U-Spirits Again - March 9th Tokyo

an article on nightmareofbattle.com 

Hans Nijman! Original PRIDE GP Participant Returns

BY

SHIRUBA

 – POSTED ON FEBRUARY 8, 2013

The seventh bout has been announced for the March 9th Hiromitsu Kanehara produced event “U-SPIRITS again”.

Pro-Wrestling and Pancrase legend Minoru Suzuki will return to take on PRIDE Grand Prix 2000 participant Hans Nijman. The 53 year old RINGS Holland veteran Nijman faced Kazuyuki Fujita in the opening round of the PRIDE GP and lost by submission, his last MMA fight was in 2003 against UFC Heavyweight Cheick Kongo in Amsterdam.

Quite a cast they have managed to gather for this event…

Hiromitsu Kanehara (19-26-5) vs. Yuki Kondo (54-27-8)
Yoshihiro Takayama (0-4-0) vs. Hikaru Sato (21-21-4)
Katsunori Kikuno (18-5-2) vs. Takafumi Ito (36-32-13)
Minoru Suzuki (29-20) vs. Hans Nijman (9-6)
KEI Yamamiya (44-29-10) vs. Daijiro Matsui (12-25-6)
Yoshiki Takahashi (29-26-3)  vs. Kenichi Yamamoto (5-11-2)
Takaku Fuke (16-28-5)  vs. Mitsuya Nagai (7-6-0)

READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON Nightmare of Battle.com

-----------------------------

Rear Naked News Editors Note:

I just don't know what to make of this event. On the surface it seems to be all that's wrong with Japanese MMA.

A load of fighters with piles of fights under their belts, some with winning records others with very average ones. 

What are you to make of a bout where a man who is 21-21-4 is due to tackle a man without a win to his name at 0-4?

Or another where a very experienced 44-29-10 tackels a man with a 12-25-6 record.

And all the draws in these Japanese organisations that have two round fights. What's the point? 

Why not go to three round bouts, people feel cheated when they see draws. 

It's shocking and sad to see how Japanese MMA continues to fade.

U-Spirits Again is to be held on March 9th 2013 at Korakuen Hall, Tokyo.

Pancrase 2012 Progress Tour

マスコミ・関係者各位                                                       

 2012年10月10日

パンクラス

PANCRASE　2012　PROGRESS　TOUR

12月１日(土)ディファ有明大会

K.O.P.T.清水清隆、5度目の防衛戦！

大石がフェザー級でショレスと！

記

　　

★ スーパーフライ級 キング・オブ・パンクラス タイトルマッチ／5分3ラウンド ★

第２代王者　　　　　    　　　　　　　　　　　１位

清水 清隆 vs. 安永 有希

    　　 　（TRIBE TOKYO M.M.A)　  　　　　　　　　　　(東京イエローマンズ) 

  　    　7勝3分　    　 　　　　　　　　    　　　　 7勝

■無敗の二人がタイトルマッチで激突！　清水は最強の挑戦者を迎え撃つ。今年１月の

小塚戦はドロー防衛、今回王者は決着を付けて〆れるか！？　安永は知将・朝日昇を

セコンドに王者の何処を切り崩すのか？

戦略と戦術を読み解きたい、スーパーフライ級K.O.P.T.！

★ フェザー級 ／5分3ラウンド ★

１位　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　第４代ライト級王者

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    　　 　(ロデオスタイル) 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　(パンクラスism)　

  　　　8勝1敗　   　　　　　　　 　 　　　　　　　　　  　17勝7敗11分                                      

■     大石幸史、フェザー級に転向！その頑ななファイトスタイルが、フェザー級ランカーに驚異。ショレスはboxing＆wrestlingで真っ向勝負か！？

★ バンタム級 ／5分3ラウンド ★

６位           　　　                 9位

沼倉 雄太 vs. 曹 竜也

   　　　　　　　　　(TRIAL)                  　　　　　　　(闘心)　　　　

 　  　　　　5勝4敗1NC　　    　　　　　　　　   4勝6敗3分

[出場予定選手]

・ISAO (坂口道場一族/ライト級第５代王者)

・一慶（チーム・クラウド/ミドル級１位）

・馬場 勇気(ロデオスタイル)

＊ウェルター級 次期挑戦者決定トーナメントBブロックを開催予定です。

日　　時：2012年　12月1日(土）　　OPEN　14：45 ／　START　15：30

＊       15:00からゲート・本戦1部を開始予定

会　　場：ディファ有明

入場料金：VIP(パンフレット付) \12,000-　SS \10,000-　A \8,000-　 B \6,000-　

＊        未就学児は無料です。　＊当日券は一律500円増しとなります。　

主　　催：パンクラス

後　　援：ドン･キホーテ、サムライTV！、STC GROUP、DPS、マーシャルワールドジャパン、

鰓呼吸、By-Qグループ

協　　力：健康体力研究所、

お問合せ：パンクラス　03-5339-9198　　http://www.pancrase.co.jp/　　

チケット発売日：11月3日(土)

【チケット発売所】

パンクラス ストア　　　　　　　 　http://www.pancrase-store.com

パンクラス　　　　　　　　　　　　03－5339－9198

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各地の窓口でお買い求め頂けます。　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　           

    以上

What’s going on besides UB9? Well, Nitro and Shooto

What’s going on besides UB9? Well, Nitro and Shooto

Published on July 4, 2012 by The Sandman in Pacific X-treme Combat, Shooto, Ultimate Beatdown

UB9 of course is this weekend in Johor Bahru

but there are other events going on in the Asian Pacific area this weekend 

Obviously as a Malaysian based website based out of Johor we are going to be following our local event big time. We are all about the grass-roots of MMA here at MMANewsAsia and UB9 Evolution is going to be the breakout show for the Ultimate Beatdown franchise. And it’s a huge fight card.

But there will be other events in the wider Asian Pacific world of MMA from other promotions (with varying degree of quality…and quantity) coming up . (NOTE: we will be covering Phukets Island Fight Night in a separate article)

Nitro 6

Nitro MMA (Australia) boasts the biggest card in terms of quantity with 11 scheduled fights. Taking place at Logan Entertainment Centre, Logan City on July 7th the fights will be fun to watch especially with MMA growing at a ridiculous pace in Australia. The card contains only Australian fighters so the promotion you might be seeing the future of Australian MMA at Logan Centre.

Shooto - Gig West 14

Japanese MMA is at an all-time low and the likes of Deep and Shooto are struggling to put on a show anymore. Gig West 14 is a 4-fight card with the main event featuring Kentaro Watanabe and Kyung Ho Park. The Editor will be grateful to know that most of the fighters have a positive professional fight record this time. Shooto: Gig West 14 takes place Abeno-kumin Center Hall, Osaka, Japan on July 8th.

For thoughts and discussions on MMA, follow The Sandman at @MsianGooner on twitter

Pancrase Progress Tour Shinjuku FACE 7.01

Pancrase Progress Tour Shinjuku FACE 7.01

Published on June 29, 2012 by The Editor in Pancrase

Another Japanese event this time from the Pancrase organisationPancrase Progress Tour, Shinjuku FACE 7.01

I should just go with the Pancrase website which calls the event to be held on July 1st FACE 7.01 however on Sherdog it’s listed as Progress Tour 8. But let’s say the organisation is the people who should know so FACE 7.01 it is.

The bouts listed on Sherdog.com are as follows:

Kenichi Tosa (5-3-0) vs Taichi Nakajima (3-2-1)

Yusuke Kitago (9-6-0) vs Toshihiro Komiya (2-1-0)

Akihiro Sakurai (5-3-1) vs Takashi Matsuoka (3-2-1)

Tadahiro Harada (7-3-2-) vs Tomoya Hirakawa (2-1-0)

Shogo Ohasi (6-3-1) vs Keisuke Komori (1-1-0)

Koichi Sigai (3-2-5) vs Takatoshi Matsumoto (6-4-0)

Main Event

Masato Sanni (7-2-1-) vs Seiya Kawahara (10-3-0)

So there you have it a totally Japanese card. I think this is a decent card and it will help to bring the up and coming Japanese fighters to the fore rather than the tired and uninspiring fighters who seem to trawl around so many Japanese organizations cards with average and poor records.

Shooto and Pancrase Results

Shooto and Pancrase Results

Published on June 3, 2012 by The Editor in Pancrase, Shooto

(Records shown for all fighters are from before these events took part)

Shooto Disco 18 Results

2nd June 2012 – Shinjuku Face, Tokyo, Japan

Another two round fest of potential draws from Japanese MMA 

Bout 1: Jun Nabeshima (1-3-1)  beat Tomoaki Ota (0-2-1) via Knock Out 4:48 Rd 2

Bout 2: Yuta Sato (1-1-0) beat Jun Doi (4-0-0) Via Unanimous Decision

Bout 3: Taijiro Iseki (0-3-0) beat Hiroaki Sakuma (2-8-0) by Unanimous Decision (that puts Sakuma’s losing streak up to 8 in a row I’m sure he will be back again becuause Japanese MMA seems to like to keep fighters working that no other organisation would touch)

Bout 4: Daiki Gojima (1-1-0) Vs Kiyoshi Kitamura (0-1-0)  Majority Draw – Seriously people let’s have a third round!

Bout 5: Itsuki Hiruma (1-1-0) beat Takahito Tomozawa (0-3-2) of course he did Tomozawa does not know what a win looks like – Look out for him again soon!

Bout 6: Takeshi Sato (2-2-0)  beat Tomohiro Hagino (0-1-0) via Knockout 4:13 Rd 1

Bout 7: Taafumi Ato (3-3-0) beat Shuichiro Okumura (2-3-1) by Unanimous Decision

Bout 8: Daiki Gojima (1-1-0) beat Kiyoshi Kitamura (0-1-0) by Majority Decision with so many of these fights going to decision I bet a hell of a lot of these decisions are controversial. I wonder if they have two rounds in Japanese MMA so that those who run gambling syndicates can easily control the outcome. Just a thought, if you don’t like it how about three fucking rounds?

Bout 9: Hiroaki Fujita (0-3-0) beat Komei Okada (6-14-2) vis knockout 2:16 Rd 2

Bout 10: Daiki Takashima (3-1-1) beat Satoshi Inaba (8-6-2) by Majority Decision Yes yet again Takashima takes it to a decision and gets the win – This man cannot win a fight before the final bell rings.

Bout 11: Akinobu Watanabe (6-5-2)beat  Hiroaki Ijima (4-5-2) by Majority Decision

Bout 12: Tadaaki Yamamoto (7-1-2) beat Takeshi Sato (9-11-1) by Knockout punches 1:52 Rd 1

Pancrase Progress Tour 7 Results:

June 2nd 2012 ~ Differ Ariake, Tokyo, Japan

This looks nothing like the card I previewed as listed on Sherdog – For that I apologise but I cannot make head or tail of the Pancrase website, Unless you wanna help us out it’s the best we can do.

I have been on the Pancrase Website and Facebook page but still cannot see the results, they might be there but it’s all Japanese to me literally! So I had to go to Sherdog.com and use what they have, No results for the first four fights so far.

Bout 1: Yuya Ono (1-4-1)  Vs Chikara Shimabukuro (6-5-3)

Bout 2: Suguru Hayasaka (7-4-4) Vs Kengo Ito (1-0-0)

Bout 3: Junya Nishikawa (4-4-1)  Vs Toru Kanamori (4-3-0)

Bout 4: Kenji Nagaki (4-2-0) Vs Hirotaka Uehara (2-2-0)

Bout 5: Shunpei Ota (no record) beat Hideo Matsui (3-13-2) ia TKO punches 1:40 Rd 2

Bout 6: Yuki Baba (7-2-0) beat Massaomi Saito (5-8- 0) via TKO punches 0:32 Rd 1

Bout 7: Seiji Ozuka (12-9-7) beat Yuki Uejima (5-4-5) by Unanimous Decision

Bout 8: Yuki Yasunaga (8-5-0) Vs Goro Kobayashi (5-5-6) by Unanimous Decision exactly as predicted

Bout 9:  Ikkei Nagamura (7-4-2) beat Yuji Hisamatsu (15-20-6) by Unanimous Decision

Bout 10: Guy Delumeau (15-6-3) beat Yo Saito  (8-7-2) by Knockout by Slam at 0:21 Rd 1

Bout 11: Shintaro Ishiwateri (12-4-4) beat Nobutaka Hiyoshi (2-1-0) by Unanimous Decision

Bout 12: Takasuke Kume (12-1-4) beat Koji Nakamura(8-6-3)  vua Submission due to a Triangle Choke 1:58 Rd 2

Bout 13: Takumi Nakayama (16-13-5-1) beat Jon Shores (10-0-0) Via Submission due to Rear Naked Choke 2:47 Round 3 (what’s that a third round, see it’s amazing what can happen with three rounds)

Bout 14: Ryo Kawamura (14-6-4) beat Shingo Oyama (13-13-0) Via Knockout due to a Soccer Kick 4:19 Rd 1

(note: as well as fighting for Pancrase Ryo Kawamura is also the Executive Manager of Pancrase although that is due to change see the story below)

The latest news is from Sherdog.com is that the Former Japanese Wrestling Promotion Smash have just completed the take over of Pancrase.

Smash CEO Masakazu Sakai will take over from Ryo Kawamura and it was also announced that both Pancrase and Deep will merge their amateur systems into Japanese MMA License, Standardising weight classes and rules. They will also be looking at staging some cage fights.

It also sounds like the new company is going to try to manage Pancrase fighters and their sponsorships. Not something I am keen on I think fighters should have freedom with their contracts and sponsorships.

I certainly hope we will start to see improvements in Pancrase, let’s start with all fights being three rounders please!

Shooto Disco 18 ~ Preview

Shooto Disco 18 ~ Preview

Published on May 29, 2012 by The Editor in X-Shooto

Shooto Disco 18 Preview

2nd June 2012 – Shinjuku Face, Tokyo, Japan

Bout 1: Yuta Sato (1-1-0) Vs Jun Doi (4-0-0)

Sato fresh off of Unanimous Decision win at Shooto 17 is back again with a real tough opponent Doi is 4 and 0 and I cannot see Sato stopping his run providing Doi can get him to the ground.

Bout 2: Taijiro Iseki (0-3-0) Vs Hiroaki Sakuma (2-8-0)

This bout features two potential MMA world champions……………………………… NOT!

Iseki is 36 and 0-3 he has not even managed a draw in draw happy Japan, might be time to look for a new career dude and while you are at it take Sakuma with you, he may be much younger but he is on a seven fight losing streak!

Bout 3: Daiki Gojima (1-1-0) Vs Kiyoshi Kitamura (0-1-0) 

It’s must be pretty hard to get excited by these fights if you are a neutral, you had better hope these guys come to put on a real show.

Bout 4: Itsuki Hiruma (1-1-0) Vs Takahito Tomozawa (0-3-2)

Another barnstorming match up, one fighter coming off a loss the other not even knowing what a win looks like and still he get’s fights.

Bout 5: Taafumi Ato (3-3-0) Vs Shuichiro Okumura (2-3-1) 

Looks like we might be getting off the bottom of the scraped barrel as we have an even match up with a couple of fighters who have slightly better records.  Ato likes to win one, lose one, so by that record he should lose to Okumura who is coming off that japanese staple a draw! Look people lets just have a third round OK?

Bout 6: Yasutaka Hamaji (2-4-0) Vs Yuya Kaneuchi (2-8-3)

Wow, I really think it’s time for Shooto to get some new decent fighters in these bouts are just awful, Hamaji at 2-4 with a two fight losing streak is actually looking good against Kaneuchi with three losses and a draw in his last four fights.

Bout 7: Komei Okada (6-14-2) Vs Hiroaki Fujita (0-3-0) 

Seriously 6-14-2 and he gets to fight on the main card against a 0-3-0 wow, the entry price better be cheap. So it’s four fight losing streak against three fight losing streak ,what do we learn when one of these two lucks into a win or will they mess that up and somehow manager an honourable Japanese draw?

Bout 8: Daiki Takashima (3-1-1-) Vs Satoshi Inaba (8-6-2)

I’m losing the will to live, Takishima cannot finish a fight to save his life and therefore you can be sure that he will get his full ten minutes in the spotlight.  Unless, of course Inaba who to be fair to him has been on a bit of a tear-up recently with only one loss in his last six manages to continue his recent good form and stop the fight before the end.

Bout 9:  Main Event:

Akinobu Watanabe (6-5-2) Vs Hiroaki Ijima (4-5-2)

I want you to think for a while and tell me if you can think of any organisation outside of Japan that would have two such average records as a main event match-up.

Nope, I cant think of one either. Anyway here it is a near perfect match up of two under achieving fighters. I hope you enjoy it.

I don’t expect to see any of these fighters making the step up to fight at something like Legend or ONE FC.

Whatever happened to Japanese MMA?

Fight Preview ~ Pancrase Progress Tour 7

Fight Preview ~ Pancrase Progress Tour 7

Published on May 29, 2012 by The Editor in Pancrase

Here is Our Fight Preview of the Progress Tour 7 from Pancrase

June 2nd 2012 ~ Differ Ariake, Tokyo, Japan

So of course the first thing I want to say is I hate, hate, hate all the draws in Japanese MMA. Look people either make a decision or lets have an extra round. Two five minutes rounds is pathetic. Let’s get it sorted.

Fight 1: Suguru Hayaasaka (7-4-4) Vs Kengo Ito (1-0-0)

Hayaasaka has four draws and four loses to go with his seven wins. he has battled his way through ZST leaving that organisation on a four fight streak of two losses and two draws. At Deep he had one win and two draws and so far at  Pancrase he is on one win.

His opponent on this day will be the older but far less experienced Ito who has one fight and one win. Who knows who will win this?

For experience and youth it has to be Hayaasaka but lets be honest it’s Japan it will most likely will be a draw.

Fight 2: Junya Nishikawa (4-4-1) Vs Toru Kanamori (4-3-0) 

Nishikawa has spent all his average career fighting in Pancrase all his wins come from Decisions which probably says something for his lack of finishing skills. And most of his losses are KO or TKO so his chin is suspect.

Kanamori is another average fighter with a couple of fights at Deep and the rest in Pancrase. I guess it should be a close fight.

Fight 3: Kenji Nagaki (4-2-0) Vs Hirotaka Uehara (2-2-0) 

Nagaki seems to have one style of fighting stand-up and bash – and so far he has won four times by KO/TKO due to punches and lost two the same way.

Uehara has two wins from TKO punches as well and his two losses were both decisions so I would suggest that he probably has a better chin than Nagaki and although it’s going to be a real battle. I feel Uehara may have the advantage if he can avoid the power punches from Nagaki.

Fight 4: Masakazu Takafuji (10-7-0) Vs Guy Delumeau (15-6-3) 

Takafuji is a real Pancrase warrior and his record is still on the winning side of the fence, but how is he going to bounce back from his last loss when he faces up to the American Shooto veteren Delumeau. Personally it’s Delumeau all the way for me on this one.

Fight 5: Jon Shores (10-0-0) Vs Takumi Nakayama (16-13-5-1)

Shores is undefeated in Pancrase and seems capable of winning in whatever way necessary  but the veteran Nakayama is not  coming to lie down, his recent record is three wins and a draw but sorry, Shores is going to take this one.

Fight 6: Seiji Ozuka (12-9-7) Vs Yuki Uejima (5-4-5)

And here we go with my hatred of Japanese MMA’s love of the Draw Ozuka has 7 and Uejima has 5.

Ozuka is unbeaten in hi his last six fights and I don’t see Uejima troubling him in this fight. So it’s either a draw or Ozuka for my money.

Fight 7: Yuki Yasunaga (8-5-0) Vs Goro Kobayashi (5-5-6)

Yasunaga is on a six fight win streak although five of them were through Decisions. What this shows is how difficult he is to stop and how aggressive he is. Kobayashi I don’t see as a real threat to Yasunaga.

Fight 8:  Ikkei Nagamura (7-4-2) Vs Yuji Hisamatsu (15-20-6)

I don’t really like this fight it’s a guy with a very average record fighting a guy with frankly a very poor record, I guess by recent record it has to be Yasunaga but it does look like Pancrase are trying to build the record of a very average fighter here.

Main Event

Ryo Kawamura (14-6-4) Vs Shingo Oyama (13-13-0)

One fighter has an average record with two recent wins at the same event and the other on a five fight winning streak which has turned his record into 13 and 13. So let’s see if he can continue with his amazing winning streak.