Sherdog.com Preview: PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Critical Countdown
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Makoto Takimoto
Jun 21, 2005
TAMURA: Japanese submission wrestler Kiyoshi Tamura is the leader of
the U-File Camp and a former UWF and UWFi professional wrester. The
former RINGS champion has a competition record of 28-11-3 and will
make his seventh appearance (3-3) in the ring of the PFC.
The promoter of the U-Style submission-wrestling event trains with Ryuki Ueyama and superstar Ryo Chonan. In 1996 Tamura joined the RINGS Organization and battled many of the top athletes in the event at the time including Mikhail Illoukhine, Volk Han, Joop Kasteel, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Yoshihisa Yamamoto and even founder Akira Maeda. He submitted UFC veterans Pat Smith, Maurice Smith and Elvis Sinosic early in his career and went on to beat many other respected names in MMA.
In 1999, RINGS went to full shoot cards as opposed to the
shoot/work mix they popularized in the mid 1990s. During the first
King of Kings tournament Tamura defeated Dave Menne and Renzo Gracie, losing in the final
to Renato Sobral.
He competed in the KOK 2000 version as well but was vanquished by Rodrigo Nogueira. Tamura lost his RINGS title to Gilbert Yvel and fell into a losing streak that began after the Nogueira bout. It included a rematch with Sobral as well as brutal losses at the hands of Gustavo Machado, Bob Sapp and Wanderlei Silva in his PRIDE debut.
TAKIMOTO: Makoto Takimoto won the gold medal in the 81-kilogram division in judo at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Considered a dark horse for the medal due to his poor performance in the Asian Judo Championships earlier that year, Takimoto pulled off upset wins over Alvaro Paseyro of Uruguay by yusei-gachi (decision), Gaston Garcia of Argentina by ippon (full point) and Ruslan Seilkhanov of Kazakstan by ippon (full point).
The medal round was a repeat of the 1995 Asian Judo Championships final as Cho In-chul of South Korea fell to Takimoto via yusei-gachi (decision). Though given a 30 percent chance of winning the medal by judo pundits, the four-time Kodokan Cup winner was highly aggressive and took the win over the heavily favored Cho.
Hidehiko Yoshida as well as Kosai, Watanabe and boxing coach Riki Onodera are molding Makoto for MMA. Other than his judo prowess, Takimoto had no other recognized martial arts combat experience leading up to his appearance in the 2004 New Year’s Eve show. And recruiting Takimoto to take part the PFC NYE event was fellow gold medalist and 2000 Olympic Games participant Yoshida.
Hidehiko has emerged as a huge mover and shaker in Japan, using his position to bring Takimoto on board despite the objections of “the powers that be” in judo politics. In his MMA debut, Makoto battled “Sentoryu” Henry Miller of Takada Dojo at last New Year’s Eve and beat him by unanimous decision.
MY PICK: Tamura. This is an opportunity for revenge against Yoshida. Kiyoshi fell victim to a choke in the first round of their match two years ago and it has been Tamura’s only loss in three years. Tamura knows Takimoto will probably wear his gi like Yoshida did and Kiyoshi has likely prepared to face an opponent in uniform. His vast experience and solid striking should be too much for the relatively green Takimoto. I feel it will be Tamura by TKO from strikes in the second round.
The promoter of the U-Style submission-wrestling event trains with Ryuki Ueyama and superstar Ryo Chonan. In 1996 Tamura joined the RINGS Organization and battled many of the top athletes in the event at the time including Mikhail Illoukhine, Volk Han, Joop Kasteel, Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Yoshihisa Yamamoto and even founder Akira Maeda. He submitted UFC veterans Pat Smith, Maurice Smith and Elvis Sinosic early in his career and went on to beat many other respected names in MMA.
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He competed in the KOK 2000 version as well but was vanquished by Rodrigo Nogueira. Tamura lost his RINGS title to Gilbert Yvel and fell into a losing streak that began after the Nogueira bout. It included a rematch with Sobral as well as brutal losses at the hands of Gustavo Machado, Bob Sapp and Wanderlei Silva in his PRIDE debut.
He took decision wins over Pat
Miletich and Jeremy Horn
prior to the streak and defeated fellow countrymen Ikuhisa Minowa and Nobuhiko Takada after that
stretch. He went 1-1 in PRIDE in ’03, losing to Hidehiko Yoshida by
gi-choke and submitting kickboxer Rony Sefo on the New Year’s show.
Then returning to the ring in last February, Tamura battered an MMA
novice in the form of Azerbayzhan wrestler Aliev Makhmud and finished the
FILA member late in the first round.
TAKIMOTO: Makoto Takimoto won the gold medal in the 81-kilogram division in judo at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Considered a dark horse for the medal due to his poor performance in the Asian Judo Championships earlier that year, Takimoto pulled off upset wins over Alvaro Paseyro of Uruguay by yusei-gachi (decision), Gaston Garcia of Argentina by ippon (full point) and Ruslan Seilkhanov of Kazakstan by ippon (full point).
The medal round was a repeat of the 1995 Asian Judo Championships final as Cho In-chul of South Korea fell to Takimoto via yusei-gachi (decision). Though given a 30 percent chance of winning the medal by judo pundits, the four-time Kodokan Cup winner was highly aggressive and took the win over the heavily favored Cho.
Hidehiko Yoshida as well as Kosai, Watanabe and boxing coach Riki Onodera are molding Makoto for MMA. Other than his judo prowess, Takimoto had no other recognized martial arts combat experience leading up to his appearance in the 2004 New Year’s Eve show. And recruiting Takimoto to take part the PFC NYE event was fellow gold medalist and 2000 Olympic Games participant Yoshida.
Hidehiko has emerged as a huge mover and shaker in Japan, using his position to bring Takimoto on board despite the objections of “the powers that be” in judo politics. In his MMA debut, Makoto battled “Sentoryu” Henry Miller of Takada Dojo at last New Year’s Eve and beat him by unanimous decision.
MY PICK: Tamura. This is an opportunity for revenge against Yoshida. Kiyoshi fell victim to a choke in the first round of their match two years ago and it has been Tamura’s only loss in three years. Tamura knows Takimoto will probably wear his gi like Yoshida did and Kiyoshi has likely prepared to face an opponent in uniform. His vast experience and solid striking should be too much for the relatively green Takimoto. I feel it will be Tamura by TKO from strikes in the second round.
