TOKYO -- Greatest Common Multiple's Cage Force completed the first round of its troubled featherweight and bantamweight tournaments Sunday with fast knockouts and an upset victory.
Hoshino landed a perfect double-leg takedown to trap his opponent against the cage, where the Japanese fighter delivered strikes for the duration of the first round. Carvalho's attempts to pivot for armbars and escapes were thwarted by the cage and Hoshino's fists and elbows.
The momentum changed in the second round, however. Carvalho landed a powerful one-two that shook Hoshino and set up an easy takedown. The Canadian then gave his opponent a guillotine opportunity and used it to jump to side control, although Hoshino was able to make it to his feet shortly after. Carvalho again scored on the feet but was clearly hesitant to use his right hand, likely due to a recent shoulder injury.
In the third and deciding round, Hoshino got another slick double-leg after taking low kicks on the feet. Once on the ground, Carvalho attempted a leg-grab rollover sweep that Hoshino was able to capitalize on, pinning the arm between his legs and passing to secure a crucifix. Then after delivering blows to the unprotected face of Carvalho, who was wildly bucking and using the cage to try to escape, Hoshino moved to mount. He attempted a head-and-arm choke and followed with a body triangle on the back, where he finished the round throwing strikes.
All three judges saw the fight for the hometown favorite, Hoshino, in an upset victory.
Takeya Mizugaki (Pictures) and Daichi Fujiwara (Pictures) provided an exciting but brief match in the bantamweight tournament. Fujiwara landed a clean hook to the jaw early in the first for a flash knockout. Mizugaki recovered quickly, though, to land a spinning body-lock takedown. Then, as both fighters were standing after a scramble, Mizugaki landed a powerful hook to the temple of Fujiwara that sent him tumbling face first into the canvas at 2:39 of the first.
Also in the bantamweight tournament, Tetsu Suzuki (Pictures) easily stopped Katsuya Toida (Pictures) in a strange match. Suzuki entered the ring wearing on his face what looked like a cross between a floating ring and a condom. Toida's stand-up style has been quite similar to Genki Sudo (Pictures)'s robotic dances, but he definitely took it too far this time and got dropped by a straight right while his hands were at his hips. Suzuki then mounted and pounded him for the TKO just 16 seconds into the fight.
In the featherweight tournament, Fanjin Son (Pictures) sliced his way to an impressive doctor's stoppage over Tomohiko Hori (Pictures). Son immediately took the center of the ring and used his constant left hooks to set up a vicious right elbow that opened up a large gash over Hori's eye at 1:28 of the first round. Son was especially pleased with the elbow, posing for photos afterward and showing off the still-bloody point.
After Sunday's event, the final four in the featherweight field are Yuji Hoshino (Pictures), Fanjin Son (Pictures), Akiyo "Wicky" Nishiura and Takeshi Yamazaki (Pictures). Takeya Mizugaki (Pictures), Tetsu Suzuki (Pictures), Masahiro Oishi (Pictures) and Taiyo Nakahara (Pictures) remain in the bantamweight tournament.
In an undercard match, Motoki Miyazawa maintained his unbeaten record with a unanimous decision over former Shooto 183-pound champion Shiko Yamashita (Pictures). The pair largely cancelled each other out, but Miyazawa had more positional control of the fight and scored with some decent ground-and-pound to edge out the hardy Yamashita.
Rikuhei Fujii (Pictures) worked hard in the first two rounds against Akihiro Murayama (Pictures) to secure takedowns, but he was unable to capitalize on the ground. In the third he had more luck, landing with some strikes while avoiding the Shooto veteran's submission attempts to win a unanimous decision.
Daisku Endo choked Tomoaki Ueyama (Pictures) at 2:13 in the first round after dropping him with a beautiful head kick.
"Ikkei" finished off "Mako Dragon (Pictures)" with an armbar at 2:53 in the first after an exchange on the feet that saw both fighters landing.
Shinpei Sotoyama (Pictures) spent the first two rounds of his fight with Kenta Okuyama working for a kimura and was eventually rewarded with a tap in the third at 55 seconds.
In preliminary bouts, Daisuke Hoshino used ground-and-pound to stop Daisuke Yamamoto 57 seconds into the first round. … Nobutaka Hiyoshi made quick work of Ryo Saito with his ground-and-pound for a stoppage after 16 seconds. … Tekaji took a unanimous decision over Wataru Suzuki. … Koji Ando and Naoto Miyazaki fought to a split draw.