Leading pro Shooto promoter Sustain is back, with the fourth installment of 2007's "Back To Our Roots" series.
The evening's main event will see virtually unknown Shooto world 183-pound champ Shikou Yamashita (Pictures) make the first defense of the title he won in April 2006, against another stranger to the general MMA populace in Dutch-bred Afghan Siyar Bahadurzada.
Almost comical in the fact that it's the top billing, the bout should offer some excitement. Both are tough, scrappy fighters, and although Bahadurzada has a height, reach and power advantage over the squatty Yamashita, the champ has shown he has no qualms about standing around and slinging leather with guys who are better strikers than him.
However, Yamashita typically adheres to the Al Davis M.O. of "Just win, baby." Having beat some decent fighters in David Bielkheden (Pictures) and Dustin Denes (Pictures), Yamashita can fight a little bit. Although Bahadurzada's grappling looks decent against the competition he's faced in Shooto Europe, time and time again Europeans are imported into Shooto Japan only for their groundwork to be shown to range between decent at best and woefully insufficient.
Where Bahadurzada's fits into that spectrum remains to be seen, however after he gets the better of the stand-up, look for Yamashita to take the fight to the floor where he can work his game to a submission or position-based decision victory.
So, with such a woeful main event, why is this card is still creating buzz amongst hardcore fans? An outstanding main card, as per usual for this year's Back To Our Roots series. Perhaps the best fight among a card of quality fights, is a 123-pound non-title clash between reigning divisional champion "BJ" Shinichi Kojima (Pictures) and Yasuhiro Akagi.
Both fighters are coming from different directions. BJ is limping out of a dreadful performance in his March title defense against Yasuhiro Urushitani (Pictures), in which the champ was consistently out-struck by the slick counterstriker. Unable to force the fight to the ground, a split draw baffled onlookers who unanimously felt BJ was more than fortunate to escape with his title reign intact.
Conversely, Yasuhiro Akagi is coming off one of the most dominating performances in the history of Shooto's 123-pound class. Pro Shooto is characterized by a high level of technical fighting, which typically makes for situations in which even notoriously poor fighters are technically apt enough to see the final bell.
This past March, against the ever-durable Homare Kuboyama (Pictures), Akagi looked positive beastly in what was a wholly destructive performance. Akagi pummeled and power-slammed Kuboyama from the opening bell, making the first round one of the most lopsided five-minute sessions in Shooto history. Akagi effortlessly finished the fight in the second round, seemingly taking an armbar at will to register the submission victory.
While both fighters are well rounded, the edge in the skills department belongs to, no surprises, the champ. BJ (nicknamed after B.J. Penn (Pictures) due to his prodigious talent) is undeniably gifted. While he looked miserable against Urushitani, it could be said that a fighter like Urushitani is perhaps the worst match-up for a fighter such as BJ. In the stand-up, BJ has an edge on Akagi, especially in the punching department. BJ's better wrestling and ability to secure back mount, pounding and looking for submissions will be a huge danger for Akagi.
It would seem that Akagi, as a slick grappler, would have his best chances in the bout if BJ were to get overaggressive, something that he's definitely prone to. However, Akagi has shown that he is not particularly effective against overly aggressive fighters, as evidenced in his frenetically paced fight with Yusei Shimokawa (Pictures).
Shimokawa routinely fights like he's been lit ablaze, and at times, the motor of Shimokawa seemed to throw Akagi off his game. BJ does not have the technical faults and sloppiness that often plague Shimokawa, and he should be able to take a dominant decision over Akagi.
Takashi Nakakura (Pictures) put on the performance of his career against Mizuto Hirota (Pictures) this past Feb. to win the Shooto Pacific Rim 154-pound title. Now, his performance is rewarded at he gets an open stage against Sweden's Jani Lax.
That "open stage" of course refers to the fact that this fight, on the heels of his fantastic win against Hirota, is quite obviously a showcase fight for Nakakura. In the past, Nakakura was seen as a decent grappler with some slick submissions, and generally poor stand-up. Against a Hirota, a noted terror in the stand-up, Nakakura's training with former Shootboxing king Hiromu Yoshitaka shone through as his precision and timing were flawless in what quickly became a counterstriking clinic.
Now a far more complete and threatening foe, Nakakura will get the opportunity to put it all together and put on a show against the imported Swede.
Swedes haven't had too much luck in the Shooto Japan ring lately (Champion Carnival, anyone?), and it likely won't change here. Lax is a decent grappler and is aggressive for submissions, but doesn't have the skill to hang with Nakakura.
Nakakura can finish this fight standing or on the feet; his newly found striking skills don't bode well for the somewhat chinny Lax, and although submissions are Lax's forte, Nakakura is better than him in that department, as well.
Nakakura wins this, and wins it fairly early in the bout. He will likely prefer to overwhelm Lax with strikes, but if a submission opportunity opens up off the scramble, the Shooting Gym Osaka leader will tap the Swede that way.
Recently dethroned 143-pound king "Lion" Takeshi Inoue (Pictures) will make his return to action against Dutchman Marc Duncan.
The bout was hastily thrown together to add another bit of star power to the card, after the Matsune-Hokazono fight was cancelled. Inoue lost his Shooto world title to Akitoshi Tamura (Pictures) in a minor upset this past May, and was uncharacteristically sluggish throughout the bout. Lion later revealed that he had extreme difficulty making weight, largely due to his hours at his regular job washing boats. As absurd as that may sound, this bout will take place at a 150-pound catch-weight, as a result.
The fight is a tune-up for a fallen star, plain and simple. Duncan is fairly athletic and hits hard, but it generally ho-hum in the skills department. Lion has shown some vulnerability to power punching before, but his recovery is top notch, and he is generally a smart fighter in regard to getting out of danger. Moreover, Lion is likely the functionally stronger of the two fighters, in addition to being the better grappler.
In case it already hasn't been spelled out for you, look for Inoue and Duncan to trade shots standing, until the former champ takes the fight to the ground at will, and proceeds to pound and advance position until he locks up a submission early in the fight.
Even without Matsune-Hokazono, this card still boasts an outstanding match-up of 132-pounders.
The fight comes at an interesting juncture for both fighters. Masakazu Ueda (Pictures) is a decorated prospect to say the least. An All Japan Amateur Shooto champion, All Japan Shooto Grappling champion, National Combat Wrestling champion, and boasting a win over "KID" Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures) in amateur wrestling competition, Ueda was sensational in his run through the 2006 Shooto 132-pound rookie tournament. Quite simply, he looked like a fighter who could very easily be a Shooto world champion in the future.
Now at 5-0, Ueda stands a point where Takeya Mizugaki (Pictures) once stood. The 2005 Shooto rookie MVP after stampeding over the 132-pound rookie tournament bracket, Mizugaki himself was once touted in the same way Ueda is now. Mizugaki further boosted his stock last summer, taking a dramatic leap up in competition against former champion Ryota Matsune (Pictures), and fighting him to a wickedly entertaining and competitive draw.
However, the wheels fell off Mizugaki's bandwagon when he ended up on the nasty side of a brutal slugfest against Kenji Osawa (Pictures) last Nov., and then failed to rebound against Pancrase convert Atsushi Yamamoto (Pictures) in Feb., when he was soundly outwrestled and stifled in the later rounds en route to losing a decision.
For Ueda, a win would elevate him that much further, entrenching him as a top fighter in the division, while a loss, something almost foreign to Ueda in competition, sticks him firmly mid-card. For Mizugaki, a win gets him back on track and into contention, and a loss, which would be his third in a row, would do seemingly irreparable damage.
Although Ueda showed some good counterpunching in his bout with Naoki Yahagi (Pictures), Mizugaki definitely carries the bigger bat. The longer the bout stays standing, the more it favors Mizugaki, who has more ability to set up his strikes, and far more power.
However, Ueda will likely look to take this to the mat, and utilize the same strategy Atsushi Yamamoto (Pictures) did. Mizugaki is out of his element when he can physically impose on his opponents, and top position surety is one part of that. Look for Ueda's takedowns and top position grappling to make the difference en route to a decision win.
In what will almost assuredly be among the most exciting bouts of the card, Yuki Shoujou (Pictures) and Masatoshi Abe (Pictures) will head into a bantamweight battle at 123 pounds.
The stakes are high for both fighters. Shoujou recently earned his Class A Shooto license after a highlight reel knockout of "Gozo" Ayumu Shioda in March. For Shoujou, this bout is an immense jump up in competition, and with 123 pounds becoming one of pro Shooto's most hotly contentious weight classes, a win will send Shoujou's stock skyrocketing.
Meanwhile, Abe is 3-0 since his return to Shooto in March of last year, but has yet to put together a truly impressive performance. In his return against Homare Kuboyama (Pictures), Abe won easily, and was dominant early, but faded down the stretch. In his third encounter with Junji Ikoma (Pictures), Abe started slow before the bout ended unceremoniously after an Abe punch caused freakish swelling to Ikoma's eye. In his last bout against Brazilian Daniel Otero (Pictures), Abe struggled, as three kicks to the groin and an illegal upkick from Otero gave Abe a DQ win, but little opportunity to showcase anything.
Shoujou has a very respectable set of skills, and has developed a considerable amount of versatility. Shoujou has good clinch-based wrestling, decent submissions, and has developed very good stand-up, with strong low kicks, and punch combinations. The problem is that he is a similar to fighter to Abe, who has great wrestling skills, especially in the Greco department, and very good stand-up. While Abe keys more on punch combinations in the stand-up, the individual parts of his game are better than Shoujou's, and his overall game is better as well.
Although he's trained through some injuries, Abe will be bigger, stronger, and a bit better in each and every department. Shoujou should hang tough and fight aggressively, but Abe should be a step ahead the entire fight, and take a cool decision. The win will cement Abe's status as the next challenger to BJ's bantamweight title, should Akagi not pull the upset later that evening.
In a dead evenly matched 143-pound Class B bout, Kyotaro Nakao (Pictures), younger brother of former Shooto contender and DEEP champion Jutaro Nakao (Pictures), will take on Rumina Sato (Pictures)-trained Keisuke Yamada (Pictures).
Nakao is winless in his last five, but is coming off a draw and a split decision loss to the United Kingdom's top divisional talent Danny Batten (Pictures), which many felt he'd won. Yamada is winless in his last four, but performed well in his last two bouts, especially in his draw with Hiroshi Nakamura his trainer so famed.
With both fighters being typical, well-rounded Shooto competitors, and this being a two round Class B bout, there is a very high potential for the dreaded draw. If the fight does end with a victor, it is more likely to be Nakao, due to the fact that he possesses a stand-up advantage. Yamada has dropped two previously decisions to Nakao's teammates, Tenkei Fujimiya (Pictures) and Takeshi Inoue (Pictures), both of whom just had too much of an arsenal in the striking department for Yamada to overcome.
In 143-pound rookie tournament action, Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) pupil Tomonari Taniguchi will square off with "Chokugeki Gamon" Naohiro Mizuno (Pictures).
Taniguchi is one of the original "Mach Quartet," referring to Hayato Sakurai (Pictures)'s original four top pupils. However, as a pro, Taniguchi has disappointed, much as the rest of his Mach Dojo brethren. Whether or not Sakurai will make a Jordan-esque coach remains to be seen, but it can be said Taniguchi was in tough against quality 143'ers in his first three fights, and he is coming off a sensational kerthunking of veteran Yohei Suzuki (Pictures) in his last bout.
Mizuno, the 143-pound runner-up at the All Japan Amateur Shooto Championships last Sept., reeked of awesomity in his pro debut this past May. Against Yoshiki Noguchi (Pictures), Mizuno showed his style with ease, slamming the Sapporan and dropping potent punches from the mount to pound him out.
Mizuno, being the better wrestler, should be able to get top position and work his game for 10 minutes. Look for a decision win for the PUREBRED product, who will roll on to the finals of the 143-pound rookie tournament to await the winner of a future Kazuhiro Ito-Tomohiko Yokoyama bout.
The evening's festivities will begin with a 115-pound bout between hapless veteran Takahisa Toyoshima, and the debuting "Sarumaru" Junji Ito.
The bout is easy to characterize, with Toyoshima being 0-5 in his career, and unlike many sub-.500 pro Shooto fighters, has never shown the defensive skills that have least allowed other Class B jobbers to be tough and durable.
Meanwhile, Ito will make his pro debut after a strong amateur Shooto career. The first non-143 pound Kenji Kawaguchi (Pictures) pupil in quite some time, Ito was the 115-pound runner-up at last year's All Japan amateur Shooto championships. More interestingly, unlike a lot of the developing Shooto flyweight division, his bread and butter is in his striking power, having scored several knockouts in Class C, amidst shin guards, head gear, and other padded accessories.
Ito, who is nicknamed after a golf club-wielding anime character, figures to be a rookie tournament entrant in 2008. He should get a leg up on the competition here by getting an impressive win his debut, plunking the typically terrible Toyoshima.