HEAT 8 - Fight Order

The fight order for Nagoya based HEAT is announced. This is their Tokyo debut and should be a good event. The event is really built up around the 2 heavyweight tournaments (MMA and kick-rule) 1st rounds.

I am really excited about this event, because it looks like I will be able to get to one of these, I’ve been wanting to for a long time!

The main-event is Pride veteran Sentoryu face DEEP and Mars veteran Junpei Hamada. There is so much happening on this card though, mix of talent and experienced fighters, 4 different tournaments at different stages. MMA and kick-rules…

There should be something for everyone on this card!

Fight Order:
Heavyweight tournaments 1st round:
11. Main-Event: MMA-Rule: Sentoryu 3-7-0 vs. 5-10-0 Junpei Hamada
10. Kick-Rule: “Prince” Ali vs. Hiromi Amada
9. MMA-Rule: Dong Yi Yang 3-0-0 vs. 7-3-0 Ryuta Noji
8. Kick-Rule: Makoto Uehara vs. Sun Wu
7. Kick-Rule: Moon Bo Ram vs. Nobutaka Baba

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

HEAT MMA-Rule Welterweight Tournament Semi-Final:
4. Yoshitaro Niimi 6-2-2 vs. 1-1-0 Justin Holdaas

HEAT Kick-Rule Middleweight Tournament Semi-Final:
3. Jotaro Usui vs. Fabiakato “RS Promotion” Lukafa (?)

HEAT MMA-Rule Welterweight Tournament Semi-Final:
2. Max Fernandez 2-0-0 vs. 1-0-0 Hyong Yo Im

HEAT Kick-Rule Middleweight Tournament Semi-Final:
1. Yuso Matsumoto vs. Kinji

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K-1 World GP - Finals

The upcoming weekend will be big in Japan, and it should be a fun one! Saturday there are 2 events (if you count this one), K-1 and Cage Force. Sunday we will have Pancrase.

I will sit out Saturday (probably catch K-1 on TV), then get to the Pancrase event.

But the K-1 World GP Finals are always big and this year you can watch it on HDNet (if you’re in the states).

This year the big favorite Semmy Schilt was knocked out in the previous round, a very good performance by Peter Aerts saw him taking the decision. Aerts will take on Badr Hari, in my eyes the winner could very well come for this fight. It could also result in injury to both fighters, so as always, keep an eye on the reserve fights.

As for Semmy Schilt, I would expect to see him on NYE in the Dynamite event. Maybe even fighting MMA rules.

The fights on Saturday:
Main-Event - Final: Winner Semi-Final 1 vs. Winner Semi-Final 2
Semi-Final 2: Winner Quarter-Final 3 vs. Winner Quarter-Final 4
Semi-Final 1: Winner Quarter-Final 1 vs. Winner Quarter-Final 2

Reserve Fight (2): Paul Slowinski vs. Melvin Manhoef
Reserve Fight (1): Hong Man Choi vs. Ray Sefo

World GP Quarter-Finals:
#4 - Remy Bonjasky vs. Jerome LeBanner
#3 - Gokhan Saki vs. Ruslan Karaev
#2 - Errol Zimmerman vs. Ewerton Teixeira
#1 - Peter Aerts vs. Badr Hari

Opening Fights:
Mitsugu Noda vs. Tsutomu Takahagi
TAKERU vs. Taisei Ko

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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

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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”

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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

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Antonio Silva Debuting!

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

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Dynamite - Mousasi/Kawajiri Fighting K-1 Rule

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

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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

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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.

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Fights Added

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

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RESULTS

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

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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

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Hatton Malignaggi final presser video

Ricky Hatton Floyd Mayweather Snr Buddy McGirt Paulie Malignaggi

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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

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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.br /br /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.br /br /I really hope we can see some top female fights on a DREAM or Sengoku card in the future.58kg: Megumi Fuji 15-0-0 vs. Tomoko Moribr /66kg: Hitomi Akano 13-5-0 vs. 5-6-0 Haribr /Open: Hiroko 4-1-0 vs. 超弁慶 (?)br /br /Previously announced:br /52kg: Saori Ishioka 5-3-0 vs. 1-1-0 Mika Naganobr /49kg: Misaki Takimoto 8-9-4 vs. 14-13-5 Masako Yoshidabr /48kg: Sachiko Yamamoto “SACHI” 4-3-1 vs. 2-5-0 Kazumi Kanekobr /60kg: Harumi 0-8-0 vs. Shizuka Sugiyamabr

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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.

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Izumi confusion/Ishii to MMA

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.br 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.br

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1/4 Sengoku - First fights announced

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. br /span id=”fullpost”br /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 Kitaokabr /Jorge Santiago 20-7-0 vs. 21-8-2 Kazuo Misakibr Participating:Hidehiko Yoshida 8-6-1

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11/23 ZST 18 - Kotani fighting Nagata

ZST is really pulling out some stars for this card, they had Kotani on the card, now they added his opponent. It will be Katsuhiko Nagata, who holds a 4-3 record from HEROs and DREAM fights. Nagata won silver medal in Sydney Olympics Greco Roman wrestling and is a good competitor. Kotani is a veteran of UFC, Pride and Rings. This should be a good fight.br /br /Also added is a lightweight tagteam fight between the Alliance Square team (Ito/Ito) and the pairing of Okude/Satobr /br /ZST have a bit different rules, you can read more on them a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZST”here./abr /br /strongAdded:/strongbr /Lightweight: Naoyuki Kotani 17-8-6 vs. 4-3-0 Katsuhiko Nagatabr /br /Lightweight Tag-team:br /Kenichi Ito 3-3-2/Yuki Ito 7-2-3 vs. Masayuki Okude 5-5-5/Shinya Sato 8-12-6br /span id=”fullpost”br /strongCard so far:/strongbr /GT-F (grappling) Tag-Team Final:br /Makazu Imanari/Hideo Tokoro vs. Takumi Yano/Daisuke Yokoyamabr /br /Middleweight: Yojiro Uchimura 6-3-0 vs. 34-32-16 Osami Shibuyabr /Lightweight: Naoyuki Kotani 17-8-6 vs. 4-3-0 Katsuhiko Nagatabr /Featherweight: Shunichi Shimizu 13-3-4 vs. 4-1-3 Keisuke Fujiwarabr /GT-F (Grappling): Minoru Toyonaga vs. Hiroki Kotanibr /Lightweight Tag-team:br /Kenichi Ito 3-3-2/Yuki Ito 7-2-3 vs. Masayuki Okude 5-5-5/Shinya Sato 8-12-6br //span

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11/1 Sengoku - Odds

The Sengoku 6 odds are out, and there are some BIG favoties in this one. If you are looking for good value, Eiji Mitsuoka would be one. He will have a tough fight against Satoru Kitaoka, but deserves better odds than what he has at the moment. Other fights I think there might be good value is Jorge Santiago and Siyar Bahadurzada, I thi it will be tighter than that. The same goes for Jorge Masvidal and Hwan Sung Pang

Otherwise, Gomi and Nogueira are huge favorites (not unexpectedly). Even though I think Moise Rimbon might create an upset here.

Either way, it is only good value if you manage to pick a winner. Tomorrow we will see if there are any upsets.

Middleweight GP
Jorge Santiago -345
Siyar Bahadurzada +275

Kazuhiro Nakamura -345
Yuki Sasaki +275

Izuru Takeuchi +130
Joe Doerksen -160

Lightweight GP
Kazunori Yokota +175
Mizuto Hirota -215

Eiji Mitsuoka +175
Satoru Kitaoka -215

Jorge Masvidal -515
Hwan Sung Pang +365

Non-GP Fights
Sergey Golyaev +600
Takanori Gomi -800

Fabio Silva +215
Muhammed Lawal -275

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira -750
Moise Rimbon +550

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Ishii Offered $5,000,000 to sign with DREAM

Satoshi Ishii might be the most sought after fighter in Japan today… SportsNavi is reporting that he has been offered $5 Mil. to sign with DREAM. There will be an announcement on Monday.

The plan would be for him to make on appearance on NYE (Dynamite), but looks like this would not be a fight.

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11/8 Cage Force Eastern Bound EX - “K-Taro”’s Opponent Announced

GCM have announced 2 more fights for their event on November 8. Well, they have 2 events that day, kicking off with the debut of Valkyrie followed by Eastern Bound EX late in the afternoon.

The fights announced today are for the Eastern Bound card. And “K-Taro” now has an opponent. You should never underestimate a fighter, but I would be surprised if “K-Taro” lost to Jang Yong Kim…

Also added is an interesting fight between the Cage Force talent Daisuke Hoshino and Naoto Miyazaki. Miyazaki has not had much luck so far in his Cage Force career, his loss was a disqualification though, so he will be trying to get his first win this time.

I think that would complete the card for this event.

Added today:
Keita Nakamura “K-Taro” 15-3-2 vs. 1-2-0 Jang Yong Kim
Daisuke Hoshino 4-0-0 vs. 0-1-1 Naoto Miyazaki

The card:
Hidetaka Monma 13-8-4 vs. Andore Mafetoni (??)
Yasuhiro Urushitani 14-4-6 vs. 0-0-1 Kiyotaka Shimizu
Kenji Osawa 13-8-2 vs. 9-4-5 Tomoya Miyashita
Yukiya Naito 13-4-2 vs. 1-0-0 Alex Silva
Rikuhei Fuji 3-2-0 vs. 6-5-4 Takenori Sato
Keitaro Maeda 2-3-1 vs. 14-4-3 Hiroki “Goodman” Tanaka
Keita Nakamura “K-Taro” 15-3-2 vs. 1-2-0 Jang Yong Kim
Daisuke Hoshino 4-0-0 vs. 0-1-1 Naoto Miyazaki

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11/1 SENGOKU GP Finals - Fight order

This shoule be the best event so far by Sengoku. There are 11 good fights on the card, and the GPs should bring lots of excitement.

Other than the GPs, Antonio Rogerio’s return to Japan will be a highlight and his fight with Moise Rimbon should be a good one. It will also be interesting to see if “King Mo” can follow up his impressive debut.

For the GPs, it is very hard to tell who is the favorite. Personally, I think Siyar Bahadurzada should have a good chance in the Middleweight GP, but I am not sure he is back to 100% after his injury.

The lightweights are almost impossible to tell. My personal favorites are Satoru Kitaoka and Mizuto Hirota. But Eiji Mitsuoka is probably the most rounded fighter of the semi-finalists. Kazunori Yokota is also very strong, so this GP I would not write off anyone.

GP Finals:
11. LW Final: Winner Fight 3 vs. Winner Fight 4
10. MW Final: Winner Fight 1 vs. Winner Fight 2

Non-GP Fights
9. LW: Takanori Gomi 29-3-0 vs. 10-6-0 Sergey Golyaev
8. LHW: “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal 1-0-0 vs. 11-4-0 Fabio Silva
7. LHW: Moise Rimbon 13-7-3 vs. 14-3-0 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

GP Semi-Finals (Middle and Lightweight) and Reserve Fights
6. LW GP Res.: Bang Seung Hwan 5-2-0 vs. 14-3-0 Jorge Masvidal
5. MW GP Res.: Izuru Takeuchi 25-9-6 vs. 40-12-0 Joe Doerksen
4. LW GP: Satoru Kitaoka 21-8-9 vs. 14-5-2 Eiji Mitsuoka
3. LW GP: Kazunori Yokota 7-1-3 vs. 10-2-0 Mizuto Hirota
2. MW GP: Yuki Sasaki 22-14-1 vs. 12-8-0 Kazuhiro Nakamura
1. MW GP: Jorge Santiago 18-7-0 vs. 14-3-1 Siyar Bahadurzada

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11/24 Shoot Boxing (Saitama Super Arena) - Fights Announced

Shoot Boxing have announced the fights for their big event of the year. This time its in Saitama Superarena, and it will be HUGE. I went to the last one, and was really impressed by the atmosphere and the quality of the fights. For this card they are really bringing in the big stars though.

On the card is Andy Souwer, Chris Horodecki, Luiz Azeredo and Shoot Boxing star Hiroki Shishido. Last time, Megumi Fuji had a fight, this time they are giving Miku Matsumoto a shot.

This will be a tournament format, like K-1, with quarter finals –> final.



The Tournament set up is like this:
Quarter-Finals:
QF1: Andy Souwer vs. Edwin Kibas (?) (from Estonia)
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

Participating:
Fuuka (Female Pro-Wrestler)

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12/10 DEEP Impact 39 - First Fight Announced/Obiya Returns!

The first fight was really announced on Thursday… The fight between DJ Taiki and Uematsu was ment to happen in DEEP 38 was moved to DEEP 39 due to injury. This should be a very good fight and I am happy they stay with it.

Also added as a participant (Ryo Chonan was there to announce it), is Nobuhiro Obiya. This will be a VERY welcome return for DEEP fans!! Obiya was undefeated until be joined Pride, where he suffered 2 losses. After that he had one fight in DEEP before “retiring”. He has not fought in almost 2 years and it will be good to see him back. Any DEEP fan will remember his fight with Milton Vieira in DEEP 22. If you have not seen it, it should be available with a quick search.

Added:
Daiki Hata “DJ Taiki” 8-5-3 vs. 15-7-2 Naoya Uematsu

Participating:
Nobuhiro Obiya 9-3-1

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12/13 Shooto Rookie Finals - Fights Announced

For me the Rookie tournament are a highlight every year. Pancrase finished their Neo-Blood tournament earlier this year, and as always it was an awesome event. The Shooto finals have some exciting fighters in it too.

There are so many good fighters and fights on this card already, add to that the ticket price and you should have a very good Saturday night in Shinjuku! I am definately not missing this one!

Flyweight Rookie Tournament Final
Mikitoshi Yamagami 2-0-0 vs. 3-1-0 Junji “Sarumaru” Ito

Bantamweight Rookie Tournament Final
Fumihiro Kitahara 3-0-0 vs. 2-0-0 Kentaro Watanabe

Featherweight Rookie Tournament Final
Kosuke Eda 6-2-2 vs. 0-1-1 Yoshihiko Oyama

Lightweight Rookie Tournament Final
Issei Tamura 2-0-0 vs. 4-1-0 Naohiro Mizuno

Welterweight Rookie Tournament Final
Yukinari “Hibiki” Tamura 8-1-4 vs. 2-0-0 Ikuo Usuda

Middleweight Rookie Tournament Final
Takesuke Kume 3-0-2 vs. 2-2-2 Takuya Sato

Light-Heavyweight Rookie Tournament Final
Takaaki Oban “C-Boy” 2-1-0 vs. 2-1-1 Makoto Maeda “Chomolangma ½”

Tickets:
RS 8,000円
S 6,000円
A 5,000円
At the door +500円
Includes 500円 drink coupon

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12/7 Pancrase Shining - Differ Ariake

In what looks like the main event, Katsuya Inoue will fight Koji Oishi for the Pancrase Lightweight title. They have fought once before, on that occation Inoue came out on top with a KO victory. Since that Oishi has been undefeated and he will be looking to revenge that loss.

Returning to Pancrase will be Daijiro Matsui. He has had 3 fights in Pancrase earlier, the last one being in 2006 agaist Yuki Kondo. Matsui has mainly fought in Cage Rage and DEEP the last couple of years, but his record has not been good winning only 2 of his last 9 fights.

On the card will also be the welterweight tournament final. This is not to determine any title, rather to set one fighter up for the title fight. The winner will meet interim titleholder Takuya Wada for the King of Pancrase title in the spring.

Pancrase really has the wind in their sails. It is another very strong card coming up in December. In addition to the fights mentioned, 4 participants have been announced. Among them 2 of the biggest talents in Japan today, Maximo Blanco and Seiya Kawahara. They are both undefeated and I hope Maximo Blanco controls himself this time. He is HUGE talent, but his lack of control after crushing his opponent might hold him back.

In addition to these talents, the newly crowned Light-Heavyweight King of Pancrase, Ryo Kawamura will be participating as well.

12/7-08 Differ Ariake
Open 15:00 Start 16:00

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

Welterweight Tournament Final 3×5min
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
Seiya Kawahara 6-0-0
Maximo Blanco 1-0-0 (1 NC)
Masayuki Kono 3-4-0

Ticket Prices:
SS ¥12,000-　
A ¥8,000-　
B ¥6,000-　
C ¥4,500-

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Yukio Sakaguchi gets noticed

Yesterday’s Pancrase card was full of fights going the distance, there were a couple of exceptions though. Yukio Sakaguchi is son of former Japanese Pro-Wrestler Seiji Sakaguchi.

Yukio Sakaguchi’s record might not be the best in the business, but there is one thing the record doesnt show. Yukio Sakaguchi ALWAYS puts up a great fight, win or lose. Yesterday he KO’ed Pancrase #4 ranked Yuichi Ikari, and he is sure to move up in those rankings (he was previously unranked).

He has said that he would like to participate in one of the New Year’s shows, Dynamite or Sengoku. Will it happen? Who knows, but his application has gotten some attention in the media here. If he were to participate, dont underestimate him, his fight will not go the distance.

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10/26 Pancrase Shining Tour - RESULTS

An awesome card in Differ Ariake today! The main event was for the Featherweight King of Pancrase title between the undefeated Brazilian Marlon Sandro and the experienced Masaya Takita “J-Taro”.

Also on the card was a Welterweight Tournament, the winner of which will get a shot at the Welterweight King of Pancrase title belt.

Other fighters on this card included the Pancrase favorite Kenji Arai, Takuya Wada, Takafumi Ito and Yukio Sakaguchi.

Main-Event: Featherweight King of Pancrase
Marlon Sandro Def. Masaya Takita “J-Taro” by Decision 3-0

Feather: Kenji Arai vs. Tashiro Akai DRAW
Welter: Takuya Wada vs. Masahiro Toryu DRAW
Light: Yukio Sakaguchi Def. Yuichi Ikari by KO Round 1 0:21
Light: Takafumi Ito Def. Takaichi Hirayama by Decision 3-0

Welterweight Tournament Semi-Finals
Hiroyuki Nozawa Def. Asaki Honda by Decision 3-0
Tomoyoshi Iwamiya Def. “Strasser” Kiichi Kunimoto by Decision 3-0

Fly: Takuya Eizumi Def. Takayuki Hirayasu by TKO Round 2 1:55
Feather: Wataru Takahashi vs. Hiroshi Tanaka DRAW

Pancrase Gate:
Light: Wataru Yoshikawa vs. Shigetomo Takahashi DRAW

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10/26 Shooto - Gig Central Vol. 16 - RESULTS

The results from Shooto GIG Central Vol. 16. Unfortunately, I had missed 2 fights on the card, but they are included here.

The main event was for the Pacific Rim Middleweight title, and we now have an Australian Shooto champion.

Other than that, we had some Rookie Tournament fights on the card.

Pacific Rim Title Fight:
Middleweight: Xavier Lucas Def. Yoshitaro Niimi by Decision 2-0
Welterweight: Kenichi Hattori Def. Masato Fujiwara by Decision 2-0
Bantamweight: Hiroharu Matsufuji Def. Hiroshi Sakamoto by Decision 3-0
Flyweight: Kenichi Sawada vs. Teppei Masuda DRAW

Rookie Tournament
Lightweight: Naohiro Mizuno Def. Mitsuru Kobayashi by Decision 3-0
Light-Heavyweight: Makoto “Chomoranma 1/2″ Maeda Def. Naoji Mikoshiba by TKO Round 2 3:39

Female Class C -58kg: Mutsumi Kasai Def. Kinuka Sasaki by Armbar Round 2 3:53

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11/16 JEWELS - First Fights Announced

JEWELS, the “new” SmackGirl, have announced 4 fights for their first event. The event will take place in Shinjuku Face on November 16.

JEWELS have yet to announce a main event, but there is a Good mix of talent and experienced fighters. I am really looking forward to seeing what these new all female organizations can do.

The card will have 8 fights, which is the same as Valkyrie has as a goal.

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

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Reminder: Events this weekend - Shooto and Pancrase

There are 2 events this weekend, Shooto and Pancrase.

The cards have been ready for a while, so that you dont forget, here is a reminder.

Shooto is in Nagoya: Tokai TelePia Hall: http://tokai-tv.com/event/telepia/
The card is here.

Pancrase is in Differ Ariake in Tokyo, looks like it will be an awesome event.
The card is here.

And for those who have missed it, Nightmare of Battle have found the main event from the last Pancrase on YouTube. This was an awesome fight and really worth a look.

The fight was between Ryo Kawamura and Keiichiro Yamamiya
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3

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