8/11 K-1 World GP 2009 in Tokyo -Final 16 GP-

Thursday 30 July 2009



FEG have announced a reserve fight to this event today, but I dont think I have posted the card yet, so here it is.

A very interesting tournament, featuring the always exciting, Melvin Manhoef. He is fresh of his loss in DREAM, but I dont think injury would be an issue here. Also look out for the ShootBoxer Alex Roberts.

The reserve fight announced today is between the British John Love and Heat veteran Yuuki.

Final 16 Qualifying GP - Round 1
Melvin Manhoef vs. Ramazan Ramazanov
Daniel Ghita vs. Alex Roberts
Sergeii Lashchenko vs. Sebastian Ciobau
Rico Verhoeven vs. Brice Guidon
Reserve: Yuuki vs. John Love

Super Fights:
Peter Aerts vs. Yosuke Nishijima
Keijiro Maeda vs. Jan Soukup

Opening Fights:
Riso Watanabe vs. Nobuhiro Ko
Kengo Shimizu vs. Shinkyu Kawano
Kazuo Doi vs. Katsuharu Ebisawa

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10/6 DREAM 11 Featherweight GP Finals - Fights Announced



DREAM have announced the featherweight GP semi-finals lineup. It is looking very good, the fights for the semi-finals have been rumored and known for a while. However, there is a very interesting reserve fight here. Kazuyuki Miyata, considered the king of take-downs in the Japanese media (after pulling out some spectacular suplexes in his last couple of fights), will take on a guy that is very hard to take down, DJ Taiki. DJ Taiki should of course have been in this GP, he had to give up his spot due to an injury, and Hideo Tokoro took his place.

The semi-finals will have an all Japanese semi-final between Hiroyuki Takaya and crowd favorite Hideo Tokoro. The other semi-final will see the former dark-horse, now favorite in many eyes, Joe Warren, take on BJJ genious Bibiano Fernandes.

I just have to say that I would love to see Miyata vs. Warren, but for now there are some awesome matchups and the tournament is wide open. I think Joe Warren might be the favorite in my book, but honestly, anyone can take this. And dont forget, the fighters in the reserve fight are still in this! As always, the final will be on the same night.

On the card might Japanese stars "Kid" Yamamoto and Tatsuya Kawajiri. Nothing official, but Dream promoter Sasahara has mentioned that he would like to have them on the card. Of course, whats also rumored are 2 title fights (light- and middleweight).

What will be on the card is the SuperHulk tournament semi-finals. This card should be awesome!

DREAM Featherweight GP Semi-Finals:
Hideo Tokoro 22-16-1 vs. 11-6-1 Hiroyuki Takaya
Joe Warren 2-0-0 vs. 5-2-0 Bibiano Fernandes
Reserve: Kazuyuki Miyata 7-7-0 vs. 11-5-3 Daiki "DJ Taiki" Hata

SuperHulk Semi-Finalists:
Ikuhisa Minowa 42-30-8
Hong Choi Man 2-2-0
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou 6-4-0
Gegard Mousasi 25-2-1

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8/2 K-1 Asia GP 2009 - Fight Order

Wednesday 29 July 2009



FEG have announced the fight order and complete card for the Asia GP on Sunday (August 2).

This should be a very close tournament. Personally I am looking forward to seeing Koichi in the reserve fight. I know he is in great shape and has worked very hard here.

There should be lots to cheer about for the Korean fans, and it should be a very good event.

Main-Event: K-1 Asia GP 2009 Final:
10. Winner of SF-1 vs. Winner of SF-2

9. Superfight: Gokhan Saki vs. Pavel Zuravliov

K-1 Asia GP 2009 Fights Semi-Finals:
8. SF-2: Winner of QF-3 vs. Winner of QF-4
7. SF-1: Winner of QF-1 vs. Winner of QF-2

6. Superfight: Jae Hee Cheon vs. Kim Tae Han

K-1 Asia GP 2009 Fights - Quarter Finals
5. Reserve: KOICHI vs. Yusuke Sakashita
4. QF-4: Ko Taisei vs. Min Ho Song
3. QF-3: Park Yong Soo vs. Singh "Heart" Jaideep
2. QF-2: Takumi Sato vs. Yang Rae Yoo
1. QF-1: Kin Taiei vs. Sun Wu

Opening Fights:
Hyun Man Myung vs. Nae Chul Kim
60kg: Joung Hyun Koh vs. Ik Hwan Chang

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8/2 ZST SWAT! 28 - Fight Order



August 2 will be a busy MMA day, even with Affliction cancelling their event. ZST is putting on SWAT 28 in Golds Gym Tokyo Annex, starting at noon, it could be a long and awesome day for fans in Tokyo.

The SWAT cards are always about the talent, and this time is no different. The main event will have the star fighters here, of course in a tag team format. The co-main event is an interesting bantamweight battle between Taakeaki Miyakawa and Ichiro Sugita.

Main-Event: Lightweight Tag-Team 1x15min. (1 win):
Tetsuya Yamada/Yusei Kawana vs. Shunichi Shimizu/Atsushi Ueda

Bantam: Takeaki Miyakawa 6-4-1 vs. 8-2-5 Ichiro Sugita

Genesis Tournament:
Welter: Masayuki Hamagishi 2-1-3 vs. Yuki Yamamoto
Welter: Hidenobu Koike 9-9-3 vs. 1-0-0 Yuta Uehara
Light: Katsuto Nakamura vs. Yutaka Hashida
Feather: Kei Tanigawa 1-3-0 vs. 2-0-0 Masamitsu Nakamura
Bantam: Takatoshi Kawamura 2-0-1 vs. 4-1-1 Tetsuya Fusano
Fly: Yuru Hayasaka 2-2-0 vs. 1-0-0 Toru Sakakibara

Non-Tournament:
Bantam: Akira Omura 0-12-1 vs. 0-2-0 Kengo Okubo
Feather: Yosuke Hashima vs. Yasuhide Kobayashi
Fly: Masakatsu Sakiguchi vs. 1-4-0 Hiroyuki Naito
Feather GT-F (Grappling): Hisamitsu Taniguchi vs. Takakazu Yamashita

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Kitaoka confident about his title defense

Tuesday 28 July 2009



Kitaoka confident about his title defense、tells challenger Hirota “You can’t do it”
From 【Sportsnavi】 July 28

Kitaoka confidently boasted “You can’t do it” in a blast at Hirota. The Sengoku lightweight champion, Satoru Kitaoka who will fight in the MMA event Sengoku 9, August 2 at the Saitama Super Arena held a public training session surrounded by the press on the 28th.

In defense of his title Kitaoka will be facing the challenger Mizuto Hirota.

After joining in Sengoku 2 (2008) Kitaoka went undefeated in a field crowded with strong fighters to become champion. This is the championship that he fought long and hard for, but on this day of his press conference he was all smiles from the beginning to end and while answering the reporters questions the tension consistent with a title defense couldn’t be seen.

Of course, Kitaoka said “I have no intention of running from the responsibility that comes with entering the ring wearing the championship belt” and although having awareness of being champion there was none of the fear or stiffness that comes from the possibility of losing the belt. Keeping a good balance of tension and relaxation, it looks like Kitaoka is keeping himself in a positive mental state.

 In the 2009 lightweight GP, after defeating Clay French in the opening round he went on to win two matches in one day defeating Mitsuoka Eiji and Yokota Kazunori for the semi-final and final. Continuing with Sengoku no Ran (January 4, 2009 Saitama Super Arena) he put down Gomi Takanori to become the champion. Hirota Mizuto is the only high-ranking GP fighter that has not gone up directly against Kitaoka and is his first challenger for defense of the title. That is to say that Hirota is the one in the lightweight division who is in a position to overthrow the champion, but Kitaoka boasted that with his “you can’t do it” a difference of “class.” “Now I’m in an unstoppable state. If I have to imagine someone stopping me it isn’t Hirota.” Whether it’s confidence of exaggeration it’s hard to put into words but Hirota isn’t the one.” With all his statements that a transfer of the title would be “unrealistic” the champion predicted a successful defense of his title.

In a Kakutogitsushin interview with Hirota Mizuto the challenger made it quite clear that he is sick of being looked upon as a second rate fighter by the champion and is buring to show him up in the ring. What Hirota says he would like to do most is to give Kitaoka a taste of his striking. When asked about Kitaoka’s strong control of distance Hirota replied “I want to keep him from touching me. I have to watch out to make sure he doesn’t get my head or a leg.” When asked how he would like the fight to go Hirota said he’d like to take advantage of his stamina and land some good punches once Kitaoka tires. “I probably won’t be able to hit him at first, but as he gets tired I’ll start to hit him.”

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Josh Barnett heading for Japan

Monday 27 July 2009

SportNavi has announced that Josh Barnett will make an appearance in IGF "GENOME 9 - Now is your chance" (losly translated). This is a pro-wrestling event and will take place on August 9 in Ariake Colosseum.

I am not going to go into the background here, but Barnett is a star in Japan and I have no doubts that his Japanese fans will be behind him.

Bob Sapp might also make an appearance in this event.

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9/4 ShootBoxing - Tyler Toner Returns



Ring of Fire champion, Tyler Toner pulled off an upset when he, in the main-event of the last Shoot Boxing event, KOed Kenichi Ogata. This time he will take on super welterweight champion, Takaaki Umeno and it will be interesting to see if he can do it again.

Also on the card (and possibly the main-event) is the fight between Hiroki Shishido and Thai champion Bowiei So Udomson (and I am not sure of the spelling).

Announced:
Tyler Toner vs. Takaaki Umeno
Hiroki Shishido vs. Bowiei So Udomson

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DREAM Ring Girls

Friday 24 July 2009

If you like Japanese ring girls, you'll love this photo gallery taken at the last Dream event. From SportsNavi.

And I just realized I havnt done a presentation of them, like I have the Sengoku Girls. Maybe something to work on...

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8/30 DEEP Impact Osaka

Thursday 23 July 2009



Just a week after DEEP 43 Impact, DEEP will hold DEEP Osaka Impact. This will be in Zepp Osaka.

This will be a card with a lot of talent, but some very experienced fighters as well. Hightlight will be the participation of DREAM veteran and featherweight GP participant Yoshiro Maeda. Also on the card is Ken Hamamura and Young "Ryo" Choi.

Announced:
Young "Ryo" Choi 10-5-1 vs. 2-1-1 Yuya Aikawa
Yusaku Tsukumo 6-4-0 vs. 5-3-2 Yoshiyume Chodo
Ken Hamamura 15-6-4 vs. 7-9-1 Teruhiko Kubo
Hiroto Hattori 6-3-0 vs. Yuki Kamijima
Makoto Kamaya 11-5-1 vs. 6-4-0 Nobuhiro "punch" Yamauchi
Koki Nakagawa vs. Mitsuru Kondo
Masahiro Tobino vs. Kyohei Hayashi
Ren Takeno vs. Yuta Shibata
Shigeru Yoshino vs. Takumi Akita
Shinpei Hayashi vs. Tatsuya Sawada

Participants:
Yoshiro Maeda 24-7-2
Zenda Yamazaki

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8/23 DEEP 43 Impact - Ryo Chonan's Opponent Announced

Wednesday 22 July 2009



DEEP had already announced 2 title fights for this card, and it was clear that Ryo Chonan would make his return to DEEP on this card. Chonan went 1-3 in his stay with the UFC and now he wants his belt back! Chonan had to vacate his DEEP title once he signed for the UFC, he has made it clear that he wants the title now held by Riki Fukuda back. His first opponent is the veteran Jutaro Nakao.

Also announced on this card is Bernard Ackah, but I had to rub my eyes and take a second look when I saw who he was fighting. It looks like Ryushi Yanagisawa will be making a return at the age of 37. This is a fighter that has fought all the legends (Randy, Fedor, Bas, you name it), but that was between 1993 and 2001. Will be awesome to see him back (finding it almost hard to believe)!

Allience's Yuki Ito will take on the very talented Sadao Kondo in what will be a very exciting fight.

Announced:
Ryo Chonan 15-10-0 vs. 22-14-4 Jutaro Nakao
Bernard Ackah 2-3-0 vs. 24-23-9 Ryushi Yanagisawa
Yuki Ito 7-3-3 vs. 4-0-0 Sadao Kondo

Future Fight:
Yasuhiro Kawasaki 2-1-1 vs. 4-0-0 Tomoya Kato

Previuosly Announced:
DEEP Bantamweight Title Fight:

Masakazu Imanari (champion) 16-7-1 vs. 10-4-3 Tomohiko Hori

DEEP Featherweight Title Fight:
Dokonjonosuke Mishima (champion) 19-6-2 vs. 8-4-1 Takafumi Otsuka

Participating:
Koichiro Matsumoto 7-2-0
Toshiaki Kitada 8-4-2
Yuji Sakuragi 10-14-1
Masato Kataoka

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10/26 KI-1 World Max 2009 Final - Semi-Finals Announced



FEG have today announced the match-ups for the K-1 world max final to be held in Yokohama Arena on October 26.

FEG have deceided to match the 2 surprise fighters against each other. That means that Giorgo Petrosyan will face the Japanese hope, Yuya Yamamoto. The other semi-final sees 2 veterans face off. Andy Souwer was the winner in 2007 and 2005, he is facing the champion from 2004 and 2006, Buakaw Por. Pramuk.

Of course, the final will be held the same night.

The reserve fight will see Yoshihiro Sato take on Yasuhiro Kido.

Semi-Finals:
Andy Souwer vs. Buakaw Por. Pramuk
Giorgo Petrosyan vs. Yuya Yamamoto

Reserve:
Yoshihiro Sato vs. Yasuhiro Kido

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9/22 Shooto Revolutionary Exchanges 2 - Boku aims at reclaiming his title

Tuesday 21 July 2009



Shooto will end this year on a high, from "Revolutionary Exhcanges 2" they will have 3 big cards with just a month between them.

For this card 2 Pacific title fights are announced. For the welterweight title, Kotetsu Boku once wore the belt that now belongs to Yusuke Endo. Some will point out that Boku never lost the title in the ring. This is a re-match from January, on that occation the fight ended in a draw.

The other title fight is for the middleweight title. The title currently belongs to Australian Xavier Lucas, who claimed the title after defeating Yoshitaro Niimi in October last year. In his first title defence he will be taking on Akihiro Yamazaki, a fighter that has lots of talent and this will be a good fight.

Announced:
Pacific Welterweight Title Fight:

Yusuke Endo (C) 12-3-2 vs. 14-5-2 Kotetsu Boku

Pacific Middleweight Title Fight:
Xavier Lucas (C) 6-1-1 vs. 11-2-1 Akihiro Yamazaki

Feather: Tetsu "Hadairo" Suzuki 8-7-3 vs. 6-2-0 Teriyuki Matsumoto
Bantam: Masatoshi Abe 8-2-1 vs. 5-1-1 Fumihiro Kitahara

Rookie Tournament:
Feaher: Haruo Ochi 4-1-0 vs. 2-0-0 Kota Onojima
Light: Atsushi Kobayashi 2-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Yusuke Yachi
Bantam: Nozomi Otsuka 2-1-1 vs. 1-0-1 Yasutaka Ishigami

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11/23 Shooto Revolutionary Exchanges 3 - Rambaa Somdet Returns!



In case you are wondering, Revolutionary Exchanges 2 is also announced. I am just doing 3 first...

Earlier this year Shooto started their flyweight ranking and they have been changing a LOT. Rambaa Somdet have been at the top of that since the start, but was recently moved down to #2 behind Noboru "Shinpei" Tahara.

Fact is, Shooto needs a flyweight champion. Somdet is announced for this event and I am hopeing this will be a title fight. Somdet fought Tahara in September last year, and won a unanimous decision.

This event is also booked in JCB Hall and it looks like Shooto is looking to have a ver busy end to this year.

In case you are still wondering who Rambaa Somdet is, here are some videos.

Participant:
Rambaa Somdet 6-2-0

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Cro Cop: Why He's Leaving Japan

Thanks to Robert, I am able to post an interview with CroCop originally done in Croatian. You can check out site here:UFC 101 odds.

Crocop goes into detail of his future and why he deceided to leave Japan.

Q: Is the contract that everyone has been talking about these past 10 days a done deal ?
A:Yes. I'm glad to be with the UFC. My first fight will take place in Dallas on August 19th against Junior Dos Santos.


Q: Why the UFC, and not Japan? Why the change of heart?
A: The UFC has became the only global fight organization, it is the strongest MMA organization in the world. Unfortunately DREAM could not emulate PRIDE where i was fighting, while on the other side UFC has grown in every respect. At this moment Japan can't compete, neither financially or with its fighters.


Q: Are you sad to leave? The impression was that you always preferred ring over the cage?
A: Of course I'm sad to leave. All that I’ve achieved, I’ve achieved in Japan. I don't owe it to PRIDE nor DREAM but to the Japanese fans, which very much appreciate and respect.I hope that they can understand my decision. In these times of global recession, I don't see anyone coming even close to the Americans. Maybe they will in a few years but i doubt i'll be around then.


Q: Your opponent is already confirmed. How much do you know about Junior Dos Santos, and how did the fight eventuate ?
A: My UFC chose the opponent for me as has always been the case. Dane White said that I will be fighting Dos Santos and I said that's fine. He is a young lion, an upcoming star, with Cain Velasquez being the biggest one. I know he trains with Minotauro, that he is a very good boxer and excellent grappler. I watched his KO against Werdum and his last fight which he also won by KO. All in all he is a great fighter, someone not to be underestimates but I expect a win. [Editors note: UFC 101 odds and UFC 103 are already out. Currently Cro Cop is a slight betting favorite at -130 over Dos Santos]


Q:Your goal is the UFC Heavyweight belt. Who is next after Dos Santos?
A: I'll take it one fight at a time but my ultimate goal is the belt. My second fight should be scheduled around New Years Eve but we will see how will I recover and prepare after Dos Santos. There is even one possibility that i might enter a ring on January 4th. I don't know, its this challenge first and then I’ll see what's next.


Q: How do you see a UFC HW competition? Winning the belt won't be easy task.
A: The competition is extremely strong. There are a couple of legends like Couture and Minotauro, but also a strong fighters like Lesnar,Mir,Velasquesa, Carwina..Like i said ,i take it fight by fight and be focused on what's next.


Q: I guess you watched recent fight for ''unification'' of the heavyweight title against Lesnar and Mir? Is that what you expected??
A:I didn't expect anything but i have to point out that his win was a loss to the fight game as such. Don't get me wrong, Lesnar is difficult opponent and very dangerous but me as an old school fighter still prefer technique. Its a step back for MMA .Mostly what he has been able to achieve is due to strength and in any case ground and pound is not really crowd pleasing. Of course Lesnar has quality sparing partners, he is an experienced wrestler and a man who learns very quick. He has few fights under him but I'd like to see how would he react to 2 to 3 good low kicks.


Q:While we're at low kicks,how's your knee?
A: My leg and knee are excellent. Its getting better and better, and it should be perfect come September. There should be no problems.


Q: Fertitta's visit is proof of your hight standing in the MMA world. Were you surprised by his visit?
A:I don't know why did Fertitta decided to visit me personally, but I'm very glad he did. I'm deeply surprised with him as a person .I only had chance to meet him once before ,but this time we spent close to six hours together. He is extremely modest and down to earth.


Q:Do you think that you are important to UFC because of its plans for Europe and Asia?
A:I know little about their plans ,and i would not want to speculate. Like i said ,I'm a fighter, they are my employers, so I'd like to leave the reasons to them.


Q:How did Dream react when you made your choice? Did they make any last ditch attempts to win you back?
A: Certainly they did,and they're sad to let me go .And i'm sad to go but I had to leave for a greater challenge. Not only that but finically too, the UFC offer was simply greater. One cannot even compare the two belts, it would be laughable .It was different once, when Pride belt meant a lot, today its a different story.


Q: You are still a big star in Japan, bigger than in UFC.
A: I'm very sorry for Japanese audience. I did not want to disappoint them, and if i never fight in Japan again, i can only say that I had my happiest moments there .I made my name over there and experienced the most beautiful things from that nation.But life is life, couldnt say no to the UFC offer.


Q: Although they have many great names under contract, UFC still can't force the best of the best,Fedor Emelianenko,to enter the cage?
A: Fedor probably has his reasons, and I respect that, and wouldn't want to talk much about that. He is a man that I truly appreciate and respect. He's a very nice guy. Of course I would be glad should he ever come to the UFC because that would open the possibility of a rematch. That fight is still a big hope of mine.


Q: Have you worked out your problems with Dana White?
A: Dana is my employer, and at the end of the day he has a really tough job. I’m just sorry that some people said some things behind my back. I was a free agent on the market. Everybody knows the contract that counts is the one with the signature. There were never any problems there.


Q: Is it true that you called Dana about 600 times after it was announced that you're signing for DREAM?
A: That bothered me very much. I don't know why he said that when that never happened. It's not even close to the truth because I never called him .I only sent him a text message saying that i wanted to talk to him and fix any issues, if there where any, i certainly did not call him. I don't know his reasons, but with that statement he presented me in a negative light. He presented me like a badger and butt kisser. I would call anyone that many times. With that statement he disrespected me indirectly.

Source

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8/9 Shooto Gig Saitama 1 - Rumina Sato in Grappling Fight + Fight Order

Monday 20 July 2009



The 1st GIG Saitama card is ready, and the honor of the main event goes to "Shinpei" Tahara vs. Jessie Taitano. This will be a catchweight fight and should be a very interesting match-up of a top flyweight and a fighter climbing the bantamweight ranking.

Also added to the card is a grappling fight between Rumina Sato and Yoshihiko Matsumoto. Rumina has been struggling in the ring lately, and has been mixing it up with a bit of ShootBoxing, but he is a star in Shooto and I am sure there will be lots of fans wanting to see him grapple agian.

Over all a good Saitama GIG card, these are more about promoting up and coming fighters, and this card should do just that.

Main-Event:
9. 54kg: Noboru "Shinpei" Tahara 6-3-1 vs. 5-3-2 Jessie Taitano

8. Fly: Mikitoshi Yamagami 3-1-0 vs. 5-7-2 Takehiro "Tiger" Ishii
7. Grappling - Light: Rumina Sato vs. Yoshihiko Matsumoto
6. Welter: Guy Delameau 9-5-1 vs. 5-9-2 Komei Okada
5. Light: Hidenori Nishino 2-3-2 vs. 6-6-1 Masaki Yanagisawa
4. Light: Toshiaki Hayasaka 0-4-0 vs. 0-0-1 Kosuke Kindaichi
3. Female - Fly: Izumi Noguchi 5-5-0 vs. 12-10-0 "Windy" Tomomi Sunabe
2. Fly: Kazuyuki Yoshida 0-3-0 vs. Shuichiro Okumura

Rookie Tournament: 
1. Bantam: Yosuke Saruta 0-2-0 vs. Kotetsu

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7/20 DREAM 10 - Results



The day of the DREAM welterweight GP final have arrived. Dressed in my "Mach" shirt I am very excited, but there are 3 other very good fighters in the GP.

I will be updating the results here, but no promise that they will be live. I am doing my best though.

There was some actiioni at the weigh-ins yesterday as the Japanese star "Mach" Sakurai tood 3 tires to make weight, but he did and all the fighters are in it.

Main Event: Welterweight Tournament - Final:
Marius Zaromskis Def. Jason High by KO Round 1 2:22

Non-Tournament:
Light: Shinya Aoki Def. Victor Ribeiro by Decision 3-0
Middle: Jesse Taylor Def. Dong Sik Yoon by TKO Round 1 1:02
(ankle njury to Dong)
Middle: Paulo Filho Def. Melvin Manhoef by arm-bar round 1 2:36
Light: Katsunori Kikuno Def. Andre "Dida" Amade by TKO Round 1 3:47

Welterweight GP:
Semi-final 2: Jason High Def. Andre Galvao by decision 2-1
This should be a very entertaining final!

Semi-final 1: Marius Zaromskis Def. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai by TKO Round 1 4:03
(high-kick followed by punches)

Reserve Fight: Tarec Saffiedine Def. Seichi Ikemoto by decision 3-0

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8/23 ShootBoxing Female S-Cup



ShootBoxing have announced that they will hold a female S-Cup. This will be the female version of the very popular tournament they hold for the male fighters, the last couple of years in Saitama Superarena.

The female version will be in the Stellar Hall in Shinagawa Prince Hotel. And the list of participants is looking very interesting.

ShootBoxing is a hybrid of MMA and K-1, in some ways. It is K-1 with standing submissions, and it attract a lot of MMA fighters. This tournament is no different!

So far these are announced:
Megumi Fuji
Mei "V Hajime" Yamaguchi
Rena
Saori Ishioka
Shizuka Sugiyama
Yuko "Hiroko" Yamanaka
Lim Soo Jung

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10/30 Vale-Tudo Japan 09 - JCB Hall booked

Just a quick note, but this might turn out to be a huge event. Sustain (Shooto producer) have booked JCB Hall, the same arena they held Tradition 1 and Tradition final for an event named Vale-Tudo Japan 09. I have very high expectations for this card. No fighters are named yet.

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Dream 10 Pics and Fight Summaries

Shinya Aoki defeated Victor Ribiero by decision
In a match with almost none of Aoki's signature groundwork. Although the crowd didn't really get into it Aoki was able to shut contian Ribiero well with a bunch of kicks to the right upper arm.


Near the end of the match Aoki did end up on the bottom and tried to put on a leg choke, but Ribiero fought out of it.


After the fight Aoki asked the crowd what they thought of his Muay Thai, which brought on more than a few boos. He then admitted it was not his most exciting match and promised that his next match would have the grappling back.

Jesse Taylor Def. Dong Sik Yoon by TKO
Yoon apparently broke a bone in his leg or ankle with an unlucky landing when he was thrown by Taylor early in the first round.

Paulo Filho Def. Melvin Manhoef
Manhoef pumped up the crowd with his barrage of punches.

Filho, however, was able to cover up long enough to get a takedown and from there put on an arm bar. Manhoef tried to twist out of it, but Filho folowed along and got the tap.


Katsunori Kikuno Def. Andre "Dida" Amade


The fighters did a bit of eyeballing each other at the start of the match. After some striking on both sides they started cirlcing, looking for a gap in the other's guard for almost a minute.

After getting a warning they both got alittle more aggressive and Kikuno's crescent kick was able to sap alot of "Dida's" power and he followed up pounding from the back position until the referee stop.

Jason High Def. Andre Galvao by decision

Some people say that this fight could have gone the other way considering how long Galvao was able to keep control in the second half of round 1. Galvao looked like he was about to get a tap from High on a heel hold but High was able to escape.

Jason High's strikes in the beginning of the match helped carry him through for the win.

Marius Zaromskis Def. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai by TKO Round 1
Zaromskis continued his Street Fighter themed entrance .



Although "Mach" opted for a more orthodox the fans were plenty pumped. Both fights started straight out of the gates firing off bursts of punches at each-other.



After a doctor check for bleeding over Sakurai's eye Zaromskis landed a high kick and followed up with a pound that resulted in a referre stop TKO.

Tarec Saffiedine Def. Seichi Ikemoto by decision

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7/19 Shooto Revolutionary Exchanges 1 - Results

Sunday 19 July 2009



Shooto is holding an event in Korakuen Hall now. I will update the rest of the results later, but for now the Rookie tournament fights are done.

Some results to take note of, Shooto Champion "BJ" lost his none title fight, Juice Formiga should take a leap up the rankings after "BJ" did not win a single round on any of the judges cards.


Main-Event: Featherweight Title Fight:
10. Masakatsu Ueda Def. Eduardo Dantas by Decision 3-0

9. Bantam: Jucie Formiga Def. Shinichi "BJ" Kojima by Decision 3-0
8. Fly: Atsushi Takeuchi Def. "Heat" Takeshi Sato by Decision 3-0
7. Bantam: Masaaki Sugawara Def. Yasuhiro Akagi by KO Round 1 3:50
6. Welter: Yukinari Tamura Def. Shinji Sasaki by Decision 3-0
5. Light: Taiki Tsuchiya Def. Kazuhiro Ito by Decision 3-0

Rookie Tournament 2nd Round:
4. Light: Tsuneo Kimura Def. Yoshinao Oki by KO Round 2 1:48
3. Welter: Munehiro "Mike" Kin Def. Hiroki "KG Shinto" Kuga by Decision 3-0
2. Welter: Harada Def. Koji Nishioka by Decision 2-0
1. Feather: Kota Onojima Def. Inagaki by Decision 2-0

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Site problems

I am having problems viewing my site...

It looks like other people are able to see it though. I really dont know how to work this out, so I just hope its temporary.

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7/18 HEAT 10 - Results

Saturday 18 July 2009



This event saw the finals of HEATs kick- and MMA-rule fights. Unfortunately, the main event did not end the way the fighters, audience and promoters wanted.
Sentoryu caught an accidental low blow and was not able to continue. The fight was ruled a no contest, with hopes of a re-match in September.

The new HEAT heavyweight kick rule champion is Hiromi Amada, he defeated Uehara by decision in their final.

HEAT Heavyweight Tournament Finals:
10. MMA-Rule: Sentoryu vs. Cristiano Kaminishi No Contest
9. Kick-rule: Hiromi Amada Def. Makoto Uehara by Decision 3-0

Non-Tournament - MMA-Rule:
8. MMA-Heavy: Ryo Takigawa Def. Junpei Hamada by TKO Roun 1 2:55
7. Kick-Open: Gotoku Onda Def. Diamond Flyer by Decision 3-0
6. MMA-Feather: Koji Yoshida Def. Masaya "J-Taro" Takita by decision 3-0
5. Kick-Middle: Danilo Zanolini Def. Kinji by Decision 3-0
4. Welter: Yoshitaro Niimi Def. Hiroshi Masabuchi by rear-naked choke ext. round 3:31

Opening Fights - HEAT New Age:
3. Kick-Rule: Kenji Def. Mohan Dragon by Decision 2-0
2. MMA-Rule: Takayuki Sato Def. Ikuo Miyashita by KO Round 1 1:11
1. MMA-Rule: Koji Sasaki vs. Hiroyuki Sato Draw

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8/2 Sengoku 9 - Fight Order



While I have a feeling that FEG had problems getting their DREAM 10 card toghether, that is not the case for WVR and Sengoku. Though the card has 12 fights, only 8 of these are on the main-card. But there is so much happening here, and I hope they show the opening fights too.

On this card we will see Satoru Kitaoka defend his lightweight title against the under-rated Mizuto Hirota. Kitaoka's last loss fresh in my mind, I am thinking Mizuto has a chance at an upset here. Of course he needs to keep it standing.

There is also a GP final here, the Sengoku featherweight GP has delivered some very good fights so far and we will have the climax here. I am picking Sandro vs. Hioki in the final (no surprise there), but I think Sandro will take this.

Kazuo Misaki created negaitive publicity for this event by running away from a police officer trying to book him for talking on the phone while driving. While it is stupid, WVR deceided to top that by going out and punishing Misaki further. For those who have not lived in Japan, this might seem strange. But being arrested in Japan can mean losing your job, something to keep in mind... Either way, the fight was supposed to be a title fight eliminator, but Misaki wont get that shot if he wins. So in short, Misaki has nothing but his pride to fight for here.

This event will see the return of Akihiro Gono to Japan, and we will see the MMA debut of Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov, the man who defeated Fedor in Sambo. Will we see a MMA rematch??

There is lots to look forward to on this card!

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

Co-Main Event - Featherweight GP (3x5min):
11.Final: Winner Semi-final 1 vs. Winner Semi-final 2

Non-Tournament:
Middleweight next title Challenger (If Nakamura wins):
10. Kazuo Misaki 21-9-2 vs. 13-9-0 Kazuhiro Nakamura

9. Heavy: Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov vs. 15-7-0 Kazuyuki Fujita
8. Welter: Akihiro Gono 29-14-7 vs. 17-2-0 Dan Hornbuckle
7. Light: Eiji Mitsuoka 15-6-2 vs. Clay French

Featherweight GP:
Reserve: Chan Sung Jung 6-1-0 vs. 11-5-0 Matt Jaggers
6. Semi-final 2: Michihiro Omigawa 6-7-1 vs. 14-0-0 Marlon Sandro
5. Semi-final 1: Hatsu Hioki 19-3-2 vs. 13-5-5 Masanori Kanehara

Non-Tournament:
4. Heavy: Yoshihiro Nakao 7-2-0 vs. 9-3-0 Chu Mu Bae

Opening Fights:
Don Quiote Presents Sengoku G Tournament Finals (2x5min.):

3. Light: Ikuo Usuda 4-0-0 vs. 2-0-2 Koji Ando
2. Feather: Shigeki Osawa 2-0-0 vs. 6-2-0 Harai
1. Bantam: Takeshi Numajiri vs. Ryosuke Komori

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7/20 DREAM 10 - Fight Added and Fight Order Announced



FEG have finalized their card for DREAM 10, there are 8 fights and they should all be good. The last fight to be added is the middleweight battle between Dong Sik Yoon and Team Quest's Jesse Taylor.

Jesse Taylor reached the TUF 7 finals, but was thrown out after kicking out the window in a limo.

FEG also announced the fight order, the main event is no surprise. The final in the welterweight GP gets the honor, and the Japanese will be cheering for "Mach" here. He didn't take long to dispose of Shinya Aoki and went into the semi-finals on a high. He will be taking on the very entertaining Marius Zaromskis.

The other semi-final sees Jason High take on grappling star Andre Galvao. Both these fighters reached the semi-final in very decisive fashion, High demolished a very tough opponent in under a minute. Andre Galvao worked his way to a arm-bar win against John Alessio.

Main Event: Welterweight Tournament - Final:
Winner Sakurai/Zaromskis vs. Winner Galvao/High

Non-Tournament:
Light: Shinya Aoki 20-4-0 vs. 20-2-0 Victor Ribeiro
Middle: Dong Sik Yoon 4-6-0 vs. 12-3-0 Jesse Taylor
Middle: Melvin Manhoef 23-5-1 vs. 16-1-0 Paulo Filho
Light: Katsunori Kikuno 11-1-1 vs. 6-3-1 Andre "Dida" Amade

Welterweight GP:
Semi-final 2: Andre Galvao 3-0-0 vs. 7-1-0 Jason High
Semi-final 1: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai 35-8-2 vs. 9-2-0 Marius Zaromskis
Reserve Fight: Seichi Ikemoto 18-15-5 vs. 6-0-0 Tarec Saffiedine

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7/20 DREAM 10 - Welterweight Reserve Fight Announced

Thursday 16 July 2009



Its only days before the event, and only now have they announced the welterweight tournament reserve fight. DEEP champion Seichi Ikemoto will take on the undefeated Tarec Saffiedine. Saffiedine fought on the War of Gods card on May 30, where he won a quick subimsson victory, but Ikemoto should be his best opponent to date. Ikemoto have fought in both Pride and DREAM, but does not hold a win in either organization. He will be looking to add one here, one that would keep him in the tournament.

DREAM have also announced plans to add one more fight to this card, making it a total of 8 fights. In my eyes its a bit thin, but every fight on this card so far is looking very good.

Welterweight Tournament:
Final: Sakurai/Zaromskis vs. Galvao/High
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
Reserve Fight: Seichi Ikemoto vs. 6-0-0 Tarec Saffiedine

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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7/18 HEAT 10 - Fight Order



HEAT will have their have their second event in Tokyo and their 10th over all. They will have the heavyweight tournament finals in this event, and it should be a good event. They always put on a good show.

The main event is the MMA heavyweight tournament final between Sentory and Cristiano Kaminshi. This is a rematch, and Kaminishi won the first fight with a KO late in the first round.

The other final is kick-rules and will see K-1 veteran Hiromi Amada take on another K-1 veteran in Makoto Uehara.

HEAT Heavyweight Tournament Finals:
10. MMA-Rule: Sentoryu 5-7-0 vs. 6-1-0 Cristiano Kaminishi
9. Kick-rule: Hiromi Amada vs. Makoto Uehara

Non-Tournament - MMA-Rule:
8. MMA-Heavy: Ryo Takigawa vs. 6-11-0 Junpei Hamada
7. Kick-Open: Gotoku Onda vs. Diamond Flyer
6. MMA-Feather: Koji Yoshida 2-5-2 vs. 9-11-2 Masaya "J-Taro" Takita
5. Kick-Middle: Kinji vs. Danilo Zanolini
4. Welter: Yoshitaro Niimi 6-4-2 vs. 2-3-0 Hiroshi Masabuchi

Opening Fights - HEAT New Age:
3. Kick-Rule: Mohan Dragon vs. Kenji
2. MMA-Rule: Takayuki Sato vs. Ikuo Miyashita
1. MMA-Rule: Koji Sasaki vs. Hiroyuki Sato

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8/2 Sengoku 9 - Fights Added

Wednesday 15 July 2009



Sengoku have added 3 opening fights to their next event on August 2. These are the finals of the Sengoku Gold Tournament that they have been showing on their weekly show in Japan and there are some very talented fighters in this.

The lightweight final will see the undefeated Ikuo Usada, who was also the Shooto Rookie tournament champion last year. He will face the Cage Force veteran Koji Ando.

The featherweight final will see the Sengoku training fighter and awesome wrestler, Shigeki Osawa take on DEEP veteran Toru Harai. Harai holds wins over fighters such as Isao Terada and Ippo Watanuki.

The bantamweight final will see Takeshi Numajiri take on DEEP veteran Ryosuke Komori.

The Sengoku card looks final, the DREAM card for Monday is not... Hope there are some additions to that soon.

Added:
Don Quiote Presents Sengoku G Tournament Finals:

Bantam: Takeshi Numajiri vs. Ryosuke Komori
Feather: Shigeki Osawa 2-0-0 vs. 6-2-0 Harai
Light: Ikuo Usuda 4-0-0 vs. 2-0-2 Koji Ando

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

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

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
Reserve: Chan Sung Jung 6-1-0 vs. 11-5-0 Matt Jaggers

Middleweight next title Challenger (If Nakamura wins):
Kazuo Misaki 21-9-2 vs. 13-9-0 Kazuhiro Nakamura

One-Fight:
Heavy: Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov vs. 15-7-0 Kazuyuki Fujita
Heavy: Yoshihiro Nakao 7-2-0 vs. 9-3-0 Chu Mu Bae
Light: Eiji Mitsuoka 15-6-2 vs. Clay French
Akihiro Gono 29-14-7 vs. 17-2-0 Dan Hornbuckle

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7/11 DEEP X04 - RESULTS

Tuesday 14 July 2009



I have been a bit late with these results, it was a great grappling card and it created a lot of attention.

I saw the results were posted in Japanese in the comment field, but if you were not able to see that, here they are in English.

Main-Card:
16. Marcos "Marquinhos" Souza Def. Motoki Miyazawa by point 42-7
15. Rafael Mendes Def. Katsuya Toida by rear-naked choke Round 1 0:58
14. Kohei Yasumi Def. Taisho by points 18-1
13. Tetsu "Hadairo" Suzuki vs. Takayuki Hiose Draw (7-7)
12. Rikako Yuasa Def. Atsuko "Bull Fight - Sora" Emoto by points 13-1
11. Roberto Souza Def. Kotetsu Yamauchi by baseball choke 3:03
10. Yoshinori Fukumoto Def. Yuichi Ozono by guilotine choke 2:38
9. Sotaro Yamada Def. Matius Irie Kineo by point 17-2

Opening Fight:
8. Takumi Murata Def. Leandro Yamashita by points 2-0
7. Yasuyuki Yamamoto Def. Shinichiro Eguchi by points 4-2
6. Koji Shimazaki vs. Takehiro Iseya Draw
5. Ko Kiuchi vs. Kohei Nishibayashi Draw

Future Fight:
4. Yuto Hirao Def. Takamasa Kiuchi by point 9-0
3. Yuji Arai vs. Hideki Sekine Draw
2. Junior Handa Def. Yudai Mori by point 2-0
1. Satoru Enomoto Def. Tatsunori Kikuchi by points 6-2

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7/13 K-1 World Max Tournament Final 8 - RESULTS

Monday 13 July 2009



Todays K-1 event saw FEG continue the experiment of mathing MMA fighters with K-1 fighters, this is something that started on last year's Dynamite! event, and today the K-1 fighters hit back. I have very mixed emotions about these fights, but one thing is for sure, they certainly deliver in terms of entertainment.

"Kid" went all out for the big KO, and instead was on the receiving end of a counter that KOed him. Krazy Bee team mate, Atsushi Yamamoto caught a beating, he never had a chance against Watanabe, who twice continued to punch a downed opponent. Yamamoto on the other side tried for a few takedowns and showed really why MMA fighters should fight MMA and K-1 fighters should fight K-1...

The last MMA fighter on this card was Kawajiri, taking on Masato in the main event. Kawajiri is an awesome athlete, but was never close on this occation. Masato was dominating the fight and completed the humiliation of the MMA fighters on this occation. I guess that was revenge for "Dynamite!"...

Even if the last few fights on this card were super-fights, this event was really about the final 8 in the World Max tournament. All these fights went the distance and the Japanese fans will be able to cheer on Yuya Yamamoto in the semi-finals. The other fighters going through are: Buakaw Por. Pramuk, Giorgo Petrosyan and Andy Souwer.

Main-Event - SuperFight:
Masato Def. Tatsuya Kawajiri by TKO Round 2 1:43

K-1 World Max Tournament Reserve Fights:
11. Yoshihiro Sato Def. Joeri Mes by Decision (after Extention)
10. Yasuhiro Kido Def. Leroy Kaestner by Decision 3-0

SuperFights:
9. Kazuhisa Watanabe Def. Atsushi Yamamoto by TKO Round 1 2:40
8. Jae Hee Cheon Def. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto by KO Round 1 1:20

K-1 World Max 2009 - World Championship Tournament Final 8:
7. Buakaw Por. Pramuk Def. Nieky "The Natural" Holtzken by Decision 3-0
6. Andy Souwer Def. Artur Kyshenko by Decision 3-0 (after ext.)
5. Giorgo Petrosyan Def. Albert Kraus by Decision 3-0
4. Yuya Yamamoto Def. Drago by Decision 3-0

Superfights:
3. HIROYA Def. Kiko Lopez by Decision 3-0
2. Dzhabar Askerov Def. Hinata by decision 3-0 (after ext.)

Opening Fight:
1. Jae Gil Noh Def. Go Yokoyama by KO Round 3 2:01

This is how the Semi-Finals will match-up:
Giorgo Petrosyan vs. Yuya Yamamoto
Buakaw Por. Pramuk vs. Andy Souwer

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7/12 Cage Force & Valkyrie - RESULTS



Yesterday Cage Force held an event in Differ Ariake and the main focus was on the main event, even is there were more interesting fights on the card.

The Pride and IFL veteran Kazuhiro Hamanaka take on DREAM and Pancrase veteran Alavutdin Gadjiev. Personally I had Alavutdin winning this, but the fight ended in controversial fashion. In a fight where both fighters had their chances, Alavutdin suffered a DQ loss after landing a second illegal knee to a grounded opponent.

"V Hajime" should be a step closer to the Valkyrie featherweight title after a very close decision win against Takabayashi Kyoko.

Nobuhiro Tsurumaki got his 12th straight loss, and is now 0-12. This time it was a right that dropped Tsurumaki, who is much tougher than his record indicates. I hope he gets the win soon.

Main-Event:
Kazuhiro Hamanaka Def. Alavutdin Gadjiev by DQ Round 3 1:04

Tomonori Taniguchi Def. Wataru Takahashi by Decision 2-0
Ikkei Nagamura Def. Nobuhiro Tsurumaki by TKO Round 1 0:38
Valkyrie: Mei "V Hajime" Yamaguchi Def. Kyoko Takabayashi by Decision 2-1
Tetsuo Seto Def. Sapp Nishinari by Decision 3-0
Toshihiro Taguchi Def. Satoshi Nishino by TKO Round 1 2:05
Masaki Yokoyama vs. Hayato Shimizu Draw

Valkyrie Fights:
Mayumi Aoki Def. Mizuho Sato by TKO Round 3 2:48
Madoka "♂ha@THE♀" Ebihara vs. Emi "Sakura" Okada by Heel-hook Round 1 2:00

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7/13 K-1 World Max Tournament Final 8

Sunday 12 July 2009



Today they had the weighin for tomorrow's K-1 event in Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. The event is sold out and we will see a continuation of DREAM fighters taking on K-1 fighters. This time Tatsuya Kawajiri will take on the K-1 champion Masato in a fight that I am sure will get lots of attention.

Other DREAM/MMA fighters on the card include the Krazy Bee duo of "Kid" Yamamoto and Atsushi Yamamoto.

The weighin today saw one fighter not making weight, Hiroya came in 1.7kg over, something that will have consequenses for the fight tomorrow. My understanding of the rules are: 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.

I wont be able to follow this event and my results will be delayed tomorrow.

Main-Event - SuperFight:
Masato vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri

K-1 World Max Tournament Reserve Fights:
11. Yoshihiro Sato vs. Joeri Mes
10. Yasuhiro Kido vs. Leroy Kaestner

SuperFights:
9. Atsushi Yamamoto vs. Kazuhisa Watanabe
8. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto vs. Jae Hee Cheon

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

Superfights:
3. 62kg: HIROYA vs. Kiko Lopez
2. Hinata vs. Dzhabar Askerov

Opening Fight:
1. Go Yokoyama vs. Jae Gil Noh

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8/9 Shooto Gig Saitama 1 - Fights Announced

Saturday 11 July 2009



The 1st Shooto Gig Saitama card is taking shape and 4 more fights have been added. Most notable, Guy Delameau will take on Komei Okada. Guy Delameau was on a good run in 2008, but 2009 has started with a 1-1-1 record. Winning a decisive win in January and having 2 very close fights end in a loss and a draw. Okada has not won since 2007 and both these fighters will be hungry for the win here.

Also added is a female attraction. "Windy" Tomomi will take on "Jet" Izumi. "Jet" has not had a fight since 2005 and it will be interesting to see how she does in her return.

Added:
Fly: "Windy" Tomomi Sunaba 12-10-0 vs. 5-5-0 "Jet" Izumi Noguchi
Light: Hidenori Nishino 2-3-2 vs. 6-6-1 Masaki Yanagisawa
Light: Toshiaki Hayasaka 0-4-0 vs. 0-0-1 Kosuke Kindaichi
Welter: Komei Okada 5-9-2 vs. 9-5-1 Guy Delameau

Previously 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
Fly: Kazuyuki Yoshida 0-3-0 vs. Shuichiro Okumura
Grappling: Yoshihiko Matsumoto vs. TBA

Rookie Tournament: 
Bantam: Yosuke Saruta 0-2-0 vs. 2-1-1 Hidetaka Naka

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7/11 Jewels 4th Ring - RESULTS



Jewels held their 4th event in a packed Shin-Kiba 1st ring earlier today. The main event saw Japanese star Megumi Fuji take on the very popular Saori Ishioka.

I was expecting "Mega-Megu" to dominate this fight, but Ishioka should not be underestimated and she put of a good fight. This was Ishiokas first time to fight with punches to the face on the ground allowed, and she got to try out being on both sides of these.

It is interesting to see that both the AACC stars took exactly as long finishing their opponents in todays event.

Shizuka Sugiyama continues her winning streak and Harumi continues her losing streak (streaching 12 fights now).

Also, it seems the fight order that I posted earlier was wrong, but here are the results.

Main-Event - 52kg: Megumi Fuji Def. Saori Ishioka by arm-bar Round 2 4:17

ShootBoxing Rule: Rena Def. Tomoko SP by Decision 3-0
60kg: Hitomi Akano Def. Miki Morifuji by rear-naked choke Round 2 4:17
54kg: Mika Nagano Def. Rina Tomita by arm-bar round 2 0:35
64kg: Shizuka Sugiyama Def. Hari by Decision 3-0
50kg: Asami Kodera Def. Yukiko Seki by arm-bar Round 1 4:47
56kg: Mutsumi Kasai Def. Celine Haga by arm-lock Round 1 3:06
60kg: Hiroko Kitamura Def. Harumi by triangle choke Round 1 3:51

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CroCop Returning to the UFC?

There was a lot of controversy after CroCops last fight in UFC 99. It looked like it was confirmed that CroCop had signed an agreement with DREAM before entering the ring. Dana White was not happy and CroCop remained silent.

Now it looks like those rumors might not have been true, and we might see CroCop in the UFC cage in the near future.

This is kindly translated from Index.hr by Robert, you can find the UFC 100 betting odds on his page here.

Cro Cop To Return To UFC After All

After making a successful UFC comeback against Al Turk, Mirko Cro Cop’s next fight will most likely be on September 19th , at UFC 103, in Dellas, Texas. Although we’re still awaiting an official confirmation, Mirko’s opponent will likely be 24-year Brazilian Junior Dos Santos.

The rising star exploded into the heavyweight division against former UFC contender Fabricio Werdum. The fight lasted only 81 seconds.

Dos Santos, known as “The Gypsy” in Brazil was set to fight in August, but UFC organizers cancelled bout planned for UFC 102 in favour of a main event.

“I think I’ll fight September 19. They took me off the August 29 show,” he said, also announcing he will no longer be facing the same opponent. “My opponent’s changed. I’ll probably face Cro Cop. If I beat him I’ll be in really good standing. If that’s truly the case, I’m guaranteed on the main card and in the main event of the evening. If I were to fight now it wouldn’t be on the main card,” he said

“To me it’s incredible. When they asked me if they could change the fight date I was a bit bothered, because I wanted to fight right away. I’ve been away for some time now. But the Fertitta brothers asked me and I accepted. After that I found out it would be against Cro Cop and was overjoyed. It’ll be a big opportunity in my career. Lots of good things have happened in my life and this is one more. I’m going to make the most of it,” he concluded.

Cro Cop Remains Silent

The Cro Cop camp refused to comment on the situation, refusing to say whether the Croatian has signed a new contract with the UFC any other organization. Only weeks ago it was widley reported that Cro Cop had signed a three fight deal with Dream. Nonetheless Index understands that Cro Cop will more than likely return to the UFC against either Brazilian Dos Santos, Cain Velasquez or Shane Carwin. Dos Santos however remains the logical choice for Cro Cop. The most likely location is Dallas in September or Los Angeles in October.

From: Index.hr


Dana White now seems to welcome CroCop back, and this is from the UFC 100 press conference.

Dana White on Cro Cop

At the UFC 100 press conference Whie was asked to comment on the situation. Note: If you're looking for the current UFC 100 odds, head over to BigOddsMike.

On Mirko Cro Cop's possible return to the US:

"I hope so. Like I said at that last press conference in Germany, he and I had a deal, and I think he's going to honor the deal. ... I have said this many times and I'll say it again: there's some crooked sh*t that goes on over in Japan. They're all crooked. There's some sneaky sh*t going on over there, and that's always a big problem, you know. These guys who are in the fight business over there, for my Mexican friends, 'No bueno. No bueno.'"

On whether Cro Cop will face Junior dos Santos when he returns to the UFC:

"That's the fight I would like to see happen."

White said he hopes to secure a Dos Santos-Cro Cop match-up for UFC 103 in Dallas in September.

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7/19 Shooto - Revolutionary Exchanges 1 "Undefeated" - Fight Order



Shooto promotor Sustain have announced the new name for their series, previously they were celebrating the 20 years anniversary with "Tradition", now they are looking ahead with Revolutionary Exchanges.

The card is looking very good, with a title fight and a champion on the card. In addition to that there are some very interesting matchups. The flyweight rankings will most likely get some changes with #3 ranked "Heat" Takeshi taking on #5 Atsushi Takeuchi.

Also some news following the final Tradition card, Shooto champion Nakakura suffered a detached retina in his left eye following the KO he suffered in his loss to Gomi. He has undergone surgery, but is unsure about his future in the ring.

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

9. Bantam: Jucie Formiga 2-0-0 vs. 10-3-1 Shinichi "BJ" Kojima
8. Fly: "Heat" Takeshi Sato 8-6-1 vs. 6-4-2 Atsushi Takeuchi
7. Bantam: Yasuhiro Akagi 6-4-0 vs. 7-3-1 Masaaki Sugawara
6. Welter: Shinji Sasaki 7-2-0 vs. 8-3-5 Yukinari Tamura
5. Light: Taiki Tsuchiya 4-2-0 vs. 5-3-0 Kazuhiro Ito

Rookie Tournament 2nd Round:
4. Light: Tsuneo Kimura 3-1-0 vs. Yoshinao Oki
3. Welter: Hiroki "KG Shinto" Kuga 2-1-0 vs. 1-1-0 Munehiro "Mike" Kin
2. Welter: Koji Nishioka 0-0-1 vs. Harada
1. Feather: Kota Onojima 1-0-0 vs. Inagaki

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8/2 K-1 World GP - Asia GP - Participants Announced

Friday 10 July 2009

FEG have announced some participants for the Asian GP being held in Seoul, South Korea.

I think it is always fun to see people I know being recognized for their performance and hard work. I caught up with Koichi in December last year, he was then training hard for his upcoming title fight in M-1 (Muay-Thai). He won that fight, and will come in with the M-1 heavyweight title. Koichi has a Kyokushin background and always leaves it all in the ring, and I am looking forward to seeing him fight here.

For the other fighters, I know very little Takumi Sato also has a Kyokushin background and he got to the semi-final in the K-1 Japan GP last year. On that occation he lost a decision to Keijiro Maeda (the current Heavyweight champion)

Participants:
Takumi Sato
KOICHI
Park Yong Soo
Kim Young Hyun
Singh Jaideep
Ko Taisei

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8/8 Pancrase Neo-Blood Finals - Fights Added

Thursday 9 July 2009



Pancrase continues to add fights to their event on August 8. This card is enough for 2 events, but that just means that it should be an awesome event!

Today 2 Pancrase stars have had their opponents announced. Koji Oishi is facing a very interesting Brazilian opponent in Felipe Olivieri. The talented fighter from Nova Uniao has only gone the distance once in his career, and that ended in a loss. Koji Oishi had a lot more experience and I think this looks like an interesing matchup.

Kenji Arai is facing Takumi Murata, who returned to the ring in June after almost 3 years off. He is on a 4 fight losing streak, and Kenji Arai will not be an easy opponent.

This card now has 18 fights on it, and it doesnt get much better!

Added:
Light: Koji Oishi 18-8-6 vs. 5-1-0 Felipe Olivieri
Feather: Kenji Arai 14-13-3 vs. 4-9-6 Takumi Murata
Fly: Toshihiro Shimizu 4-7-2 vs. 3-1-0 Daisuke Tsujita

Previously Announced:
Middleweight King of Pancrase Title Fight:

Izuru Takeuchi (Champion) 25-10-6 vs. 9-5-4 Takenori Sato

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

Middle: Yuki Kondo 49-23-6 vs. Kim Ki-Beom (?)
Welter: Masahiro Toryu 6-4-4 vs. 24-30-11 Kosei Kubota
Feather: Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi 11-5-9 vs. 13-4-3 Tomonari Kanomata
Light: Kenichi Serizawa 5-3-3 vs. 6-7-0 Eriya Matsuda
Welter: Asaki Honda 5-3-1 vs. 1-1-1 Shingo Suzuki
Feather: Hideo Matsui 0-7-2 vs. 2-0-0 Yusuke Kawanako
Light: Keigo Hirayama 7-5-3 vs. 2-2-1 Junichi Ota
Light: Flavio Tanaka 1-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Juntaro Ami
Bantam: Shoko Sato 3-1-0 vs. 1-3-0 Ryo Saito

Neo-Blood Tournament Finals:
Fly: Yuichiro Yajima 7-6-1 vs. 2-2-1 Kiyotaka Shimizu
Bantam: Ryota Sasaki 3-2-1 vs. 2-4-1 Nobuhiro Yoshitake
Feather: Shigeyuki Uchiyama 6-0-0 vs. 1-0-0 Yo Saito
Light: Hiroshi Toyama vs. 3-0-0 Isao Kobayashi

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7/12 Cage Force & Valkyrie - Fight Order



Cage Force have published their card for July 12. The main-event made in onto the Sherdog's 10 fights to watch in July. It should be a good fight between to fighters that have fought on the big stage, but have yet to break through there. Hamanaka is on a 4 fight losing streak, but he has not fought often. Alavutdin has done very well since 2007, but lost in his DREAM debut against Ralek Gracie.

Of the Valkyrie fight, V hajime facing Kyoko Takabayashi should be a very good fight. V Hajime is a very talented fighter and Kyoko Takabayashi should be a good test for her.

Main-Event:
9. Middle: Alavutdin Gadjiev 14-8-0 vs. 4-6-1 Kazuhiro Hamanaka

8. Feather: Wataru Takahashi 8-10-3 vs. 5-6-2 Tomonori Taniguchi
7. Middle: Ikkei Nagamura 2-1-1 vs. 0-11-0 Nobuhiro Tsurumaki
6. Valkyrie Feather: Mei "V Hajime" Yamaguchi 4-2-0 vs. 9-3-0 Kyoko Takabayashi
5. Welter: Tetsuo Seto 4-2-2 vs. 1-0-0 Sapp Nishinari
4. Feather: Satoshi Nishino 5-4-2 vs. 2-2-0 Toshihiro Taguchi
3. Bantam: Masaki Yokoyama 2-2-3 vs. 4-3-1 Hayato Shimizu

Valkyrie Fights:
2. Welter: Mizuho Sato 4-2-0 vs. Cyou Benkei
1. Feather: ♂ha@THE♀ vs. Sakura

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7/11 Jewels 4th Ring - Fight Order/New T-Shirts

Wednesday 8 July 2009



The main event for Jewels 4th Ring is not unexpectedly Megumi Fuji against Saori Ishioka. I dont think Ishioka will give Mega-Megu her first loss, but she is a very popular fighter and I am sure the crowd will be enthusiastic about this fight.

For the occation, both Megumi Fuji and Saori Ishioka have designed new t-shirts, they will be sold at the event. This is Megumi Fujis shirt and it cost JPY3,675.



This is Saori Ishiokas shirt, it costs JPY 5,040.



The event is already sold out, there will be standing tickets on sale at the door, but if you are interested in those I would get there early. The doors open at noon.

But there are more popular fighters on the card than the fighters in the main event, amongst others: Hitomi Akano and Shizuka Sugiyama. And of course some very interesting talent, such as Celina Haga Rina Tomita and Mika Nagano.

Main Card:
10. Main-Event - 52kg: Megumi Fuji 17-0-0 vs. 7-3-0 Saori Ishioka

9. 60kg: Hitomi Akano 14-6-0 vs. 7-5-0 Miki Morifuji
8. 64kg: Shizuka Sugiyama 3-0-0 vs. 5-7-0 Hari
7. 60kg: Harumi 0-11-0 vs. 0-0-0 Hiroko Kitamura
6. 56kg: Celine Haga 0-1-0 vs. 2-0-1 Mutsumi Kasai
5. 54kg: Mika Nagano 2-2-0 vs. 2-0-0 Rina Tomita
4. 50kg: Yukiko Seki 5-16-0 vs. 2-3-0 Asami Kodera
3. ShootBoxing Rule: Rena vs. Tomoko SP

Opening Fights (Amature):
2. 52kg: Miyoko vs. Ayuka Hamazaki
1. 54kg: Yuko Kagoshima vs. Emi Murata

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Satoko Shinashi gives birth!

Tuesday 7 July 2009



Congratulations to the Shinashi family! As her fans know, DEEP female featherweight champion Satoko Shinashi has been sidelined as she was pregnant. On July 5 at 13:24 she gave birth to the latest addition to the family. Her son weighed in at 2486 grams.

Both mother and baby are doing well, and Satoko Shinashi will is already planning her return to the ring (no word on when).

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6/30 Deep 42 RYO vs Ackah - Pictures

Another high profile fight at DEEP 42 was the fight between HEROs and comedian veteran Bernard Ackah. He has fought MMA for almost 2 years, but made a return to the ring in ShootBoxing, on that occation he won a decision aginst Masahiro Iwashita. In his return to MMA he took on the very strong Korean, Young "Ryo" Choi.



Again it was a close fight for Ackah, and "Ryo" had to endure more than his share of pain.



In the end, "Ryo" won a very close decision, in a fight that I think was more important for Bernard Ackah. A have a feeling a win here could have meant a DREAM fight in the future.


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8/2 Sengoku 9 - Featherweight Reserve Fight Announced + Another Olympic Medalist Signs



Sengoku have pulled out their checkbook again! This time they have signed another olympic judo medalist, Hiroshi Izumi won silver in the 90kg weight division in the 2004 Athens olympics and he will now join Satoshi Ishii on the Sengoku payroll. No fight is announced for him yet.

Also announced today was the featherweight GP reserve fight. This event will have the semi-finals and finals on the same night, and as we saw last year in the DREAM lightweight GP, these fighters are still in with a chance. The reserve fight will see Chan Sung Jung take on Matt Jaggers.

Sengoku is building a very impressive group of fighters now, and this event is looking very good. Lets just hope the Japanese crowd responds.

Also worth noting is that the Sengoku card for August 2 is looking almost complete, while the DREAM card for July 20 is looking about half-full. There should be more big announcements this week!

Announced:
Featherweight GP Reserve Fight:

Chan Sung Jung 6-1-0 vs. 11-5-0 Matt Jaggers

Previously Announced:
Lightweight Title Fight (5x5min):

Satoru Kitaoka 24-8-9 vs. 11-3-1 Mizuto Hirota

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

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

Middleweight next title Challenger (If Nakamura wins):
Kazuo Misaki 21-9-2 vs. 13-9-0 Kazuhiro Nakamura

One-Fight:
Heavy: Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov vs. 15-7-0 Kazuyuki Fujita
Heavy: Yoshihiro Nakao 7-2-0 vs. 9-3-0 Chu Mu Bae
Light: Eiji Mitsuoka 15-6-2 vs. Clay French
Akihiro Gono 29-14-7 vs. 17-2-0 Dan Hornbuckle

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Awesome Fights!!! (Shooto Edition) Part 1

Monday 6 July 2009

Thought I would put together some of my favorite fights, its just been too long since I have done stuff like that...

When I started looking around I found too many fights, especially Shooto fights there are too many. So I deceided to split it up a bit. This first post will be Shooto fight up to 2005.

Unfortuanately, I was not able to find all the fights I was looking for, but this is a good start and I hope there are some fights there that you havent seen!

The number of fighters that have come through Shooto is amazing, and you will see some of todays stars early in their career.

Fights below are:
-Joachim Hansen vs. Rumina Sato (Shooto 3/18-2003)
-Takanori Gomi vs. Dokonjonoske Mishima (Shooto "End of Year Show 2002" 12/14-2002)
-Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Hatsu Hioki (Shooto 7/13-2003)
-Frank Trigg vs. Hayato Sakurai (Shooto "R.E.A.D. Final" 12/17-2000)
-Akira Kikuchi vs Jake Shields (Shooto "End of Year Show 2004" 12/14-2004)


Joachim Hansen vs. Rumina Sato (Shooto 3/18-2003)





Takanori Gomi vs. Dokonjonoske Mishima (Shooto "End of Year Show 2002" 12/14-2002)



Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Hatsu Hioki (Shooto 7/13-2003)



Frank Trigg vs. Hayato Sakurai (Shooto "R.E.A.D. Final" 12/17-2000)



Akira Kikuchi vs Jake Shields (Shooto "End of Year Show 2004" 12/14-2004)


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6/30 Deep 42 Yamazaki vs. Miyata - Pictures

DEEP had put together an awesome card on June 30, the co-main event was the battle between 2 DREAM veterans in Kazuyuki Miyata and Takeshi Yamazaki.

As he has done lately, Miyata treated the fans to a suplex.


But is was a close and tough battle.


Miyata pulled out the win, and has now won his last 2 after taking a year off and moving down to featherweight (this was the 1st fight at featherweight). Yamazaki is on a 3 fight losing streak.



Thanks to Ibarakipatto for posting, and I hope there will be more posts in the future!

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