TOKYO, July 21 — There are several traditions that mark the summer here in Japan: local festivals, fireworks, and girls walking around in yukatas (traditional Japanese dresses). I guess it’s somewhat akin to barbeques and baseball back home. Another one of these traditions is the big shows that the various MMA promotions put on for the fans.
Anyone who bought a ticket really got their money’s worth, because this was a dynamite event, right from the very first match. The main event pitted 2003 SHOOTO rookie champion Akitoshi Hokazono against Wajyutsu Keisyukai’s Kenji Osawa (Pictures), ranked one and two in the division respectively, for the vacant featherweight title.
This bout really turned out to be a striking war, with both fighters displaying crisp boxing throughout the three rounds. While Ozawa was more the aggressor, Hokazono slipped and covered well, tagging his opponent with well timed counterpunching. The No. 1-ranked featherweight dropped Osawa to one knee at the end of the first with a beautiful left hook, forcing a standing eight count, then tagged Osawa again in the second, causing bad swelling in the Wajyutsu Keisyukai fighter’s right eye. The eye looked pretty nasty, but after a doctor’s check it was ruled that Osawa could continue.
The third round saw Hokazono charging in to his opponent, tying him up in the corner and jumping to his back. For a relatively long time, the standing Ozawa defended the rear-naked choke and tried to pry his opponent from off this back. Hokazono held on until the referee eventually broke them up and restated the action on there feet. The closing moments saw Osawa putting together lightning fast combinations, while Hokazono continued to cover and land crisp counters.
It was definitely Hokazono who delivered the most damage in this fight. Ozawa’s right eye was nearly swollen shut, and the marks on his face attested to the power of his opponent’s well-timed shots. The fight went to the judges and it was Hokazono who took the decision (30-27, 30-28 twice) and the Shooto featherweight title.
Recently crowned Shooto lightweight champion “Lion” Takeshi Inoue (Pictures) faced off against American Top Team fighter Cole Miller in a non-title bout. This was Inoue’s first fight since taking the vacated title by defeating Canadian Antonio Carvalho (Pictures) last May.
Usually it’s Inoue who has the reach advantage on his opponents, but this certainly wasn’t the case against the long and lean Miller. The American Top Team fighter really took Inoue out of his game with his reach, landing several stiff jabs and hard crosses on the champion.
Inoue stood with Miller quite a bit during the first half of the fight, but in the second half the Japanese fighter choose to keep it on the mat, tripping up his opponent and landing strong punches from the guard.
Despite his repeated attempts, Inuoe couldn’t get past the American’s legs when on the mat. Miller spent most of his time on his back, trying to catch the champion in a triangle with his long legs. Inoue continued to rain down shots on Miller right to the final bell.
The fight went to the judges and Inoue walked away with the unanimous decision.
Shooto and GCM veteran Yusuke Endo (Pictures) was supposed to face off against grappling ace George Sotiropoulos, but the Australian had to pull out just 11 days before the event. With Shooto struggling to find an opponent, in stepped MMA workhorse Clayton Guida (Pictures), who took the fight on a mere one-week notice.
To say that Guida has been busy since 2003 would be an understatement, amassing 24 fights since his debut nearly three years ago. A win over Josh Thomson (Pictures) at the first Strikeforce event last March really put him in the public radar, and a strong performance against Gilbert Melendez (Pictures) at the following Strikeforce card further cemented his stock in the MMA world.
Right off the bell, Guida, a very accomplished wrestler in his own right, came in for the shot against. Endo sprawled and was pinned in the corner. Guida didn’t give up on his takedown attempt at this point, continuing to hold onto his opponent’s leg. Eventually Guida got under Endo’s weight and picked him up, walking him to the center of the ring for the slam.
Up on his opponent’s shoulders prior to being driven to the mat, Endo locked on a fairly strong guillotine. Just after impact, Endo wrapped his legs around the American for a triangle attempt. Guida sat back in an attempt to pull away from the technique, but eventually the Japanese fighter was able to tighten it up and really put on the pressure.
Guida once again tried to slam his way out of the technique, but Endo transitioned to an armbar just after this second, smaller impact, forcing the American Top Team fighter to tap at the 2:47 mark of the first round.
In perhaps the most exciting fight of the night, Shooto veteran Ryota Matsune (Pictures) squared off against Shooting Gym Hakkei’s Takeya Mizugaki (Pictures). This was Matsune long-awaited return to the ring since a nagging knee injury had keep him away from the ring since November 2004.
Early in the bout, with the two fighters tied up in a clinch, Matsune pulled a page out of Rumina Sato (Pictures)’s playbook, going for a nicely executed flying armbar. Mizugaki had to react quickly and just escaped the technique.
The rest of the fight was an up-and-down, back-and-forth sluggest. The fight was extremely even, with both guys scoring takedowns, going for submission attempts and handing out damage on their feet.
The action never let up in this one. In the third Matsune worked to pass the guard, eventually getting to his opponent’s side, only to have Mizugaki work back up to his feet. Mizugaki had a great flurry in the corner toward the end of the bout, following with a slugfest between the two fighters right till the final bell.
The fight went to the judges and was ruled a draw.
Masatoshi Abe (Pictures)’s second bout since a two-year absence saw the Ani Abe Combat club fighter square off against Shooto veteran Junji Ikoma (Pictures). The winner of this bout would likely be seen as the next challenger to Mamaru Yamaguchi’s bantamweight title.
Right off the bat, Ikoma came out with front kicks and knees. The No. 1 contender used his reach advantage to pepper Abe with punches and really control the action on the feet.
Ikoma was winning the fight until he took at hard punch, causing his left eye to swell badly. The referee ordered the Shooto veteran to the corner for a doctor check, at which point it was ruled that he could not continue. The fight was stopped at the 2:06 mark of the first round.
Looking to climb the ranks of the featherweight standings, Chokushin Kai’s Hiroyuki Tanaka (Pictures) faced off against Gutsman fighter So Tazawa (Pictures).
Their ground fighting was much more impressive than the sloppy boxing they offered on the feet. Both guys were scoring reversals and going for submissions. Tezawa scored a lot of takedowns, often catching his opponent’s kicks and tripping him to the mat.
Yet unlike the Osawa-Hokazono main event where all the boxing was sharp, crisp, straight down the line and intended, both of these guys were standing with there heads up, throwing a lot of wild haymakers and dropping their hands on their punches. When they came close to each other on their feet to strike, it was more a matter of who would get the lucky punch amongst wild flailing rather than picking their punches and looking for counters.
The fight went to the judges and Tezawa took the decision.
Hiroshi Nakamura looked to be dominating Daisuke Ishizawa in their Lightweight Rookie Tournament semifinal bout, scoring takedowns and controlling the action on the ground, but in the second round Ishizawa connected with a kick to the midsection that sent Nakamura down for the standing eight count.
Nakamura couldn’t really get it going again and was caught with a vicious right hook that sent him to the mat for good at the 4:26 mark.
Kazuya Tamura scored the takedown and scurried around to Teruyuki Matsumoto (Pictures)’s back, laying in a rear-naked choke for the victory at the 1:55 mark of the first round in their Featherweight Rookie Tournament quarterfinal.
Takuya Mori defeated Takayuki Kanto by decision in their quarterfinal bout of the Bantamweight Rookie Tournament.
Yoshihiro Koyama defeated Yoshiki Noguchi by decision in the semifinal of the Welterweight Rookie Tournament.