Sherdog.com Preview: SHOOTO “Victory of the truth”

Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures)
Wrestling
Team: T-Blood
Height: 5' 6” (168 cm)
Weight: 154 lbs. (70 kg)
Record: 9-2-1
SHOOTO record: 8-2-1

Kenichiro Togashi (Pictures)
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Team: Paraestra Hiroshima
Height 5' 10” (178 cm)
Weight: 154 lbs. (70 kg)
Record: 6-3-3
SHOOTO record: 6-3-3

Wrestling powerhouse Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures) plays the role of best friend and wrestling coach to current SHOOTO welterweight champion Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures). Ishida, fighting out of Ibaraki prefecture as part of the reformed T-Blood team (formerly know as Team Tops), has been one of the biggest surprises at 154 pounds in Japan, displaying an amazing wrestling game with overall tendencies to drop his opponent downs with suplexes.

Ishida also brings experience in Abu Dhabi competition, winning the Japanese qualifiers back in 2003 and subsequently representing Japan in ADCC Brazil. Kenichiro Togashi (Pictures) fights out of Paraestra Hiroshima and brings a well rounded game. Most of his striking improvement can be witnessed in his last two fights, where Togashi out-struck Ganjo Tentsuku (Pictures) and made Joachim Hansen (Pictures) look awkward in their bout back in August 2005.

Prediction:

Ishida by ground strikes. Togashi is a fair grappler with a considerable reach and height advantage over Ishida, but I have seen the likes of Hansen and Murahama take Togashi down at will and these two are nowhere near Ishida’s level of wrestling. Besides there is an extra prize here because the winner gets the Pacific Rim welterweight title belt and I believe Ishida would love to place a new shining belt next to teammate Kawajiri’s welterweight belt back at T-Blood gym.