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1/8 DEEP in Macao - Cancelled

2011-01-06T09:47:00.003+02:00

Just a few days out the DEEP event in Macao is cancelled. Deep is calling it postponed, but I am sure this will feel different for those that have bought the ticket package with flight from Japan.

Discuss in the FORUM

12/31 FEG Dynamite - Overeem's Oppenent Confirmed

2010-12-29T14:33:00.000+02:00

FEG has confirmed today that Alistair Overeem will be taking on Todd Duffee in his fight. The recently crowned K-1 champion will then go back to MMA and face a very good opponent. This is tougher opponent than I expected Overeem to face.

Duffee has not fought since May and is coming in on short notice. Overeem's last MMA fight was in May as well, when he fought Brett Rogers in Strikeforce. Since 2007 none of his fights have gone past the first round and I am expecting fireworks here again.

Added:
Heavy: Alistair Overeem 33-11-0 vs. 6-1-0 Todd Duffee

MMA Rules:
Dream Featherweight title fight:
Bibiano Fernandes 8-2-0 vs. 14-8-1 Hiroyuki Takaya
Feather: Hideo Tokoro 26-23-1 vs. 0-0-0 Kazuhisa Watanabe
Welter: Hayato “Mach” Sakurai 35-11-2 vs. 11-3-0 Jason High
Open: Ikuhisa Minowa 47-31-8 vs. 3-1-0 Hiroshi Izumi
Heavy: Satoshi Ishii 3-1-0 vs. 3-1-1 Jerome Le Banner
Heavy: Tatsuya Mizuno vs. Sergey Kharitonov
Welter: Katsuaki Furuki vs. 2-1-0 Andy Ologun
Feather: Caol Uno 25-13-5 vs. 10-7-0 Kazuyuki Miyata
Light: Josh Thomson 18-3-0 vs. 26-6-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Welter: Marius Zaromskis 13-5-0 vs. 26-14-1 Kazushi Sakuraba

Other Rules:
K-1 rules: Kyotaro vs. Gegard Mousasi
IGF Special Rules: Shinichi Suzukawa vs. Bob Sapp
DREAM/K-1 Mixed rules: Shinya Aoki vs. Yuichiro Nagashima
K-1 Lightweight: Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura vs. Tetsuya Yamato

Discuss in the FORUM

12/30 SRC Soul of Fight - Fight Order

2010-12-29T13:25:00.000+02:00

Here is the fight order for tomorrows SRC 28 fight card. There has been a change from my previous card. Dan Hornbuckle is not fighting (I am currently not aware or why) and has been replaced by Taisuke Okuno.

Main Event: SRC Featherweight title match (5min x 5):
28. Marlon Sandro 17-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Hatsu Hioki

27. Middle 5min x 3: Kazuo Misaki 22-11-2 vs. 13-13-1 Mike Seal
26. KB 3min x 3 (70 kg): Buakaw Por Pramuk vs. Hiroki Nakajima
25. Female MMA 5min x 3 (53.5 kg): Megumi Fujii 22-1-0 vs. 9-4-0 Emi Fujino

SRC vs. Dream (5min x 3):
24. Feather: Masanori Kanehara 16-8-5 vs. 27-9-2 Yoshiro Maeda
23. Welter: Ryo Chonan 18-11-0 vs. 10-5-2 Taisuke ”Goten” Okuno
22. Light: Maximo Blanco 7-2-1 vs. 9-2-1 "Parky" Won Sik Park

SRC Welterweight GP Final:
21. Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura 20-4-2 vs. 6-1-0 Yasubey Enomoto
20. Light: Kazunori Yokota 11-4-3 vs. 3-2-0 Jadamba Narantungalag
19. Middle: Yuki Sasaki 22-18-1 vs. 20-4-2 Mamed Khalidov
18. Heavy: Yoshihiro Nakao 9-2-0 vs. 19-2-0 Dave Herman

SRC Bantamweight Asia Tournament Semifinals (5min x 2):
17. Akitoshi Tamura 15-9-2 vs. 11-6-0 Taiyo Nakahara
16. Manabu Inoue 11-5-1 vs. 18-6-9 Shunichi Shimizu

15. Female MMA 5min x 2 (61 kg): Roxanne Modafferi 15-6-0 vs. 16-8-0 Hitomi Akano
14. Female MMA 5min x 3 (Open 3x3min): Rin Nakai 9-0-0 vs. 6-23-1 Mika “Hari” Harigai
13. Female MMA 5min x 2 (48 kg): Amy Davis 1-1-0 vs. 12-11-4 Misaki Takimoto

12. Female MT 2min x 5 (47.62 kg): Erika Kamimura vs. Chiharu
11. MT 3min x 3 (86.18 kg): Fabiano Cyclone vs. Andrew Peck
10. KB 3min x 3 (86.18 kg): Kazuki Ozawa vs. Lee Chang Seob
9. MT 3min x 3 (73 kg): Musashi Miyamoto vs. Hiroki Komata
8. MT 3min x 5 (60 kg): Kanongsuk Weerasakreck vs. Genki Yamamoto
7. MT 3min x 5 (52 kg): Arashi Fujiwara vs. Mutsuki Ebata
6. KB 3min x 3 (70 kg): Yutaro Yamauchi vs. Gou Yokoyama
5. KB 3min x 3 (70 kg): Yusuke Ikei vs. Shintaro Matsukura
4. KB 3min x 2 (61.23 kg): Hironobu Ikegami vs. Yuji Tanaka

3. SRC Jacket match 5min x 1 (Light): Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Jung Jin Suk
2. SRC Jacket match 5min x 1 (59 kg): Kiyotaka Shimizu vs. Ichiro Sugita
1. SRC Jacket match 5min x 1 (Light): Sotaro Yamada vs. Kim Lee Sak

Discuss in the FORUM

Pancrase 2011 Tour Title

2010-12-28T19:16:00.000+02:00

Pancrase has released their 2011 tour title, it will be "Impressive".

And the schedule up until April:
1/30 Golds Gym Tokyo South Annex (Neo-Blood fights)
2/6 Differ Ariake, Tokyo
3/13 Azalea Hall, Osaka

Discuss in the FORUM

12/30 SRC Soul of Fight

2010-12-23T12:58:00.002+02:00

As tradition is in Japan, the main organizations need to put on a NYE card. SRC has been playing second fiddle to FEG and their Dynamite card, and they will again this year.

The SRC event is being held in Ariake Colosseum, which is next to Differ Ariake. If you are wondering how to there there, I did some directions a while back, you can read them here.

The card has no less than 28 fights, a mix of MMA, Muay Thai, Kickboxing and "jacket rule".

I have put the fights in the order the appear on the SRC web-site.

SRC Featherweight title match:
Marlon Sandro 17-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Hatsu Hioki

Middle: Kazuo Misaki 22-11-2 vs. 13-13-1 Mike Seal
KB (70 kg): Buakaw Por Pramuk vs. Hiroki Nakajima
Feather: Masanori Kanehara 16-8-5 vs. 27-9-2 Yoshiro Maeda
Light: Maximo Blanco 7-2-1 vs. 9-2-1 "Parky" Won Sik Park
Welter: Ryo Chonan 18-11-0 vs. 22-3-0 Dan Hornbuckle
Middle: Yuki Sasaki 22-18-1 vs. 20-4-2 Mamed Khalidov
Light: Kazunori Yokota 11-4-3 vs. 3-2-0 Jadamba Narantungalag
Heavy: Yoshihiro Nakao 9-2-0 vs. 19-2-0 Dave Herman

SRC Welterweight GP Fianl:
Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura 20-4-2 vs. 6-1-0 Yasubey Enomoto

SRC Bantamweight Asia Tournament Semifinals:
Akitoshi Tamura 15-9-2 vs. 11-6-0 Taiyo Nakahara
Manabu Inoue 11-5-1 vs. 18-6-9 Shunichi Shimizu

Female MMA (53.5 kg): Megumi Fujii 22-1-0 vs. 9-4-0 Emi Fujino
Female MMA (Open 3x3min): Rin Nakai 9-0-0 vs. 6-23-1 Mika “Hari” Harigai
Female MMA (61 kg): Roxanne Modafferi 15-6-0 vs. 16-8-0 Hitomi Akano
Female MMA (48 kg): Amy Davis 1-1-0 vs. 12-11-4 Misaki Takimoto

SRC Jacket match (Lightweights): Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Jung Jin Suk
SRC Jacket match (Lightweights): Sotaro Yamada vs. Kim Lee Sak
SRC Jacket match (59 kg): Kiyotaka Shimizu vs. Ichiro Sugita

MT (86.18 kg): Fabiano Cyclone vs. Andrew Peck
KB (86.18 kg): Kazuki Ozawa vs. Lee Chang Seob
MT (73 kg): Musashi Miyamoto vs. Hiroki Komata
KB (70 kg): Yusuke Ikei vs. Shintaro Matsukura
KB (70 kg): Yutaro Yamauchi vs. Gou Yokoyama
MT (60 kg): Kanongsuk Weerasakreck vs. Genki Yamamoto
MT (52 kg): Arashi Fujiwara vs. Mutsuki Ebata
KB (61.23 kg): Hironobu Ikegami vs. Yuji Tanaka
Female MT (47.62 kg): Erika Kamimura vs. Chiharu

KB = Kickboxing
MT = Muay Thai

Discuss in the FORUM

12/26 Shooto Border Season 2

2010-12-23T10:51:00.000+02:00

Shooto will hold their Border Season 2 event in Hirano Kumin Hall, Osaka. The card will feature a main event between Shooto veteran Junji Ikoma and Teppei Masuda.

Shooto will also be kicking off their 2011 rookie tournament here

8. Fly: Junji Ikoma 12-12-5 vs. 5-3-1 Teppei "BULL" Masuda
7. 67kg: Takumi Nakayama 13-13-4 vs. 6-3-0 "Jackknife" Tsuneo Kimura
6. Welter: Hiroshi Shiba 8-7-1 vs. 5-4-3 "Gypsy" Taro Kusano

Rookie Tournament:
5. Light: Motohiro Takenawa 4-5-0 vs. Shiro Stronger Amakusa
4. Fly: Toshio Mitani 0-3-0 vs. Satoshi Takeo
3. Welter: Tomoya "Russian" Suzuki 2-1-0 vs. Tatsuhiko Hirase
2. Bantam: Kouki Ota vs. Santouhei Yokoyama
1. Feather: Monjiro TK Hanareme vs. Naritoshi Kakuta

Discuss in the FORUM

Omigawa signs with the UFC

2010-12-23T09:02:00.001+02:00

Japanese featherweight standout Michihiro Omigawa has signed a deal with the UFC. His debut is set for 2/5 at UFC 126, the opponent will be Chad Mendes.

Discuss in the FORUM

12/31 FEG Dynamite

2010-12-22T15:12:00.004+02:00

True to tradition FEG is putting on a Dynamite event on New Year’s Eve. And like always it’s a stacked card, that should entertain and excite hard core fans as well as casual MMA fans.

The show aspect is taken toned down a bit this year, but an IGF special rules (no idea what that means) featuring Bob Sapp and former sumo wrestler Shinichi Suzukawa should keep the casual fans entertained. Suzukawa is a former sumo wrestler and went by the name of Wakakirin, and made it to the top of the Juryo division. His last sumo tournament was in January 2009, where he went 9-6. He was then thrown out of the sport after a big scandal where he was arrested for possession of cannabis. Suzukawa seems to be no stranger to controversy, and it should be no surprise therefore that is just about cheated (who really knows what heppened) his way into this fight, check out this Sherdog discussion (with video).

For the MMA fans FEG has lined up some very good fights, a title fight between champion Bibiano Fernandes and Hiroyuki Takaya should be a very good fight. Takaya has had a very good 2010 and he will be hoping to cap that off with a win here. This is a rematch of the final in the featherweight tournament, that time it ended in a very close decision win for Fernandes and Takaya will be looking for revenge here.

Personally I am really excited about 2 fights, Miyata vs. Uno and Kawajiri vs. Thomson.

Miyata will be looking to add a big win here over the UFC veteran. A win over Caol Uno would be one of the biggest in his career, and would extend his winning streak to 6. Uno on the other hand needs to get a win after 3 unsuccessful fights in the UFC’s lightweight division.

This year, the card is mainly MMA, but there are some K-1 and a mixed K-1 and MMA fight on the card.

Alistair Overeem’s opponent should be announced soon. There are unconfirmed rumors that this will be a Dream title fight.

MMA Rules:
Dream Featherweight title fight:
Bibiano Fernandes 8-2-0 vs. 14-8-1 Hiroyuki Takaya
Feather: Hideo Tokoro 26-23-1 vs. 0-0-0 Kazuhisa Watanabe
Welter: Hayato “Mach” Sakurai 35-11-2 vs. 11-3-0 Jason High
Open: Ikuhisa Minowa 47-31-8 vs. 3-1-0 Hiroshi Izumi
Heavy: Satoshi Ishii 3-1-0 vs. 3-1-1 Jerome Le Banner
Heavy: Tatsuya Mizuno vs. Sergey Kharitonov
Welter: Katsuaki Furuki vs. 2-1-0 Andy Ologun
Feather: Caol Uno 25-13-5 vs. 10-7-0 Kazuyuki Miyata
Light: Josh Thomson 18-3-0 vs. 26-6-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Welter: Marius Zaromskis 13-5-0 vs. 26-14-1 Kazushi Sakuraba
Heavy: Alistair Overeem 33-11-0 vs. TBA

Other Rules:
K-1 rules: Kyotaro vs. Gegard Mousasi
IGF Special Rules: Shinichi Suzukawa vs. Bob Sapp
DREAM/K-1 Mixed rules: Shinya Aoki vs. Yuichiro Nagashima
K-1 Lightweight: Akiyo “Wicky” Nishiura vs. Tetsuya Yamato

Discuss in the FORUM

1/8 DEEP Mayhem in Macao!

2010-12-20T18:37:00.000+02:00

Since its been a while since I have been posting, I have the privilage of being able to chose news that are a bit old. Here is one of them, DEEP is going to Macao in January. The venue will be the Macao Venetian Hotel Resort.

The main even for this one will be the DEEP Megaton title. Also on the card, in non-title fights are the DEEP bantamweight champion Masakazu Imanari and DEEP welterweight champion Yuya Shirai.

BJJ black belt, Marcos Souza will be making his MMA debut (as far as I know) but he should be no stranger to DEEP fans. Last year he took on and defeated Motoki Miyazawa in DEEP X 04.

Another familiar name on the card is TUF 5 veteran Andy Wang.

9. Main-Event: DEEP Megaton Title Fight:
Yusuke Kawaguchi 13-3-0 vs. 6-1-1 Kazuhisa Tazawa

8. Masakazu Imanari 21-7-2 vs. 0-1-0 Jae Hun Moon
7. Yuya Shirai 20-8-0 vs. 0-1-0 Jeong Gyo Park
6. Ryuta Sakurai 20-16-6 vs. 2-3-0 Yoann Gouaida
5. Saori Ishioka 11-5-0 vs. 1-0-0 Ann Wongkhamma
4. Yasushi Kitazaki 10-7-1 vs. 7-7-1 Andy Wang
3. Luiz Andrade I 12-8-3 vs. 4-3-0 Rodrigo Caporal
2. Marcos “Marquinhos” Souza vs. 0-1-0 Alex “Dragon Slayer” Niu
1. Quinton Arendse 1-1-0 vs. Ye Won Nam.

Discuss in the FORUM

12/18 Shooto Rookie Tournament Champions

2010-12-20T09:31:00.000+02:00

Shooto have again crowned their Rookie tournament champions, and for the 3rd year running the MVP is coming out of the Krazy Bee gym. Koji Horiguchi deserved that after defeating two veterans, both Ranki Kawana and Seiji Akao lost to this newcomer out of “Kid” Yamamoto’s gym.
It is also worth noticing that “Rambo” Suzuki has notched up his 3rd straight win by KO, he also won the fighting spirit award.
Technique price winner was Yuta Sasaki.

The winners:
Fly: Masayoshi Kato
Bantam:　Kosuke ”Rambo” Suzuki
Feather:　Koji Horiguchi
Light:　Yuta Sasaki
Welter:　Kota Shimoishi
Middle: Yusaku Inoue

Discuss in the FORUM

Rin Nakai goes sexy

2010-12-19T12:45:00.001+02:00

This will be my first post for a very long time, and what wakes me up from hypernation? One of my favorite female fighters, Rin Nakai has deceided to follow Mika Nagano and do some sexy pictures. There has already been some of those on the net, but she has now added to the collection.

The pictures were posted in relation to an interview she did with GBR, which of course you need to be a paying member to view. However, she has posted most of the pictures on her own blog

Personally I am torn in my opinons of female MMA fighters doing this to get attention. All publicity is good publicity, or so they say. But I wish the female MMA fighters could get attention for being the athletes they are, not the way they look.

Either way the pictures are nice and she didnt go as far as Hisae Watanabe once did in her acting career.

Of course there are more good news for Rin Nakai fans, the Valkyrie champion is taking on Hari in a MMA fight on SRC's New Year card.

Now for some pictures:

Discuss in the FORUM

Sayonara!

2010-07-10T22:48:00.000+03:00

It's been a long time coming, and regular visitors have noticed a drop in my posting over the last few months. As it is now, there are not enough hours in the day for me to be able to keep it up. I have also moved from Japan, and its harder to keep on top of things.

I have met a lot of nice people through this blog over the close to 3 years I have been following the MMA scene in Japan. There are a lot of people I want to say a big thank you to (in no particular order): Joachim Hansen, Antonio Carvalho, Steve Magdaleno, Kazuyuki Miyata, "Mach" Sakurai, Paul McVeigh, Celine Haga, Koichi Pettas, Sean Frew and all my freinds that joined me at these events. Also everyone who has followed my blog, commented and sent me mails.

I've had a great time writing and going to events, and I will continue to write when I go to events, but the updates will be fewer and not as regular as it used to.

So for now, sayonara!

Discuss in the FORUM

6/19 Valkyrie 06 - Fight Order

2010-06-17T23:51:00.000+03:00

GCM have announced the fight order for their 6th Valkyrie event. Unfortunately there are only 5 (!) fights on the card...

Considering that the men's card has 6 fights later, I dont know why they havent made this into one ticket event.

The Vakyrie card does have some good fights though, and I am really looking forward to seeing if Rin Nakai can extend her winning streak.

Main-Event - Flyweight (-45.4kg) Tournament Final:
5. Naoko Omuro 11-7-3 vs. 11-4-3 Yasuko Tamada

4. -61.2kg: Megumi Yabushita 19-16-0 vs. 6-0-0 Rin Nakai
3. -56.7kg: Mutsumi Kasai 4-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Ayame Miura
2. -48.5kg: Naho "Sugi Rock" Sugiyama vs. 1-0-0 Megumi Morioka
1. -52.2kg Novice-Rule: Kimie "Sakura" Okada vs. "Butterfly knife" Yuka

Discuss in the FORUM

6/20 SRC 13 - Fight Order

2010-06-17T23:29:00.001+03:00

WVR have announced the fight order for SRC 13. The main event will be the title fight between Masanori Kanehara and challenger Marlon Sandro. SRC are using the 5 round title fight rule and this should be a good battle, I would not be surprised if it goes the distance.

This is another card where WVR are giving talented fighters a shot on a higher profile card along side some of the big stars in Japan.

Main Event - Sengoku Featherweight Title Fight (5×5min.):
10. Masanori Kanehara 16-7-5 vs. 16-1-0 Marlon Sandro

Light-Heavy: Hiroshi Izumi 1-1-0 vs. 3-4-0 Chang Seob Lee
9. Welter: Sanae Kikuta 28-6-3 vs. 3-1-0 Yasubey Enomoto
8. Light: Maximo "Maxi" Blanco 5-2-1 vs. 9-3-0 Rodrigo Damm

Welterweight Tournament Round 1 (Block A):
7. Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura 18-4-2 vs. 6-2-0 Omar de la Cruz
6. Takuya Wada 19-8-10 vs. 5-5-0 Jae Sun Lee

5. Feather: Shigeki Osawa 5-1-0 vs. 12-9-3 Katsuya Toida
4. Feather: Ikuo Usuda 6-0-0 vs. 5-3-0 Kang Kyung Ho
3. Light-Heavy: Ryo Kawamura 11-5-2 vs. 7-3-2 Hidetada Irie

Opening Fight:
2. Light: Kazuki Tokutome 4-1-1 vs. 2-5-0 Yuma Ishizuka
1. Middle: Ikkei Nagamura 3-2-1 vs. 3-1-0 Ye Won Nam

Discuss in the FORUM

7/10 DREAM 15 - JZ Calvan vs. Kikuno Announced

2010-06-17T22:43:00.000+03:00

FEG have announced 2 additional fights for DREAM 15 to take place in Saitama Superarena on July 10. Returning is HEROs champion JZ Calvan, who will take on DEEP chamption Katsunori Kikuno. Sherdog's Tony Loiseleur made this interview with the DEEP champion (well worth a read).

FEG also announced a light-heavyweight fight, the very popular Melvin Manhoef will take on Tatsuya Mizuno.

At DREAM 14 FEG announced what will most likely be the main event as two of Japan's favorite fighters will battle for the title. Tatsuya Kawajiri will challenge for Shinya Aoki's belt.

Lightweight Dream title fight:
Shinya Aoki vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri

Light: JZ Calvan vs. Katsunori Kikuno
Light-Heavy: Melvin Manhoef vs. Tatsuya Mizuno

Discuss in the FORUM

6/5 Pancrase Passion Tour 5 - Results

2010-06-05T12:57:00.004+03:00

Pancrase is currently holding an event in Differ Ariake and I will update these results as soon as I have the updates.

On the card are the Neo-Blood Semi-Finals, a welterweight title fight and Pancrase favorite Satory Kitaoka.

Sherdog has a Live PBP and chat up:

Read on for results!

Main-Event: Welterweight King of Pancrase title fight:
16. Kengo Ura Def. Keiichiro Yamamiya by MUST decision 2-1 (all judges score it 30-30)

15. Light: Satoru Kitaoka Def. Jorge "Jorjao" Rodrigues by Decision 3-0
14. Light: Eriya Matsuda Def. Yoshifumi Dogaki by TKO Round 1 3:34
13. Feather: Masaya "J-Taro" Takita Def. Shigeyuki Uchiyama by TKO Round 2 2:57
The doctor stopped the fight after, it sounds like part of Uchiyama's ear fell off!

12. Fly: Ryosuke Tanuma Def. Takuya Eizumi by Decision 3-0
11. Bantam: Takumi Murata Def. Ryota Sasaki by Decision 3-0
10. Light-Heavy: Yuhei Fukuda Def. Jason "Mutant" Symak by Armbar Round 1 4:44
9. Fly: Yuichiro Yajima Def. Narongchai by Armlock Round 1 2:15

Neo-Blood Tournament Semi-Finals:
8. Light: Katsunori Takahashi Def. Junichi Ota by KO Round 1 1:39
7. Light: Jyuntaro Ami Def. Keigo Hirayama by Decision
6. Feather: Motoshi Miyaji Def. Kensaku Nakamura by Triangle choke Round 2 0:42
5. Feahter: Masakazu Takafuji Def. Hiroshi Tomita by TKO Round 2 0:13
4. Bantam: Yuki Uejima Def. Shoko Sato by Decision
3. Bantam: Motonobu Tezuka Def. Yuta Numakura by Decision
2. Fly: Yoshihiro Matsunaga Def. Go Yamanaka by Decision
1. Fly: Hiroyuki "Katsuo" Nakajima Def. Daichi Kitakata by Decision

Discuss in the FORUM

7/4 SRC Asia Vol. 1

2010-06-05T12:27:00.000+03:00

WVR have added some fights to their "SRC Asia Vol. 1" event to be held in Differ Ariake. With the addition of these type of events it will be interesting to see where SRC's future is.

Either way, they will be holding a bantamweight tournament and there will also be some interesting fights on this card.

Yesterday they announced 2 non-tournament fights, one of them a heavyweight fight with Team Tackler's Kanechika taking on Korean Sang Soo Lee.

Heavy: Koji "Takauji" Kanechika 5-2-0 vs. 13-8-0 Sang Soo Lee
Welter: Masahiro Toryu 7-5-4 vs. 1-1-0 Noah Villanueva

SRC Bantamweight Asia Tournament 2010
Participants:
Takuya Eizumi 6-4-0
Wataru Takahashi 10-13-4
Wataru Inatsu 6-6-2
Hiryu Okamoto 4-3-1
Kyu Jin Choi (?) 3-1-0

Discuss in the FORUM

6/19 Valkyrie 06 - Rin Nakai Fighting

2010-06-03T22:59:00.000+03:00

GCM have added a fight to their Valkyrie event in Differ Ariake on June 19. This starts at 12.30 and will be followed by the Cage Force event.

Today they have announced the addition of the undefeated and very promising Rin Naka. She will be taking on the very experienced Megumi Yabushita.

Also on the card will be the Flyweight tournament final between Naoko Omuro and Yasuko Tamada.

Added:
-61.2kg: Megumi Yabushita 19-16-0 vs. 6-0-0 Rin Nakai

Previously Announced:
Flyweight (-45.4kg) Tournament Final:
Naoko Omuro 11-7-3 vs. 11-4-3 Yasuko Tamada

-56.7kg: Mutsumi Kasai 4-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Ayame Miura
-48.5kg: Naho "Sugi Rock" Sugiyama vs. 1-0-0 Megumi Morioka
-52.2kg Novice-Rule: Kimie "Sakura" Okada vs. "Butterfly knife" Yuka

Discuss in the FORUM

6/6 ShootBoxing - "V Hajime"s Opponent Announed

2010-06-02T22:47:00.000+03:00

Shootboxing have announced "V Hajime"s opponent for June 6, it will be J-Girls fighter Ikue Tanimura.

Also announced is a fight between Yuji Sugahara and AACC's Ben Henry, who has had a few fights in Pancrase as well.

On the card is also a tournament with semi-finals and final. Should be a good one, and I am guessing the Korakuen Hall will be packed for this one.

Mei "V Hajime" Yamaguchi vs. Ikue Tanimura
Yuji Sugahara vs. Ben Henry

- YOUNG CAESARS TOURNAMENT 55 -
Super Bantamweight Tournament Finals
SF1: Kazuyuki Fushimi vs. Genki
SF2:Ryuya Sakabe vs. Masanori Ito

Final: Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2

Previously Announed:
Hiroki Shishido vs. Virgil Kalakoda
Hiroaki Suzuki vs. Tenkei Fujimiya
Kenji Kanai vs. Satoru Suzuki
Takeshi Ishikawa vs. Taylor "Ninja" McCorriston

Rena vs. ☆MIKA☆
Hisae Watanabe vs. Sumie Yamada

Discuss in the FORUM

June Schedule Japanese MMA/Kickboxing

2010-06-01T21:51:00.000+03:00

Coming up in the month of June are good events. No DREAM event, but there is an SRC event which should be very interesting and the highlight of this month. Also on the schedule is Pancrase, DEEP, Shooto, ShootBoxing and Cage Force, among others.

If I have missed something, feel free to add it in the comments.

6/5
- Pancrase Passion Tour - Differ Ariake

6/6
- M-1 Muay Thai - Differ Ariake
- ShootBoxing - Korakuen Hall
- Shooto "Shooting Disco 12" - Shinjuku Face
- ZST SWAT! 34 - Golds Gym Omori
- DEEP Cage Impact 2010 in Osaka - Zepp Osaka

6/12
- Krush (kickboxing) - Shinjuku Face

6/13
- Shooto Gig Centra Vol. 20 - Zepp Nagoya

6/19
- GCM Valkyrie 06 - Differ Ariake
- GCM Cage Force - Differ Ariake

6/20
- WVR SRC 13 - Kokugikan
- The Outsider 12 - Differ Ariake
- J-Network (kickboxing) - Korakuen Hall

6/27
- New Japan Kickboxing - Differ Ariake
- Rise 67 (kickboxing) - Golds Gym Omori
- Demolition West Project - Osaka
- Gladiator 7 - Sapporo Teisen Hall

Discuss in the FORUM

7/3 DEEP 48 Impact - Participants Announced

2010-06-01T21:31:00.001+03:00

DEEP have announce 7 fights today for their 48 Impact event to be held in Differ Ariake. There are some very interesting fights between some talented fighters here.

In particular I like the Tatsunao Nakakura vs. Tomoya Kato matchup, but also Yoshiki Harada vs. Masato Kobayashi is a very good and interesting fight between 2 talented fighters.

Also participating at this event will be Eiji Ishikawa and Yusuke Kawaguchi.

Announced:
Shigetoshi Iwase 9-12-3 vs. Jung Hwan Cha
Seigo Mizuguchi 7-6-0 vs. 5-1-1 Kazuhisa Tazawa
Tomohiko Hori 11-8-5 vs. 9-4-5 Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura
Tatsunao Nagakura 5-1-0 vs. 8-2-0 Tomoya Kato
Yuki Ito 8-5-9 vs. 5-1-1 Yasuhiro Kawasaki
Sadao Kondo 5-0-1 vs. 8-8-3 Kosuto Umeda
Yoshiki Harada 3-0-0 vs. 4-1-0 Masato Kobayashi

Participants:
Yusuke Kawaguchi 11-2-0
Eiji Ishikawa 19-16-2

Discuss in the FORUM

5/30 The Way of SHOOTO 03 - RESULTS

2010-05-30T13:49:00.004+03:00

Shooto is putting on an awesome event in JCB Hall in Tokyo today. This is a new venue, and it looks as though they have built it without internet access creating some difficulties for the Sherdog live PBP. But they are still getting the message out there.

Right now they are in the last 3 fights, which are all title fights.

Read on for spoilers.

The fighters from Paraestra Matsudo have really not had a good day... First Koyama lost a close decision (Sherdog had him winning), then Ogikubo gets choked out on his way to a decision. Then the legend, "The Shooto Junkie", gets KO'ed in his first fight for 4 years. Not a good day.

So far the rest of the fights have gone the distance.

"Chiquerim" has JUST won the title when he returns it!! He informs the crowd that he has signed an exlusive contract with an organization that will stop him from defending it!

Lightweight World Title Fight:
8. Hatsu Hioki Def. "Lion" Takeshi Inoue by Decision 2-1

Welterweight World Title Fight:
7. Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire Def. Yusuke Endo by Decision 2-1

Bantamweight World Title Fight:
6. Yasuhiro Urushitani Def. Ryuichi Miki by Decision 3-0

5. 62kg: Rumina Sato Def. Ryota Matsune by KO Round 2 0:21
4. Feather: Masakatsu Ueda Def. Akitoshi Tamura by Decision 3-0
3. Feather: Eduardo "Dudu" Dantas Def. Hiromasa Ogikubo by Rear-Naked choke Round 3 1:21
2. Welter: Kotetsu Boku Def. Yoshihiro Koyama by Decision 3-0
1. Light: Shintaro Ishiwatari Def. Wataru Miki by Decision 2-0

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5/29 DREAM 14 - RESULTS

2010-05-29T14:46:00.001+03:00

Dream has another one in the books. A strong card, but without any heavyweights or light-heavyweights (now that the GP was scratched).

Lots of strong featherweights on the card though. Add to that the legends of "Mach" Sakurai, Sakuraba and Minowa, what more can you ask for?

Spoilers if you read on.

Gracie broke the curse when he won the judges decision, he was simply the better man on the ground. Sakuraba had his chances though, and what the ref was thinking when he in the last round tried to pull up Ralek's pants I have no idea. Still a deserved victory.

Nick Diaz proved too strong on the ground for the legend "Mach" Sakurai, meaning that 2 of the really big Japanese stars lost on this card.

Other Japanese fighters made sure that the home crowd had plenty to cheer for though. "Kid" looks to be back on track with a quick KO win, and Minowa is staying on track with a submission win in the 1st round.

Hiroyuki Takaya has secured his spot at the #1 featherweight contender as he got a strong KO win over Joachim Hansen.

Osawa and Miyata edge out split decision wins

8. Welter: Nick Diaz Def. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai by armbar Round 1 3:54
7. 88kg: Ralek Gracie Def. Kazushi Sakuraba by Decision 3-0
6. Feather: Hiroyuki Takaya Def. Joachim Hansen by KO Round 1 4:27
5. Feather: Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto Def. Federico "Kiko" Lopez by KO Round 1 1:41
4. Feather: "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura Def. Hideo Tokoro by KO Round 1 2:10
3. Feather: Kazuyuki Miyata Def. Takafumi Otsuka by Decision 2-1
2. Feather: Kenji Osawa Def. Yoshiro Maeda by Decision 2-1
1. Open: Ikuhisa Minowa Def. Imani Lee by rear-naked choke Round 1 4:16

Discuss in the FORUM

5/29 DREAM 14 - Weigh-in

2010-05-28T22:00:00.001+03:00

FEG held the weigh-in for the 14th DREAM earlier today, broadcast live on their website.

Lots of good fights on the card, and Minowaman is giving up 70kg in this fight! Can he do it again?

If you, like me, are wondering about the difference in weight for the featherweights. Nightmare of Battle has the answer:

"As you can see from the weigh-in results everything isn’t as it should. All Featherweight fights on the card are contracted at different weights.

KID/Lopez is at 60kg
Takaya/Hansen is at 65kg
Tokoro/Wicky is at 63kg
Miyata/Otsuka is at 64.5kg
Maeda/Osawa is at 61kg
Mach/Diaz is at 76.6kg

As you can see, it appears that Kiko Lopez missed weight, I am not sure if he weighed in again though. Also, I am sure the fight would still be on.

Main-event:
8. Welter: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai (76.5kg) 35-10-2 vs. 21-7-0 (76.0kg) Nick Diaz

7. 88kg: Kazushi Sakuraba (86.5kg) 26-12-1 vs. 2-0-0 (87.4kg) Ralek Gracie
6. Feather: Joachim Hansen (65.0kg) 19-9-1 vs. 12-8-1 (65.0kg) Hiroyuki Takaya
5. Feather: Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (59.8kg) 17-3-0 vs. 4-2-0 (62.0kg?) Federico "Kiko" Lopez
4. Feather: Hideo Tokoro (63.0kg) 26-21-1 vs. 10-5-1 (62.8kg) "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura
3. Feather: Kazuyuki Miyata (64.2kg)8-7-0 vs. 10-4-1 (64.4kg) Takafumi Otsuka
2. Feather: Yoshiro Maeda (60.7kg) 26-8-2 vs. 15-9-2 (61.0kg) Kenji Osawa
1. Open: Ikuhisa Minowa (88.0kg) 45-30-8 vs. 1-2-0 (150.0kg) Imani Lee

Discuss in the FORUM

Celine Haga Interview

2010-05-27T23:55:00.003+03:00

I've always thought female MMA fighters didn't get the attention and respect they deserve. When Smackgirl went under about 2 years ago, Jewels and Valkyrie both fought to fill space they left.

Jewels seems to have filled that spot the best. At SmackGirl's last event Mika Nagano was one of the new rising stars and Celine Haga was in the crowd.

Now Celine has just gotten her first win, stopping Mika Nagano's winning streak at 5. And I got a chance to ask her a few questions!

Make sure you check out her blog:
http://violentbydesign101.wordpress.com

Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions, and congratulations with the win over Mika Nagano!

-First of, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

55kg of energy in motion, starting to get close to a purple belt in life experience now, love the feeling of being free and independent of others. I am cursed, or blessed? With an intensity that makes me give
101% to reach the goals I set. :D

-How long have you been doing martial arts, and how did you get into
MMA? How did you end up with fights in Japan?

I have been doing martial arts for 3 years now – MMA for a total of 1.5 years. Started MMA because if felt like the ultimate challenge both physically and mentally.

I had no experience earlier, just trained 1 year track and field and a year of strength (that I was forced to because I was so weak my doctor told me I needed to add some muscle).

I won a bit of money playing poker and decided to invest in a Japan trip (the money lasted 2 months). During my stay I got to know Megumi and the rest of AACC. I also fought my first fight (semi-pro) in an
underground event called "Smokers".

-How did you feel during the fight with Mika? What was your tactics
before the fight, and did it go to plan?

The tactics were just to aim and hit her. I knew she was southpaw and good at takedowns, so I wanted to keep to basic boxing. One or two punches and move, to avoid takedowns. If it went to the ground the plan was to work for the best possible position. The plan was to give it everything, fight smart, not stress and have fun.

I knew this was probably the last chance Jewels wanted to give me, they were cool and asked who I wanted to fight, if I could choose. I picked Nagano. I knew I had to win against a good opponent this time
for it to matter.

The plan worked, not a 100%, but good enough. :D

-You had 4 losses before this fight, what had you learnt in the
previous fights that helped you in this one? Did you change something
in your preparation?

I always overestimated my opponents, and underestimated myself and it showed in my performances. I might have been a bit too eager when I went to Japan to have my first pro fight after just 1 year of grappling and 3 months of MMA training. HAHA And tapping breeds tapping, that breeds low confidence
and depressions.

But I continued to prioritize training above everything else. I chose not to give up, continue to train hard but forgot the most important aspect of the sport… The mental aspect.

Before this fight I worked harder, focused more on conditioning and self esteem. I was focusing on what I knew and tried to improve that, I got help from Miyata’s coach Sean, some wrestling tips from Miyata, loads of
good training at AACC and not least from Roxanne and Kunioku.

A person I respect a lot told me that I have the technique and strength, but I lack self confidence and wasn’t fighting with my heart. And the last two things are more important than the former.

-I saw Joachim Hansen in your corner, did he give you some good advice?

I actually had Mohsen (Team Hansen) and Sean Frew in my corner during the fight.

Didn’t want any special advice this time, I just wanted positive energy and support. Joachim has given me loads of good advice over the last 3 years that are like tattooed in my brain forever. :D I have had many sparring partners and coaches, but it is first and foremost his style and advice that will be the fundamentals in my game.

-I know you have been training a bit in Japan, how it is to train
there compared to home in Norway? What are the biggest differences?

In Norway I only train with boys that are 15-20kg heavier. Joachim and the others at Team Hellboy have used a lot of time to help me. Sparring with them has made me stronger and given me better balance, and more tolerant to pain. hahaha

In Japan I train with girls. The biggest differences are that girls are a lot more flexible and agile/quick, that increases the stress factor a lot of times.

There are more training opportunities for me in Japan, since there are a lot of girls my size doing MMA/grapping.

-There is not a lot of non-Japanese fighting in Jewels on a regular
basis, you have had 4 fights there. How is it being the only
non-Japanese, do you get extra attention/support?

I think I mix well?? Don’t look typically Norwegian… hehe

I feel like Japan is my second home! Have lots of good friends here and enjoy it a lot.

I don’t receive more attention than the other fighters here. To fight in Japan is pretty special, the biggest have been jetlag, communication (very few speak English) and the culture. But when you settle in, it’s the martial arts’ Shangri-la in my opinion.

The support I have received is first and foremost from my friends here and from Team Hellboy (that have always supported me) I am so lucky and grateful for having such good teammates.

-What can we expect from you in the future? If you could choose, who
would be your next opponent?

I am going to continue training, and as always never give up!

This is the point of no return for me, I have finally won the battle inside, and I am ready to give my next opponent hell. My next opponent is anyone, hopefully at 52kg. I am ready!

Discuss in the FORUM

Fight Order for 5/29 DREAM 14 and 5/30 The way of Shooto 03

2010-05-27T22:54:00.000+03:00

This weekend there will be 2 HUGE events in Japan! Shooto have put together an awesome card for Sunday, and of course the DREAM event on Saturday will be huge.

Lots of great fights on both cards, and here are the fight orders:

DREAM is putting on some awesome featherweight matchups, and add to that some true legends in Japan and this should be an interesting event. "Kid" will be desperate for a KO win here, and former lightweight champion Joachim Hansen will be looking to put his mark on the Dream featherweight division. Of course the crowd will be looking for a show and FOTN performance from Tokoro again.

Former olympic wrestler Kazuyuki Miyata will take on another wrestler when he faces DEEP champion Takafumi Otsuka.

Main-event:
8. Welter: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai 35-10-2 vs. 21-7-0 Nick Diaz

7. 88kg: Kazushi Sakuraba 26-12-1 vs. 2-0-0 Ralek Gracie
6. Feather: Joachim Hansen 19-9-1 vs. 12-8-1 Hiroyuki Takaya
5. Feather: Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-3-0 vs. 4-2-0 Federico "Kiko" Lopez
4. Feather: Hideo Tokoro 26-21-1 vs. 10-5-1 "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura
3. Feather: Kazuyuki Miyata 8-7-0 vs. 10-4-1 Takafumi Otsuka
2. Feather: Yoshiro Maeda 26-8-2 vs. 15-9-2 Kenji Osawa
1. Open: Ikuhisa Minowa 45-30-8 vs. 1-2-0 Imani Lee

Shooto is putting on no less than 3 title fights! Not only that, but the return of Ryota Matsune. There are good fights from the opening bell on this one too!

Lightweight World Title Fight:
8. "Lion" Takeshi Inoue 18-3-0 vs. 20-4-2 Hatsu Hioki

Welterweight World Title Fight:
7. Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire 15-2-0 vs. 13-3-2 Yusuke Endo

Bantamweight World Title Fight:
6. Yasuhiro Urushitani vs. Ryuichi Miki

5. 62kg: Rumina Sato 25-14-2 vs. 15-1-1 Ryota Matsune
4. Feather: Akitoshi Tamura 14-8-2 vs. 10-1-2 Masakatsu Ueda
3. Feather: Eduardo "Dudu" Dantas 8-2-0 vs. 6-1-2 Hiromasa Ogikubo
2. Welter: Kotetsu Boku 16-6-2 vs. 14-3-1 Yoshihiro Koyama
1. Light: Shintaro Ishiwatari 6-3-3 vs. 16-9-3 Wataru Miki

Discuss in the FORUM

7/4 Pancrase Passion Tour - 1 Event, 3 Title Fights

2010-05-25T23:52:00.000+03:00

Pancrase have announced another title fight to the July 4th event in Differ Ariake. And it is a rematch when Yuki Kondo faces Yuji Hisamatsu, 2 very experienced fighters and last time it ended in a draw.

Announced earlier are title fights in the Bantam- and Flyweight divisions.

Middleweight King of Pancrase title fight:
Yuki Konto 52-23-7 vs. 15-17-5 Yuji Hisamatsu

Bantamweight King of Pancrase title fight:
Manabu Inoue 9-5-1 vs. 9-2-0 Seiya Kawahara

Flyweight King of Pancrase title fight:
Kiyotaka Shimizu 5-3-1 vs. 8-1-0 Isao Hirose

Discuss in the FORUM

7/31 Jewels 9th Ring - Lightweight GP

2010-05-25T23:36:00.000+03:00

Jewels have today announced that they are going to hold a 8-woman lightweight (52kg) tournament.

The participants announced so far are:
-Saori Ishioka 9-4-0
-Mika Nagano 6-3-0
-Seo Hee Ham 4-3-0

Saori Ishioka has faced both these fighters before, she won against Mika Nagano, but lost to Seo Hee Ham. I look forward to seeing the rest of the participants.

Round 1 fights will be at Jewels 9th Ring, then the semi-finals and final will be at the BIG year end event in Korakuen Hall 12/17.

Discuss in the FORUM

Pancrase Schedule August - December 2010

2010-05-24T16:21:00.002+03:00

Pancrase have finally released the schedule for the second half of 2010.

The next Passion Tour event will be in Differ Ariake on June 5, and it looks like a good card.

The next event after that will be the Neo-Blood finals and Passion Tour 6 in Differ Ariake on August 8.

The rest of the year looks like this:
9/5 Passion Tour 8 - Differ Ariake, Tokyo
9/19 Pancrase Gate - Golds Gym Omori, Tokyo
10/3 Passion Tour 9 - Differ Ariake, Tokyo
11/3 Passion Tour 10 - Differ Ariake, Tokyo
12/5 Passion Tour 11 - Differ Ariake, Tokyo
12/19 Passion Tour 12 - Azeria Hall, Osaka

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6/6 Shooting Disco 12 "Stand by Me" - Fight Order

2010-05-23T22:02:00.000+03:00

The popular Shooting Disco series is set to continue with their 12th event on June 6. As usual the event will take place in Shinjuku Face, and the card will focus around good matchmaking.

The main event will make a difference in the Shooto featherweight rankings as number 6 ranked So Tazawa takes on number 8 Teriyuki Matsumoto.

Main-Event:
10. Feather: So Tazawa 8-5-4 vs. 6-3-0 Teriyuki Matsumoto

9. Light: Komei Okada 6-10-2 vs. 8-8-1 Masaki Yanagisawa
8. Feather: Yuta Nezu 8-4-1 vs. 2-0-0 Keita Kono
7. Welter: Hisaki "Kotobukimaru" Hiraishi 7-4-2 vs. 2-4-5 Shinobu Miura
6. Fly: Takehiro "Tiger" Ishii 6-7-2 vs. 3-1-1 Yusuke "Tenkaze" Sato

Rookie Tournament:
5. Light: Koji Nakamura 4-4-1 vs. 3-3-2 Satoshi Inaba
4. Welter: Shotoku Suzuki 1-0-0 vs. 1-0-0 Yoshikazu "Kotetsu" Fujishi

Non-Tournament:
3. Fly: Takafumi Ato 0-1-0 vs. 0-3-0 Takahiro Kobori
2. Bantam: Yuya Kaneuchi 0-4-2 vs. 1-2-0 Keiji Koizumi
1. Bantam: Hiroaki Ijima 3-2-1 vs. 1-0-1 Kosuke "Rambo" Suzuki

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5/23 Jewels 8th Ring - RESULTS

2010-05-23T11:05:00.001+03:00

Jewels held their 8th event in Shinkiba 1st Ring earlier today. Saori Ishioka defeats Mai Ichii in the main event by armbar, and HARUMI's loosing streak extends to 14 as she suffers a loss to "Amiba".

Celine Haga upsets the home favorite Mika Nagano by decision, thereby stoping her winning streak at 5.

Main-Event:
7. 52kg: Saori Ishioka Def. Mai Ichii by Armbar Round 2 2:41

6. Open: Hiroko Yamanaka Def. Atsuko Emoto by Decision 3-0
5. SB-Rule 54kg: Ai Takahashi Def. Yukino Oishi by Decision 3-0
4. 52kg: Celine Haga Def. Mika Nagano by Decision 3-0
3. 52kg: Miyo Yoshida Def. Yuko Kagoshima by KO Round 1 3:30
2. SB-Rule 63kg: Cho Benkei Def. Kou Ozeki by TKO Round 2 1:36
1. 57kg: Yuko "Amiba" Oya Def. HARUMI by Armbar Round 1 3:45

Opening Fight - Grappling:
53kg: Megumi Murata vs. Akiko Takami

Discuss in the FORUM

5/23 Jewels 8th Ring - Weigh-in & Fight Order

2010-05-22T16:22:00.002+03:00

More pics on the Jewels blog.

The weigh-ins are done, and here is what I think will be the fight order (I have seen 2 different fight orders and I am not 100% sure which is correct).

Main-Event:
7. 52kg: Saori Ishioka 8-4-0 (51.9kg) vs. (51.5kg) 3-2-0 Mai Ichii

6. Open: Hiroko Yamanaka 8-1-1 (n/a) vs. (n/a) 2-3-0 Atsuko Emoto
5. SB-Rule 54kg: Ai Takahashi (53.9kg) vs. (53.9kg) Yukino Oishi
4. 52kg: Mika Nagano 6-2-0 (52.0kg) vs. (51.2kg) 0-4-0 Celine Haga
3. 52kg: Yuko Kagoshima 1-3-0 (51.9kg) vs. (51.8kg) 0-1-0 Miyo Yoshida
2. SB-Rule 63kg: Cho Benkei (60.4kg) vs. (62.7kg) Kou Ozeki
1. 57kg: Yuko "Amiba" Oya 3-1-0 (56.0kg) vs. (56.6kg) 0-13-0 HARUMI

Opening Fight - Grappling:
53kg: Megumi Murata vs. Akiko Takami

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Shinya Aoki gives up his Shooto title

2010-05-22T15:43:00.004+03:00

I dont believe it until I see it, but Boutreview is reporting that Shinya Aoki is giving up his Shooto Middlweight title.

Aoki has held this belt since February 17 2006, when he won the belt in a fight against Akira Kikuchi. Since then the belt has been in his possesion, only dusted off once, for a title defence a year later (February 17, 2007) also on that occation against Akira Kikuchi.

Even though I havent seen any big article about this, it looks official.

Discuss in the FORUM

6/6 ShootBoxing - Hisae Watanabe's Opponent Announced

2010-05-22T13:16:00.000+03:00

From GBRing.com

ShootBoxing have announced 2 female fights for their event on June 6 in Korakuen Hall.

The event will include female S-Cup champion Rena vs. ☆MIKA☆.

Also making a return to the ShootBoxing ring will be the former DEEP champion Hisae Watanabe. This time she will take on J-Girls ranked #1 Sumie Yamada.

Added:
Rena vs. ☆MIKA☆
Hisae Watanabe vs. Sumie Yamada

Previously Announed:
Hiroki Shishido vs. Virgil Kalakoda
Hiroaki Suzuki vs. Tenkei Fujimiya
Kenji Kanai vs. Satoru Suzuki

Participating:
Mei "V Hajime" Yamaguchi

Discuss in the FORUM

6/20 SRC 13 - Welterweight GP Announced

2010-05-22T13:03:00.000+03:00

WVR have announced the addition of a 8-man tournament to SRC13 and SRC14. The first 2 fights will take place at SRC13 and includes Japanese star "K-Taro" and King of Pancrase Takuya Wada.

The other round 1 fights will take place at SRC14 and will include: the winner of Yamamiya vs. Ura at Pancrase on June 5. Also participating will be Kenta Takagi and Taisuke Okuno.

Matchups announced for SRC13 are:
Welterweight GP Round 1:
Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura 18-4-2 vs. 6-2-0 Omar de la Cruz
Takuya Wada 19-8-10 vs. 5-5-0 Jae Sun Lee

Previously Announced:
Sengoku Featherweight Title Fight (5×5min.):
Masanori Kanehara 16-7-5 vs. 16-1-0 Marlon Sandro

Non-Title Fights:
Light: Maximo "Maxi" Blanco 5-2-1 vs. 9-3-0 Rodrigo Damm
Light-Heavy: Hiroshi Izumi 1-1-0 vs. 3-4-0 Chang Seob Lee
Welter: Sanae Kikuta 28-6-3 vs. 3-1-0 Yasubey Enomoto
Light-Heavy: Ryo Kawamura 11-5-2 vs. 7-3-2 Hidetada Irie
Feather: Shigeki Osawa 5-1-0 vs. 12-9-3 Katsuya Toida
Feather: Ikuo Usuda 6-0-0 vs. 5-3-0 Kang Kyung Ho

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6/5 Pancrase Passion Tour 5 - Fight Order

2010-05-20T22:26:00.001+03:00

Pancrase have announced the fight order for their upcoming event. Getting the event started will be the always entertaining Neo-Blood tournament semi-finals.

Making his debut is Thai fighter Narongchai (not sure of the spelling), in addition to that there are some other up and coming fighters.

Takuya Eizumi snapped his 3 fight losing streak in April, and the former King of Pancrase contender will be looking to add another win here.

Returning to Pancrase is the former Sengoku Champion, Satoru Kitaoka. And this time he has a very good opponent! He is facing Brazilian Jorge Rodriges in the co-main event.

Main-Event: Welterweight King of Pancrase title fight:
16. Kengo Ura 8-5-1 vs. 37-25-9 Keiichiro Yamamiya

15. Light: Satoru Kitaoka 25-10-9 vs. 20-4-0 Jorge "Jorjao" Rodrigues
14. Light: Eriya Matsuda 8-8-0 vs. 8-3-4 Kota Okazawa
13. Feather: Shigeyuki Uchiyama 9-1-0 vs. 9-12-2 Masaya "J-Taro" Takita
12. Fly: Takuya Eizumi 6-4-0 vs. 4-3-0 Ryosuke Tanuma
11. Bantam: Ryota Sasaki 5-3-1 vs. 8-11-6 Takumi Murata
10. Light-Heavy: Jason "Mutant" Symak 2-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Yuhei Fukuda
9. Fly: Narongchai vs. 10-11-1 Yuichiro Yajima

Neo-Blood Tournament Semi-Finals:
8. Light: Katsunori Takahashi vs. Junichi Ota
7. Light: Jyuntaro Ami vs. Keigo Hirayama
6. Feather: Kensaku Nakamura vs. Motoshi Miyaji
5. Feahter: Hiroshi Tomitavs. Masakazu Takafuji
4. Bantam: Shoko Sato vs. Yuki Uejima
3. Bantam: Motonobu Tezuka vs. Yuta Numakura
2. Fly: Yoshihiro Matsunaga vs. Go Yamanaka
1. Fly: Daichi Kitakata vs. Hiroyuki "Katsuo" Nakajima

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7/10 DREAM 15 - Press Conference

2010-05-20T19:31:00.001+03:00

FEG held a press conference earlier today, the main topic was DREAM 15. Although it was announced that Minowaman will take part in the DREAM 14 card, against TBA.

For DREAM 15, it will take place in Saitama Superarena on July 10. Planned participants are:

-Shinya Aoki
-Tatsuya Kawajiri
-Gegard Mousasi
-Melvin Manhoef
-Alistair Overeem

The fans asked if there would be a fight between Aoki and Kawajiri, that was not confirmed, but it was hinted that it will be a card with fights between rivals.

There will also be 2 Light-Heavyweight fights on the card, the winners of which will be facing eachother on DREAM 16, which will be held in September and air on TBS on a "Golden time", meaning primetime.

The first fights for Dream 15 should be announced at Dream 14.

On that note, Kawajiri is posing as a samurai (Ryoma Sakamoto) on the cover of Kamipro.

HT: tastetherainbow and nelson

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5/30 The Way of SHOOTO 03 - T-Shirt Design

2010-05-19T19:22:00.000+03:00

Of course there would have to be a shirt to go with this awesome event! The shirt will of course be on sale in JCB hall, as well as the Inspirit Japanese webstore.

Bantamweight World Title Fight:
Yasuhiro Urushitani vs. Ryuichi Miki

Welterweight World Title Fight:
Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire 15-2-0 vs. 13-3-2 Yusuke Endo

Lightweight World Title Fight:
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue 18-3-0 vs. 20-4-2 Hatsu Hioki

62kg: Rumina Sato 25-14-2 vs. 15-1-1 Ryota Matsune
Welter: Kotetsu Boku 16-6-2 vs. 14-3-1 Yoshihiro Koyama
Feather: Akitoshi Tamura 14-8-2 vs. 10-1-2 Masakatsu Ueda
Feather: Eduardo "Dudu" Dantas 8-2-0 vs. 6-1-2 Hiromasa Ogikubo
Light: Shintaro Ishiwatari 6-3-3 vs. 16-9-3 Wataru Miki

Discuss in the FORUM

6/20 SRC 13 - Fights Announced

2010-05-18T22:52:00.001+03:00

WVR is putting on their 13th event in Ryogoku Kokugikan on June 20. And they are continuing the tradition of announcing the fights early (I like that).

Added to the card today was 2 fights, both with some very talented Japanese fighters. Shigeki Osawa will take on the experienced Katsuya Toida. The other fight announced today will see the former Shooto Rookie Tournament champion, Ikuo Usuda take on Kang Kyung Ho (Osawa's opponent on SRC12.

The main event will most likely be the featherweight title fight between Kanehara and Marlon Sandro, who was my personal favorite in the tournament last year. It should be a very good and tactical fight.

Added:
Feather: Shigeki Osawa 5-1-0 vs. 12-9-3 Katsuya Toida
Feather: Ikuo Usuda 6-0-0 vs. 5-3-0 Kang Kyung Ho

Previously Announced:
Sengoku Featherweight Title Fight (5×5min.):
Masanori Kanehara 16-7-5 vs. 16-1-0 Marlon Sandro

Non-Title Fights:
Light: Maximo "Maxi" Blanco 5-2-1 vs. 9-3-0 Rodrigo Damm
Light-Heavy: Hiroshi Izumi 1-1-0 vs. 3-4-0 Chang Seob Lee
Welter: Sanae Kikuta 28-6-3 vs. 3-1-0 Yasubey Enomoto
Light-Heavy: Ryo Kawamura 11-5-2 vs. 7-3-2 Hidetada Irie

Discuss in the FORUM

5/16 ClubDEEP Toyama - Results

2010-05-17T21:58:00.000+03:00

DEEP put on a 15 fight card in Toyama's Event Plaza earlier today. The main event saw the home town favorite "Barbaro44" take on one of DEEPs biggest talents in Koichiro Matsumoto.

The card also included 3 kick-rule fights.

Read on for spoilers.

After winning the main-event, Koichiro asked for a title fight, and he could be heading for a title fight against Takafumi Otsuka next.

Main-Event:
15. 65.8kg: Koichiro Matsumoto def. Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka by KO Round 1 1:29

14. 70.3kg: Yuichi Ikari def. Yuya Osugi by TKO Round 1 3:58
13. 65.8kg: Satoshi Watanabe vs. Yoshihiro Yamaniha Draw
12. 63kg: Yasuo Munakata def. Hirotaka Himeno by TKO Round 2 4:00
11. 53.5g: Sakura Nomura def. Rina Tomita by Decision 3-0
10. 63kg: Hiroshi Sato vs. Hiroyuki Suzuki Draw
9. 78kg: Yoshinobu Kawamura def. Daisuke Kanehira by Decision 3-0
8. 53kg: Jun Osawa Def. Akihiro Hasegawa by TKO Round 1 2:44
7. 53kg: Gen Ikeda Def. Kaname Mori by Triangle choke 2 3:39
6. 63kg: Harunari Shinogawa def. Daiki Nakahara by TKO Round 1 0:55
5. Kick-Rule - 68kg: Takeshi Sakai def. Yujiro Haraguchi by TKO Round 2 0:30
4. Kick-Rule - 63kg: Kazuhiro Konishi def. Kenichi Satake by Decision 3-0
3. Kick-Rule - 68kg: Carlos Osako def. Leo Mitsuhashi by Decision 3-0
2. 66kg: Ippei Takase def. Mattsun Mattsun by TKO Round 1 2:21
1. 63kg: Daigo Sawada def. Oya Takato by TKO Round 2 1:14

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5/23 Jewels 8th Ring

2010-05-16T18:04:00.055+03:00

Next Sunday Jewels will hold their 8th event, and these events have been very popular with the fans. It is usually sold out.

This time it will be held in Shinkiba 1st ring and following this event will be a ClubDEEP event.

Jewles MMA Rule:
52kg: Saori Ishioka 8-4-0 vs. 3-2-0 Mai Ichii
Open: Hiroko Yamanaka 8-1-1 vs. 2-3-0 Atsuko Emoto
52kg: Mika Nagano 6-2-0 vs. 0-4-0 Celine Haga
52kg: Yuko Kagoshima 1-3-0 vs. 0-1-0 Miyo Yoshida
57kg: Yuko "Amiba" Oya 3-1-0 vs. 0-13-0 HARUMI

ShootBoxing Rule (3x2min. 1r ext.):
54kg: Ai Takahashi vs. Yukino Oishi
63kg: Cho Benkei vs. Kou Ozeki

Discuss in the FORUM

6/5 Pancrase Passion Tour 5 - Kitaoka facing Rodrigues

2010-05-15T13:34:00.001+03:00

Pancrase have announced that one of their star fighters and former Sengoku Lightweight champion, Satoru Kitaoka will take on Brazilian Jorge "Jorjao" Rodrigues.

That should be an awesome fight on an already good card!

Announced:
Satoru Kitaoka vs. 20-4-0 Jorge "Jorjao" Rodrigues

Previously Announced:
Welterweight King of Pancrase title fight qualifier:
Kengo Ura vs. Kei Yamamiya

Fly: Narongchai vs. Yuichiro Yajima
Fly: Takuya Eizumi vs. Ryosuke Tanuma
Bantam: Ryota Sasaki vs. Takumi Murata
Light-Heavy: Jason "Mutant" Symak 2-1-0 vs. Yuhei Fukuda
Light: Eriya Matsuda 8-8-0 vs. Kota Okazawa
Feather: Shigeyuki Uchiyama vs. Masaya "J-Taro" Takita

Neo-Blood Tournament Semi-Finals:
Light: Katsunori Takahashi vs. Junichi Ota
Light: Jyuntaro Ami vs. Keigo Hirayama
Feather: Kensaku Nakamuravs. Motoshi Miyaji
Feahter: Hiroshi Tomitavs. Masakazu Takafuji
Bantam: Shoko Sato vs. Yuki Uejima
Bantam: Motonobu Tezuka vs. Yuta Numakura
Fly: Yoshihiro Matsunaga vs. Go Yamanaka
Fly: Daichi Kitakata vs. Hiroyuki "Katsuo" Nakajima

Participating:
Toryu Masahiro

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7/3 DEEP 48 Impact - Participants Announced

2010-05-15T13:00:00.003+03:00

Deep boss, Saeki, has announced 14 fighters for their DEEP 48 Impact card to be held in Differ Ariake on July 3. There are a log of good names on the card, among them DEEP middle weight champion, Riki Fukuda and "Iron" Nakamura. Also announced is Korean Jung Hwan Cha, or the guy that KO'd Ryo Chonan at the Astra event.

Also look out for the young Yoshiki Harada fighting out of the "Mach" Dojo. This is a fighter "Mach" Sakurai himself told me he had high hopes for when I met him and Yoshiki has proven why in the ring. It will be good to see him get another fight under his belt.

For DEEP going forward, these are the plans: Ofcourse, in June there will be the Cage Impact event in Osaka. July there will be an event in Nagoya in addition to 48 Impact. DEEP 49 Impact will be in August, in KOrakuen Hall. The BIG one, celebrating 10 years of DEEP, DEEP 50 Impact will take place in October.

There will also be a cage event in Hamamatsu in September and in Tokyo in December.

Participants:
Riki Fukuda 16-4-0
Jung Hwan Cha 7-5-1
Shigetoshi Iwase 9-12-3
Tomoya Miyashita 17-7-8
Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura 9-4-5
Seigo Mizuguchi 7-6-0
Eiji Ishikawa 19-16-2
Yuki Ito 8-5-9
Sadao Kondo 5-0-1
Kosuke Umeda 8-8-3
Yasuhiro Kawasaki 5-1-1
Tatsunao Nagakura 5-1-0
Yoshiki Harada 3-0-0
Tomoya Kato 8-2-0

Discuss in the FORUM

5/29 DREAM 14 - "Kid" Yamamoto Added

2010-05-15T12:34:00.001+03:00

FEG have announced the addition of Japanese star "Kid" Yamamoto to Dream 14. His opponent will be Team Quest's Federico "Kiko" Lopez. This fight was supposed to be on the Strikeforce undercard, but has been moved to the Dream 14 event. Both fighters are coming of 2 straight losses, "Kid" losing to "Kiko"'s team-mate, Joe Warren. No doubt that "Kid" will be the crowd favorite here, but both fighters will be eager to start another winning streak. It will be interesting to see what Warren has been able to teach his team-mate.

Picture from GBRing.com

Added:
Feather: Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-3-0 vs. 4-2-0 Federico "Kiko" Lopez

Previously Announed:
Feather: Joachim Hansen vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
Feather: Hideo Tokoro vs. "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura
Feather: Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Feather: Yoshiro Maeda vs. Kenji Osawa
88kg: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Ralek Gracie
Welter: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Nick Diaz

Discuss in the FORUM

MMA Events in Japan 15-31 May

2010-05-13T16:22:00.002+03:00

May is going to be a busy month of MMA in Japan, and there are some very good cards coming up.

Here is a list of what is coming up:

16th May:
-In Tokyo, this will be a day of kickboxing events. In Differ Ariake, Rise will hold their 65th event and in Korakuen Hall will be the New Japan Kickboxing event.

-DEEP is putting on a clubDEEP card in Toyama's Eventplaza. Of course, the Club Barbarian fighters come out in force and there are some good fights on the card. Including Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka vs. Koichiro Matsumoto and Yuya Osugi vs. Kleber Koike. Missing from the card is the retired Miku Matsumoto, but I am sure she will be there watching over things.

-Shooto's Grapplingman 11 will be held in Hiroshima Industrial Hall. Headlining the event will be Kazuhiro Ito vs. Bae Yong Kwon. In addition to that there will be some Rookie Tournament fights on the card.

22. May:
-Tribalate vol. 28 will be in Shinjuku Face.

23. May:

-The female fighters of Jewels will be followed by ClubDEEP in Shinkiba 1st Ring. I am expecting a sold out event for JEWELS again, the card includes the popular Saori Ishioka vs. Mai Ichii and another crowd favorite in Mika Nagano will take on Team Hellboy's Celine Haga. Hellboy himself might be ringside for this one, and it should be a fight the crowd gets into. Being Norwegian I know who I am cheering for! I also know that Celine has had very good training leading up to this fight.

The ClubDEEP event will follow Jewels, and is headlined by Hiroki Sato vs. Shuji Morikawa.

27. May:
-Krush 7 in Shinjuku Face. This should be a good kickboxing (K-1 rule) event. On the card will be amoung others, the HEAT veteran Danilo Zanolini.

29. May:

-The month of May really finishes on a high! DREAM 14 is looking like a very very good event! Arguably some of the best featherweights in the world will square off in Saitama Superarena:

Joachim Hansen vs. Hiroyuki Takaya
Hideo Tokoro vs. "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura
Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Takafumi Otsuka
Yoshiro Maeda vs. Kenji Osawa

Add to that the non-featherweight fights:
88kg: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Ralek Gracie
Welter: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Nick Diaz

This should be an awesome event!

30. May:

-The DREAM event will be followed by a very awesome Shooto event in JCB Hall.

The card has 3 title fights:
Light: "Lion" Takeshi Inoue vs. Hatsu Hioki
Bantam: Yasuhiro Urushitani vs. Ryuichi Miki
Welter: Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire vs. Yusuke Endo

Some very good fighters will return:
62kg: Rumina Sato vs. Ryota Matsune
Feather: Akitoshi Tamura vs. Masakatsu Ueda

Then there are some other very solid fights:
Welter: Kotetsu Boku vs. Yoshihiro Koyama
Feather: Eduardo "Dudu" Dantas vs. Hiromasa Ogikubo
Light: Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. Wataru Miki

It looks like another very strong Shooto card, maybe the best in years.

-On the same day, MA Japan Kickboxing is holding an event in Differ ariake.
-And the J-Network has a double event in Shinjuku Face

Discuss in the FORUM

5/30 The Way of SHOOTO 03 - "Shooto Junkie" Returns!!

2010-04-24T22:16:00.000+03:00

I have been hoping this day would come for a long time! Ryota Matsune will return to the ring, against another Shooto legend, Rumina Sato. The fight was announced today at Shooto GIG Tokyo Vol. 4.

The card is shaping up to be one of the best Shooto cards in a while, even with the Vale Tudo card last year. There are 3 fights on the card, and they are all good fights too.

Also worth noting is that there are 3 fighters from Paraestra Matsudo, where Ryota Matsune is the MMA coach.

Bantamweight World Title Fight:
Yasuhiro Urushitani vs. Ryuichi Miki

Welterweight World Title Fight:
Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire 15-2-0 vs. 13-3-2 Yusuke Endo

Lightweight World Title Fight:
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue 18-3-0 vs. 20-4-2 Hatsu Hioki

62kg: Rumina Sato 25-14-2 vs. 15-1-1 Ryota Matsune
Welter: Kotetsu Boku 16-6-2 vs. 14-3-1 Yoshihiro Koyama
Feather: Akitoshi Tamura 14-8-2 vs. 10-1-2 Masakatsu Ueda
Feather: Eduardo "Dudu" Dantas 8-2-0 vs. 6-1-2 Hiromasa Ogikubo
Light: Shintaro Ishiwatari 6-3-3 vs. 16-9-3 Wataru Miki

Discuss in the FORUM

4/25 ASTRA - Yoshida's Farewell Event - Fighters missing weight

2010-04-24T21:58:00.000+03:00

Astra is hosting the final fight in Hidehiko Yoshida's long career. The event will take place in Nippon Budokan, and it should be a perfect setting for this event. Yoshida will face Kazuhiro Nakamura, a team mate and friend in this fight. He also outweights his opponent with almost 20kg going in.

3 fighters missed weight in the weigh-in, but the fights will go as planned. Naoyuki Kotani managed to cut the 0.1kg and make weight on his second attempt, but Jorge Masvidal and Che Mills also missed weight.

Also on this card, Enson Inoue will return to the ring against Antz Nansen.

There are lots of good fights on this card, that can only be seen by the people in attendence or by ordering it on SkyPerfect PPV.

Main-Event - Hidehiko Yoshida Retirement Fight:
11. Open: Hidehiko Yoshida (113.0kg) 9-7-1 vs. 13-10-1 Kazuhiro Nakamura (95.7kg)

10. Feather: Michihiro Omigawa (65.0kg) 9-8-1 vs. 13-3-0 Micah Miller (65.0kg)
9. Light-Heavy: Enson Inoue (92.9kg) 11-8-0 vs. 1-0-0 Antz Nansen (94.5kg)
8. Welter: Ryo Chonan (76.8kg) 17-10-0 vs. 6-5-1 Jung Hwan Cha (76.1kg)
7. Light: Naoyuki Kotani (70.1kg→70.0kg) 20-9-7 vs. 19-5-0 Jorge Masvidal (70.5kg)
6. Light: Daisuke Nakamura (69.3kg) 20-12-0 vs. 9-4-2 Ganjo Tentsuku (69.5kg)
5. Welter: Yuya Shirai (76.9kg) 18-8-0 vs. 8-3-0 Che Mills (77.4kg)
4. Feather: Tatsunao Nagakura (64.8kg) 5-0-0 vs. 8-7-1 Akihiko Mori (64.8kg)

Opening Fight:　
3. Heavy: Seigo Mizuguchi 7-5-0 vs. 0-1-0 Baru Harn
2. Middle: Yusuke Sakashita 6-2-0 vs. 6-10-2 Kenji Nagai
1. Bantam: Ryosuke Komori 4-2-0 vs. 7-11-6 Takumi Murata

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Fernendes perseveres, defends featherweight title at DREAM 13....

2010-03-23T18:52:00.002+02:00

Thanks to Kris Hartrum who has sent me this report from yesterday's event.

It was another solid event for FEG's DREAM as the promotion succeeded in delivering their 13th installment on Monday March 22, 2010 in Yokohama Japan.

Defending champ Bibiano Fernandes kept the championship belt after narrowly defeating former lightweight standout Joachim “Hellboy” Hansen by a close split decision in the night's headlining bout.

The first round clearly went to fast paced Fernandes who managed to dominate the former DREAM lightweight champ on the feet for the majority of the first. The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ace impressed from the opening seconds of round 1, throwing an assorted arsenal of strikes including a head kick, followed by an aggressive double-leg take down, landing Hansen on his back. Hellboy managed to keep the distance with up-kicks and was quickly back to his feet, to the crowd's approval. Hansen, the more experienced of the two, seemed to have little to offer the 2009 DREAM featherweight GP winner in first period. Fernandes continuously took advantage of Hansen's lack of takedown defense, but failed to profit from the dominant position due to the Norwegian's ferocious up-kicks and quick recovery.

Round 2 saw more of the same with the champ taking Joachim down with relative ease only to find Hansen standing, but not before avoiding the lone submission attempt of the fight as Bibiano reached for a leg-lock to no avail. As the first minute rolled away it was clear that the Pride FC veteran Hansen was gaining the upper-hand in the striking game. The resilient Brazilian remained stalwart and did not take enough damage to sway judges Gen Isono and Matt Hume, both giving Bibiano Fernandes the win by split decision after 2 rounds of featherweight action.

In the only unfortunate happening of the evening, Josh Barnett defeated Siala-Mou (Mighty Mo) Siligia, in a surprisingly “at odds," groin smashing heavyweight competition that saw an effective Mighty Moe knock-down # 3 ranked Barnett in the first moments of Round 1.

After a pair of ineffective takedown attempts, the pro-wrestling veteran Barnett nearly crippled the American/Samoan K1 kickboxer when he landed a powerful, yet off target savate (which Barnett has been recently training) kick to Siligia's groin. The shot resulted in a excruciatingly long time-stop where it seemed that Mighty Moe would not be able to continue. To the crowd's delight a reluctant Siligia decided he was able to battle on only to be thrown to the mat with a double-leg and submitted by straight armlock at 4:41 in the first round.

Post fight, an apologetic Barnett spoke the crowd and allowed Mighty Moe a free shot to the groin of his own that sent Barnett down to a knee. He told the fans in Japanese that he would fight "Anyone...anywhere!"

In his anticipated comeback fight, Boxer K.J. Noons returned successfully in defeating striker Andre "Dida" Amade with superior hands in a lightweight 5th fight of the night. Brazilian banger Amade could do little to penetrate the game of K.J. Noons who used hard boxing combinations to punish the K1 fighter's midsection. Amade used the ring to his advantage circling and evading, but Noons ability proved to be too much as he continued to pepper the Brazilian with punches.

Round 2: Amade exploded from his corner with a flying knee from across the ring but it was easily evaded. Both fighters landed impressive blows, with Noons coming out the better man in the exchanges. Amade managed to stir up the crowd by edging Noons to come at him, all the while continuing to defend and circle, throwing a few wild punches along the way. Noons continued to stalk, screaming with every punch landed. In the last minute, both fighters went for broke unleashing a fury of hay-makers, but lacking the "finishing touch," with all three judges giving the nod to Noons after 2 rounds.

In the post fight presser, Noons expressed disappointment that he was not able to knock-out his opponent and was excited to be fighting for Strikeforce in Japan.

Other Bouts:

In a battle of the Karate fighters, Ryo Chonan worked his way to a unanimous decision after 2 rounds against Kyokushin fighter Andrews Nakahara. Chonan had the upper hand in first round staying on top of the Brazilian and chipped away with punches after transitioning to a crucifix.

The second round saw more of the same save a shinning moment where Nakahara shot for the stars, nearly putting away UFC and Pride FC veteran in Chonan with heavy strikes in the clinch. Chonan held on and dragged Nakahara to the ground once more where he sealed the deal punching to the back of the head and neck in full mount taking the unanimous.

Osaka born Yoshihiro Maeda lost to Cole Escoveda by way of the most terrifying KO of the night. Pride, WEC and Pancrase veteran Maeda dominated from the start using speed and overhand punches to break through Escovedo's reach advantage, but it did not last as Escovedo planted a leg kick followed by a devastating high kick to Maeda's chin, knocking Maeda through the air, only to be finished (for good measure) by a graceful falling punch, ending the featherweight match by way of KO at 2 mintues 20 seconds in the first. Maeda was visibly shaken after the fight, and even vomited. The American WEC veteran was thrilled and told the fans he had always dreamed of fighting for the Japanese fans.

Karate bad-ass and DEEP promotion champ Katsunori Kikuno entered the ring valiantly to We are the World to meet UFC veteran Kuniyoshi Hironaka in the second bout of the evening. In the first exchanges of the match, Kikuno jumped in, throwing his famous crescent-style front kick, Hironaka defending and opting for the safety of the clinch. After a 1 minute. Kikuno landed his dreaded kick to Kuniyoshi's midsection and then followed through with a right hook, KO-ing the recent shootbox victor at 1 minute and 20 seconds. Post fight, Kikuno told the crowd he hoped to move up further in the LW ranks.

"The pressure was great and I knew that if I lost I would lose a lot more than just the match," said Kikuno in the post fight interviews

In the first bout of the evening, Japan's favorite giant killing superhero Ikuhisa Minowa managed to brave the storm and submit former King of The Cage super heavy-weight champ Jimmy Ambriz by way of toe hold in 2 minutes 42 seconds in the second round. Amrbiz was successful in stuffing Minowaman's wrestling game in the first, but seemed exhausted after punching the Japanese Super Hulk champ into oblivion. At the post fight interview a happy Minowaman said Ambriz "...was able to meet me on my terms and I was able to grow as a result."

During the opening ceremony, DREAM stylistically plugged their 2010 DREAM /Strike Force inter-promotion deal, focusing heavily on Shinya Aoki and Strikeforce LW champ Gilbert Melindez's fight in mid April.

Yokohama Arena- March 22, 2010

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3/22 DREAM 13 - LIVE RESULTS

2010-03-22T10:01:00.009+02:00

I will be putting up the live results here, discussion is in the forum.

Main Event - Featherweigth Title Fight:
7. Bibiano Fernandes (c) Def. Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen by Decision 2-1

6. Heavy: Josh Barnett Def. Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga by straight armbar Round 1

5. Light: K.J. Noons Def. Andre Dida by Decision 3-0

4. Welter: Ryo Chonan Def. Andrews Nakahara by Decision 3-0

3. Feather: Cole Escovedo Def. Yoshiro Maeda by KO Round 1
Inside legkick sets up the highkick and a BIG KO!

2. Light: Katsunori Kikuno Def. Kuniyoshi Hironaka by KO Round 1
Set up, as expected, by the cresent kick.

1. Open: Ikuhisa Minowa Def. Jimmy Ambriz by heel-hook Round 2

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3/22 Shooto "The way of Shooto 2"- Fight Order

2010-03-21T23:01:00.001+02:00

With the big DREAM event tomorrow, it is easy to forget the Shooto event in Korakuen Hall. But Sustain is putting on an awesome card with 2 belts on the line.

There are 9 fights on the card, including 4 in the traditional Rookie tournament.

Shooto World Title Fight:
9. Masakatsu Ueda 10-0-2 vs. 10-7-3 Shuichiro Katsumura

Shooto Pacific Rim Middlweight Title Fight:
8. Jung Min Kang 1-0-0 vs. 6-2-1 Yoichiro Sato

7. Bantam: Yuki Shojo 9-5-2 vs. 7-6-2 Jesse Taitano
6. Light: Katsuya Toida 11-9-3 vs. 3-0-0 Yusuke Yachi
5. Welter: Paolo Milano 8-5-1 vs. 7-4-1 Hisaki "Kotobukimaru" Hiraishi

Rookie Tournament:
4. Bantam: Yoshiyuki Takano 2-2-0 vs. 0-0-1 Kosuke "Rambo" Suzuki
3. Welter: Fumihiko Kawamura 0-1-0 vs. Shotoku Suzuki
2. Fly: Shuichiro Okumura 1-0-0 vs. 1-1-0 Tomokazu "Kewpie" Sato
1. Light: Satoshi Inaba 3-3-1 vs. Kensuke Nakamura

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3/22 DREAM 13 - Fight Order and Weigh-in

2010-03-21T12:39:00.000+02:00

DREAM held the weighin for their 13th event today. It should be a good one, but I wish there were a few more fights on the card.

The main event should be an awesome fight, and with "Hellboy" dropping to featherweight, it will be interesting to see how he handles the challenge of meeting the DREAM champion.

The fighters have made weight, and I can't wait for tomorrow!

Main Event - Featherweigth Title Fight:
7. Bibiano Fernandes (c) (62.9kg) 7-2-0 vs. 19-8-1 (63kg) Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen

6. Heavy: Josh Barnett (115kg )24-5-0 vs. 3-1-0 (115kg) Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga
5. Light: K.J. Noons (71.8kg) 7-2-0 vs. 6-3-1 (71.5kg) Andre Dida
4. Welter: Ryo Chonan (75.8kg) 16-10-0 vs. 2-1-0 (75.4kg) Andrews Nakahara
3. Feather: Yoshiro Maeda (62.5kg) 26-7-2 vs. 15-4-0 (62.8kg) Cole Escovedo
2. Light: Katsunori Kikuno (70kg) 12-2-2 vs. 16-6-0 (70kg) Kuniyoshi Hironaka
1. Open: Ikuhisa Minowa (89kg) 44-30-8 vs. 14-12-1 (125kg) Jimmy Ambriz

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3/19 Jewels 7th Ring - RESULTS

2010-03-19T19:32:00.000+02:00

Jewels had their 7th event in a packed Shinjuku Face today.

A few upsets, Hiroko gets her revenge in a close decision.

Main Event:
9. -65kg: Hiroko Yamanaka Def. Hitomi Akano by Decision 2-1

8. -52kg: Mika Nagano Def. Mai Ichii by Decision 3-0
7. -58kg: Miki Morifuji Def. Shizuka Sugiyama by Decision 3-0

ShootBoxing Rule:
6. -54kg: Ai Takahashi Def. ASAKO by TKO Round 2 1:08

5. Exhibition Fight: 5. Rena vs. Seo Hee Ham
4. -52kg: Hiroko Kitamura Def. Celine Haga by armlock Round 1 2:07
3. -48kg: Miyoko Kusaka Def. Kikuyo Ishikawa by Decision 2-1
2. -52kg: Sakura Nomura Def. Yuko Kagoshima by armbar Round 2 4:35

Opening Fight Grappling Rule:
1. -48kg: Shiho Yaginuma Def. Satoko Kameda by armbar Round 1 2:20

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3/19 Jewels 7th Ring - Weigh-in and Fight Order

2010-03-18T20:03:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow Jewels will hold their 7th event, and again it is sold out. If you want to go, they will have some standing tickets on sale.

The main event will see StrikeForce veteran Hitomi Akano take on HIROKO in a rematch. Akano is the only loss on Hiroko's record, it will be interesting to see if she can get her revenge.

Lots of good promising fighters on the card, and it should be a good event.

Main Event:
9. -65kg: Hitomi Akano (64.7kg) 15-6-1 vs. 7-1-1 (64.2kg) Hiroko Yamanaka

8. -52kg: Mika Nagano (52.0kg) 5-2-0 vs. 3-1-0 (51.6kg) Mai Ichii
7. -58kg: Miki Morifuji (58.0kg) 8-6-0 vs. 6-1-0 (58.0kg) Shizuka Sugiyama

ShootBoxing Rule:
6. -54kg: Ai Takahashi (53.9kg) vs. (not available) ASAKO

Exhibition Fight:
5. Rena vs. Seo Hee Ham

4. -52kg: Hiroko Kitamura (52.0kg) 3-0-0 vs. 0-2-0 (51.9kg) Celine Haga
3. -48kg: Kikuyo Ishikawa (48.0kg) 2-1-0 vs. 0-1-0 (47.8kg) Miyoko Kusaka
2. -52kg: Yuko Kagoshima (51.6kg) 1-2-0 vs. (52.0kg) Sakura Nomura

Opening Fight Grappling Rule:
1. -48kg: Shiho Yaginuma vs. Satoko Kameda

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4/25 ASTRA - Enson Inoue Added

2010-03-16T09:25:00.001+02:00

Enson Inoue have been added to the Astra card on April 25. His opponent will be Antz "Notorious" Nansen, a kickboxer that defeated judoka Izumi in his Sengoku debut.

Makoto Takimoto announced his retirement and he will not be participating in this event.

Added:
Light-Heavy: Enson Inoue 11-8-0 vs. 1-0-0 Antz "Notorious" Nansen

Previously announced:
Yuya Shirai vs. 8-3-0 Che Mills
Michihiro Omigawa 9-8-1 vs. 13-3-0 Micah Miller
Tatsunao Nagakura 5-0-0 vs. 8-7-1 Akihiko Mori

Participants:
Hidehiko Yoshida 9-7-1
Kazuhiro Nakamura 13-10-0
Denis Kang 32-12-1

Discuss in the FORUM

3/22 DREAM 13 - Official FEG Looking for Opponent for Barnett

2010-03-12T09:32:00.000+02:00

The rumors have been more or less confirmed, but FEG have today announced that Josh Barnett will be fighting in DREAM 13, but they have yet to find an opponent.

Also announced for the card is a featherweight fight between two WEC veterans. The Japanese will be behind Yoshiro Maeda as he takes on Cole Escovedo.

Added:
Feather: Yoshiro Maeda 26-7-2 vs. 15-4-0 Cole Escovedo
Heavy: Josh Barnett 24-5-0 vs. TBA

Previously Announced:
Featherweigth Title Fight:
Bibiano Fernandes (champion) 7-2-0 vs. 19-8-1 Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen

Light: Katsunori Kikuno 12-2-2 vs. 16-6-0 Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Light: K.J. Noons 7-2-0 vs. 6-3-1 Andre Dida
Open: Ikuhisa Minowa 44-30-8 vs. 14-12-1 Jimmy Ambriz
Welter: Ryo Chonan 16-10-0 vs. 2-1-0 Andrews Nakahara

Discuss in the FORUM

3/27 K-1 World Max Japan Tournament

2010-03-10T22:02:00.000+02:00

FEG will have their World Max Japan tournament later this month, and it should be a good one again.

Outside of the tournament, I cant wait to see Petrosyan back in the ring again. He missed out on a HUGE fight on the Dynamite card due to injury, but a fight with Yoshihiro Sato should be a good way to return.

Final: Winner SF1 vs. Winner SF2

Semi-Finals:
SF2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4
SF1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2

Japan Tournament Round 1 (3x3min, 1 round ext.):
QF4: Yasuhiro Kido vs. Ryuji
QF3: Taishin Kohirumaki vs. Yoichiro☆Jienotsu☆Nagashima
QF2: Hiroki Nakajima vs. TATSUJI
QF1: Yuta Yamamoto vs. Hinata

Superfights:
Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Yoshihiro Sato
63kg: Kazuhisa Watanabe vs. DJ.taiki
63kg: Kosuke Komiyama vs. Murahama "TAKE HERO"

Opening Fights:
Hiroyuki Owatari vs. Shintaro Matsukura
Yukihiro Komiya vs. Danilo Zanolini

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3/22 Shooto "The way of Shooto 2"- Big Rematch Announced

2010-03-09T18:38:00.001+02:00

It is almost 5 months since Jung Min Kang burst on to the scene with a big win over Yoichiro Sato. Now they will meet again, and this time the winner will get a shot at the Shooto Pacific Middleweight title. That means a meeting with the current champion, Xavier Lucas.

Added:
Jung Min Kang 1-0-0 vs. 6-2-1 Yoichiro Sato

Previously Announced:
Shooto World Title Fight:
Masakatsu Ueda vs. Shuichiro Katsumura

Light: Katsuya Toida 11-9-3 vs. 3-0-0 Yusuke Yachi
Bantam: Yuki Shojo 9-5-2 vs. 7-6-2 Jesse Taitano

Rookie Tournament:
Fly: Shuichiro Okumura 1-0-0 vs. 1-1-0 Tomokazu "Kewpie" Sato
Light: Satoshi Inaba 3-3-1 vs. Kensuke Nakamura
Welter: Fumihiko Kawamura 0-1-0 vs. Shotoku Suzuki

Discuss in the FORUM

4/11 ShootBoxing - Hisae is Back!

2010-03-09T10:32:00.000+02:00

Just as DEEP is losing their champion, the former champion re-surfaces in ShootBoxing. She has had an exhibition fight earlier, but this time its for real. She will be taking on the winner of the female S-Cup in 2009, Rena.

Added:
Hisae Watanabe vs. Rena

Previously announced:
Takaaki Umeno vs. Bovy Sor Udumson
Tomohiro Oikawa vs. Prajonsao Por. Pramuk

Discuss in the FORUM

4/25 ASTRA - Omigawa vs. Miller Announced

2010-03-08T21:05:00.000+02:00

The Astra card will be all about Yoshida's farewell. But I am sure there will be some other big fights on the card too. Today one of them was announced.

Omigawa really turned his career around with his performance in the Sengoku featherweight tournament. In 2009 he went 5-1-1, making his MMA record 9-8-1. He will be taking on ATT fighter and DREAM, WEC and Shine veteran Micah Miller.

The other fight announced today will see the very promising Tatsunao Nagakura, who will take on the more experienced Akihiko Mori.

Added:
Michihiro Omigawa 9-8-1 vs. 13-3-0 Micah Miller
Tatsunao Nagakura 5-0-0 vs. 8-7-1 Akihiko Mori

Previously announced:
Yuya Shirai vs. 8-3-0 Che Mills

Participants:
Hidehiko Yoshida 9-7-1
Makoto Takimoto 6-5-0
Kazuhiro Nakamura 13-10-0
Denis Kang 32-12-1

Discuss in the FORUM

3/7 SRC12 - Results

2010-03-07T11:14:00.011+02:00

I will update the results as soon as I have them here. The event is live now, but I am not aware of good places to get live results. I am finding these on japanese twitter accounts.

Hirota has entered the ring, and has returned his belt due to the injury suffered on NYE. He will be a commentator at the next Sengoku event on June 20, and is expecting to be back in the ring in September.

Kanehara is in the ring announcing that he will fight in June. Kanehara askes to fight Sandro. Sandro steps back into the ring saying that he wanted to fight as a Sengoku fighter on NYE, he respects Kanehara but he is #1. He accepts the challenge. I am not sure that it means the fight is official, but at least the fighters agree.

SRC Middleweight Title Fight:
8. Jorge Santiago Def. Mamed Khalidov by decsion 3-0 (48-47, 48-47, 49-47)
*For those waiting for the result: It has gone 2 rounds and it sounds like a close one. Santiago was close with an omoplata attempt at the end of round 2.

The fight is into the last round now!

7. Welter: Akihiro Gono Def. Diego Gonzalez by decison 3-0
6. Light: Maximo Blanco Def. Chang Hyun "Armbar" Kim by KO Round 1
5. Feather: Marlon Sandro Def. Tomonari Kanomata by KO Round 1
4. Heavy: Yoshihiro “KISS” Nakao Def. Henry "Sentoryu" Miller by TKO Round 2
3. Fether: Yuji Hoshino Def. Nick Denis by guillotine choke Round 2
2. Light: Leonardo Santos Def. Kiuma Kunioku by rear-naked choke Round 1
1. Feather: Shigeki Osawa Def. Kyung Ho Kang by Decision 3-0

Discuss in the FORUM

4/3 K-1 World GP 2010 in Yokohama - Super-Heavyweight Title Fight!

2010-03-06T23:46:00.000+02:00

FEG have announced some awesome fights for their K-1 World GP in Yokohama. Already the event had a heavyweight title fight, and now it has a super-heavyweight title fight as well.

Add to that a lot of big stars and this should be an awesome event.

K-1 Super-Heavyweight Title Fight:
Semmy Schilt vs. Errol Zimmerman

Badr Hari vs. Alexey Ignashov
Alistair Overeem vs. Dzevad Poturak
Jerome Le Banner vs. Ruslan Karaev

Previously Announced:
K-1 Heavyweight Title Fight (3x3min, 2 round ext.):
Kyotaro Fujimoto (Champion) vs. Peter Aerts

Participants:
-Melvin Manhoef
-Remy Bonjasky

Discuss in the FORUM

4/17 DEEP 47 Impact - Miku's Farewell

2010-03-06T20:46:00.000+02:00

DEEP announced earlier this week that Miku Matsumoto will have her farewell fight against Megumi Fuji. It will be an exhibition fight, but its still a fight I really want to see. With that, DEEP have lost most of their female stars. Hisae Watanabe is gone, Satoko Shinashi is on maternity leave and now Miku is going.

Exhibition Farewell Fight:
Miku Matsumoto vs. Megumi Fujii

Light-Heavyweight Tournament Semi-final and Final:
Ryuta Noji
Shunsuke Inoue
Christian “Tonton” M’Pumbu
Yoshiyuki Nakanishi

Discuss in the FORUM

3/19 Jewels 7th Ring - Fights Announced

2010-03-03T22:05:00.000+02:00

Jewels have added 3 fights to their upcoming event. 2 weeks out, the card is filling up and I think this will be another sold out event in Shinjuku Face.

Hellboy is bringing Celine Haga over for another fight, she is 0-2 against some very good Jewels fighters. This time she will take on another undefeated Japanese fighter in Hiroko Kitamura.

Added:
-48kg: Kikuyo Ishikawa 2-1-0 vs. 0-1-0 Miyoko Kusaka
-52kg: Yuko Kagoshima 1-2-0 vs. Sakura Nomura
-52kg: Hiroko Kitamura 3-0-0 vs. 0-2-0 Celine Haga

Previously Announced:
-65kg: Hitomi Akano 15-6-1 vs. 7-1-1 Hiroko Yamanaka
-52kg: Mika Nagano 5-2-0 vs. 3-1-0 Mai Ichii
-58kg: Miki Morifuji 8-6-0 vs. 6-1-0 Shizuka Sugiyama

ShootBoxing Rule:
-54kg: Ai Takahashi vs. ASAKO

Discuss in the FORUM

3/7 SRC 12 - Fight Order

2010-03-02T23:50:00.001+02:00

Sengoku have announced the fight order for their 12th event. The main event is not a big surprise, its a rematch and this time for the title. Mamed Khalidov is takeing on champion Jorge Santiago, and it will be interesting to see if he can repeat what he did last time.

SRC Middleweight Title Fight:
8. Jorge Santiago 21-8-0 vs. 20-3-1 Mamed Khalidov

7. Welter: Akihiro Gono 31-15-7 vs. 13-3-0 Diego Gonzalez
6. Light: Maximo Blanco 4-2-1 vs. 15-5-0 Chang Hyun "Armbar" Kim
5. Feather: Marlon Sandro 15-1-0 vs. 15-4-5 Tomonari Kanomata
4. Heavy: Yoshihiro “KISS” Nakao 8-2-0 vs. 6-9-0 Henry "Sentoryu" Miller
3. Fether: Yuji Hoshino 16-7-7 vs. 9-1-0 Nick Denis
2. Light: Kiuma Kunioku 34-22-9 vs. 6-3-0 Leonardo Santos
1. Feather: Shigeki Osawa 4-1-0 vs. Kyung Ho Kang

Discuss in the FORUM

4/11 ShootBoxing - Fights Announced/TV Deal Announced

2010-03-02T22:41:00.000+02:00

ShootBoxing have announced TV Deals with Sun-TV and Chiba-TV. Sun-TV will show the Young Ceasar event from earlier this year on March 6, Chiba TV will air the same event on March 14 at 25:35 (dont know why Japanese write times like that)....

ShootBoxing have also added a couple of fights to their event on April 11. Both feature Japanese ShootBoxing champions against Thai imports.

Super featherweight champion Tomohiro Oikawa will take on Prajonsao Por. Pramuk. And Superwelterweight champion Takaaki Umeno will take on the very strong Bovy Sor Udumson.

Here is a fight with Bovy Sor Udumson taking on Hiroki Shishido.
Part 1

Part 2.

Announced:
Takaaki Umeno vs. Bovy Sor Udumson
Tomohiro Oikawa vs. Prajonsao Por. Pramuk

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3/22 Shooto "The way of Shooto 2"- Toida Added - BJ Returns His Title

2010-03-01T22:42:00.001+02:00

"BJ" Kojima has returned his shooto title today. This is due to a knee injury and he will get a title shot once he returns. Meanwhile that opens the door for some of the bantamweight contenders. I have a feeling Mamoru will get this shot, but could also be Urushitani vs. Miki since they are the highest ranked right now.

There is a bantamweight fight on the card this time too, maybe it would serve as a qualifier? Either way, Yuki Shojo taking on Jesse Taitano should be a great fight. Anything else would be a bonus for these guys, but doors might open now that Shooto needs a new champion.

Added to the card is a fight between Katsuya Toida and Yusuke Yachi. Yachi was the Rookie tournament champion and MVP last year. Will be interesting to see if he can handle Toida, who can be a bit inconsistent and hasnt fought in a while.

Added:
Light: Katsuya Toida 11-9-3 vs. 3-0-0 Yusuke Yachi

Shooto World Title Fight:
Masakatsu Ueda vs. Shuichiro Katsumura

Other Fights:
Bantam: Yuki Shojo vs. Jesse Taitano

Rookie Tournament:
Fly: Shuichiro Okumura 1-0-0 vs. 1-1-0 Tomokazu "Kewpie" Sato
Light: Satoshi Inaba 3-3-1 vs. Kensuke Nakamura
Light: Yoshitaka Okigi 1-1-0 vs. 憂流迦 (?) Sasaki
Welter: Fumihiko Kawamura 0-1-0 vs. Shotoku Suzuki

Shooto Schedule first half 2010:
3/7 SPIRIT 2010 Spring - Miyagi Accel Hall
3/22 The Way of SHOOTO 02 Korakuen Hall
3/28 BORDER -season 2- Hirano City Centre - Osaka
4/4 GRAPPLINGMAN 10 - Mamakari Forum - Okayama
4/24 SHOOTO GIG TOKYO Vol.4 Shinjuku Face
5/9 Shooto Kitazawa Vol. 3 - Kitazawa Town hall
5/16 GRAPPLINGMAN 11 - 広島産業会館西第一展示場, Hiroshima
5/30 The Way of SHOOTO 03 - JCB Hall
6/6 SHOOTING DISCO 12 - Shinjuku Face
6/13 SHOOTO GIG CENTRAL Vol.20 - ZEPP NAGOYA
6/27 SPIRIT 2010 Summer - Miyagi Accel Hall

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2/28 DEEP 46 Impact - Live Results

2010-02-28T12:05:00.012+02:00

DEEP 46 is underway in Korakuen Hall, and as usual I am following the blows on Sherdog's chat.

There has been a few big upsets already. A very good card, and I thought some of the fights would go the distance. So far though, all early finishes.

As usual, there are some announcements in the ring. Bernard Ackah, Yuya Shirai, Katsunori Kikuno, Ryo Chonan, and Miku Matsumoto enteres.

Bernar Ackah was suppose to be in the LHW tournament, but broke his hand. He now would like to fight on the April card, and I am guessing he would be a reserve fight for the tournament there.

Miku Matsumoto is confirming rumors that she will be retiring, announceing that she would like to have an exhibition fight before that. Very sad, as she is one of the top female fighters out there.

Main Event:
13. Feather: Takafumi Otsuka Def. Takeshi Yamazaki by Decision 3-0
12. Middle: Riki Fukuda Def. Hiromitsu Kanehara by Decision 3-0

DEEP Lightheavyweight Tournament Opening Round:
11. Ryuta Noji Def. Katsuhisa Fujii by TKO Round 1 3:18
*Fujii announces his retirement after this fight.

10. Shunsuke Inoue Def. Minoru Kato by Decision 5-0
9. Christian “Tonton” M’Pumbu Def. Yuji Sakuragi by TKO Round 1 2:29
8. Yoshiyuki Nakanishi Def. Tomoaki Hata by armlock Round 1 430

Non-Tournament Fights:
7. Feather: Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka Def. Toshiaki Kitada by Decision 2-0
6. Welter: Taisuke Okuno Def. Hidehiko Hasegawa by TKO Round 1 4:09
5. Welter: Shigetoshi Iwase Def. Eiji Ishikawa by anaconda choke Round 1 2:07
4. Bantam: Isao Terada Def. Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura by KO Round 1 1:11
3. Bantam: Yoshiki Harada Def. Takashige "Crazy Hill" Hirukawa by TKO Round 1 2:33
2. Welter: Yuta Watanabe Def. Yasushi Kitazaki by Decision 3-0

Future Fight:
1. 63kg: Hiroyuki Kobayashi Def. Takahiro Masuda by TKO Round 1 3:15

Discuss in the FORUM

Shooto Ranking February 2010

2010-02-27T17:50:00.000+02:00

Its been a while since I have updated the Shooto rankings, but here are the latest from earlier this month.

There have been some big climbers, Taiki Tsuchiya comes straight into lightweight #3 after a win over Kadowaki.

In the welterweight rankings, Yoshihiro Koyama comes into #10 but I am expecting him to climb into top 5 within 2010.

Hiryuki Abe has climbed into #2 flyweight, and is there for in contention for "M-16"'s title. Will be interesting to see who gets the title shot next time.

Flyweight:
Champion: Ramba “M-16” Somdet
-From November 23 2009, defeated Noburo "Shinpei" Tahara.

1. Noburo "Shinpei" Tahara
2. Hiryuki Abe
3. Atsushi Takeuchi
4. Katsuya Murofushi
5. Junji Ikoma
6. Junji Ito
7. “Heat” Takeshi Sato
8. Shinya Murofushi
8. Hiroaki Yoshioka

Bantamweight:
Champion: Shinichi “BJ” Kojima
-From October 14 2006, Defended 3 times against Mamoru, Akagi, Urushitani and Shojo.

1. Yasuhiro Urushitani
2. Ryuichi Miki
3. Mamoru Yamaguchi
4. Jucie Formiga
5. Yuki Shoujou
6. Ayumu “Gozo” Shioda
7. Masaaki Sugawara Shimokawa Yusei
8. Yusei Shimokawa
9. Jesse Taitano
10. Daiji Takahashi

Featherweight:
Champion: Masakatsu Ueda
-From March 28 2008, Defended 3 Times against Galvao, Tazawa and Dantas

1. Marcos “Louro” Galvao
2. Koetsu Okazaki
3. Eduardo Dantas
4. Hiromasa Ogikubo
5. Tetsu Suzuki
6. Shuichiro Katsumura
7. So Tazawa
8. Carlos Roberto “Betinho” (?)
9. Teruyuki Matsumoto
10. Rodolfo Marques

Lightweight:
Champion: “Lion” Takeshi Inoue
-From November 29 2008. Defended 1 Time against Rumina Sato.

1. Hatsu Hioki
2. Renan Barao
3. Taiki Tsuchiya
4. Hideki Kadowaki
5. Issei Tamura
6. Gustavo Falciroli
7. Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura
8. Matteus Lahdesmaki
9. Akiyo "Wicky" Nishiura
10. Akitoshi Tamura

Welterweight:
Champion: Willamy Freire " Chiquerim"
-From May 3 2008 Defended 0 times.

1. Yusuke Endo
2. Takashi Nakakura
3. Takanori Gomi
4. Bendy Casimir
5. Kenichiro Togashi
6. Mizuto Hirota
7. Koutetsu Boku
8. Ganjo Tensuku
9. Hamid Corassani
10. Yoshihiro Koyama

Middleweight:
Champion: Shinya Aoki
-From February 17 2006, defended 1 time against Kikuchi

1. Xavier Lucas
2. Luis Ramos
3. Yoichiro Sato
4. Takuya Wada
5. Igor Fernandes
6. Hernani Perpetuo
7. Zelim Felican
8. Shiko Yamashita
9. Akihiro Murayama
10. David Baron

Light-Heavyweight:
Champ: Siyar Bahadourzada
- From July 15 2007, defended 0 times

1. Sauli Heilimo
2. Carlos Alexandre Pereira
3. Andre Silva
4. Petras Morkevicius
5. Leandro Silva
6. Grazhuydas Smailis
7. Nathan Schouteren
8. Rolandas Agrba
9. Mikkel Guldbaek Masashi Yozen
10. Bastiaan Rejen

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2/27 Shooting Disco 11 "Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!" - RESULTS

2010-02-27T17:10:00.002+02:00

Gutsman Production held their 11th Shooting Disco in Shinjuku Face earlier today.

There are always a lot of young talented fighters on this card, and looking at the results here I think Keita Kono will be one to look for in the future. Ochi is a strong competitor, but Kono remains undefeated.

11. Fly: Junji "Sarumaru" Ito Def. Hiroaki Yoshioka by Decision 3-0
10. Light: Komei Okada Def. Hidenori Nishino by rear-naked choke Round 2 0:54
9. Bantam: Tatsuya "Nakashi" Nakashima Def. Yosuke "Flying Monkey No.2" Saruta by rear-naked choke Round 1 1:54
8. Feather: Keita Kono Def. Haruo Ochi by Decision 3-0
7. Light: Yohei Suzuki Def. Yuji Inoue by KO Round 1 1:13
6. Light: Kosuke Kindaichi Def. Kenichiro Marui by TKO Round 2 2:35

Shooto Rookie Tournament:
5. Bantam: Hiroshi Osato Def. Akinobu Watanabe by Decision 2-0
4. Middle: Yusaku Inoue Def. Taijiro Iseki by Decision 3-0
3. Feather: Keita Ishibashi Def. Hiroaki Ijima
2. Fly: Jun Nabeshima Def. Takafumi Ato by Decision 2-0
1. Light: Yoshifumi Nakamura Def. Takayuki Hiose by Decision 3-0

Discuss in the FORUM

2/28 DEEP 46 Impact - Weigh-in Results

2010-02-27T16:34:00.002+02:00

The fighters have made weight for tomorrow's big event in Korakuen Hall.

I am very excited to see how the light-heavy weight tournament plays out. The big favorite is Christian “Tonton” M’Pumbu, but Japanese fighters at home should not be underestimated.

The main event on the card will see DEEP featherweight champion, Takafumi Otsuka take on Dream veteran Takeshi Yamazaki.

The event is close to a sell out, and it should be a very good one!

Main Event:
13. Feather: Takafumi Otsuka (65.7kg) 9-4-1 vs. 14-10-3 (65.3kg) Takeshi Yamazaki
12. Middle: Riki Fukuda (83.8kg) 15-4-0 vs 18-22-2 (83.6kg) Hiromitsu Kanehara

DEEP Lightheavyweight Tournament Opening Round:
11. Ryuta Noji (91.7kg) 8-5-0 vs. 9-17-1 (93kg) Katsuhisa Fujii
10. Minoru Kato (92.4kg) 2-8-3 vs. 7-4-2 (93.1kg → 93kg) Shunsuke Inoue
9. Christian “Tonton” M’Pumbu (93.5 → 93kg) 14-2-1 vs. 11-15-1 (90.9kg) Yuji Sakuragi
8. Tomoaki Hata (92.5kg) 3-0-1 vs. 5-1-0 (93kg) Yoshiyuki Nakanishi

Non-Tournament Fights:
7. Feather: Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka (65.7kg) 14-7-6 vs. 10-4-3 (65.8kg) Toshiaki Kitada
6. Welter: Hidehiko Hasegawa (77.15 → 77.1kg) 18-12-6 vs. 8-4-2 (77.5 → 77.1kg) Taisuke Okuno
5. Welter: Eiji Ishikawa (76.9kg) 18-15-2 vs. 8-12-3 (76.9kg) Shigetoshi Iwase
4. Bantam: Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura (62kg) 9-3-5 vs. 7-9-4 (62kg) Isao Terada
3. Bantam: Takashige "Crazy Hill" Hirukawa (62kg) 2-1-0 vs. 2-0-0 (62kg)Yoshiki Harada
2. Welter: Yasushi Kitazaki (77.3 → 77.1kg) 10-6-1 vs. 0-1-1 (77kg) Yuta Aoyama

Future Fight:
1. 63kg: Hiroyuki Kobayashi 1-3-0 vs. 1-2-0 Takahiro Masuda

Discuss in the FORUM

4/25 ASTRA - First Fight Announced, Denis Kang Added

2010-02-26T18:12:00.000+02:00

J-Rock have announced their first fight for the Astra card on April 25. DEEP champion, Yuya Shirai will take on Che Mills in a welterweight fight.

Also announced as a participant is Denis Kang, who is returning to Japan after his disapointing loss in the Dream middleweight tournament in 2008. Kang will be eager to get back to winning here.

Announced:
Yuya Shirai vs. 8-3-0 Che Mills

Participants:
Hidehiko Yoshida 9-7-1
Makoto Takimoto 6-5-0
Michihiro Omigawa 9-8-1
Kazuhiro Nakamura 13-10-0
Tatsunao Nagakura 5-0-0
Denis Kang 32-12-1

Discuss in the FORUM

4/3 K-1 World GP 2010 in Yokohama - Heavyweight Title Fight Announced

2010-02-26T17:39:00.001+02:00

FEG have announced the first fight for this year's world GP event in Yokohama. The champion, Kyotaro Fujimoto will take on super veteran Peter Aerts.

FEG have also announced the participation of some of their biggest stars. Among them is Alistair Overeem, and it them seems that he will not be fighting in DREAM 13, which is just over a week earlier.

K-1 Heavyweight Title Fight (3x3min, 2 round ext.):
Kyotaro Fujimoto (Champion) vs. Peter Aerts

Participants:
-Semmy Schilt
-Badr Hari
-Remy Bonjasky
-Alistair Overeem
-Jerome Le Banner
-Errol Zimmerman
-Ruslan Karaev
-Melvin Manhoef

Tickets:
SRS 25,000円　
RS 15,000円　
S 10,000円　
A 5,000円

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3/22 DREAM 13 - Fights Announced

2010-02-25T10:38:00.002+02:00

FEG have announced some very interesting fights for the upcoming event in Yokohama Arena.

Former EliteXC champion, K.J. Noons, will make his Dream debut against Andre Dida. DEEP lightweight and Cage Force lightweight champions, Katsunori Kikuno and Kuniyoshi Hironaka will face each other.

Added:
Light: Katsunori Kikuno 12-2-2 vs. 16-6-0 Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Light: K.J. Noons 7-2-0 vs. 6-3-1 Andre Dida
Open: Ikuhisa Minowa 44-30-8 vs. 14-12-1 Jimmy Ambriz
Welter: Ryo Chonan 16-10-0 vs. 2-1-0 Andrews Nakahara

Previously Announced:
Featherweigth Title Fight:
Bibiano Fernandes (champion) 7-2-0 vs. 19-8-1 Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen

Discuss in the FORUM

3/7 SRC 12 - Fight Announced, Hoshino gets a new opponent

2010-02-24T23:24:00.001+02:00

Sengoku have announced the replacement for Wilson Reis, Yuji Hoshino will take on Nick Denis.

Sengoku have also added a fight, the Pancrase champion Marlon Sandro will take on the fighter ranked just behind him in Pancrase, Tomonari Kanomata. That means we wont get to see the fight in Pancrase, but it will be a good one for Pancrase fans.

With those fights official, I am still hoping for 1 or 2 more but with less than 2 weeks to go, this might be the complete card.

Added:
Feather: Marlon Sandro vs. Tomonari Kanomata

Changed:
Fether: Yuji Hoshino 16-7-7 vs. 9-1-0 Nick Denis

Previously Announced:
SRC Middleweight Title Fight:
Jorge Santiago 21-8-0 vs. 20-3-1 Mamed Khalidov

Feather: Shigeki Osawa 4-1-0 vs. Kyung Ho Kang
Welter: Akihiro Gono 31-15-7 vs. 13-3-0 Diego Gonzalez
Light: Kiuma Kunioku 34-22-9 vs. 6-3-0 Leonardo Santos
Heavy: Yoshihiro “KISS” Nakao 8-2-0 vs. 6-9-0 Henry "Sentoryu" Miller
Light: Maximo Blanco 4-2-1 vs. 15-5-0 Chang Hyun "Armbar" Kim

Discuss in the FORUM

3/28 ClubDEEP Tokyo - Venue and Fights Announced

2010-02-24T22:54:00.000+02:00

ClubDEEP Tokyo will be in Kabukicho's "Pink Big Pig" restaurant, this event will be produced bu C-Wave, and of course there are some C-Wave fighters on the card.

The experienced Hiroyuki Nozawa will take on DEEP's Future King Tournament winner, Yutaka Ueda.

Hiroyuki Nozawa 10-5-4 vs. 3-0-0 Yutaka Ueda
Makoto Kamaya 13-8-1 vs. 4-2-0 Takeshi Numajiri
Jun Ando 5-5-1 vs. 0-0-1 Juri Ohara
Tatsuya Tsuchida 4-4-0 vs. 0-1-0 Chiaki Wakana
Riki (?) Shimabukuro vs. Koyo
Yoshitaka Ebina vs. GANTARO

Grappling: Shinichiro Eguchi vs. Ueda SAN

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2/20 ZST 23 - Results

2010-02-20T22:00:00.000+02:00

ZST held their ZST 23 in Shinjuku Face earlier today, and on the card was a bantamweight title fight. The defending champion Keisuke Fujiwara came out on top in a fight that went to a rare decision in ZST.

In the co-main event, Naoyuki Kotani was not able to build on his impressive win in ZST 22, and his fight ended in a draw.

Bantamweight Title Fight (5x5min.):
Keisuke Fujiwara (Champion) Def. Shunichi Shimizu by Decision

Light: Naoyuki Kotani vs. Kenichi Ito DRAW
Light: LUIZ Def. Genki Osako by Guillotine Choke Round 1 1:34
Bantam: Tetsuya Fusano vs. Toshihiro Shimizu DRAW
Fly: Yuichiro Yajima Def. Yuru Hayasaka by armlock Round 1 1:45
Feather: Kohei Kuraoka Def. Masamitsu Nakamura by KO Round 1 1:28

SWAT Fights:
Light: Yosuke Akahiro vs. Takashi Yasui DRAW
Feather: Takahiro Baba Def. Kotaku Kawazu by spinning choke Round 2 1:00
Feather: Ryota Kobayashi Def. Akira Omura by TKO (towel) Round 2 1:29
Bantam: Makoto Takenaka Def. Kengo Okubo by armbar Round 2 1:43

Genesis Fight:
Bantam: Teppei Shimizu Def. Fumitaka Iizuka by KO Round 1 0:30

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3/27 K-1 World Max Japan Tournament - Fights Announced

2010-02-20T12:57:00.000+02:00

The 3 times Japan tournament champion, Kohirumaki, will try to repeat what he did last year. But this time he has a very hard opponent in the opening round. Another of the favorites should be Yuta Yamamoto.

Of course, semi-finals and final will be on the same night.

Georgio Petrosyan will return to the K-1 ring, taking on the Japanese favorite Yoshihiro Sato in a superfight.

FEG have also announced the intentions of holding a 63kg tournament later this year. There will be a couple of 63kg fights on this card, and it will be interesting to see how DJ Taiki does in the K-1 ring.

Japan Tournament Round 1 (3x3min, 1 round ext.):
Yasuhiro Kido vs. Ryuji
Taishin Kohirumaki vs. Yoichiro☆Jienotsu☆Nagashima
Hiroki Nakajima vs. TATSUJI
Yuta Yamamoto vs. Hinata

Superfights:
Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Yoshihiro Sato
63kg: Kazuhisa Watanabe vs. DJ.taiki
63kg: Kosuke Komiyama vs. Murahama "TAKE HERO"

Opening Fights:
Hiroyuki Owatari vs. Shintaro Matsukura
Yukihiro Komiya vs. Danilo Zanolini

Tickets:
Seat SRS 23,000円　
Seat S 13,000円
Seat A 6,000円

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3/22 DREAM 13 - Minowaman Participates!

2010-02-20T11:36:00.000+02:00

DREAM have announced that Minowaman will participate in DREAM 13. He also FINALLY get his official DREAM Super Hulk belt, and a proper size check.

Now we have a wait for the rest of the card, but already official is the featherweight title fight between champion Bibiano Fernandes and former lightweight champion Joachim Hansen.

Featherweigth Title Fight:
Bibiano Fernandes (champion) 7-2-0 vs. 19-8-1 Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen

Participants:
Minowaman 44-30-8
Ryo Chonan 16-10-0

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2/28 DEEP 46 Impact - Fight Order

2010-02-18T21:46:00.000+02:00

DEEP have announced the fight order for DEEP 46, which will be held in Korakuen Hall. It is looking like a very good card too.

The main event will be DEEP featherweight champion, Takafumi Otsuka, taking on DREAM veteran Takeshi Yamazaki. Yamazaki has not had a win in 4 fights, and will be very hungry, but taking on the champion will not be an easy task.

The light-heavyweight tournament have had a change, Carlos Toyota is out and is replaced by another "Hard Combat" fighter. Edison "Pegaredo" (I think it might be Edison Salman Mishio, but I am not sure).

Main Event:
13. Feather: Takafumi Otsuka 9-4-1 vs. 14-10-3 Takeshi Yamazaki
12. Middle: Riki Fukuda 15-4-0 vs 18-22-2 Hiromitsu Kanehara

DEEP Lightheavyweight Tournament Opening Round:
11. Ryuta Noji 8-5-0 vs. 9-17-1 Katsuhisa Fujii
10. Minoru Kato 2-8-3 vs. 7-4-2 Shunsuke Inoue
9. Christian “Tonton” M’Pumbu 14-2-1 vs. 11-15-1 Yuji Sakuragi
8. Edison "Pegaredo" vs. 5-1-0 Yoshiyuki Nakanishi

Non-Tournament Fights:
7. Feather: Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka 14-7-6 vs. 10-4-3 Toshiaki Kitada
6. Welter: Hidehiko Hasegawa 18-12-6 vs. 8-4-2 Taisuke Okuno
5. Welter: Eiji Ishikawa 18-15-2 vs. 8-12-3 Shigetoshi Iwase
4. Bantam: Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura 9-3-5 vs. 7-9-4 Isao Terada
3. Bantam: Takashige "Crazy Hill" Hirukawa 2-1-0 vs. 2-0-0 Yoshiki Harada
2. Welter: Yasushi Kitazaki 10-6-1 vs. 0-1-1 Yuta Aoyama

Future Fight:
1. 63kg: Hiroyuki Kobayashi 1-3-0 vs. 1-2-0 Takahiro Masuda

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3/19 Jewels 7th Ring - Fights Announced

2010-02-17T20:05:00.000+02:00

Jewels have announced the first 4 fights today, the biggest fight announced so far is a rematch of Hitomi Akano and "Hiroko". Last time they fought Akano won by armbar, and it is Hiroko's only loss.

Also on the card is two very popular Jewels fighters in Mika Nagano and Shizuka Sugiyama.

Announced:
-65kg: Hitomi Akano 15-6-1 vs. 7-1-1 Hiroko Yamanaka
-52kg: Mika Nagano 5-2-0 vs. 3-1-0 Mai Ichii
-58kg: Miki Morifuji 8-6-0 vs. 6-1-0 Shizuka Sugiyama

ShootBoxing Rule:
-54kg: Ai Takahashi vs. ASAKO

Tickets:
VIP Seat 10,000円　
Counter seat 10,000円　
Seat RS 7,000円　
Seat A 5,000円　
Seat B 4,000円

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3/7 SRC 12 - Maximo Blanco's Opponent Announced

2010-02-16T21:06:00.000+02:00

Pancrase champion and Sengoku training player has had his opponent for SRC 12 announced. It is the "armbar specialist" Chang Hyun Kim. These are two very promising fighters, and it will be interesting to see if "armbar" Kim is able to resist Maxi's initial rush.

This should be a very interesting fight!

It is also worth noting that the Japanese media still has Wilson Reis on the card.

Added:
Light: Maximo Blanco 4-2-1 vs. 15-5-0 Chang Hyun "Armbar" Kim

Previously Announced:
SRC Middleweight Title Fight:
Jorge Santiago vs. Mamed Khalidov

Fether: Yuji Hoshino vs. TBA
Feather: Shigeki Osawa 4-1-0 vs. Kyung Ho Kang
Welter: Akihiro Gono 31-15-7 vs. 13-3-0 Diego Gonzalez
Light: Kiuma Kunioku 34-22-9 vs. 6-3-0 Leonardo Santos
Heavy: Yoshihiro “KISS” Nakao 8-2-0 vs. 6-9-0 Henry "Sentoryu" Miller

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2/11 Valkyrie 04 - RESULTS

2010-02-11T09:18:00.000+02:00

The Valkyrie event in Differ Ariake is finished, and the main-event saw us get a new champion! Also a bit of an upset, I think, but it only means that the female rankings in Japan are looking much closer now.

More spoilers for those that read on!

Main-Event: Female Fetherweight Title fight (3x5min):
7. Mei "V Hajime" Yamaguchi Def. Yuka Tsuji by rear-naked choke Round 1 1:16

Female Flyweight (45.4kg) Championship Tournament Semi-Finals:
6. Naoko Omuro Def. Yuko Takagi by Decision 3-0
5. Yasuko Tamada Def. "Happy" Fukuko Hamada by Decision 3-0

4. Feather (52.2kg): "Windy" Tomomi Sunaba Def. Masako Yoshida by Decision 3-0
3. Welter (61.2kg 3x3min): Rin Nakai Def. Mizuho Sato by armlock Round 3 1:50
2. -53kg: Hiroko Kitamura Def. Kimie "Sakura" Okada by TKO Round 2
1. Bantam（48.5kg 3x3min）: Megumi Morioka Def. Mamiko Mizoguchi by TKO Round 1 1:27

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2/11 Cage Force & Valkyrie 04 - Fight Order

2010-02-10T23:14:00.001+02:00

GCM have announced their 2 cards for tomorrow, and to be honest I think the Valkyrie card is the better one...

Hiroko Kitamura is a late replacement, and comes in for an injured "Sachi", the crowd favorite broke her leg during training and will be sidelined for this event.

The main-event will be the Female featherweight title fight between Yuka Tsuji and "V Hajime". Also on the card is one of my favorite fighters, Rin Nakai.

The main-event for the Cage Force (or the male part) is Katsuhiko Nagata, who will be taking on Koji Ando. This is a great chance for Ando to get a good win, but Nagata will be coming in as the favorite here.

Valkyrie:
Main-Event: Female Fetherweight Title fight (3x5min):
7. Yuka Tsuji 22-1-0 vs. 5-2-0 Mei "V Hajime" Yamaguchi

Female Flyweight (45.4kg) Championship Tournament Semi-Finals:
6. Naoko Omuro 10-7-3 vs. 0-1-0 Yuko Takagi
5. Yasuko Tamada 9-4-3 vs. 5-3-0 "Happy" Fukuko Hamada

4. Feather (52.2kg): "Windy" Tomomi Sunaba 12-12-1 vs. 16-15-5 Masako Yoshida
3. Welter (61.2kg 3x3min): Rin Nakai 5-0-0 vs. 5-3-0 Mizuho Sato
2. -53kg: Hiroko Kitamura 2-0-0 vs. 0-1-1 Kimie "Sakura" Okada
1. Bantam（48.5kg 3x3min）: Mamiko Mizoguchi 2-3-1 vs. Megumi Morioka

Cage Force:
Main-Event:
6. Light(70.3kg 3x5min): Katsuhiko Nagata 5-6-1 vs. 2-1-2 Koji Ando

5. Feather: Wataru Takahashi 9-12-4 vs. 4-0-0 Runki
4. Fly (56.7kg 3x3min 3x3min): Hirotaka Miyakawa 4-6-2 vs. 1-5-1 Hayato "Cat" Sato
3. Middle (83.9kg 3x3min): Yusuke Sakashita 5-2-0 vs. 0-1-0 Takeshi Ogawa
2. Light (3x3min): Kosuto Umeda 7-7-3 vs. Naoki "Ken Taisho" Akimoto
1. Feather: (65.7kg 3x3min): Ryo Takagi 1-1-0 vs. Kaoru Yamaguchi

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From the Japanese Blog World

2010-02-10T22:51:00.000+02:00

Some blog entries from Japanese fighters, I will try to do this going forward. Maybe a weekly thing. :)

-Katsuhiko Nagata had to cut down to 70.3kg for his fight in Cage Force tomorrow. After making weight he has gone on a feeding frenzy and by the time he went to bed was up to 76.5. He spent 2 weeks cutting weight.

-Takanori Gomi is "suffering" the effects of having signed with an American organization, being constantly asked if he hasnt moved yet.

-Hidehiko Yoshida has put a confirmation on his blog that 25 April will be his last MMA fight, and he will do his best.

-Katsunori Kikuno will hold a seminar at Alliance gym in Akasaka. It will be held on 2/21, and cost JPY 5000. It will be for 20 people.

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2/20 ZST 23 - Title Fight Announced

2010-02-10T18:04:00.000+02:00

ZST have announced most of the fights for February 20. The event will take place in Shinjuku Face, and the main-event will probably be the bantamweight title fight between Keisuke Fujiwara and Shunichi Shimizu. This is the second time these fighters meet, the first time Fujiwara came out on top with a KO.

Also announced is an interesting matchup with Naoyuki Kotani and Kenichi Ito. Kotani is coming of a very strong win over Daisuke Nakamura, and Ito had a strong win over Masayuki Okude on the same card.

Kohei Kuraoka and Masamitsu Nakamura fought to a draw in November and will meet again on this card.

Bantamweight Title Fight (5x5min.):
Keisuke Fujiwara (Champion) vs. 16-5-7 Shunichi Shimizu

Light: Naoyuki Kotani 20-9-6 vs. 7-3-4 Kenichi Ito
Light: LUIZ 10-8-3 vs. TBA
Feather: Kohei Kuraoka 7-3-1 vs. 3-0-1 Masamitsu Nakamura
Bantam: Tetsuya Fusano 5-1-1 vs. TBA
Fly: Yuichiro Yajima 9-10-1 vs. 5-2-0 Yuru Hayasaka

SWAT Fights:
Light: Yosuke Akahiro 5-6-1 vs. 0-3-1 Takashi Yasui
Feather: Kotaku Kawazu vs. 1-2-2 Takahiro Baba
Feather: Akira Omura 0-14-1 vs. 0-0-2 Ryota Kobayashi
Bantam: Makoto Takenaka vs. 1-4-1 Kengo Okubo

Genesis Fight:
Bantam: Fumitaka Iizuka vs. Teppei Shimizu

Discuss in the FORUM

3/7 SRC 12 - Fights Added

2010-02-10T12:32:00.001+02:00

WVR have announced an additional 3 fights for their event on March 7.

Akihiro Gono will return against Diego Gonzalez. Gonzalez has not lost since 2006, against Dan Hardy, so it will be interesting to see how he does against the very experienced Gono.

Leonardo Santos is also returning to the Sengoku ring after a loss in his debut against Yokota. This time he will take on Pancrase veteran Kiuma Kunioku.

Also announced is the heavyweight clash between "Kiss" Nakao and "Sentoryu".

Added:
Welter: Akihiro Gono 31-15-7 vs. 13-3-0 Diego Gonzalez
Light: Kiuma Kunioku 34-22-9 vs. 6-3-0 Leonardo Santos
Heavy: Yoshihiro “KISS” Nakao 8-2-0 vs. 6-9-0 Henry "Sentoryu" Miller

Previously Announced:
SRC Middleweight Title Fight:
Jorge Santiago vs. Mamed Khalidov

Fether: Yuji Hoshino vs. TBA
Feather: Shigeki Osawa 4-1-0 vs. Kyung Ho Kang

Participant:

Maximo Blanco

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4/25 ASTRA - Yoshida's Farewell Fight

2010-02-08T22:16:00.000+02:00

J-Rock have announced that they are holding an event on April 25. This will be Hidehiko Yoshida's last fight, and Yoshida Dojo is coming out in force. The fighters include Omigawa and Takimoto.

It will be interesting to see if this is a one time thing, or if there are bigger plans for "ASTRA". The event will take place in Nippon Budokan, and is priced similar to the Sengoku and Dream events.

Participants:
Hidehiko Yoshida 9-7-1
Makoto Takimoto 6-5-0
Michihiro Omigawa 9-8-1
Kazuhiro Nakamura 13-10-0
Tatsunao Nagakura 5-0-0

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2/7 Pancrase Passion Tour 1 - RESULTS

2010-02-07T11:09:00.005+02:00

Pancrase's first event of 2010 is looking like a very good event. Sherdog has a live PBP going on, and I will post the results here as it becomes available.

Main-Event: Middleweight Intrim King of Pancrase title fight:
11. Yuki Kondo (Champion) Def. Takenori Sato by Decision 3-0

Flyweight King of Pancrase title fight:
10. Kiyotaka Shimizu Def. Mitsuhisa Sunabe (champion) by Decision 2-0

9. Bantam: Seiya Kawahara Def. Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi by Decision 3-0
8. Middle: Yuji Hisamatsu Def. Keiichiro Yamamiya by Decision 2-0
7. Light: Tetsuya Yamada Def. Takafumi Ito by KO Round 2 2:23
6. Feather: Tomonari Kanomata Def. Shigeyuki Uchiyama by decision 2-0
5. Light: Isao Kobayashi Def. Hiroki "AB" Aoki by TKO Round 1 1:00
4. Fly: Isao Hirose Def. Takuma Ishii by rear-naked choke Round 2 1:34
3. Middle: Hoon Kim Def. Ryuji Ohori by armbar Round 1 3:36
2. Welter: Daisuke Watanabe Def. Kosei Kubota by Decision 2-0
1. Welter: Kengo Ura Def. Shingo Suzuki by TKO Round 1 1:43

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2/6 BULL TERRIER presents DEEP X05 - RESULTS

2010-02-06T20:46:00.000+02:00

Earlier today DEEP held their 5th DEEP X, or grappling event. It was a very good card.

The highlight was a Japan vs. USA 3 fight competition. DEEP flew in some of the best grapplers from the US, to take on some of the best Japan had to offer. From the fighters, I thought the US would be the favorites, but Japan had the homefield, and of course some very good grapplers of their own. In the end Japan took it home 2-1.

Japan vs. US (3 Fights):
81.5kg: Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura Def. Paul Schreiner by Kimura Round 2 1:44
68kg: Baret Yoshida Def. Kohei Yasumi by Triangle choke Round 1 3:38
73kg: Takashi Yamada def. Ryan Hall by Guillotine choke Round 2 1:30

56kg: Sayaka Shiota Def. Rikako Yuasa by kneebar Round 1 0:22
Open: Marcos "Marquinhos" Souza vs. KOTESU Cancelled
66kg: Tsubasa Tobinaga Def. Akihiro Hoshino by armbar Round 2 1:21
85kg: Motoki Miyazawa Def. Yuji Arai by choke round 1 2:13
Open: Taijiro Ui Def. Yuichi Ozono by points 8-2
Open: Hideki Sekine Def. Singh "Heart" Jaideep by points 27-1

Opening Fights: 　
63kg (1x5min.): Yuruka Sasaki vs. Yasushi Kiuchi Draw
75kg (1x5min.): 崇寿 Matsumoto Def. Nobuto Horiuchi by points 8-2
69kg (1x5min.): Takehiro Isetani Def. Tatsuya Karasana by choke 4:04
70kg (1x5min.): Kleber Koike Def. Hideto Okada by points 2-0

Future Fights:
67kg (1x5min.): Takumi Murata Def. Kazuto Hamasaki by points 13-0
77kg (1x5min.): Takahiro Kanda Def. Naoto Miyazaki by points 4-2
65kg (1x5min.): Yuto Hirai Def. Yasufumi Suzaki by points 6-4
62kg (1x5min.): Michinori Tanaka Def. Satoru Ida

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3/28 Shooto "BORDER -season 2-" - "Amazon" Fighting

2010-02-06T12:59:00.000+02:00

A pretty good card so far, announced for the 2nd season of "Border" in Osaka. This will be held in the Hirano Community Plaza.

Daisuke Sugie returned to Shooto late last year and got a win against Paulo Milano. Now he will be taking on another good opponent in "Hibiki" Tamura. I have to say that I am very excited about this fight, or any fight with "Amazon" for that matter.

Also on the card will be a very competitive flyweight battle with "Shinpei" Tahara taking on the veteran Junji Ikoma.

Fly: Noboru "Shinpei" Tahara 7-4-1 vs. 12-11-4 Junji Ikoma
Welter: Daisuke "Amazon" Sugie 8-6-1 vs. 10-3-5 Yukinari "Hibiki" Tamura
Light: "Jackknife" Tsuneo Kimura 5-2-0 vs. 3-1-0 Hiroshige Tanaka
Bantam: Ichaku Murata 4-7-0 vs. 3-2-0 Kentaro Watanabe

Rookie Tournament:
Middle: Ryuichiro Sumimura 0-1-0 vs. Yoshiaki Masuda
Fly: Masayoshi Kato 1-0-0 vs. 0-2-0 Takahiro "Kotetsu" Kobori
Fly: Tadaaki "Onibozu" Yamamoto 1-0-1 vs. Toshiaki Mitani
Welter: Fumihira "Crazy Berserker" Umezono 3-4-0 vs. 1-0-0 "Russian" Suzuki

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3/7 Shooto "SPIRIT 2010 Spring" - Fight Order

2010-02-06T12:21:00.000+02:00

Today will be a "Shooto-day", there have been lots of smaller shows announced over the last week, and I will start with this one. "SPIRIT 2010 Spring" will be held in Sendai's Accel Hall.

I have to point out that the official Shooto site has Toshiaki Hayasaka losing his fight to Kosuke Kandaichi, Sherdog has him winning. From memory, I think Sherdog has this wrong, and Hayasaka will be going for his first win here.

9. Feather: So Tazawa 8-5-3 vs. Shisuo Yoktai
8. Feather: Toshiaki Hayasaka 1-4-0 vs. Daiju Takashim

Karate Special Fights:
7. Open: Takeshi Wagatsuma vs. Tomonori Sugiwara
6. 66kg: Hitoshi Watanabe vs. Takamaro Watari

Grappling:
5. Light: Tetsu "Hadairo" Suzuki vs. Shin Katayama

4. 54kg: Kazuyuki Yoshida 0-4-0 vs. 0-2-0 Nariyasu Fujita

Rookie Tournament:
3. Light: Akira Saito 0-2-0 vs. 0-1-0 Ikuya Sasaki
2. Feather: Masa Takano vs. 1-1-0 Takuya Ogura
1. Welter: Hiroya Onodera vs. Yoshikazu Fujiishi

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2/28 DEEP 46 - Light-Heavyweight Tournament mtachups Announced

2010-02-05T11:09:00.001+02:00

DEEP have announced the matchups for their opening round of the lightheavyweight tournament. The finals will be on April 17.

I think M'Pumbu should be the favorite going in, but I hope Noji does well here. He has a great fighting spirit and I hope he gets through to the finals.

Also announced is a fight between the former DEEP champion, Hidehiko Hasegawa and Taisuke Okuno.

DEEP Lightheavyweight Tournament Opening Round:
Ryuta Noji 8-5-0 vs. 9-17-1 Katsuhisa Fujii
Minoru Kato 2-8-3 vs. 7-4-2 Shunsuke Inoue
Christian “Tonton” M’Pumbu 14-2-1 vs. 11-15-1 Yuji Sakuragi
Carlos Toyota 3-3-1 vs. 5-1-0 Yoshiyuki Nakanishi

Non-Tournament:
Hidehiko Hasegawa 18-12-6 vs. 8-4-2 Taisuke Okuno

Previously Anounced:
Non-Tournament Fights:
Riki Fukuda 15-4-0 vs 18-22-2 Hiromitsu Kanehara
Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka 14-7-6 vs. 10-4-3 Toshiaki Kitada
Eiji Ishikawa 18-15-2 vs. 8-12-3 Shigetoshi Iwase
Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura 9-3-5 vs. 7-9-4 Isao Terada
Yasushi Kitazaki 10-6-1 vs. 0-1-1 Yuta Aoyama
Takashige "Crazy Hill" Hirukawa 2-1-0 vs. 2-0-0 Yoshiki Harada

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Asashoryu resigns from Sumo

2010-02-05T10:00:00.001+02:00

One of sumo's biggest and most controversial stars resigned yesterday. Asashoryu at the age of 29 Asashoryu have won 25 sumo tournaments and is one of the biggest stars the sport has ever seen. But controversy has always followed the Yokozuna's career, the latest being a drunken assault.

Asashoryu told reporters:

I am grateful for everything. I will retire

Asashoryu has been "chased" by FEG for a while, and has been seen at their events. It will be interesting to see if they move in to sign the sumo star. The last Yokozuna to make that transition was Akebono, but I think Asashoryu would more suited for that transition.

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3/7 SRC 12 - Title Fight Official UPDATE Reis Out!

2010-02-05T09:16:00.000+02:00

SRC have announced 3 fights for their next event in Ryogoku Kokugikan.

The until now rumored middleweight titlefight between Jorge Santiago and Mamed Khalidov is official.

Cage Force champion Yuji Hoshino will take on Wilson Reis, and Sengoku training player Shigeki Osawa will take on young Korean Kyung Ho Kang.

SRC Middleweight Title Fight:
Jorge Santiago vs. Mamed Khalidov

Fether: Yuji Hoshino vs. 9-1-0 Wilson Reis
Feather: Shigeki Osawa 4-1-0 vs. Kyung Ho Kang

Participant:
Maximo Blanco

FiveOunce of Pain has announced that Reis is out of this event, siting personal reasons. A BIG loss for SRC, as this was looking like a very good fight!

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2/13 ShootBoxing - Fights Announced

2010-02-02T22:56:00.001+02:00

The first ShootBoxing event of 2010 is looking close to final. It has been announced that female S-Cup champion Rena will take on the 16 year old talent from Jabout in Australia. Jurjevic competed in the World Muay Thai Championships in 2009. It should be a good fight between 2 talented fighters.

Also announced, though NOT official is the matchup between ShootBoxing champion Tamaaki Umeno and Jabout's Dean Xuereb.

This is looking like a very strong event, and I am sure Korakuen Hall will be packed for this.

Officially Announced:
RENA vs. Christina Jurjevic

Announced on the Jabout website:
Takaaki Umeno vs. Dean Xuereb

Previously Announced:
ShootBoxing Japan Super-Featherweight Ranking Fight:
Akira Utagawa vs. Koya Shimada

ShootBoxing Japan Super-Bantamweight Ranking Fight:
Akito Sakimura vs. Kazuyuki Fushimi

ShootBoxing Japan Super-Featherweight Ranking Fight:
Takeshi Ishikawa vs. Hiroaki Suzuki

Noriyuki Imai vs. Tatsuhiro Takashima
Fuuka Kakimoto vs. Akari
Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Shinichiro Kuroki
Hiroki Shishido vs. Greg Foley

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2/6 BULL TERRIER presents DEEP X05 - Fight Order

2010-02-01T23:43:00.001+02:00

DEEP is putting on their 5th "DEEP X" event. That means grappling, and they have some of the best grapplers in the world fighting here. The event will be held in Shinjuku Face.

The 3 fight tournament with Japan vs. the US. Grapplers such as "K-Taro", Paul Schreiner, Kohei Yasumi, Baret Yoshida, Takeshi Yamada and Ryan Hall it will be very interesting.

Also on this card is K-1 fighter Singh "Heart" Jaideep. Could this signal a move towards MMA?

Japan vs. US (3 Fights):
81.5kg: Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura vs. Paul Schreiner
68kg: Kohei Yasumi vs. Baret Yoshida
73kg: Takashi Yamada vs. Ryan Hall

56kg: Sayaka Shiota vs. Rikako Yuasa
Open: Marcos "Marquinhos" Souza vs. KOTESU
66kg: Tsubasa Tobinaga vs. Akihiro Hoshino
85kg: Motoki Miyazawa vs. Yuji Arai
Open: Yuichi Ozono vs. Taijiro Ui
Open: Hideki Sekine vs. Singh "Heart" Jaideep

Opening Fights: 　
63kg (1x5min.): Yuruka Sasaki vs. Yasushi Kiuchi
75kg (1x5min.): Nobuto Horiuchi vs. 崇寿 Matsumoto
69kg (1x5min.): Takehiro Isetani vs. Tatsuya Karasana
70kg (1x5min.): Kleber Koike vs. Hideto Okada

Future Fights:
67kg (1x5min.): Takumi Murata vs. Kazuto Hamasaki
77kg (1x5min.): Takahiro Kanda vs. Naoto Miyazaki
65kg (1x5min.): Yuto Hirai vs. Yasufumi Suzaki
62kg (1x5min.): Satoru Ida vs. Michinori Tanaka

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4/4 Pancrase Passion Tour - Fights Announced

2010-02-01T22:55:00.001+02:00

Pancrase have also announced some good fights for the April 4. event in Differ Ariake. Part 1 of this event will be Neo-Blood Tournament fights, the second part is looking interesting already.

The two Pancrase veterans "J-Taro" and Keji Arai will both be looking to bounce back. "J-Taro" has lost 3 in a row and really needs a win here.

Another fighter in desperate need of a win is Takuya Eizumi. He had a great start to his career, and he also had a shot at the title. Now he is riding a 3 fight losing streak and the fans want to see him back on the winning track.

Part 2:
Feather: Masaya "J-Taro" Takita 9-12-2 vs. 15-14-4 Kenji Arai
Bantam: Ryota Sasaki 4-3-1 vs. 6-3-2 Hayato Shimizu
Fly: Takuya Eizumi 5-4-0 vs. 9-10-1 Yuichiro Yajima

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4/29 Pancrase Passion Tour - 2 Titlefights Announced!!

2010-02-01T22:37:00.001+02:00

April will see Pancrase holding 2 events in Differ Ariake, this is the last of those. But there are already 2 title fights announced.

Middleweight champion Ichiro Kanai and welterweight champion Takuya Wada will both put their titles on the line, and the opponent will be deceided on Sunday.

Ichiro Kanai will take on the winner of the intrim King of Pancrase fight that will be deceided between Yuki Kondo and Takenori Sato.

The opponent for Takuya Wada will be deceided in the fight between Shingo Suzuki and Kengo Ura.

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3/21 M-1 FAIRTEX SINGHA BEER MuayThai Challenge 2010 - Fights Announced

2010-01-31T18:38:00.000+02:00

Picture from GBR.

M-1 Fairtex Muay Thai challenge have announced a couple of fights for their event in Differ Ariake on March 21. These events are a very good chance to see some good Muay Thai in the Tokyo area, and they usually bring in some very good Thai fighters as well.

Announced are some Title figts, and I am looking forward to seeing Koichi Petas have a go at adding another title to his name.

WPMF World Heavyweight Title Fight:
Fabiano Cyclone vs. Koichi Petas

M-1 Female Mini-Flyweight Title Fight:
Atsuko Okada (Champion) vs. Haru Tajima

M-1 Super-Flyweight Title Fight:
Masataka Seki (Champion) vs. Hiroshi Yamano

M-1 Lightweight Tournament Participants:
Tomofumi Endo
Shinji Suzuki

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1/30 King of the Cage "Toryumon" - RESULTS

2010-01-30T19:46:00.002+02:00

KOTC held their first event in Japan earlier today. It was a very good card, and the Japanese fighters really cleaned up!

The main event saw Shooto veteran Mamoru handle the undefeated Baca, and eventually getting a rear naked choke win. He is now the KOTC junior flyweight champion.

Kotetsu Boku got a good win over the former KOTC lightweight champion, Toney Harvey.

Toby Imada got a good win over Daisuke Hanazawa, in one of the few fights where the American fighter came out on top.

King of the Cage World Junior Flyweight Championship:
Mamoru Yamaguchi def. Frank Baca by rear-naked choke Round 2 1:54

Light: Kotetsu Boku def. Tony Hervey by Unanimous Decision
Welter: Toby Imada def. Daisuke Hanazawa by TKO Round 2 0:29
Female: Roxanne Modafferi def Molly Helsel by rear-naked choke Round 2 3:18
Bantam: Tatsuya Sou def Shigeki Matsuda by TKO Round 2 3:48
86.4kg: Shungo Oyama Def. Mike Wimmer by heelhold Roun1 1:07
Open: Koji Kanechika def Jerry Vrbanovic by Decision 3-0
Jerry Nelson Def. Shinsho Anzai by decision 2-1
Feather: Shinya Kumazawa def. Steve Hecht by Armbar Round 1 1:14
Light: Tsuyoshi Tamaki def. Bryon Schnell by rear-naked choke Round 3 2:28

Some pictures from the event, from Sportsnavi:

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