8/2 DEEP - MegaTon GP Finals

Thursday 31 July 2008

I have covered this previously, but here is the final fight order for this weekend's MegaTon Finals.

MegaTon GP Semi-Finalists (Match-ups will be drawn on the day):
Yusuke Kawaguchi 5-0-0
Ken Orihashi 5-6-0
Shunsuke Inoue 3-2-0
Shunji Kosaka 2-0-0

8. MegaTon Final
7. Mika Hayashi 2-2-0 vs. HARI
6. Sotaro Yamada 5-4-0 vs. 3-2-1 Ryoji Suzuki
5. Oyaji Grappling-Rule: Samio Kimura vs. Shinichiro Eguchi
4. MegaTon Reserve: Mamoru Nakamura 1-2-0 vs. 1-3-0 Wakaarashi
3. MegaTon Semi-Final 2
2. MegaTon Semi-Final 1
1. Grappling 1-day tournament final (the tournament takes place before this event)

Read more...

9/28 Shooto Tradition 3 - Fight Announced

Shooto have announced an additional fight for their Tradition 3 card. For me, I am still looking forward to seeing who they will match Rambaa Somdet with, but we have to wait for that.

Announced today:
Tenkei Fujimiya 7-3-2 vs. 5-1-2 Shintaro Ishiwatari

Previously Announced:
Featherweight World Title Fight:
Masakatsu Ueda 8-0-1 vs. 6-2-0 Marcos “Louro” Galvao

Yasuhiro Urushitani 14-3-6 vs. 7-4-2 Yuki Shoujou
Masaaki Sugawara 6-3-0 vs. 5-2-0 Takuya Mori

Rookie Tournament:
Naoki Hirayama 1-0-0 vs. 1-2-2 Takuya Sato
Horishige Tanaka 1-0-0 vs. 1-0-0 Atsushi Kobayashi
Kota Funaki 1-0-0 vs. 1-0-0 Kentaro Watanabe
Junji Ito 2-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Yoshitaka Aki

Participating:
Rambaa "M-16" Somdet 4-2-0

Read more...

11/24 Shoot Boxing - Saitama Super Arena

Wednesday 30 July 2008

Shoot Boxing have announced that their November 24 event will be held in Saitama Super Arena, one of the participants will (hopefully) be Andy Souwer. Also participating will be the winner of the upcoming fight between Daiki Shishido vs. Kenji Kanei on September 12. There will also be qualifying events held in Brazil (September), Holland and Lithuania (October).

This will be very exciting to see what Shoot Boxing can pull off! They put on an awesome show in Kokugikan last year.

http://www.gbring.com/sokuho/news/2008_07/0729_sb_02.htm

Read more...

8/27 Pancrase Shining Tour - Fight Order

Pancrase has added a fight to their already very good card. This is also the fight order.

The fight added is #4. I dont know who Maximo Blanco (have a feeling that spelling might be off too) is listed as a Venzuelian wrestler and should be more than a handful for Yashima.

***Update***
NoB has the scoop on who Blanco (I will go with their spelling) is.

Otherwise, if you're going to this event, make sure you get in early so you dont miss the Neo-Blood finals. I will be there for sure!

Fight Order:
10. King of Pancarase LW: Koji Oishi 16-7-5 vs. 6-3-2 Shinsuke Shoji
9. MW: Yuki Kondo 48-22-6 vs. 3-2-0 Ryuji Ohori
8. FW: Kenji Arai 12-12-2 vs. 6-4-1 Manabu Inoue
7. BW: Seiya Kawahara 5-0-0 vs. 9-6-5 Kentaro Imaizumi
6. LW: Yuichi Ikari 9-4-3 vs. 6-4-0 Eriya Matsuda
5. WW: Masahiro Toryu 5-3-3 vs. 4-6-0 Tomoyoshi Iwamiya
4. LW: Maximo Blanco vs. 2-4-1 Yuki Yashima

Neo-Blood Finals:
3. Lightweight: Steve Magdaleno 4-0-1 vs. Hiroki Aoki “AB”
2. Featherweight: Yasutomo Tanaka 5-1-3 vs. 1-0-0 Hirotoshi Saito
1. Bantamweight: Takuya Eizumi 1-0-0 vs. 2-0-0 Isao Hirose

Read more...

Coming up in August

Monday 28 July 2008

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

Read more...

9/7 Pancrase Shining Tour - Osaka

Lots of things happening in Osaka lately, and Pancrase is putting on an event there in September. Looks like it will be interesting too. 5 fights are announced, for me I look forward to seeing Daichi Fujiwara back in the ring. The cage was not kind to him and he will be looking to turn his 2 fight losing streak.


Daichi Fujiwara 7-3-1 vs. 4-3-0 Nobuhiro “Punch” Yamauchi
Kenji Takeshige 6-7-1 vs. 6-3-1 Motonobu Tezuka
Takashi Hasegawa 4-6-3 vs. 1-1-0 Takahiro Goda
Takayuki Hirayasu 0-2-0 vs. Shinichiro Ryuno
Soyu Tanabe 4-3-1 vs. 0-4-2 Hideo Matsui

Read more...

7/27 DEEP 36 Impact - RESULTS - New Welterweight Champ Crowned

Sunday 27 July 2008

DEEP had their Impact 36 event in Osaka earlier today. The main event was a title fight between Champion Hasegawa and challenger Ikemoto. Ikemoto has beaten Hasegawa previously, and he managed the same today. DEEP has yet another new champion!

Seichi Ikemoto Def. Hidehiko Hasegawa by decision 3-0
Young Choi "RYO" Def. Takenori Sato by decision 2-0
Seigo Def. Nobuyoshi Takahara by armbar Round 1 1:41
Masanori Tonooka Def. Hidehira Yabu by KO Round 1 3:37
Yoshinobu Kawamura Def. Junzo Tokunaga by TKO Round 1 3:22
Toru Harai Def. Isao Terada by decision 2-1
Hiroto Def. Nobuhiro Yoshitake by decision 3-0
Yasuko Tamada Def. Fukuko Hamada by Decision 3-0

NEXT LEVEL:
Kick-Rule:
James Low Def. Kareem “Sugarbear” Byron (?) by Decision 3-0

MMA-Rule:
Hasu Takeno Def. Takashi Murakami by KO Round 2 0:22
Hiroto Yamaguchi Def. Akira Fukukami by KO Round 2 1:42
Shohei Fujita Def. NakagawaΩJien乙ΩKoki by Decision 3-0
Kumiko Nanba Def. Suzuna Nakamura by decision 3-0

Opening Fights:
Yasunori Kanehara Def. Hiroshi Shiba by TKO Round 2 0:19
Yuki Kamijima Def. Makoto Kamaya by Decision 2-0
Yuya Aikawa Def. Miyamonta by TKO Round 1 2:23
Yasuaki Kishimoto Def. Reisyo Shoda by TKO Round 1 3:52

Read more...

8/24 ZST - Battle Hazard 03

ZST will hold Battle Hazard 03 in Shinjuku Face Arena August 24. This means that its on the same day as Sengoku and should be a good alternative. Part of this event are 2 ZST vs. DEEP fights.

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

One-match (not part of ZST vs. DEEP:
Shishi Takeda vs. 5-1-0 Tatsuhiko Nishizaka
Osami Shibuya 34-32-15 vs. 4-6-1 Kenji Nagai
Nobutatsu Suzuki 4-0-2 vs. 5-2-0 Yojiro Uchimura
Daisuke Yokoyama vs. 6-2-4 Ichiro Sugita

Tag-Team fight:
Masayuki Okude/Tatsuya Yamada vs. Kenichi Ito/Yuki Ito

Hiroyuki Yamashiro 1-2-0 vs. 3-3-4 Goro Kobayashi

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

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8/2 DEEP - MegaTon GP Finals

So it is time for the Megaton GP finals. This GP has given us some memorable moments and I am sure the finals will give us some more. Not really technical fights, but entertaining.

As always, audience members weighing in at more than 100kg will get a 500yen drink coupon.

MegaTon GP Semi-Finalists (Match-ups will be drawn on the day):
Yusuke Kawaguchi 5-0-0
Ken Orihashi 5-6-0
Shunsuke Inoue 3-2-0
Shunji Kosaka 2-0-0

MegaTon GP Reserve Fight:
Mamoru Nakamura 1-2-0 vs. 1-3-0 Wakaarashi

Non-MegaTon Fights:
Sotaro Yamada 5-4-0 vs. 3-2-1 Ryoji Suzuki
Mika Hayashi 2-2-0 vs. HARI

Oyaji Grappling-Rule:
Samio Kimura vs. Shinichiro Eguchi

Tickets:
VIP 8,000
S 8,000
RS5,000
Standing 4,000
At the door: +500

IRO Zeki vs. Ariyama Iitomo (2nd round reserve fight)


MegaTon Digest 2



MegaTon Digest 1


Read more...

7/18 Shooto - Tradition 02 - PICTURES

Saturday 26 July 2008


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Originally uploaded by japanmma
Bit late in posting these, but MMA-Weekend took a lot out of me... This was an awesome event, and I can't wait for the next one. In the Rookie Tournament Usuda advanced after this choke on Konno.



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Mizuno and Tsuchiya had an excting fight, Mizuno takeing a majority decision.



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This fight was a bit strange... Nezu was dominating Ochi, when Ochi got this choke in. Nezu was unable to shake it and Ochi advances in the rookie tournament.



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"Mike" didnt improve on his record when he was stuck in this triangle. Luckily the ref was on top of it.



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Yamazaki vs. Hirayama was a very good fight. Hirayama slamming Yamazaki here. But the 2007 Rooki Tournament winner, Yamazaki took a majority decision.



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Even though Hirayama had some very good submission attempts.



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Shinya Murofushi has improved on his feet and is still very dangerous on the ground. A good decision win for him.



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Sasaki has the type of enterance you want to see in Japan. Shamizen music and a very traditional outfit.



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"Wicky" Akiyo won his fight against the Finnish fighter Matteus Lahdesmaki. Here an example of his guard.



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Shinya Aoki was cornering Togashi, in a JZ Calvan shirt...



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Endo won the Pacific title fight against Togashi.



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Main Event, BJ vs. Yamaguchi.



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The Champion surprised a few people when Yamaguchi's fro got caught up and BJ won by submission.

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8/17 DEEP 37 - Imanari Fighting for Bantamweight Title

Imanari lost his Featherweight title to Mishima in his last fight. Now he is moving down to Bantamweight to fight Umemura for this title. Riki Fukuda is also returning in what looks like a very good event. The event is being held in Korakuen Hall.

Announced:
DEEP Bantamweight Title-Fight:
Masakazu Imanari 14-6-1 vs. 11-7-3 Hiroshi Umemura

Riki Fukuda 10-4-0 vs. 3-1-0 Hiroki Ozaki
Yasushi Kitazaki 8-4-1 vs. Yusaki Tsukumo
LUIZ 7-6-2 vs. 1-3-2 Shinobu Miura
Daiki Hata (D.J. Taiki) 8-5-2 vs. 3-5-2 Kim Jong Man
Ryuta Sakurai 16-14-4 vs. 5-2-4 Sojiro Orui
Eiji Ishikawa 15-15-2 vs. 24-27-10 Kousei Kobuta

Previously Announced:
DEEP Female Lightweight Title Fight:
Miku Matsumoto (Title-holder) 17-4-0 vs. 8-8-4 Misaki Takimoto

Yoshihiro Tomioka "Barbaro44" 12-5-4 vs. 7-1-1 Katsunori Kikuno

Participating:
Yasuhito Namekawa 23-16-3
Koichiro Matsumoto 4-1-0
Hama (Russian fighter, I don’t know who this is)

Ticket Prices:
VIP 15,000円
SRS 12,000円
A 8,000円
B 6,000円
C 5,000円
At the door +500円

Read more...

7/27 DEEP 36 Impact Osaka - Fight Order

DEEP is putting on DEEP Impact 36 tomorrow in ZEPP Osaka. Headling the card it the fight for the DEEP Welterweight title, with champion Hidehiko Hasegawa defending against Seichi Ikemoto. This is not the first time these guys meet, last time was in September 2005 and Ikemoto is one up on Hasegawa.

Main-Event: DEEP Welterweight Title Fight:
8. Hidehiko Hasegawa 14-9-5 vs. 16-14-5 Seichi Ikemoto

7. Young Choi "RYO" 9-5-0 vs. 5-4-4 Takenori Sato
6. Seigo vs. 1-1-0 Nobuyoshi Takahara
5. Hidehira Yabu 1-2-0 vs. 0-1-0 Masanori Tonooka
4. Yoshinobu Kawamura 2-3-1 vs. 1-1-0 Junzo Tokunaga
3. Isao Terada 4-5-4 vs. 3-2-0 Toru Harai
2. Nobuhiro Yoshitake 0-3-1 vs. 5-1-0 Hiroto
1. Fukuko Hamada 4-2-0 vs. 7-4-2 Yasuko Tamada

NEXT LEVEL:
5. Kick-Rule: James Low vs. Kareem “Sugarbear” Byron (?)

MMA-Rule:
4. Hasu Takeno vs. Takashi Murakami
3. Hiroto Yamaguchi vs. Akira Fukukami
2. Shohei Fujita vs. NakagawaΩJien乙ΩKoki
1. Suzuna Nakamura vs. Kumiko Nanba

Opening Fights
4. Hiroshi Shiba 4-3-0 vs. 0-5-1 Yasunori Kanehara
3. Makoto Kamaya 8-4-1 vs. Yuki Kamijima
2. Yuya Aikawa 0-1-0 vs. Miyamonta
1. Yasuaki Kishimoto vs. 1-0-0 Reisyo Shoda

Taken off the card: Tomoyuki Fukami 7-1-4 vs. 4-1-0 Koichiro Matsumoto

Tickets:
VIP 12,000円 
RS 8,000円
Standing 5,000円
On the day +500円

Read more...

8/24 Sengoku 4 - Gomi's Opponent Announced

Thursday 24 July 2008

It has been rumored for a while, but today it was confirmed that Hwan Sung Pang is Gomi's opponent for the next Sengoku event! He is no can and this should be interesting.

I am surprised that Pang is not in the tournament though...

This looks like a very strong card, and should be the best Sengoku event to date. Personally I like watching Kitaoka (when he's on) and French should be an interesting opponent for him.

Anyway, fights announced today:

Lightweight (non-GP)
Takanori Gomi 28-3-0 vs. 5-1-0 Hwang Sung Pang

Lightweight GP
Satoru Kitaoka 20-8-9 vs. 16-2-0 Clay French
Eiji Mitsuoka 13-5-2 vs. 8-1-0 Rodrigo Damm
Kazunori Yokota 6-1-3 vs. 6-1-0 Bojan Kosednar
Mizuto Hirota 9-2-0 vs. 20-9-1 Ryan Schultz

Previously announced:
Peter Graham 0-1-0 vs. 12-7-3 Moise Rimbon
Makoto Takimoto 4-4-0 vs. 16-6-0 Frank Trigg

Read more...

8/27 Pancrase Shining Tour - Kawahara's Opponent Announced

Pancrase have now announced Seiya Kawahara's opponent, it is Kentaro Imaizumi. Imaizumi has not won since his win over Jin Akimoto in 2004, however he has fought quality opponents. Ryota Matsune and Takeya Mizugaki to name a couple. Kawahara is unbeaten at 5-0.

Added:
BW: Seiya Kawahara 5-0-0 vs. 9-6-5 Kentaro Imaizumi

Previously Announced:
King of Pancarase LW: Koji Oishi 16-7-5 vs. 6-3-2 Shinsuke Shoji

FW: Kenji Arai 12-12-2 vs. 6-4-1 Manabu Inoue
MW: Yuki Kondo 48-22-6 vs. 3-2-0 Ryuji Ohori
LW: Yuichi Ikari 9-4-3 vs. 6-4-0 Eriya Matsuda
WW: Masahiro Toryu 5-3-3 vs. 4-6-0 Tomoyoshi Iwamiya

Neo-Blood Finals:
Bantamweight: Takuya Eizumi 1-0-0 vs. 2-0-0 Isao Hirose
Featherweight: Yasutomo Tanaka 5-1-3 vs. 1-0-0 Hirotoshi Saito
Lightweight: Steve Magdaleno 4-0-1 vs. Hiroki Aoki “AB”

Read more...

7/21 GCM Demolition - RESULTS

GCM changed their July 21 event from an Eastern Bound event to a Demolition event. No doubt due to the financial problems they are having. Still, with 9 fights on the card, it should have been an entertaining event and the ticket prices were resonable as well.

The previously undefeated Emi Fujino got her first loss at the hands of the very experienced Megumi Yabushita.

The results:

Wataru Miki Def. Tetsuo Uehata by TKO Round 2:28
Taisuke Okuno Def. Masayoshi Ichikawa by KO Round 1 0:26
Masaaki Hasegawa Def. Tomoaki Ueyama by Decision 3-0
Megumi Yabushita Def. Emi Fujino by decision 3-0
Shinpei Sotoyama Def. Shin Fujimoto by rear-naked choke Round 1 2:48
Hirokazu Nishimura vs. Hidenori Nishino Draw
Koji Ando Def. Shibata by Rear-naked choke Round 1 2:09
Tomoyuki Miyaji Def. Yoshihiro Matsunaga by Triangle choke
Asato Hashimoto vs. Koji Obata Draw

Read more...

DREAM and Sengoku DVDs on Sale in Japan

Wednesday 23 July 2008

I know a lot of people have been waiting for this, and now it is here!




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Originally uploaded by japanmma


Dream 1 and 2 are now available at Tsutaya for rent and purchase.











If you are of the patient type, they are also available at Amazon.co.jp, of course a bit cheaper, but you have to deal with the wait.

Be Aware, these are Japanese!

DREAM 1
DREAM 2
DREAM 3 (Available August 27)
Yarennoka
Sengoku 1 (available August 13

Hours of good fights!

Read more...

7/21 DREAM 5 - Pictures

Tuesday 22 July 2008


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Originally uploaded by japanmma
The place of the event is next to the beautiful Osaka Castle.



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Osaka Jo Hall



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Originally uploaded by japanmma
Caol Uno looked very intense as he entered the ring for an awesome fight with Aoki.


Aoki had created new pants for the occation.
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Eddie Alvarez, the only unbeaten fighter in the tournament.



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His fight with Kawajiri might well have been fight of the night.




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But he took some damage to the right eye.



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Joachim Hansen won his fight with Black Mamba. Black Mamba showed he was dangerous on his feet, but on the ground he was not able to hold Hellboy back.



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Joachim still not aware what is about to happen, shaking hands with the fans as he leaves the ring.



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Joseph Benavitez was suppose to fight Yamamoto "kid". Instead he was fighting Kodo, a very late replacement.



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Hironaka beat Miyazawa.



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The ring-girl dance.



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Tokoro again had a very exciting fight, this time against Yamazaki.



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Hunt vs. Overeem. Overeem was too strong on the ground.



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Hansen entering for the final!



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Aoki is ready for his final.



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Hellboy is ready!



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A very happy Hellboy as he becomes the first DREAM Champion!



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Aoki is an emotional guy, but managed a smile when a fan asked if he could wipe his sweat with his towel. Aoki will be back, he was beaten in the final, but he has had an impressive tournament!



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Originally uploaded by japanmma
Just to finish off an awesome night.

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7/21 Shoot Boxing - RESULTS

Have to admit, it is hard for me to concentrate after such an awesome night. But last night was about more than DREAM, Shoot Boxing had their event in Korakuen hall as well.

Hiroki Shishido Def. Taiga Yamaguchi by Decision 3-0
Kenji Kanei Def. Takashi Ono by Decision 3-0
“Fantom” Shinya Def. Nico Faleyzen (?) by Decision 3-0
Takashi Ishikawa vs. Atsufumi Utakawa No Contest
Alex Roberts Def. Majeski the Hurricane by KO Round 1 1:41
Myun Hong Man (?) Def. Masahiro Wakashita by Decision 3-0
Rena Def. Misato Tomita by Decision
Koya Shimada Def. Ryoei(?)Kitaki by TKO Round 2 3:00
Kazuyuki Fushimi Def. (??) Osawa by decision 3-0
Hiroaki Suzuki Def. Tatsuya Yuda by Decision 3-0

Read more...

7/21 DREAM 5 - RESULTS

Monday 21 July 2008

We now have the first DREAM champion! His name is Joachim Hansen! It was a day of very good fights in Osaka Jo Hall, and I have just gotten home.

Eddie Alvarez was not allowed to fight in the final (by DREAM Doctors), after a very tough semi-final against Kawajiri. Hellboy had to step up and fill the open spot in the final and face Aoki. It is never ideal to have a late replacement like that, but thats why the reserve fights are so important. In the final Hansen did not want to grapple with Aoki, but it is very hard to on your feet against him. The fight went to the ground and Hellboy dropped some bombs that were too much for Aoki.

Hansen has been an excellent performer for DREAM, and his fight with Alvares was awesome. Alvarez extended a challenge to the new champion and Hellboy was happy to except.

I will post some pictures soon, but now for the results:

Main-Event - DREAM Lightweight Tournament Final:
Joachim Hansen Def. Shinya Aoki by TKO Round 1 4:19

Alistair Overeem Def. Mark Hunt by Keylock Round 1 1:11
Yoshihiro Akiyama Def. Katsuyori Shibata by Gi choke Round 1 6:34
Hideo Tokoro Def. Takeshi Yamazaki by Decision 3-0
Kuniyoshi Hironaka Def. Motoki Miyazawa by TKO Round 1 8:57
Joseph Benavitez Def. Junya Kudo by Guillotine Choke Round 1 2:42
Joachim Hansen Def. Kultar Gill by Armbar Round 1 2:33
Eddie Alvarez Def. Tatsuya Kawajiri by TKO Round 1 7:35
Shinya Aoki Def. Caol Uno by Decision 3-0
Daisuke Nakamura Def. Andy Ologun by Armbar Round 1 3:41

Read more...

Gone to Osaka

Saturday 19 July 2008

Sorry guys, I will be late with the results from DREAM 5. I have gone down to Osaka, and being the internet geek that I am, I dont have a laptop.



That means there will be almost 2 days without updates, but I am sure there will be other sites covering this event. I will bring back a bag full of pictures and update on what happened on Monday night.

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9/28 Shooto Tradition 3 - Fights announced

Shooto just had their 2nd Tradition event last night and now they have announced some awesome fights for the 3rd event. The event will be held in Korakuen Hall.

Rambaa Somdet is back! Also on the card, title fight between Ueda and Galvao, Urushitani and Sugawara.

Announced:
Featherweight World Title Fight:
Masakatsu Ueda 8-0-1 vs. 6-2-0 Marcos “Louro” Galvao

Yasuhiro Urushitani 14-3-6 vs. 7-4-2 Yuki Shoujou
Masaaki Sugawara 6-3-0 vs. 5-2-0 Takuya Mori

Rookie Tournament:
Naoki Hirayama 1-0-0 vs. 1-2-2 Takuya Sato
Horishige Tanaka 1-0-0 vs. 1-0-0 Atsushi Kobayashi
Kota Funaki 1-0-0 vs. 1-0-0 Kentaro Watanabe
Junji Ito 2-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Yoshitaka Aki

Participating:
Rambaa "M-16" Somdet 4-2-0

Read more...

7/21 GCM Demolition - Fight Order

Its not only DREAM that has an event tomorrow, GCM holds a Demolition event in Differ Ariake. There are 9 fights on the card and a few of them look interesting.

Main-Event:
9. Featherweight 5min. x3 R: Wataru Miki 12-8-2 vs. TBA

8. Welterweight 3min x 3R: Taisuke Okuno 4-2-1 vs. Masayoshi Ichikawa
7. Featherweight 3min x 3R: Tomoaki Ueyama 0-2-0 vs. Masaaki Hasegawa
6. Female 58kg 3min x 3R(no-GnP): Megumi Yabushita 13-15-0 vs. 8-0-0 Emi Fujino
5. Lightweight 3min x 3R: Shinpei Sotoyama 6-3-2 vs. Shin Fujimoto
4. Featherweight 3min x 3R: Hirokazu Nishimura 2-2-0 vs. 1-2-0 Hidenori Nishino
3. Lightweight 3min x 3R: Koji Ando 0-0-1 vs. Shibata
2. Featherweight 3min x 3R: Tomoyuki Miyaji 2-1-0 vs. 0-1-0 Yoshihiro Matsunaga
1. Lightweight 3min x 3R: Asato Hashimoto 0-2-2 vs. 0-1-0 Koji Obata

Read more...

7/21 DREAM 5 - Hunt's Opponent annouced

From HDNet's site, it looks like Hunt's oppnent is Alisair Overeem.
http://www.hdnetfights.com/story.php?id=230

I have not seen a Japanese source for this yet, but looks like that's the fight missing on the card. Should be a good fight, Overeem coming off a victory in DREAM 4, and Hunt returning to the MMA ring.

RougueMag.com has an interview with Hunt before his flight out to Japan. He among other things, he says that in the original contract there was a fight with Fedor this year. Let's see if it happens.

Either way, Monday is the big event and I am heading down to Osaka tomorrow.

***UPDATE***
I am seeing this fight confirmed in Japanese media as well now, Hunt vs. Overeem is on!

Also, looks like they are still looking for an opponent to face Joseph Benavidez, lets hope they find someone.


Lightweight Tournament Final (winners of Semi-Finals)

Lightweight semi-finals:
Eddie Alvarez 14-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki 16-2-0 vs. 25-10-4 Caol Uno

Tournament Reserve Fight:
Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen 17-7-1 vs. 9-7-0 Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill

Non-tournament:
Yoshihiro Akiyama 10-1-0 vs. 2-4-0 Katsuyori Shibata
Motoki Miyazawa 4-0-0 vs. 11-5-0 Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Hideo Tokoro 23-13-1 vs. 14-7-2 Takeshi Yamazaki
Mark Hunt 5-3-0 vs. 27-11-0 Alistair Overeem

Read more...

7/18 Shooto - Tradition 02 - RESULTS

Friday 18 July 2008

When it comes to the quality of fights, there is not a lot that can compare to Shooto... They dont have the ring-girls (as you will see in my pictures tomorrow), but the fights make up for that. The atmosphere is awesome and the fights live up to it! Today was no different!

There will be some pictures soon, and I have some good ones. BTW, my guy Shinya Murofushi was AWESOME!

Shooto Bantamweight Title-fight:
Shinichi “BJ” Kojima Def. Mamoru Yamamguchi by Guilliotine Round 3 3:42


Pacific Title-fight: Yusuke Endo Def. Kenichiro Togashi by Decision 3-0
"Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura Def. Matteus Lahdesmaki by TKO Round 3 2:17

Hiromasa Ogikubo Def. Hiroyuki Tanaka by TKO Round 1 1:35
Shinji Sasaki Def. Jin Kazeta By Rear-naked choke Round 1 2:42
Shinya Murofushi Def. Takehiro Harusaki by Decision 3-0
Akihiro Yamazaki Def. Naoko Hirayama by decision 2-0
Takahiro Hosoi Def. Nobuhiro “Mike” Hayakawa by Triangle-Choke Round 2 1:31

Rookie Tournament:
Haruo Ochi Def. Yuta Nezu by rear-naked choke
Naohiro Mizuno "Chokugeki Gamon" Def. Daiki Tsuchiya by Decision 2-0
Ikuo Usuda Def. Junpei Konno by Rear-naked Choke Round 2 3:41

Read more...

7/21 DREAM 5 - "Kid" Out!!!

"Kid" Yamamoto injured his knee during training and is out of his DREAM 5 fight!!!

Can News get worse?!?!?!? Guess they REALLY need an opponent for Mark Hunt now....

Let's just hope Tokoro is ok!

Lightweight Tournament Final (winners of Semi-Finals)

Lightweight semi-finals:
Eddie Alvarez 14-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki 16-2-0 vs. 25-10-4 Caol Uno

Tournament Reserve Fight:
Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen 17-7-1 vs. 9-7-0 Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill

Non-tournament:
Yoshihiro Akiyama 10-1-0 vs. 2-4-0 Katsuyori Shibata
Motoki Miyazawa 4-0-0 vs. 11-5-0 Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Hideo Tokoro 23-13-1 vs. 14-7-2 Takeshi Yamazaki

Participating:
Mark Hunt 5-3-0

http://nightmareofbattle.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/final-preparations-getting-ready-for-the-fifth-dream/
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20080718-00000030-spnavi-fight.html

Read more...

7/18 Shooto - Tradition 02 - Fight Order

MMA-Weekend's second event is on tonight, I am about to leave for it now, and this should be a good one!

Note to self "There are too many Japanese guys calling themselves "Mike"..."

11. Main-Event: Shooto Bantamweight Title-fight:
Shinichi “BJ” Kojima 8-3-4 vs. 20-4-3 Mamoru Yamamguchi

10. Pacific Title-fight:
Yusuke Endo 11-2-1 vs. 7-5-5 Kenichiro Togashi

9. "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura 7-2-1 vs. 5-3-3 Matteus Lahdesmaki
8. Hiroyuki Tanaka 6-4-1 vs. 4-0-1 Hiromasa Ogikubo
7. Shinji Sasaki 6-2-0 vs. 8-7-2 Jin Kazeta
6. Takehiro Harusaki 5-3-0 vs. 4-0-1 Shinya Murofushi
5. Akihiro Yamazaki 9-2-1 vs. 1-0-0 Naoko Hirayama
4. Nobuhiro “Mike” Hayakawa 1-3-2 vs. 4-4-1 Takahiro Hosoi

Rookie Tournament:
3. Yuta Nezu 4-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Haruo Ochi
2. Daiki Tsuchiya 1-0-0 vs. 2-1-0 Naohiro Mizuno
1. 臼田育男 Ikuo Usuda (?) vs. Junpei Konno

Read more...

7/17 DEEP/M-1 - Challenge 5 - PICTURES


IMG_2538
Originally uploaded by japanmma

Yesterday was a fun event, I really enjoyed it! It had almost everything you expect at a good MMA event:

-Stare-downs (Amoussou vs. Dolce).



IMG_2578
Originally uploaded by japanmma
-Dominating performances (Mpumbu vs. Guerin)



IMG_2620
Originally uploaded by japanmma
-Submissions (Ndiaye vs. Jack)




IMG_2659
Originally uploaded by japanmma
-Ring-girls



IMG_2723
Originally uploaded by japanmma

-Submission escapes (Nakamura vs. Cristea)

This was fight of the night, it really got the crowd going. Cristea got of of like 5 arm-bar attempts.



IMG_2766
Originally uploaded by japanmma
-Determined fighters (delos Reyes vs. Hamamura)



IMG_2815
Originally uploaded by japanmma
-Entertaining breaks (Jason Jones) (I know, kind of contradictary).




IMG_2865
Originally uploaded by japanmma
-Entertaining entrances (Yuji Sakuragi)




IMG_2892
Originally uploaded by japanmma

-KOs (Yuji Sakuragi)

-This also gets our broken nose of the night award.



IMG_2920
Originally uploaded by japanmma

At the end of the night, the Dutch team should be very pleased.

France also out-performed USA.

Read more...

7/21 DREAM 5 - Hideo Tokoro Not able to Fight???

Hideo Tokoro was in a traffic accident on Wednesday afternoon. He was rear-ended but it does not sound too serious. However, he will have a medical check and it will be announced today or tomorrow whether he will be able to fight.

This could turn out to be a big blow to DREAM 5, there are 8 fights confirmed on th the card with Mark Hunt still being without an opponent. Lets hope they dont make Yamazaki fight Hunt...

http://www.kamipro.com/news/?id=1216270381
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/gryphonjapan/20080718/p2

The card:

Lightweight Tournament Final (winners of Semi-Finals)

Lightweight semi-finals:
Eddie Alvarez 14-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki 16-2-0 vs. 25-10-4 Caol Uno

Tournament Reserve Fight:
Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen 17-7-1 vs. 9-7-0 Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill

Non-tournament:
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-1-0 vs. 7-0-0 Joseph Benavidez
Yoshihiro Akiyama 10-1-0 vs. 2-4-0 Katsuyori Shibata
Motoki Miyazawa 4-0-0 vs. 11-5-0 Kuniyoshi Hironaka
Hideo Tokoro 23-13-1 vs. 14-7-2 Takeshi Yamazaki

Participating:
Mark Hunt 5-3-0

Read more...

7/21 Shoot Boxing - Road to S-Cup

MMA Weekend kicked off yesterday, and there are lots of events coming up in the next couple of days. Shoot Boxing is in Korakuen Hall on Monday

Main Event:
10. Japan Welterweight Title Fight 3min x 5: Hiroki Shishido vs. Taiga Yamaguchi

9. Japan Super-welterweight Title Fight 3min x 5: Kenji Kanei vs. Takashi Ono
8. 57kg 3min x 3: “Fantom” Shinya vs. Nico Faleyzen (?)
7. 60kg 3min x 3: Takashi Ishikawa vs. Atsufumi Utakawa
6. Heavyweight 3min x 3: Alex Roberts vs. Majeski the Hurricane
5. Heavyweight 3min x 3: Masahiro Wakashita vs. Myun Hong Man (?)
4. Female 51kg 2min x 3: Misato Tomita vs. Rena
3. Koya Shimada vs. Ryoei(?)Kitaki
2. ?? Osawa vs. Kazuyuki Fushimi
1. Hiroaki Suzuki vs. Tatsuya Yuda

Read more...

7/17 DEEP/M-1 - Challenge 5 - RESULTS

Thursday 17 July 2008

I went out to M-1 Challenge today and it was a lot of fun! I really enjoyed the fights, in particular Nakamura vs. Cristea was very entertaning! How Cristea managed to get out of that many arm-bars is beyond me, but is was a lot of fun to watch. Unfortunately, he lost a decision but I was impressed!

Otherwise all the teams performed great! Of course, I expected the Japanese to win at home, but they were crushed by a very good Dutch team!!!


***UPDATE***
It was not Mike Hayakawa that fought in this event... It was "Mike" from Blue Dog Gym... "Mike" Hayakawa is fighting in Shooto tonight.

The other results:

Superfight: Tatsuya Mizuno Def. Yoshiyuki Nakanishi by KO round 1 4:13

Japan vs. Nederlands: +93kg: Jessie Gibson Def. Katsuhisa Fujii by KO round 1 1:34
Japan vs. Nederlands: 93kg: Kamil Uygun Def. Yuji Sakuragi TKO Round 1 (well placed knee)
Japan vs. Nederlands: 84kg: Jason Jones Def. Yuta Watanabe by TKO round 2 2:03
Japan vs. Nederlands: 76kg: Romano delos Reyes Def. Ken Hamamura by decision 2-0
Japan vs. Nederlands: 70kg: Daisuke Nakamura Def. Bogdan Cristea by Decision 3-0

Super-fight: Yuki Ito Def. Takaaki Aoki by decision 2-0
Super-fight: Seigo Inoue Def. "Mike" by decision 2-0

France Vs. USA: +93kg: Malick Ndiaye Def. James Jack by Key-lock Round 1 3:54
France Vs. USA: 93kg: Christian Mpumbu Ndjoku Def. Barry Guerin by TKO Round 1 0:32
France Vs. USA: 84kg: Karl Amoussou Def. Mike Dolce by TKO round 2 0:41
France Vs. USA: 76kg: Jake Ellenberger Def. Farouk Lakebir by decision 2-0
France Vs. USA: 70kg: Keith Perrigon Def. Samuel Judes by TKO Round 1 3:16

Read more...

7/17 DEEP/M-1 - Challenge 5

Wednesday 16 July 2008

Tomorrow M-1 Challenge 5 kicks off my long weekend packed with MMA. I cant wait! There has been a couple of changes since I first posted the card, so here is what it looks like now.

This should be a good event, there are 13 fights on the card and that should be enough for some solid entertainment.

The fight-order is announced:

13. Main-Event: Superfight: Tatsuya Mizuno 3-3-0 vs. 3-0-0Yoshiyuki Nakanishi

12. Japan vs. Nederlands: +93kg: Katsuhisa Fujii 8-14-1 vs. 4-1-0 Jessie Gibson
11. Japan vs. Nederlands: 93kg: Yuji Sakuragi 9-11-1 vs. 4-2-0 Kamil Uygun
10. Japan vs. Nederlands: 84kg: Yuta Watanabe 8-1-3 vs. 4-3-0 Jason Jones
9. Japan vs. Nederlands: 76kg: Ken Hamamura 14-4-4 vs. 7-5-0 Romano delos Reyes
8. Japan vs. Nederlands: 70kg: Daisuke Nakamura 14-9-0 vs.4-2-1 Bogdan Cristea

7. Super-fight: Yuki Ito 6-2-3 vs. 4-3-0 Takaaki Aoki
6. Super-fight: Seigo Inoue 3-3-1 vs. 1-3-2 Nobuhiro "Mike" Hayakawa

5. France Vs. USA: +93kg: Malick Ndiaye 1-1-0 vs. 2-1-0 James Jack
4. France Vs. USA: 93kg: Christian Mpumbu Ndjoku vs. 5-0-0 Bryan Harper
3. France Vs. USA: 84kg: Karl Amoussou 6-1-1 vs. 3-4-0 Mike Dolce
2. France Vs. USA: 76kg: Farouk Lakebir 2-0-0 vs. 17-4-0 Jake Ellenberger
1. France Vs. USA: 70kg: Samuel Judes 2-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Keith Perrigon

Read more...

8/24 Sengoku 4 - Takimoto vs. Trigg Official

Tuesday 15 July 2008

The fight that has been rumored for a few days was made official today. Makoto Takimoto will face off against Frank Trigg. This should be good addition to a card that is looking promising. Keep in mind that we will see the first round of the Sengoku Lightweight Tournament in this one.

There are also plans of a Middleweight Tournament in Sengoku 5 (9/28). Kazuo Misaki would not participate in this tournament, maybe he will get a similar deal to what Gomi has?

Sengoku 4 looks like this, currently:
Makoto Takimoto 4-4-0 vs. 16-6-0 Frank Trigg
Peter Graham 0-1-0 vs. 12-7-3 Moise Rimbon

Participating:
Takanori Gomi (28-3-0)

Lightweight Tournament Participants:
-Satoru Kitaoka (20-8-9)
-Eiji Mitsuoka (13-5-2)
-Kazunori Yokota (6-1-3)
-Duane Ludwig (16-8-0)
-Rodrigo Damm (8-1-0)

http://gbring.com/sokuho/news/2008_07/0715_sengoku_03.htm
http://gbring.com/sokuho/news/2008_07/0715_sengoku_02.htm

Read more...

7/21 DREAM 5 - Hideo Tokoro Fighting!

DREAM have announced an additional fight for DREAM 5 today. Returning after an awesome fight in DREAM 4 is Hideo Tokoro! His fight with Darren Uyenoyama was one of the most exciting fights this year. This time he is taking on Takeshi Yamazaki. The Grabaka fighter is no stranger to DREAM, havning fought in DREAM 3 were he took on Pancrase champion Shoji Maruyama. In his last 9 fights, Yamazaki has lost only twice, to Miki Shida and Masakazu Imanari.

This will be a very exciting fight!

Hideo Tokoro 23-13-1 vs. 14-7-2 Takeshi Yamazaki

Priviously announced:
Lightweight Tournament Final (winners of Semi-Finals)

Lightweight semi-finals:
Eddie Alvarez 14-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki 16-2-0 vs. 25-10-4 Caol Uno

Tournament Reserve Fight:
Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen 17-7-1 vs. 9-7-0 Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill

Non-tournament:
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-1-0 vs. 7-0-0 Joseph Benavidez
Yoshihiro Akiyama 10-1-0 vs. 2-4-0 Katsuyori Shibata
Motoki Miyazawa 4-0-0 vs. 11-5-0 Kuniyoshi Hironaka

Participating:
Mark Hunt 5-3-0

From DEEP 24, Takeshi Yamazaki vs. Hirotaka Miyakawa




DREAM 3: Hideo Tokoro vs. Darren Uyenoyama


Read more...

7/21 GCM Demolition 80721

Monday 14 July 2008

On the same day as DREAM and Shoot Boxing, GCM is putting on a Demolition event in Differ Ariake. 5 fights are announced, and I can't say that I recognize too many names but Shinpei Sotoyama is an interesting GCM fighter, a good win in Cage Force 07.

Featherweight: Tomoaki Ueyama 0-2-0 vs. Masaaki Hasegawa
Lightweight: Shinpei Sotoyama 6-3-2 vs. Shin Fujimoto
Featherweight: Hirokazu Nishiura 2-2-0 vs. 1-2-0 Hidenori Nishino
Featherweight: Tomoyuki Miyaji 2-1-0 vs. 0-1-0 Yoshihiro Matsunaga
Lightweight: Koji Ando 0-0-1 vs. “Shibata”

Read more...

7/21 Shoot Boxing - Road to S-Cup

Shoot Boxing has announced a some fights for their event in a week. Alex Roberts is returning to Shoot Boxing after his K-1 debut loss to Galube Feitosa.

Heavyweight 3min x 3: Alex Roberts vs. Majeski the Hurricane
Heavyweight 3min x 3: Masahiro Wakashita vs. Myun Hong Man (?)
57kg 3min x 3:FantomShinya vs. Nico Faleyzen (?)
Japan Welterweight Title Fight 3min x 5: Hiroki Shishido vs. Taiga Yamaguchi
Japan Super-welterweight Title Fight 3min x 5: Kenji Kanei vs. Takashi Ono
Super-Featherweight: Takashi Ishikawa vs. Atsufumi Utakawa

Read more...

7/13 HEAT 7 - Results

Yesterday HEAT 7 kicked off what will be a very busy week for me. It was never part of MMA-Week, but it almost made it when SmackGirl was postponed.

In the event yesterday, 2 Kiwi fighters went into the ring in Nagoya and I was ment to post this earlier... Anyway,
Rogue Magazine had an interview with Andrew Peck and Jason Suttie before their flight out to Japan. Unfortunately, the results were not what they expected, but I am sure they will fight back!

Also, for those who are FightLinker fans (I am one myself), I know you want to have a look at the ring-girls for this one. For this event we had
Kana Kusumaki (top left), Yuzuki Kondo, Shizuki (bottom left) and Mana.

The event was mainly a round 1 of the various tournaments Heat will have this year, here are the results (in no particular order):

MMA-Rule Heavyweight Tournament Round 1:
Lee Sang Soo Def. Amazon Juninho by decision 3-0
Christiano Kaminishi Def. Minoru Kato by Decision 3-0

Kick-Rule Heavyweight Tournament Round 1:
Gotoku Onda Def. Jason Suttie by decision 2-0

Kick-Rule Middleweight Tournament Round 1:
Yuzo Matsumoto Def. Nathan Willet by decision 3-0
Kinji Def. Park Eun Seok by KO Round 1 1:28

MMA-Rule Welterweight Tournament Round 1:
Yoshitaro Nimi Def. Jun Kito by rear-naked choke Round 1 2:49
Justin Holdaas Def. Pedro Akira by KO Round 2 4:34

Kick-Rule Heavyweight Special Fight:
Ali Reza Kabasi Def. Andrew Peck by KO Round 2 2:03

New-Age Fights:
Kick-Rule: Gaku Sakai vs. Masaaki Noiri Draw
Kick-Rule: Takao Niki Def. Yoshiharu Ono by decision 3-0
MMA-Rule: Kazuyosi Hioki Def. Kozaburo Muramatsu by decision 3-0
MMA-Rule: Hironobu Yoshida vs. YUSUKE Draw

Read more...

Shooto July Rankings

Sunday 13 July 2008

Shooto has updated the July rankings. There are a few movements in the featherweight division, with Eduardo Dantas moving up to #2 and So Tasawa moving to #5. Maybe we will see Dantas back in Japan soon?

In the bantamweight division, Homare Kuboyama moves in to #9 , taking Junji Ikoma's spot.

Bantamweight:
Champ: → Shinichi “BJ” Kojima (From October 14 2006, Defended 1 times)
1. → Mamoru Yamaguchi)
2. → Yasuhiro Urushitani
3. → Yuki Shoujou
4. → Masatoshi Abe
5. → Ryuichi Miki
6. → Junji Ikoma
7. → Shimokawa Yusei
8. → Yasuhiro Akagi
9. ↑ Homare Kuboyama
10. → Jin Akimoto

Featherweight:
Champ: → Masakatsu Ueda (From March 28 2008, Defended 0 Times)
1. → Marcos “Louro” Galvao
2. ↑ Eduardo Dantas
3. ↓ Daniel Lima
4. ↓ Koetsu Okazaki
5. ↑ So Tazawa
6. ↓ Atsushi Yamamoto
7. ↓ Kenji Osawa
8. → Tetsu Suzuki
9. → Takeya Mizugaki
10. → Ryota Matsune

Lightweight:
Champ: → Hideki Kadowaki (From March 28 2008, Defended 0 times)
1. → Akitoshi Tamura
2. → Antonio Carvalho
3. → Savant Young
4. →“Lion” Takeshi Inoue
5. → Hatsu Hioki
6. → Rumina Sato
7. → Bao Quach
8. → Katsuya Toida
9. → David Lejenas
10. → Hiroyuki Takaya

Welterweight:
Champ: → Takashi Nakakura (from May 3 2008 Defended 0 times)
1. → Yusuke Endo)
2. → Ganjo Tensuku
3. → Bendy Casimir
4. → Jani Lax
5. → Brian Cobb
6. → Mizuto Hirota
7. → Willian Chiqueirinho
8. → Eiji Mitsuoka
9. → Giovani Diniz
10. → Tatsuya Kawajiri

Middleweight:
Champ: → Shinya Aoki (From February 17 2006, defended 1 times)
1. → David Baron
2. → Scott Henze
3. → Wim Deputter
4. → Grzegorz Trendowski
5. → Niek Tromp
6. → Zelim Felican
7. → Roemer Trumpert
8. → Ronald Jhun
9. → Brent Weedman
10. → Keita Nakamura “K-Taro”

Light-Heavyweight:
Champ: → Siyar Bahadourzada (From July 15 2007, defended 0 times)
1. → Leandro Silva
2. → Akihiro Murayama
3. → Shiko Yamashita
4. → Grazhuydas Smailis
5. → Masashi Yozen
6. → Nathan Schouteren
7. → Petras Morkevicius
8. → Rolandas Agrba
9. → Edward O’Daniel
10. → Dustin Denes

Read more...

7/12 Cage Warriors - Enter the Rough House 7 - RESULTS

I have said this before... But it wont be a regular thing that I update these results, but this event had some very good fights on it!

Simeon Thoresen showed why DREAM has been looking to sign him. Will we see him already in DREAM 6? A 51 seconds submission is very impressive and should turn some heads!

Paul Daley is back where he left off before his retirement, and Paul McVeigh defended his title. I am sure this was a very good night of fighting!

Results from (Check this site for more updates): mmahitpit.com

Paul Daley Def. Bojan Kosednar by KO Round 1 4:53
Simeon Thoresen Def. Matt Thorpe by Kimura Round 1 0:51
Andre Winner vs. Abdul Mohammed Draw
Paul McVeigh Def. Steve McCombe by Rear Naked Choke Round 2 2:27
Jim Wallhead Def. Fabricio Nascimento by Decision
Lee Livingstone Def. Wayne “Mayhem” Murray Triangle Choke Round 1 1:32
Cliff Hall Def. Rocci Williams Guillotine Choke Round 1 2:24
Chris Cooper Def. Tommy Rasmussen by TKO

Pete McGurk Def. John Phillips by Arm-bar Round 1 1:05
Eddie Podolski Def. John Brotherhood by Rear Naked Choke Round 1 2:08
Kristoff Woodhouse vs. Lee Donald draw
Matteo Minonzio Def. Wayne Buck by TKO

Read more...

"Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura Highlights

"Wicky" is fighting in Shooto Tradition 02 on Friday. I have seen some comments around why I am so excited about this guy. Here is why, he is very exciting to watch (at least while its standing).

A very good highlight video!


Read more...

Cage Warriors Today!

Saturday 12 July 2008

There has been like nothing happeing in Japan today... It might be because my mind has been totally focused on an event happening in Nottingham (that's not in Japan).

I have given it some attention
here and here, and thought it would get it out of my system... But truth is I am really excited about this event! My Paul McVeigh interview is still the only I have done, and he went out of his way to do it! He is defending his Cage Warriors title today. Last year, Dan Hardy was over in Japan and he put on a great show (he has of course gone on to sight with UFC). Cage Warriors is producing some great talent!

Then Simeon Thoresen is on the card, I think he is a great prospect and someone who has a great future.

Well, enough with the justifications... I am very excited about this event, so I am giving it the full treatment.

Main event (as always I take the records from Sherdog):
Paul “Semtex” Daley 17-6-2 vs. 6-0-0 Bojan "Zelva" Kosednar

Matt “12 Gauge” Thorpe 10-6-0 vs. 8-0-0 Simeon “The Grin” Thoresen
Andre Winner 9-2-0 vs. 15-6-2 Abdul Mohammed
Paul “Metabolic” McVeigh (Champion) 13-5-0 vs. 7-3-1 Steve McCombe
Wayne Buck 4-0-0 vs. 6-6-0 Matteo Minonzio
Jim Wallhead 13-5-0 vs. 19-6-0 Fabricio Nascimento
Lee Livingstone 4-1-0 vs. 4-1-1 Wayne “Mayhem” Murray
Cliff Hall 4-3-0 vs. 1-4-0 Rocci Williams
Chris Cooper 2-1-0 vs. 0-2-0 Tommy Rasmussen
Kickboxing: Kristoff Woodhouse vs. Lee Donald
Pete McGurk 2-0-0 vs. John Phillips
Eddie Podolski 1-1-0 vs. John Brotherhood

Read more...

UFC Coming on TV in Japan!

There is an article on GBRing.com saying that UFC will be shown on WOWOW in Japan from 8/4, but starting for real 10/18.

Great news for all UFC fans in Japan!

Here is some WOWOW information:
http://www.wowow.co.jp/sports/ufc/

Just to avoid confusion, WOWOW is not free to air in Japan.


Current schedule:
8/4:
UFC 71: Chuck Liddell vs. Quinton Jackson
UFC 73: Heath Herring vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
UFC 72: Rich Franklin vs. Yushin Okami

8/11
UFC 74: Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
UFC 75: Mirko Filipovic vs. Cheick Kongo
UFC 75: Quinton Jackson vs. Dan Henderson

8/18
UFC 76: Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Lyoto Machida
UFC 76: Forrest Griffin vs. Mauricio Rua
UFC 77: Anderson Silva vs. Rich Franklin

8/25
UFC 79: Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva
UFC 79: Matt Hughes vs. Georges St. Pierre
UFC 78: Karo Parisyan vs. Ryo Chonan

9/8
UFC 81: Tim Sylvia vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
UFC 81: Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar
UFC 80: B. J. Penn vs. Joe Stevenson

9/15
UFC 82: Anderson Silva vs. Dan Henderson
UFC 82: Yushin Okami vs. Evan Tanner
UFC 83: Matt Serra vs. Georges St. Pierre

9/22
UFC 84: Wanderlei Silva vs. Keith Jardine
UFC 84: Tito Ortiz vs. Lyoto Machida
UFC 84: B. J. Penn vs. Sean Sherk

9/29
UFC 86: Forrest Griffin vs. Quinton Jackson
UFC 87: Brock Lesnar vs. Heath Herring
UFC 87: Georges St. Pierre vs. Jon Fitch

***UPDATED***
Had put GSP instead of Forrest Griffin, updated now. ;)

Read more...

Cage Warriors - Weigh-in and another DREAM signing?

I was reading the article with weigh-in pictures and previews on the Cage Warriors event happening today (my time).

As you might know, I am very
excited about this event. It has some great talent and should be an awesome event. If you are in the UK, this is the event you should go to!

Naturally, I follow fellow Norwegians closely and noticed that it looks like Simeon Thoresen is heading for Japan and DREAM. This should be an AWESOME signing for DREAM and I can't wait to see him fight here!

Here is the article at MMA Weekly:
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6670&zoneid=13

Read more...

7/21 DREAM 5 - Mark Hunt confirms Opponent

Friday 11 July 2008

Ok, have to get it right this time! Mark Hunt has confimed in an interview with MMA Weekly that he is fighting Jerome Le Banner in DREAM 5. As Nightmare of Battle points out, it is not the first time these to K-1 veterans fight it out, and this is a much more interesting fight than what I feared. I still have my doubts since its so close after LeBanner fought Schilt, but looks like its a done deal.

***Update***
The MMA Weekly article is updated and it is still tbd who Mark Hunt will face. There should be an announcement in the next few days.

They have fought no less than 4 times and here are some highlights:


Read more...

7/17 DEEP/M-1 - Challenge 5 - Fights Added

DEEP has added 5 non-M-1 Challenge fights to this card. The card now has a total of 15 fights and should provide some good Thursday night entertainment!

Non M-1 Challenge fights:
Edo Matsuura vs. Mitsuru Yamaguchi
Seigo Inoue 3-3-1 vs. 1-3-2 Nobuhiro "Mike" Hayakawa
Yuki Ito 6-2-3 vs. 4-3-0 Takaaki Aoki
Tatsuya Mizuno 3-3-0 vs. 3-0-0Yoshiyuki Nakanishi

Japan vs. Nederlands
70kg: Daisuke Nakamura 14-9-0 vs.4-2-1 Bogdan Cristea
76kg: Ken Hamamura 14-4-4 vs. 7-5-0 Romano delos Reyes
84kg: Yuta Watanabe 8-1-3 vs. 4-3-0 Jason Jones
93kg: Yuji Sakuragi 9-11-1 vs. 4-2-0 Kamil Uygun
+93kg: Katsuhisa Fujii 8-14-1 vs. 4-1-0 Jessie Gibson

France Vs. USA
70kg: Samuel Judes 2-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Keith Perrigon
76kg: Farouk Lakebir 2-0-0 vs. 0-1-0 Vince Ortiz
84kg: Karl Amoussou 6-1-1 vs. 3-0-0 Jason Bukich
93kg: Christian Mpumbu Ndjoku vs. 5-0-0 Bryan Harper
93kg: Malick Ndiaye 1-1-0 vs. 2-1-0 James Jack

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7/21 DREAM 5 - Finally Some Fights Announced!

Thursday 10 July 2008

I have been waiting for this for a very long time! Finally, DREAM have confirmed that Joachim Hansen is fighting in the tournament reserve fight. His opponent will be Kultar Gill, who I thought was impressive despite the loss to Kawajiri in the opening round.

Just an interesting note, Minowa is moved from this card to the DEEP Gladiators card. To me it seems that DEEP and Dream is building the same/similar sort of relationship that Pride and DEEP used to have. It will be very interesting to see how the DEEP cards will look going forward.

That gives us this card:
Lightweight semi-finals:
Eddie Alvarez 14-1-0 vs. 22-4-2 Tatsuya Kawajiri
Shinya Aoki 16-2-0 vs. 25-10-4 Caol Uno


Tournament Reserve Fight:
Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen 17-7-1 vs. 9-7-0 Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill

Non-tournament:
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-1-0 vs. 7-0-0 Joseph Benavidez

Yoshihiro Akiyama 10-1-0 vs. 2-4-0 Katsuyori Shibata
Motoki Miyazawa 4-0-0 vs. 11-5-0 Kuniyoshi Hironaka

Participating:
-Mark Hunt 5-3-0

***Update***
I know some of you noticed that I managed to spell Mark Hunt's name wrong, again! Thanks to Five Ounce of Pain I caught this in the office and had to wait all day to make the correction. It is not on purpose and there is no excuse...

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MMA-Week Shattered! SmackGirl Event Postponed

It is still going to be a very busy time for MMA in Japan, and in general... But for me, it is no longer a MMA-Week... It's more like a long-weekend.

SmackGirl today announced that the ReMix finals are postponed! This is very disappointing for both fighters and fans, but hopefully they will be able to hold the event in September (that is the new plan). Sherdog is speculating that there are financial problems that is the cause of this, but whatever it is I hope they will work it out. SmackGirl is a unique concept and this year's tournament has been very exciting!

http://www.gbring.com/sokuho/news/2008_07/0710_smack.htm
http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=13616

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