1/30 King of the Cage "Toryumon"

King of the Cage is making their way to Japan and Okinawa later this month. This will be the first KOTC event in Japan, and its looking like a good card.

The popular Shooto and ShootBoxing veteran, Mamoru, will take on the undefeated Frank Baca for the vacant KOTC Junior Flyweight title.

Another popular Japanese fighter on the card is DREAM and HEROs veteran Kotetsu Boku. Boku is taking on the former KOTC lightweight champion, Tony Hervey. Hervey lost his title in December and will be looking to bounce back here, Boku will be no easy opponent though.

Pancrase veteran Kiichi Kunimoto will take on Bellator tournament finalist Tony Imada.

King of the Cage World Junior Flyweight Championship
Mamoru Yamaguchi 22-5-3 vs. 3-0-0 Frank Baca

Kotetsu Boku 15-6-2 vs. 11-6-0 Tony Hervey
Kiichi Kunimoto 8-3-0 vs. 22-13-0 Toby Imada
Roxanne Modafferi 13-5-0 vs. 8-8-1 Molly Helsel
Tatsuya Sou 4-3-1 vs. Shigeki Matsuda
Koji Kanechika 4-2-0 vs. 6-6-1 Jerry Vrbanovic
Leandro Cussano vs. 4-3-0 Christian Vargas
Shinya Kumazawa 3-6-0 vs. 4-1-0 Steve Hecht
Tsuyoshi Tamaki vs. Bryon Schnell

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2/13 ShootBoxing - Participants Announced

ShootBoxing have announced the first participants for their event in Korakuen Hall on February 13.

There are some very popular fighters announced, among them ShootBoxing champions Hiroaki Shishido and Takaaki Umeno.

Also announced is the female S-Cup champion from last year, Rena. Female pro-wrestler Fuuka Kakimoto is also announced as a participant and she will be pulling some of her fans up from Akihabara to Korakuen hall. This will be her second ShootBoxing fight, having won her first by decision at the 2008 S-Cup tournament.

Participants:
Hiroki Shishido (East Pacific welterweight champion)
Takaaki Umeno (Japan superwelterweight champion)
RENA (Female S-Cup 2009 Champion)
Fuuka Kakimoto (Pro-wrestler)

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2/27 Shooting Disco 11 "Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!"

Gutsman Promotion will hold the 11th Shooting Disco on February 27. As usual the event will be held in Shinjuku Face, and will have lots of talented fighters on the card.

These events are normally sold out and I am sure this will be no different. A major part of this event will be this year's rookie tournament round 1.

Announced:
Fly: Hiroaki Yoshioka 6-9-2 vs. 5-2-0 Junji "Sarumaru" Ito
Bantam: Yosuke "Flying Monkey No.2" Saruta 2-2-1 vs. 2-3-1 Tatsuya "Nakashi" Nakashima
Light: Komei Okada 5-10-2 vs. 3-3-2 Hidenori Nishino
Feather: Haruo Ochi 4-1-1 vs. 1-0-0 Keita Kono
Light: Kosuke Kindaichi 1-1-1 vs. Kenichiro Marui

Shooto Rookie Tournament:
Bantam: Akinobu Watanabe 2-0-1 vs. Hiroshi Osato
Feather: Keita Ishibashi 0-2-0 vs. HAMAJI
Fly: Ato Little vs. Jun Nabeshima
Light: Takayuki Hiose vs. Yoshifumi Nakamura
Middle: Taijiro Iseki 0-2-0 vs. 3-0-0 Yusaku Inoue

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1/10 DEEP X Real King, Future King & Jewels Grappling Tournaments 2010 - Participants

DEEP X tournaments will be held on Sunday in Taido Riverside Sports Centre.

The winners of tournaments with more than 8 participants receive JPY50,000 with less than 8 participants the winner takes home JPY30,000.

The winners will also participate in the DEEP X 05 event to be held in Shijuku Face on February 6.

DEEP X Real King Tournament
Featherweight (-62kg):
-Shinichi Yoshioka (Paraestra Tokyo)
-Kou Kiuchi (Nagoya Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Club)
-Kouhei Nishibayashi (GRABAKA Jiu-Jitsu Club)
-Takumi Murata (A3)
-Nobuhisa Kudo (Ampleged Kokubunji)
-Yosuke Saruta (REDIPS)
-Satoru Ida（Paraestra Kasai）

Lightweight (-69kg):
-Shinji Ejiri (AACC)
-Yu Sugiuchi (Team ROKEN)
-Yo Saito (Paraestra Sendai)
-Yasuto Nakatsuka (Gracie Barra Tokyo)
-Santos Evaldo (?) (Damm Fight-Cool Champs)
-Kohei Yasumi (Lotus Paraestra Setagaya)
-Hiroki Muramoto (Nova Uniao Japan)
-Toshiaki Hayasaka (Paraestra Sendai)
-Yuruka(?) Sasaki（Wajutsu Keishukai）

Welterweight (-77kg):
-Ryotaro Endo (Alliance)
-Yuma Ishizuka (AACC)
-Sotaro Yamada (Brave)
-Sasahara Tomeya Filho (?)（Gracie Humaita Japan）
-Takahiro Kanda (GRABAKA Gym)
-Takasumi Matsumoto (Free)

Middleweight (+77kg):
-Yuji Arai (MAX Jiu-Jitsu Academy)
-Nobuhiro Sato (Nagoya Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Club)
-Soji(?) Kuroki （Nova Uniao Japan）
-Keitaro "K-Taro" Nakamura (Wajutsu Keishukai Tokyo)
-Yuji Fujioka (Alliance Square)
-Kotetsu Toyota（菊地商店）

DEEP X Future King:
Bantamweight (-57kg):
-Masahiko Morita (Newaza World)
-Kochi(?) Nishibayashi (Axis Jiu-Jitsu Academy)
-Kenji Muramatsu (PUREBRED Omiya)

Feather(-62kg):
-Akihiko Sindo (Amonkai)
-Shinji Yamada (AACC)
-Kengo Kitada (Rodeostyle)
-Takashi Goto（Suita Jiu-Jitsu）
-Kazuyoshi Ikeda (DEEP)
-Hyuma Tatsuno (Free)
-タバ・アギナルド・マサオ (Damm Fight-Cool Champs)
-Jun Sakamoto (Tri-Force Styles-Infinity Academy)
-Toru Fujii (RB Academy)
-Kenji Hamamoto (Krazy Bee)

Lightweight (-69kg):
-Kazuyuki Kondo (Niwaka Grapple)
-Kengo Horiguchi (Horiguchi Dojo)
-Yasumitsu Negishi (Paraestra Chiba)
-Kenji Fukuda (Pogona)
-Tatsuya Karasawa (Axis Jiu-Jitsu Academy)
-Satoshi Kitagaki (Lotus Paraestra Setagaya)
-Yuki Hanawa (RB Academy)
-Kazutami Hirai (Academy AZ)

Welterweight (-77kg):
-Koji Sakanaka （Strapple Ohana）
-Yasunori Yokoyama (Axis Jiu-Jitsu Academy)
-Yuji Hashimoto (Wajutsu Keishukai)
-Hirotaka Suzuki (Pogona Club)
-Mari Hoshino (Axis Jiu-Jitsu Academy)

Middleweight (-86kg):
-Tomoyuki Yamada (AACC)
-Yoichi Yamasaki (RB Academy)
-B-Taku (Paraestra Kawasaki)
-Atsushi Horiguchi (SK Absolute)

Heavyweight (+86kg):
-Satoru Honma (Honma Dojo)
-Keith Vargo (Takada Dojo)

Jewels Grappling:
50kg:
-Yuki Sugiuchi (Pogona Club)
-Yurie Kamata (GRABAKA Gym)
-Asako Murano (Academy AZ)
-Emi Tomimatsu (Paraestra Matsudo)

55kg:
-Masami Tsujiyama (PUREBRED Kawaguchi REDIPS)
-Rekako(?) Yuasa (Pogona Club)

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2/7 Pancrase Passion Tour 1 - Former "Super High-School Student" Participates!

"The Former Super High-school Student" Tetsuya Yamada will make his Pancrase debut against Pancrase superveteran and 1995 Neo-Blood tournament winner, Takafumi Ito. It should be a good test for the 19 year old talent.

Also added is a rematch between Isao and AB. The last fight ended early with an accidental groin kick and the following DQ of AB. Both fighters will be eager to prove they are better and it should be a good fight.

Tomonari Kanomata is also returning to Pancrase to take on the undefeated Grabaka fighter, Shigeyuki Uchiyama.

The last fight added today is between Ryuji Ohori, who is coming in on a 3 fight losing streak. He is taking on Korean Kim Hoon.

Added:
Light: Takafumi Ito 35-29-10 vs. 3-2-0 Tetsuya Yamada
Light: Isao Kobayashi 5-0-0 vs. 4-3-0 Hiroki "AB" Aoki
Feather: Tomonari Kanomata 14-4-5 vs. 8-0-0 Shigeyuki Uchiyama
Middle: Ryuji Ohori 3-5-0 vs. 5-4-0 Hoon Kim

Previously Announced:
Flyweight King of Pancrase title fight:
(champion) Mitsuhisa Sunabe 11-5-3 vs. 4-3-1 Kiyotaka Shimizu

Middleweight Intrim King of Pancrase title fight:
(Champion) Yuki Kondo 50-23-7 vs. 9-6-5 Takenori Sato

Welter: Shingo Suzuki 3-2-1 vs. 7-5-1 Kengo Ura
Bantam: Seiya Kawahara 8-2-0 vs. 12-5-10 Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi
Welter: Daisuke Watanabe 17-28-4 vs. 24-32-11 Kosei Kubota
Fly: Isao Hirose 6-1-0 vs. 3-4-1 Takuma Ishii
Middle: Keiichiro Yamamiya 36-24-9　vs. 14-17-5 Yuji Hisamatsu

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Jewels 2010 Schedule

Jewels have announced the schedule for 2010. The first event will also feature Shootboxin, MMA, grappling and BJJ amature fights.

1/31 ROUGH STONE 2nd RING, Ceasar Gym Shin Koiwa
3/19 Jewels 7th Ring, Shinjuku Face
5/23 Jewels 8th Ring, Shinkiba 1st Ring
7/31 Jewels 9th Ring, Shinjuku Face
10/10 Jewels 10th Ring, Shinkiba 1st Ring
12/17 Jewels 11th Ring, Korakuen Hall

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2/14 Shooto Gig North Vol. 5

Shooto have announced the 5th Gig North in Zepp Sapporo on February 14.

It looks like a pretty good card too, as usual local talent mixing it with Shooto fighters from other areas. The veteran "Gozo" is makeing the trip to Sapporo to take on the local favorite Fumihiro Kitahara in a fight that will probably be the main event.

The Rookie Tournament has a big addition, Pancrase and ZST veteran Ranki Kawana will have his 1st round fight here against the local Takashi Niikuni.

Announced:
Bantam: Ayumu "Gozo" Shioda 7-6-0 vs. 6-1-1 Fumihiro Kitahara
Bantam: Toshimichi Akagi 7-4-3 vs. 5-4-1 Takuya Mori
Light: Daisuke Ishizawa 4-6-0 vs. 8-7-1 Masaki Yanagisawa
Fly: Kenichi Sawada 4-10-4 vs. 3-2-0 Tatsuya Yamamoto
54kg: Keisuke Kurata 4-7-1 vs. 1-2-0 Atsushi Mochizuki

Rookie Tournament:
Feather: Takashi Niikuni 1-1-0 vs. 12-2-6 Ranki Kawana
Bantam: Isao Yoshida 1-0-0 vs. Yusuke Honma

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2/21 Shooto Trilogy op:1 - Fights Announced

There's not a lot of events in Fukuoka, so I am excited to see that Shooto will be holding an event in Southern Pier Hakata. The card has a few fights added already, and also some old fighters coming back on this one.

Takamitsu Oba's last fight in Shooto was back in 2004, no doubt the travelling from Nagasaki makes it more difficulf for the fighters in Kyushu.

I wish I was in Fukuoka for this one. With there being Rookie Tournament fights on there too, there is always the chance of spotting some talented fighters.

Announced:
Welter: Kazuya Satomoto 5-3-0 vs. 2-0-2 Takamitsu Oba

Rookie Tournament:
Welter: Tadahiro Harada 1-0-1 vs. 0-1-1 Norio Tokuhisa
Light: Hiroaki Nakayama 0-2-0 vs. 大昇 "Ninja" Nousaka

62kg "Naked" Grappling: Takeshi Okada vs. Osamu Kosuzu

Participants:
Hideru Inoue 4-2-1
Katsuhisa Akasaki 2-16-1
Naosuke Mizoguchi 0-5-1

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1/23 The Way of SHOOTO "Like a Tiger、Like a Dragon" - Fights Announced

Added today is Cage Force veteran Wataru Miki, but he is listed as fighting for Natural9 (for the fans following him). This will be his first fight in Shooto in over 4 years! The opponent this time will be taking shooto debutant Jin Suk Jung, who has fights from Pancrase and Spirit MC.

Joining the middleweight Shooto Rookie tournament is the Cage Force veteran, Tetsuo Seto.

Shooto lightweight champion "Lion" Takeshi Inoue.

Added:
Light: Wataru Miki 15-9-3 vs. 3-3-0 Jin Suk Jung
Welter: Shin Kochiwa 6-1-2 vs. Kim Ho Sun
Bantam: Masumi Tozawa 1-2-3 vs. 1-1-0 Keiji Koizumi

Rookie Tournament (2x5min):
Middle: Tetsuo Seto vs. Hiroki Okano
Bantam: "Rambo" Kosuke vs. 0-4-1 Yuya Kaneuchi

Previously Announced:
Fly: Atsushi "ATCH Anarchy" Takeuchi 7-4-2 vs. 5-2-0 Hiroyuki Abe
Welter: Yutaka Ueda 7-2-1 vs. 13-3-1 Yoshihiro Koyama
Middle: Yoichiro Sato 5-2-1 vs. 5-2-2 Takuya Sato

Participants:
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue 17-3-0
Hideki Kadowaki 13-9-2
Taiki Tsuchiya 5-2-0


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1/4 KRUSH 5 "New Year Fight" - Rambaa Fighting Exhibition Fight

Krush is an organization that I dont write much about, my focus has always been on the MMA side in Japan (with some very few exceptions). But Krush has announced a fight for their January 4 event that I thought was worth mentioning + the fact that they have been increasing their popularity lately (or it might be my perception).

Either way, the popular Shooto flyweight champion, Rambaa "M-16" Somdet will fight an exhibition fight on this event. Normally, I think exhibition fights might not be that big of a deal. BUT Rambaa is very entertaining in a normal fight, I think this should be a very entertaining fight for the fans in Korakuen Hall! His opponent is the M-1 Bantamweight chamption and RISE 55kg chamption, Nobuchika Terado.

Other than that, some very talented fighters on the card, like Yusuke Tsuboi, who was a participant in the 2008 Koshien K-1 tournament.

Fight Order:
Main Event:
8. 61kg K-1 Rule (5x3min.): Naoki Ishikawa vs. John Dennis

7. Exhibition Fight (2x2min): Rambaa "M-16" Somdet vs. Nobuchika Terado
6. 60kg K-1 Rule (3x3min + ext.): Junpei Aotsu vs. Hideki Mizutani
5. 55kg K-1 Rule (3x3min + ext.): Shota Takiya vs. Yoshiharu Nasu
4. 65kg K-1 Rule (3x3min + ext.): Daiki Watanabe vs. Atsushi Sasaya
3. 60kg K-1 Rule (3x3min): 隼児 Miyata vs. Daisuke Endo
2. 55kg K-1 Rule (3x3min): Yusuke Tsuboi vs. Yo Saenchai-gym
1. 65kg K-1 Rule (3x3min): Takahiro Ogawa vs. Wataru Suzuki

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