Akiyama Opens Gym - Cloud Akiyama Dojo Hiroo

Sunday 31 May 2009

Yoshihiro Akiyaama is just months out from getting his UFC debut, and he still finds time to open a new gym! The location chosen is Hiroo, close to Roppongi. It is a great location for tourists, as this tends to be the area you hang out in anyway.

Akiyama has acknowledged that and wants to introduce foreign kids in the area to Judo. The gym has a cage, ring and judo hall. It should be a great place for visitors to get a workout.

Source:
GBR
SportsNavi

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7/20 DREAM 10 Fights - DREAM 9 Ratings and Thoughts

Saturday 30 May 2009



Summer time is a bit more quiet on the Japanese MMA scene, as usual. But DREAM has given us some things to think about.

The DREAM 9 ratings were good compared to previous events, DREAM 9 got a rating of 16.2% it topped out at 19.1% during the "Kid" Yamamoto vs. Joe Warren fight. And there is the problem, "Kid" is out of the tournament and he is the biggest DREAMs biggest draw. Expect to see him in the tournament reserve fight. Warren really showed how talented he is, he has started his MMA career in a great way.

What about the rest of the DREAM 9 event? Tokoro again put up a great fight for the crowd, but it takes 2 to tango. The metchup with Abel Cullum was great, the energy in this fight was amazing and it should be a fight of the year candidate.

On the opposite side was the Imanari vs. Fernandes was not the sort of fight the average fans will enjoy. Still a lot of skills and Imanari is a very difficult fighter to face. Fernandes did well and got the win.

The fighters left in the featherweight tournament are:
Bibiano Fernandes
Joe Warren
Hideo Tokoro
Hiroyuki Takaya

It will be very interesting to see how the FEG will match these guys up, I am going to guess Warren vs. Fernandes and Tokoro vs. Takaya. It would ensure a Japanese fighter in the final.

Now it is time to look forward to the DREAM 10 event, which will take place July 20, and I was surprised at some of the fight announcements. But there are already some great fights announced and rumors of some more.

Already announced were the welterweight Tournament semi-finals:
Semi-final 1: Hayato "Mach" Sakurai 35-8-2 vs. 9-2-0 Marius Zaromskis
Semi-final 2: Andre Galvao 3-0-0 vs. 7-1-0 Jason High

True to tradition, the final will be held the same night. And there should be a reserve fight announced too.

During the DREAM 9 event, 3 more fights were announced:
Light: Shinya Aoki 20-4-0 vs. 20-2-0 Victor Ribeiro
Light: Katsunori Kikuno 11-1-1 vs. 6-3-1 Andre "Dida" Amade
Middle: Melvin Manhoef 23-5-1 vs. 16-1-0 Paulo Filho

Shinya Aoki is back in the lightweight division, but I was expecting it to be a title fight. Instead he is taking on Victor Ribeiro, who is coming of a win against Katsuhiko Nagata in DREAM 8.

It is good to see Andre "Dida" back in the MMA ring, and his fight with Kikuno should be very good.

Paulo Filho is back in Japan, I am excited to see that but I hope he comes in better shape than his last fight in the WEC. If Filho comes in shape, the fight with Manhoef will be awesome!

On a side note, DREAM still doesnt have a middleweight champion, Could they add a title fight here? Maybe make some sort of tournament format? A rematch between Miller and Jacare at DREAM 11? It will be interesting to see. Lots of things happening in the DREAM organization now.

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KSW MMA Traing Camp

Thursday 28 May 2009



I have been included on some very interesting mails the last week, and I really appreaciate them all!

One I want to share with MMA fans is this one. KSW is organizing a 10 day training camp with a chance to train with some of their best fighters. This is an AMAZING oppurtunity for fighters that want an experience over the summer. The guys at KSW are very serious and I just wish I would be able to join for this.

Here are some details of the camp:

Train with the best, attend KSW Team training Camp


With eleven “Martal Arts Confrontation” events, two KSW Elemination and one KSW Extra under their belt, KSW Federation, the biggest MMA organization in Europe, owners Martin Lewandowski and Maciej Kawulski do not intend to rest on their laurels and still plan to popularize Mixed Martial Arts in Poland.

Ten-day long MMA Training Camp with KSW Team fighters, which starts on the 5th and ends on the 15th of July, is their new project. All the fighters and MMA enthusiasts, who want to participate in the camp, will be able to train with the best mixed martial artists in Poland. Antoni Chmielewski, Mamed Khalidov and Maciej Górski will coach for the first five days, whereas Krzysztof Kułak, Jan Błachowicz and Daniel Dowda will lead the training camp for the following days. All of them will pass on their technical knowledge, which they use in their fights. Comprehensive cardio and endurance training, with running sessions, intervals, outside work-outs and weight training, is also a part of the camp – says Michał Garnys, KSW Team strength and conditioning coach and project coordinator.

KSW Federation owners along with Garnys have decided that the holiday-conditioning resort in Jakubowo is the prefect place for the camp. Jakubowo lies on the south side of Probarskie lake. The resort is situated in woods, by the lake and for many years there have been organized various sports camps. The facility is perfectly suited for any kind of sporting activities.

The resort posses: a hotel with rooms of various standards, chalets with bathrooms, a shed with a judo mat, a guarded beach with piers, volleyball, basketball and beach volleyball playgrounds. If you want any information about the resort in Jakubowo visit their website www.okwjakubowo.com.pl

The ten-day long camp with KSW Team costs only 1350 zloty. Additional information can be obtained by contacting Michal Garnys, Tel: 0-510-30-11-30, e-mail: michal.garnys@konfrontacja.com

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6/1 ShootBoxing Champions Carnival - Fight Order



ShootBoxing have announced the fight order for their Champions Carnival. This event will take place on MONDAY!!! (Corrected) in Korakuen Hall June 1.

It is a very interesting card, and there continues to be MMA stars on these ShootBoxing cards. One of the new fighters coming to ShootBoxing is the American Tyler Toner, he is the ROF lightweight champion and is coming straight in to fight in the main-event. He is taking on the very experienced Kenichi Ogata.

In addition to the main event there are no less than 3 (!) title fights on the card! This will be an awesome event and of course that means a special t-shirt. The shirt will be 3,500yen in the arena.



Fight order is after the jump.

Main-Event:
9. 71kg: Tyler Toner vs. Kenichi Ogata

ShootBoxing Western Pacific Title Fight (67kg):
8. 67kg: Hiroki Shishido vs. Luke Meitland

Japan Super Werlterweight Title Fight (70kg):
7. (Champion) Kenji Kanai vs. (Challenger) Takaaki Umeno

Japan Super Featherweight Title Fight (60kg):
6. (Champion)Tomohiro Oikawa vs. (Challenger) Hiroaki Suzuki

5. 56kg: Nagurachun Martha M16 vs. Mamoru Yamaguchi
4. 60kg: Takeshi Ishikawa vs. Koya Shimada
3. 87kg: Koji Iga vs. Kengo Shimizu
2. 55kg: Kazuyuki Fushimi vs. Hiroaki Okuwa
1. 55kg: Tomonori Suzuki vs. Tatsuhiro Takashima

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5/30 War Gods 5 - Steve Magdaleno Fighting

Wednesday 27 May 2009

It's been almost a year since I caught up with Steve Magdaleno, he was then the Pancrase Neo-Blood tournament lightweight champion, and was also awarded the MVP award in that tournament. You can read my interview with Steve here.

This morning I got a mail from him, and he will be fighting in the upcoming War Gods event this Saturday at Viejas Casino in Alpine, San Diego CA.

Also this time Steve is in a tournament, this time to determine the War Gods lightweight champion. The final will be held at the same venue on June 20.

Steve Magdaleno is still undefeated at 5-0 and I think he has a very good shot in this tournament. He is a late replacement for Andy Wang. He is facing WEC and UFC veteran Kit Cope.

Also in the tournament is DREAM veteran David "Hello Japan" Gardner and

More information Here, here and here

It is a very interesting card with lots of good talent. The main event will see the IFL veteran Lew Polley return to MMA after more than a year away, he will take on the very experienced Vernon White. Also on the card is Ryan Shamrock.

Read on for the complete card.

Main-Event: Vernon "Tiger" White 26-32-2 vs. Lew Polley

Lightweight Showdown Round 1:
Steve Magdaleno 5-0-0 vs. 2-4-0 Kit Cope
David Gardner 16-11-0 vs. 4-1-0 Joe Duarte

Lightweight Alternate Bracket:
Bryan Travers 12-1-0 vs. 6-2-0 Tom Belt

Other Fights:
Tarec Saffiedine vs. Lucas Gamaza
Rick Slaton vs. Derek Thornton
Salah Zabian vs. Tony Johnson
Bailey Byrne vs. Joey Alvarez
Ryan Shamrock vs. Willie Gates

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5/26 DREAM 9 - Results

Tuesday 26 May 2009

This is the first ever DREAM event that I have not been able to watch live, and I am only reading Play-by-Play from BloodyElbow.com. Of course there were lots of things to look forward to here, the SuperHulk Tournament got Minowa back where he loves to be, taking on the big guys.

Other things to look for in this event, a Middleweight title fight and 2nd round in the Featherweight GP. Don't forget about the lightweight battle between JZ and Kawajiri, it could determine the next challenger for the lightweight title (I am hearing rumors that there will be a title fight before this challenger gets his shot though).

There is a HUGE upset!!!! And a dramatric end...

A very interesting card, and there are spoilers if you read on.

Main-Event - Middleweight Title Fight:
10. Ronald "Jacare" Souza 10-2-0 vs. 22-6-0 Jason "Mayhem" Miller No Contest!
Jacare suffered an illegal soccer kick that opened a cut on his forehead. The doctors stopped the fight and it has been ruled a no contest.

Featherweight GP Round 2:
9. Joe Warren Def. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto by split decision!!!
8. Bibiano Fernandes Def. Masakazu Imanari by Decision 3-0
7. Hiroyuki Takaya Def. Yoshiro Maeda by TKO Round 1

In the intermission, the following fights are announced for DREAM 10:
Shinya Aoki vs. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro
Melvin Manhoef vs. Paulo Filho
Unconfirmed: Katsunori Kikuno vs. Andre "Dida" Amade

6. Hideo Tokoro Def. Abel Cullum by rear-naked choke Round 2

No-Tournament:
5. Light: Tatsuya Kawajiri Def. Gesias "JZ" Calvancante by Decision 3-0

Super Hulk Tournament:
4. Gegard Mousasi Def. Mark Hunt by Kimura Round 1
3. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou Def. Jan “The Giant” Nortje by TKO Round 1
2. Choi Hong Man Def. Jose Canseco by Strikes (tapout) Round 1
1. Ikuhisa Minowa Def. Bob Sapp by Achilles Lock Round 1

vg

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5/24 ZST 20 - RESULTS

ZST had their ZST 20 in Differ Ariake on Sunday. On the card was a title fight and a very some very interesting fights. On the card were UFC, DREAM and Sengoku veterans.

ZST has some interesting rules and it leads to some very high paced grappling fights, and without the judges a fighter is urged to finish the fight. This eliminates fighters that tend to stay on top and waiting for the judges decisions to go their way.

I am sure a lot of fans made their way to Differ Ariake for the tag-team fight. From what I have seen, it was a spectacular fight with lots of "air" inn the takedowns.

Main-Event: ZST Bantamweight Title fight:
Keisuke Fujiwara Def. Yuichiro "Yukito" Shirai by TKO Round 2 4:37

Co-Main event 2x5min.:
Kuniyoshi Hironaka Def. Naoyuki Kotani by neck-lock Round 2 2:43

Lightweight Tag-Team Fight: 
Masayuki Okude/Tetsuya Yamada vs. Katsuhiko Nagata/Kazuyuki Miyata DRAW

Shuichiro Katsumura Def. Hiroyuki Yamashiro by twister Round 1 2:56
Kenichi Ito Def. Takumi Yano by DQ (3 yellow cards)
Osami Shibuya Def. Ichiro Kojima by arm-bar Round 1 2:37

I have not been able to find the results for the undercard:

SWAT! Bout 2x5min.:
15. Feather: Shunichi Shimizu 14-4-5 vs. 6-3-0 Kohei Kuraoka
14. Welter: Shingo Matsuda 4-8-1 vs. 2-0-1 Teruhiko Higashitani
13. Bantam: Ichiro Sugita 8-2-5 vs. 3-1-1 Tetsuya Fusano
12. Bantam: Takeaki Miyakawa 6-4-1 vs. 4-7-2 Toshihiro Shimizu
11. Feather: Takayuki Kishi 1-2-2 vs. 0-0-1 Yasuo Munakata
10. Welter: Yoichiro Toriyama vs. 2-5-0 Takaya Asano

SWAT! Bout 2x5min. GT-F (Grappling Rule): 
9. Female Minimum: Miki Aiba vs. Yoko Milano
8. Female Minimum: Ayumi Funakoshi vs. Miyoko
7. Welter: Hiroyuki Ota vs. Takamichi

Genesis Bout 1x5min.:
6. Feather: Takeshi Otaki 0-0-3 vs. Hayato Sawai
5. Feather: Masamitsu Nakamura 1-0-0 vs. Takahide Kobayashi
4. Bantam: Masatoshi Kondo 0-2-1 vs. 0-1-0 Kengo Okubo
3. Light: Shobu Ono vs. Hisashi Ito

Genesis Bout 1x5min GT-F (Grappling Rule):
2. Feather: Masato Arai vs. Shinya Irei
1. Light: Kazuto Nakamura vs. Toshihisa Shinomiya

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6/6 Shooting Disco 9 -SUPERMAN- Fight Order

Saturday 23 May 2009



GutsMan promotion always put on great Shooting Disco cards, and the 9th card looks like it will be no different. The secret of the success are great matchups and talent.

The main event on this card will see Shintaro Ishiwatari take on Taiki Tsuchiya. Ishiwatari is coming of his 2nd career loss in the Sengoku featherweight GP, he lost to Korean Chan Sung Jung. Tsuchiya is also coming off his 2nd career loss, he traveled to Guam to take on Justing Cruz in PXC 17. Both fighters will look to get back to winning and it should be a very good fight between 2 talented fighters.

The co-main event will be the flyweight battle between 2 of shootos best flyweights. Noburo Tahara will take on Shinya Murofushi. Tahara's last win was an awesome fight with Atsushi Takeuchi (look for it), but then he lost to Rambaa Somdet and is ranked #2 after the Thai fighter. Murofushi is one of my favorite fighters, he got his 1st loss in his last fight against "Heat" Takeshi and will be looking to come back with a win here. This will be a very tactical fight.

Also on the card is Guy Delameau, Delameau had a very good winning streak broken by Ikuo Usuda in the last Shooting Disco event. Usuda is now scheduled to participate in the Sengoku Gold Rush project. Delameau will be taking on Yukinari "Hibiki" Tamura, a very talented fighter from Paraestra Osaka, who lost to Usuda in last year's rookie tournament final.

Main-Event:
10. Light: Shintaro Ishiwatari 6-2-3 vs. 3-2-0 Taiki Tsuchiya

9. Fly: Noburo "Shinpei" Tahara 5-3-1 vs. 4-1-1 Shinya Murofushi
8. Welter: Guy Delameau 9-5-0 vs. 8-3-4 Yukinari "Hibiki" Tamura
7. Middle: Akihiro Murayama 9-3-5 vs. 3-1-1 Yoichiro Sato
6. Light: Yuji Inoue 4-4-1 vs. 5-2-0 Naohiro Mizuno
5. Light: Hidenori Nishino 2-3-1 vs. Kosuke Kindaichi
4. Bantam: Joji Shimada 2-4-0 vs. 1-2-1 Tatsuya Nakashima

Rookie Tournament 2nd Round:
3. Bantam: Jun Nagasoe 1-3-0 vs. 1-0-0 Yoshiyuki Takano
2. Middle: Yoshinori Takahashi 0-5-0 vs. 2-1-0 Kenta Takagi

Non-Tournnament:
1. Welter: Yuhei Ota 0-1-0 vs. 4-1-0 Daisuke Hoshino

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Pancrase Ring Girls Training Session



The Pancrase ring girls have always been my favorites, not only because they look good but they do a very good job! They have a rutine that is more than just holding up a sign, and when the event is over you find them in the hall ready to take pictures with the fans or selling t-shirts.

Read on for more pictures and training video.

For those of you that have been following my blog for a while know that I have a lot of pictures of these girls.



It is unusual for a Japanese organisation to keep their ringgirls year after year, but Pancrase have kept Rika (left) and Yumi on for several years now and I am sure it is because of their work outside of the ring as well as in.



The Pancrase ringgirls have more than just a close working relationship, they are sisters, Rika is the older of the Irie sisters. And it is the sort of thing my friends have confessed to having dreams about, not me though I am married and immune to those sort of dreams...

I have always wanted to show their rutine, but since I cant film in the arena it has not been possible. But now GBR have taken them to the gym for some pad work! Only one video is available for non-members, and it is the rutine! You can click the link under to have a look.

You can see the ruitine they have and the girls hitting the pads here. Unfortunately, most of the padwork is for members only, but if you are a member, you can find the rest of the videos here.

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5/24 ZST 20 - Fight Order

Friday 22 May 2009



HEROs veteran Katsumura returning to the ring after almost 2 years away, he is taking on Yamashiro in his return to the ZST ring, this fight is a celebration of his 10 year career.

The main event is the ZST bantamweight title fight between Keisuke Fujiwara and Yuichiro Shirai. In this sort of fight the ZST rules come into play, there are no judges and the fight goes until a winner is deceided.

Also look out for the tag-team pairing of Sydney Olympic wrestlers Katsuhiko Nagata and Kazuyuki Miyata. They are taking on the team of ZST fighters in Masayuki Okude and Tetsuya Yamada.

In total there are 21 fights on the card and it should be a good day of fights in Differ Ariake.

Main-Event: ZST Bantamweight Title fight:
(5 minute rounds until a winner is deceided)
21. Keisuke Fujiwara 6-1-2 vs. 4-6-4 Yuichiro "Yukito" Shirai

Co-Main event 2x5min.:
20. Welter: Naoyuki Kotani 18-8-6 vs. 12-6-0 Kuniyoshi Hironaka

Lightweight Tag-Team Fight: 
19. Masayuki Okude/Tetsuya Yamada vs. Katsuhiko Nagata/Kazuyuki Miyata

18. Feather: Shuichiro Katsumura 8-7-3 vs. 2-3-0 Hiroyuki Yamashiro
17. Light: Takumi Yano 9-8-3 vs. 4-3-2 Kenichi Ito
16. Middle: Osami Shibuya 37-32-15 vs. 6-5-3 Ichiro Kojima

SWAT! Bout 2x5min.:
15. Feather: Shunichi Shimizu 14-4-5 vs. 6-3-0 Kohei Kuraoka
14. Welter: Shingo Matsuda 4-8-1 vs. 2-0-1 Teruhiko Higashitani
13. Bantam: Ichiro Sugita 8-2-5 vs. 3-1-1 Tetsuya Fusano
12. Bantam: Takeaki Miyakawa 6-4-1 vs. 4-7-2 Toshihiro Shimizu
11. Feather: Takayuki Kishi 1-2-2 vs. 0-0-1 Yasuo Munakata
10. Welter: Yoichiro Toriyama vs. 2-5-0 Takaya Asano

SWAT! Bout 2x5min. GT-F (Grappling Rule): 
9. Female Minimum: Miki Aiba vs. Yoko Milano
8. Female Minimum: Ayumi Funakoshi vs. Miyoko
7. Welter: Hiroyuki Ota vs. Takamichi

Genesis Bout 1x5min.:
6. Feather: Takeshi Otaki 0-0-3 vs. Hayato Sawai
5. Feather: Masamitsu Nakamura 1-0-0 vs. Takahide Kobayashi
4. Bantam: Masatoshi Kondo 0-2-1 vs. 0-1-0 Kengo Okubo
3. Light: Shobu Ono vs. Hisashi Ito

Genesis Bout 1x5min GT-F (Grappling Rule):
2. Feather: Masato Arai vs. Shinya Irei
1. Light: Kazuto Nakamura vs. Toshihisa Shinomiya

Tickets:
SRS 10,500
SS 8,500
S 6,500
A 5,500円
Doors Open: 14:00

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6/1 ShootBoxing Champions Carnival - Ring of Fire Champion Competing



The Ring of Fire lightweight champion, Tyler Toner, is just the latest in of a growing list of MMA fighters to try ShootBoxing.

On this card we also have Mamoru Yamaguchi, who will have his 3rd Shootboxing fight. Other MMA fighters who have tried ShootBoxing include Rumina Sato, MIKU, Antonio Carvalho and Luiz Azeredo, to name a few off the top of my head.

Tylor Toner will face the very experienced Kenichi Ogata in his debut. Ogata has a record of 44-14 in ShootBoxing and it will not be an easy opponent.

I am sure Korakuen Hall will be packed for this event, they usually are for the ShootBoxing events.

Added:
Tyler Toner vs. Kenichi Ogata

Previously Announced:
ShootBoxing Western Pacific Title Fight:
Hiroki Shishido vs. Luke Meitland

Japan Super Featherweight Title Fight:
(Champion)Tomohiro Oikawa vs. (Challenger) Hiroaki Suzuki

Japan Super Werlterweight Title Fight:
(Champion) Kenji Kanai vs. (Challenger) Takaaki Umeno

Nagurachun Martha M16 vs. Mamoru Yamaguchi
Koji Iga vs. Kengo Shimizu

Source

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6/27 Cage Force - K-Taro's Opponent Announced



It is 7 months since "K-Taro" was in the cage last. GCM had announced that he would participate in this event, and today they have confirmed the opponent.
The UFC and DREAM veteran is going to take on Pancrase veteran Tomoyoshi Iwamiya.

Iwamiya had a good 2008, going 4-1 for the year. In the process he won a Pancrase tournament that earned him a title shot against champion Takuya Wada. That fight took place in April and Iwamiya lost by a majority dicision.

Normally Iwamiya should not be able to match "K-Taro", however "K-Taro" is coming off a suprise loss to Korean Jang Yong Kim. You never know what happens and Iwamiya is very hard to put away.

Added:
Keita Nakamura "K-Taro" 15-4-2 vs. 6-8-0 Tomoyoshi Iwamiya

Previously Announced:
Middle: Daiju Takase 7-13-1 vs. 2-2-1 Shuji Morikawa
Bantam: Isao Terada 5-7-4 vs. 7-2-1 Yuta Nezu

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8/2 Sengoku 9 - Title Fight and Featherweight GP Semi's Announced



Sengoku have announced the semi-finals in their featherweight GP in addition to a lightweight fight for their next event on August 2 in Saitama Super Arena.

In the lightweight title fight, champion Satoru Kitaoka will take on a very worthy challenger in Mizuto Hirota. Hirota was part of last years GP, but lost to Kazunori Yokota in the 2nd round. He is the Cage Force lightweight champion and in his last fight got a quick TKO win over non other than Mitsuhiro Ishida. The champion needs to get this fight to the ground and I think Kitaoka will jump straight in for a leglock here. Hirota is very good at defending takedowns and it should be a very interesting fight.

Kazuo Misaki and Kazuhiro Nakamura will battle to see who the next challenger to Jorge Santiago's middleweight title will be.

The semi-final match-ups have been announced, and it will be very interesting to see who comes out on top. Personally, I have Marlon Sandro as my favorite but any one of the last four could take it. Sandor will take on the surprise so far in the GP, Michihiro Omigawa.

The other semi-final will be between Shooto veteran Hatsu Hioki and ZST fighter Masanori Kanehara. I feel that Kanehara has hed the easier route to the semi-fianls, and I cant really see him beating Hioki.

The final will be held on the same night, and I predict that it will be Hatsu Hioki against Marlon Sandro. That should be a very good and tactical fight.

Lightweight Title Fight (5x5min)
Satoru Kitaoka 24-8-9 vs. 11-3-1 Mizuto Hirota

Middleweight next title Challenger
Kazuo Misaki 21-9-2 vs. Kazuhiro Nakamura

Featherweight GP Semi-Finals:
Hatsu Hioki 19-3-2 vs. 13-5-5 Masanori Kanehara
Michihiro Omigawa 6-7-1 vs. 14-0-0 Marlon Sandro

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6/1 ShootBoxing Champions Carnival - Another Title Fight Added

Thursday 21 May 2009



You cant just call an event "Champions Carnival", if you do you need to add some fights that makes it what the title promises. That is exactly what ShootBoxing is doing. Today they have announced the addition of a 3rd title fight. I think it is a new title as well (I have only seen Japanese champtions in the past).

The fight will be for the ShootBoxing Western Pacific title. The fighters battling it out will be the Japanese ShootBoxing veteran Hiroki Shishido and Australian Luke Meitland(?). Shishido came 3rd in last year's S-Cup tournament, and it should be a very good fight.

I am not sure about the name of the Australian fighter, but he is from "Jabout" and is a WKBA champion.

Added:
ShootBoxing Western Pacific Title Fight:
Hiroki Shishido vs. Luke Meitland

Previously Announced:
Japan Super Featherweight Title Fight:
(Champion)Tomohiro Oikawa vs. (Challenger) Hiroaki Suzuki

Japan Super Werlterweight Title Fight:
(Champion) Kenji Kanai vs. (Challenger) Takaaki Umeno

Nagurachun Martha M16 vs. Mamoru
Koji Iga vs. Kengo Shimizu

Participants:
Kenichi Ogata

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5/26 DREAM 9 - Fight Order



DREAM has been early with the fight order this time, and this event will be a bit different than the previous DREAM events, thanks to the addition of the "Super Hulk Tournamnet". FEG have also announced ticket discounts for fans who go to both DREAM 9 and 10. They are clearly trying to appeal more to the casual fans with these additions.

The event has many interesting fights though. "Kid" is returning, and I was expecting him to return to a main event. But there is a title fight on the card, so it will rightly take the spot as the main event.

"Kid" is taking on the American wrestler, Joe Warren, in the 2nd round of the featherweight tournement. It will be interesting to see if ring rust will play a part in his return from injury.

The main event is the DREAM Middleweight title fight between "Jacare" and crowd favorite "Mayhem" Miller (they are both crowd favorties though). The title was vacated by Gegard Mousasi, because he is moving up in weight.

Mousasi might be moving up in weight, but he is still a lightweight in thee Super Hulk Tournament where he will be taking on Mark Hunt in the 1st round. Hunt was once considered one of the top heavyweights in the world, now he is in desperate need of a win. Dispite having a big weight advantage over his opponent might still be considered the underdog in this fight.

Minowaman will be in the opening fight, it is becoming something of a tradition for him. This time he is back to taking on much bigger opponents, this time its Bob Sapp and I am sure they will put on a show that will get the Japanese fans going.

Main-Event - Middleweight Title Fight:
10. Ronald "Jacare" Souza 10-2-0 vs. 22-6-0 Jason "Mayhem" Miller

Featherweight GP Round 2:
9. Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 17-1-0 vs. 1-0-0 Joe Warren
8. Masakazu Imanari 16-6-1 vs. 4-2-0 Bibiano Fernandes
7. Yoshiro Maeda 24-6-2 vs. 10-6-1 Hiroyuki Takaya
6. Hideo Tokoro 21-16-1 vs. 14-2-0 Abel Cullum

No-Tournament:
5. Light: Gesias "JZ" Calvancante 14-2-1 vs. Tatsuya "Crusher" Kawajiri

Super Hulk Tournament:
4. Gegard Mousasi 24-2-1 vs. 5-5-0 Mark Hunt
3. Jan “The Giant” Nortje 2-5-0 vs. 5-4-0 Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou
2. Choi Hong Man 1-2-0 vs. Jose Canseco
1. Ikuhisa Minowa 41-30-8 vs. 10-3-1 Bob Sapp

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5/20 Shooto Kitazawa Town Hall Vol. 1 - Results



Shooto put on an event in Kitazawa Town Hall yesterday, and I have to admitt that there has been too much going on lately and I missed it.

As always, these cards promote the lesser known Shooto fighters and is a good place to catch the future stars of Shooto.

The main event saw two veterans go at it, Hiroyuki Abe (K'z Factory) take on Takehiro Harusaki. Abe got the quick submission win and improves his career record to 5-1.

Koji Matsumoto goes to 2-0 and I am sure this is a fighter we will see agian soon. Both his wins have been by kneebar.

Bae Yong Kwon Def. Keiji Sakuta by Decision 3-0
Yuya Kaneuchi vs. Akinobu Watanabe Draw
Yasutaka Ishigami vs. Masumi Tozawa Draw
Koji Matsumoto Def. Junpei Chikano by kneebar Round 1 2:24
Shin Kochiwa Def. Norio Tokuhisa by TKO Round 2 3:18
Mateus Irie Nechio Def. Hiroaki Sakuma by TKO Round 1 0:45
Hiroyuki Abe Def. Takehiro Harusaki by Rear-naked Choke Round 1 1:35

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5/15 KSW Martial Arts Confrontation - Pictures



Courtesy of KSW, here are some pictures from their event in Warsaw on May 15.

It was a very good event, and KSW are attracting some very good and talented fighters. The fight everyone talked about after this event was the Mamed Khalidov vs. Daniel Acacio. Khalidov is said to be in negotiations with DREAM, and after the performance here, I hope we see him in Japan soon.

But there were some very entertaining fights in the tournament as well. Vitor Nobrega showed that he is one to watch for the future, making his way to the final in December by finishing 2 fighters in 5:35. He will face the undefeated and equally impressive Aslambek Saidov in the final.

Read on for some action shots.

Vitor Nobrega vs. Lukasz Christ


Artur Kadlubek vs. Sergei Nikitin




Aslambek Saidov vs. Michele Verginelli







Krzysztof Sadecki vs. Andre Reinders








Lukasz Jurkowski vs. Atila Vegh






Antoni Chmielewski vs. Michael Knaap


Mamed Khalidov vs. Daniel Acacio






Vitor Nobrega vs. Artur Kadlubek


Aslambek Saidov vs. Lukasz Christ




Group shot

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5/9 M-1 Challenge Brazil 4th Edition - Pictures

Wednesday 20 May 2009

Courtesy of M-1 I am happy to give you some action shots of the event in Brazil. I was able to stream it live here too, and it was a very good event!

For the results of this event, you can have a look here.

The next M-1 Challenge event will take place on 5th June in Kansas. The teams taking part will be: USA East vs. Finland, World Team vs. Turkey and France vs. UK.



Hacran Dias is still undefeated after an impressive showing against Amirkhan Mazikhov.


Leandro Silva fought his way to a tachtical win against Dmitry Samoilov.


Pamplona had some problems making weight, in the end he pulled of a very close decision win, and one that helped Brazil to a 5-0 win against Team Imperial.


De Leonardis looked like he had the upper hand against Yura Ivlev, but Ivlev was able to escape.




Gregor Herb secures Germany's only win against Russia Legion's Sergey Kornev.


Some moore pictures:













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