NAGOYA, Feb. 25 — On the day when a lot of big dudes were going crazy on the eastside of Japan, little guys battled in the central part of the country.
Hatsu Hioki (Pictures) is not only a rising star here in Nagoya but also among the Japanese SHOOTO fans. Why? Last year, he fought three times in SHOOTO and finished all three opponents he faced (1 KO, 2 submissions).
With wins over Joe Pierson (No. 3-ranked in U.S. SHOOTO ranking), Hideki Kadowaki (Pictures) (ranked No. 10 at the time) and Tom Niinimaki (Pictures) (No. 1 in European ranking), Hioki’s not lucky.
Needless to say, the expectation for Hioki, who is sometimes featured in Nagoya’s magazines and other mass media, was a win over Bao Quach (Pictures).
Quach had bitter results in his past few fights. He lost against Hideki Kadowaki (Pictures), whom Hioki finished. Then he earned another loss against SHOOTO star Rumina Sato (Pictures) by very painful armbar in July 2004.
So basically, if we look at only their fight careers it’s easy to say that Hioki is on the rise while Quach is on the way down.
The fight itself was an absolute war. They went toe to toe for all three rounds in a battle the likes of which I haven’t seen in a long time. I mean back and forth.
Neither of these samurais hesitated to engage. When Hioki threw his left down the middle, Quach countered by catching it and punching Hioki in the mid-section or smack in the face. And Hioki used his long reach very effectively, connecting on some jabs.
Hioki also was mounted on Quach, almost catching the American-trained fighter in an armbar, but Bao managed to get out from this trap and stood back up.
Both fighters were very calm from beginning. They both listened to their corner and followed direction very well. They better because a corner can be like a second or third pair of eyes for a fighter. The corner can see what the fighter can’t see.
(Oh, by the way, I can’t forget to write this. Quach represented Team Oyama and Colin Oyama was in his corner. And this big man was giving Quach great direction, as were his teammates. I hear some people talk negatively about Oyama, but he did a great job tonight.)
In the third round Hioki’s nose started bleeding and it looked very bad. But because he had Quach mounted and very nearly subbed in round one, and he connected with a few nice jabs back to back in the third that forced Bao to back up, this fight resulted a draw.
It was a close and entertaining fight. Both fighters showed such skill and big hearts. And I’m sure even though Hioki’s winning streak is stopped a lot of SHOOTO fans will still will place huge expectations on his shoulders, especially Nagoya SHOOTO fans.
Also, the American fighter is still a dangerous fighter and could make an impression in SHOOTO for the future. Yeah, Quach lost back-to-back fights, but he drew against a very good prospect at 143 pounds. Maybe this box called SHOOTO is like Pandora’s for him. All evil is gone and some hope remains.
As far as the show as a whole, I saw so much ground work — either ground-and-pound or submission work. Not that much stand-up to speak of. There were nine fights tonight and one was a BJJ fight between Mike Fowler and Daisuke Sugie (Pictures). Except for the last two fights, most of the card featured grappling-centric bouts.
If we look at the world MMA scene, strikers who have great grappling defense have been doing well. That’s the current style for MMA. But most of the Central fighters tend to fight on the ground. I don’t say this is good or bad. But this could be the key if Central fighters are to be successful fighting at different area such as Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Or maybe in rings or cages overseas.