Sherdog.com Preview: ROTR “Hawaii vs. Japan”
Ray Cooper vs. Koji Yoshida
Apr 20, 2006
COOPER: Ray Cooper
(Pictures), 13-8-0 in MMA, trains with
Ronald Jhun (Pictures), Brennan Kamaka, Kai Kamaka, Stephen Palling (Pictures), David Padilla and the rest of the
Jesus Is Lord team in Hawaii.
Cooper made his MMA debut in Super Brawl and won a four-man tournament, stopping both Taro Obata and Jason Nicholson early in the first round. He fought Masanori Suda (Pictures) and was submitted via armbar in the opening round. Cooper then rattled off wins against Victor Hunsaker, Danny Bennett and Chris Kirby each in less than three minutes.
Riding high at 5-1, Cooper returned to SHOOTO and won a decision
over Jutaro Nakao
(Pictures). He met Frank Trigg (Pictures) at World Extreme Fighting 10 and
was submitted in the second round with a forearm choke. That bout
set off a downward spiral for “Bradda” as he went 1-4 in his next
five fights, losing to Alex
Cook, Paul Rodriguez
(Pictures) and SHOOTO superstar
Tetsuji Kato (Pictures). His only win was a submission
over Antonio McKee
(Pictures) at the first Warrior’s
Quest show.
Ray made another impressive stand in the Warrior’s Quest events, winning every bout he fought for the promotion by defeating Jeremy Williams, Jeremy Bennett, Dan Gilbert and ROTR tournament semifinalist Jake Shields (Pictures).
He scored a win over Jay Buck to finish 2002 and was inactive in the fight game for 10 months. He made his Rumble on the Rock debut in ’03 and it was his only fight that year. Dennis Hallman (Pictures) submitted Cooper in under a minute at ROTR 4 and it had to be a shock to the system. Ray lost his rematch with Jake Shields (Pictures) nine months later. Again, it was a short bout with a loss by submission and his only fight in that year. It seemed the inactivity in the ring (for whatever reason) was costing him.
Cooper would score a huge win to open 2005, as he knocked out UFC veteran Hermes Franca (Pictures) in the first round of their bout in SHOOTO Hawaii “Unleashed.” And in his most recent bout, Cooper was forced to concede due to a cut stoppage in the second round of his bout with Takashi Nakakura (Pictures).
YOSHIDA: Koji Yoshida is black belt in judo and a Japanese professional boxer with a record of 0-2 in MMA. He has 17 years experience in judo and became a professional boxer after college. He has a boxing record of 10-4-2 (3 KO) and made the move to MMA in 2005.
He faced Royler Gracie (Pictures) at the K-1 HERO’S 2 event and went the distance (10 minutes) with a member of the esteemed Gracie family in his MMA debut. Koji fought earlier this month in the GCM: D.O.G. 5 event against Yusuke Endo (Pictures) and lost a unanimous decision.
MY PICK: Cooper. If you look at his record, almost everyone he’s fought over his career is a “name” fighter. Not many guys who haven’t been in Pride or the UFC have Cooper’s résumé. As for Yoshida, he has good stand-up being a boxer but Cooper can go anywhere. “Bradda” is likely very hungry having lost three of four. Cooper by TKO in the second round.
Cooper made his MMA debut in Super Brawl and won a four-man tournament, stopping both Taro Obata and Jason Nicholson early in the first round. He fought Masanori Suda (Pictures) and was submitted via armbar in the opening round. Cooper then rattled off wins against Victor Hunsaker, Danny Bennett and Chris Kirby each in less than three minutes.
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Ray made another impressive stand in the Warrior’s Quest events, winning every bout he fought for the promotion by defeating Jeremy Williams, Jeremy Bennett, Dan Gilbert and ROTR tournament semifinalist Jake Shields (Pictures).
He scored a win over Jay Buck to finish 2002 and was inactive in the fight game for 10 months. He made his Rumble on the Rock debut in ’03 and it was his only fight that year. Dennis Hallman (Pictures) submitted Cooper in under a minute at ROTR 4 and it had to be a shock to the system. Ray lost his rematch with Jake Shields (Pictures) nine months later. Again, it was a short bout with a loss by submission and his only fight in that year. It seemed the inactivity in the ring (for whatever reason) was costing him.
Cooper would score a huge win to open 2005, as he knocked out UFC veteran Hermes Franca (Pictures) in the first round of their bout in SHOOTO Hawaii “Unleashed.” And in his most recent bout, Cooper was forced to concede due to a cut stoppage in the second round of his bout with Takashi Nakakura (Pictures).
YOSHIDA: Koji Yoshida is black belt in judo and a Japanese professional boxer with a record of 0-2 in MMA. He has 17 years experience in judo and became a professional boxer after college. He has a boxing record of 10-4-2 (3 KO) and made the move to MMA in 2005.
He faced Royler Gracie (Pictures) at the K-1 HERO’S 2 event and went the distance (10 minutes) with a member of the esteemed Gracie family in his MMA debut. Koji fought earlier this month in the GCM: D.O.G. 5 event against Yusuke Endo (Pictures) and lost a unanimous decision.
MY PICK: Cooper. If you look at his record, almost everyone he’s fought over his career is a “name” fighter. Not many guys who haven’t been in Pride or the UFC have Cooper’s résumé. As for Yoshida, he has good stand-up being a boxer but Cooper can go anywhere. “Bradda” is likely very hungry having lost three of four. Cooper by TKO in the second round.
