2/28 DEEP 46 - Light-Heavyweight Tournament mtachups Announced

DEEP have announced the matchups for their opening round of the lightheavyweight tournament. The finals will be on April 17.

I think M'Pumbu should be the favorite going in, but I hope Noji does well here. He has a great fighting spirit and I hope he gets through to the finals.

Also announced is a fight between the former DEEP champion, Hidehiko Hasegawa and Taisuke Okuno.

DEEP Lightheavyweight Tournament Opening Round:
Ryuta Noji 8-5-0 vs. 9-17-1 Katsuhisa Fujii
Minoru Kato 2-8-3 vs. 7-4-2 Shunsuke Inoue
Christian “Tonton” M’Pumbu 14-2-1 vs. 11-15-1 Yuji Sakuragi
Carlos Toyota 3-3-1 vs. 5-1-0 Yoshiyuki Nakanishi

Non-Tournament:
Hidehiko Hasegawa 18-12-6 vs. 8-4-2 Taisuke Okuno

Previously Anounced:
Non-Tournament Fights:
Riki Fukuda 15-4-0 vs 18-22-2 Hiromitsu Kanehara
Yoshihiro "Barbaro44" Tomioka 14-7-6 vs. 10-4-3 Toshiaki Kitada
Eiji Ishikawa 18-15-2 vs. 8-12-3 Shigetoshi Iwase
Hiroshi “Iron” Nakamura 9-3-5 vs. 7-9-4 Isao Terada
Yasushi Kitazaki 10-6-1 vs. 0-1-1 Yuta Aoyama
Takashige "Crazy Hill" Hirukawa 2-1-0 vs. 2-0-0 Yoshiki Harada




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Asashoryu resigns from Sumo

One of sumo's biggest and most controversial stars resigned yesterday. Asashoryu at the age of 29 Asashoryu have won 25 sumo tournaments and is one of the biggest stars the sport has ever seen. But controversy has always followed the Yokozuna's career, the latest being a drunken assault.

Asashoryu told reporters:

I am grateful for everything. I will retire

Asashoryu has been "chased" by FEG for a while, and has been seen at their events. It will be interesting to see if they move in to sign the sumo star. The last Yokozuna to make that transition was Akebono, but I think Asashoryu would more suited for that transition.

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3/7 SRC 12 - Title Fight Official **UPDATE** Reis Out!

SRC have announced 3 fights for their next event in Ryogoku Kokugikan.

The until now rumored middleweight titlefight between Jorge Santiago and Mamed Khalidov is official.

Cage Force champion Yuji Hoshino will take on Wilson Reis, and Sengoku training player Shigeki Osawa will take on young Korean Kyung Ho Kang.

SRC Middleweight Title Fight:
Jorge Santiago vs. Mamed Khalidov

Fether: Yuji Hoshino vs. 9-1-0 Wilson Reis
Feather: Shigeki Osawa 4-1-0 vs. Kyung Ho Kang

Participant:
Maximo Blanco

FiveOunce of Pain has announced that Reis is out of this event, siting personal reasons. A BIG loss for SRC, as this was looking like a very good fight!

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2/13 ShootBoxing - Fights Announced

The first ShootBoxing event of 2010 is looking close to final. It has been announced that female S-Cup champion Rena will take on the 16 year old talent from Jabout in Australia. Jurjevic competed in the World Muay Thai Championships in 2009. It should be a good fight between 2 talented fighters.

Also announced, though NOT official is the matchup between ShootBoxing champion Tamaaki Umeno and Jabout's Dean Xuereb.

This is looking like a very strong event, and I am sure Korakuen Hall will be packed for this.

Officially Announced:
RENA vs. Christina Jurjevic

Announced on the Jabout website:
Takaaki Umeno vs. Dean Xuereb

Previously Announced:
ShootBoxing Japan Super-Featherweight Ranking Fight:
Akira Utagawa vs. Koya Shimada

ShootBoxing Japan Super-Bantamweight Ranking Fight:
Akito Sakimura vs. Kazuyuki Fushimi

ShootBoxing Japan Super-Featherweight Ranking Fight:
Takeshi Ishikawa vs. Hiroaki Suzuki

Noriyuki Imai vs. Tatsuhiro Takashima
Fuuka Kakimoto vs. Akari
Kuniyoshi Hironaka vs. Shinichiro Kuroki
Hiroki Shishido vs. Greg Foley

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2/6 BULL TERRIER presents DEEP X05 - Fight Order

DEEP is putting on their 5th "DEEP X" event. That means grappling, and they have some of the best grapplers in the world fighting here. The event will be held in Shinjuku Face.

The 3 fight tournament with Japan vs. the US. Grapplers such as "K-Taro", Paul Schreiner, Kohei Yasumi, Baret Yoshida, Takeshi Yamada and Ryan Hall it will be very interesting.

Also on this card is K-1 fighter Singh "Heart" Jaideep. Could this signal a move towards MMA?

Japan vs. US (3 Fights):
81.5kg: Keita "K-Taro" Nakamura vs. Paul Schreiner
68kg: Kohei Yasumi vs. Baret Yoshida
73kg: Takashi Yamada vs. Ryan Hall

56kg: Sayaka Shiota vs. Rikako Yuasa
Open: Marcos "Marquinhos" Souza vs. KOTESU
66kg: Tsubasa Tobinaga vs. Akihiro Hoshino
85kg: Motoki Miyazawa vs. Yuji Arai
Open: Yuichi Ozono vs. Taijiro Ui
Open: Hideki Sekine vs. Singh "Heart" Jaideep

Opening Fights: 　
63kg (1x5min.): Yuruka Sasaki vs. Yasushi Kiuchi
75kg (1x5min.): Nobuto Horiuchi vs. 崇寿 Matsumoto
69kg (1x5min.): Takehiro Isetani vs. Tatsuya Karasana
70kg (1x5min.): Kleber Koike vs. Hideto Okada

Future Fights:
67kg (1x5min.): Takumi Murata vs. Kazuto Hamasaki
77kg (1x5min.): Takahiro Kanda vs. Naoto Miyazaki
65kg (1x5min.): Yuto Hirai vs. Yasufumi Suzaki
62kg (1x5min.): Satoru Ida vs. Michinori Tanaka

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4/4 Pancrase Passion Tour - Fights Announced

Pancrase have also announced some good fights for the April 4. event in Differ Ariake. Part 1 of this event will be Neo-Blood Tournament fights, the second part is looking interesting already.

The two Pancrase veterans "J-Taro" and Keji Arai will both be looking to bounce back. "J-Taro" has lost 3 in a row and really needs a win here.

Another fighter in desperate need of a win is Takuya Eizumi. He had a great start to his career, and he also had a shot at the title. Now he is riding a 3 fight losing streak and the fans want to see him back on the winning track.

Part 2:
Feather: Masaya "J-Taro" Takita 9-12-2 vs. 15-14-4 Kenji Arai
Bantam: Ryota Sasaki 4-3-1 vs. 6-3-2 Hayato Shimizu
Fly: Takuya Eizumi 5-4-0 vs. 9-10-1 Yuichiro Yajima

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4/29 Pancrase Passion Tour - 2 Titlefights Announced!!

April will see Pancrase holding 2 events in Differ Ariake, this is the last of those. But there are already 2 title fights announced.

Middleweight champion Ichiro Kanai and welterweight champion Takuya Wada will both put their titles on the line, and the opponent will be deceided on Sunday.

Ichiro Kanai will take on the winner of the intrim King of Pancrase fight that will be deceided between Yuki Kondo and Takenori Sato.

The opponent for Takuya Wada will be deceided in the fight between Shingo Suzuki and Kengo Ura.

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3/21 M-1 FAIRTEX SINGHA BEER MuayThai Challenge 2010 - Fights Announced

Picture from GBR.

M-1 Fairtex Muay Thai challenge have announced a couple of fights for their event in Differ Ariake on March 21. These events are a very good chance to see some good Muay Thai in the Tokyo area, and they usually bring in some very good Thai fighters as well.

Announced are some Title figts, and I am looking forward to seeing Koichi Petas have a go at adding another title to his name.

WPMF World Heavyweight Title Fight:
Fabiano Cyclone vs. Koichi Petas

M-1 Female Mini-Flyweight Title Fight:
Atsuko Okada (Champion) vs. Haru Tajima

M-1 Super-Flyweight Title Fight:
Masataka Seki (Champion) vs. Hiroshi Yamano

M-1 Lightweight Tournament Participants:
Tomofumi Endo
Shinji Suzuki

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1/30 King of the Cage "Toryumon" - RESULTS

KOTC held their first event in Japan earlier today. It was a very good card, and the Japanese fighters really cleaned up!

The main event saw Shooto veteran Mamoru handle the undefeated Baca, and eventually getting a rear naked choke win. He is now the KOTC junior flyweight champion.

Kotetsu Boku got a good win over the former KOTC lightweight champion, Toney Harvey.

Toby Imada got a good win over Daisuke Hanazawa, in one of the few fights where the American fighter came out on top.

King of the Cage World Junior Flyweight Championship:
Mamoru Yamaguchi def. Frank Baca by rear-naked choke Round 2 1:54

Light: Kotetsu Boku def. Tony Hervey by Unanimous Decision
Welter: Toby Imada def. Daisuke Hanazawa by TKO Round 2 0:29
Female: Roxanne Modafferi def Molly Helsel by rear-naked choke Round 2 3:18
Bantam: Tatsuya Sou def Shigeki Matsuda by TKO Round 2 3:48
86.4kg: Shungo Oyama Def. Mike Wimmer by heelhold Roun1 1:07
Open: Koji Kanechika def Jerry Vrbanovic by Decision 3-0
Jerry Nelson Def. Shinsho Anzai by decision 2-1
Feather: Shinya Kumazawa def. Steve Hecht by Armbar Round 1 1:14
Light: Tsuyoshi Tamaki def. Bryon Schnell by rear-naked choke Round 3 2:28

Some pictures from the event, from Sportsnavi:

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1/30 King of the Cage "Toryumon" - Reminder

Just a reminder of this event tomorrow in the Okinawa Convention Centre.

The event is a very good start for KOTC in Japan, the card is looking very good. It is marketed as a double main event (personally, I feel there can only be 1 main event) with the highlight being a KOTC flyweight title fight between shooto legend Mamoru Yamaguchi and the relatively inexperienced, but undefeated Frank Baca.

I also always enjoy good female fights, and Roxanne Modafferi vs. Molly Helsel should be a good fight.

Tickets range from JPY 2,000-20,000.

There has been a change to the card, Toby Imada originally scheduled to fight Kiichi Kunimoto will instead fight Pancrase veteran Daisuke "13" Hanazawa.

This is the card from KOTC Japan: (I suspect there is a mistake about Byron Schnell fighting twice)

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
Daisuke Hanazawa 13-11-5 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
Shungo Oyama vs. Mike Wimmer
Koji Kanechika 4-2-0 vs. 6-6-1 Jerry Vrbanovic
Leandro Cussano vs. 4-3-0 Christian Vargas
Shinsho Anzai vs. Jerry Nelson
Shinya Kumazawa 3-6-0 vs. 4-1-0 Steve Hecht
Zachery Hayden vs. "Black Dragon"
Tomohiro Adaniya vs. "Miyagi Takashi"
Tsuyoshi Tamaki vs. Bryon Schnell
Riku Inafuku vs. Donald Shaw
Tsuyoshi Tamaki vs. Bryon Schnell

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