added to take on former King of Pancrase, Koji Oishi. Blanco have also deceided on a Japanese ring name (a must to get really big here) it is 真騎士 or Makishi.

Blanco has showed that he is a top athlete, and this fight can go either way. Koji Oishi usually goes the distance, and his takedown defense is very good. I really think it is a match-up that will suit Blanco, but he needs to finish this early. If it goes past round 2, I see Oishi taking this, but my guess is an early finish by Blanco. Look for a slam/suplex (his speciality).

The card also has a welterweight King of Pancrase fight, but I still felt it was missing something. The fight added today does a very good job of filling the empty space.

Added:
Koji Oishi 17-8-5 vs. 2-1-0 (1NC) Maximo "Makishi" Blanco

Previously Announced:
Welterweight King of Pancrase title fight:
Takuya Wada 18-8-9 vs. 6-7-0 Tomoyoshi Iwamiya

Welter: Masahiro Toryu 6-4-4 vs. 3-8-2 Seiki Ryo
Fly: Isao Hirose 4-0-0 vs. Takeyasu Hirono
Middle: Ichiro Kanai 9-9-3 (Ranked #2) vs. 7-5-4 Takenori Sato
Light: Yuichi Ikari 10-5-3 (Ranked #3) vs. 1-2-0 Hiroki "AB" Aoki
Feather: Hirotoshi Saito 2-0-1 vs. 9-5-9 Tashiro Akai (Nishiuchi)

Participating:
Takuya Eizumi 4-1-0
Hideo Matsui 0-6-2

Also on the card, starting from 14:45 are Neo-Blood Tournament fights. There are some very talented fighters in here, and I really enjoyed the Neo-Blood fights that were on the card last time.

Neo-Blood Fights:
15th Neo-Blood Eliminator Finals (1x5min.):
Fly: Daisuke Tsujita vs. Gou Yamanaka
Bantam:Daisuke Sugishima vs. Taro Shimmasaki
Feather: Shigeyuki Uchiyama vs. Takehito Noguchi
Light: Koshi Obata vs. Keigo Hirayama

1st Round Fights:
Flyweight 58.0kg
Kiyotaka Shimizu 0-1-1 vs. 1-0-0 Toshihiro Shimizu
Takuma Ishii 1-3-1 vs. 3-5-0 Tokuaki Ninomiya
Keiji Nakamura vs. 6-6-1 Yuichiro Yajima

Bantamweight 61.2kg
Ranki Kawana 9-1-6 vs. 3-2-0 Daisuke Endo
Hayato Shimizu 4-2-1 vs. Nobuhiro Yoshitake
Ryota Sasaki 1-2-1 vs. 3-0-0 Shoko Sato

Featherweight 65.8kg
Yasutomo Tanaka 5-2-4 vs. 6-3-2 Motonobu Tezuka
You Saito vs. 2-4-1 Yuki Yashima
Koji Tomita 1-0-0 vs. Masaru Ueda

Lightweight 70.3kg Participants
Hirotaka/Koji Tomiyama 0-5-1 (Think its the same guy twice on Sherdog)
Koji Tamura
ISAO

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Akiyama Signs for UFC

It has been known for a while that Akiyama's relationship with FEG was not as it should be. It has been rumored that he could sign for the UFC or Sengoku, but now it has been announced that he has signed for the UFC.

Akiyama has been followed by controversy, and he has been a fighter the Japanese fans loved to hate. His fight with Sakuraba did not help matters, when it was discovered that he had applied lotion to his body before the fight. Dispite him being an unpopular fighter, he is one fighter that the fans ALWAYS want to see and he is one of the most marketable fighters in the world.

Now he will take his show to the UFC, and I am sure his impact there will be immediate.

Source:
UFC

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4/10 Shooto - Shooting Disco 8 "We are Tarzan"

Gutsman have announced some fights for their Shooting Disco 8, with the subtitle "we are Tarzan".

Dont expect title fights on this card, but there will be some awesome fights and good talent. Announced on the card so far is Guy Delameau who will face the Shooto Rookie champion from 2008, Ikuo Usuda. It should be a very good fight.

There are 6 fights announced, and I am expecting the addition of a couple more.

Bantam: Ayumu "Gozo" Shioda 5-6-0 vs. 4-6-1 Shinichi Hanawa
Welter: Guy Delameau 9-4-0 vs. 3-0-0 Ikuo Usuda
Bantam: Hiroaki Ijima 2-1-0 vs. 0-2-1 Tatsuya Nakashima

Rookie Tournament Fights:
Middle: Yoichiro Sato 2-1-1 vs. 1-2-0 Naoki Hirayama
Light: Kenichiro Marui 1-2-0 vs. Yusuke Yachi
Light-Heavy: Tomohito Tanizaki vs. Takahiro Suzuki

Tickets:
SRS 10,000円
RS 8,000円　
S 6,000円　
A 5,000円

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4/3 Shoot Boxing - Luiz Azeredo Fighting

He obviously liked his experience in November last year, and is coming back to a second time. This time he is taking on the Shoot Boxing Japan welterweight champion, and if I am going to judge by his previous fights, this will be one to watch!

Previously added to this card was the fight between Masahiro Iwashita and Bernard Ackah. I really expect this to be a sold out event in Korakuen Hall. The tickets go on sale March 1.

Added:
Luiz Azeredo vs. Hiroki Shishido

Previously Announced:
Heavy: Masahiro Iwashita vs. Bernard Ackah

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2/20 DEEP 40 - Pictures

Better late than never, these pictures are from DEEP 40 on Friday and it was a very enjoyable event. Even if it was one of the earliest finishes I have experienced, due to the last 3 fights finishing very quick.

The night started very good, Mach-Dojo's Hideto Kondo had his pro debut against Hiroshi Kobayashi and it was a very competitive fight. Hideto would have gotten my decision, but with it being future fight it does not go to the judges. It ended in a draw.


The second future fight of the night was also very entertaining. Muneyuki Sato took on AACC's Yasuhiro Motomura and really had to fight for his win. Here he is receiving a flying knee.


Eventually the bloody Muneyuki Sato was able to turn the fight and finished Motomura with some strong ground and pound.


The main card kicked off with Naohiro Mizuno vs. Hiroto, Mizuno fought his way to a strong win.


Kota Okazawa (red shorts) Defeated Alliance's Yuki Ito by a close decision.


Hiroki Nagaoka (orange shorts) Defeated AACC's Yoshitomo Watanabe by decision.


Shunsuke Inoue vs. Minoru Kato was a very close fight. Kato was the much taller fighter, but was unable to capitalize on the reach advantage in the 1st round. In the 2nd Inoue got tired and it ended in a deserved draw.


Kazuhisa Tazawa took on Tim "Big Perm" Persey in an entertaining fight, but quick fight. Persey came out hard, but his conditioning let him down and Tazawa got the win.


Former DEEP champion, Hidehiko Hasegawa, returned to the DEEP ring to take on Makoto Ishikawa. As usual, the fight went to decision, with Hasegawa coming out on top.


The lightweight tournament kicked off with Koichiro Matsumoto and Jutaro Nakao. Uematsu came out with a good tactic, and you can see the result on Nakao's right thigh. Matsumoto got the decision.


Korean Bu Kyung Jung exploded onto the scene a little over a year ago, almost submitting Shinya Aoki. Now, 3 fights later he is yet to record a win. Against Katsunori Kikuno he learned not to block high kicks with his face... I think after 3, he will have his guard up next time.


Riki Fukuda manhandled Ryuta Sakurai. Sakurai did not look in his usual shape and I wonder if he had a knee injury coming in... If he didnt, he certainly had going out.


Time for the main event, Hidetaka Monma took on DEEP champion Seichi Ikemoto for a spot in the DREAM welterweight GP. The DEEP champion won convincingly.

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3/20 Shooto Tradition 6 - Fights Added

Shooto have announced 2 more fights for their Tradition 6 card. This event is held on the same day as the Sengoku 7 event, and needs to be good, and this is shaping up to be something special.

There are already 2 title fights on the card, in addition to that there were some very good talent.

Today, they have added some more fights as well. The unbeaten 7th ranked featherweight Hiromasa Ogikubo will face grappling specialist and 10th ranked Tetsu Suzuki. Ogikubo faced Tazawa in his last fight and drew, this event So Tazawa is fighting for the title and I am guessing the winner of this fight will climb into contention.

The other fight added today is between Masaaki Sugawara and
debutant Daiji Takahashi.

***UPDATE***
Made a mistake when looking up Daiji Takahashi... He is a very experienced fighter, but not had a win in his last 5 fights. I am sure he will come in motivated to get one here.


Added:
Feather: Hiromasa Ogikubo 5-0-2 vs. 8-6-3 Tetsu "Hadairo" Suzuki
Bantam: Masaaki Sugawara 7-3-0 vs. 6-10-3 Daiji Takahashi

Previously Announced:
Bantamweight Shooto World Title Fight:
Shinichi "BJ" Kojima vs. 8-4-2 Yuki Shoujou

Featherweight Shooto World Title Fight:
Masakatsu Ueda 8-0-2 vs. 8-3-3 So Tazawa

Fly: Noburo "Shinpei" Tahara 5-3-0 vs. 5-4-0 Takehiro Harusaki
Fly: Atsushi "ATCH Anarchy" Takeuchi 5-4-2 vs. 3-0-0 Mikitoshi Yamagami

Rookie Tournament:
Feather: Takashi Niikuni 1-0-0 vs. Kota Onojima

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2/23 K-1 World MAX Japan Tournament - LIVE Results

Well, I got my ticket and will be able to give you the live results for this event!!!

Should be a good event. Some of my previews here and controversy here

The event starts at 17.00 Japan time, and there are spoilers if you read on.

The event should start shortly.

Opening Fights:
1. Tournament Reserve fight: Keiji Ozaki vs. Yasuhito Shirasu
Round 1 is judged a draw and Shirasu takes the second. Ozaki has to perform in the last round

Yasuhito Shirasu gets the decision 3-0 and is the reserve fighter in the tournament.

2. Opening Fight 3min. x 3: Shingo Garyu vs. Hiroyuki Owatari
Judges score round 1 to Owatari, after Garyu was knocked down early. The second round gooes the other way and its all even after 2 rounds.

An entertaining fight goes to the judges. Garyu gets the decision 2-0

Main-Card:
3. Superfight - K-1 Youth Rule: Hiroya Def. Kizaemon Saiga by Decision 2-0

Japan Tournament 1st. Round (3x3min 1 r ext.):
4. Nagajima☆Jienotsu☆Juichiro Def. HAYATO by TKO Round 2
Nagajima had a cut checked early, but comes back and finishes the fight decisively.

5. TATSUJI vs. Yuya Yamamoto After 3 Rounds 0-1 the fight will go to an extra round
Tatsuji takes count with just seconds left in the round, and it costs him the fight. Yuya Yamamoto goes into the Semi-final

6. Yasuhiro Kido vs. Hinata Watanabe 1-0 The fight is scored a draw after 3 rounds and we will have an extra round.
Watanabe is able to keep Kido at a distance gets the decision 3-0

7. Taishin Kohirumaki Def. Andy Ologun by decision 2-0
Ologun will be deducted a point for missing weight, Kohirumaki got a yellow for holding, but still pulled out a win in the last round. Boring fight until the last round.

8. Superfight: Albert Kraus Def. Lee Soo Hwan by Decision 3-0

Japan Tournament Semi-finals:
9. Yuya Yamamoto Def. Nagajima☆Jienotsu☆Juichiro by TKO Round 3 0:59
Nagajima's cut opens up again, and the doctors stops the fight. This was fight of the night so far.

10. Taishin Kohirumaki Def. Yasuhiro Kido* by KO Round 2
Hinata Watanabe is unable to fight in the semi-final because of a broken nose, he is replaced by

11. Superfight: Daisuke Uematsu Def. Kazuhisa Watanabe by Decision 3-0
This fight felt more than an exhibition fight than a proper k-1 fight. Watanabe, the bokser lost a clear decision in the end

12. Superfight: Yoshihiro Sato Def. Sergey Golyaev by KO Round 2 1:18
Golyaev is limping after the 1st round, and all Sato has to do in the second is to hit his left leg. Eventually the Russian Muay Thai champion is unable to stand.


Main-Event Japan Tournament Final:
13. Yuya Yamamoto vs. Taishin Kohirumaki
The final was fight of the night. Kohiromaki knocked Yamamoto down in the 1st round and seemed to be crusing to victory, when he was knocked down himself in the last round. The fight went to the judges and it was a deserved win for Kohirumaki.

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2/23 K-1 MAX Japan Tournament - Andy Ologun Does NOT Make Weight

A bit of controversy at yesterday's weight-in. Andy Ologun did not make the weight of 70kg. He was 800gram over, and this puts a K-1 Rule that I was not aware of in effect. Fighters that are less than 1 kg over gets 1 point deducted. Less than 2kg over and they gets 2 points deducted, more than 2kg over and you are not fighting.

This means that Andy Olugun will go into his fight with Taishin Kohirumaki with 1 point disadvantage. Kohirumaki was not impressed and said "Everyone works hard to make weight, it is unprofessional to come in over."

From memory, it is not the first time Andy Ologun has had problems making weight.

Source:
SportsNavi

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2/23 K-1 World MAX Japan Tournament - Reminder

K-1 is holding their Max Japan Tournament today. I was surprised that it does not seem to be airing live, so have deceided to go out and try to get a ticket.

Some good fighters are on the card, and it should be a pretty good event. I am looking forward to seeing what Sergey Golyaev can do in K-1, MMA fighters have done good in K-1 lately so it should be interesting.

Other fighters include Hiroya, Albert Kraus, Yoshihiro Sato, Andy Ologun and Yasuhiro Kido.

If I manage to get a ticket, I will be doing live updates.

Opening Fights:
1. Tournament Reserve fight: Keiji Ozaki vs. Yasuhito Shirasu
2. Opening Fight 3min. x 3: Shingo Garyu vs. Hiroyuki Owatari

Main-Card:
3. Superfight - K-1 Youth Rule: Hiroya vs. Kizaemon Saiga

Japan Tournament 1st. Round (3x3min 1 r ext.):
4. Nagajima☆Jienotsu☆Juichiro vs. HAYATO
5. TATSUJI vs. Yuya Yamamoto
6. Yasuhiro Kido vs. Hinata Watanabe
7. Andy Ologun vs. Taishin Kohirumaki

8. Superfight: Albert Kraus vs. Lee Soo Hwan

Japan Tournament Semi-finals:
9. Winner fight 4 vs. Winner fight 5
10. Winner fight 6 vs. Winner fight 7

11. Superfight: Daisuke Uematsu vs. Kazuhisa Watanabe
12. Superfight: Yoshihiro Sato vs. Sergey Golyaev

Main-Event Japan Tournament Final:
13. Winner Fight 9 vs. Winner Fight 10

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