TOKYO, April 9 — Sometimes life can be strangely fateful, making one wonder if things happen for a reason. A huge, bustling city like Tokyo can be hard to negotiate even at the best of times, and this situation is made far worse when you’re operating under incorrect assumptions.
As a reporter going to fight shows, your first stop is to usually sign in at the press reception desk. This time was no different, and I even handed my Sherdog.com business card to the sign-in official. What this somewhat confused looking Japanese gentleman handed back to me was a press pass and program for none other than All Japan Pro-Wrestling.
I was a little perplexed by what I had in my hand. Thinking that surely the event official had made some kind of mistake I ventured in. After receiving some strange looks from the wrestlers hanging around, I found myself to indeed be standing at an All Japan Pro-Wrestling event. Pancrase, as it turned out, was out at Differ Ariake this day, not at Korakuen Hall.
After saying a bunch of sumimasens (excuse me) and gomen nasais (I’m sorry), I raced my way out to the artificial islands of Odaiba and Differ Ariake.
My little run-in with the Japanese pro-wrestling world was somewhat ironic on this day because the main event of the Pancrase card pitted former Kyokyshin Karate practitioner turned MMA fighter Ryuta Noji (Pictures) against NOAH pro-wrestler Takashi Sugiura.
Suguira had two fights on his record, both in PRIDE — a loss to Daniel Gracie (Pictures) at PRIDE 21 and a win against “Giant” Silva at Bushido 4. His opponent, Noji, was coming off a loss last November to Poai Suganuma (Pictures) at Pancrase Spiral 9.
This bout went a mile a minute right off the opening bell and never looked back. Sugiura scored a nice double leg takedown in the corner early on, only to have Noji struggle back to his feet. From here the pro-wrestler got around to his opponent’s back and it looked like he was going to go for the suplex, but Noji was able to block the technique.
This scenario played itself out one more time in the corner before the two fighters broke apart and came to the center of the ring. After a nice sprawl from a Sugiura takedown attempt, Noji motioned to the downed pro-wrestler to get to his feet and pound it out standing.
And pound it out Noji did.
The former Karate competitor unloaded on Sugiura with combinations of punches and kicks, putting his opponent down in the corner with a well-placed kick to the head. Sensing that the end was near, Noji followed up with punches and stomps. Eventually the referee had seen enough and called an end to the beating at the 3:25 mark.
On the other side of the B Bracket, RINGS veteran Hiromitsu Kanehara (Pictures) faced off against Lithuanian Shidokan Karate fighter Kestutis Arbocius (Pictures).
Kanehara’s record isn’t all that impressive and he’s been on a slide as of late, but this guy has some heart. His battle with Yuki Kondo (Pictures) last October at Pancrase Spiral 8 was an exciting back-and-forth battle; plus many of his losses have come at the hands of the best fighters in the world, such as Wanderlei Silva (Pictures), Mirko Filipovic (Pictures), Mauricio Rua (Pictures), Matt Hughes (Pictures) and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures) to name a few. Just to step in the ring with guys like these takes a monster set of cajones.
This one started out cautiously, and after a failed Arbocius takedown, Kanehara ended up in half-guard. From here he pounded his opponent’s mid-section and passed to side, locking on a Kimura attempt. Arbocius defended the technique and managed to struggle to his feet.
Arbocius really got his strikes going from here. After a few standing exchanges, the Lithuanian landed a big punch that sent Kanehara to the mat, but the Japanese veteran recovered before Arbocious could capitalize on the situation. A clinch followed and Arbocius landed a good knee that staggered Kanehara even further.
The Japanese fighter regained his bearings, only to have the Lithuanian drop him to the ground with another big punch and then stagger him with yet another. The bell rang and Kanehara was still standing despite eating such vicious shots.
The second round saw Kanehara score a nice single-leg takedown as Arbocius was coming in with a combination. From here he threw fists till the Lithuanian struggled to his feet. Kanehara continued to look for takedowns and Arbocius continued to strike for the rest of the bout, with the Lithuanian landing a big spinning cartwheel kick just seconds before the final bell.
The bout went to the judges and Arbocius walked away with a unanimous decision.
Arbocius basically out-struck Kanehara, a man who once went toe-to-toe with Yuki Kondo (Pictures), however he didn’t follow up when Kanehara was staggered. Three times Arbocius put the Japanese fighter to the mat in the first, but failed to capitalize on the situation. This will be something he will have to work on in the next round.
So now we have Poai Suganuma (Pictures) facing off against Yuji Sakuragi (Pictures) in the semifinals of the A Bracket on May 2 at Korakuen Hall, and Noji taking on Arbocius in the semifinals of the B Bracket on June 6, also at Korakuen Hall. A new heavyweight King of Pancrase should be crowned at the finals sometime this summer.