12/10 DEEP 39 - Changes (Injury and Addition) **Updated**

Sunday 30 November 2008

Update/correction: I had missed a couple of fights on the card, they are updated now, and the full card that is announced so far is available at the bottom.


The DEEP Impact 39 card has suffered a loss, Jutaro Nakao had to pull out due to injury. Taking his place is Korean Jang Yong Kim, that's right, the guy that upset "K-Taro" in Cage Force earlier this month. That means that Katsunori Kikuno goes from facing one of the most experienced fighters in the game, to facing a new talent. Will be interesting to see if Kim can follow up his win in Cage Force.

Also added to the card is Fanjin Son. Son lost his last fight in the Cage Force tournament to "Wicky" Akiyo, he is a Shooto veteran that has had his last 3 fights in Cage Force. Now he is makeing a move to DEEP. He will be taking on another Korean, Chang Son Jon.

That means that all the 3 additions to this DEEP card will be making their DEEP debuts.

Changed:
Jang Yong Kim 2-2-0 vs. 8-1-1 Katsunori Kikuno

Added:
Fanjin Son 5-3-0 vs. 1-0-0 Chang Son Jon

Announced:
Nobuhiro Obiya 9-3-1 vs. 12-6-4 Yoshihiro Tomioka "Barbaro44"
Seigo Inoue 4-4-1 vs. 6-4-2 Toshikazu "ISE" Iseno
Yuichi Nakanishi 9-7-3 vs. 13-7-0 Yuya Shirai
Daiki Hata "DJ Taiki" 8-5-3 vs. 15-7-2 Naoya Uematsu
Shoji Maruyama 6-3-1 vs. 7-3-1 Takafumi Otsuka
Shunsuke Inoue 4-3-0 vs. 3-0-0 Kazuhisa Tazawa
Fanjin Son 5-3-0 vs. 1-0-0 Chang Son Jon
Jang Yong Kim 2-2-0 vs. 8-1-1 Katsunori Kikuno

DEEP vs. Wajyutsu Keisyukai
Eiji Ishikawa 17-15-2 vs. 4-3-0 Yusaki Tsukumo
Yuta Watanabe 8-2-3 vs. 14-4-2 Yukiya Naito
Luiz Andrade I 7-6-3 vs. 2-3-3 Shinobu Miura

Future Fights:
Yasuhiro Sakahara vs. Satoru Inaba

Read more...

1/18 Shooto - Tradition 5

At last night's event they also introduced some fights for the first Shooto event next year. This will be held in Differ Ariake, as suppose to the usual Korakuen Hall.

On the card will be super-veteran Jin Akimoto, Akimoto was a very good fighter. But after taking 2 years off, he has not recorded a win (thats 9 fights without a win!). Akimoto has faced good opponents though, and he should be favorite against "Gozo".

The money fight on this card is the fight between Endo and Boku though. This should be the main-event, even if it is not a title fight. Boku lost by decision to "Hellboy" in his last fight and is currently on a 2 fight losing streak. Yusuke Endo is the current Pacific Rim Shooto Champion, and he will be facing a former champion. This is a non-title fight though.

Announced:
Welter: Yusuke Endo 12-2-1 vs. 13-5-1 Koutetsu Boku
Feather: Junya "KODO" Kudo 6-2-2 vs. 5-4-1 Takahiro Hosoi
Bantam: Jin Akimoto 10-12-4 vs. 4-6-0 Ayumu "Gozo" Shioda

Read more...

12/13 Shooto - Rookie Tournament Finals - Fight Added

This should be a good event, held in Shinjuku Face Saturday December 13. The rookie tournament finals is always a good place to spot the next Shooto stars. Last year's MVP was Ogikubo, who is defietely one to look out for.

This year, there are some very good fighters to look out for as well.

Added to the card is a non-tournament fight, but it should still be a good one! 2 foreigners fighting in Japan will square off. Paulo Milano will fight Guy Delameau

Added:
Paulo Milano 6-3-1 vs. 7-4-0 Guy Delameau

Previously Announced - Rookie Tournament Finals:
Flyweight: Mikitoshi Yamagami 2-0-0 vs. 3-1-0 Junji “Sarumaru” Ito
Bantamweight: Fumihiro Kitahara 3-0-0 vs. 2-0-0 Kentaro Watanabe
Featherweight: Kosuke Eda 6-2-2 vs. 0-1-1 Yoshihiko Oyama
Lightweight: Issei Tamura 2-0-0 vs. 4-1-0 Naohiro Mizuno
Welterweight: Yukinari “Hibiki” Tamura 8-1-4 vs. 2-0-0 Ikuo Usuda
Middleweight: Takesuke Kume 3-0-2 vs. 2-2-2 Takuya Sato
Light-Heavyweight: Takaaki Oban “C-Boy” 2-1-0 vs. 2-1-1 Makoto Maeda “Chomolangma ½”

Read more...

11/29 Shooto Tradition 4 - Results

Saturday 29 November 2008



Just came home form the event, and it was a good one!! For the ones who have been waiting for the results.

Kadowaki came out like a champion, he tried his best on his feet and actually hit "Lion" a couple of times. As the rounds went on though, it went more and more the way of the challenger, and he got the decision in the end.

For me, the big fight was Ogikubo. I actaully thought he controlled most of the fight on the ground... The judges disagreed and gave them a draw. Which is hard to argue with, I guess...

"Mike" really showed his stuff in the 1st round, but as is too common... He gassed in the 2nd. He got a draw this time, but he will be back!!! "Mike" will get a win one of these days, it was exciting again today!

In the other BIG fights today, I was surprised how easy the favorites dealt with the issue... Nakakura dominated Casimir and Hioki dominated Rumina.

On another note, there were a couple of famous fighters there, Gomi was enjoying the fights, posing for pictures with fans. Also "Wicky" Akiyo was relaxing before his final in Cage Force next week! Both very nice guys, and "Wicky" is READY!


1. Nobuhiro "Mike" Hayakawa vs. Yuta Nezu DRAW
2. Taisuke Okuno Def. Daisuke "Hunt" Okumiya by Decision 3-0
3. Atsushi Takeuchi Def. Katsuya Murofushi by rear-naked choke Round 2 1:44
4. Yutaka Ueda Def. Jin Kazeta by TKO Round 1 3:23
5. So Tazawa vs. Hiromasa Ogikubo DRAW
6. Takashi Nakakura Def. Bendy Casimir by Rear-naked choke Round 1 4:58
7. Hatsu Hioki Def. Rumina Sato by TKO Round 1 3:32
8. "Lion" Takeshi Inoue Def. Hideki Kadowaki by decision 3-0

Read more...

11/29 Shooot Tradition 04 - Weigh-!n - Tazawa misses weight?

The weigh-in for today's Shooto event happened yesterday. So Tazawa had 2 attempts at making weight, but was over both times. He should have another shot at it, but I dont know the result.

Anyway, here are the rest of the weigh-in results:

Hideki Kadowaki 65.0 kg
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue 65.0 kg

Hatsu Hioki 64.9 kg
Rumina Sato 65.0 kg

Takashi Nakakura 70.0 kg
Bendy Casimir 70.4 kg → 70.0 kg

So Tazawa 60.2kg → 60.1kg → X
Hiromasa Ogikubo 59.9 kg

Jin Kazeta 69.6 kg
Yutaka Ueda 69.7 kg

Atsushi Takeuchi 52.2 kg → 52.0 kg
Katsuya Murofushi 52.0 kg

Taisuke Okuno 75.8 kg
Daisuke "Hunt" Okumiya 75.1 kg

Nobuhiro "Mike" Hayakawa 59.8 kg
Yuta Nezu 59.8 kg

Read more...

1/4 Sengoku - Antonio Silva Debuting!

Friday 28 November 2008

Sengoku have announced one more fight for their NYE (on January 4) card. The addition of Antonio Silva strengthes their heavy weight division and it is a very good addition for them.

The EliteXC champion is taking on Pride veteran Yoshihiro "Kiss" Nakao. Nakao's claim to fame is really kissing Heath Herring 3 years ago. Herring preceeded to KO Nakao before the fight had started. Nakao is giving up about 40kg in this fight.

The question now is, how long before we see even more EliteXC fighters coming to Japan? I have a feeling Sengoku is signing up a lot of these fighters lately.

Added:
Antonio Silva 11-1-0 vs. 7-1-0 (2NC) Yoshihiro "Kiss" Nakao

Previously announced:
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

Read more...

11/29 Shooot Tradition 04 - Warm-Up

Shooto is putting on a really good event tomorrow. The mix of stars and talent should make this one of the better Shooto events this year.

If you want to see what a professional thinks of this event, you should read Jordan Breen's preview on this event here. There is no doubt this will be a good event.

Anyway, here is what I expect from the main card at tomorrow's event. I will be there taking pictures, so might be a bit late with the results...

So Tazawa 8-3-2 vs. 5-0-1 Hiromasa Ogikubo
I am really looking forward to watching Hiromasa Ogikubo, he is still undefeated, Training under Ryota Matsune and Hiroshi Tsuruya in Paraestra Matsudo. He will be a force in the Shooto featherweight division. This time he is facing his toughest opponent yet in So Tazawa.

So Tazawa has been in there with the best of them and he still has a good record. I still think Ogikubo will be too strong on the ground.

Predicition: I am sort of bias in this, as Ogikubo is from my gym, so there is no surprise who I am picking in this fight. I see Ogikubo taking the fight to the ground and getting a decision win.

Hiromasa Ogikubo:
vs. Hiroyuki Tanaka
vs. Yasuhiro Kanayama
vs. Kazuya Tamura

So Tazawa:
vs. Masakatsu Ueda Part 1
vs. Masakatsu Ueda Part 2
vs. Masakatsu Ueda Part 3

Takashi Nakakura 10-2-1 vs. 16-4-2 Bendy Casimir
This could very well end up being fight of the night, both these guys are Shooto champions (Nakakura world champion, Casimir european champion) but there is no title on the line. Maybe because I am used to this in Japan, but I dont care. This is a fight I want to see, even if its not a title fight.

Predicition: Be careful not to underestimate Bendy Casimir in this fight. Nakakura is the favorite and I see him getting the decision, but Casimir was very good in his last fight in Japan.

Takashi Nakakura:
vs. Ray Cooper
vs. Yusuke Endo Round 1
vs. Yusuke Endo Round 2
vs. Yusuke Endo Round 3
vs. Ganjo Tentsuku Part 1
vs. Ganjo Tentsuku Part 2
vs. Mizuto Hirota Round 1
vs. Mizuto Hirota Round 2
vs. Mizuto Hirota Round 3

Bendy Casimir:
vs. Juri Ivlev
vs. Ian Jones
vs. Shinji Sasaki Part 1
vs. Shinji Sasaki Part 2

Hatsu Hioki 16-3-2 vs. 24-12-2 Rumina Sato
This is a fight between 2 of them most popular Shooto fighters. This will really get the crowd going and it should be a good fight. Personally, I would like to see Rumina Sato get this win, but I dont think he will.

Rumina Sato took most of 2006 off to start his own gym, since coming back he has a record of 1-2, in his last 5 he is 1-4. Hioki on the other hand is undefeated in his last 5.

Prediction: As much as I want Rumina Sato to win, I cant see it happening. Hioki will take it, but dont count Rumina off completely.

Rumina Sato:
vs. Charles Taylor
vs. Bao Quach
vs. Augusto Frota
vs. Katsuya Toida
vs. Antonio Carvalho
vs. Ali Mihoubi
vs. Rafael Cordeiro

Hatsu Hioki:
vs. Antonio Carvalho Part 1
vs. Antonio Carvalho Part 2
vs. Antonio Carvalho Part 3
vs. Baret Yoshida
vs. Joe Pearson
vs. Hideki Kadowaki

Hideki Kadowaki 13-7-2 vs. 14-3-0 "Lion" Takeshi Inoue
Hideki Kadowaki is the champion, and in some ways he had a sudden rise to the belt. He is a very experienced fighter, but before he pulled out a "Kadowaki Special" on Rumina Sato I was not expecting to see him in a title fight. Then pieces fell his way, he had some luck and got the title shot. He won a deserved victory against Akitoshi Tamura.

Even if Kadowaki is the defending champion coming in, I think he is also viewed as the underdog here. "Lion" Takeshi has only had 3 losses in his career, he lost he last fight though. "Lion" would like to keep this fight standing, Kadowaki wants "Lion" Takeshi on his back.

Prediction: I am really torn on this, I see it either as an exciting fight where "Lion" picks Kadowaki apart standing OR a fight that goes the distance ending in a draw or decision win to Kadowaki. I am leaning towards a decision to Kadowaki, actually changed my mind since I started writing.

Hideki Kadowaki:
vs. Akitoshi Tamura Part 1
vs. Akitoshi Tamura Part 2
vs. Akitoshi Tamura Part 3
vs. Hatsu Hioki
vs. Naoya Miyamoto
vs. "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura Part 1
vs. "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura Part 2

"Lion" Takeshi Inoue:
vs. Antonio Carvalho
vs. Navid Yousefi
vs. Katsuya Toida
vs. Akitoshi Tamura Part 1
vs. Akitoshi Tamura Part 2
vs. Savant Young Part 1
vs. Savant Young Part 2

Read more...

12/31 Dynamite - Mousasi/Kawajiri Fighting K-1 Rule

Thursday 27 November 2008



I am a bit confused about the fights added today, 2 of the biggest DREAM profiles are fighting K-1 rules...

It was announced earlier this week that Gegard Mousasi will participate in next years ADCC championships. Since that announcement was made, I figured he will be focusing on his grappling... Today it is announced that he will take on the Japanese star Musashi in a K-1 rules fight on NYE.

As if that wasnt enough... Kawajiri is also fighting K-1 rules... He is taking on Kozo Takeda.

This will be something that should draw a crowd, and Mousasi is a good kick-boxer... Either way, I am sure some fans will be disappointed also...

Added:
Gegard Mousasi vs. Musashi
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kozo Takeda

Previously announced:
Kazushi Sakuraba 24-11-1 vs. 32-13-2 Kiyoshi Tamura
Joachim Hansen 19-7-1 vs. 14-2-1 "JZ" Gesias Cavalcante

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

Read more...

Pancrase 2009 Tour Name!

Every year Pancrase changes their tour name.

In 2008 we have seen a lot of changes in Pancrase, and they have put on a lot of good events under the name "Shining Tour". In 2007 they called their tour "Rising Tour".

For 2009 they have settled on the "Changing Tour". Maybe that indicates more changes to come in 2009? I hope they keep the ring-girls at least.

Read more...

11/29 Shooot Tradition 04 - Fight Order



Shooto have announced the fight order for their event on Saturday. No big surprise that the title fight between Champion Hideki Kadowaki and "Lion" Takeshi take that honor.

It is a very good card with a mix of very talented fighters, such as Ogikubo and Ueda mixed with a lot of established stars.

Again, I hope that "Mike" Hayakawa adds to his win. I think he deserves it, as he is better than his record shows.

Main-Event - Shooto Lightweight World Title Fight:
8. Hideki Kadowaki 13-7-2 vs. 14-3-0 "Lion" Takeshi Inoue

7. Light: Hatsu Hioki 16-3-2 vs. 24-12-2 Rumina Sato
6. Welter: Takashi Nakakura 10-2-1 vs. 16-4-2 Bendy Casimir
5. Feather: So Tazawa 8-3-2 vs. 5-0-1 Hiromasa Ogikubo
4. Welter: Jin Kazeta 8-8-2 vs. 5-1-1 Yutaka Ueda
3. Fly: Atsushi Takeuchi 4-4-2 vs. 3-3-0 Katsuya Murofushi
2. Middle: Taisuke Okuno 6-2-1 vs. 2-2-1 Daisuke "Hunt" Okumiya
1. Feather: Nobuhiro "Mike" Hayakawa 1-4-2 vs. 5-2-0 Yuta Nezu

Read more...

12/10 DEEP 39 - Fights Added

Tuesday 25 November 2008

Shoji Maruyama, the former Lightweight King of Pancrase will be fighting AACC's Takafumi Otsuka in what should be a very interesting fight. Shoji had a busy first half of 2008, with 3 fights in 5 months. He won the Pancrase Lightweight title agaist Artur Oumakhanov with a kick to the head. He then decided to vacate the title to move down a weight class. His last fight was in DREAM 3, a decision loss to Yamazaki.

Shoji will be facing Takafumi Otsuka who is a very tough fighter. He is the sort of fighter that never gives up and this should be a good fight between 2 talented fighters.

Also added is the Heavyweight fight between Inoue and Tazawa.

It is shaping up to be a good card again for DEEP. The event is being held in Korakuen Hall.

Added:
Shoji Maruyama 6-3-1 vs. 7-3-1 Takafumi Otsuka
Shunsuke Inoue 4-3-0 vs. 3-0-0 Kazuhisa Tazawa

Future Fights:
Yasuhiro Sakahara vs. Satoru Inaba

Previously announced:
Nobuhiro Obiya 9-3-1 vs. 12-6-4 Yoshihiro Tomioka "Barbaro44"
Jutaro Nakao 22-13-4 vs. 8-1-1 Katsunori Kikuno
Seigo Inoue 4-4-1 vs. 6-4-2 Toshikazu "ISE" Iseno
Yuichi Nakanishi 9-7-3 vs. 13-7-0 Yuya Shirai
Daiki Hata "DJ Taiki" 8-5-3 vs. 15-7-2 Naoya Uematsu

DEEP vs. Wajyutsu Keisyukai
Eiji Ishikawa 17-15-2 vs. 4-3-0 Yusaki Tsukumo
Yuta Watanabe 8-2-3 vs. 14-4-2 Yukiya Naito
Luiz Andrade I 7-6-3 vs. 2-3-3 Shinobu Miura

Read more...

11/24 Shoot Boxing - S-Cup LIVE RESULTS

Monday 24 November 2008



Just so everyone is warned, there will be spoilers after the jump.

Today is the big day for Shoot Boxing! They have put together a very good card that includes female fighters, MMA stars, K-1 stars and Shoot Boxing stars. It should be a very good event and I will give you live results.

The S-Cup is a 1-day tournament format and there are 8 fighters competing for this year's title. This is the 6th time the S-Cup Tournament is arranged and previous winners are:

2006 - Kenichi Ogata (Beat Andy Souwer by decision in the final)
2004 - Andy Souwer (Beat Hiroki Shishido by TKO in the final)
2002 - Andy Souwer
1997 - Rayen Simson (Different format, from what I can see...)
1995 - Hiromu Yoshitaka

It should be a good night of fights again this year, and Andy Souwer has a shot at winning the title for the 3rd time.

The fights start at 4PM Japan time, there is a clock at the bottom right of my site. If you're not able to see it, you can use this site to see the local time in Japan: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

Read on for spoilers and fight card.


The broadcast has started.

Opening fights will not be shown and there will be no results here.

Opening Fights:
1. 57kg: Tatsuhiro Takashima vs. Atsushi Sakamura
Takashima gets the decision 3-0
2. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight B: Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)
Foley gets the decision 3-0
3. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight A: Taiga Yamaguchi vs. Wei Shoulei
Yamaguchi by KO Round 2 2:03

Main-Card:
4. 50kg Female: Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena
Miku gets the decision 3-0
5. 70kg: Gouki (?) Hishida vs. Hideyuki Yokoku
Hishida Decision 3-0 Hishida had Yokoku in several standing Guilliotines that threatened to end the fight, but with the big gloves its hard to finish.

Its time for the S-Cup Tournament to start!!

S-Cup Quarter Finals:
6. QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Kenji Kanai
Ogata wins by KO Round 2

7. QF2: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
Luiz Azeredo submits Schneldmiller! Standing arm-triangle. Schneldmiller looked like he had Azeredo, and got too eager for the KO. Azeredo got ahold of him and choked him out, very good fight!

8. QF3: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki
Shishido gets the decision 3-0.

9. QF4: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus
Souwer gets the TKO Round 1 2:44. Souwer set it up with punches and kicks, in the end Kibus went down from a body shot.

Non-Tournament Fights:
10. 50.8kg Female: Mai Ichi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto
Fuuka has an enterance that seems to be Genki Sudo inspired.
Fuuka Kakimoto gets the decision after an extra round! Controversial decision IMO.

11. 59kg: Akifumi Utagawa vs. Ken Shiratori
Utagawa wins by a KO, Shiratori gets KOed with a takedown.

S-Cup Semi-Final:
12. Semi-Final 1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Luiz Azeredo
UNBELIEVABLE!!! Ogata was knocked out, he gets up and Azeredo gets to confident and gets KOed! They are getting the streacher out for Azeredo!

13. Semi-Final 2: Hiroki Shishido vs. Andy Souwer
A very good fight, Souwer is dominating, but goes to decision. Souwer gets the decision 3-0

Non-Tournament Fights:
14. 60kg: Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk vs. Jun Byun Gu (?)
Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk wins by Decision

15. 72kg: Koichi Kikuchi vs. Takaaki Umeno
Umeno gets the decision in a fight that both fighters could barely stand at the end. They both gave everythig in this one. Umeno 3-0

16. Main-Event: S-Cup Tournament Final: Kenichi Ogata vs. Andy Souwer

1st round is finished. Just at the end Ogata is knocked down, but Ogata gets up and is saved by the bell.

Spinning back kick from Souwer has Ogata in trouble. Andy Souwer picked Ogata apart, Souwer wins with a kick to the head and Ogata is done. Awesome fight by Souwer.

Read more...

Personal Message - Again...

Its been a very busy few weeks for me, personally (wife has had an operation and I am now unemployed). Unfortunately, my blogging has suffered some as a result.

I don't want to go too much into details, but for now I should have more time to spend on my blog. I have also been looking at ways to improve what I do, and there will be some big changes shortly.

My mission has not changed, I want to assist where I can to get information about the MMA events in Japan out. This includes, of course where, when and how type information.

For those who are wondering, I will stick around in Japan for a while. If you have a job in FINANCE (anywhere), you can contact me ;). I have received several offers from other sites, I have taken a lot of time considering to start something like that but have come to the conclusion that it is not an option for me.

There are a couple of things I have been trying to help people with, and there might be an opportunity in the near future.

Read more...

11/23 ZST 18 - RESULTS


This weekend is a very busy one, there are 3 events in 3 days and yesterday ZST held their event in Differ Ariake. The card had lots more fights on it, but I have only been able to find the results for the main-card.

The main event was the grappling tag-team fight between Imanari/Tokoro and Yano/Yokoyama.

Also on the card was the Sydney Olympics silver medalist, Nagata vs. the veteran Kotani. I have a feeling that Nagata might leave the wrestling shoes at home next time...

Anyway, for the results:

Main-Event - GT-F (grappling) Tag-Team Final:
Makazu Imanari/Hideo Tokoro Def. Takumi Yano/Daisuke Yokoyama by Decision 2-1

Osami Shibuya Def. Yojiro Uchimura by arm triangle choke Round 1 1:38
Naoyuki Kotani Def. Katsuhiko Nagata by Heel-Hook Round 2 4:38
Tag-team: Kenichi Ito/Yuki Ito vs. Masayuki Okude/Shinya Sato DRAW
Minoru Toyonaga vs. Hiroki Kotani DRAW
Keisuke Fujiwara Def. Shunichi Shimizu by KO Round 2 0:56

Read more...

11/22 Shooto GIG North Vol. 3 - RESULTS

Sunday 23 November 2008

Shooto kicked off a busy few weeks in Japanese MMA yesterday. A good event in Sapporo which saw home town favorite Mori face the veteran Ikoma.

There was a lot of talent on this card, in addition to a great exhibition fight. The results are below the jump.

Takuya Mori vs. Junji Ikoma DRAW
Tatsuya Yamamoto Def. Kazuyuki Yoshida by Rear-naked Choke Round 2 2:09
Exhibition: Fumihiro Kitahara vs. Yusuke Honma
Taro Kusano Def. Hidekazu "Aniki" Asakura by Decision 3-0
Tsuneo "Jackknife" Kimura Def. Michiyuki "Aroi" Ishibashi by decision 3-0
Junpei Chikano Def. Yoshiki Noguchi by Decision 3-0
Atsushi Mochiduki Def. Takeshi Sato by decision 3-0
Takashi Nikuni Def. Toshiaki Hayasaka by arm-bar Round 2 4:03

Read more...

11/24 Shoot Boxing - Fights Finalized

Brian Lo-A-Njoe's replacement was announced today, it means a re-suffle of the reserve fights and Kenichi Kanai moves up to take the open spot in the S-Cup Tournament. That leaves an open spot in the reserve matches that is filled by Taiga Yamaguchi.

That means that we should have the same number of fights and it should be an awesome event!

This starts at 4PM Japan time and I will give you LIVE results!

Fight order:
16. Main-Event: S-Cup Final: Winner Fight 12 vs. Winner Fight 13
15. 72kg: Koichi Kikuchi vs. Takaaki Umeno
14. 60kg: Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk vs. Jun Byun Gu (?)

S-Cup Semi-Finals:
13. Semi-Final 2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4
12. Semi-Final 1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2

11. 59kg: Akifumi Utagawa vs. Ken Shiratori
10. 50.8kg Female: Mai Ichi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto

S-Cup Quarter-Finals:
9. QF4: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus
8. QF3: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki
7. QF2: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
6. QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Kenji Kanai

5. 70kg: Gouki (?) Hishida vs. Hideyuki Yokoku
4. 50kg Female: Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena

Opening Fights:
3. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight A: Taiga Yamaguchi vs. Wei Shoulei
2. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight B: Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)
1. 57kg: Tatsuhiro Takashima vs. Atsushi Sakamura

Read more...

11/24 Shoot Boxing - Brian Lo-A-Njoe Out!

Saturday 22 November 2008

Big disappointment for the fans that were hopeing to see Brian Lo-A-Njoe. It seems there were several requests from the Lo-A-Njoe camp that lead to Brian Lo-A-Njoe being pulled from the card, so not an injury. The Japanese press is reporting that he in addition to not making weight (he requested to come in a little above), requested an increase in fight money.

Luckily, there are 2 good reserve fights, so they should have back up fighters. Lets see what they put together 2 days before the event.

Change: 6. QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. TBA

Fight order:
16. Main-Event: S-Cup Final: Winner Fight 12 vs. Winner Fight 13
15. 72kg: Koichi Kikuchi vs. Takaaki Umeno
14. 60kg: Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk vs. Jun Byun Gu (?)

S-Cup Semi-Finals:
13. Semi-Final 2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4
12. Semi-Final 1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2

11. 59kg: Akifumi Utagawa vs. Ken Shiratori
10. 50.8kg Female: Mai Ichi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto

S-Cup Quarter-Finals:
9. QF4: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus
8. QF3: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki
7. QF2: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
6. QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. TBA

5. 70kg: Gouki (?) Hishida vs. Hideyuki Yokoku
4. 50kg Female: Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena

Opening Fights:
3. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight A: Kenji Kanai vs. Wei Shoulei
2. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight B: Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)
1. 57kg: Tatsuhiro Takashima vs. Atsushi Sakamura

Read more...

11/22 Shooto GIG North Vol. 3 - ***REMINDER***

***Reminder*** This event is being held today in ZEPP Sapporo. I will update the results as soon as they become available.

Shooto have announced Takuya Mori's opponent for Shooto Gig North on November 22. With that the card is complete.

There is no surprise that Mori is in the main event, this time he will face the veteran Junji Ikoma who is currently ranked #6. If Mori was to win this, it would mean a boost to his ranking, and he would have to be considered an outsider against the 9 years older Ikoma.

It should be a good night of fights, and some of these fighters will get their first taste of victory.

Main Event:
7. Bantam: Takuya Mori 5-3-0 vs. 11-9-3 Junji Ikoma

6. Fly: Tatsuya Yamamoto 1-2-0 vs. 0-1-0 Kazuyuki Yoshida
5. Welter: Hidekazu "Aniki" Asakura 1-4-0 vs. 0-2-1 Taro Kusano
4. Welter: Michiyuki "Aroi" Ishibashi 1-4-1 vs. Tsuneo "Jackknife" Kimura
3. Welter: Yoshiki Noguchi 0-3-0 vs. 0-3-0 Junpei Chikano
2. Fly: Takeshi Sato 0-1-0 vs. Atsushi Mochiduki
1. Light: Takashi Nikuni vs. Toshiaki Hayasaka

Read more...

12/14 HEAT 8 - Differ Ariake **UPDATED**


HEAT is a Nagoya based organization, but they normally make 1 trip a year to Tokyo. This year it will happen on December 14. There will be both kick- and MMA rule fights, and it should be a good event.

On the card we will see the return of Sentoryu, something I am looking forward to, win or lose its always exciting. Also on the card is (I think, Korean names are very hard for me to work out...) Dong Yi Yang. If I am not mistaken this is the guy that ruined Pawel Natsula's return to fighting (it was really the ref that runied it, but Dong got the win).

I have posted a couple of fights here.

****UPDATED: Fights in Heavyweight MMA and Kick Rule Announced****
Sentoryu is fighting Junpei Hamada, and Korean talent Dong Yi Yang is fighting Ryuta Noji in what should be a very exciting fight.


Announced:
HEAT Kick-Rule Middleweight Tournament Semi-Finals
Jotaro Usui vs. Fabiakato "RS Promotion" Lukafa (?)
Yuso Matsumoto vs. Kinji

HEAT MMA-Rule Welterweight Tournament Semi-Finals
Max Fernandez 2-0-0 vs. 1-0-0 Hyong Yo Im
Yoshitaro Niimi 6-2-2 vs. 1-1-0 Justin Holdaas

HEAT Kick-Rule Heavyweight Tournament 1st Round
Makoto Uehara vs. Sun Wu
"Prince" Ali vs. Tatsufumi Tomihira
Moon Bo Ram vs. Nobutaka Baba

HEAT MMA-Rule Heavyweight Tournament
Sentoryu 3-7-0 vs. 5-10-0 Junpei Hamada
Dong Yi Yang 3-0-0 vs. 7-3-0 Ryuta Noji

Non-Tournament Fights
Kick-Rule Open weight: Goutoku Onda vs. Yuuki
MMA Rule 88kg: Daiju Takase 7-12-1 vs. 1-4-1 Masataka Chinushi

Read more...

11/23 ZST 18 - Fight Order

November 23 ZST is holding their event in Differ Ariake. This has some good names on the card and some interesting fights. There is also a lot of talent, and a lot of fights.

The main event is the grappling tag team fight, which is the final in the GT-F rule tournament. The finalists are the Imanari/Tokoro vs. Yano/Yokoyama teams.

Also on the card is the lightweight fight between UFC and Pride veteran Naoyuki Kotani and Sydney Olympic wrestler silver medalist Katsuhiko Nagata.

21. Main-Event - GT-F (grappling) Tag-Team Final:
Makazu Imanari/Hideo Tokoro vs. Takumi Yano/Daisuke Yokoyama

20. Middleweight: Yojiro Uchimura 6-3-0 vs. 34-32-16 Osami Shibuya
19. Lightweight: Naoyuki Kotani 17-8-6 vs. 4-3-0 Katsuhiko Nagata

18. Lightweight Tag-team:Kenichi Ito 3-3-2/Yuki Ito 7-2-3
vs. Masayuki Okude 5-5-5/Shinya Sato 8-12-6

17. GT-F (Grappling): Minoru Toyonaga vs. Hiroki Kotani
16. Featherweight: Shunichi Shimizu 13-3-4 vs. 4-1-3 Keisuke Fujiwara

Opening Fights:
15. Lightweight 6 man Tag-Team: Hiroyuki Ota/Koji Hirotaka/Taku Aramaki
vs. Kota Okazawa/Takahiro Futsumori/Yujiro Yamamoto

14. Bantamweight (Pancrase Rule) Yuichiro Yajima 6-6-1 vs. 3-5-2 Toshihiro Shimizu
13. Bantamweight (SB-X Rule) Ryosuke Tanuma 2-1-0 vs. Hiroaki Okuwa
12. Featherweight: Emerson Azuma 5-2-1 vs. Hiroyuki Yamashiro
11. Middleweight: Kenji Nagai 5-7-1 vs. 0-3-0 Shinya Miura
10. Featherweight: Ichiro Sugita 6-2-5 vs. Yasuo Munakata
9. Female Flyweight (GT-F): Miki Aiba vs. Megumi Iwamoto
8. Middleweight (GT-F): Keisuke Onuma 1-2-0 vs. Hisaya Saeki

Genesis Fights:
7. Lightweight: Yoshihiro Sato 0-2-0 vs. 1-2-0 Makoto Toriumi
6. Featherweight: Kotaku Kawazu vs. Ryota Kobayashi
5. Welterweight: Yoichiro Toriyama vs. Satoru Hasegawa
4. Featherweight: Makoto Takenaka vs. Shinya Kurosawa
3. Lightweight:Keisuke Ikai 0-0-1 vs. Hiroyuki Aoi
2. Bantamweight: Masatoshi Kondo vs. Hayasaka 優瑠 (?)
1. Lightweight: Shobu Ono vs. Yosuke Akahiro

Tickets:
VIP 17,000円
SRS 10,000円
SS 8,000円
S 6,000円
A 5,000円
At the door +500

Read more...

Shooto November Rankings

Thursday 20 November 2008


This month there are changes to the Bantamweight and Middleweight divisions.

The big mover is of course Xavier Lucas, after claiming the Pacific Shooto title he comes in at 4th place on the global rankings.

Also moving up are Ryuichi Miki, Junji Ikoma and Masaaki Sugawara.

Bantamweight:
Champion: → Shinichi “BJ” Kojima
-From October 14 2006, Defended 3 times against Mamoru, Akagi and Urushitani

1. → Yuki Shoujou
2. →Yasuhiro Urushitani
3. ↑ Ryuichi Miki
4. ↑ Junji Ikoma
5. ↓ Mamoru Yamaguchi
6. ↓ Masatoshi Abe
7. → Shimokawa Yusei
8. → Yasuhiro Akagi
9. → Homare Kuboyama
10. ↑ Masaaki Sugawara

Masaaki Sugawara pushes veteran Jin Akimoto out of the rankings with his win against Takuya Mori in Shooot Tradition 3. Ryuichi Miki and Junji Ikoma moves up after wins in the last month.

Featherweight:
Champion: → Masakatsu Ueda
-From March 28 2008, Defended 1 Time against Galvao

1. → Marcos “Louro” Galvao
2. → Eduardo Dantas
3. → Daniel Lima
4. → Koetsu Okazaki
5. → So Tazawa
6. → Atsushi Yamamoto
7. → Kenji Osawa
8. → Hiromasa Ogikubo
9. → Tetsu Suzuki
10. → Takeya Mizugaki

No change.


Lightweight:
Champion: → Hideki Kadowaki
-From March 28 2008, Defending title for the first time against “Lion” Takeshi November 29.

1. → Akitoshi Tamura
2. → Antonio Carvalho
3. → Savant Young
4. →“Lion” Takeshi Inoue
5. → Hatsu Hioki
6. → Rumina Sato
7. → Bao Quach
8. → Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura
9. → Katsuya Toida
10. → David Lejenas

No change.


Welterweight:
Champion: → Takashi Nakakura
-From May 3 2008 Defended 0 times)

1. → Yusuke Endo
2. → Ganjo Tensuku
3. → Bendy Casimir
4. → Grzegorz Trendowski
5. → Willamy Chiquerim "Chiqueirinho"
6. → Jani Lax
7. → Brian Cobb
8. → Mizuto Hirota
9. → Eiji Mitsuoka
10. → Giovani Diniz

No change.


Middleweight:
Champion: → Shinya Aoki
-From February 17 2006, defended 0 times

1. → David Baron
2. → Wim Deputter
3. → Niek Tromp
4. ↑ Xavier Lucas
5. ↓ Zelim Felican
6. ↓ Roemer Trumpert
7. ↓ Hernani Perpetuo
8. ↓ Tommy Depret
9. ↓ Scott Henze
10. ↑ Amilcar Alves

Xavier Lucas moves up into 4th place on the back of his win Shooto Gig Central. He is now also the Shooto Pacific Rim Champion. Also into the ranking comes Brazilian Amilcar Alves.

Out goes Ronald Jhun and Brent Weedman.


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

No change.

Read more...

11/24 Shoot Boxing - Fight Order

Wednesday 19 November 2008

Late November and early December will be a very busy time in Japan. One of the highlights is the upcoming Shoot Boxing event in Saitama Super Arena. As always, they are pulling in some big stars for this event.

There are a total of 16 (!) fights on the card, stars include Andy Souwer, Chris Horodecki, Kenichi Ogata and female idol Fuuka Kakimoto. I will give live results.

Remember, this is Shoot Boxing so not MMA as such. Standing submissions are allowed though. If you want to read up on the rules, you can find them here.

16. Main-Event: S-Cup Final: Winner Fight 12 vs. Winner Fight 13
15. 72kg: Koichi Kikuchi vs. Takaaki Umeno
14. 60kg: Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk vs. Jun Byun Gu (?)

S-Cup Semi-Finals:
13. Semi-Final 2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4
12. Semi-Final 1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2

11. 59kg: Akifumi Utagawa vs. Ken Shiratori
10. 50.8kg Female: Mai Ichi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto

S-Cup Quarter-Finals:
9. QF4: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus
8. QF3: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki
7. QF2: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
6. QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Brian Lo-A-Njoe

5. 70kg: Gouki (?) Hishida vs. Hideyuki Yokoku
4. 50kg Female: Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena

Opening Fights:
3. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight A: Kenji Kanai vs. Wei Shoulei
2. 70kg S-Cup Reserve Fight B: Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)
1. 57kg: Tatsuhiro Takashima vs. Atsushi Sakamura

Read more...

1/4 Sengoku - Yoshida's Opponent Announced

Tuesday 18 November 2008

Sengoku have announced that Hidehiko Yoshida will take on Grabaka fighter Sanae Kikuta. More surprisingly, this will be at Light-heavy weight.

It should be an interesting fight, and a good addition to this "New Years" card. In addition, as we know, Gomi will take on tournament winner Kitaoka. Misaki will take on Santiago.

Added:
Hidehiko Yoshida 8-6-1 vs. 27-6-3 Sanae Kikuta

Previously announced:
Takanori Gomi 29-4-0 vs. 23-8-9 Satoru Kitaoka
Jorge Santiago 20-7-0 vs. 21-8-2 Kazuo Misaki

Participating:
King Mo 2-0-0

Read more...

11/24 Shoot Boxing - Saitama SA - Fights Announced



Shoot Boxing has announced the last fighter in the S-Cup quarter finals, facing Kenichi Ogata will be Dutchman Brian Lo-A-Njoe. This is a rematch from last years big Shoot Boxing event "Battle Summit Ground Zero Tokyo 2007". On that occation, Lo-A-Njoe beat the 2006 S-Cup champion with a KO 44 seconds into round 2.

Also added is Thai fighter Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk. He fought in the previous Shoot Boxing event and won convincingly, you can see my review of the event here. It was a very good event. Unfortunately, I am not able to figure out who he is fighting... I am really bad with Korean names, I have tried to translate it from the Japanese writing.

If you're in Japan, you can get this event on SkyPerfect PPV. Price is 2,625円.
If you want to go to this event, there are still tickets available.

Added:
QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Brian Lo-A-Njoe

Non-Tournament Fights:
60kg: Pajunsuk Por. Pramuk vs. Jun Byun Gu (?)
72kg: Koichi Kikuchi vs. Takaaki Umeno
59kg: Akifumi Utagawa vs. Ken Shiratori
70kg: Gouki (?) Hishida vs. Hideyuki Yokoku
57kg: Tatsuhiro Takashima vs. Atsushi Sakamura

Previously Announced:
Quarter-Finals:
QF1: Kenichi Ogata vs. Brian Lo-A-Njoe
QF2: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
QF3: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki
QF4: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus

Reserve fights:
Kenji Kanai vs. Wei Shoulei
Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)

Semi-Finals:
SF1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2
SF2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4

Final:
Winner SF 1 vs. Winner SF2

Non-Tournament Fight:
Female: Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena
Female: Mai Ichi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto

Read more...

12/6 Cage Force 09 - Fights Announced

Cage Force always put up good events, and there are usually some upsets. This time, again, they are putting talented fighters against more experienced ones and it makes for exciting fights.

Motoki Miyazawa is returning after his loss in DREAM 5, to meet the experienced Shigetoshi Iwase. Eriya Matsuda is fighting Tomonari Kanomata in a fight that should be very exciting.

The tournament finals this year should also be 2 very good fights. Masahiro Oishi, who just turned 40, is on a 5 fight winning streak and will face a big challenge in Takeya Mizugaki. The featherweight final will see the eccentric "Wicky" Akiyo against the veteran Yuji Hoshino. Hoshino is undefeated since 2004 and this should also be a very close fight.

Added:
Motoki Miyazawa 4-1-0 vs. 7-10-3 Shigetoshi Iwase
Takeyasu Hirono 8-15-4 vs. 0-2-0 Yoshihiro Matsunaga
Tomonari Kanomata 12-3-3 vs. 6-5-0 Eriya Matsuda
Shinpei Sotoyama 7-3-2 vs. 3-1-0 Yoshiaki "Bancho" Takahashi

Preliminary Fight:
Koji Ando 1-0-1 vs. 0-1-0 Masayoshi Ichikawa

Previously announced (Cage Force 2008 Tournament Finals):
Feather: "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura 9-2-1 vs. 15-7-7 Yuji Hoshino
Bantam: Masahiro Oishi 19-10-7 vs. 10-2-2 Takeya Mizugaki

Read more...

12/7 Pancrase - Fight Order

Monday 17 November 2008

I cant remeber any event like this... Pancrase is putting on 3 title fights in this event! Thats in addition to the welterweight tournament final and some very exciting talent on the card! They are really going out with a bang this year!

Pancrase have put a female fight on this card, something I am very happy to see. "Windy" will face one of the most talented and one of my favorite female fighters on this card, Rin Nakai. Nakai is undefeated so far in her MMA career and is a very powerful fighter.

The main event is Katsuya Inoue vs. Koji Oishi for the Lightweight title. But this card is packed with good matchups!

MAIN EVENT:
Lightweight King of Pancrase Title Fight

11. Katsuya Inoue 16-6-3 vs. 17-7-5 Koji Oishi

Bantamweight King of Pancrase Title Fight
10. Seiya Kawahara 6-0-0 vs. 6-5-1 Manabu Inoue

Welterweight King of Pancrase
9. Takuya Wada 17-8-9 vs. 6-3-4 Masahiro Toryu

8. Middle: Ichiro Kanai 8-9-3 vs. 10-20-4 Daijiro Matsui
7. 55kg: "Windy" Tomomi Sunabe 12-8-0 vs. 4-0-0 Rin Nakai

Welterweight Tournament Final 3x5min
6. Tomoyoshi Iwamiya 5-7-0 vs. 6-3-2 Hiroyuki Nozawa

5. Heavy: Masayuki Kono 3-4-0 vs. 3-0-0 Stanislav Nedkov
4. Feather: Hirotoshi Saito 2-0-0 vs. 9-5-8 Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi
3. Light: Maximo Blanco 1-0-0 (1NC) vs. 10-9-5 Daisuke Hanazawa "13"
2. Fly: Isao Hirose 3-0-0 vs. 3-3-0 Tokuaki Ninomiya
1. Feather: Yuki Yashima 2-4-1 vs. 5-2-4 Yasutomo Tanaka

Read more...

11/16 JEWELS - Results

Sunday 16 November 2008

The first ever JEWELS event was held in Shinjuku Face today. On the card were names like Megumi Fuji, Saori Ishioka, Hiroko and Hitomi Akano. After SmackGirl was unable to continue, there are 2 organizations trying to fill the gap, Valkyrie held their first event last week and now JEWELS have had their first event.

With 2 organizations, there should be oppurtunities for young talent and there were a few fighters making their debut today. Both Shizuka Sugiyama and Kikuyo Ishikawa won their debut fights, that means Sumie Yamada (now 0-3) and Harumi (now 0-9) are yet to pick up a win.

The rest of the results:

Saori Ishioka Def. Mika Nagano by decision 3-0
Megumi Fuji Def. Tomoko Mori by armbar Round 1 1:05
Hiroko Def. Mayumi Aoki "Benkei" by decision 3-0
Hitomi Akano Def. Hari by armbar Round 1 0:38
Misaki Takimoto Def. Masako Yoshida by decision 3-0
Sachiko Yamamoto "SACHI" Def. Kazumi Kaneko by armbar Round 1 4:34
Kikuyo Ishikawa Def. Sumie Yamada by triangle choke Round 1 1:02
Shizuka Sugiyama Def. Harumi by rear-naked choke round 1 2:55

Read more...

Order Your "HellBoy" Hansen Shirt NOW!!!

Saturday 15 November 2008

Joachim "HellBoy" Hansen has designed his own shirts for the Dynamite! event. Now is your chance to get your order in!!! In addition to getting a cool and unique shirt, this is of course a good way to support Joachim.

Here is how to order it:

Price: JPY 3,800 + Shipping (Japan JPY 500)

Size:
LadyM (shoulders55cm, chest44cm)
S (s68cm, c44cm)
M (s71cm, c50cm)
L (s74cm, c54cm)

Color: black and silver

Put down your information:
[Name]
[Address]
[Phone Number]
[Size]
[How many]
[Message for Joachim Hansen]

And send it to: sales@ewellness.jp
English is ok.

Here is a picture of the shirts:


You can also see them modelled on his blog.

Read more...

11/16 JEWELS - Fight Order

Friday 14 November 2008

JEWELS have announced the fight order for their first event. They have managed to put together a good card with 11 fights on it.

The event is being held in Shinjuku FACE, and you can find a map on how to get there here. The doors open at 6.

Ticket prices:
VIP 10,000円 
S 7,000円
RS 5,000円 
Enterance (no reserved seat) 3,000円
*as always in Shinjuku FACE, enterance comes wight a 500円 drink coupon.

Fight Order:
Main event:
8. 52kg: Saori Ishioka 5-3-0 vs. 1-1-0 Mika Nagano

7. 58kg: Megumi Fuji 15-0-0 vs. Tomoko Mori
6. Open: Hiroko 4-1-0 vs. 2-5-0 Mayumi Aoki "Benkei"
5. 66kg: Hitomi Akano 13-5-0 vs. 5-6-0 Hari
4. 49kg: Misaki Takimoto 8-9-4 vs. 14-13-5 Masako Yoshida
3. 48kg: Sachiko Yamamoto "SACHI" 4-3-1 vs. 2-5-0 Kazumi Kaneko
2. 48kg: Sumie Yamada 0-2-0 vs. Kikuyo Ishikawa
1. 60kg: Harumi 0-8-0 vs. Shizuka Sugiyama

Opening fights:
Shiho vs. Mayu
Rina Tomita vs. Miki
Yuko Oya vs. Misaki Ozawa

Read more...

12/10 DEEP 39 - Lightweight Tournament Announced!


Earlier this year DEEP stripped Hwan Sung Bang of the Lightweight Title. Of course this is a spot they need to fill. With Obiya coming back, they have a posible champion, but what is better than a tournament??

There will be 8 fighters fighting for this title, 3 fights are announced today.
The fighters in this tournament will be Nobuhiro Obiya, Yoshihiro Tomioka, Jutaro Nakao, Katsunori Kikuno, Seigo Inoue, Toshikazu "ISE" Iseno, Daisuke Nakamura and Koichiro Matsumoto.

Here are the fights announced today:
Nobuhiro Obiya 9-3-1 vs. 12-6-4 Yoshihiro Tomioka "Barbaro44"
Jutaro Nakao 22-13-4 vs. 8-1-1 Katsunori Kikuno
Seigo Inoue 4-4-1 vs. 6-4-2 Toshikazu "ISE" Iseno

Previously announced:
Yuichi Nakanishi 9-7-3 vs. 13-7-0 Yuya Shirai
Daiki Hata "DJ Taiki" 8-5-3 vs. 15-7-2 Naoya Uematsu

DEEP vs. Wajyutsu Keisyukai
Eiji Ishikawa 17-15-2 vs. 4-3-0 Yusaki Tsukumo
Yuta Watanabe 8-2-3 vs. 14-4-2 Yukiya Naito
Luiz Andrade I 7-6-3 vs. 2-3-3 Shinobu Miura

Read more...

12/10 DEEP Impact 39 - Fights Added

Thursday 13 November 2008


DEEP have announced an additional 4 fights to their December 10 event. DEEP 38 was a very good event, and drew a big crowd as well. Lets hope this time will be as successful.

This event will have some DEEP vs. Wajyutsu Keisyukai 3 have been announced today. In addition to that, DEEP Middle weight champion, Yuichi Nakanishi, will have his first fight since winning the title in the tournament earlier this year. Again this will not be a title fight, but should still be a good fight against Yuya Shirai (another participant in the middleweight tournament earlier this year).

Added:
Yuichi Nakanishi 9-7-3 vs. 13-7-0 Yuya Shirai

DEEP vs. Wajyutsu Keisyukai
Eiji Ishikawa 17-15-2 vs. 4-3-0 Yusaki Tsukumo
Yuta Watanabe 8-2-3 vs. 14-4-2 Yukiya Naito
Luiz Andrade I 7-6-3 vs. 2-3-3 Shinobu Miura

Previously announced:
Daiki Hata "DJ Taiki" 8-5-3 vs. 15-7-2 Naoya Uematsu

Participating:
Nobuhiro Obiya 9-3-1
Jutaro Nakao 22-13-4
Katsunori Kikuno 8-1-1
Yoshihiro Tomioka "Barbaro44" 12-6-4
Toshikazu "ISE" Iseno 6-4-2
Seigo Inoue 4-4-1

Read more...

11/29 Shooto - Tradition 04 - Nakakura fighting Casimir

Wednesday 12 November 2008

After a quiet week there has been a lot of announcements today, Shooto have announced another fight for their event on November 29. I am so happy I got my tickets for this one!

Shooto World Welterweight chamption, Takashi Nakakura is taking on Shooto's European Champion, Bendy Casimir. This is a non-title fight, but it will be awesome! Both these fighters have been undeteated since 2005!! Casimir is 12-0-1 (12 figtht winning streak) since then, Nakakura is 4-0-1. This will be a fight with a LOT of pride at stake!

Added:
Welter: Takashi Nakakura 10-2-1 vs. 16-4-2 Bendy Casimir

Previously Announced:
Shooto Lightweight World Title Fight:
Hideki Kadowaki 13-7-2 vs. 14-3-0 "Lion" Takeshi Inoue

Light: Hatsu Hioki 16-3-2 vs. 24-12-2 Rumina Sato
Feather: So Tazawa 8-3-2 vs. 5-0-1 Hiromasa Ogikubo
Welter: Jin Kazeta 8-8-2 vs. 5-1-1 Yutaka Ueda
Middle: Taisuke Okuno 6-2-1 vs. 2-2-1 Daisuke "Hunt" Okumiya
Fly: Atsushi Takeuchi 4-4-2 vs. 3-3-0 Katsuya Murofushi
Feather: Nobuhiro "Mike" Hayakawa 1-4-2 vs. 5-2-0 Yuta Nezu

Read more...

12/31 DYNAMITE - The Fight Japan has been waiting for is announced!



FEG has announced the first 5 fights for their NYE event. 3 are part of the K-1 youth tournament, I am not a huge fan of it, but have to admit that the fights last year were very entertaining.

The focus would be on the other 2 fights annouced, Japanese fans have been waiting since... Well, forever... Sakuraba will FINALLY take on Tamura!!! To me, it feels like its a bit too late, but does that really matter?? This is a fight that the Japanese fans have been waiting for, and even though I wish it was put up 3-4 years ago, I am still excited about it. These guys are ledgends.

In the other MMA fight announced today, JZ will take on DREAM champion "Hellboy". These are 2 of my favorite fighters going at each other for the 2nd time. The first time was back in 2004 and Joachim got out on top with a split decision. If there is any doubt, I will be cheering for Joachim to repeat the win, but it will be another good fight.

For those of you that are interested in buying a "Hellboy" shirt, they are in being made now. You can go to his blog and order them. I will let you know when more details are being announced. They will be unique and limited, so if you want to make sure, now is the time. Here is a link.

Added:
Kazushi Sakuraba 24-11-1 vs. 32-13-2 Kiyoshi Tamura
Joachim Hansen 19-7-1 vs. 14-2-1 "JZ" Gesias Cavalcante

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

Read more...

11/16 JEWELS - Card Final (?)

JEWELS have added 4 more fights to their first ever event. Sumie Yamada is returning, Sherdog has her as 0-2-0, but I am not sure if this is the right girl... Japanese sources list her as 8-7-1, but it is difficult to verify what those fights were, so I am listing the Sherdog record. She is taking on Kikuyo Ishikawa, who I dont really know much about, but this should be an exciting event.

There are also 3 opening fights added to this event, which is being held in Shinjuku FACE. If you are in Tokyo, head out this Sunday.

Added:
48kg: Sumie Yamada 0-2-0 vs. Kikuyo Ishikawa

Opening fights
Shiho vs. Mayu
Rina Tomita vs. Miki
Yuko Oya vs. Misaki Ozawa

Previously announced:
58kg: Megumi Fuji 15-0-0 vs. Tomoko Mori
66kg: Hitomi Akano 13-5-0 vs. 5-6-0 Hari
Open: Hiroko 4-1-0 vs. 2-5-0 Mayumi Aoki "Benkei"
52kg: Saori Ishioka 5-3-0 vs. 1-1-0 Mika Nagano
49kg: Misaki Takimoto 8-9-4 vs. 14-13-5 Masako Yoshida
48kg: Sachiko Yamamoto "SACHI" 4-3-1 vs. 2-5-0 Kazumi Kaneko
60kg: Harumi 0-8-0 vs. Shizuka Sugiyama

Read more...

12/7 Pancrase Shining Tour - Card Complete (?)

Pancrase have added 2 more fights to this card. It looks like Ryo Kawamura is taken off this, but this card is solid and will be one of the best Pancrase cards this year (as it should be in December).

Today there are 2 additions, the exciting talent Maximo Blanco has another victim. Blanco has not been close to threatened in any of his fights so far, but I have been on his back about not stopping when the ref steps in to save his opponent. He is a HUGE talent, and I hope he will control his enthusiasm this time. His opponent is Daisuke Hanazawa, who is experienced and has had a good streak in 2008.

The other fight added is a female fight, and of course it is "Windy" Tomomi who is coming of a good win in the first ever VALKYRIE event earlier this week. She is taking on Rin Nakai, who is a VERY strong opponent. Rin Nakai is undefeated and a fighter I think has a promising future. I look forward to seeing what she can do against an experienced fighter like "Windy".

Added:
Light: Maximo Blanco 1-0-0 (1NC) vs. 10-9-5 Daisuke Hanazawa "13"
55kg: "Windy" Tomomi Sunabe 12-8-0 vs. 4-0-0 Rin Nakai

Previously announced:
Welterweight King of Pancrase
Takuya Wada 17-8-9 vs. 6-3-4 Masahiro Toryu

Bantamweight King of Pancrase Title Fight
Seiya Kawahara 6-0-0 vs. 6-5-1 Manabu Inoue

Lightweight King of Pancrase Title Fight
Katsuya Inoue 16-6-3 vs. 17-7-5 Koji Oishi

Welterweight Tournament Final 3x5min
Tomoyoshi Iwamiya 5-7-0 vs. 6-3-2 Hiroyuki Nozawa

Heavy: Masayuki Kono 3-4-0 vs. 3-0-0 Stanislav Nedkov
Feather: Hirotoshi Saito 2-0-0 vs. 9-5-8 Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi
Middle: Ichiro Kanai 8-9-3 vs. 10-20-4 Daijiro Matsui
Feather: Yuki Yashima 2-4-1 vs. 5-2-4 Yasutomo Tanaka

Read more...

Who Isn't fighting in Japan on NYE? ***Updated***

We see this every year, but this year the rumors are really going crazy! The reason is of course the ProElite bankruptcy.

It looks as though the Sengoku and FEG matchmakers will have their hands full of talent...

Some of the EliteXC fighters seems to have a clause in their contract that they can fight in Japan, something that opens them up for that without much negotiation. This includes Eddie Alvarez and Nick Diaz.

***Update***
I am expecting more of these to come up, but it seems Antonio Silva has been offered a fight in Sengoku no Ran 2009 (Sengoku 7). The article says there are legal issues before this can happen... He is currently on suspension and also contracted to EliteXC. We will have to see what happens, but I will add him to the list.

I am seeing:

CroCop vs. Overeem rematch
Nick Diaz is likely to have a fight here
But against Eddie Alvarez? I doubt that one...
Kimbo Slice vs. Seth Petruzelli, this sounds more like Japan.
Murilo "Ninja" Rua would like to return too.
and of course... The Ishii rumors have legs again.
Antonio Silva

Looking at this, I would say that Kimbo Slice is a very likely candidate. I don't think it will be against Seth though. Any Japanese organization with a little bit of self respect would match him up with someone who is big in Japan. Americans want to see the Seth vs. Kimbo Slice rematch, but I don't think that would interest the Japanese public. I see freak show and mismatch all over this one...

Nick Diaz would have several options... But I don't think Eddie is one of them. Have a feeling DREAM has a plan with Eddie on NYE. Most likely Joachim Hansen or Shinya Aoki. For Nick, if he goes the DREAM route again (which means forgetting about previous payment issues), I would say Hayato "Mach" Sakurai is a likely opponent. Remember the DREAM Welterweight title fight? Well, it was suppose to happen at DREAM 5, maybe it could happen at Dynamite.

"Ninja" returning would be a good thing. Sengoku or Dream? Take your pick. To me the Dynamite card looks fuller than the Sengoku card at the moment.

Looks like Satoshi Ishii have signed something with DREAM. Will it be announced at Dynamite? Will he fight at Dynamite? My guess is that if he appears, it will only be to announce a change. But there is a lot of pressure on this young guy, and the Judo association will not be happy. I don't think he will fight on NYE, but he would certainly be offered a lot of money to do so.

We have 2 more months and the rumors won't stop. The NYE events will be very good this year.

Read more...

12/6 K-1 World GP Final - Reserve Fights Announced

Tuesday 11 November 2008

K-1 have added reserve fights to their World GP Final. The event is being held in Yokohama Arena Saturday December 6, and should be a very good event.

The fights added today also answers a question regarding Manhoef's retirement, because he is fighting! Does that mean he is retiring only from MMA? We will see, might have been the disappointment of losing in the Semi-final. Either way, it is good to see him back in Japan.

For those that remember, the round in Korea provided some upsets. Semmy Schilt lost to Peter Aerts and was knocked out of this year's tournement. Also Musashi suffered a loss that means there are no Japanese fighters in the finals.

On side note, it looks like Schilt is scheduled for a fight on NYE (Dynamite!).

Of Course, this event will include the semi-finals and final as well.

Added:
K-1 World GP 2008 Final Reserve fights
Hong Man Choi vs. Ray Sefo
Paul Slowinski vs. Melvin Manhoef

Previously Announced:
Quarter-Finals
Rusland Karaev vs. Gokhan Saki
Errol Zimmerman vs. Ewerton Teixeira
Remy Bonjasky vs. Jerome LeBanner
Badr Hari vs. Peter Aerts

Read more...

12/7 Pancrase - 3 More Fights Added

Pancrase have added 3 more fights to their event on December 7. This is looking like a very strong event, but some times there are fights I get surprised by… This time Pancrase have announced a Welterweight King of Pancrase title fight, in the same event, they have the final in the Welterweight tournament… The winner of the tournament was meant to fight interim champion Wada for the title next year. It doesn’t matter much I guess, we will see how it all works out.

Another fight added is the heavyweight fight between Masayuki Kono and Bulgarian Stanislav Nedkov. I don’t want to jump to conclusions here, but it is the first heavyweight fight I can remember in Pancrase since "Tiger" Abacus was meant to fight Assuerio Silva in October last year. I think there are a couple of things to read into this, Pancrase is setting a goal of building talent for Sengoku and Stanislav Nedkov could be a guy to watch out for in the future.

The last fight announced today is between this year's Neo-Blood tournament winner, Hirotoshi Saito and the very experienced Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi.

I am really excited about this event, some strong talent and good match-ups. This event now has 3(!) title fights and one tournament final. We are also expecting the newly crowned Light-Heavyweight champion, Ryo Kawamura to participate.

Added:
Welterweight King of Pancrase
Takuya Wada 17-8-9 vs. 6-3-4 Masahiro Toryu

Heavy: Masayuki Kono 3-4-0 vs. 3-0-0 Stanislav Nedkov
Feather: Hirotoshi Saito 2-0-0 vs. 9-5-8 Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi

Previously announced:
Bantamweight King of Pancrase Title Fight
Seiya Kawahara 6-0-0 vs. 6-5-1 Manabu Inoue

Lightweight King of Pancrase Title Fight
Katsuya Inoue 16-6-3 vs. 17-7-5 Koji Oishi

Welterweight Tournament Final 3x5min
Tomoyoshi Iwamiya 5-7-0 vs. 6-3-2 Hiroyuki Nozawa

Middle: Ichiro Kanai 8-9-3 vs. 10-20-4 Daijiro Matsui
Feather: Yuki Yashima 2-4-1 vs. 5-2-4 Yasutomo Tanaka

Participating:
Ryo Kawamura 9-3-2
Maximo Blanco 1-0-0 (1 NC)

Read more...

11/29 Shooto - Tradition 4 Warm-Up

Monday 10 November 2008

There is very little happening right now, but it gives me a bit of time to check out some videos. The next event I am planning to go to is the Shooto event in Korakuen Hall on November 29. It looks like it will be an awesome event!

I deceided to post some videos of the fighters participating in this event.

Rumina Sato will be fighting Hatsu Hioki. This is a fight between the #5 and #6 ranked lightweight Shooto fighters, but it is MUCH more than that. They are arguably 2 of the biggest Shooto stars as well, going in to this fight, they both need the win to get back into title contention and a win here would bring them there.

Rumina Sato Highlight:



Hatsu Hioki, from his participation in the Shooto Rookie Tournament in 2003 vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (Very good fight).


In what will most likely be the main event, Hideki Kadowaki is defending his title against "Lion" Takeshi Inoue. Here is Hideki Kadowaki taking on Rumina Sato in September last year (time flies).


I am sure I will post more warm up videos.

Read more...

11/8 Cage Force - EX Eastern Bound - RESULTS

Saturday 8 November 2008

The Eastern Bound event is going on right now in Differ Ariake, there are some big stars on the card and there could be some big upsets.

I would not expect "K-Taro", Monma, Osawa and Urushitani to lose today, but it has been a week with a few upsets so you should never feel safe.

So far, Miyazaki has claimed his first win against the previously undefeated Hoshino.
The BIG upset of the night though, "K-Taro" gets KOed by Kim just 59 seconds into the fight.

I will update results as they are available to me.

8. Main event: Jang Yong Kim Def. Keita Nakamura "K-Taro" by KO Round 1 0:59
7. Hidetaka Monma Def. Andre Mafetoni (??) by Guillotine choke Round 1 4:47
6. Kenji Osawa Def. Tomoya Miyashita by Decision 3-0
5. Yasuhiro Urushitani Def. Kiyotaka Shimizu by TKO (doctor stop) Round 1
4. Yukiya Naito Def. Alex Silva by KO Round 1 4:42
3. Takenori Sato Def. Rikuhei Fuji by Decision 3-0
2. Keitaro Maeda Def. Hiroki "Goodman" Tanaka by Decision 3-0
1. Naoto Miyazaki Def. Daisuke Hoshino by Rear-naked Choke Round 2 4:48

Preliminary fights:
Yoshiaki Takahashi Def. Shin Fujimoto by Armbar Round 1 1:07
Masahiro Sato Def. Yuta Yasunaga by KO Round 1 2:26

Read more...

11/8 Cage Force Valkyrie 01 EX - RESULTS

GCM had their first Valkyrie, all female MMA event today. There were 6 fights on the card. A good mix of experienced and new talent. Hopefully they can build of this event and it will be interesting to see going forward.

Of the fights on the card, I think there were couple that got more attention than the others. Roxanne Modaferri was meant to fight in AFL facing Tara Larosa today, instead she was fighting Chisa Yonezawa here in Japan. I hope she is able to get more fights in Japan, and it looks like there should be options going forward with Valkyrie and JEWELS both fighting over the female talent.

SmackGirl champion, Yuka Tsuji was fighting in the SmackGirl Cinderella tournament winner, V Hajime.

Of the fights on the card today, only one didnt go the distance.

For personal reasons, I was not able to get to this event, but I will try to get to the next one.

Yuka Tsuji Def. V Hajime by Decision 3-0
Naoko Omuro vs. Yasuko Tamada DRAW
"Windy" Tomomi Sunabe Def. Emi Fujino by Decision 3-0
Roxanne Modafferi Def. Chisa Yonezawa (?) by Decision 3-0
Madoka Ebihara Def. Akiko Naito by armbar Round 1 2:45
Mamiko Mizoguchi vs. Sakura DRAW

Read more...

11/8 Cage Force - Valkyrie 01 & EX Eastern Bound - Fight Order

Today is the big day for Cage Force fans, it is the first event for Valkyrie and a lot of stars on the Eastern EX card. It should be a good day at Differ Ariake.

The Valkyrie card has 6 fights and the doors open at 13:30, fights start at 14:00.

Stars of the card are Yuka Tsuji, "Windy" Tomomi, Emi Fujino and Roxanne Modafferi. There are also some exiting new fighters on this card, like Sakura and V Hajime.

The main event for the Cage Force Eastern Bound EX card is of course "K-Taro". But this card has some very big stars on it. In addition to "K-Taro", Hidetaka Monma, Kenji Osawa and Yasuhiro Urushitani.

The Eastern Bound EX event kicks off at 18:00. Be aware, you would need 2 tickets to go to both of these.


Valkyrie:
6. Main Event: VR: Featherweight: Yuka Tsuji 19-1-0 vs. V 3-1-0 V Hajime

5. VR: Flyweight 3x 3min: Naoko Omuro 8-7-2 vs. 9-4-2 Yasuko Tamada
4. VR: Featherweight: “Windy” Tomomi Sunabe 11-8-0 vs. 8-1-0 Emi Fujino
3. NR: Welterweight: Roxanne Modafferi 12-4-0 vs. Chisa Yonezawa (?)
2. NR: Featherweight No Pound: Akiko Naito 4-6-0 vs. 2-1-0 Madoka Ebihara
1. NR: Featherweight No Pound: Mamiko Mizoguchi 1-3-0 vs. Sakura

*NR=Novice Rule VR=Valkyrie Rule


Cage Force - Eastern Bound EX:
8. Main event: Keita Nakamura "K-Taro" 15-3-2 vs. 1-2-0 Jang Yong Kim

7. Hidetaka Monma 13-8-4 vs. Andre Mafetoni (??)
6. Kenji Osawa 13-8-2 vs. 9-4-5 Tomoya Miyashita
5. Yasuhiro Urushitani 14-4-6 vs. 0-0-1 Kiyotaka Shimizu
4. Yukiya Naito 13-4-2 vs. 1-0-0 Alex Silva
3. Rikuhei Fuji 3-2-0 vs. 6-5-4 Takenori Sato
2. Keitaro Maeda 2-3-1 vs. 14-4-3 Hiroki "Goodman" Tanaka
1. Daisuke Hoshino 4-0-0 vs. 0-1-1 Naoto Miyazaki

Preliminary fights:
Yoshiaki Takahashi 1-1-0 vs. Shin Fujimoto
Yuta Yasunaga vs. Masahiro Sato

Read more...

A Pro-Wrestling Picture...

Friday 7 November 2008

Its from Japan, other than that... Dont ask...

Read more...

11/16 JEWELS - Megumi Fuji fighting

Megumi Fuji has been added to the first Jewels card, she will face Tomoko Mori a pro-wrestler I believe is making her MMA debut. In another fight added, Hitomi Akano will face Hari in what will be a rematch from of a SmackGirl fight from 2005. Both Akano and Fuji had gotten to the SmackGirl finals this year, but those fights seem to be lost now...

Jewels have announced 7 fights for their first event, VALKYRIE (the GCM competitor) managed 6 fights for their first card. It will be interesting to see how these events match up against eachother. Both organizations stated that the goal was 8 fights.

Both Valkyrie and JEWELS have captured some stars, but the problem is that the female star base is limited and matching them against each other is very hard. This leads to the new talent facing experienced fighters in their debuts and I dont think it is very good for talent developement. I hope with the focus on female fighters in Japan now, there will be (and there is) a real effort in developing more talent.

I really hope we can see some top female fights on a DREAM or Sengoku card in the future.

Added:
58kg: Megumi Fuji 15-0-0 vs. Tomoko Mori
66kg: Hitomi Akano 13-5-0 vs. 5-6-0 Hari
Open: Hiroko 4-1-0 vs. 超弁慶 (?)

Previously announced:
52kg: Saori Ishioka 5-3-0 vs. 1-1-0 Mika Nagano
49kg: Misaki Takimoto 8-9-4 vs. 14-13-5 Masako Yoshida
48kg: Sachiko Yamamoto "SACHI" 4-3-1 vs. 2-5-0 Kazumi Kaneko
60kg: Harumi 0-8-0 vs. Shizuka Sugiyama

Read more...

11/24 Shoot Boxing (Saitama SuperArena) - Female Fight Announced

Shoot Boxing have announced another female fight on their big card for Saitama Superarena. It is between 2 female pro-wrestlers and should be a fun fight, even though I am not sure about their kickboxing skills.

The fights is between Mai Ichi, who has competed in both SmackGirl and DEEP previously, and Fuuka Kakimoto. Fuuka has also competed in SmackGirl, but has made her name in Pro-Wrestling. Fuuka is famous for her looks and should be a draw for Japanese fans.



Picture from SportsNavi http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20081106-00000021-spnavi-fight.html


Added:
Ladies fight: Mai Ishi vs. Fuuka Kakimoto

Previously announced:
Quarter-Finals:
QF1: Andy Souwer vs. Edvin Kibus
QF2: Hiroki Shishido vs. Chris Horodecki

QF3: Denis Schneldmiller vs. Luiz Azeredo
QF4: Kenichi Ogata vs. TBA

Semi-Finals:
SF1: Winner QF1 vs. Winner QF2
SF2: Winner QF3 vs. Winner QF4

Final:
Winner SF 1 vs. Winner SF2

Reserve fights:
Kenji Kanai vs. Wei Shoulei
Greg Foley vs. Oh Ju-Suk (?)

Non-Tournament Fight:
Miku Matsumoto vs. Lena

Read more...

11/29 Shooto Tradition 04 - Two More Fights Added

Wednesday 5 November 2008

Shooto has announced 2 more fights for their Tradition 04 card. This is another awesome card and the tickets are selling fast for this one (there are still tickets left though).

Added today is an interesting middleweight fight between Shooto ranked #2 Taisuke Okuno and Daisuke Okumiya.

The other fight added is "Mike" Hayakawa, who I think is better than his record and I hope he gets another win. Yuta Nezu should be a challenge though, Nezu lost in the Shooto Rookie Tournament this year, but was dominating the fight until being caught in a bulldog choke.

Added:
Middle: Taisuke Okuno 6-2-1 vs. 2-2-1 Daisuke "Hunt" Okumiya
Nobuhiro "Mike" Hayakawa 1-4-2 vs. 5-2-0 Yuta Nezu

Previously Announced:
Shooto Lightweight World Title Fight:

Hideki Kadowaki 13-7-2 vs. 14-3-0 "Lion" Takeshi Inoue

So Tazawa 8-3-2 vs. 5-0-1 Hiromasa Ogikubo
Jin Kazeta 8-8-2 vs. 5-1-1 Yutaka Ueda
Hatsu Hioki 16-3-2 vs. 24-12-2 Rumina Sato
Atsushi Takeuchi 4-4-2 vs. 3-3-0 Katsuya Murofushi

Participating:
Takashi Nakakura 10-2-1

Read more...

12/7 Pancrase Shining Tour - Another Title fight Added

The last Pancrase event of the year was already looking awesome, and now they have added another King of Pancrase fight to the card! So this event will have 2 King of Pancrase fights, added today is the Bantamweight. It will be between the undefeated Seiya Kawahara and the experienced Manabu Inoue.

This will be a very good event, considering the fights that are already announced and the participants.

Added:
Bantamweight King of Pancrase Title Fight
Seiya Kawahara 6-0-0 vs. 6-5-1 Manabu Inoue

Previously announced:
Lightweight King of Pancrase Title Fight
Katsuya Inoue 16-6-3 vs. 17-7-5 Koji Oishi

Welterweight Tournament Final 3x5min
Tomoyoshi Iwamiya 5-7-0 vs. 6-3-2 Hiroyuki Nozawa

Middle: Ichiro Kanai 8-9-3 vs. 10-20-4 Daijiro Matsui
Feather: Yuki Yashima 2-4-1 vs. 5-2-4 Yasutomo Tanaka

Participating:
Ryo Kawamura 9-3-2
Maximo Blanco 1-0-0 (1 NC)
Masayuki Kono 3-4-0

Read more...

12/22 DEEP Protect - Shinjuku Face

DEEP have announced DEEP Protect in Shinjuku Face. Already it has been announced that Dokonjonosuke Mishima will fight. He is the DEEP Featherweight champion, but this will be a non-title fight.

Also on the card will be a Protect bantamweight tournament. There will be 8 fighters in this tournament, 7 have been announced.

Participating in a kickboxing rule fight will be Youichiro☆Jienotsu☆Nagashima.

On a personal note, this is a very busy week for me personally. In addition to that, I have caught a cold. All I can say is, this week is not a good one, but I will come back to normal next week :).

Announced:
Dokonjonosuke Mishima 18-6-2 vs. 7-3-2 Toshiaki Kitada
Seigo Mizuguchi 3-4-0 vs. 4-4-0 Ken Orihashi

Protect Bantamweight Tournament (8 man) participants:
Tomihiko Hori 7-3-3
Isao Terada 4-6-4
Tomoya Miyashita 9-4-5
Seiji Akao 4-1-0
Ippo Watanuki 7-6-2
Toru Harai 5-2-0
Tatsumitsu Wada 0-4-0
1 more ZST fighter

Also participating:
Miku Matsumoto 18-4-0
Youichiro☆Jienotsu☆Nagashima
Hirokazu "Bull" Konno 0-2-0
Kazuya Hirose 1-0-0

Read more...

Izumi confusion/Ishii to MMA

Tuesday 4 November 2008

I felt like it was confirmed earlier that Hiroshi Izumi (Judo Olympic Silver medalist from 2004) was going to MMA and Sengoku. Today there is confusion again... He is saying he did NOT receive an offer from Sengoku and is concentrating on Judo. He is compating in a Judo competition later this month.

Satoshi Ishii (olympic Judo gold medalist from Beijing) confirmed yesterday that he is quitting Judo and will be competing in MMA. But he did not confirm any organization yet.

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20081104-00000002-spnavi_ot-fight.html
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20081103-00000015-spnavi-fight.html

Read more...

1/4 Sengoku - First fights announced

Monday 3 November 2008

Sengoku have announced the first couple of fights for their NYE event (held January 4).

As expected, the winners of the tournaments get their title shot. In addition to that, Hidehiko Yoshida will participate.

Gomi will face Kitaoka for the Lightweight title and I have a feeling Gomi will spend a lot of time preparing for it, he doesnt want to lose another fight. With Kitaoka he knows what to expect and it will be interesting to see if he can keep it standing.

Jorge Santiago had a good GP as well, he will meet Kazuo Misaki for the Middleweight title.

***UPDATE***
King Mo says in an interview with ProMMA that his next fight is the January 4. so thats adding another fighter to this event. King Mo is someone who is buliding a good fan base here and I always wondered where he got the girls from... That is also answered in the interview, you can read it here.


Both fights should be very interesting and hopefully they will be able to fill Saitama Superarena (Something they have been struggling to do).

Confirmed:
Takanori Gomi 29-4-0 vs. 23-8-9 Satoru Kitaoka
Jorge Santiago 20-7-0 vs. 21-8-2 Kazuo Misaki

Participating:
Hidehiko Yoshida 8-6-1
King Mo 2-0-0

http://www.gbring.com/sokuho/news/2008_11/1102_sengoku.htm

Read more...

11/1 Sengoku 6 - LIVE Results

Saturday 1 November 2008



I will do live results today, but remember what happened last time! It should be fixed now, but due to visitors etc. I will only be posting results (might change my mind), maybe some short comments. The fights start at 4PM Japan time (the Japan time shows in the bottom right.

I have had a poll going for both of the GP's and there are some clear results. In the Middleweight GP, the final should be between Nakamura and Santiago. The Lightweight tournament, the winner of Kitaoka and Mitsuoka should be the favorite.

Here is the breakdown of the poll:

Middleweight GP
Jorge Santiago 21 votes
Kazuhiro Nakamura 19 votes
Siyar Bahadurzada 9 votes
Yuki Sasaki 4 votes

Reserves:
Joe Doerkson 4 votes
Izuru Takeuchi 0 votes

Lightweight GP
Eiji Mitsuoka 36 votes
Satoru Kitaoka 21 votes
Mizuto Hirota 13 votes
Kazunori Yokota 1 vote

Reserves:
Jorge Masvidal 3 votes
Bang Seung Hwan 2 votes

To read the results, click "Read More"


Quick Results:
GP Finals:
11. LW Final: Satoru Kitaoka Def. Kazunori Yokota by Decision 3-0
10. MW Final: Jorge Santiago Def. Kazuhiro Nakamura by KO Round 3 0:41

Non-GP Fights
9. LW: Sergey Golyaev Def. Takanori Gomi by decision 2-1
8. LHW: "King Mo" Muhammed Lawal Def. Fabio Silva by TKO Round 3
7. LHW: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira Def. Moise Rimbon by Decision 3-0

GP Semi-Finals (Middle and Lightweight) and Reserve Fights
6. LW GP Res.: Jorge Masvidal Def. Bang Seung Hwan by Decision 3-0
5. MW GP Res.: Joe Doerksen Def. Izuru Takeuchi by TKO Round 3 4:13
4. LW GP: Satoru Kitaoka Def. Eiji Mitsuoka by Heel-Hook Round 1 1:16
3. LW GP: Kazunori Yokota Def. Mizuto Hirota by Decision
2. MW GP: Kazuhiro Nakamura Def. Yuki Sasaki by Decision 3-0
1. MW GP: Jorge Santiago Def. Siyar Bahadurzada by Heel-Hook Round 1 1:10

GP Semi-Finals
Fight order:
1. MW GP: Jorge Santiago 18-7-0 vs. 14-3-1 Siyar Bahadurzada
Round 1
Santiago has Siyar's back. Santiago gets a heel hook, and Siyar taps, a quick submission win. JZ was in Santiago's corner.

2. MW GP: Yuki Sasaki 22-14-1 vs. 12-8-0 Kazuhiro Nakamura
Round 1
Sasaki is dancing around, Nakamura in the middle. Nakamura tries to take Sasaki down, puching him to the ropes. Exchanging some good punches, Nakamura with a slight advantage at the moment. Round 1 has been mostly fighters feeling eachother out, but looks like Nakamura has control. Sasaki is in this though.

Round 2
This is developing into a standing fight. Nakamura is trying to get Sasaki down, but Sasaki's knees are hitting the body in the clinch. Nakamura hits with a good left hand, and goes for the take down. Sasaki is able to turn and Nakamura has his back to the ropes now. Finally, Nakamura gets Sasaki to the ground, he has side control but Sasaki gets guard. The round ends with Nakamura in Sasaki's guard.

Round 3
Sasaki is keeping good distance. Sasaki is puching Nakamura into the corner and trying knees to the body. Not sure how much damage they are doing though. Nakamura gets an easy take down. Nakamura is in Sasaki's guard, attempting GNP, but spends a lot of energy with minimal results. Sasaki is bleeding from the nose, as Nakamura's puches are starting to hit the target. The bell rings and the decision should go to Nakamura.

Nakamura gets the decision 3-0, but he is very tired and has to fight again tonight. Santiago was no more than a minute in the ring...

3. LW GP: Kazunori Yokota 7-1-3 vs. 10-2-0 Mizuto Hirota
Round 1: I have to say I am excited about Hirota, he is a nice guy and I want to see him do well.
Fighters are in the ring. Yokota goes forward behind punches and goes for the takedown, doesnt get it and keeps his distance so far. Hirota is cut over his right eye. Hirota gets Yokotas back and fires of knees to the back of his thighs. Yokota gets a hold of Hirota around the neck and throws him down, for a second it looks like he has a choke, but Hirota is able to get up. Slight advantage to Yokota, he had a good take down and I think it might have gotten him the round.

Round 2
Yokota hit with a good knee to the cup, Hirota fires one back, straight to the cup. Yokota recovers and gets the takedown straight from the restart. Hirota has guard and is able to get up again. Round 2 would go to Yokota as well, I think Hirota needs to pull a KO out of the bag...

Round 3
Yokota is the more agressive and gets a takedown, but Hirota ends up on top. They stand back up and Hirota is swinging. Nothing really hits though... Yokota locks up Hirota's head in the corner and Hirota again with knees to the back of his thighs. Lots of punches back and forth, then Yokota gets the take down and is Hirota's guard. Hirota gets a leg and looks like he might get a heel hook, Yokota is able to turn it, and Hirota is able to get top position. Round ends, and this decision should go to Yokota. Yokota will feel his legs though.

Yokota gets the decision 3-0

4. LW GP: Satoru Kitaoka 21-8-9 vs. 14-5-2 Eiji Mitsuoka
Round 1
Time for what might be fight of the night. Mitsuoka needs to keep this fight standing though.

Kitaoka goes for the take down and gets it! Kitaoka tries a leg lock and with the second attempt gets a heel hook!!! Again, Kitaoka barely breaks a sweat, Mitsuoka has problems getting up though.

An amazing performance by Kitaoka!! Mitsuoka tried to avoid the takedown, but Kitaoka was just too strong.

5. MW GP Res.: Izuru Takeuchi 25-9-6 vs. 40-12-0 Joe Doerksen
Round 1
The fight has started and the fighters come out swining. Takeuchi has his wrestling shoes on and we have seen a lot of leg locks today. Doerksen has guard, but Takeuchi gets side control. Doerksen gets up and looks like he has a guilotine but Takuechi ends up on top agian. Doerksen is able able to turn and looks like he might get a good position, but Takeuchi is very experienced and gets on top again.

a very close round, would probably go to Takeuchi.

Round 2
Doerksen puching Takeuchi to the ropes but is unable to get him down. Takeuchi is pushing Doerkesen back and gets Doerksen down. Takeuchi is in Doerksen's guard, but is not looking comfortable. Doerksen gets in some upkicks, but Takeuchi is able to continue pushing forward. Doerksen gets up. Doerksen lost his mouth guard, but it was another very close round. I would give it to Doerksen, he had the submission attempts, but Takeuchi was on top and the judges might go that way.

Round 3
Takeuchi is finding his range on the feet. Doerksen get Thai clinch and looks like one knee hits the target. But Takeuchi is able to get him down again. So far Takechi's wrestling has been too strong for Doerksen. Doerksen turns in and gets mount. Not able to do much from mount so far, but he is staying on and some punches are hitting the target, 2 min left. Doerksen is able to raise up and Takeuchi gives his back. Takeuchi is turning and its back in Mount. Takeuchi is lookeing very tired and the ref steps in. A string TKO win to Doerksen!! Doerksen was patient and showed experience when he got mount, a good fight.

6. LW GP Res.: Bang Seung Hwan 5-2-0 vs. 14-3-0 Jorge Masvidal
Round 1
Both fighters very careful in the start. Masvidal is pushing forward, but Bang is able to fight back and the fight stays on the feet. Masvidal hits with a good punch! Bang is in serial trouble, but is able to recover. It was a very close call and now Bang looks angry! He does not like being punched. The bell rings and the round would go to Masvidal, he hit with a knee that had Bang in real trouble.

Round 2
Round 2 starts like round 1, both fighters are very careful. It is stand up war now, but hard to say who has the upper hand. Bang might have the upper hand in this round, but the damage done is minimal. It is a very close round, but I would give it to Bang and the fight should be 1-1.

Round 3
Bang is coming out swinging power punches, but dosent seem to hit much. Bang got a take down at the end and I have a close decision to Bang.

The judges score it for Masvidal. I think the knee in the 1st made the difference.

Non-GP Fights
7. LHW: Moise Rimbon 13-7-3 vs. 14-3-0 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Sick child is making me give up play by play so i will only be posting results :)

Nogueira get the decision 3-0

There is a break: and Kazuo Misaki and Hideki yoshida enteres the ring.

Misaki is saying he will win the fight againt the winner of the GP by KO, he wants the Sengoku belt!

Yoshida is wishing Misaki good luck, and encouraging the crowd to come back for the Sengoku NYE event.

8. LHW: "King Mo" Muhammed Lawal 1-0-0 vs. 11-4-0 Fabio Silva
Round 1: King Mo has the best enterance so far... It might take Genki Sudo to beat him...

King Mo is dominating with GnP so far.

Round 2:
It is really King Mo all over this... He takes Silva down and punishes him. Silva tries to work submission, but is never really close... I am just amazed that Silva is in there, he is showing a lot of heart.

Round 3:
King Mo takes Silva down again, and punishes him. The ref has to step in to save Silva. A very strong TKO win!

9. LW: Takanori Gomi 29-3-0 vs. 10-6-0 Sergey Golyaev
Round 1
Gomi is sitting in his face and going for a Kimura, Golyaev gets out, but Gomi gets mount. Gomi goes for an armbar and the bell rings!! Round 1 Gomi all the way!

Round 2
Golyaev is defending well, but Gomi has the upper hand. Gomi is hitting with his punches and is the beter fighter on the ground. Golyaev is seriously rocked by a counter!!! He is in real trouble and Golyaev does not follw up!! Gomi is recovering, but Golyaev is not following up!

The slow motion showes Gomi folding after a left jab. It is strange that Golyaev didnt follow up! Round 2 to Golyaev, clearly!

Round 3
Gomi was hesitant in the start, but he recovers. He gets mount and is pounding, but I smell a rat... Golyaev had 5 minutes to finish him off... Golyaev didnt punch much at the end of this fight, but he looked like the fresher fighter. He is just jabbing.

Gomi is not happy! He would be lucky to win this...

Golyaev gets the decision!!! 2-1
My faith is restored. It was an impressive performace though! He hit Gomi with a jab and it changed the fight. Now Sengoku has Gomi meeting the GP finalist, but he lost the previous fight... Exactly why I would have liked to see Gomi in the GP...

GP Finals
10. MW Final: Jorge Santiago vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura
Round 1
The finalists are in the ring and the anthems are being played.

Nakamura takes Santiago down and has side control. Lets see if he can do anything with it. Trying an armbar and Santiago gets up. The round ends with the fighters on their feet. Santiago had a good knee in the round. It was a close one, but will probably go to Nakamura.

Round 3
Nakamura gets hit by a HARD right and he goes down. Santiago is following up with good punches on the ground and the ref has to step in. A good win by Santiago!!! My readers were right on with this one!!

The winners reward is 5,000,000 yen. or 50,000 USD. Nakamura is not getting up though, the ref was slow stopping this, Nakamura is carried out on a streacher and its the same ref that has stopped fights early before!!! Good win by Santiago, bad move by the ref...

11. LW Final: Satoru Kitaoka vs. Kazunori Yokota
Round 1
This fight will be awesome! Kitaoka was VERY strong in his semi-final and he comes in fresh, this should be Kitaoka!

Kitaoka looks very intense.

Kitaoka dives in and Yokota is keeping himself up by the ropes. Kitaoka is trying again and has Yokota's back, Yokota tries to use the ropes to escape every time, but this is getting emnbarrasing.

Finally, Kitaoka has Yokota on his back. This is not where Yokota wants to be! Kitaoke is not able to take advantage though and the round runs out.

Round 2
Kitaoka gets control again, Yokota gets up though. This is a fight where Kitaoka is in TOTAL control so far. It is getting frustrating though, Yokota is continuing to use the ropes and gets warned by the ref. Kitaoka is controlling this out, Kitaoka has Yokota in the crusifix now. Kitaoka is going crazy now! Stomps are not legal in Sengoku, but I have seen several fighters do it today. CLEAR round to Kitaoka agian!

Round 3
Yokota is jumping out of the ropes now, thats been his defence so far. Kitaoka tries something different and gets on his back. Yokota has an armlock, but Kitaoka defends well. A Yokota knee is close. But Kitaoka catches it and the ref breaks it. Kitaoka goes for the spinning backfist, but it doesnt hit.

Yokota is spending the fight running for the ropes, and its getting predictable. Yokota is hit and almost KOed. This should be Kitaoka!!! I am very happy! Yokota tried to beat him by using his experience, but today Kitaoka was too good!

Decision Kitaoka 3-0!!!

Read more...

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