Finally, I begin digging into the world of Shooto. Thanks to a certain dude, I now own hundreds of Shooto DVDs encompassing everything ever recorded to tape. We start almost randomly in 1995 with Shooto Vale Tudo Access 4 before shifting to Yokohama for Shooto Yokohama Free Fight. Its all part of the same program, commercials removed.
1) KAZUYOSHI KUDO vs. JIN AKIMOTO: Kudo looks like a bouncer. This is at feather, three 3 minute rounds.
Akimoto shoots in, gets a takedown, takes the back, rear naked choke. At least it was fast. (0)
2) MAGNUM KAWAMURA vs. UCHUU TATSUMI: Kawamura is rocking the grappling pants! Yessssssss. Lightweight bout, Three 3 min rounds.
First round is pretty straight forward. Both men trade takedowns, but Tatsumi is better doing stuff once he gets it to the mat. However, even with his ability to get mount, he's not able to finish. Second round is a repeat of the first outside of a pretty nifty judo throw by Kawamura, and the third...well, you can guess. The lack of striking on the mat is unfortunate when guys who don't know what to do are in the ring. Uchuu Tatsumi wins a decision in this bout. (0)
3) YUJI HASHIGUCHI vs. MASATO SUZUKI: Middleweight bout, three 4 minute rounds.
Suzuki landed a hard left hand early in the round and gets a pretty solid judo throw as well to put in the most offense of the two while alternately controlling position on the mat for the first round. Second round sees Hashiguchi dominate the majority of the round in top position on the ground, but slips up and gets thrown late in the round. Suzuki then applies a sort of kimura/crucifix hybrid that is called a "v cross armlock" and Hashiguchi taps. (1) for the nifty sub.
INTERMISSION! It is time for Shooto Talk with Tiger Mask Sayama, Kenji Kawaguchi, Youki Nakai, and some dude named Enson Inoue that has hair at this point.
4) KYUHEI MIKAGE vs MAURICE ROUMIMPER: There is a segment of broken english where Roumimper talks about what he is going to do. Given that he's from the Netherlands, either he is a stupendous judoka or a kickboxer with no chance. Later, text on the screen tells us it is the former. This is at middleweight, and its three 5 minute rounds.
Both are horrid standing. Somehow, there is not much surprise here. Roumimper gets a takedown with a side headlock, but that's always a bad idea. You know, giving up your neck and stuff. Kyuhei (who is introduced solely as that) takes the back and gets an armbar to win. Judo and mankind are the losers. (0)
5) YASUNORI OKUDA vs. NAOKI SAKURADA: This is held at 80KG, three 5 minute rounds.
Leg lock battle. Oh, the olden days of catch wrestling based MMA. Sakurada gets a heel hook after the bell and Okuda taps. Since the bell went off two minutes early, the ref is okay with that and Sakurada is the winner. (1) for funny finish. Sakurada improves to a record of 13-7-1, which is pretty damn incredible in 1995.
6) YASHUSHI WARITA vs. KAZUHIRO KUSAYANGI: This is at -78KG, three five minute rounds.
Warita gets a headlock early, tries a guillotine with the arm in and Kusayangi in half guard. As expected, this does not work. Kusayangi takes an arm very soon after popping his hear out and passing to secure an armbar victory. (0)
7) RENE STIGER vs. KAZUHIRO SAKAMOTO: Not even sure what weight class this is. Forgot to record that. Sakamoto is claimed to be 11-4, which isn't bad. Stiger? Pro debut.
Sak shoots off a right hand, gets in side control and then knee on belly. Not a lot of action, and the ref breaks them and stands it. Stiger throws a kick and he gets caught and slammed. Sakamoto secures an armbar and the win. (0)
INTERMISSION AGAIN~! There is footage of Narita airport, some random Shooto dudes Ford Escort rental, and an exhibition at the Jujitsu Denmark Open on 5/27/95. Then the Shooto dudes do a seminar at Remco Pardoel's school for two days (5/29 and 30). Then footage of fights from Yokohama Free Fight that were not good enough to show in full. They were all in Japanese and I didn't bother matching them with the results to find out what was what. Oh, wait, there are no results on Sherdog for those fights. Never mind! The fighters also rocked the headgear, so I'm guessing it was ammy rules.
8) JIN AKIMOTO vs. MASATAKA KAWAKAMI: This is Akimoto's second appearance, so he must be a big deal. Featherweights, 3 min X 3 rounds.
Akimoto catches a kick and takes down Kawakami. Inside the guard, he postures up, punches to the head. Pretty serious GnP ensues at a time when it was just being invented. Akimoto passes guard, punches the stomach, and mounts. Kawakami rolls over and basically allows himself to get choked out. (1) Tactically ahead of its time.
9) RUMINA SATO vs. KATSUAKI YANO: Sato was a quantum leap in the right direction for MMA. Its a shame he'll be largely forgotten years from now.
Sato tries to takedown Yano with a headlock, but Yano defends and is on top in side control. Sato is good enough to prevent any offense and force a ref break. Yano misses a punch and Sato pulls guard in order to get it back to the mat, but Yano shakes him off. Sato does go onto his back and Yano has enough of a brain fart to follow him there. Sato is in control from there, going for a triangle and using it instead to sweep Yano. Sato blasts him with strikes to head and body and the ref stops it. Rumina Sato, welcome to the big time. (3)
The show closes with a montage of Sakamoto standing on the ropes and random footage from Europe.
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(S): Sato/Yano
KO OF THE NIGHT(S): Sato/Yano by default
SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(S): Hashiguchi/Suzuki
OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3 out of 10. Compared to the modern classics, nothing to get excited about. Plus, a distinct lack of top end talent on the shows.
D&R RATING: 13%(6/45)
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