Aoki Shines at SHOOTO

TOKYO, Nov. 6 — Upon ingesting perhaps the poorest example of the classic American hot dog at the “Hot Dog Inn” just outside of the Tokyo Dome, I proceeded to make my way into the MMA Mecca of Japan (and perhaps the world) Korakuen Hall to ride the pine (see previous Pancrase report) and bear witness to the fights of SHOOTO.

The main event of the evening pitted Paraestra jiu-jitsu superstar Shinya Aoki (Pictures) against Academia AZ jiu-jitsu fighter Kuniyoshi Hironaka. Originally, Hironaka was to fight Sauli Heilimo, but the Team Scandinavia fighter caught the flu at the last minute and Aoki stepped in to take his place.

These two Japanese fighters have some history together — it was Aoki who gave Hironaka a severe elbow injury at a jiu-jitsu event in November 2004, forcing him out of competition for nearly a year.

Aoki came running at his opponent at the start of this one and pulled guard close to the ropes. The Paraestra fighter then managed to lock on a solid triangle, tagging Hironaka with right hands. Trying to escape, he stood, but Aoki held the technique. After briefly propping Aoki on the top rope, Hironaka lost his balance and fell back to the canvas, triangle still in place.

From here Aoki twisted and sat up into the mount with the triangle still on. Hironaka was in big trouble at this point — not only did he have the full weight of his opponent across his neck, but also the Paraestra fighter rained down punches.

This was pretty ugly and to be quite honest I was amazed that the referee let the beat down from this brutal position go on as long as it did. Hironaka was a bloody mess by the time the ref finally stopped it at the 2:10 mark.

Team Scandinavia fighter Tom Niinimaki faced off against Nagoya Alive team member Hatsu Hioki. Both guys started this one out looking sharp on their feet, moving around the ring. Niinimaki threw some hard bombs, but Hioki was able to cover up and avoid any serious damage.

Hioki tripped up the Finish fighter, scoring his first and only takedown, falling into Niinimaki’s guard. After getting around his opponent’s legs, the Japanese fighter managed to work around to the back, then slid over Niinimaki’s shoulders and caught an arm as he fell back to the mat.

Hioki fully extended the armbar, and while Niinimaki didn’t tap, the referee was forced to stop the fight at the 3:03 mark.

Brazilian born, Australia-based fighter Daniel Lima looked like a Pit Bull in his fight against Wajutsu Keishukai fighter Kenji Osawa (Pictures) — he always came forward throwing hard bombs. However, he had a dangerous habit of standing flatfooted, throwing big haymakers with his head up and unprotected. This time he got away with it, but next time he may not be as lucky.

Osawa controlled the pace of the first round with strikes, Lima got his opponent’s back in the second, and in the third the Brazilian fighter really came alive with punches. The fight went the distance and was called a draw.

In an extremely entertaining and fairly even match-up, Takeshi Inoue (Pictures) faced off against SHOOTO veteran Akitoshi Tamura (Pictures). This one looked more like a kickboxing fight than a MMA bout. Both guys moved around, waiting for the right opportunity to throw their punches.

“Lion” Takeshi landed some hard uppercuts from the clinch and seemed to be slightly better than his opponent on the outside. Tamura employed his legs a bit more, throwing a lot of kicks and firing strong knees from inside the clinch.

Tamura took a shot in the first that caused a good-sized bruise to the side of his left eye. The fight had to be paused several times for the doctor to check out the injury as it proceeded to bleed.

A heated slugfest at the end of the third finished this bout up. The fight went to the judges and “Lion” was declared the winner by majority decision (30-28, 29-28, 29-29).

Paraestra Matsudo member Yutaka Nishioka (Pictures) came to the ring with pink shorts and pink hair in his entertaining match-up against Shooting Gym Yokohama fighter Tenkei Fujimiya (Pictures).

Nishioka constantly went for the shot in his one. But as the fight wore on his shots became slower and easier to see coming, allowing his opponent to sprawl to avoid the takedown.

Fujimiya did well in the striking department, but to me it seemed that often he was merely reacting and it was Nishioka who was really pushing the fight. When the fight went to the judges I felt Nishioka should win, but the SHOOTO judges must have seen something that I didn’t because it was Fujimiya who walked away with the decision.

K’z Factory fighter Yusei Shimokawa did a good job of tripping up Yuki Shojou in their battle. On the ground Shimokawa took his opponent’s back and transitioned into a decent armbar attempt. In the second he briefly scored the mount, but Shojou was able to put him back to half before he could inflict any damage.

The fight went the distance and Shimokawa was awarded a majority decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-20).

Teruyuki Matsumoto’s fight against Takeya Mizugaki didn’t last long — just 13 seconds to be exact. Mizugaki jumped in with a straight right that landed flush on his opponent’s jaw, sending him crashing down to the mat. Matsumoto struggled to beat the count, but was visibly shaken and couldn’t find the balance to stand. The referee stopped the fight.

Japanese Abu Dhabi qualifier Tetsu Suzuki (Pictures) changed his name to Hadairo Tetsu, presumably to be in congruence with the color of his shorts. Hadairo means “flesh color” in Japanese. In his match-up against Takamaro Watari, he scored mount and took his opponent’s back in the first.

The fight ended with both guys slugging it out, looking totally gassed. In the end it was ruled a draw, but Suzuki won the lottery to move on to the rookie final.