12/20 ZST Swat 31! - Fight Order

ZST have announced the fightorder for their last event of 2009. It will be held in Golds Gym South Annex (Omori) and is a card with the up and coming fighters of ZST. Shunichi Shimizu is really the only established fighter on the card, but I am sure it will be a fun event.

Also announced is the schedule for the first part of 2010, and it looks like this:

1/17 SWAT! - GX6 in Golds Gym South Tokyo Annex
2/7 SWAT! - TX2 in Golds Gym South Tokyo Annex
2/20 SWAT! in Face vol. 4 - Shinjuku Face
2/20 ZST.23 in Shinjuku Face
3/14 SWAT! 32 in Golds Gym South Tokyo Annex
4/4 SWAT! 33 in Golds Gym South Tokyo Annex
4/18 ZST.24 in Differ Ariake
5/2 SWAT! - SBRX2 in Golds Gym South Tokyo Annex
6/6 SWAT! 34 in Golds Gym South Tokyo Annex

Main Event:
10. Feather: Shunichi Shimizu 15-5-7 vs. 1-1-2 Yasuo Munakata

9. Light: Shuya Arimura 1-2-1 vs. Ryota Sakuma
8. Light: Shinichi Taira 0-3-0 vs. 0-3-0 Takashi Yasui
7. Bantam: Kota Higashitani 1-1-1 vs. 1-3-1 Kengo Okubo
6. Feather: Masanori Hirata 1-5-4 vs. 1-3-0 Kei Tanigawa
5. Bantam: Yuji Komori 1-3-0 vs. 0-2-2 Masatoshi Kondo
4. Feather: Takahide Kobayashi 0-0-2 vs. 0-0-1 Ryota Kobayashi
3. Fly: Yosuke Hattori 0-2-4 vs. 1-1-1 Toru Sakakibara
2. Feather (GT-F Rule): Kohei Nishibayashi vs. Yuji Nakamura
1. Bantam (GT-F Rule): Tokuaki Ninomiya vs. Yoshiya Shinba

Ticket Prices:
SRS 5,000円
A 3,000円
Standing 2,000円
At the door, add 500円

Discuss in the FORUM

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9/21 ZST 21. and SWAT! in FACE Vol. 3 - Fights Announced

ZST will be putting on another day of MMA in Shinjuku Face on September 21.

The day will kick off with the SWAT event around lunchtime (12.30) and continue in the afternoon with ZST 21.

The ZST ticket is the more expensive and it will have the better fighters, the SWAT card, as always will put up some very talented fighters, and this time there are Genesis tournament finals on both cards.

Wataru Inatsu is one of those fighters that the record does not really do justice. He has faced mostly top level fighters. He broke Emerson Azuma's 5 fight winning streak and this time he will face the 1st ZST champion in Keisuke Fujiwara.

The very experienced 33 year old Osami Shibuya is the 2nd ZST welterweigght champion and will face a very good fighter in Tomohiko Yoshida. Yoshida has only 1 loss on his fight record, that being to a top level fighter in Hiroshi Tsuruya.

There should be lots more fights added to both these cards and it will be a great day of fights in Shinjuku Face!

Bantam: Wataru Inatsu 3-3-1 vs. 7-1-2 Keisuke Fujiwara
Welter: Osami Shibuya 38-32-15 vs. 6-1-1 Tomohiko Yoshida
Light: Kenichi Ito 5-3-2 vs. 5-1-2 Kota Okazawa

Genesis Tournament Finals:
Welter: Hidenobu Koike 10-9-3 vs. 1-0-0 Yuki Yamamoto
Feather: Masamitsu Nakamura 3-0-0 vs. Winner of Hirofumi Abe vs. Yoshihito Irei (9/6)
Bantam: Tetsuya Fusano 5-1-1 vs. Winner of Yuji Komori vs. Naohiro Hasegawa (9/6)

Participants:
Tatsuhiko Nishizaka 5-3-1
Ichiro Sugita 9-2-5
Teruhiko Higashitani 2-0-1



ZST SWAT! in FACE Vol. 3
Genesis Tournament Finals:
Light: Kazuto Nakamura 2-1-1 vs. Winner of Yosuke Akahiro vs. Genki Osako (9/6)
Fly: Yuru Hayasaka 3-2-0 vs. Winner of Teppei Shimizu vs. Keisuke Hashimoto (9/6)

Non Tournament:
Bantam: Daisuke Yokoyama 0-0-1 vs. 5-7-2 Toshihiro Shimizu
SB-X Rule - Fly: Hiroyuki Aoi vs. TBA

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8/2 ZST SWAT! 28 - Fight Order

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

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

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

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

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

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

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1/25 ZST SWAT! in FACE Vol. 2 - Live Results

The focus might be on Affliction (with good reason) tomorrow, but in Tokyo ZST is putting on 2 events! I am there for both, and will give you live results! The first event is SWAT! in FACE Vol. 2. This is the smaller and cheaper (in terms of ticket price) of the 2 cards, but there is some good talent in this event.

Part of this card is the Genesis flyweight semi-finals and final, and that should provide excitement in itself (who doesnt like tournaments). But the main-event should be a very good fight! Tomohiko Yoshida is an up and coming star in ZST and he is taking on an experienced competitor in "Toraji".

The event starts at 13.00, so it should be going on as the Affliction card goes towards the main event.

I am not allowed to use a computer or take picuters at this event, so safe to say this is the last time I pay to go to ZST. The results will be up in a few hours.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Ok, so after I have come over the frustrations... The managed to pull off 11 fights in 2 hours, and I have to say that any organization that want to improve on that has to work hard!! Tsuruya really showed the difference between a world class grappler and a good grappler today. It was a fun, but once it hit the ground, one sided fight.

Yoshida also proved himself as a talented guy. Next he would like to challenge for the welterweight title, the champion will be be determined later today.

Genesis Flyweight Tournament Semi-Finals:
1. Semi-Final 2: Hiroyuki Ai Def. Keisuke Tamaru by decision
Ai is clearly the muay thai fighter and is close to ending the with knees. Again as the bell rings, Ai is clearly in control, this time on the ground and the rear naked choke takes Tamaru to the verge of being out cold. It goes to the judges though and its an easy decision.

2. Semi-Final 1: Yoshiya Shinba Def. Yasushi Yasunaka by arm-bar Round 1
Shinba is the better guy on the ground, he gets the fight there and secures the arm-bar win in the 1st round.

Non-Tournament:
3. Feather: Keizo Hisamoto Def. Tetsuya Nishi
Hisamoto takes the fight to the ground, from there he transitions into an arm-bar, but Nishi defends well. Hisamoto transitions into a triangle and does a straight arm-bar from there.

4. Light: Yujiro Yamamoto vs. Yosuke Ako DRAW
Yamamoto gets out of several arm-bar attempts, Ako is unable to secure the win and the time runs out. It ends in a DRAW.

5. Welter: Kendo Kouda vs. Masaya Doi
This seems like a missmatch, Doi is the better fighter but is unable to finish the fight. Clearly frustrated he throws everything at Kouda but time runs out. Again, it ends in a draw.

6. Minimum (female): Mamiko Mizoguchi Def. Ayumi Funakoshi
Mizuguchi has come to bang! She dominates the standup and Funakoshi is attempting takedowns. Mizuguchi is clearly the more rounded fighter, and the ref has to step in to save Funakoshi while the fight is standing.

7. Middle - GT-F Rule: Hiroshi Tsuruya Def. Ichiro Kojima
Tsuruya comes out wearing a gi, and somehow I know what is coming. It takes a few minutes before he gets the takedown, but once it hits the ground Kojima has no answers, Tsuruya gets mount and pulls his gi around Kojima's neck, securing the lapel choke. Kojima is forced to tap.

Genesis Finals:
8. Welter Final: Hiroyuki Ito Def. Yoshinari Asano by Decision
Ito utilizes his better stand-up, I would have liked to see more uppercuts and he would have finished Asano. It goes to the judges and Ito gets the decision.

9. Flyweight Final: Hiroyuki Ai Def. Yoshiya Shinba by mounted triangle-choke
Hiroyuki Ai does not want this fight on the ground, but that is where it goes. Shinba has a very tight arm-bar that Ai defends well. Somehow in round 2 Ai finds himself on top, Shinba is tired and Ai is able to pull off a mounted triangle choke! A good and very deserving winner on the night!

Non-Tournament:
10. Bantam: Ichiro Sugita Def. Shin Takenaka by TKO Round 2 0:33
Takenaka goes for a leg-lock early, but Sugita gets out and deciedes he wants to keep the fight standing. Both fighters are willing to trade punches and it is a very entertaining fight. When round 2 starts, they continue to trade but Takenaka is hit early and a big cut has opened over his right eye. The doctor dont need much time to determine that this fight can not continue. TKO win to Sugita.

11. Welter: Tomohiko Yoshida Def. Ryo "Toraji" Nakajima by toe-hold Round 1
I have been looking forward to seeing Yoshida in action. He does not disappoint and showes good balance and composure. "Toraji" is giving it everything, but Yoshida is able to over power him. I think it is a toe-hold, but hard to see from my angle. A good performance by Yoshida.

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1/25 ZST - SWAT! in FACE Vol.2 - Fight Order

ZST is putting on a double header this Sunday in Shinjuku Face. Shinjuku Face is an awesome place to watch fights, as it is very small and intimate it is impossible to get a bad seat.

There are 2 cards, hence you do need 2 tickets if you want to go to both of these.

The SWAT event starts at 12.30, and it should be well worth the ticket price. 11 fights are on the card, and for a SWAT card this is very good.

Worth noting on the SWAT card, there are 2 tournaments. The welterweight tournament will only have the final in this event. Due to injury on Masayuki Hamagishi, Hiroyuki Ito will take the place in the final.

There is also a flyweight genesis tournament, which we will have 2 semi-finals and a final on the night.

The main event is the welterweight fight between ZST talent Tomohiko Yoshida and AACC's "Toraji".

I am really excited about this event, reason is that my BJJ instructor is fighting and it will be the first time I get a chance to watch him live. Hiroshi Tsuruya is an experienced grappler, and here are just some of his titles:

2005 Japan Shooto Grappling Championships Middleweight Winner
2005 LUTADOR NO-GI JIU-JITSU Open weight Winner
2007 Bogona Grappling Absolute weight winner

Source: BoutReview

It should be a good grapping match, and a very good evening of fights.

11. Main-Event - Welter: Tomohiko Yoshida 5-1-1 vs. 4-5-2 Ryo "Toraji" Nakajima
10. Bantam: Ichiro Sugita 6-2-5 vs. 1-2-0 Makoto Takenaka

Genesis Finals:
9. Flyweight Final: Winner Semi-Final 1 vs. Winner Semi-Final 2
8. Welter Final: Yoshinari Asano vs. 3-9-3 Hiroyuki Ito

Non-Tournament:
7. Middle - GT-F Rule: Hiroshi Tsuruya vs. Ichiro Kojima
6. Minimum (female): Ayumi Funakoshi 0-0-1 vs. 1-3-1 Mamiko Mizoguchi
5. Welter: Kendo Kouda 1-2-0 vs. 3-2-3 Masaya Doi
4. Light: Yujiro Yamamoto 1-2-2 vs. 3-4-0 Yosuke Akahiro
3. Feather: Tetsuya Nishi 2-5-6 vs. 2-2-0 Keizo Hisamoto

Genesis Flyweight Tournament Semi-Finals:
2. Semi-Final 1: Yoshiya Shinba 3-3-2 vs. 1-0-0 Yasushi Yasunaka
1. Semi-Final 2: Keisuke Tamaru 4-7-3 vs. 0-1-0 Hiroyuki Ai

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8/24 ZST Douple Header - Results

There wasn't only Sengoku happening in Japan yesterday, ZST put up no less than 2 cards in Shinjuku Face. On the cards were the finals in the Genesis Lightweight and Featherweight tournament

The early event:
ZST SWAT! In FACE Vol. 1

12. Hiroshi Tsuruya Def. Tomohiko Yoshida by Choke Round 2 2:22
11. Ichiro Kojima vs. Ryo “Toraji” Nakajima DRAW
10. Final Featherweight: Takeaki Miyagawa Def. Kei Sato by Heel-Hook Round1 1:38
9. Final Lightweight: Hirota Okazawa Def. Hiroyuki Ota by Decision
8. Ryosuke Tanuma Def. Yuichiro Yajima by arm-lock Round 1 1:00
7. Grappling Tag-Team 1x10min:
Ayumi Funakoshi & Miki Aiba vs. Ikuko Tamada & Yuki Sugiura DRAW
6. Kendo Kouda (?) Def. Yuichiro Toriyama by Heel-Hook Round 1 3:15
5. Tokuaki Ninomiya vs. Hiroaki Okuwa DRAW

Genesis Tournament Lightweight GT-F rule Semi-Finals:
4. Hirota Okazawa Def. Shunichi Shimizu by arm-bar Round 1 4:50
3. Hiroyuki Ota Def. Hiro Toyama by arm-bar Round 1 4:38

Genesis Tournament Featherweight GT-F rule Semi-Finals:
2. Kei Sato Def. Hiryu Okamoto by KO Round 2 0:14
1. Takeaki Miyagawa Def. Keizo Hisamoto by Decision


The late event:
ZST BATTLE HAZARD 03
ZST vs. DEEP Featherweight fights (ZST-Rule)
10. Masanori Kanehara Def. Isamu Sugiuchi by KO Round 1 0:47
9. Wataru Inatsu Def. Tatsumitsu Wada by Heel-hook Round 1 0:46

8. SB-X Rule: Nobutatsu Suzuki Def. Yojiro Uchimura by KO (3 knockdowns) Round 2 1:53
7. Tag-Team fight: Masayuki Okude/Tatsuya Yamada Def. Kenichi Ito/Yuki Ito
6. RX-Rule: Osami Shibuya Def. Kenji Nagai by Kimura Round 1 5:07
5. ZST VT-Rule: Seishi Takeda vs. Tatsuhiko Nishizaka DRAW

Opening Fights:
4. GT-F Rule: Daisuke Yokoyama vs. Ichiro Sugita DRAW
3. ZST-Special Rule: Hiroyuki Yamashiro Def. Goro Kobayashi by TKO (doctor stop) Round 1 1:23
2. ZST-Rule: Yutaka Inada vs. Tetsuya Matsuzaki DRAW
1. GTF-Rule: Yuhei Oshita Def. Naohiro Hasegawa by armbar Round 1 2:04

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8/24 ZST Douple Header

On August 24 (same day as the Sengoku event), ZST is putting on a double header in Shinjuku Face Arena. First up, in the early afternoon is ZST SWAT in FACE Vol. 1, followed by Battle Hazard 03 later in the day.

Part of the early card with be semi' and finals in 2 of the Genesis Tournaments, in addition to a main event between Tomohiko Yoshida and Hiroshi Tsuruya, a fight that looks very interesting. On the later card, you have some very familiar ZST names and a main event between Masanori Kanehara and Isamu Sugiuchi. The Pancrase veteran Osami Shibuya also makes an apperance.

ZST SWAT! In FACE Vol. 1
Shinjuku Face Open: 12:30 fights start 13:00

12. Welterweight: Tomohiko Yoshida 5-0-1 vs. 6-2-3 Hiroshi Tsuruya
11. Welterweight: Ichiro Kojima 4-5-2 vs. 4-5-1 Ryo “Toraji” Nakajima
10. Genesis Tournament Featherweight Final (Winners of Semi-finals)
9. Genesis Tournament Lightweight Final (Winners of Semi-finals)
8. Flyweight: Yuichiro Yajima 6-5-1 vs. 1-1-0 Ryosuke Tanuma
7. Grappling Tag-Team 1x10min:
Ayumi Funakoshi & Miki Aiba vs. Ikuko Tamada & Yuki Sugiura

6. Welterweight: Yuichiro Toriyama vs. Kendo Kouda (?)
5. Bantamweight: Tokuaki Ninomiya vs. Hiroaki Okuwa

Genesis Tournament Lightweight GT-F rule Semi-Finals:
4. Shunichi Shimizu vs. Hirota Okazawa
3. Hiroyuki Ota vs. Hiro Toyama

Genesis Tournament Featherweight GT-F rule Semi-Finals:
2. Kei Sato vs. Hiryu Okamoto (?)
1. Takeaki Miyagawa vs. Keizo Hisamoto


Ticket:
VIP 12,000円
VIP (Counter) 12,000円
SRS 8,000円
A 6,000円
Free seat 5,000円
At the door +500円
500 yen drink coupon included



ZST BATTLE HAZARD 03
Open 17:30 Start (main-card) 18:30

ZST vs. DEEP Featherweight fights (ZST-Rule)
10. Masanori Kanehara 9-4-5 vs. 7-7-2 Isamu Sugiuchi
9. Wataru Inatsu 2-3-1 vs. 0-3-0 Tatsumitsu Wada

8. SB-X Rule - Light Heavy: Nobutatsu Suzuki 4-0-2 vs. 5-2-0 Yojiro Uchimura
7. Tag-Team fight - Lightweight: Masayuki Okude/Tatsuya Yamada vs. Kenichi Ito/Yuki Ito
6. RX-Rule Middleweight: Osami Shibuya 34-32-15 vs. 4-6-1 Kenji Nagai
5. ZST VT-Rule – Light Heavyweight: Seishi Takeda vs. 5-1-0 Tatsuhiko Nishizaka

Opening Fights:
4. GT-F Rule Bantamweight: Daisuke Yokoyama vs. 6-2-4 Ichiro Sugita
3. ZST-Special Rule Welterweight: Hiroyuki Yamashiro 1-2-0 vs. 3-3-4 Goro Kobayashi
2. ZST-Rule – Welterweight: Yutaka Inada vs. Tetsuya Matsuzaki
1. GTF-Rule Featherweight: Yuhei Oshita vs. Naohiro Hasegawa

VIP 12,000円
VIP (Counter) 12,000円
SRS 8,000円
A 6,000円
Free Seat 5,000円At the door +500円
Includes 500円 Drink Coupon

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Coming up in August

July was extremely busy. To be honest, it was sort of nice to enjoy a weekend with no major MMA events on in Japan (even thought DEEP had their event yesterday).

Time to look forward to what is coming up in August:
8/2 DEEP Megaton GP Final - Tokyo, Shinjuku Face
8/3 Shooto - Gig Central - Nagoya
8/3 ZST SWAT! - Tokyo, Omori Gold's Gym
8/16 DEEP Gladiators - Okayama - Momotaro Arena
8/17 DEEP Impact 37 - Tokyo, Korakuen Hall
8/24 Sengoku 4 - Tokyo, Saitama Superarena
8/24 ZST SWAT! & Battle Hazard 03 - Tokyo, Shinjuku Face
8/27 Pancrase Shining Tour - Tokyo, Korakuen Hall

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MMA Week Coming up

Well, I guess its not officially MMA week, but for me it wil be. Between July 17-24 there are so many events happening that it is hard to choose what to go to. Anyway, here is the schedule:

7/17 - DEEP/M-1 Challenge in Korakuen Hall
7/18 - Shooto Tradition 2 in Korakuen Hall
7/20 - ZST - SWAT 19 in Gold's Gym South Annex
7/21 - DREAM 5 in Osaka Jo Hall (card not offical, this is what we have so far)
7/21 - GCM Demolition in Differ Ariake (card not announced)
7/21 - Shoot Boxing in Korakuen Hall (card not announced)
7/24 - SmackGirl ReMix Tournament Finals in Korakuen Hall(I will have something here shortly)

I have deceided to go to Shooto and DREAM for that week. I hope to get to DEEP and SmackGirl as well, but will see how the finances are doing :).

In regonition of MMA Week, I will give you some videos of fighters participating.

Joachim Hansen vs. Olof Inger (from Finn-Fight 5 2001). This is the early days of Joachim's career, a decision win (its not easy to make out the result in the video) in his 3rd fight. A video I havnt seen before and I am sure fans will appreaciate.



Mamoru Yamaguchi is fighting "BJ" Kojima in the main event of Shooto - Tradition 2. Should be a good event, here are some highlights.



Daisuke Nakamura is fighting in the DEEP/M-1 Challenge. Here he is tapping (or maybe that should be not tapping...) against Vitor Ribeiro.



Megumi Fujii is fighting Ana Michelle Tavares in the final of the ReMix Tournament. This is her opening fight against Cindy Hales. Mega-Megu is currently 15-0-0 in MMA, and in the final she will meet a very competent fighter in Ana Michelle Tavares, I will post one of her fights too.



Ana Michelle Tavares has fought Mega-Megu before and lost by decision. Can she win this time? Here she is in the opening round against Kyoko Takabayashi.



And of course we cant forget the DREAM finalists. This is a higlight video of Shinya Aoki. I am sure I will have more chances to post the rest of the fighters in this tournament.

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7/20 ZST SWAT 19 - Genesis Tournament

ZST is holding thier Featherweight Tournament round 1 and 2 in Gold's Gym South Annex on July 20. Should be some good fights in there and a good chance to discover new talent. Prices are very affordable too.

15. MW: Yojiro Uchimura 5-2-0 vs. 2-2-0 Takashi Matsui
14. BW: Shin Katayama 4-1-6 vs. 1-0-0 Tetsuya Fusano
13. Female Grappling Rule: Rina Tomita vs Mamiko Mizuguchi
12. FWT: Winner Fight 7 vs. Winner Fight 8
11. FWT: Winner Fight 6 vs. Winner Fight 5
10. FWT: Winner Fight 4 vs. Winner Fight 3
9. FWT: Winner Fight 2 vs. Winner fight 1
8. FWT: Akira Omura 0-9-1 (2NC) vs. Keizo Hisamoto
7. FWT: Makoto Takenaka 0-1-0 vs.優瑠 (?) Hayasaka
6. FWT: Masanori Hirata vs. Yushi Komori
5. FWT: Takeaki Miyagawa vs. 0-1-1 Tetsuya Yamamoto
4. FWT: Toshihiro Shimizu vs. Kei Sato
3. FWT: Kohei Kuraoka vs. Takahiro Ichijo
2. FWT: Hisamitsu Taniguchi vs. Yuta Meguro
1. FWT: 剛卓(?) Abe vs. Hiryo (?) Okamoto

Ticket Prices:
SRS 5,000円/S 3,000円/ Standing 2,000円
At the door: +500円

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