4/3 ShootBoxing - RESULTS *Azeredo in a close fight*

There are a couple of things that are guarateed when ShootBoxing puts on an event in Korakuen Hall. One is that it will be just about a full house, it will also be a very good value ticket. And lately their events have featured some high profile MMA stars trying out this sport. For those who dont know what ShootBoxing is, it is something like Strike Box. It is K-1 rules, with standing submissions and takedowns. No ground fighting though. If you want to have a closer look at the rules, here is a link: www.shootboxing.org.

Yesterday the MMA stars were represented by Shooto star Mamoru "The Fro" Yamaguchi, Pride veteran Luiz Azeredo and HEROs veteran Bernard Ackah.

Azeredo fought in the main-event taking on ShootBoxing star Hiroki Shishido, and it was a very close fight. All the judges scored it 30-30 after 3 rounds, but in the first extention round Shishido got the decision 3-0 (10-9 from all judges).

11. Main-Event 70kg: Hiroki Shishido Def. Luiz Azeredo by Decision ext. round 3-0
10. 70kg: Takaaki Umeno Def. Takashi Ono by Decision 3-0
9. Heavy: Bernard Ackah Def. Masahiro Iwashita by Decision 2-0
8. 55kg: Akito Sakimura Def. Mamoru Yamaguchi by Decision 3-0 (3x30-29)
7. 60kg: Hiroaki Suzuki Def. Akifumi Utagawa by Decision 3-0
6. 60kg: Takashi Ishikawa Def. Mitsuhisa Sunabe by Decision 3-0
5. Koya Shimada Def. Hiroyuki Yamashiro by Decision 3-0
4. 57kg: Kazuyuki Fushimi Def. Hiroshi Funabashi by Decision 3-0

Starting Fights:
3. 70kg: Takafumi Yamazaki Def. Shota Watanabe by Decision 3-0
2. 55kg: Hiroaki Okuwa Def. Hiroshi Takashima (?) by Decision ext. round 2-1
1. 71kg: Masatomi Kawachi Def. Shinichiro Kurogi By Decision ext. round 3-0

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4/3 ShootBoxing - Fight Order ***Reminder***

***Reminder***
Just a reminder of this event in Korakuen Hall tonight!

ShootBoxing has been attracting some interesting fighters lately, and this event is no different.

Today the fight order was announced, and Luiz Azeredo gets to fight in the main event in his 2nd ShootBoxing event. His is taking on the #3 ranked Hiroki Shishido in what should be a very interesting main event. Last time Azeredo fought in ShootBoxing, he won his 1st round fight in the S-Cup by submission and made a very good impression.

In the co-main event, the Super Welterweight #2 ranked Takashi Ono is taking on the undefeated (7-0) and #2 ranked middlweight Takaaki Umeno.

Also making a return to ShootBoxing is the Shooto star, Mamoru Yamaguchi. Also on this card is Pancrase veteran Mitsuhisa Sunabe.

11. Main-Event 70kg: Luiz Azeredo vs. Hiroki Shishido
10. 70kg: Takashi Ono vs. Takaaki Umeno
9. Heavy: Masahiro Iwashita vs. Bernard Ackah
8. 55kg: Mamoru Yamaguchi vs. Akito Sakimura
7. 60kg: Akifumi Utagawa vs. Hiroaki Suzuki
6. 60kg: Takashi Ishikawa vs. Mitsuhisa Sunabe
5. Koya Shimada vs. Hiroyuki Yamashiro
4. 57kg: Kazuyuki Fushimi vs. Hiroshi Funabashi

Starting Fights:
3. 70kg: Takafumi Yamazaki vs. Shota Watanabe
2. 55kg: Hiroshi Takashima (?) vs. Hiroaki Okuwa
1. 71kg: Masatomi Kawachi vs. Shinichiro Kurogi

If you are planning to go out to this, the event is in Korakuen Hall and there looks to like there are still tickets. I am expecing this to be close to sold out though.

The doors open at 17:00, starting fights kick off at 17:15, with the main card starting at 18:00.

Ticket Prices:
RS 8,000円　
SS 7,000円
S 6,000円
A 5,000円　
B 3,000円　
Standing 2,000円

At the door +500円

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4/3 Shoot Boxing - Mamoru Continues

The Shooto fighters, Rumina Sato and Mamoru Yamaguchi both made the headlines when they made their Shoot Boxing debuts in February. It is announced today that Mamoru is returning to take on the #1 ranked super-bantamweight at the April event. Does this mean that Mamoru is trying to add a Shoot Boxing belt to his collection? I would think so.

Either way, this card is looking very intersting.

Added:
Mamoru Yamaguchi vs. Akito Sakimura

Previously Announced:
Heavy: Masahiro Iwashita vs. Bernard Ackah
Luiz Azeredo vs. Hiroki Shishido

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4/3 Shoot Boxing - Luiz Azeredo Fighting

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

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

Added:
Luiz Azeredo vs. Hiroki Shishido

Previously Announced:
Heavy: Masahiro Iwashita vs. Bernard Ackah

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11/24 Shoot Boxing - S-Cup LIVE RESULTS

Just so everyone is warned, there will be spoilers after the jump.

Today is the big day for Shoot Boxing! They have put together a very good card that includes female fighters, MMA stars, K-1 stars and Shoot Boxing stars. It should be a very good event and I will give you live results.

The S-Cup is a 1-day tournament format and there are 8 fighters competing for this year's title. This is the 6th time the S-Cup Tournament is arranged and previous winners are:

2006 - Kenichi Ogata (Beat Andy Souwer by decision in the final)
2004 - Andy Souwer (Beat Hiroki Shishido by TKO in the final)
2002 - Andy Souwer
1997 - Rayen Simson (Different format, from what I can see...)
1995 - Hiromu Yoshitaka

It should be a good night of fights again this year, and Andy Souwer has a shot at winning the title for the 3rd time.

The fights start at 4PM Japan time, there is a clock at the bottom right of my site. If you're not able to see it, you can use this site to see the local time in Japan: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Read on for spoilers and fight card.


The broadcast has started.

Opening fights will not be shown and there will be no results here.

Opening Fights:
1. 57kg: Tatsuhiro Takashima vs. Atsushi Sakamura
Takashima gets the decision 3-0
2. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight B: Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)
Foley gets the decision 3-0
3. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight A: Taiga Yamaguchi vs. Wei Shoulei
Yamaguchi by KO Round 2 2:03

Main-Card:
4. 50kg Female: Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena
Miku gets the decision 3-0
5. 70kg: Gouki (?) Hishida vs. Hideyuki Yokoku
Hishida Decision 3-0 Hishida had Yokoku in several standing Guilliotines that threatened to end the fight, but with the big gloves its hard to finish.

Its time for the S-Cup Tournament to start!!

S-Cup Quarter Finals:
6. QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Kenji Kanai
Ogata wins by KO Round 2

7. QF2: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
Luiz Azeredo submits Schneldmiller! Standing arm-triangle. Schneldmiller looked like he had Azeredo, and got too eager for the KO. Azeredo got ahold of him and choked him out, very good fight!

8. QF3: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki
Shishido gets the decision 3-0.

9. QF4: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus
Souwer gets the TKO Round 1 2:44. Souwer set it up with punches and kicks, in the end Kibus went down from a body shot.

Non-Tournament Fights:
10. 50.8kg Female: Mai Ichi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto
Fuuka has an enterance that seems to be Genki Sudo inspired.
Fuuka Kakimoto gets the decision after an extra round! Controversial decision IMO.

11. 59kg: Akifumi Utagawa vs. Ken Shiratori
Utagawa wins by a KO, Shiratori gets KOed with a takedown.

S-Cup Semi-Final:
12. Semi-Final 1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Luiz Azeredo
UNBELIEVABLE!!! Ogata was knocked out, he gets up and Azeredo gets to confident and gets KOed! They are getting the streacher out for Azeredo!

13. Semi-Final 2: Hiroki Shishido vs. Andy Souwer
A very good fight, Souwer is dominating, but goes to decision. Souwer gets the decision 3-0

Non-Tournament Fights:
14. 60kg: Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk vs. Jun Byun Gu (?)
Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk wins by Decision

15. 72kg: Koichi Kikuchi vs. Takaaki Umeno
Umeno gets the decision in a fight that both fighters could barely stand at the end. They both gave everythig in this one. Umeno 3-0

16. Main-Event: S-Cup Tournament Final: Kenichi Ogata vs. Andy Souwer

1st round is finished. Just at the end Ogata is knocked down, but Ogata gets up and is saved by the bell.

Spinning back kick from Souwer has Ogata in trouble. Andy Souwer picked Ogata apart, Souwer wins with a kick to the head and Ogata is done. Awesome fight by Souwer.

Read more...

11/24 Shoot Boxing - Fights Finalized

Brian Lo-A-Njoe's replacement was announced today, it means a re-suffle of the reserve fights and Kenichi Kanai moves up to take the open spot in the S-Cup Tournament. That leaves an open spot in the reserve matches that is filled by Taiga Yamaguchi.

That means that we should have the same number of fights and it should be an awesome event!

This starts at 4PM Japan time and I will give you LIVE results!

Fight order:
16. Main-Event: S-Cup Final: Winner Fight 12 vs. Winner Fight 13
15. 72kg: Koichi Kikuchi vs. Takaaki Umeno
14. 60kg: Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk vs. Jun Byun Gu (?)

S-Cup Semi-Finals:
13. Semi-Final 2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4
12. Semi-Final 1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2

11. 59kg: Akifumi Utagawa vs. Ken Shiratori
10. 50.8kg Female: Mai Ichi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto

S-Cup Quarter-Finals:
9. QF4: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus
8. QF3: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki
7. QF2: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
6. QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Kenji Kanai

5. 70kg: Gouki (?) Hishida vs. Hideyuki Yokoku
4. 50kg Female: Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena

Opening Fights:
3. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight A: Taiga Yamaguchi vs. Wei Shoulei
2. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight B: Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)
1. 57kg: Tatsuhiro Takashima vs. Atsushi Sakamura

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11/24 Shoot Boxing - Brian Lo-A-Njoe Out!

Big disappointment for the fans that were hopeing to see Brian Lo-A-Njoe. It seems there were several requests from the Lo-A-Njoe camp that lead to Brian Lo-A-Njoe being pulled from the card, so not an injury. The Japanese press is reporting that he in addition to not making weight (he requested to come in a little above), requested an increase in fight money.

Luckily, there are 2 good reserve fights, so they should have back up fighters. Lets see what they put together 2 days before the event.

Change: 6. QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. TBA

Fight order:
16. Main-Event: S-Cup Final: Winner Fight 12 vs. Winner Fight 13
15. 72kg: Koichi Kikuchi vs. Takaaki Umeno
14. 60kg: Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk vs. Jun Byun Gu (?)

S-Cup Semi-Finals:
13. Semi-Final 2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4
12. Semi-Final 1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2

11. 59kg: Akifumi Utagawa vs. Ken Shiratori
10. 50.8kg Female: Mai Ichi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto

S-Cup Quarter-Finals:
9. QF4: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus
8. QF3: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki
7. QF2: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
6. QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. TBA

5. 70kg: Gouki (?) Hishida vs. Hideyuki Yokoku
4. 50kg Female: Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena

Opening Fights:
3. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight A: Kenji Kanai vs. Wei Shoulei
2. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight B: Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)
1. 57kg: Tatsuhiro Takashima vs. Atsushi Sakamura

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11/24 Shoot Boxing - Fight Order

Late November and early December will be a very busy time in Japan. One of the highlights is the upcoming Shoot Boxing event in Saitama Super Arena. As always, they are pulling in some big stars for this event.

There are a total of 16 (!) fights on the card, stars include Andy Souwer, Chris Horodecki, Kenichi Ogata and female idol Fuuka Kakimoto. I will give live results.

Remember, this is Shoot Boxing so not MMA as such. Standing submissions are allowed though. If you want to read up on the rules, you can find them here.

16. Main-Event: S-Cup Final: Winner Fight 12 vs. Winner Fight 13
15. 72kg: Koichi Kikuchi vs. Takaaki Umeno
14. 60kg: Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk vs. Jun Byun Gu (?)

S-Cup Semi-Finals:
13. Semi-Final 2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4
12. Semi-Final 1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2

11. 59kg: Akifumi Utagawa vs. Ken Shiratori
10. 50.8kg Female: Mai Ichi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto

S-Cup Quarter-Finals:
9. QF4: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus
8. QF3: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki
7. QF2: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
6. QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Brian Lo-A-Njoe

5. 70kg: Gouki (?) Hishida vs. Hideyuki Yokoku
4. 50kg Female: Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena

Opening Fights:
3. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight A: Kenji Kanai vs. Wei Shoulei
2. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight B: Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)
1. 57kg: Tatsuhiro Takashima vs. Atsushi Sakamura

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11/24 Shoot Boxing - Saitama SA - Fights Announced

Shoot Boxing has announced the last fighter in the S-Cup quarter finals, facing Kenichi Ogata will be Dutchman Brian Lo-A-Njoe. This is a rematch from last years big Shoot Boxing event "Battle Summit Ground Zero Tokyo 2007". On that occation, Lo-A-Njoe beat the 2006 S-Cup champion with a KO 44 seconds into round 2.

Also added is Thai fighter Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk. He fought in the previous Shoot Boxing event and won convincingly, you can see my review of the event here. It was a very good event. Unfortunately, I am not able to figure out who he is fighting... I am really bad with Korean names, I have tried to translate it from the Japanese writing.

If you're in Japan, you can get this event on SkyPerfect PPV. Price is 2,625円.
If you want to go to this event, there are still tickets available.

Added:
QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Brian Lo-A-Njoe

Non-Tournament Fights:
60kg: Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk vs. Jun Byun Gu (?)
72kg: Koichi Kikuchi vs. Takaaki Umeno
59kg: Akifumi Utagawa vs. Ken Shiratori
70kg: Gouki (?) Hishida vs. Hideyuki Yokoku
57kg: Tatsuhiro Takashima vs. Atsushi Sakamura

Previously Announced:
Quarter-Finals:
QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Brian Lo-A-Njoe
QF2: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
QF3: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki
QF4: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus

Reserve fights:
Kenji Kanai vs. Wei Shoulei
Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)

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

Final:
Winner SF 1 vs. Winner SF2

Non-Tournament Fight:
Female: Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena
Female: Mai Ichi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto

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11/24 Shoot Boxing (Saitama SuperArena) - Female Fight Announced

Shoot Boxing have announced another female fight on their big card for Saitama Superarena. It is between 2 female pro-wrestlers and should be a fun fight, even though I am not sure about their kickboxing skills.

The fights is between Mai Ichi, who has competed in both SmackGirl and DEEP previously, and Fuuka Kakimoto. Fuuka has also competed in SmackGirl, but has made her name in Pro-Wrestling. Fuuka is famous for her looks and should be a draw for Japanese fans.



Picture from SportsNavi http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20081106-00000021-spnavi-fight.html


Added:
Ladies fight: Mai Ishi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto

Previously announced:
Quarter-Finals:
QF1: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus
QF2: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki

QF3: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
QF4: Kenichi Ogata vs. TBA

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

Final:
Winner SF 1 vs. Winner SF2

Reserve fights:
Kenji Kanai vs. Wei Shoulei
Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)

Non-Tournament Fight:
Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena

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11/24 Shoot Boxing (Saitama Super Arena) - Fights Announced (Andy Souwer, Chris Horodecki, Luiz Azeredo)

Shoot Boxing have announced the fights for their big event of the year. This time its in Saitama Superarena, and it will be HUGE. I went to the last one, and was really impressed by the atmosphere and the quality of the fights. For this card they are really bringing in the big stars though.

On the card is Andy Souwer, Chris Horodecki, Luiz Azeredo and Shoot Boxing star Hiroki Shishido. Last time, Megumi Fuji had a fight, this time they are giving Miku Matsumoto a shot.

This will be a tournament format, like K-1, with quarter finals --> final.



The Tournament set up is like this:
Quarter-Finals:
QF1: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus
QF2: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki

QF3: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
QF4: Kenichi Ogata vs. TBA

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

Final:
Winner SF 1 vs. Winner SF2

Reserve fights:
Kenji Kanai vs. Wei Shoulei
Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)

Non-Tournament Fight
Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena

Participating:
Fuuka (Female Pro-Wrestler)

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12/31 Yarennoka - Fights Added

If you`re going to one event this year, which one would you choose?? For me, hands down, Yarennoka. Unfurtunately, I have family comittments on NYE and wont be able to go.

Yesterday 2 more fights were added, so now we have 4 fights confirmed, a list of very good fighters waiting for an opponent and of course, the rumored fighters. The fights were introduced by DEEP promotor Shigeru Saeki.

Confirmed Fights:
Shinya Aoki 11-2-0 vs. 14-1-1 J.Z. Calvan
Hayato Sakurai 30-7-2 vs. 14-8-4 Hidehiko Hasegawa
Gilbert Melendez 13-0-0 vs. 14-3-1 Mitsuhiro Ishida
Tatsuya Kawajiri 19-4-2 vs. 11-6-0 Luiz Azeredo

Confirmed Participants:
Fedor Emelianenko 26-1-0
Kazuo Misaki 18-8-2
Joachim Hansen 15-6-1
Ricardo Arona (?) 13-5-0

For the rumored participants, I have thrown in Satoru Kitaoka. Why? He was meant to participate in last year`s Pride Middleweight tournament. He was actually the only fighter officially announced. His fight in Cage Force didnt happen last weekend, meaning that he`s fit. Also, the Pancrase director, Sakamoto, has thrown its support behind this event but is yet to contirbute any fighters. My guess is that the fighter they will contribute is Kitaoka.

Possible/rumored Participants:
Aleksander Emelianenko
Roman Zentsov
Mark Hunt
Hong Man Choi
Josh Barnett
Satoru Kitaoka

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12/31 M-1 - Saitama Superarena - Is confirmed

M-1 has held a press conference in Tokyo today. Confirmed at the conference was that Fedor will fight on NYE. The event is supported by M-1, with the help of former Pride staff.

Fighters confirmed for the event:
Fedor Emelianenko
Joachim Hansen
Ricardo Arona (?)
Gilbert Melendez
Luiz Azeredo
Aoki Shinya
Kazuo Misaki
TatsuyaKawajiri
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai
Mitsuhiro Ishida
Hasegawa Hidehiko

The M-1 homepage also mentions Alexander Emelianenko and Roman Zentsov (No mention of Hong Man Choi).

This will without a doubt be the biggest event of the year!!!!

The event will be shown on SkyPerfect PPV.

Tickets can be purchased here: http://www.yarennoka.com/

It seems confirmed now that the opponent will be Hong Man Choi

Arona has in an interview with GracieMag.com denied that he will fight in the NYE event, some personal problems are stopping him from travel to Japan this time. However, he mentions the possiblity of fighitng in February.

Other source
http://www.mixfight.ru/news/2007/11/20/M-1Global-conference-Japan/
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20071121-00000021-spnavi-fight.html
http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/3398724/
http://www.fightopinion.com/2007/11/21/nye-mma-event-in-saitama-confirmed/
http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=10062
http://www.signfedor.com/

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