Kawamura Victorious, Kanehara Announces Retirement
TOKYO, March 18 — After Shooto on Friday night and Cageforce on
Saturday, the big mixed martial arts weekend here in Japan finally
wrapped up Pancrase's "Rising Tour" card within the confines of
Korakuen Hall, but not without a few surprises along the way.
The theme of this event was supposed to be Japan versus Spetsnaz, pitting Koji Oishi (Pictures), Ichiro Kanai (Pictures) and Daiki Hata (Pictures) against SK Absolute Russia fighters Djalili Salmanov (Pictures), Gadzhiev Alavutdin and Djavathan Salmanov, respectively.
However, just a day before the event, Pancrase held a press
conference with SK Absolute head honcho Tenshin Matsumoto to announce
that the series had been called off.
According to Matsumoto, who acts as the liaison for the Russian team here in Japan, the courier company he had hired to forward the Russian's visa papers to the appropriate authorities had somehow lost the documents. The SK Absolute headman even went so far as to show the media the slips that he received from the courier to prove his point.
Despite the changes along the way, Pancrase could still rest easy knowing that super-fight between veteran Hiromitsu Kanehara (Pictures) and young Pancrase up-and-comer Ryo Kawamura (Pictures) would headline the card.
In an interview with the Pancrase Web site just before the event, Kanehara gave an excellent quote for this bout, describing it as "the last Ace of Rings versus the future Ace of Pancrase."
Kanehara, who has often been tagged a "Japanese tomato can," is rarely afforded the respect that he deserves from foreign fight fans. True enough his record is abysmal (11-16-1 before this fight) but keep in mind he has been in the ring with some of the top fighters in the world — Dan Henderson (Pictures), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures), Ricardo Arona (Pictures), Matt Hughes (Pictures), Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) and Mirko Filipovic (Pictures), to name a few. The Rings and PRIDE veteran definitely has a warrior's spirit, giving it his all for every single fight, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against him.
Despite what anyone may say about him, Kanehara has got a tough chin and some decent wrestling, both of which he displayed in this bout. Whenever he found himself taking a few too many punches from the hard hitting Kawamura, the Rings veteran knew enough to go for a shot, often getting the single-leg takedown on his much younger opponent.
Throughout the course of the bout both fighters traded some heavy bombs. Just as it looked like Kawamura had the upper hand, Kanehara would rally back, connecting with some hard leather of his own. On the mat, Kawamura did a good job of getting reversals and working back to his feet.
The real climax of this fight happened in the third round. After some back-and-forth jousting, the action escalated into an all out toe-to-toe brawl, with neither man backing down. Both guys were landing and taking some skull-rattling bombs, but in the final seconds of the frenzied exchange, Kawamura landed three hard right hands that sent the hard-chinned Kanehara to the mat.
Before Kawamura could follow and do more damage, the referee jumped in and stopped the fight at the 1:36 mark.
After the fight, the veteran Kanehara thanked his young opponent and then shocked the crowd by saying that the loss will be his last, as he decided to make it the final bout of his long career.
When Pancrase No. 1 featherweight contender Daiki "DJ Taiki" Hata's Russian opponent didn't show up because of visa issues, SK Absolute's Kentaro Imaizumi (Pictures) took the fight on only a few days notice. For Imaizumi, this was his opportunity to revenge his loss to Hata back in July 2005 and up his chances for a showdown with current Pancrase featherweight champion Yoshiro Maeda (Pictures).
Imaizumi's last bout in ZST happened only a little over a month ago, so SK Absolute head Tenshin Matsumoto claimed that his fighter was still in good shape and up for the challenge.
While Imaizumi was able to score some quality takedowns, it was really Hata who dominated the pace with his polished striking. Imaizumi was hesitant to engage Hata on his feet and was admonished by the referee for circling the ring too much.
Hata had some nice hand combinations and used his daft kicks to keep Imaizumi at bay. When taken to the ground, Hata was able get back to his feet before Imaizumi could employ his ground game. This one went the full two rounds and Hata walked away with the majority decision.
Russian Pankration champion Gadzhiev Alavutdin was the only one of his team to get his immigration permission in time for the event. The SK Absolute Russia fighter faced off against PANCRASE-ism fighter Ichiro Kanai (Pictures), who was riding a three-fight win streak.
Alavutdin really didn't give Kanai much chance. Just a few seconds off the opening bell, the Russian fighter scored a nice takedown and connected with a huge right hand just after Kanai worked back to his feet.
Seeing that his opponent was in big trouble, Alavutdin went in for the kill, connecting with a hard one-two hand combination at the ropes that sent Kanai to the mat. The SK Absolute Russia fighter followed with some punches to his fallen opponent until the referee came in and stopped the fight at the 1:05 mark.
When the melee with the Russian's visas happened, Pancrase 2006 Neo-Blood lightweight champion Eriya Matsuda (Pictures) and "The Oriental Mystery" Takami Yano came to the rescue to fill out the card.
Yano, a veteran of the ZST promotion, has to be one of, if not the most, bizarre fighter in all of MMA. The theatrics that he pulls in the ring are very reminiscent of former ZST competitor and current DEEP featherweight champion Masakazu Imanari (Pictures).
In his match with Matsuda, Yano was up to his usual exploits from the start: standing perpendicular to his opponent, effectively disabling his right hand. Yano proceeded to wildly chase his opponent and flop onto the mat when he lost his balance. For his part, Matsuda took the antics in stride.
If nothing else, Yano is entertaining to watch and has made a career out of his wackiness. But, as it has on other occasions, his near complete lack of a defensive game caught up with him. Just as "The Oriental Mystery" was coming in, Matsuda landed a hellacious knee to the face that sent Yano unconscious to the mat at the 1:30 mark of the first.
Yano was out cold and didn't move for quite some time. Eventually he did wake up, but had to be carried from the ring by a stretcher. Yano has come back from knockouts before, but this one was particularly brutal.
Pancrase veteran Yuji Hoshino (Pictures) squared off against hard-hitting Shoji Shoji in a high-paced bout. The up-and-coming Shoji used a lot of spinning techniques and flying knees, but Hoshino wasn't fooled, standing his ground and connecting with some well-placed punches.
Shoji, known for being a hard striker, was looking to trade in this one, often taunting his opponent and after an exchange or when caught in a clinch. While Shoji threw more punches in the bout, it was Hoshino who connected with the better shots. The fight went the full two rounds and Hoshino walked away with the unanimous victory.
Pancrase 2006 Neo-Blood welterweight champion Asaki Honda (Pictures) squared off against Ryo Seiki in a very close bout. Honda went after more submission attempts, especially from his back, but Seiki answered by inflicting damage from the top with his punches. The fight went the full two-round limit and was ruled a draw.
The theme of this event was supposed to be Japan versus Spetsnaz, pitting Koji Oishi (Pictures), Ichiro Kanai (Pictures) and Daiki Hata (Pictures) against SK Absolute Russia fighters Djalili Salmanov (Pictures), Gadzhiev Alavutdin and Djavathan Salmanov, respectively.
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According to Matsumoto, who acts as the liaison for the Russian team here in Japan, the courier company he had hired to forward the Russian's visa papers to the appropriate authorities had somehow lost the documents. The SK Absolute headman even went so far as to show the media the slips that he received from the courier to prove his point.
Just one of the three Russians scheduled to fight, Gadzhiev
Alavutin, managed to receive permission from the immigration
authorities in time for the event. In place of the missing bouts,
it was announced that SK Absolute's Kentaro Imaizumi (Pictures) would serve as an extremely last
minute replacement to rematch Hata, while Eriya Matsuda (Pictures) and "The Oriental Mystery"
Takumi Yano (Pictures) would fill out the six-fight
card.
Despite the changes along the way, Pancrase could still rest easy knowing that super-fight between veteran Hiromitsu Kanehara (Pictures) and young Pancrase up-and-comer Ryo Kawamura (Pictures) would headline the card.
In an interview with the Pancrase Web site just before the event, Kanehara gave an excellent quote for this bout, describing it as "the last Ace of Rings versus the future Ace of Pancrase."
Kanehara, who has often been tagged a "Japanese tomato can," is rarely afforded the respect that he deserves from foreign fight fans. True enough his record is abysmal (11-16-1 before this fight) but keep in mind he has been in the ring with some of the top fighters in the world — Dan Henderson (Pictures), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures), Ricardo Arona (Pictures), Matt Hughes (Pictures), Wanderlei Silva (Pictures) and Mirko Filipovic (Pictures), to name a few. The Rings and PRIDE veteran definitely has a warrior's spirit, giving it his all for every single fight, no matter how badly the odds are stacked against him.
Despite what anyone may say about him, Kanehara has got a tough chin and some decent wrestling, both of which he displayed in this bout. Whenever he found himself taking a few too many punches from the hard hitting Kawamura, the Rings veteran knew enough to go for a shot, often getting the single-leg takedown on his much younger opponent.
Throughout the course of the bout both fighters traded some heavy bombs. Just as it looked like Kawamura had the upper hand, Kanehara would rally back, connecting with some hard leather of his own. On the mat, Kawamura did a good job of getting reversals and working back to his feet.
The real climax of this fight happened in the third round. After some back-and-forth jousting, the action escalated into an all out toe-to-toe brawl, with neither man backing down. Both guys were landing and taking some skull-rattling bombs, but in the final seconds of the frenzied exchange, Kawamura landed three hard right hands that sent the hard-chinned Kanehara to the mat.
Before Kawamura could follow and do more damage, the referee jumped in and stopped the fight at the 1:36 mark.
After the fight, the veteran Kanehara thanked his young opponent and then shocked the crowd by saying that the loss will be his last, as he decided to make it the final bout of his long career.
When Pancrase No. 1 featherweight contender Daiki "DJ Taiki" Hata's Russian opponent didn't show up because of visa issues, SK Absolute's Kentaro Imaizumi (Pictures) took the fight on only a few days notice. For Imaizumi, this was his opportunity to revenge his loss to Hata back in July 2005 and up his chances for a showdown with current Pancrase featherweight champion Yoshiro Maeda (Pictures).
Imaizumi's last bout in ZST happened only a little over a month ago, so SK Absolute head Tenshin Matsumoto claimed that his fighter was still in good shape and up for the challenge.
While Imaizumi was able to score some quality takedowns, it was really Hata who dominated the pace with his polished striking. Imaizumi was hesitant to engage Hata on his feet and was admonished by the referee for circling the ring too much.
Hata had some nice hand combinations and used his daft kicks to keep Imaizumi at bay. When taken to the ground, Hata was able get back to his feet before Imaizumi could employ his ground game. This one went the full two rounds and Hata walked away with the majority decision.
Russian Pankration champion Gadzhiev Alavutdin was the only one of his team to get his immigration permission in time for the event. The SK Absolute Russia fighter faced off against PANCRASE-ism fighter Ichiro Kanai (Pictures), who was riding a three-fight win streak.
Alavutdin really didn't give Kanai much chance. Just a few seconds off the opening bell, the Russian fighter scored a nice takedown and connected with a huge right hand just after Kanai worked back to his feet.
Seeing that his opponent was in big trouble, Alavutdin went in for the kill, connecting with a hard one-two hand combination at the ropes that sent Kanai to the mat. The SK Absolute Russia fighter followed with some punches to his fallen opponent until the referee came in and stopped the fight at the 1:05 mark.
When the melee with the Russian's visas happened, Pancrase 2006 Neo-Blood lightweight champion Eriya Matsuda (Pictures) and "The Oriental Mystery" Takami Yano came to the rescue to fill out the card.
Yano, a veteran of the ZST promotion, has to be one of, if not the most, bizarre fighter in all of MMA. The theatrics that he pulls in the ring are very reminiscent of former ZST competitor and current DEEP featherweight champion Masakazu Imanari (Pictures).
In his match with Matsuda, Yano was up to his usual exploits from the start: standing perpendicular to his opponent, effectively disabling his right hand. Yano proceeded to wildly chase his opponent and flop onto the mat when he lost his balance. For his part, Matsuda took the antics in stride.
If nothing else, Yano is entertaining to watch and has made a career out of his wackiness. But, as it has on other occasions, his near complete lack of a defensive game caught up with him. Just as "The Oriental Mystery" was coming in, Matsuda landed a hellacious knee to the face that sent Yano unconscious to the mat at the 1:30 mark of the first.
Yano was out cold and didn't move for quite some time. Eventually he did wake up, but had to be carried from the ring by a stretcher. Yano has come back from knockouts before, but this one was particularly brutal.
Pancrase veteran Yuji Hoshino (Pictures) squared off against hard-hitting Shoji Shoji in a high-paced bout. The up-and-coming Shoji used a lot of spinning techniques and flying knees, but Hoshino wasn't fooled, standing his ground and connecting with some well-placed punches.
Shoji, known for being a hard striker, was looking to trade in this one, often taunting his opponent and after an exchange or when caught in a clinch. While Shoji threw more punches in the bout, it was Hoshino who connected with the better shots. The fight went the full two rounds and Hoshino walked away with the unanimous victory.
Pancrase 2006 Neo-Blood welterweight champion Asaki Honda (Pictures) squared off against Ryo Seiki in a very close bout. Honda went after more submission attempts, especially from his back, but Seiki answered by inflicting damage from the top with his punches. The fight went the full two-round limit and was ruled a draw.
