TOKYO, Nov. 10 — A couple of years ago, the International Shooto Commission complimented their world rankings with what we know now as the Professional District Rankings, which encompasses regions where Shooto sanctioned events take place.
Tonight at Korauken Hall the Shooto commission placed on the line one of their titles in the featherweight division (60 kg) with No. 2 Pacific Rim-ranked Tenkei Fujimiya (Pictures) taking on No. 3 Pacific Rim-ranked Katsuya Toida (Pictures) for the title vacated last December by Rumina Sato (Pictures).
Even with the Pacific Rim lightweight belt on the line, both Toida and Fujimiya displayed one of the most lackluster title matches in recent Shooto history.
From the very beginning, this bout displayed a recent trend inside Shooto with matches between the old guard of Shooto fighters against the new generation.
Well know for being an unorthodox fighter in the same mold as Masakatsu Imanari and Genki Sudo (Pictures), Toida uses weird striking poses and all kind of antics off balance his opponents.
Toida started the first round by squatting down in the middle of the ring and extending both arms to protect his face. Fujimiya was more content to circle and avoid any kind of engagement for fear of being taken down.
This changed after a couple of minutes when the unorthodox Toida began shooting for takedowns and transitioning into rolling leg locks or sweeps. Fujimiya’s frenetic scrambles to get back on his feet and stay away from Toida thwarted much of this attack.
Nothing changed until late in the second round when Toida attempted a takedown as Fujimiya moved forward with a running knee. It landed clearly on Toida’s face, but didn’t result in much damage.
In the third period Toida finally tackled Fujimiya and moved into half-guard, from where Toida scored with sporadic punches as he attempted to pass into side-control or full-mount.
With just a minute to go, Toida pulled a last resort trick from his bag and grabbed Fujimiya’s neck for a front choke, which later turned into guillotine. But Fujimiya fought his way out after being trapped for almost a minute. Toida then held on until the final bell.
In the end, one judge saw it 29-28 for Toida while the other two scored even at 29-29, resulting in a majority draw and the Pacific Rim belt remaining owner-free.
Kenji Osawa (Pictures) survived an early onslaught from Takeya Mizugaki (Pictures), who started aggressively on his feet by punching his way into the clinch and later punishing Osawa on the inside with short but strong hooks.
This strategy started to take its toll on Osawa’s face. Wearing a swollen eye, Osawa spent most of the first round backpedaling around the ring, trying to regroup while Mizugaki chased him. Eventually Osawa countered and sent Mizugaki down for an eight-count.
After returning to his feet, Mizugaki continued to push forward before getting caught again, this time with a straight right that dropped him for the second time in the opening round.
Mizugaki again managed to survive, but had to be dragged back to his corner by teammates.
Somehow, Mizugaki answered the bell for round two, but Osawa more than likely noticed that his opponent was still damaged from the first stanza. Osawa charged forward with a right straight before clinching and scoring a lights-out knee to Mizugaki’s face.
Mizugaki beat the eight-count but was out on his feet and the referee called it off to award Osawa the victory at 0:59 of the second round.
Yasuhiro Urushitani (Pictures) is perhaps the most polished and smartest striker inside the Shooto bantamweight division (56 kg). The Wajyutsu Keisyukai prodigy displayed crisp boxing and an overall better game plan against Junji Ikoma (Pictures) in three rounds of back-and-forth action, during which both fighters decided to trade strikes entirely on the feet.
In the end, judges awarded Urushitani a unanimous decision, giving him his awaited rematch and title shot against current Shooto world champion Shinichi Kojima (Pictures).
Yusuku Endo, who has shown himself to be Top 10 Shooto welterweight material, displayed a smart but boring game against dangerous Muay Thai specialist Jin Kazeta (Pictures).
Kazeta, who has lately found a new home at 70 kilos inside Shooto, is known for being a dangerous striker, especially in the clinch with knees. However, it’s also clear that one of Kazeta’s biggest holes is on the ground, where Kazeta looking helpless, almost clueless, when it came to surviving or escaping positions.
Endo decided to trade with Kazeta the first couple of minutes, scoring several good hooks that surprised everyone inside Korauken Hall. But once Kazeta adjusted and began to score with low kicks, the ex-Kiguchi Dojo wrestler used his clinch skill to take Kazeta down and punish him inside the guard and half-guard.
During the three-round fight, both men played similar roles: Kazeta started with low kicks before Endo countered with hooks that melded into clinch trips that put Kazeta down for ground-and-pound or submission attempts.
All three judges scored it 30-27 in favor of Endo.
Shooto is well known for being a factory of champions and Yoshihiro Koyama (Pictures) — whose extensive training pedigree is with the likes of Rumina Sato (Pictures), Shinya Aoki (Pictures), Ryota Matsune (Pictures), Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures), Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures), Ryuta Sakurai (Pictures), Hayato Sakurai (Pictures), Kenji Osawa (Pictures), Hidetaka Monma (Pictures), Yoshihiro Akiyama (Pictures), Musashi and Ryuta Noji (Pictures) — is no exception.
Competing out of Paraestra Matsudo, Koyama is making his mark inside the difficult Shooto welterweight division. It’s not difficult to see why Koyama is being considered the next big thing coming out of Shooto.
Fighting for 2006 welterweight Rookie of the Year honors, Koyama was paired in the finals of the tournament against dangerous submission fighter Shinji Sasaki (Pictures), out of Burst MMA Dojo in Hiroshima, Japan.
Early on Sasaki tried to take the fight to the ground by attempting several takedowns that failed. Instead, Koyama landed on top and worked an almost lethal ground-and-pound while avoiding every Sasaki submission attempt.
Sasaki tried almost in desperation to take Koyama down or sink a submission from back, but Koyama looked comfortable inside the guard and punched at will while defending submissions.
In the end, Koyama took the 2006 welterweight rookie tournament and Sasaki walked away a bloody mess.
In early action Shintaro Ishiwataro out-pointed Masatoshi Kobayashi (Pictures) 19-19, 20-18, 20-19.
Hiroshi Nakamura (Pictures) drew with Keisuke Yamada (Pictures) (19-19, 19-19, 19-19).
Yuki Inoue fought to a majority draw with Toshikazu Iseno (19-18, 19-19, 19-19).