This will be a long post... Took a lot of pictures yesterday, so there will be more than usual.
It was a very good event, the card was awesome and the fights delivered. I have had to add a new fighter to my favorites, Rin Nakai. I knew about her before and was looking forward to this fight. She really delivered and she is one fighter I will follow.
As promised, at the event was Satoru Kitaoka signing his new shirts. My friend grabbed the oppurtunity to buy one and I got a picture (win/win situation).
The night kicked off with some very entertaining amature fights. This is Takeshi Egami and Masakazu Takafuji going at it.
The Pancrase Gate fights were entertaining, but the night doesn't really start until the ring girls are introduced.
Isao Hirose in black shorts took the first fight of the night against Tokuaki Ninomiya. It was a very good and close fight.
The next fight was the very talented Maximo Blanco against the experienced Daisuke Hanazawa "13". I was expecting a quick one, but Hanazawa had done his homework!
For the first time in his MMA career, Blanco was takeing into the 2nd round.
Hanazawa forced the tap 2:19 into the 2nd round. Both fighters had their chances, but Hanazawa came in with the better tactic.
The next fight was my fight of the night, even though there were several fights that were very exciting in this event. Hirotoshi Saito won the Neo-Blood tournament this year, and he is always exciting to watch. He won the first round clearly, but in the second Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi was able to take him down. A deserved draw, but it does not mean it wasn't exciting!
The heavyweight fight on the card was between Masayuki Kono and Stanislav Nedkov. Nedkov proved too strong for his Japanese opponent. It was clear that Nedkov enjoyed his experience here and I really hope we get to see him back soon!
The welterweight tournament final was up, the winner will challange for the King of Pancrase title next year. There was a lot at stake, and Nozawa was throwing everything at Iwamiya, including flying kicks. In the end though, Iwamiya got the judges decision 3-0.
I was really looking forward to seeing Rin Nakai fight. I have seen one of her fights in SmackGirl, and was really impressed. This time she was up against the very experienced "Windy" Tomomi.
Nakai really took the fight to "Windy" and there was never any doubt. Nakai won the fight by gnp, and it was an impressive victory.
Rin Nakai had eveery reason to be happy after a great performance!
Daijiro Matsui did not have a good day at the office... He was knocked out, but recovered only to be choked out cold by Ichiro Kanai.
Satoru Kitaoka was in Ichiro Kanai's corner, after the fight he showed his respect to a great fighter.
There was a break before the 3 title fights. In it, Kitaoka was brought into the ring to promote his upcoming title fight with Gomi. There is no love lost between them and it should be a very good fight. Kitaoka never won the Pancrase belt and he has a lot of respect for the Pancrase ring.
The first title fight was for the welterweight belt, and Masahiro Toryu was throwing everything at the champion, Takuya Wada.
But in the end, Wada got the decision and defended his belt.
For the bantamweight King of Pancrase title, the undefeated Seiya Kawahara was facing Manabu Inoue. To me, it looked like the fight was going towards a Kawahara decision.
Inoue didn't want to leave it to the judges though, and with just seconds left in the 2nd round he sunk in the rear-naked choke to end the fight.
The main event was for the lightweight title. Katsuya Inoue was taking on Koji Oishi. It was a fight where Oishi was going for takedowns, but Inoue was too good in defending them.
Katsuya Inoue fought his way to a decision.
On my way out I noticed Rin Nakai was just finishing off an interview. I asked if could take a picture of her, and she accepted. I really look forward to her next fight!
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