Wajyutsu/wrestling
Team: Wajiu-tsu Keishu-kai
Height: 5' 7” (170 cm)
Weight:132 lbs. (60 kg)
Record: 10-4-1
SHOOTO record: 6-3-1
Submission wrestling
Team: Cross Point
Height: 5' 4” (163 cm)
Weight: 132 lbs. (60 kg)
Record: 14-4-2
SHOOTO record: 10-4-2
Osawa started his career in 2003 fighting for both SHOOTO and GCM Demolition. In early 2005 he started to give a serious run for the SHOOTO featherweight belt after defeating Jin Akimoto (Pictures). Osawa trains with the likes of Caol Uno (Pictures), Hidetaka Monma (Pictures) and Yoshihiro Akiyama (Pictures) out of the Wajiu-tsu Keishu-kai network of gyms and his currently the No. 5-ranked SHOOTO featherweight.
Uematsu is finally making his long awaited debut at 132 pound after spending most of his MMA career at 143, basically fighting bigger opponents. Also Uematsu is sometimes ignored next to other SHOOTO legends like Rumina Sato (Pictures), Takanori Gomi (Pictures) or Hayato Sakurai (Pictures), even when he’s been fighting for the same amount of time or even longer with a positive record. This is undoubtedly the result of being stuck in a division with bigger fighters for so many years.
Prediction:
Without a doubt Uematsu. Kenji Osawa (Pictures) is a great opponent and someone to keep an eye inside the 132-pound division but his role is basically like the gatekeeper for the top five fighters in that division.
Osawa brings an aggressive but sometime reckless combination of wresting and striking and I’m sure he’s going to push the fight from the beginning. But Uematsu is plain and simple out of his league. Uematsu’s poison is to face strong grapplers with good top control (Joao Roque (Pictures)), fighters with better striking (Jens Pulver (Pictures)) or someone who is literally bigger than him (Gilbert Melendez (Pictures)). Osawa doesn’t fill any of the above requisites to dominate this fight.
Expect Uematsu to pull a quick one here with a possible first round submission victory.