Heavyweight King of Pancrase tournament Block A matches acted like co-main events on Thursday, with All Japan kickboxer turned Pancrase fighter Yuji Sakuragi (Pictures) scoring one of the most beautiful knockouts this writer has ever witnessed. Using impeccable timing and devastating power, Sakuragi won just 55 seconds after the opening bell.
What happened next was similar to what Joachim Hansen (Pictures) did to Masakasu Imanari last year in Bushido. While Sato was already in motion for a takedown, Sakuragi, out of nowhere and with the most beautiful timing, threw and landed a spinning back kick that caught Sato and sent him bouncing back semi-unconscious to the ropes.
Sakuragi followed with soccer kicks to finish what the spinning kick started, but Sato was already out.
The other bracket for the heavyweight tournament placed Hawaiian fighter Poai Suganuma (Pictures) against powerful wrestler Lee Sagak.
Sagak scored a big knockdown in the first minute, but Suganuma regained balance and somehow managed to collapse only over one knee. The Hawaiian bounced back and both fighters clinched, with Sagak taking the best part and scoring a takedown.
Once on the ground Suganuma started playing defense and avoided further ground damage with an arm-lock attempt while the heavy Sagak was hovering on top looking for better position to strike.
Following a standing restart due to inactivity, both fighters closed the distance and threw heavy leather on the inside; the Hawaiian took the best part of the exchange with a short inside hook that sent Sagak walking backward before turning his back and landing on the mat.
Suganuma followed and prepared to land more punches when the referee jumped in to stop the action.
The bloody under card placed UFC veteran and Pancrase favorite Koji Oishi (Pictures) against Daizo Ishige (Pictures) in a welterweight match, with the winner likely getting a shot to Inoue’s welterweight belt later this year.
This fight went three rounds without hitting the ground once. The beginning saw Oishi scoring several inside and under hooks, and Ishige landed some of his own.
Very close until the third round, when the now infamous punch defense employed by Oishi in his UFC debut appeared, Ishige scored with punches at will and made Oishi bleed profusely from all over his face.
The final minutes saw Oshige take a page out of Chute Boxe tactics as he landed what looked like 15 standing and jumping knees from inside the clinch. Judges scored the bout 29-28, 29-29 and 30-28 in Ishige’s column for the majority decision.
Seidokaikan fighter Kozo Urita (Pictures) needed merely 40 seconds to derail Riki Fukuda (Pictures)’s Killer Bee bandwagon with a devastating left hook that sent Fukuda down and out. The referee quickly jumped in to stop the bout and members of the Killer Bee team needed to take Fukuda out of the ring in a stretcher.
Okinawa Pancrase fighter Mitsuhisa Sunabe took a close decision over King of the Cage veteran Russ Miura (Pictures) after three rounds of back-and-forth action.
Three draws graced the night’s opening action, as the Manabu Inoue (Pictures)-Takumi Murata (Pictures), Azad Asgarov-Turbo Fairtex and Ryo Kawamura-Yuta Watanabe contests all failed to produce a winner.