Lions, Turkeys & Prom Queens

So Tazawa vs. Hiromasa Ogikubo

Many moons ago when I started crafting Shooto previews, there was a certain measure of persuasive pleading I had to employ when it came to the lighter weight classes. It usually went something like, "Just a few years ago, people questioned whether lightweights belonged in MMA! Ain't that crazy?" I was adamant that eventually, even if it required force, people would see MMA from the smaller end of the scale, and they would bloody well like it.

Two and a half years later, Zuffa has used the WEC to promote the "light is right" mantra, and it has caught fire, second to only "Yes we can" in efficacy. Now, I can use a more direct and impactful pitchline: You should care about this fight because one day, one of these chaps could be in the WEC cage.

If that hypothetical is realized, the one getting the plane ticket would more than likely be 21-year-old Hiromasa Ogikubo. After winning the All Japan Amateur Shooto Championships as an 18-year-old in 2005, Ogikubo made a relatively seamless transition to the pro Shooto game and won the 132-pound Shooto rookie tournament last year. Better still, he showed marked improvement over the course of 2007, building a dynamic top game that allowed him to destroy his semifinal and final tourney foes Kazuya Tamura and Yasuhiro Kanayama by submission.

Following his tournament win, Ogikubo spent seven months on the shelf before returning to face his first Class A test this past July against fellow former rookie champion Hiroyuki Tanaka. While it would've been nice to see a lengthy battle to see how Ogikubo has continued to refine his game, Ogikubo needed just 95 seconds to pass guard, get side control and punch the never-previously-stopped Tanaka out of consciousness, back into consciousness for a split second and back out of it again. Bam.

While he's still only 26 years old, So Tazawa has taken on the role of a bantamweight gatekeeper. His three losses have come against top-10 opposition in current Shooto world champ Masakatsu Ueda, Koetsu Okazaki and Atsushi Yamamoto, and he presents an awkward but technically proficient style that serves as a solid acid test for up-and-comers. Sassy throws, slick submissions and some ugly-but-effective standup make Tazawa an ideal fighter for assessing where Shooto's young 132-pound lions are at in their progressions.

The onus will be on Ogikubo to finish clean takedowns and avoid prolonged clinches where he can be set up and hip tossed. So long as Ogikubo can consistently get top position, his strong passing and positional game will give him the opportunity to really get after Tazawa with ground-and-pound, and put rounds in the bank. Tazawa is uncommonly tough, and it would be extremely difficult to imagine Ogikubo finishing him, but look for Ogikubo to rise to the occasion and do enough to take a W in his first major test and in what should be a nip-and-tuck 15-minute bout with some stirring grappling.

With former Shooto 132-pound champ Ryota Matsune's knees being made out of string cheese, a victory could allow the possibility for Ogikubo to replace him as the bantamweight Boy Wonder from Paraestra Matsudo; he'll only need a ridiculous haircut and colicky crying fits for the postfight.