11/8 Pancrase Changing Tour 7 - Fight Order

The fight order for the 8. November event in Azelea Taisho Hall, Osaka have been announced.

The veteran, Takafumi Ito will take on Takahiro Kajita in what will be the main event.

There are also 5 Pancrase Gate fights announced as a bonus for those who make their way there. Of course there will be goods on sale too, a bonus is that Yoshiro Maeda will be there signing and selling stuff from DREAM 12.

Tickets will be 6 500yen and 5 500yen at the door, they start selling at 14:30. If you buy upfront it is 500yen cheaper (or a beer).

Main-Event:
6. Light: Takafumi Ito 33-29-10 vs. 10-10-4 Takahiro Kajita

5. Light: Daisuke "13" Hanazawa 12-11-5 vs. 1-1-0 Koji Nakamura
4. Welter: Kiichi "Strasser" Kunimoto 7-3-0 vs. 1-7-1 Yoshifumi Dogaki
3. Welter: Yu Shiori 7-2-0 vs. 8-7-2 Yuta Nakamura
2. Feather: Soyu Tanabe 4-3-1 vs. 1-1-1 Hiroshi Tomita
1. Bantam: Nobuhiro "Punch" Yamauchi 6-5-0 vs. 3-6-1 Nobuhiro Yoshitake

Pancrase Gate:
Welter: Shinji Shimamura vs. Yu Kitada
Light: 普源 Morita vs. Masayuki Ino
Bantam: Ken Ishida vs. Daiki Nakahara
Bantam: Sho Nonaka vs. Yuji Ogawa
Fly: Yuya Ono vs. Hideaki Tanaka

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11/8 Pancrase Changing Tour - Fights Announced

Pancrase is finishing the year by haveing 2 events in the next 2 months. They have announced fights for both cards, but I will take the November 8 card in Osaka first. As usual, it will be in the Azelea Taisho Hall in Osaka.

The Osaka events have some regulars that are on here again, Daisuke Hanazawa and "Strasser" Kunimoto are usually on these events. Both are very good fighters and Hanazawa is still the only fighter to defeat Maximo Blanco (DQ doesnt count).

Super veteran Takafumi Ito is also on the card, he has been fighting since 1995 but is on a 2 fight losing streak.

Light: Takafumi Ito 33-29-10 vs. 10-10-4 Takahiro Kajita
Welter: Kiichi "Strasser" Kunimoto 7-3-0 vs. 1-7-1 Yoshifumi Dogaki
Welter: Yu Shiori 7-2-0 vs. 8-7-2 Yuta Nakamura
Light: Daisuke "13" Hanazawa 12-11-5 vs. 1-1-0 Koji Nakamura
Feather: Soyu Tanabe 4-3-1 vs. 1-1-1 Hiroshi Tomita
Bantam: Nobuhiro "Punch" Yamauchi 6-5-0 vs. 3-6-1 Nobuhiro Yoshitake

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2/1 Pancrase Changing Tour 1 - PICTURES

It was a very entertaining day in Differ Ariake on Sunday. 32 fights, and there were some good ones in there. I always enjoy the Neo-Blood Tournament fights, you never really know what to expect. You can get guys that are just very talented, and you have guys making rookie mistakes.

Rookie mistake of the night went to Atsushi Masukura, who in his fight with Ben Henry got caught in a very tight arm-bar. Instead of tapping, he decided to stand up and pull away. From where I was sitting I could hear the arm break.



Keigo Hirayama had a very good day, winning both his fights decisively.





Then it was time for the main card. First up was the experienced "Strasser" Kiichi against a relative new-comer in Shingo Suzuki. I actually think this fight was won at the stare-down.



Asaki Honda and Kousei Kubota fought a close and entertaining fight to decision. Asahi Honda (in white) got the decision, but Kubota was rightly a bit upset. A close fight that could have gone either way.



Hikaru Sato showed why I am not a fan of the new leg lock trend in Japan... Most of the almost 4 minute fight, he was working on the lef-lock. It takes technique and skill to get it right, but when it takes most of the round its just not entertaining anymore...



Takuya Eizumi showed that he is a fighter to look for in the future. Last year's Neo-Blood Tournament finalist took just over 1 minute to knock Tokuaki Ninomiya out cold. It was his left hook that did the damage.





"AB" got his first ever win against the experienced Takafumi Ito. I am not sure that it was deserved though... "AB" finished the 2nd round in a dominating position, but I am not sure how that justifies giving him the 1st round too...

I am happy he got a win though, he has really fought some of the most talented fighters out there up until now.



"J-Taro" had a very provided more than a fight... I dont know if he was paid extra for the show...



The fight was over rather quickly though... Jameel "The Sargent" Massouh proved too strong on the night, and forced an early stoppage.



Masanori Kanehara put in a strong application for the Sengoku featherweight GP with a deceisive win over the veteran Kenji Arai. A straight left did the damage.



The main event saw lightweight King of Pancrase, Katsuya Inoue take on challenger Daisuke Hanazawa "13". Hanazawa needed to take this fight to the ground, and succeeded somewhat in the 1st round. But as the fight went on, Inoue was able to avoid Hanazawa's takedown attempts and get the decision.

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2/1 Pancrase Changing Tour 1 - LIVE RESULTS

Pancrase is kicking off this year's Neo-Blood Tournament. Who will win this year? I know very few fighters in here, but have seen "Pitan" on a couple of occations, and he is good.

There will be a total of 32 fights today and I will be ring-side. The results will be up periodically throughout the day.

The main-card holds a couple of featherweight fights, look for 1 maybe both winners to make it into the Sengoku Featherweight GP.

Neo-Blood Tournament:
1. Fly: Daisuke Tsujita Def. Yoshihiro Matsunaga by Decision
2. Fly: Keisuke Tamaru Def. Masaki Watanabe walk-over
3. Fly: Gou Yamanaka Def. Teppei Shimizu by Decision 3-0
4. Fly: Hiroyuki Hara Def. Yukitoshi Takahashi by Decision 3-0

5. Bantam: Ben Henry Def. Atsushi Masukura Round 1 1:06 by Arm-bar (break)
6. Bantam: Daisuke Sugishima Def. Takanori Saito by Decision 3-0
7. Bantam: Kazuki Itaya Def. Ichiro Kudo by Decision 2-0
8. Bantam: Taro Shimazaki Def. Takatoshi Urasaki Round 1 3:50 by Arm-bar

9. Feather: Shigeyuki Uchiyama Def. Pitan Round 1 1:56 by Gillotine choke
10. Feather: Masakazu Takafuji Def. Akira Omura Round 1 0:19 by BIG KO
11. Feather: Takehito Noguchi Def. Yutaka Inada walk-over
12. Feather: Satoru Takahashi Def. Yuki Terashima after ext. Dec. 3-0

13. Light: "Randleman" Ichikawa Def. Kazuyoshi Kiyama Round 1 0:37 by KO
14. Light: Koshi Obata Def. Ikki Miyakawa Round 1 1:14 by choke
15. Light: Katsunori Takahashi Def. Daisuke Tairaku Round 1 4:05 by Triangle choke
16. Light: Keigo Hirayama Def. Yuichi Inafuku Round 1 4:58 by Arm-bar

17. Fly: Daisuke Tsujita Def. Keisuke Tamaru by decision 3-0
18. Fly: Gou Yamanaka Def. Hiroyuki Hara Ext. Round 0:45 by Guillotine choke

19. Bantam: Daisuke Sugishima Def. Ben Henry by Decision 2-0
20. Bantam: Taro Shimmasaki Def. Kazuki Itaya By Decision 3-0

21. Feather: Shigeyuki Uchiyama Def. Masakazu Takafuji Round 1 3:09 by Arm-bar
22. Feather: Takehito Noguchi Def. Satoru Takahashi Round 1 4:23 by Rear-Naked choke

23. Light: Koshi Obata Def. "Randelman" Ishikawa by Decision 3-0
24. Light: Keigo Hirayama Def. Katsunori Takahashi Round 1 1:28 by KO (Slam)

Some very good fights here! Look out for Obata and Hirayama, they should meet in the nextr round and it should be a good fight. Also Gou Yamanaka looked very good.

Main-Card:
1. Welter: "Strasser" Kiichi Kunimoto Def. Shingo Suzuki by arm-triangle Round 1 3:00
"Strasser" dominates the stand-up and Suzuki takes it to the ground. "Strasser" gets a tight arm-triangle, Suzuki does not tap and he goes to sleep.

2. Welter: Asaki Honda Def. Kousei Kubota by Dec. 2-0
A very close decision in a VERY good fight that does not go to the ground. Kubotaa is rightly disappointed.

3. Light-Heavyweight: Hikaru Sato Def. Ryuji Ohori Round 1 3:46 by Heel-hook.
Sato working on the leg-lock most of the round.

4. Fly: Takuya Eizumi Def. Tokuaki Ninomiya Round 1 1:04 by KO
The streacher comes out again (been out twice already), but is not needed.

5. Light: Hiroki "AB" Aoki Def. Takafumi Ito by Decision 2-0
"AB" finally gets a win! Even if it is a VERY close decision.

6. Feather: Jameel "The Sargent" Massouh Def. Masaya Takita "J-Taro" Round 1 2:51 by TKO
Stong win by Mossouh, he knocks "J-Taro" down and follows up with punches. The ref is forced to step in.

7. Feather: Masanori Kanehara Def. Kenji Arai by TKO Round 1 3:14
ZST fighter kanehara tags Arai, Arai hits the ground and the ref steps in
After the fight, Kanehara makes an appeal to be included in the Sengoku GP.

Main Event - Lightweight King of Pancrase:
8. Katsuya Inoue Def. Daisuke Hanazawa "13" by Decision 3-0
Hanazawa won round 1, after that the champion took over the fight. A deserved win for Inoue.

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2/1 Pancrase Changing Tour 1 - Neo-Blood Fights Added / Card Complete

The first Changing Tour card has been final for a while, but for those going to this event, there is an extra 24 (!) fights before the main card starts. These are the first and second round fights in this years Pancrase Neo-Blood Tournament.

The Neo-Blood fights start at 14:30, main-card starts at 17:00.

The Neo-Blood fights are using Pancrase Gate rules (meaning shinpads and knee-guards), and the fights are 1x5min. with 1x3min. extention in case of a draw. There will be fights in the Fly- (58kg), Bantam- (61.2kg), Feather- (65.8kg) and Lightweight (70.3kg) tournaments.

This is the complete (including the main-card) card and fight order for the day.

Neo-Blood Tournament:
1. Fly: Yoshihiro Matsunaga vs. Daisuke Tsujita
2. Fly: Masaki Watanabe vs. TBA
3. Fly: Gou Yamanaka vs. Teppei Shimizu
4. Fly: Hiroyuki Hara vs. Yukitoshi Takahashi

5. Bantam: Atsushi Masukura vs. Ben Henry
6. Bantam: Daisuke Sugishima vs. Takanori Saito
7. Bantam: Ichiro Kudo vs. Kazuki Itaya
8. Bantam: Taro Shimazaki vs. Takatoshi Urasaki

9. Feather: Shigeyuki Uchiyama vs. Pitan
10. Feather: Masakazu Takafuji vs. Akira Omura
11. Feather: Takehito Noguchi vs. Yutaka Inada
12. Feather: Satoru Takahashi vs. Yuki Terashima

13. Light: "Randleman" Ichikawa vs. Kazuyoshi Kiyama
14. Light: Ikki Miyakawa vs. Koshi Obata
15. Light: Katsunori Takahashi vs. Daisuke Tairaku
16. Light: Keigo Hirayama vs. Yuichi Inafuku

17. Fly: Winner fight 1 vs. Winner fight 2
18. Fly: Winner fight 3 vs. Winner fight 4

19. Bantam: Winner fight 5 vs. Winner fight 6
20. Bantam: Winner fight 7 vs. Winner fight 8

21. Feather: Winner fight 9 vs. Winner fight 10
22. Feather: Winner fight 11 vs. Winner fight 12

23. Light: Winner fight 13 vs. Winner fight 14
24. Light: Winner fight 15 vs. Winner fight 16

Main-Card:
1. Welter: Shingo Suzuki 1-0-0 vs. 5-3-0 "Strasser" Kiichi Kunimoto
2. Welter: Asaki Honda 4-3-1 vs. 24-28-10 Kousei Kubota
3. Light-Heavyweight: Ryuji Ohori 3-3-0 vs. 18-19-3 Hikaru Sato
4. Fly: Takuya Eizumi 3-1-0 vs. 3-4-0 Tokuaki Ninomiya
5. Light: Takafumi Ito 34-27-10 vs. 0-2-0 Hiroki "AB" Aoki
6. Feather: Masaya Takita "J-Taro" 9-10-2 vs. 19-4-0 Jameel "The Sargent" Massouh
7. Feather: Kenji Arai 13-12-2 vs. 10-5-5 Masanori Kanehara

Main Event - Lightweight King of Pancrase:
8. Katsuya Inoue 17-6-3 vs. 11-9-5 Daisuke Hanazawa "13"

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2/1 Pancrase Changing Tour 1 - Change to the card

There has been a change on the Pancrase card for February 1.

Laughter 7's Takenori Sato sustained a neck injury during practice and wont be able to fight. The popular and versatile Pancrase fighter Hikaru Sato will step in and take this fight on short notice. Popularity wise, this might actually be a boost for the card. Hikaru Sato has not tasted victory since February 2007, and I am sure he would love a win here.

The change also means that the fight will go at light-heavyweight, instead of middleweight.

Main Event - Lightweight King of Pancrase:
8. Katsuya Inoue 17-6-3 vs. 11-9-5 Daisuke Hanazawa "13"

7. Feather: Kenji Arai 13-12-2 vs. 10-5-5 Masanori Kanehara
6. Feather: Masaya Takita "J-Taro" 9-10-2 vs. 19-4-0 Jameel "The Sargent" Massouh
5. Light: Takafumi Ito 34-27-10 vs. 0-2-0 Hiroki "AB" Aoki
4. Fly: Takuya Eizumi 3-1-0 vs. 3-4-0 Tokuaki Ninomiya
3. Light-Heavyweight: Ryuji Ohori 3-3-0 vs. 18-19-3 Hikaru Sato
2. Welter: Asaki Honda 4-3-1 vs. 24-28-10 Kousei Kubota
1. Welter: Shingo Suzuki 1-0-0 vs. 5-3-0 "Strasser" Kiichi Kunimoto

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2/1 Pancrase Changing Tour 1 - Fight Order Announced

Pancrase have announced the fight order for their first event of the Changing Tour.

The main event is the lightweight title fight between Katsuya Inoue and Daisuke Hanazawa. Kenji Arai has only 1 loss in his last 5 fights and has been finding back to his old self after a bad 2006. He will fight in the co-main event against Masanori Kanehara. Remember that Sengoku has a featherweight GP coming up, and I think you will see at least 1 if not 2 fighters coming from this card.

If you are going to this event, it might pay off to get in early. The doors open at 14.30, this is because there will be Neo-Blood fights on before the main card starts. The main card should start at 17.00.

Main Event - Lightweight King of Pancrase:
8. Katsuya Inoue 17-6-3 vs. 11-9-5 Daisuke Hanazawa "13"

7. Feather: Kenji Arai 13-12-2 vs. 10-5-5 Masanori Kanehara
6. Feather: Masaya Takita "J-Taro" 9-10-2 vs. 19-4-0 Jameel "The Sargent" Massouh
5. Light: Takafumi Ito 34-27-10 vs. 0-2-0 Hiroki "AB" Aoki
4. Fly: Takuya Eizumi 3-1-0 vs. 3-4-0 Tokuaki Ninomiya
3. Middle: Ryuji Ohori 3-3-0 vs. 7-5-4 Takenori Sato
2. Welter: Asaki Honda 4-3-1 vs. 24-28-10 Kousei Kubota
1. Welter: Shingo Suzuki 1-0-0 vs. 5-3-0 "Strasser" Kiichi Kunimoto

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2/1 Pancrase Changing Tour 1 - Title Fight Announced

Pancrase have added a title fight to their first event in the Changing Tour.

Katsuya Inoue is putting his title on the line agaist Daisuke Hanazawa "13". Hanazawa beat the very athletic Maximo Blanco in his last fight, and is in good shape being undefeated in 2008.

This is most likely the main event on this card, which looks like another solid one from Pancrase.

Lightweight King of Pancrase:
Katsuya Inoue 17-6-3 vs. 11-9-5 Daisuke Hanazawa "13"

Previously Announced:
Feather: Masaya Takita "J-Taro" 9-10-2 vs. 19-4-0 Jameel "The Sargent" Massouh
Fly: Takuya Eizumi 3-1-0 vs. 3-4-0 Tokuaki Ninomiya
Welter: Shingo Suzuki 1-0-0 vs. 5-3-0 "Strasser" Kiichi Kunimoto
Light: Takafumi Ito 34-27-10 vs. 0-2-0 Hiroki "AB" Aoki
Feather: Kenji Arai 13-12-2 vs. 10-5-5 Masanori Kanehara
Welter: Asaki Honda 4-3-1 vs. 24-28-10 Kousei Kubota
Middle: Ryuji Ohori 3-3-0 vs. 7-5-4 Takenori Sato

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9/7 Pancrase Shining Tour Osaka - Card Complete

There has been a few additions to the card in Osaka. This event should be very good value, and a good event.

In an exciting addition, Pancrase veteran Daisuke Hanazawa will take on the Gracie trained Leandro Kusano. As far as I know, Leandro is makeing his MMA debut. He is an experienced BJJ fighter and I am looking forward to seeing what he can do in MMA.

Also making their debuts are Hirotaka Yoshioka and Hiroto Harai. Hirotaka Yoshioka is a Japanese Greco-Roman wrestler, he will face the experienced Kiichi Kunimoto. Yoshioka holds a 3rd place from the Japanese wrestling championships in 2007, so he is a very strong wrestler. Hiroto Harai is a karate and judo fighter, but I dont know much about him...

The fight order is like this:

Main event:
13. Bantamweight: Daichi Fujiwara 7-3-1 vs. 4-3-0 Nobuhiro “Punch” Yamauchi

12. Welterweight: Daisuke Hanazawa "13" 9-9-5 vs. Leandro Kusano
11. Welterweight: Kiichi Kunimoto "Strasser" 5-2-0 vs. Hirotaka Yoshioka
10. Featherweight: Kenji Takeshige 6-7-1 vs. 6-3-1 Motonobu Tezuka
9. Welterweight: Yu Shiori 5-1-0 vs. Hiroto Harai
8. Bantamweight: Takashi Hasegawa 4-6-3 vs. 1-1-0 Takahiro Goda
7. Flyweight: Takayuki Hirayasu 0-2-0 vs. Shinichiro Ryuno
6. Featherweight: Toru Harai 4-2-0 vs. 0-4-2 Hideo Matsui

Pancrase Gate: 2x5 min
5. Lightweight: Koji Namamura vs. Yoichi Kosumi
4. Featherweight: Koji Tomita vs. Keiichi Funako
3. Bantamweight: Takamasa Miki vs. Kensei Nishida
2. Bantamweight: Masao Fujii vs. Kojima-man
1. Flyweight: Wataru Nakahara vs. Yuya Ono

The event is being held in Osaka Azeria Hall doors open at 15:00.
Ticket-prices: SS ¥6,000-　A ¥5,000-
As you can see, this should be GREAT value!

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