12/31 DYNAMITE! - Fights Added

Dynamite added some announcements today, following all the Sengoku announcements yesterday I expected something. The big announcement is Semmy Schilt's return to MMA rules (at a major event), he will be taking on Mighty Mo. This might end up to be more like K-1 rules, but it should be a good fight. It will be interesting to see if we get to see what Schilt is like on the ground now.

Hideo Tokoro should get a real test against Daisuke Nakamura. Tokoro will be giving up around 10kg in this fight (normally) and it will be a challenge for him.

They have also added the K-1 fight between Yoshihiro Sato and Artur Kyshenko.

This will, as always be a very good event.

DREAM Rule:
Semmy Schilt 25-14-1 vs. 3-0-0 Mighty Mo
Hideo Tokoro 21-14-1 vs. 18-9-0 Daisuke Nakamura

K-1 Rule:
Yoshihiro Sato vs. Artur Kyshenko

Previously announced:
K-1 Rule
Gegard Mousasi vs. Musashi
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kozo Takeda

DREAM Rule
Kazushi Sakuraba 24-11-1 vs. 32-13-2 Kiyoshi Tamura
Joachim Hansen 19-7-1 vs. 14-2-1 "JZ" Gesias Cavalcante
Mark Hunt 5-4-0 vs. 3-1-1 Jerome Lebanner
Shinya Aoki 18-3-0 vs. 15-1-0 Eddie Alvarez

K-1 Youth Tournament Semi-Final (Final held same night):
Hiroya vs. Shota Shimada
Tatsuya Kusakabe vs. Koya Urabe

Possible Participants:
Masato
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto
Caol Uno
Hideo Tokoro
Mitsuhiro Ishida
Masakatsu Funaki
Katsuyori Shibata
Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai
Junichi Sawayashiki
Yoshihiro Sato
Yasuhiro Kido
Taishin Kohiruimaki
Mirko Crocop
Hong Man Choi

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12/14 HEAT 8 - Pictures!

A great event in Differ Ariake yesterday! HEAT really dont get the attention it deserves, but it will come. Yesterday's event included some great semi-finals, the finals will be held in March and they should provide some very good fights!

The night started with a kick (K-1) rule fight between Kinji and Yuso Matsumoto.


Kinji forced Matsumoto to take count twice in round 1, Matsumoto tried to work his way back into the fight with kicks.


A very good and action packed fight, Kinji got the decision, but it was a good fight to get the night started.


The next fight was the welterweight tournament semi-final between Max Fernandes and Korean Hyong Yo Im. I was really looking forward to this one cause I have heard very good things about the talented Max Fernandes. He didnt disappoint! The Korean come out strong, and looked like he could cause the Brazilian some problems with an arm-bar attempt.


Fernandes shook off the attempt and when he got his chance he didnt waste time, submitting Hyong by a toe-hold (or achilles hold, not sure from my angle).


The win was very popular with his fans that were celebrating, Fernandes is into the final!


The 3rd fight of the night was another semi-final, in the middleweight kick-rule tournament. Thai Fabiakat "RS Promotion" and Jotaro Usui.


Lots of leg kicks in this one, and both fighters were showing the battle scars. But despite being deducted a point of a low knee, the Thai fighter got the decision in an impressive performance.


Max Fernandes' opponent in the welterweight final would be deceided when Justin Holdaas and Yoshitaro Niimi faced off in the other semi-final. Niimi recently lost the Shooto Pacific Rim title fight against Xavier Lucas, and was out to redeem himself. Holdaas had other plans though, and his tactics worked. He took Niimi to the ground and with one exception (pictured here), Holdaas was never in danger.


Holdaas was able to take Niimi to the ground and inpose his will.


A good win and you will hear more from Justin Holdaas in the future!


Goutoku Onda and Yuuki really put on a show for the fans. A very close fight with both throwing leather, this was exciting to watch.


I was impressed that this fight went the distance, a true testament to the determination by both the fighters. It also gave the ring-girls work.


A very strong win by Goutoku Onda


The other non-tournament fight on the card was between Masataka Chinushi and Daiju Takase. Takase had Caol Uno in his corner, but it didnt help today. Chinushi was able to open up a cut in round 1, and Takase changed his tactics in the 2nd.


Coming out in the 2nd, Takase tried to go for a takedown, but Chinushi was able to sprawl and avoid it. With just seconds left of the fight, Chinushi loads and lands this right to end the fight early.


A good win for Masataka Chinushi.


The last 5 fights were part of the heavyweight kick- and MMA-rule tournaments. First up was the kick-rule fight between Moon Bo Ram and Nobutaka Baba. Moon Bo Ram proved to be much stronger than he looked.


Moon lands this uppercut that ends the night early for Baba.


Moon Bo Ram moves on in the tournament.


Makoto Uehara and Sun Wu had an unexpected ending, there was a scramble along the fence and Wu went down with pain in the groin area. The ref did not see an illegal blow, an Wu were not allocated time to recover. He was unable to continue and Uehara got the win in another good fight.


Dong Yi Yang was facing Ryuta Noji in an MMA-rules fight. Dong took Noji down early, and for large parts of round 1 Noji was fighting his way out of submissions.

First an arm-bar


Then a triangle choke


But Noji survived to round 2.


In the end I think Ryuta Noji got tired and Dong Yi Yang got a good win.


The last kick-rule of the night was "Prince" Ali against K-1 veteran Hiromi Amada. This is my pick for fight of the night, an awesome performance by both fighters.

"Prince" Ali looked in control early and was able to use his reach to knock Amada down.


But the veteran was able to fight back. With just 30 seconds left, "Prince" Ali's corner threw in the towel to save their fighter.


Hiromi Amada moves into the tournament semi-final.


The main event saw the return of Sentoryu facing Junpei Hamada. Sentoryu came out strong and had Hamada on the run early.


Sentoryu took Hamada to the ground and I am not sure if he got injured in the takedown or if it was this punch that finished the fight, either way you look like it, Sentoryu showed how strong he is.



A very good night of fights and I cant wait for the finals!!

The March event should include:
Welterweight MMA-Rule Final: Justin Holdaas vs. Max Fernandes
Middleweight Kick-Rule Final: Kinji vs. Fabiakato "RS Promotion" Lukafa (?)

Heavyweight MMA-Rule Semi-Final Participants:
Sentoryu
Dong Yi Yang
Christiano Kaminishi
Sang Soo Lee

Heavyweight Kick-Rule Semi-Final Participants:
Makoto Uehara
Hiromi Amada
Moon Bo Ram
Goutoku Onda

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1/4 Sengoku - Mitsuoka vs. Golyaev Announced

Golyaev beat Sengoku star Gomi in the last Sengoku event. It was a contorversial decision, made even more so when you see it in the perspective that Gomi now has a title fight against Kitaoka. But Golyaev gets a fight on the Sengoku January 4 card as well, he will face Japanese star Eiji Mitsuoka.

It should be a very good fight! Mitsuoka lost in the Sengoku GP to Kitaoka, but beat Rodrigo Damm to reach the semi-final in that GP. Maybe the winner of this fight will be the first title defense for the new champion? We will see, this is shaping up to be a very good event!

Also made official were the plans of holding a featherweight tournament next year. Plans are for a 16 tournament with 1st round in March, second round will be in May and finals in July.


Added:
Eiji Mitsuoka 14-6-2 vs. 12-6-0 Sergey Golyaev

Previously announced:
Antonio Silva 11-1-0 vs. 7-1-0 (2NC) Yoshihiro "Kiss" Nakao
Hidehiko Yoshida 8-6-1 vs. 27-6-3 Sanae Kikuta
Takanori Gomi 29-4-0 vs. 23-8-9 Satoru Kitaoka
Jorge Santiago 20-7-0 vs. 21-8-2 Kazuo Misaki

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Yoshihiro Akiyama to Sengoku?

There has been lots of rumors about Akiyama lately. He posted on his blog earlier that he is now a free agent, and would be a very good signing for any organization. The question is really where will he go?

Akiyama himself has expressed an interest in fighting in the UFC, but his value is probably greater in Japan/Korea. It will be interesting to see if UFC is willing to pay Akiyama what he demands (have a feeling he is not cheap). Sengoku has also expressed an interest in the controversial fighter.

For me, I have a feeling he will be in Japan. It would be a huge signing for Sengoku and I am sure they will do their best to make it happen.

SportsNavi
Nightmare of Battle
Nightmare of Battle

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12/14 HEAT 8 - Differ Ariake - LIVE Results

I am ringside for this event, and it should be a good one. On the card are some very good fighters, among them Pride veteran Sentoryu, Kyokushin champion Ryuta Noji and Korean rising star Dong Yi Yang (the guy that got a controversial win over Pawel Nastula in Sengoku 4).

On the card are also middleweight kick- and welterweight MMA-rule fights. The winners will be crowned in HEAT 9 and will be awarded the HEAT championship belt and JPY1,000,000. There are some very talented fighters and you will hear more about guys like Justin Holdaas and Max Fernandez in the future!

These are the HEAT championship belts:
Kick-Rule Middleweight


MMA-Rule Welterweight


Today's main event will see Sentoryu face Junpei Hamada


It was my first time at a HEAT event, and their debut in Tokyo. Seeing it in that perspective, it was a very good event and I think the organizers should be very happy.

Sentoryu got a good win after almost 2 years out of the ring. He proved that he is still strong and the fight ended early in the 1st when Hamada looked like he was injured in a take down, it could have been a punch on the ground but to me it looked like Hamada was holding his arm. Either way, a strong performance by Sentoryu!

Fight of the night for me was the kick-rule fight between "Prince" Ali and Hiromi Amada. Iranian Ali came out strong and his counters and combinations were constantly landing. Both fighters needed to take count in the round, but Amada definately came out the loser in the 1st. The second round Amada got back into it, and inspite being bloody from the punishment in the 1st started finding his range. In the 3rd, Amada showed his experience. "Prince" Ali's corner was forced to throw in the towel to save him from the onslaught with less than 30 seconds to go.

The welterweight MMA rule fights went as I expected. Justin Holdaas and Max Fernandez both put in very strong performances and that should be a very good final! These are 2 fighters I am sure we will hear from in the future.

Fight Order:
Heavyweight tournaments 1st round:
11. Main-Event: MMA-Rule: Sentoryu Def. Junpei Hamada by KO Round 1 0:50
10. Kick-Rule: Hiromi Amada Def. "Prince" Ali by TKO (towel) Round 3 2:32
9. MMA-Rule: Dong Yi Yang Def. Ryuta Noji by TKO Round 2 3:46

8. Kick-Rule: Makoto Uehara Def. Sun Wu by TKO Round 2 1:10
A good fight that has an unexpected ending, in a scramble along the fence Wu comes out with a low blow of some sort. The ref didnt see any illegal blow and Wu's corner is forced to throw in the towel.

7. Kick-Rule: Moon Bo Ram Def. Nobutaka Baba by KO Round 2 1:07
Moon looked the stronger fighter in round 1, coming out in round 2 he lands a devastating right uppercut that ends the fight.

Non-Tournament Fights:
6. MMA Rule 88kg: Masataka Chinushi Def. Daiju Takase by TKO Round 2 4:57
With just seconds left of the fight Chinushi lands a right that knocks Takase to the ground. Chinushi follows up and the ref is forced to stop the fight.

There is a 10 minute break. There is a pretty goodd crowd in Differ Ariake, probably about 80% full, and good atmosphere.

5. Kick-Rule Open weight: Goutoku Onda Def. Yuuki by Decision 2-0
A very good fight! Both fighters were throwing bombs and the fans really got into it. In the end Onda got the ddecision.

HEAT MMA-Rule Welterweight Tournament Semi-Final:
4. Justin Holdaas Def. Yoshitaro Niimi by Decision 3-0
Holdaas was able to get takedowns and Niimi was not able to utilize his strenght on the groound. A good win, look out for Holdaas in the future!

HEAT Kick-Rule Middleweight Tournament Semi-Final:
3. Fabiakato "RS Promotion" Lukafa (?) Def. Jotaro Usui by Decision 2-0

HEAT MMA-Rule Welterweight Tournament Semi-Final:
2. Max Fernandez Def. Hyong Yo Im by toe-hold Round 1 1:22
Fernandez got out of several submission attempts by the Korean fighter, and once he got the chance he didnt miss it.

HEAT Kick-Rule Middleweight Tournament Semi-Final:
1. Kinji Def. Yuso Matsumoto by Decision 3-0
Strong performance by Kinji, Matsumoto had to take count several times during the fight, but survived until the end.

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12/13 Shooto - Rookie Tournament Finals - LIVE Results

Tonight we are sure to see some Shooto stars born, the Rookie Tournament never fails to deliver. Who will it be this year? I will for the first time give live updates from the event.

I will just post small comments and the results as I am taking pictures and enjoying the event at the same time :).

Read on for spoilers! Of course the success of this depends on the reception in the arena, lets hope it works out! The event starts at 6PM Japan time.

The event has started, I will be updating the results live!

A very good event, the crowd really go into it and it makes these kind of events special! A lot of fun!

MVP was the Killer Bee figher Issei Tamura, he won the hotly contested lightweight final and will be one to look for in the future. "Kid" Yamamoto was there to cheer him on, and its easy to see why. A very talented fighter.

The crowd was backing Mikitoshi Yamagami though, he has always been a popular guy in Shinjuku Face, and you wont find a more vocal crowd in Japan.

The main event was a very good fight, Guy came out strong and go the take down. Milano was strong and avoided most of the damage in the 1st round. If the round was 30 seconds longer he would even have the fight. But to his enthusiastic fans, Delameau was saved by the bell when Milano had a rear-naked choke sunk in deep. In the second round, Delameau continued his powerful gnp and it paid dividend (unlike the Lehman sotck I had earlier this year), Milano defended well for a long time but in the end the ref had to save him from the Delameau onslaught. A stroung win for Guy Delameau in tonights main event!

8. Main-Event: Welter: Guy Delameau Def. Paulo Milano by TKO (gnp) Round 2 4:09

Rookie Tournament Finals:
7. Flyweight: Mikitoshi Yamagami Def. Junji “Sarumaru” Ito by Guilliotine choke ROund 2 Fight of the night so far!!
6. Lightweight: Issei Tamura Def. Naohiro Mizuno by Decision 3-0

Retirement ceremony of Adachi.

5. Featherweight: Kosuke Eda Def. Yoshihiko Oyama by rear-naked choke Round 1 3:02
4. Light-Heavy: Makoto Maeda “Chomolangma ½” Def. Takaaki Oban “C-Boy” by KO (BIG KO) Round 1
3. Bantam: Fumihiro Kitahara Def. Kentaro Watanabe by Decision 3-0
2. Middle: Takuya Sato Def. Takesuke Kume by Decision after extra round
1. Welter: Ikuo Usuda Def. Yukinari “Hibiki” Tamura by Decision 3-0

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12/22 DEEP Protect Impact 2008

DEEP is putting on another Protect card this year. It should be a fun event, and there will be some established DEEP fighters there, but this event will be more about entertaining and talented fighters.

On the card is Miku Matsumoto, the DEEP female flyweight champion. She is taking on Hikaru Shinohara, who is the UKF MMA champion. Shinohara is the type of fighter that attracts attention for her looks and costumes, and this will draw some fans to Shinjuku Face for this event. It also looks like Miku will give up some weight in this fight.

There is also a 8-man bantamweight tournament on the card, the match-ups will be drawn on the day.

As for stars, DEEP Featherweight Champion Dokonjonosuke Mishima is taking on Toshiaki Kitada. This looks like a non-title fight.

Miku Matsumoto 18-4-0 vs. 5-6-0 Hikaru Shinohara
飛鷺輝(X-FORCE)(?) vs. 2-4-1 Yusuke Masuda
Kazuya Hirose 1-0-0 vs. 2-0-0 Sadao Kondo
Hirokazu "BULL" Konno 0-2-0 vs. 1-3-0 Osuma Ishizuka
Dokonjonosuke Mishima 18-6-2 vs. 7-3-2 Toshiaki Kitada
Seigo Mizuguchi 3-4-0 vs. 4-4-0 Ken Orihashi

Kick-Rule:
70.0kg: Nagajima☆Jienotsu☆Juichiro vs. Sakushi・K・River

Future Fight:
Satoshi Inoue vs. 全建 Miyazato(バンゲリングベイ) (?)

Protect Bantamweight Tournament Participants:
Tomohiko Hori 7-3-3
Isao Terada 4-6-4
Seiji Akao 4-1-0
Ippo Watanuke 7-6-2
Toru Harai 5-2-0
Tatsumitsu Wada 0-4-0
Masaki Yokoyama 2-0-3
Toshihiro Shimizu 3-5-2

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12/13 Shooto Rookie Finals - Weigh-In

The weight-in for tomorrow's Rookie Tournament finals are done and there were no major drama, everyone made weight even if both 2 and 3 attempts were needed.

8. Main-Event: Welterweight:
Paulo Milano 69.8kg
Guy Delameau 69.9kg

Rookie Tournament Finals:
7. Flyweight:
Mikitoshi Yamagami 51.8kg
Junji “Sarumaru” Ito 52.0kg

6. Lightweight:
Issei Tamura 64.9kg
Naohiro Mizuno 64.8kg

5. Featherweight:
Kosuke Eda 59.8kg
Yoshihiko Oyama 59.8kg

4. Light-Heavyweight:
Takaaki Oban “C-Boy” 82.8kg
Makoto Maeda “Chomolangma ½” 82.8kg

3. Bantamweight:
Fumihiro Kitahara 56.0kg
Kentaro Watanabe 55.3kg

2. Middleweight:
Takesuke Kume 76.1kg→76.0kg
Takuya Sato 75.5kg

1. Welterweight:
Yukinari “Hibiki” Tamura 70.2kg→70.1kg→70.0kg
Ikuo Usuda 70.0kg

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Pancrase - December Rankings Update

After having 3 title fights in their last event of 2008, it is not unexpected that there are some changes to the Pancrase rankings.

Notable changes, DJ Taiki goes out of the rankings due to inactivity. Him and several others are suffering that after not fighting in Pancrase for over a year.

There are 3 new King of Pancrase champions! Takuya Wada moves from intering champion to become the 4th welterweight King of Pancrase, Manabu Inoue takes a strong win against Seiya Kawahara to claim the bantamweight title, also Katsuya Inoue claims his title after defeating Koji Oishi.

Openweight
10th Open-weight King of Pancrase： Josh Barnett


Heavyweight 93.0kg～120.2kg
4th Heavyweight King of Pancrase: Available


Light-Heavyweight83.9kg～93.0kg
4th Light-Heavyweight King of Pancrase：Ryo Kawamura
1 → Keiichiro Yamamiya

Tatsuya Mizuno is taken out, due to inactivity.


Middleweight 77.1kg～83.9kg
7th Middleweight King of Pancrase： Izuru Takeuchi
Interim Middlweight King of Pancrase：Yuki Kondo
1 ↑ Alavutdin Gadzhiyev
2 ↑ Ichiro Kanai

Yuichi Nakanishi is taken out, due to inactivity.


Welterweight 70.3kg～77.1kg
4th Welterweight King of Pancrase： Takuya Wada
1 ↑ Tomoyoshi Iwamiya
2 → Masahiro Toryu
3 ↓ Jason Palacios
4 → Hiroyuki Nozawa

Tomoyoshi Iwamiya moves up after taking the welterweight tournament. Jason Palacios moves down to make room.


Lightweight 65.8kg～70.3kg
2nd Lightweight King of Pancrase： Katsuya Inoue
1 ↑ Koji Oishi
2 ↑ Artur Oumakhanov
3 ↑ Yukio Sakaguchi
4 ↑ Yuichi Ikari
5 ↑ Daisuke Hanazawa

Katsuya Inoue is the new lightweight King of Pancrase. Also entering the ranking is Daisuke Hanazawa after a strong win against Maximo Blanco.

Yuji Hoshino is taken out, due to inactivity.


Featherweight 61.2kg～65.8kg
Featherweight King of Pancrase: Marlon Sandro
1 ↑ Masaya Takita "J-Taro"
2 ↑ Kenji Arai

DJ Taiki is taken out, due to inactivity.


Bantamweight 58.0kg～61.2kg
Bantamweight King of Pancrase: Manabu Inoue
1 → Seiya Kawahara
2 → Tatsuya So

Manabu Inoue takes the bantamweight King of Pancrase spot.

Flyweight -58.0kg
Flyweight King of Pancrase: Available
1 → Mitsuhisa Sunabe
2 → Takuya Eizumi
3 ↑ Isao Hirose

Isao Hirose, this year's Neo-Blood champion enters the ranking.

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HEAT - Tournaments Breakdown

I know a lot of you are not too familiar with HEAT, or the tournaments they are currently putting on. It actually includes myself, so I deceided to do a bit of research to educate myself and maybe some of you will find this interesting too.

Currently, HEAT is holding 4 tournaments there are 2 MMA-rule and 2 Kick-rule (all 8 man tournaments). The price for the winner of each tournament is JPY1,00,000 or about US$10,000, so there is a lot at stake here.

MMA-Rule Tournaments:
-Heavyweight (open weight) Tournament
Participants: Christiano Kaminishi, Minoru Kato, Sang Soo Lee, Amazon Juninho, Henry Miller "Sentoryu", Junpei Hamada, Dong Yi Yang, Ryuta Noji.
*As always with tournaments, these are subject to change.

Schedule:
Round 1: 2 fights in HEAT 7 (July 13) and 2 fights in HEAT 8 (December 14).
Semi-Finals: Planned for March 2009
Final: Planned for July/August 2009


Results update:
Round 1:
Christiano Kaminishi Def. Minoru Kato by Decision 3-0
Sang Soo Lee Def. Amazon Juninho by Decision 3-0
Henry Miller "Sentoryu" vs. Junpei Hamada fighting December 14 2008
Dong Yi Yang vs. Ryuta Noji fighting December 14 2008


-Welterweight Tournament (77.1kg)
Participants: Hyong Yo Im, Hiroshi "Butch" Masabuchi, Max Fernandez, Naoki Kimura, Yoshitaro "Buffalo" Niimi, Jun Kito, Justin Holdaas, Pedro Akira

Schedule:
Round 1: 2 fights in HEAT 6 (March 30) and 2 fights in HEAT 7 (July 13)
Semi-Finals: December 14
Finals: Plannced for March 2009

Results Update:
Round 1:
Hyong Yo Im Def. Hiroshi "Butch" Masabuchi by TKO Round 1 3:47
Max Fernandez Def. Naoki Kimura by arm-bar Round 1 1:11
Yoshitaro "Buffalo" Niimi Def. Jun Kito by Rear-naked choke Round 1 2:49
Justin Holdaas Def. Pedro Akira by TKO Round 2 4:34

Semi-Finals (December 14):
Yoshitaro Niimi 6-2-2 vs. 1-1-0 Justin Holdaas
Max Fernandez 2-0-0 vs. 1-0-0 Hyong Yo Im


Kick-Rule Tournaments:
-Heavyweight (100kg) Tournament
Participants: Moon Bo Ram, Nobutaka Baba, Makoto Uehara, Sun Wu, "Prince" Ali, Hiromi Amada, Jason Suttie, Goutoku Onda

Schedule:
Round 1: 1 fights in HEAT 7 (July 13) and 3 fights in HEAT 8 (December 14).
Semi-Finals: Planned for March 2009
Final: Planned for July/August 2009

Result update:
Round 1:
Goutoku Onda Def. Jason Suttie by Decision 2-0

Fighting December 14:
Moon Bo Ram vs. Nobutaka Baba
Makoto Uehara vs. Sun Wu
"Prince" Ali vs. Hiromi Amada

-Middleweight (70kg) Tournament
Participants: Danilo Zanolini, Fabiakato "RS Promotion" Lukafa (?), Jotaro Usui, Junichi Maruyama, Park Eun Seok, Kinji, Nathan Willet, Yuso Matsumoto

Round 1: 2 fights in HEAT 6 (March 30) and 2 fights in HEAT 7 (July 13)
Semi-Finals: December 14
Finals: Plannced for March 2009

Result Update:
Round 1:
Fabiakato "RS Promotion" Lukafa Def. Danilo Zanolini by TKO
Jotaro Usui Def. Junichi Maruyama by Decision 3-0
Kinji Def. Park Eun Seok by KO Round 1 1:28
Yuso Matsumoto Def. Nathan Willet by Decision

Semi-Finals (December 14, 2008)
Jotaro Usui vs. Fabiakato "RS Promotion" Lukafa (?)
Yuso Matsumoto vs. Kinji

Hopefully that should give you some background behind the HEAT Tournament fights coming up on Sunday. The card and fight order is here.

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