TOKYO, Feb. 17 — SHOOTO on Friday held its biggest show of the year at the Yoyogi No. 2 Gymnasium. A bit bigger than Korakuen Hall, the place was packed with fight fans looking forward to seeing a war between SHOOTO welterweight champion Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) and the Norwegian nightmare Joachim Hansen (Pictures).
But then disaster struck for the SHOOTO Commission and indeed for the fans looking forward to this epic SHOOTO war.
The opening bell rang and Kawajiri came towards his challenger looking to attack. Just as he came in Hansen launched a perfectly timed, yet unfortunately placed, inside left Thai kick that connected with Kawajiri’s groin.
The smack from the impact echoed throughout the building. Kawajiri instantly crumpled to the mat, writhing in pain.
This was the very first kick of the match, coming at the eight-second mark. The crowd stood silently as Kawajiri laid for a very long time on the canvas. The ringside doctor’s finally got the champion to a chair in the neutral corner, where he continued to sit in very obvious discomfort.
At this point there was much discussion between the doctors, referee, judges and Kawajiri’s corner. After several minutes on the chair, the champion tried to stand, seemingly wanting to continue. But each time the doctor insisted that he remain seated.
Several more minutes of talking between the aforementioned parties ensued until it the doctors and referee determined that the champion could not continue the match.
From here things get strange, even with the official call. Upon heading down to the ring, I asked one of the Japanese cameramen what the announcement was, to which he replied “No Contest” with Kawajiri retaining the title. Later, various Japanese media sources as well as the SHOOTO official Web page listed the result as a disqualification, with Kawajiri being the winner.
Sherdog.com’s initial reporting of a No Contest was incomplete.
So where do we go from here? Surely things can’t be left like this. Sustain President and member of the SHOOTO Commission, Kazuhiro Sakamoto, stated that there would be a rematch in the future. Indeed this match has to happen, not only for the fans of SHOOTO but also for the organization itself.
But when? Will we have to wait for the next big SHOOTO show in August, or can this bout take place within the confines of MMA shrine, Korakuen Hall?
In March SHOOTO has the battle for the Bantamweight title as charismatic champion Mamoru Yamaguchi (Pictures) puts his title on the line against Shinichi Kojima (Pictures). And in May, Alexandre Franca Nogueira (Pictures) defends the lightweight title against No. 1-contender Gilbert Melendez (Pictures). Will the Hansen-Kawajiri rematch be put together with one of these, or will the SHOOTO Commission make this the headline for another event?
In the bout for the SHOOTO middleweight championship, Killer Bee fighter Akira Kikuchi (Pictures) put his title on the line against Paraestra jiu-jitsu ace Shinya Aoki (Pictures). While there wasn’t a lot of striking in this one, the grappling more than made up for it.
Aoki tripped the champion and scored the mount in the first, but Kikuchi came back in the second, taking the Paraestra fighter down, scoring half and even managing to briefly apply an omoplata.
The third round is where the wheels came off for Kikuchi. At the ropes, Aoki swung around and stood at the champion’s back. From here he jumped up to piggyback Kikuchi, figure-fouring his legs around the Killer Bee fighter. Each time the referee would stop the action to put the fighters back to the center of the ring, Kikuchi had to allow Aoki to jump up on to his back to restart from the same position. Basically Kikuchi was carrying the weight of Aoki for at least half of the round.
With Aoki’s legs figure-foured tightly, Kukuchi couldn’t shake the challenger off. In seeming desperation Kikuchi attempted a somersault-type dive, but Aoki stuck like glue. From the back Aoki use strikes to set up his choke attempts.
The fight ended with Aoki still attached to Kikuchi’s back, and the Paraestra fight was declared the new champion by unanimous decision.
In the battle for the Pacific Rim belt left vacant by Koutetsu Boku, T-Blood fighter Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures) took on Paraestra Hiroshima member Kenichiro Togashi (Pictures).
For anyone who hasn’t seen Ishida, this guy is just a powerful wrestler. His legs are huge for his size and his shots are absolutely textbook. In this bout he basically put on a takedown clinic, easily getting Togashi to the mat, but the Paraestra fighter had some game on his back.
In the first, as Ishida was looking to pass guard, Togashi laid on an excellent armbar from the bottom. Ishida grabbed his arm to stop Togashi from extending the technique, but he couldn’t hang on and eventually Togashi got full extension.
In a great reversal of fortunes seemingly milliseconds away from a certain tapout, Ishida scrambled overtop of his opponent to escape the armbar and took his Togashi’s leg for a kneebar attempt. Togashi held on and in yet another twist of fate, escaped to take Ishida’s back.
The second and third rounds didn’t see the same grappling wizardry that was displayed in the first. Basically Ishida scored the takedown and then ground-and-pounded from the guard and half. Togashi kept trying to work his legs up Ishida’s back but largely to no avail. The fight went to the judges and Ishida walked away with the majority decision.