TOKYO, March 13 – Yushin Okami’s fight with Brian Foster was a battle and I’m glad this fight was the last of the night. Okami and Foster killed each other from the beginning of the fight.
As he said, he was dead at the end of second round. I’d say about 30 seconds or more at end of that round he just tasted Brian’s brutal punches on the ground. And Okami could barely move. Every time the referee told him, “defend yourself or I’ll stop the fight,” Okami reacted to that voice. But he reacted only half a second, and started eating the punches again.
Yes, he was literally saved by the bell at the end of round two. In the third period Okami didn’t want to go toe-to-toe at all, so immediately he took Foster down and pinned him on the ground. Without any quick or trapping move, Okami smoothly earned mount position. I guess Brain was also dead tired at this point.
Then, Okami faked submitting an arm, but he really went to the side choke and tapped out Foster, who also looked like he gassed pretty bad.
“If I’m fighting like today, the top of the world is still very far away from me,” Okami said after the fight. “I think I’m gonna restart everything. Only thing I can say positive about today’s fight is, even though I was so gassed out or mentally broken down in the fight, I could continue and win the fight. That was something. But still I let myself bit down today.”
Well, I enjoyed this fight. They both fight all out. I think the audience was surprised, mostly by how tough Foster is. This fight didn’t end well for the American, but the way in which he fought in the cage was very impressive. He’s like a bad dream … he can eat your punches and kicks, but he’s still coming to get ya. I think Okami will have a bad dream about Brian Foster for the next few weeks.
Another American, Chatt Lavender from Tennessee, squared off against veteran Hidetaka Monma, who scored a first-round triangle to win the fight.
While it ended well for Monma, the process that he went about getting the triangle wasn’t a good example of cage-style fighting. I think that is his because of his habit, which is to pull his opponent in his guard without struggling to fight against any other way.
It’s not a good habit, especially in the cage. And he did it when he was pushed against fence. Even his teammates, who watched the fight in front of me, shook their heads about how Monma created his fight game in this cage.
Today, luckily for him, Monma submitted Lavender. But he sometimes has a hard time submitting his opponent. I’ve seen him get too tired to attack his opponent from the bottom, and just get pounded for three rounds. This could be the difference between a real “main event” fighter and Monma.
The day, he stops pulling opponents into his guard could be the day he becomes a real top fighter. He’s got a great shape. He’s so talented as an athlete. He’s pretty tall in his weight class and has long limbs. He’s got a gift. So he should be better than he is.
Yasuhiro Urushitani needed only 27 second to knockout Lorenzo Coca, in what could be a KO of the week—if we can get that video. “I’ve never finished my fight this quick,” said Urushitani, still in the cage after his victory. “So I’m surprised at myself, too. But let me tell ya’ll in this hall one thing—only one thing—Iguchi! Shut up! Freakin’ behave yourself! I’ll beat him next time. So please look forward to it.”
Seems like Urushitani is very upset by what Setsu Iguchi, who fought in the bout prior to this one, said. Yes, Iguchi put the fire in Urushitani’s heart. I really wish a fight between Iguchi and Urushitani happens, and if it does, it has to be in the cage. I can’t wait to watch that fight. (Or, I’d like to see SHOOTO champ Mamoru in the Octagon, facing Iguchi. That’ll be fun.)
Iguchi faced Takeyasu Hirono in a rematch from last year. In their last bout Hirono lost by decision, so this time he came in with some serious attitude, while Iguchi came in to the ring with a confident attitude.
Once the fight started, it was almost all Iguchi’s pace. Iguchi, wearing Muay Thai shorts, was much better than Hirono on the feet. And he had a really good takedown defense. There weren’t any options for Hirono to conquer this fight.
After the second round, Hirono had a huge cut near his left eyebrow area and the doctor stopped the fight. “Well, you saw that guy,” Iguchi said about Hirono after his win, “that’s his real ability to fight. It was so easy to intercept his revenge. He doesn’t even have any pressure against me, so he let me down. He’s too weak. Hey, when I can get the SHOOTO license? Let me fight that cauliflower head guy from SHOOTO (Mamoru, the bantamweight champion). I’ll kill him easy, too.”