6/30 DEEP Impact 42 - Results

Tuesday 30 June 2009

As I am writing this the event is going on in Korakuen Hall. It is a very iteresting card, expecially considering the connection DEEP have with DREAM. I think we can expect to see a few of the fighters here on DREAM cards in the near future.

The main event is the DEEP Middleweight title fight between the defending champion Yuichi Nakanishi and the challenger Riki Fukuda.

Also keep an eye on the co-main event here, as DREAM veterans Kazuyuki Miyata and Takeshi Yamazaki square off.

Read on for spoilers! There will be delays in my updates.

1. 58kg: Ryota Uozomi Def. Pat Uncangco by Decision 3-0
2. 62kg: Tomoya Miyashita Def. Hiryu Okamoto by Guillotine Choke Round 1 1:34
3. 83.9kg: Hiroko Def. Kenji Nagai by Decision 3-0
4. 77.1kg: Shigetoshi Iwase Def. 泰舗 "Goten" Okuno by Decision 3-0
5. 77.1kg: ぺ・ミョンホ (?) Def. Yusaku Tsukumo by Decision 3-0
6. 70.3kg: Toshikazu Iseno Def. Kleber Koike by Decision 3-0
7. Open: Koji Kanechika Def. Kazuhisa Tazawa by Decision 3-0
8. 87kg: Young Choi Def. Bernard Ackah by Decision 2-0
9. 83.9kg: Ryuta Sakurai vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara Draw
10. 65.8kg: Kazuyuki Miyata Def. Takeshi Yamazaki by Decision 2-0

Main-Event: DEEP Middleweight Title Fight:
Riki Fukuda Def. Yuichi Nakanishi by Decision 2-1

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8/2 Sengoku 9 - Akihiro Gono's Opponent Announced



Like him or not, Akihiro Gono is one of the biggest stars in Japanese MMA. He was recently dropped by the UFC after 2 straight decision losses. Now he will be back in Japan and will be competeing with "King Mo" for Sengoku's most entertaining enterances. In his debut he will be taking on Dan Hornbuckle and this should be a very good fight! Hornbuckle lost his only Sengoku fight to Mike Pyle in Sengoku 2, and will be looking to revenge that. It wont be easy against the home star.

With this card, and the signing of Ishii, the future is looking bright for Sengoku. Lets see if it is enough to secure a deal to air prime time and again take MMA to the general public in Japan. Either way, this is a great card and Sengoku seems to be going all out. 2 title fights and lots of great fights to back them up!

Announced:
Akihiro Gono 29-14-7 vs. 17-2-0 Dan Hornbuckle

Previously Announced:
Lightweight Title Fight (5x5min):
Satoru Kitaoka 24-8-9 vs. 11-3-1 Mizuto Hirota

Middleweight next title Challenger:
Kazuo Misaki 21-9-2 vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura

Featherweight GP:
Semi-final 1: Hatsu Hioki 19-3-2 vs. 13-5-5 Masanori Kanehara
Semi-final 2: Michihiro Omigawa 6-7-1 vs. 14-0-0 Marlon Sandro

Final: Winner Semi-final 1 vs. Winner Semi-final 2

One-Fight:
Heavy: Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
Heavy: Yoshihiro Nakao 7-2-0 vs. 9-3-0 Chu Mu Bae
Light: Eiji Mitsuoka 15-6-2 vs. Clay French

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6/28 DEEP Impact Toyama - Results

Monday 29 June 2009

DEEP impact in Toyama had a very interesting main-event. Miku Matsumoto was taking on Lisa Ward in what was a rematch from 3 years ago. Miku revenged that loss and Megumi Fuji has been pictured with her in the ring as she celebrates. I have not seen any indication that they will fight, but it would be a fight worthy of a DREAM card...

In front of a crowd of 1,318 the home stars delivered, and it turned out to be an event packed with exciting fights.

You can see pictures and Japanese commentary from the event here.

Main-Event - Female Lightweight Title Fight:
Miku Matsumoto Def. Lisa Ward by arm-bar Round 3 2:53

Co-main event:
Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka Def. Takafumi Ito by TKO Round 2 4:07

Kenji Arai Def. Kunihiro Watanabe by rear-naked choke Round 2 1:13
Seigo Mizuguchi Def. Tokuzo by neck-crank Round 1 1:04
Yuichi Ikari Def. Takaaki Aoki by decision 3-0
Shinobu Aoyama Def. Hiroshi Sakamoto by decision 3-0
Takahiro Kajita Def. Yuya Osugi by KO Round 1 3:36
Takita Tetsu Def. Masahiro Shinto by KO Round 1 1:43

Under-Card:
Akimitsu Tsuchiya Def. Tamotsu Kitada by TKO Round 1 1:34
Takafumi Fuji Def. Kazuki Taira by TKO Round 1 3:21
Tomoaki Miyamoto Def. Passion Nakamura by Triangle Choke Round 1 0:39
Harushige Shinokawa Def. Kazumi Nakane by TKO Round 1 1:23
Toshu Himeno Def. Taiki Nakahara by Brabo-choke Round 1 4:20
Toshio Shibata Def. Shotaro Sato by KO Round 1 0:46

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6/27 Cage Force - RESULTS

Saturday 27 June 2009



Cage Force held their event in Differ Ariake earlier today. The main event was the matchup between the veterans Kuniyoshi Hironaka and Katsuhiko Nagata. Also on the card was the UFC veteran "K-Taro".

The main card kicked of with a fighter that is very entertaining, "Randleman" Ichikawa always comes out hard, and he did so again! The two first fightes were of the very short kind.

The favorites delivered in this action packed event!

Kuniyoshi Hironaka Def. Katsuhiko Nagata by TKO Round 1 3:41
Keita Nakamura "K-Taro" Def. Tomoyoshi Iwamiya by Decision 2-0
Daiju Takase Def. Shuji Morikawa by Decision 2-1
Kozo Urita Def. Abbasov Shahriyar by TKO Round 2 1:14
Isao Terada Def. Yuta Nezu by rear-naked choke Round 3 0:13
Teruhiko Kobu Def. Keitaro Maeda by TKO Round 1 3:04
Yuta Nakamura Def. Yusuke Sakashita 5-1-0 by TKO Round 1 0:16
Masayoshi "Randleman" Ichikawa Def. Tomoki Miyaji by TKO Round 1 0:14

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6/30 DEEP 42 Impact - Fight Order

Friday 26 June 2009

On Tuesday Deep will hold their next Impact event in Korakuen Hall. The main event is the middleweight title fight between the champion Yuichi Nakanishi and Riki Fukuda. Fukuda has had star potential for a long time, and he proved that in his last fight against Murilo Rua.

But this card has more than 1 interesting fight, Miyata and Yamazaki will battle in the featherweight division. I promise that this fight means a lot for both fighters, there are rumors of a DEEP title shot, but I have a feeling that this fight might also serve as a qualifier to DREAM as well. I have the same feeling about Bernard Ackah's fight here, a win might secure him a fight on an upcoming DREAM or Sengoku card.

Main-Event: DEEP Middleweight Title Fight:
Yuichi Nakanishi 9-8-3 vs. 14-4-0 Riki Fukuda

65.8kg: Kazuyuki Miyata 6-7-0 vs. 14-9-2 Takeshi Yamazaki
83.9kg: Ryuta Sakurai 18-15-4 vs. 17-22-1 Hiromitsu Kanehara
87kg: Bernard Ackah 2-2-0 vs. 10-5-1 Young Choi
Open: Kazuhisa Tazawa 4-0-1 vs. Jae Young Kim (?)
70.3kg: Toshikazu Iseno 6-5-2 vs. 1-0-0 Kleber Koike
77.1kg: Yusaku Tsukumo 6-3-0 vs. ぺ・ミョンホ (?)
77.1kg: Shigetoshi Iwase 7-11-3 vs. 泰舗 "Goten" Okuno
83.9kg: Hiroko 2-0-1 vs. 5-8-2 Kenji Nagai
62kg: Tomoya Miyashita 10-5-5 vs. 3-1-1 Hiryu Okamoto
58kg: Ryota Uozomi 3-1-0 vs. Pat Uncangco

Future Fights:
70kg: Motoki Awaji 0-2-0 vs. 3-0-0 Tomoya Kato
62kg: Yasuhiro Yamazaki vs. Yusuke Kadoyama
70kg: Tatsumitsu Wada 0-5-0 vs. 3-2-0 Tatsuya Tsuchida

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Thursday 25 June 2009



WVR have added a couple of very interesting fights to their card on August 2. The Sengoku cards only seem to be getting better and better.

The two toughest heavyweights in Asia will face off, Chu Mu Bae disposed of Dave Herman in his last Sengoku fight giving Herman his first ever loss. But Yoshihiro Nakao is a fighter that is underrated by many. He has only been finished once, and that was before the fight started. His last fight ended due to a knee injury, and he returns here to take on the dangerous Korean.

The other fight added is the lightweight clash between Eiji Mitsuoka and Clay French. Both these fighters were in the lightweight GP last year, and this should be a very good fight. Mitsuoka has only lost once in his last five fights, defeating Rodrigo Damm and Joachim Hansen in the process. His only loss was to the eventual GP champion, Satoru Kitaoka. Clay French, on the other hand, is on a 3 fight losing streak. He also left the Sengoku GP last year due to Kitaoka's leg-locks and will be very eager to bounce back here.

Announced:
Heavy: Yoshihiro Nakao 7-2-0 vs. 9-3-0 Chu Mu Bae
Light: Eiji Mitsuoka 15-6-2 vs. Clay French

Previously Announced:
Lightweight Title Fight (5x5min)
Satoru Kitaoka 24-8-9 vs. 11-3-1 Mizuto Hirota

Middleweight next title Challenger
Kazuo Misaki 21-9-2 vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura

Featherweight GP:
Semi-final 1: Hatsu Hioki 19-3-2 vs. 13-5-5 Masanori Kanehara
Semi-final 2: Michihiro Omigawa 6-7-1 vs. 14-0-0 Marlon Sandro

Final: Winner Semi-final 1 vs. Winner Semi-final 2

One-Fight:
Heavy: Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov vs. Kazuyuki Fujita

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6/27 Cage Force - Fight Order

GCM have finalized their card for this Saturday. The card is a little thinner than what I would normaly expect from a Cage Force event, but keeping in mind their financial problems last year, they are probably doing the right thing. Still a very good card, the quality is there and it should be a good event for the fans that make their way out.

The main-event will be a very interesting fight, UFC veteran Hironaka is taking on Olympic medalist Nagata.

There is also another UFC veteran on the card, K-Taro will be trying to get back on the winning track after his upset loss in November.

10. Light: Kuniyoshi Hironaka 13-6-0 vs. 4-5-1 Katsuhiko Nagata
9. Welter: Keita Nakamura "K-Taro" 15-4-2 vs. 6-8-0 Tomoyoshi Iwamiya
8. Middle: Daiju Takase 7-13-1 vs. 2-2-1 Shuji Morikawa
7. Kozo Urita 6-11-1 vs. Abbasov Shahriyar
6. Bantam: Isao Terada 5-7-4 vs. 7-2-1 Yuta Nezu
5. Welter: Teruhiko Kobu 6-9-1 vs. 3-4-1 Keitaro Maeda
4. Light-Heavy: Yusuke Sakashita 5-1-0 vs. 4-5-1 Yuta Nakamura
3. Feather: Tomoki Miyaji 4-2-0 vs. Masayoshi "Randleman" Ichikawa

Preliminary Fights:
2. Bantam: Seijin Kobayashi vs. 1-0-0 Nobuo Kawana
1. Welter: Yusaku Inoue vs. 0-1-2 Yusuke Horimoto

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8/9 Shooto - Saitama Gig 1

Tuesday 23 June 2009

First of, there will be less updates for a few days. I am just moving in to a new place and getting internet hooked up is proving more difficult than I thought...

Anyway, Shooto will start a series called Saitama Gig. The first event will be held in Fujimi city's Kira Fujimi Mainhall on August 9.

Yesterday there was a few very interesting additions to this card. Flyweight ranked #2 Shinpei Tahara is taking on bantamweight ranked #8, Jessie Taitano, at 54kg. Taitano has taken Shooto stars Shinichi Kojima and Yasuhiro Urushitani to draws, and this should be a very interesting fight. Tahara is coming of an impressive win against Shinya Murofushi.

The very popular Mikitoshi Yamagami has done very well when fighing in Shinjuku Face, his only loss came in his only fight outside that arena. Now he will travel again and it will be interesting to see if his fans follow him. If they do, the crowd will be very loud in his fight against "Tiger" Ishii.

Announced:
54kg: Noboru "Shinpei" Tahara 6-3-1 vs. 5-3-2 Jessie Taitano
Fly: Mikitoshi Yamagami 3-1-0 vs. 5-7-2 Takehiro "Tiger" Ishii

Rookie Tournament: 
Bantam: Yosuke Saruta 0-2-0 vs. Kotetsu
Fly: Kazuyuki Yoshida 0-3-0 vs. Shuichiro Okumura

Participants:
Komei Okada 5-9-2

Ticket Prices: RS 7,000/ S 6,000/A 5,000/B 4,000

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7/20 DREAM 10 - Fights so far

Thursday 18 June 2009




Old news, but thought I'd just clearify the fights that have been announced for the next DREAM event. This is the next major event in Japan, and will be held in Saitama SuperArena.

This event will include the Welterweight GP semi-finals and final. The tournament semis are looking very interesting, the veteran in the field is the very experienced "Mach" Sakurai who crushed Shinya Aoki to earn his spot. He will take on the very entertaining Marius Zaromskis. The other semi-final will see ground specialist Andre Galvao take on Jason High in a fight I cant wait to see.

But there are some awesome fights outside of the tournament too! It will be interesting to see what else they add to this card, but I expect 4-5 more fights.

Welterweight Tournament semi-finals:
Semi-final 1: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai 35-8-2 vs. 9-2-0 Marius Zaromskis
Semi-final 2: Andre Galvao 3-0-0 vs. 7-1-0 Jason High

Non-Tournament Fights:
Light: Shinya Aoki 20-4-0 vs. 20-2-0 Victor Ribeiro
Light: Katsunori Kikuno 11-1-1 vs. 6-3-1 Andre "Dida" Amade
Middle: Melvin Manhoef 23-5-1 vs. 16-1-0 Paulo Filho

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6/27 Cage Force - Fights Added



Cage Force have announced another very good addition to the June 27 card in Differ Ariake. UFC veteran Kuniyoshi Hironaka will take on DREAM veteran Katsuhiko Nagata. Nagata has not had much luck lately, he has gone 4 fights without a win and will be desperate for a win here. The former Olympian needs this win, and I have a feeling that the winner of this fight might very well be on a DREAM or Sengoku card in the near future.

Also added earlier this week was 2 preliminary fights.

Added:
Light: Kuniyoshi Hironaka 13-6-0 vs. 4-5-1 Katsuhiko Nagata

Preliminary Fights:
Welter: Yusaku Inoue vs. 0-1-2 Yusuke Horimoto
Bantam: Seijin Kobayashi vs. 1-0-0 Nobuo Kawana

Previously Announced:
Welter: Teruhiko Kobu 6-9-1 vs. 3-4-1 Keitaro Maeda
Light-Heavy: Yusuke Sakashita 5-1-0 vs. 4-5-1 Yuta Nakamura
Feather: Tomoki Miyaji 4-2-0 vs. Masayoshi "Randleman" Ichikawa
Welter: Keita Nakamura "K-Taro" 15-4-2 vs. 6-8-0 Tomoyoshi Iwamiya
Middle: Daiju Takase 7-13-1 vs. 2-2-1 Shuji Morikawa
Bantam: Isao Terada 5-7-4 vs. 7-2-1 Yuta Nezu

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7/13 K-1 World Max 2009 - "Kid" Yamamoto Fighting!

FEG have announced some very interesting additions to the K-1 card in Nippon Budokan on Monday July 13. "Kid" Yamamoto, who was recently knocked out of the DREAM Featherweight GP will take on Korean Thai-Boxer Jae Hee Cheon.

Also making his K-1 debut will be another Krazy Bee fighter, Atsushi Yamamoto was also knocked out of the DREAM GP. He will face Kazuhisa Watanabe.

The main-event is scheduled to be Masato vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri.

Added:
"Kid" Yamamoto vs. Jae Hee Cheon
Atsushi Yamamoto vs. Kazuhisa Watanabe

Previously Announced:
Main-Event - Super-Fight:

Masato vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri

K-1 World Max 2009 - World Championship Tournament Final 8:
Drago vs. Yuya Yamamoto
Giorgo Petrosyan vs. Albert Kraus
Artur Kyshenko vs. Andy Souwer
Buakaw Por. Pramuk vs. Nieky "The Natural" Holtzken

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7/19 Shooto - BJs Opponent Announced

Tuesday 16 June 2009



Today Shooto announced the opponent for their world champion, Shinichi "BJ" Kojima. It will be the Shooto south American champion, Jucie Formiga. Formiga is also #6 on the world ranking, and it adds another solid fight to this card. "BJ" has proven to be very hard to beat at bantam weight, and has only lost once in his career at 56kg. That loss came at the hands of Junichi Sase almost 6 years ago.

This is the first major Shooto card since the final Tradition card, and it has some very larges shoes to fill.

Added:
Bantam: Jucie Formiga 2-0-0 vs. 10-3-1 Shinichi "BJ" Kojima

Featherweight Title Fight:
Masakatsu Ueda 9-0-2 vs. 7-1-0 Eduardo Dantas

Bantam: Yasuhiro Akagi 6-4-0 vs. 7-3-1 Masaaki Sugawara
Fly: "Heat" Takeshi Sato 8-6-1 vs. 6-4-2 Atsushi Takeuchi

Rookie Tournament 2nd Round:
Welter: Hiroki "KG Shinto" Kuga 2-1-0 vs. 1-1-0 Munehiro "Mike" Kin
Feather: Kota Onojima 1-0-0 vs. Inagaki
Welter: Koji Nishioka 0-0-1 vs. Harada

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7/18 HEAT 10 - Fights Added

Monday 15 June 2009



HEAT has added 4 fights for their next event, which will be held in Tokyo. This is the second time HEAT brings their show to Differ Ariake, and now its time for the Heavyweight tournament finals!

Added today though are some non-tournament fights, making his MMA debut (to my knowledge) is former K-1 fighter Ryo Takigawa. He will be taking on the veteran Junpei Hamada.

Added:
MMA-Heavy: Ryo Takigawa vs. 6-11-0 Junpei Hamada
MMA-Feather: Koji Yoshida 2-5-2 vs. TBA
Kick-Middle: Kinji vs. Danilo Zanolini
Kick-Heavy: Gotoku Onda vs. Prince Ali

Previously Announced:
HEAT Heavyweight Tournament Finals:

MMA-Rule: Sentoryu 5-7-0 vs. 6-1-0 Cristiano Kaminishi
Kick-rule: Hiromi Amada vs. Makoto Uehara

Non-Tournament - MMA-Rule:
Welter: Yoshitaro Niimi 6-4-2 vs. 2-3-0 Hiroshi Masabuchi

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8/8 Pancrase Changing Tour - 2 Title Fights Announced!



Pancrase just issued a new ranking last week, and now its time to shake them up.

This event will be the Neo-Blood tournament finals, but now they have added 2 title fights. Especially in the lightweight division, I am expecting the winner (if its Katsuya) to be in Sengoku shortly, Maximo Blanco will be there either way. Regardless, I am sure Blanco would like to get the belt. Speaking of Sengoku, Katsuya Inoue was the last fighter to defeat Sengoku champion Satoru Inoue in what was a very tactical fight. This will be a very interesting fight, Maximo Blanco seems to be his own enemy and should really have had 2 more wins. His only really loss was a loss on the ground, and Katsuya Inoue is a very different fighter. My pick is for Maximo to take this home, but he has to keep his head cool.

The other title fight announced today is the middleweight King of Pancrase. The champion is the Pancrease super-veteran Izuru Takeuchi, who has been fighting since 1997! His opponent is another veteran, and the Pancrase ranked #1 Takenori Sato.

This events will be awesome with the Neo-Blood tournament finals AND 2 title fights!

Also added as a participant is another big name, Tomonari Kanomata!

Middleweight King of Pancrase:
Izuru Takeuchi (champion) 25-10-6 vs. 9-5-4 Takenori Sato (challenger)

Lightweight King of Pancrase:
Katsuya Inoue (champion) 18-6-4 vs. 2-2-1 (1nc) Maximo Blanco (challenger)

Previously Announced:
Light: Isao Kobayashi 3-0-0 vs. 1-5-0 Hirotaka Tomiyama
Feather: Shigeyuki Uchiyama 6-0-0 vs. 1-0-0 Yo Saito
Bantam: Nobuhiro Yoshitake 2-4-1 vs. 3-2-1 Ryota Sasaki
Fly: Kiyotaka Shimizu 2-1-1 vs. 7-6-1 Yuki Yashima

Participating:
Yuki Kondo 49-23-6
Tomonari Kanomata 13-4-3

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Mirko CroCop signs 3 Fight Deal with DREAM!

Nightmare of Battle is refering to Japanese media and says that CroCop has signed a 3 fight deal with DREAM. He was considering the UFC and DREAM, but it seems the Japanese fans won him over. He won his return to the UFC on Saturday by TKO, and is rumored to fight again in July but this time in DREAM.

If this is true, it would be very interesting as I believe Fedor also would like a 1-fight deal with the UFC. Either way, the Japanese fans will be very happy to see CroCop back. And even if an accidental eye poke played a part in the TKO win, I have to say that CroCop looked in good shape after his surgery.


According to MMAWeekly this is what Dana White had to say about it:

“He fed me this (expletive) about wanting to take a run for the title, and what I think he did was, he went out and did this,” continued White. “He turned down every other (expletive) fighter I offered him, because I needed him to fight Cain. He didn’t just poke Al-Turk; he poked me, too.”


Fightlinker are updating on this news here.

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Pancrase Ranking June Update

Sunday 14 June 2009



Pancrase have announced new rankings after their event on June 7. No major changes, but there are a few that are worth mentioning.

Pancrase now has a Flyweight Champion, and Sengoku Champion Satoru Kitaoka enters the ranking on the back of his win on June 7.

Open-Weight (No Change):
10th. Open-Weight King of Pancrase: Josh Barnett

Heavy-weight 93.0kg - 120.2kg (No change):
4th Heavy-weight King of Pancrase: Available

Lightheavy-Weight 83.9kg - 93.0kg (No Change):
4th. Lightheavy-Weight King of Pancrase: Ryo Kawamura
1: Keiichiro Yamamiya

Middle-Weight 77.1kg - 83.9kg (No Change):
7th. Middle-weight King of Pancrase: Izuru Takeuchi
Interim Middle-weight King of Pancrase: Yuki Kondo
1: Takenori Sato
2: Ichiro Kanai

Welter-weight 70.3kg - 77.1kg (No Change):
4th. Welter-weight King of Pancrase: Takuya Wada
1: Tomoyoshi Iwamiya
2: Masahiro Toryu
3: ↑ Hiroyuki Nozawa

-Jason Palacios is taken out of the rankings, and Hiroyuki Nozawa moves up into 3rd.

Light-weight 65.8kg - 70.3kg:
2nd. Light-weight King of Pancrase: Katsuya Inoue
1: Koji Oishi
2: ↑ Satoru Kitaoka
3: Daisuke Hanazawa
4: Hiroki "AB" Aoki
5: Maximo Blanco

-Satoru Kitaoka comes into the rankings at #2 and knocks the former #2, Yukio Sakaguchi, out of the rankings.

Feather-weight 61.2kg - 65.8kg:
1st. Feather-weight King of Pancrase: Marlon Sandro
1: Jameel Massouh
2: Masaya Takita
3: Masanori Kanehara
4: Kenji Arai
5: ↑ Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi

-Nishiuchi comes into the rankings after his win in Pancrase Changing Tour 3 (June 7).

Bantam-weight: 58.0kg-61.2kg (No Change):
1st. Bantamweight King of Pancrase: Manabu Inoue
1: Seiya Kawahara

Fly-weight 58.0kg (No Change):
1st. Fly-weight King of Pancrase: ↑ Mitsuhisa Sunabe
1. ↑ Isao Hirose
2. Takuya Eizumi

- Mitsuhira Sunabe defeats Takuya Eizumi to become the first Flyweight King of Pancrase.
- Isao Hirose climbs past Takuya Eizumi after his win over Keiji Nakamura.

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Japanese MMA Fights!

Saturday 13 June 2009

Its been way too long since I posted some fights from YouTube, and there has been a lot of good ones lately.

The final Tradition event was awesome and I actually think we saw Takanori Gomi return to form. He is also rumored to return on the next Affliction card.

Here is his fight with Shooto champion Takashi Nakakura:

Part 1:


Part 2:



This fight really impressed me, mostly because this is what Nakakura did to Bendy Casimir in his last fight before Gomi. Casimir is the European Shooto champion and I thought he would cause Nakakura some problems in this fight. From Shooto Tradition 4 in November 2008.



Also from the final Tradition event, Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Mizuto Hirota. This Hirota come in as an underdog here, and showed why he is SO dangerous. His next fight will be for the Sengoku lightweight title against Satoru Kitaoka.



Sengoku has a featherweight tournament going on now, my favorite to take the title is the Pancrase champion, Marlon Sandro. This is the fight where I really noticed him, against Pancrase Ledgend Miki Shida (who retired after this fight).



In DEEP 41 on April 16 Kazuyuki Miyata returned to the ring. He took on Korean Jae Hyun So. Miyata is a guy I consider a friend and it is good to see him back! His opponent was not a big name this time but it was an important win and he showed how strong he is. In DEEP 42 he will face a better opponent and it is a much more immportant fight for him!



Also, in honor of one of my favorite fighters, Dan Hardy. He did this to Hidetaka Monma while he was fighting in Japan. I am looking forward to his fight in Germany in a few hours! I hope the UFC sets up the re-match with Yoshiyuki Yoshida, so we can see who really would have won the final in the Cage Force tournament.


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7/5 DEEP Kick - The Start of a New Event



DEEP have announced the addition of a new type of event this week, DEEP Kick will be a kick-boxing/K-1 type event and will be based out of the Kansai region. The producer will be the eccentric K-1 fighter YOUICHIRO☆JIENOTSU☆NAGASHIMA.

That has had an impact on this event, as I think a lot of these names are nick-names rather than real ones. The highlight will be 3 fights pitting Japanese fighters against Thai fighters. Matt%Jienotsu%Kaijuku who will face Takayoshi Kitayama is said to be ranked #9 at Ratchadamnoen Stadium.

The event is meant to have a talent development function for K-1 Max.

Triple Main-Event: Japan-Thailand Fight:
Takayoshi Kitayama vs. Matt%Jienotsu%Kaijuku
Heihachi Nakajima vs. Yokktai Shisuo
Yoshiharu Murai vs. Twindam

DEEP Kick - Special Event Kansai vs. Kyushu 4 Fights:
Tatsuya Ando vs. Kawasaki
Yamato Kitano vs. Hiromitsu Yuasa
Fire vs. Tatsuaki
Daiichi Shimoda vs. Satoshi Ao

DEEP Kick - Special Fight (Female)
Nana Kusakabe vs. Mayu Kawasaki

Next Level Fights (3 fights):
Ren Takeno vs. Ryuta Hayashi
Kazuma Tanaka vs. Koichi Inoue
Jin Tanaka vs. Haruto Maekawa

DEEP Kick Pro-Fight:
60kg: Ryugi vs. King Ohei
60kg: MoHaKi vs. Rupan☆Hayagusa
60kg: Jienotsu@Pigu vs. Masashi Yamasaki
55kg: Oji vs. Kenji Kai
53.5kg: MANA vs. Suzuna Nakamura
60kg: Masahiro Harada vs. Masataka Nakamura
70kg: Takeo Shirakami vs. Nobuhiro Yasu

NEXT LEVEL TOP RAN 
30kg: Yuki Ishiguro vs. Murata
35kg: Jin Aso vs. Rentaro Aida
40kg: Hiroto Kinoshita vs. Renya Goto
45kg: Fumiya Kyoguchi vs. Shinichiro Morishita
55kg: Handa vs. Yuma Yamaguchi

NEXT LEVEL TOP RAN Female Championship Fight:
Chihiro Imoto vs. Suzuka Yasuoka

Opening Fights - Full Contact Karate:
Kenshin Yoshida vs. Yoshito Kozuka
Yuhi Shimizu vs. Haruhi Miho
Sora Nagasawa vs. Shikiya Yoshizawa

Tickets:
VIP 20,000円 
1 Floor A 7,000円
2 Floor B 6,000円 
Stand A 4,000円
At the door 1000 up. 

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6/28 ShootBoxing Young Ceasar Cup - Main Event Added

Wednesday 10 June 2009



This event will be held in Shinjuku Face on June 28, it will be an event for young talented fighters who will get their chance to show their skills. The main event is a fight that will determine a lot for the super bantamweight ranking, currently Akito Sakimura is ranked #1 and Mamoru is #2. The fighters that will fight in the main event here are the 21 year old Masahiro Fujimoto and the 18 year old Kazuyuki Fushimi.

There will be lots of talent at this event, and I am sure there will be fighter we will hear about in the future.

Main-Event:
Super-Bantam: Masahiro Fujimoto vs. Kazuyuki Fushimi

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7/13 K-1 World Max 2009 - Kawajiri vs. Masato!



In last year's Dynamite event the K-1 fighters suffered losses against the DREAM fighters, the fights also proved very popular with the fans and it is clear that the FEG liked the consept of having fighters doing both.

It has been hinted at this match-up for a long time, and not it is official. On July 13 DREAM star Tatsuya Kawajiri will face K-1 star Masato in the K-1 ring.

Kawajiri said after win at last year's Dynamite! event that it was scary going into the ring against a K-1 fighter. This time he is facing a much more experienced and a better fighter. It will be interesting to see how the fighters approach this, I assume Masato will want to keep better distance than Kozo Takeda was able to.

From SportsNavi:

Masato, whose fight with DREAM’s Kawajiri was announced, showed up at the press conference looking intense with his head shaved.

 Masato, who has two fights left until his retirement will have his next fight at the July 13 K1 MAX tournament in the Japan BudoKan and it was officially announced on the 10that the Akasaka Circus in Tokyo that Kawajiri Tatsuya who primarily fights in DREAM will be his opponent. Both Masato and Kawajiri attended the press conference. To Kawajiri’s statement that “The feelings of MMA fans and the fans of DREAM are in my gloves. I want to bring those feelings to battle.” Masato made a quick jab with his statement” Can you really go at it with me? Right now, I’m really strong you know.” To that Kawajiri replied “Of course I can step up. Whoever wins this won’t take 3 minutes.”


Super-Fight:
Masato vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri

K-1 World Max 2009 - World Championship Tournament Final 8:
Drago vs. Yuya Yamamoto
Giorgo Petrosyan vs. Albert Kraus
Artur Kyshenko vs. Andy Souwer
Buakaw Por. Pramuk vs. Nieky "The Natural" Holtzken

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6/28 DEEP Toyama Impact - Fight Order



DEEP have put together a good card for their DEEP Toyama Impact event. With 2 events in 3 days, it is impressive what they have managed. This will be a rare occation to see a title fight in the Toyama area, and it should be a good one too. The champion Miku Matsumoto will get a chance to revenge her loss to Lisa Ward, a loss that dates 3 years back and the only loss she is yet to revenge. This should be an awesome fight between 2 of the world's top female fighters.

Toyama's own Club Barbarian is of course putting in their stars on this card, and the co-main event will feature one of their best fighters in Yoshihiro Tomioka who will take on Pancrase super veteran Takafumi Ito.

The event is being held in Toyama TechnoHall and doors open at 14.00.

Main-Event - Female Lightweight Title Fight:
14. Miku Matsumoto 20-4-0 vs. 12-4-0 Lisa Ward

Co-main event:
13. Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka 12-7-4 vs. 34-28-10 Takafumi Ito

12. 65.8kg: Kenji Arai 13-13-3 vs. 4-3-0 Kunihiro Watanabe
11. Open: Seigo Mizuguchi 5-4-0 vs. Tokuzo
10. 70.3kg: Yuichi Ikari 10-6-3 vs. 4-4-0 Takaaki Aoki
9. 60kg: Shinobu Aoyama 5-3-0 vs. 3-5-0 Hiroshi Sakamoto
8. 70.3kg: Takahiro Kajita 9-9-3 vs. 4-3-1 Yuya Osugi
7. Kick - 64kg: Takita Tetsu vs. Masahiro Shinto

Under-Card:
6. 77kg: Tamotsu Kitada 4-5-1 vs. 3-1-1 Akimitsu Tsuchiya
5. 67kg: Takafumi Fuji vs. 0-1-0 Kazuki Taira
4. 67kg: Passion Nakamura 0-1-0 vs. Tomoaki Miyamoto
3. Kick-65kg: Harushige Shinokawa vs. Kazumi Nakane
2. 60kg: Toshu Himeno vs. Yu Nakahara
1. 65kg: Shotaro Sato vs. Toshio Shibata

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8/2 Sengoku 9 - Akihiro Gono signs

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Sengoku have announced some interesting fighters for Sengoku 9. Akihiro Gono's future in the UFC had been in doubt, and now he has signed for Sengoku. He will participate in Sengoku 9, and I am sure it will give the card a boost with the Japanese fans.

But an even more interesting fighter is also announced, taking on Kazuyuki Fujita will be the Sambo world champion from 2008, Blagoi Alexandre Ivanov. On his way to the title he made a bit of history when he defeated Fedor Emelianenko. Now he is making his MMA debut, and I am sure a fight with Fedor is already in the works.

Also announced as a participant is lightweight standout Eiji Mitsuoka.

This is looking like the best Sengoku card to date, the event will take place in Saitama Super Arena.

Announced:
Kazuyuki Fujita 15-7-0 vs. Blagoi Alexandre Ivanov

Participants:
Akihiro Gono 29-14-7
Eiji Mitsuoka 15-6-2

Previously Announced:
Lightweight Title Fight (5x5min)
Satoru Kitaoka 24-8-9 vs. 11-3-1 Mizuto Hirota

Middleweight next title Challenger
Kazuo Misaki 21-9-2 vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura

Featherweight GP Semi-Finals:
Hatsu Hioki 19-3-2 vs. 13-5-5 Masanori Kanehara
Michihiro Omigawa 6-7-1 vs. 14-0-0 Marlon Sandro

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8/8 Pancrase Changing Tour - 2009 Neo-Blood Tournament Finals

Monday 8 June 2009



Yesterday was a huge day and event for Pancrase, the focus was on the main card but there were some stars in the making on the undercard. The crowd in Differ Ariake was treated to no less than 23 fights yesterday, some of them were the Neo-Blood semi-finals.

For the next Pancrase event, the Neo-Blood finalists will be the center of attention, and I really like these events they have an atmosphere that is unique and the fighters always give it everything.

Look out for Shigeyuki Uchiyama in the featherweight final, at the age of 36 the former wrestler is looking in great shape. His opponent is the 12 year younger Yo Saito. Also keep an eye on the 20 year old Isao Kobayashi, he could be a fighter for the future coming from Sakaguchi Dojo.

In addition to the Neo-Blood finals, some participants are announced and they are a few of the most experienced fighters in Japan. Yuki Kondo and Izuru Takeuchi are participating, so is the lightweight King of Pancrase, Katsuya Inoue.

The finals were deceided yesterday, and this is what the setup looks like:
Light: Isao Kobayashi 3-0-0 vs. 1-5-0 Hirotaka Tomiyama
Feather: Shigeyuki Uchiyama 6-0-0 vs. 1-0-0 Yo Saito
Bantam: Nobuhiro Yoshitake 2-4-1 vs. 3-2-1 Ryota Sasaki
Fly: Kiyotaka Shimizu 2-1-1 vs. 7-6-1 Yuki Yashima

Participating:
Yuki Kondo 49-23-6
Izuru Takeuchi 25-10-6
Katsuya Inoue 18-6-4

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6/7 Shooto GIG North Vol. 4 - Results



Shooto's GIG North was overshadowed by the Pancrase card yesterday, but that doesnt mean that there werent some interesting fights taking place in ZEPP Sapporo.

The main event on this 5 fight card saw local favorite, Takuya Mori, take on the experienced Akimoto pupil, Daiji Takahashi.

Of the fights to take note of, 2 Rookie tournament champions faced of. Fumihiro Kitahara was the winner in 2008, and he took on the 2007 champion, Kenji Hosoya.

Daiji Takahashi Def. Takuya Mori by Decision 2-0
Fumihiro Kitahara Def. Kenji Hosoya by Rear-Naked Choke Round 2 4:49
Paolo Milano Def. Michiyuki "Aroi" Ishibashi by Decision 3-0
Tatsuya Yamamoto Def. Keisuke Kurata by Decision 2-0
Kenichi Sawada Def. Atsushi Mochizuki by Decision 3-0

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6/7 Pancrase Changing Tour - RESULTS (Updated with Noe-Blood Results)

Sunday 7 June 2009



The main card of this event starts with a bang, as Sengoku veteran Ryo Kawamura takes on Yukiya Naito. From what I have heard, it turned into an awesome fight! It was followed by another good fight between Kosei Kobuta and Shingo Suzuki.

The names just keep coming on this card!

The event is taking place right now, and I will update the results as they become available.

Main-Event:
Satoru Kitaoka Def. Yukio Sakaguchi by achilles hold Round 1 1:26
A predictable end to this event. Everone knows what to expect from Kitaoka, but he is too strong and gets an impressive win.

Flyweight King of Pancrase:
Mitsuhisa Sunabe Def. Takuya Eizumi by KO Round 1 4:35

Koji Oishi Def. Kim Hyung Kwang by Decision 2-0
Takenori Sato Def. Kim Hoon by arm-bar Round 1 4:26
Choi Mu Bae Def. Katsuhisa Fujii by Decision 3-0
Seiya Kawahara Def. Tatsuya So by Decision 3-0
Keiichiro Yamamiya Def. Ryuji Ohori by KO Round 1 1:01
(right hook 1 punch KO)
Isao Hirose Def. Takashi Nakamura by Decision 3-0
Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi Def. Takumi Murata by Decision 2-0
Kosei Kubota vs. Shingo Suzuki DRAW
Ryo Kawamura Def. Yukiya Naito by Decision 3-0

Neo-Blood Tournament Semi-Finals:
Light: Isao Kobayashi Def. Koji Nakamura by KO Round 2 1:03
Light: Hiro Tomiyama def. Keigo Hirayama by Decision 3-0
Feather: Yo Saito Def. Yasutomo Tanaka by Guillotine Choke Round 1 1:29
Feather: Shigeyuki Uchiyama Def. Hiroshi Tomita by TKO Round 1 1:27
Bantam: Nobuhiro Yoshitake Def. Ranki Kawana by split decision
Bantam: Ryota Sasaki Def. Taro Shimazaki by rear-naked choke Round 1 4:23
Fly: Kiyotaka Shimizu Def. Takuma Ishii by rear-naked choke Round 1 4:00
Fly: Yuki Yashima Def. Daisuke Tsujita by Kimura Round 1 2:24

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6/7 Pancrase Changing Tour - Weigh-In & Fight Order

Saturday 6 June 2009



It is a stacked card that Pancrase is putting on in Differ Ariake tomorrow (Sunday). The fact that Sengoku veteran Ryo Kawamura opens the main card should be an indication of how stacked this card is. The Pancrase Light-Heavyweight title holder is fighting in a non-title fight.

The main event will see Sengoku Lightweight title holder Satoru Kitaoka take on Pancrase and DREAM (Dynamite) veteran Yukio Sakagushi. This fight will probably last around 1 minute. Either a KO to Sakaguchi, or a more likely submission to Kitaoka.

The co-main event is the Flyweight King of Pancrase title fight between Mitsuhisa Sunabe and Yukio Sakaguchi. Also on the card is Isao Hirose, with a win here he should be next in line for a title shot.

Another Sengoku veteran fighting in this event is Korean standout Choi Mu Bae, who defeated Dave Hermann in the last Sengoku event. He is taking on Pride veteran Katsuhisa Fujii.

Differ Ariake should be packed for this event!

Weigh-in results after the fight order.

Fight Order:
19. Light: Satoru Kitaoka 24-8-9 vs. 3-4-0 Yukio Sakaguchi

Flyweight King of Pancrase:
18. Mitsuhisa Sunabe 8-5-3 vs. 5-1-0 Takuya Eizumi

17. Light: Koji Oishi 17-8-6 vs. 2-2-0 Kim Hyung Kwang
16. Middle: Takenori Sato 8-5-4 vs. Kim Hoon
15. Heavy: Choi Mu Bae 8-3-0 vs. 9-16-1 Katsuhisa Fujii
14. Bantam: Seiya Kawahara 6-2-0 vs. 3-2-1 Tatsuya So
13. Middle: Keiichiro Yamamiya 34-24-9 vs. 3-4-0 Ryuji Ohori
12. Fly: Isao Hirose 5-0-0 vs. 0-1-0 Takashi Nakamura
11. Feather: Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi 10-5-9 vs. 4-8-6 Takumi Murata
10. Welter: Kosei Kubota 24-30-10 vs. 1-1-0 Shingo Suzuki
9. Light-Heavy: Ryo Kawamura 9-4-2 vs. 15-5-2 Yukiya Naito

Neo-Blood Semi-Finals:
8. Fly: Daisuke Tsujita 3-0-0 vs. 3-4-1 Yuki Yashima
7. Fly: Takuma Ishii 2-3-1 vs. 1-1-1 Kiyotaka Shimizu
6. Bantam: Taro Shimazaki 5-1-1 vs. 2-2-1 Ryota Sasaki
5. Bantam: Nobuhiro Yoshitake 1-4-1 vs. 10-1-6 Ranki Kawana
4. Feather: Shigeyuki Uchiyama 5-0-0 vs. 1-0-1 Hiroshi Tomita
3. Feather: Yasutomo Tanaka 5-2-4 vs. 0-1-0 Akira Saito
2. Light: Keigo Hirayama 7-4-3 vs. Hiro Tomiyama
1. Light: Koji Nakamura vs. 2-0-0 Isao Kobayashi

Weigh-in:
Satoru Kitaoka 70.2 kg
Yukio Sakaguchi 69.0 kg

Mitsuhisa Sunabe 56.9 kg
Takuya Eizumi 56.7 kg

Koji Oishi 70.1 kg
Kim Hyoung Kwang 70.1 kg

Takenori Sato 83.8 kg
Kim Hoon 83.8 kg

Choi Mu Bae 112.6 kg
Katsuhisa Fujii 105.1 kg

Seiya Kawahara 61.2kg → 61.1kg
Tatsuya So

13. Middle: Kei Yamamiya 83.4 kg
Ryuji Ohori 83.5 kg

12. Fly: Isao Hirose 57.8 kg
Takashi Nakamura 57.7 kg

Tashiro Akai 65.3 kg
Takumi Murata 64.9 kg

Kosei Kubota 76.9 kg
Shingo Suzuki 76.6 kg

Ryo Kawamura 92.9 kg
Yukiya Naito 91.5 kg

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6/6 Shooting Disco 9 - RESULTS



As always, an exciting card in Shinjuku Face earlier today. The main event ended in spectacular fashion just 20 seconds in.

Also on the card was an important fight to sort out the flyweight rankings, and I think we should expect a title fight in the weight division soon.

Lots of exciting fighters on the card, including a couple of fights in this years rookie tournament, spoilers if you read on.


Main-Event:
10. Light: Taiki Tsuchiya Def. Shintaro Ishiwatari by KO Round 1 0:20

9. Fly: Noburo "Shinpei" Tahara Def. Shinya Murofushi by TKO round 3 4:09
8. Welter: Guy Delameau vs. Yukinari "Hibiki" Tamura DRAW 0-0
7. Middle: Yoichiro Sato Def. Akihiro Murayama by Decision 3-0
6. Light: Naohiro Mizuno Def. Yuji Inoue by Decision 3-0
5. Light: Hidenori Nishino vs. Kosuke Kindaichi DRAW 1-0
4. Bantam: Tatsuya Nakashima Def. Joji Shimada by Decision 2-0

Rookie Tournament 2nd Round:
3. Bantam: Jun Nagasoe Def. Yoshiyuki Takano by Katagatame Round 1 3:31
2. Middle: Kenta Takagi Def. Yoshinori Takahashi by TKO Round 1 1:56

Non-Tournnament:
1. Welter: Daisuke Hoshino Def. Yuhei Ota by Decision 3-0

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8/1 Affliction M-1 Global "Trilogy" Press Conference Pictures



From my friends over at M-1/Afflicition, here are some pictures of the Affliction 3 press conference earlier this week.

Affliction has put on 2 of the better cards over the last couple of years in my opinion, and the 3rd is looking awesome again. The star of the show is, as usual, Fedor. But Affliction has always put other stars and talented fighters in there. This time Fedor will defend his title against Josh Barnett, and I cant think of a fight I would rather see at this point.

PPV Main Card:
Fedor Emelianenko 30-1-0 vs. 24-5-0 Josh Barnett
Renato “Babalu” Sobral 32-8-0 vs. 25-2-1 Gegard Mousasi
Victor “The Phenom” Belfort 18-8-0 vs. TBA
Tim Sylvia 24-5-0 vs. 27-10-0 Paul “The Headhunter” Buentello
Big” Ben Rothwell 30-6-0 vs. 6-0-0 Chase Gormley

The undercard will be shown on HDNet will feature these fighters:
Chris “The Polish Hammer” Horodecki vs. Dan “The Upgrade” Lauzon
Jay “The Thoroughbred” Hieron (17-4-0), Paul “Semtex” Daley (21-8-2), Deividas Taurosevicius (10-3-0) and Brett Cooper (9-4-0)

Tickets for Affliction M-1 “Trilogy,” will be between $50.00 and $600.00, and will go on sale June 8 at Honda Center Box Office (1.714.704.2500) and Ticketmaster.com and Ticket Master outlets (1.714.740.2000).

Some more pictures from the press conference:









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6/27 Cage Force - Fight Added




GCM have announced 3 more fights for their card in Differ Ariake on June 27. "K-Taro" will probably fight in the main event again, and there are some talented fighters on this card. Look out of Yuta Nezu, and Randleman Ichikawa who is always entertaining.

Announced:
Welter: Teruhiko Kobu 6-9-1 vs. 3-4-1 Keitaro Maeda
Light-Heavy: Yusuke Sakashita 5-1-0 vs. 4-5-1 Yuta Nakamura
Feather: Tomoki Miyaji 4-2-0 vs. Masayoshi "Randleman" Ichikawa

Previously Announced:
Welter: Keita Nakamura "K-Taro" 15-4-2 vs. 6-8-0 Tomoyoshi Iwamiya
Middle: Daiju Takase 7-13-1 vs. 2-2-1 Shuji Morikawa
Bantam: Isao Terada 5-7-4 vs. 7-2-1 Yuta Nezu

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6/30 DEEP Impact 42 - Miyata vs. Yamasaki Announced



Saeki and DEEP have announced an awesome match-up for their next DEEP impact event. 2 DREAM veterans will face eachother, this time Miyata will go down to featherweight though. Miyata's opponent is Shooto, DEEP and DREAM veteran Takeshi Yamazaki. Yamazaki is coming off 2 losses, both fighters needs this win to get back onto the main stage of DREAM. Maybe there will be a DEEP title fight for the winner of this one too.

The card is looking very good, and the addition of Miyata vs. Yamazaki will make this a very good event! A total of 14 fights are announced and I think this card should be just about complete now.

In the future fights, Outsider standout Tomoya Kato will make his DEEP debut.

Announced:
Kazuyuki Miyata 6-7-0 vs. 14-9-2 Takeshi Yamazaki
Toshikazu Iseno 6-5-2 vs. 1-0-0 Kleber Koike
Yusaku Tsukumo 6-3-0 vs. ぺ・ミョンホ (?)
Shigetoshi Iwase 7-11-3 vs. 泰舗 "Goten" Okuno

Future Fights:
Motoki Awaji 0-2-0 vs. 3-0-0 Tomoya Kato
Yasuhiro Yamazaki vs. Yusuke Kadoyama
Tatsumitsu Wada 0-5-0 vs. 3-2-0 Tatsuya Tsuchida

Previously Announced:
DEEP Middleweight Title Fight:
Yuichi Nakanishi 9-8-3 vs. 14-4-0 Riki Fukuda

Ryuta Sakurai 18-15-4 vs. 17-22-1 Hiromitsu Kanehara
Bernard Ackah 2-2-0 vs. 10-5-1 Young Choi
Kazuhisa Tazawa 4-0-1 vs. Jae Young Kim (?)
Hiroko 2-0-1 vs. 5-8-2 Kenji Nagai
Tomoya Miyashita 10-5-5 vs. 3-1-1 Hiryu Okamoto
Ryota Uozomi 3-1-0 vs. Pat Uncangco

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Satoshi Ishii/Sengoku Public Signing

Wednesday 3 June 2009

Thursday June 4th Sengoku will formally announce Judo Olympic gold medalist Satoshi Ishii as a fighter for the organization. A lot of people have been saying that they would like to see a top martial artist in his prime try his hands at MMA, and Ishii could be considered just that.

At the signing event will be a lot of Sengoku stars: Satoshi Ishii, Hidehiko Yoshida, Makoto Takimoto, Sanae Kikuta, Kazuo Misaki, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Yuki Kondo, Yoshihiro Nakao, Satoru Kitaoka, Mizuto Hirota, Michihiro Omigawa, Masanori Kanehara, Eiji Mitsuoka, Yuki Sasaki, Kazunori Yokota, Ryo Kawamura
Tetsuya Yamada, Shigeki Osawa, Maximo Blanco.

Nightmare of Battle is specualating at a fight announcement, in addition to that it will be interesting to see if there are any plans for Ishii to fight soon.

The event will take place at Shinjuku Station Square, which is across from the Studio Alta building and has NOTHING to do with Times Square (this might make no sense if you're not going there or have never been there).

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7/11 JEWELS 4th Ring - Megumi Fuji Fighting



The 4th Jewels event will take place Saturday July 11. This time it will not be in the usual Shinjuku Face, but in Shinkiba 1st Ring.

The first fight has been announced and it will feature the unbeaten star of female MMA, Megumi Fuji. She will take on Saori Ishioka, who has won her last 3 fights. Megumi Fuji will go in with a record of 17-0 and only 2 fights have gone the distance. I have a feeling this fight will end before the final bell as well.

This fight was set up in the last Jewels event, when Saori Ishioka challenged Megumi Fuji in the ring. Mega-Megu accepted and there will be a few first for Ishioka in this fight. First of all, ground and pound will be allowed and it will go for 3x5min.

Ishioka got her chance, now lets see how she does against Megumi Fuji.

Announced:
Megumi Fuji 17-0-0 vs. 7-3-0 Saori Ishioka

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5/30 War Gods 5 - Results

I reported earlier that Steve Magdaleno would make his return in this event, fighting Kit Cope. That was before all the controversy, and I can only say what I have heard, so it might not be 100% true. Before the weigh-in there was a rumor that the event was called off. Kit Cope and his team-mate, Lucas Gamaza, deceided to rehydrate and when the rumor turned out to be true they could not make weight and pulled out.

This left Steve and the organisers in a bad position, 1 day to go and no opponent. Luckily, Carlos Garces stepped up to face Steve Magdaleno on very short notice. Steve also came in on short notice here, in place of injured Andy Wang. He ended up taking his 6th straight win, and I hope it opens some more doors for him.

The rest of the results:

Main-Event: Lew Polley Def. Vernon "Tiger" White by Decision 3-0

Lightweight Showdown Round 1:
Joe Duarte Def. David Gardner by TKO Round 1 2:41
Steve Magdaleno Def. Carlos Garces by arm-bar Round 1 3:30

Lightweight Alternate Bracket:
Bryan Travers Def. Tom Belt by Decision 3-0

Other Fights:
Rick Slaton Def. Salah Zabian by TKO Round 1 0:56
Gareth Joseph Def. Jose Diaz by TKO Round 1 1:26
Leland Gridley Def. George Sanchez by arm-bar Round 2 2:28
Tarec Saffiedine Def. Mike Arellano by keylock Round 1 2:44
Bailey Byrne Def. Mentoa McKenzie by triangle Round 1 0:57

A couple of pictures from Sherdog:
Steve Magdaleno vs. Carlos Garces
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Steve Magdaleno vs. Carlos Garces
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Steve Magdaleno vs. Carlos Garces
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6/1 ShootBoxing Champions Carnival - RESULTS *UPDATED*

Monday 1 June 2009



ShootBoxing is having their Champions Carnival in Korakuen Hall now. It is a very interesting card, and lots of good fighters on it.

Mamoru has had his 3rd ShootBoxing fight, and the Shooto ledgend has now put himself in title contention by defeating the #1 ranked Nagurachun M16.

We also have new West Pacific Welterweight and Super-Welterweight champions!

*UPDATE*
The Super-Featherweight title fight was fought as a non-title fight due to the challenger Hiroaki Suzuki coming in over weight. Thanks to Pete for notifying me!

Ring of Fire champion, Tylor Toner pulls off the upset in his ShootBoxing debut!

Main-Event:
9. 71kg: Tyler Toner Def. Kenichi Ogata by KO Round 1 3:00

ShootBoxing Western Pacific Title Fight (67kg):
8. 67kg: Hiroki Shishido Def. Luke Meitland by standing Guillotine Choke Round 2 1:15

Japan Super Werlterweight Title Fight (70kg):
7. (Challenger) Takaaki Umeno Def. (Champion) Kenji Kanai by TKO Round 5 2:02

Japan Super Featherweight (60kg):
6. (Challenger) Hiroaki Suzuki Def. (Champion)Tomohiro Oikawa by KO Round 3 3:00

5. 56kg: Mamoru Yamaguchi Def. Nagurachun Martha M16 by Decision (after ext.) 3-0
4. 60kg: Takeshi Ishikawa Def. Koya Shimada by TKO Round 1 1:26
3. 87kg: Kengo Shimizu Def. Koji Iga by KO Round 1 2:41
2. 55kg: Kazuyuki Fushimi Def. Hiroaki Okuwa by Decision 3-0
1. 55kg: Tatsuhiro Takashima Def. Tomonori Suzuki by standing Choke Round 3 1:40

Read more...

Satoshi Ishii signs for Sengoku!

Another huge signing for Sengoku, Bejing Olympic Judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii has signed a 2 year multi fight contract. The contract also allows him to fight in organisations overseas.

This is a HUGE deal for Sengoku, and Ishii will be their biggest draw in Japan.

Ishii caused a lot of controversy when he right after winning the olympic gold said he would like to fight Fedor. Initially he was rumored to have been offered a $5,000,000 contract wth DREAM, then it looked like he was more likely to be heading to an American organization.

It should have been a sign when he entered the Sengoku ring on their new year's show, but even then he showed his intentions by wearing a UFC shirt.

It is good to see him fighting in Japan now, it will give MMA in Japan a much needed boost! No date has yet been set for his debut.

Read more...

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