Sunday, January 24, 2010

M-1 CHALLENGE: 2009 Season Pt. 3 (Middleweights)

This was also a tough pick to see who made the #3 spot.

1) LUCIO LINHARES (2-0, 1 KO, 1 Sub): If you need to know the quality of fighters in the M-1 Challenge, consider Linhares, already 0-1 in the UFC.

VS. KAMIL UYGUN (Benelux), 2/21/09: Linhares takes down Uygun and its a KOTC special of passing, beating up, and submission. In this case, armbar as Uguyn tries to turn to his stomach.

VS. VALDIR ARAUJO (USA East) 6/5/2009: Both strike wildly, Araujo shoots and its defended by Linhares. Right hand lands by Linhares, and a left hook KOs Araujo. Just no real game plan from the American.

2) CHRISTOPHE DAFREVILLE (3-0, 3 Subs): Dafreville was a mere 2-2 when the season started, and after an undefeated campaign, the judoka's stock rose quite a bit.

VS. RAYCO SILVA KAKIN (Spain), 4/29/09: Dafreville shoots in with the double and ends up on top, but the ref stands them up after a very short period of time. Again, another takedown by Dafreville, and he passes to side control, then north/south. A few strikes set up an anaconda choke against the unknown opponent.

VS. MATT THORPE (England), 6/5/2009: Clinch to start, and Dafreville throws Thorpe. Dafreville throws good shots in close, but Thorpe tries for an omoplata. The attempt fails, as one might expect with such a low percentage move, but he does get on top, sweeping Dafreville. Heavy shots come down from Thorpe, and it looks like he's taking control, when Dafreville sweeps Thorpe. Now in the mount, Dafreville goes for an arm triangle - Thorpe tries to roll him to no avail. Dafreville forces the sub with a triangle choke.

VS. YUSUKE MASUDA (Japan), 8/15/2009: Matsuda gets the takedown, but when on the mat, Daffreville looks for submissions off his back while Masuda just sorta tries not to get caught. Eventually Daffreville gets the arm, sweeps him, and forces the tap via armbar.

3) ANSAR CHALANGOV (2-0, 2 Subs): Chalangov washed out of the UFC very fast, then took a beating at the hands of Nick Thompson. As part of M-1's team, he went up in weight and picked up two seemingly easy wins in 2009.

VS. MATT THORPE (England), 9/26/2009: Chalangov is rocking shoes for this fight. He throws some lame strikes and shoots in on Thorpe, slamming him to the mat. When there, Thorpe leaves his guard open and Chalangov drops for a heel hook. He taps out, but Chalangov doesn't really let go immediately (and the ref is late jumping in), and Thorpe looks like he's hurt a little. Less than 30 seconds.

VS. DANILO PERIERA (USA West), 12/3/2009: Chalangov looks small, again with wrestling shoes. He clinches and looks for the takedown, earning it and getting to side control. Periera tries to turn into a leg lock, but gets caught in the ropes. Chalangov falls back for his own heel hook and for the second consecutive fight, forces the tap and wins the 2009 M-1 Challenge for Russia Legion.

M-1 CHALLENGE: 2009 Season Pt. 2 (Welterweights)

The welterweight list was appreciably tougher to do than the Lightweight list. For one, there were 5 guys with 2 or more wins; only one suffered a defeat (Fabio Negao). Unfortunately, there were no real fights among these talents, and so its difficult to really pick out a clear top guy among a number of fighters who spent the year toppling cans. My best efforts for his:

1) DELSON HELENO (1-0): A 1-0 fighter takes the crown for the best M-1 welterweight of the year? Yes. Simple reason; one marquee win beats a bunch of middling wins against poor competition. Heleno snagged the biggest scalp in all the brackets as far as experienced fighters go with a win over Fabio Negao.

VS. FABIO NEGAO, USA East (9/26/09): Round 1 is highlights only: Heleno apparently pushed the fight and may have won, say the announcers.

Heleno's attempts at grappling initially seem to end badly; Negao is in side control after defending a takedown and gettin down Heleno on his own after a subsequent clinch. Heleno escapes and throws wild punches before ending up in the clinch again. He throws the uppercut inside the drops for the takedown. Heleno defends with the guillotine but Heleno pops out and nearly gets Negao's back. he flips over, regains half guard, is able to turn over and stand, and gets slammed down again. Again he rises, again Negao is taken down. The ref does stand them up a short time later, but the round ends with Heleno on top in half guard after another takedown. He wins a majority decision.

2) EDUARDO PAMPLONA (3-0, 1 KO): Pamplona's wins were not necessarily ground breaking, nor did they look stunning to view, more often than not. Do Hyung Kim, Erik Oganov, and Dylan Clay may not represent the best MMA has to offer, but they're still decent journeymen with lots of experience against mid-level opposition in winning efforts. That is more than can be said about many wins of the guys who didn't make this list.

VS. DYLAN CLAY, USA West (2/21/09): Only round 3 is shown in complete. Round 1 is a close round that is complicated by a yellow card to Pamplona. The second round sees Pamplona clearly win, but thanks to the deduction in the first, we end up in this, a third and final round. We get sloppy standup with Clay landing a number of blows and a takedown (however briefly). Pamplona is a tough dude though; he nearly throws Clay, but when Clay blocks it, he simply transitions to the back. Clay flips over and gives up side control, but doesn't last long. The ref saves him after Pamplona traps the arm and throws right hands.

VS. ERIK OGANOV, Russia Imperial (5/9/09): Oganov gets a takedown and controls Pamplona in the first round, so we are told. Pamplona throws arm punches as the majority of his offense while shrugging off Oganov's take down attempts. Pamplona is hurt by a left hook and drops; Oganov lands ground and pound for a big, and really pushes hard for the finish. Pamplona is able to sweep Oganov from full guard and get the mount, though he's bucked off. Pamplona lands a short right standing, pushes Oganov down, and mounts him again. Pamplona lands shots until the end of the round. The decision goes to Pamplona on a majority basis.

VS. DO-HYUNG KIM (7/4/2009): First round is shown in highlights: Kim is cut by Pamplona, but Kim seems more accurate with his shots, say the good people calling this here event. Into round two: A Francisco Damiani reference by the crew! Kim is taken down and hurt by a solid shot by Pamplona, and he moves to half guard. More absorbing of shots by Kim until the ref stands them up; Pamplona walks through offense to land his own shots. That's acceptable with these guys - won't work at the next level. Kim gets the takedown, but the standup is shortly thereafter. Very little ground work is allowed in this fight. Standing again, we have an unintentional headbutt, and this is a wrap. Pamplona wins the decision.

3) MAGOMED SHIKSHABEKOV (5-0, 2 KOs, 3 Subs): Shikshabekov had the most viscerally impressive run in M-1 during the entire year, but in spite of that, I didn't make him my #1. Why? He beat NO ONE that was good. Only the 8-3 Simon Phillips had a winning record, and while Phillips hit big with a KO win against Hidehiko Hasegawa, he dropped his next fight in M-1 prior to even getting Shikshabekov. Like Tulirinta, there's a high ceiling right now. No idea if we'll see him hit it though for a bit.

VS. JASON PONET, World Team (3/28/09): Shikshabekov is a house afire with punches, takes down Ponet, mounts him, and gets the triangle from the top as Ponet tries to posture up.

VS. SVEN HEISING, Germany (5/9/09): Shikshabekov takes down Heising and tries for a farside armbar, but the ropes get in the way. After a restart on the feet, a right hand/takedown combo puts Heising back on the mat. Punches set up a leglock attempt that Heising escapes. After another standup, Heising is tackled down coming into to throw, and gets bounced out with ground and pound.

VS. FATIH DOGAN, Turkey (8/16/09): Shikshabekov catches a kick, drops Dogan with a punch. The ref actually jumps in to stop it but is thrown down, and this continues. Shikshabekov is in mount and just drops bombs until another attempt by the ref is successful. Weird.

VS. SIMON PHILLIPS, Great Britain (9/26/09): Shikshabekov scissors the leg at the start and gets a flying heel hook. The end.

VS. GERSON DOS SANTOS, USA East (12/3/09): Shikshabekov jumps in with the left hook and clinches. Both seemed nervious at the opening, and a lot of energy is expelled. Dos Santos throws down the Russian and tries to pass to the full mount. Shikshabekov keeps him in full guard, and then moves the hips around for the triangle. Dos Santos tries to posture up and out, and Shikshabekov just takes the arm instead for the tap out.

M-1 CHALLENGE: 2009 Season Pt. 1 (Lightweights)

Okay, this is a tough one to do. Do I review all 130 fights? No. Impossible. Most are clipped anyways. Instead, I've chosen a different route - The top 3 fighters per weight class that fought in M-1, plus a look back at their performances in the M-1 ring for 2009.

LIGHTWEIGHTS:

1. RENATO MIGLIACCIO (2-0, 2 Submissions) - A BJJ practitioner from the USA East squad, he competed twice as a lightweight on the squad. Both guys who weren't him weren't so successful. Interesting note: You can easily argue that he beat better fighters than either Jansen or Ivlev.

VS. YANKO YANEV (3/28/09) - A very dominant fight for Migliaccio: He takes down Yanev seemingly at will and prevents getting hit with anything big in the standup game. When on the mat, he generally controls Yanev and is able to work for position and submissions. He finishes him late in the first round with a armbar out of the mount.

VS. NIKO PUHAKKA (6/5/09) - Puhakka, a veteran, also happens to be significantly larger than Migliaccio. In spite of this, he is taken down by the smaller American and gives up his back early. Migliaccio doesn't really get in the hooks, and Puhakka snakes out. Standing, Migliaccio coems forward right to the clinch and a throw, then as Puhakka escapes that, a double leg takedown. Migliaccio runs a clinic on Puhakka, working both arms before picking one to extend into a armbar. Bell is rung, but Puhakka claims he didn't tap. Watching again, he was just yelling in pain - that'll generally be a technical submission anywhere on a fully executed armbar.

2. YURA IVLEV (4-0, 2 KOs, 1 Sub)

This was a competitive battle for the #2 position. What sealed it was an event that occurred after the end of the season: Jansen's loss in a recent WEC show proved that this was about his ceiling for talent. Rather than the theoretical, you go with the practical. With the same sort of opposition, Ivlev had more impressive results.

Vs. ROMANO DE LAS REYES, World Team (3/28/09) - Second round was shown in full. First round clips show Ivlev with some nice throws and De Las Reyes trying to mix it up on the feet. Announcers gave it to Ivlev. Second round: RDLR throws down Ivlev out of the thai plumb, but was nullified on the mat. Ivlev sweeps him and is in half guard, stands out, and tries to jump-pass with punches. He gets to side control and goes for an armbar, but Las Reyes defends and is on top in half guard. The ref stands them up late in the round, but Ivlev is the winner.

VS. FRANCO DE LEONARDIS, Spain (5/9/09) - Both rounds shown. De Leonardis has some skills from his back but never really capitalizes on his submission attempts, such as a pair of triangles in the first round. Ivlev is almost always in top control; De Leonardis has to pull guard to force it down. In the second, De Leonardis changes nothing about his MO, and Ivlev is able to expect it. He hurts De Leonardis while in the north/south position after defending a takedown, and the resulting desperate scramble ends with De Leonardis on his stomach taking blows until tapping out.

VS. SCOTT HEWITT, Great Britain (9/26/09) - Ivlev throws Hewitt with a judo hiptoss, and then KOs him as Hewitt tries to scramble up.

VS. IVAN JORGE, USA East (12/3/09) - Jorge is the more comfortable one standing by appearances; well, until a robot right hand lands from Ivlev. Ivlev throws Jorge after than and lands blows for almost a full minute. Jorge actually survives this and shoots. Ivlev gets taken down and actually gives up the back to Jorge. He barely gets out of the first.

Jorge shoots in and Ivlev ends up getting his back taken again. After a long period of back control. Ivlev spins out. He's almost armtriangled in the escape, but breaks free and stands. He drops Jorge with punches standing and forces the referee stoppage. Good come from behind win.

3. DAVID JANSEN (3-0, 1 sub): A strong wrestler, Jansen won three fights against middling competition with M-1 before graduating to the WEC. He won his first there, but lost his second fight in 2010 for that promotion. Still, he's a strong enough prospect to keep an eye on as he develops.

VS. FLAVIO ALVARO, Brazil (2/21/09) - First wasn't shown, but its mentioned that Jansen seemed to win with his wrestling. Second round sees Jansen having to escape a few submission attempts by Alvaro, but he cuts Alvaro and puts a solid beating on him while inside the guard. Unanimous decision for Jansen.

VS. YUI CHUL NAM, South Korea (4/29/09) - First not shown; What we know? Looks like Jansen was on top and punching. Second round is no different. Jansen shoots from too far away to work with most, but the fourth level guys like this will get taken down. That's how the fight ends: Jansen on top to the decision, controlling and throwing shots.

VS. AMIRKHAN MAZIKHOV (7/4/2009) - Mazikhov shoots after getting hit with a right hand and is caught in a peruvian necktie. Easy W.

SHOOTO (Disc 4): Vale Tudo Junction 3 (5/7/1996)

We shoot ahead in the Shooto timeline to 1996 and Professional Shooting 40. This is an interesting card headlined by a light heavyweight title fight between Erik Paulson and Kenji Kawaguchi. It should be noted that this is basically "light heavyweight" using the boxing definition, with Paulson being about 175lbs. Keep this in mind.

1) SHINJI ARANO vs. KIMIHITO NONAKA: 65KG bout, 3x3, who are these guys?

Good two round fight. Arano is not all that good - he tries to go for a guillotine while he's mounted. Nonaka, meanwhile, is throwing all sorts of submissions from top control, when he's in buttscoot, etc. Arano is caught in a triangle in the second and tries to stomp his way out; that's not allowed. He instead is swept, and Nonaka is late to let go and lands some extracurricular blows after the bell before yelling at the prone Arano. I'm guessing he wasn't appreciative of that triangle defense. (0)

2) YUJI FUJITA vs. TOMAKI "SYONAN" HAYAMA: Middleweight contest (167), 3X3, who are these guys?

Hayama pulls guard real early and keeps it closed even as Fujita tries to stand out. Okay, we know this guy's deal right away. He goes for a couple submissions in the round as Fujita lands pitter patter shots during the first. In the second, we get dudes trading wildly and Fujita eventually remembers his skill set, trying to drag this down. In round 2 though, the story is Hayama as a ground expert; He takes down Fujita, mounts him, and while he's bucked off, does eventually use an elevator sweep to regain top position and full mount. Fujita gives his back and is choked out. (0)

3) MITSUHIRO SAKAMOTO vs. JIN AKIMOTO: Featherweights. Akimoto is a guy who has been fighting right along up to 2009. I think he finally gave up the ghost though.

Sakamoto is wearing boxing trunks, but nothing shows up on Boxrec. Awww. He uses a muay thai stance for this fight, and Akimoto is not interested in trading with him. He takes down Sakamoto and basically tries to pass guard and throw punches. Not much of a first round. Second isn't that much different, however Sakamoto rolls Akimoto at the end of the round and nearly locks in a kimura. Sakamoto finds himself on his back all through the third round and throws those Bas Rutten heel strikes. Somehow, that is enough to justify a draw. Shooto scoring; how we love you! (2) Sakamoto ends up being a semi-important figure later.

4) MAZAKAZU KURAMOCHI vs. TAKUYA KUWABARA: Welterweight bout with 3x3 minute rounds.

Kuwabara is much smaller; he pulls guard frequently rather than trade in the first and basically pisses away the round to Kuramochi and does much the same in the first half of the second. As the round goes on, he does get a legitimate takedown, albeit to no effect, and tries for a guillotine late in the round when Kuramochi shoots. In the third, Kuwabara's untrained looking punches start to tag his opponent, but he gets taken down before much else happens. After another standup and guard pull, we go to the cards and...Kuwabara by unanimous decision. I have no idea how that happened. (0)

5) HISAO IKEDA vs. UCHUU TATSUMI: Tatsumi fought on disc 1, which is now like 2 years in the past both in terms of when I reviewed it and when these fights took place. At the time, he couldn't finish from top control. Here?

Ikeda is standing straight up and asking to be hit or taken down. Its the former; he's dropped by straight punches three times in the first and its over early. Third knockdown was really harsh. (0)

6) TORU KOGA vs. YASHUSH WARITA: Koga broke out crazy slams the first time I saw him How about in this 5 round fight?

Koga is slamming this dude all over the place: Two backdrop drivers, a single into a big slam, a backbody drop sorta thing; This guy is up there with Rampage and Aaron Witherspoon. Warita has only one escape, and its from mount; think sunset flip, except without the flip part. He does this in the first and second to get out of bad positions, and carry on to the third. Warita looks terrible and like he has no hope until he times Koga shooting at the start of the third with a high kick. Game over. Really cool fight. (2)

7) AKIHIRO GONO vs. TODD BJORNETHUN: Gono is still going hard. Bjornethun; not so much.

Standup fighting for a good portion of the first round, and they're even. Bjornethun is more aggressive, Gono seems technically better. Gono hits a sweet hiptoss and transitions into a leg lock attempt, and the round ends with both guys trying for toeholds and heel hooks. Gono shoots to start the second, and while its defended, he's done enough to get Bjornethun's hands down. A right hand lands and Bjornethun is dropped for a 6 count. The American is forced to shoot desperately to stay in the fight. Gono lands a ton more on him, but eventually Bjorethun is able to get the fight down. He's swept, absorbs more punishment, but gets a standup. When there, he rocks Gono with a desperate shot and takes him down. In the final round, there's slobberknockerin' early. Bjornethun drags down Gono, and Gono is tired. Bjornethun passes to full mount, takes an arm, and gets the submission via armbar. Great fight. (3)

8) ENSON INOUE vs. JOE ESTES: Estes is a footnote at best. Rules are 3 8 minute rounds.

Horrid fight that is clipped for our viewing pleasure. Estes gets takedowns and lays there on top of Inoue. That is the fight. Inoue somehow gets a draw on one of the Japanese cards, but the decision still goes to Estes. Apocalyptically bad. (2)

9) ERIK PAULSON vs. KENJI KAWAGUCHI: A world title fight for Shooto's light heavyweight crown. Before the fight, we get hype videos with Paulson demanding a fight as soon as possible. Interesting note: Paulson's trainer is also a Shooto judge IN THIS FIGHT.

Paulson is throwing a lot of kicks, particularly the front kick. Kawaguchi has a terrible stance to deal with this onslaught of strikes - just straight up in the air. Kawaguchi is dropped late in the round with a right hand and takes the 8 count. In the second, Kawaguchi closes the distance with some wild punches and then hiptosses Paulson to the mat. Didn't see that coming. Paulson goes for an armbar and he then switches to a leg lock as Kawaguchi defends. Paulson is also too good on the mat; he ends up in the mount after this scrambling. He fails to sinch up an armbar after Kawaguchi gives his back, and the champ stands and tries to trade. He's now bleeding from the nose; not going well at all. In the final round, Kawaguchi starts to absorb more and more punishment. He spits out his mouthpiece to breathe from the broken nose and goes for a flying armbar. Paulson defends by slamming out and then punches the hell out of Kawaguchi. He sees the leg available and goes for an ankle lock; fight is over as Kawaguchi taps. He's been savaged. Paulson is at the top of his game. (4)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Gono/Bjornethun

KO OF THE NIGHT: Koga/Warita

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Gono/Bjornethun

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 7 out of 10. Some wildly entertaining stuff, even in the meaningless fights. Would be higher if not for the painful Inoue/Estes encounter that was shown.

D&R rating: 28% (14/45)

Sunday, January 10, 2010

SHOOTO (Disc 3): Professional Shooting 36 & 37: 9/26/95 & 11/7/95

Onward to disc three of Shooto: This is a pair of shows from 1995 featuring a mix of dudes important and not-so-important. Among them: Kazuo Sakurada (AKA Kendo Nagasaki of pro graz fame), Zane Frazier, Rumina Sato, and Erik Paulson. The english for this show is desperate: "BRUE COURNER" is listed for every fight. Really. This takes place at "Komazawa Arena", which I really think is Komazawa Gymnasium, home of volleyball in the 1964 Olympic games.

1) ISAMU OOSUGI vs. RUMINA SATO: Oosugi has thai shorts with an American Flag motif. Sato is awesome.

Oosugi catches a low kick and Sato goes for the leglock. As Oosugi attempts to defend, Sato goes for an inverted triangle. Oosugi stands and slams down Sato to try and escape, but Sato holds the triangle and sweeps over Oosugi. For the next minute or so he punches a lot to the body, even flexing his biceps, before Oosugi finally taps to the lock. Fantastic. (3)

2) KENDO NAGASAKI vs. ZANE FRAZIER: Oh dear. Old pro wrestler against bad kickboxer/MMA fighter.

Frazier starts throwing punches early and often, and Nagasaki doesn't like it. By "doesn't like it", I mean that he falls down. 6 count by the ref and they start again. It lasts maybe 2 seconds until a straight right pulverizes Nagasaki and he is down hard and not moving. Ref counts to 10 for no good reason; Nagasaki's back of his head hit the mat and bounced. He doesn't get up afterwards, needing to be stretchered out. Ugly. (1) for name value and viciousness.

3) LEONID ZASLAVASKY vs. KAZUHIRO SAKAMOTO: Zaslavasky didn't do that well last time I watched him fight. Here? Probably no better. Sakamoto is now a promoter in Japan, and this was his last bout.

Zaslavsky is shooting for takedowns even though he is landing the left hook. No idea why. The reasoning goes wrong early: Sakamoto sprawls to defend and spins to the back of Zaslavsky, puts in his hooks and a choke. (0)

4) YASUNORI OKUDA vs. ERIK PAULSON: Okuda I've never heard of, but he beat a young Akihiro Gono in 1994. Really!

Paulson slams him down from the clinch, goes to side control, works for a kimura, and Okuda taps. (3)

5) KUNIAKI KOBAYASHI vs. SATORU SAYAMA: Worked shoot time! I think. Well, they trade submissions harmlessly, and give up legs and stuff. Sayama forces a tapout by Kobayashi, and scores a point or something. Then he kicks Kobayashi in the face and he drops. And he's unconscious. And everyone is really surprised and Tiger Mask is almost crying. Yikes. Second stretcher of the night! No score.

6) YUKI NAKAI vs. JEAN JACQUES MACHADO: A BJJ match. Machado wins with an armbar. Who cares? Not me. No score.

7) ANTHONY LANGE vs. NOBORU ASAHI: Asahi is featherweight champ and Lange is the challenger, I think. He's another guy making a pro debut. 8 min rounds and 3 of them.

Asahi shoots for the takedown and its a "positioning battle" of dudes laying on each other. Lange reverses and gets caught in a triangle he has to slam out of. Asahi later goes for a guillotine, transitions to a triangle and then to a straight armbar to force Lange to tap. Impressive. (4) for being another title fight in the weight class.

-Afterwards, a backstage interview with Asahi, who wears dorky glasses and has a leopard print towel around his shoulders.

BUT WAIT! I didn't know this was a two-fer. Onward to Korakuen Hall and the future of November 1995.

8) ISAMU OOSUGI vs. TOMOAKI "SYNONAN" HAYAMA: No idea who they are. 3X3, 75KG limit.

Hayama keeps trying to pull guard and Oosugi won't let him. That is the story of round one and two. Eventually Oosugi can't fend them off anymore by holding up Hayama and has to tap. The end. (0)

9) KIMIHITO NONAKA vs. MASAHIRO "JACKAL" DOISHI: Who? The best part is that I saw Doishi fight in the K-1 Hero's 2007 Lithuania show and remember nothing.

Interesting grappling battle in the first and second, with Nonaka going for inverted triangle and armbars from all sorts of odd places as he's just trying to keep Doishi close to him and on the mat. He's generally open to pulling guard too. A turnbuckle breaks late in the first round. The highlight of the fight is a wild suplex Doishi pulls off from having overhooks in the clinch. I tried scoring it, but forgot Shooto has some insane 30 point system. Fight ends as a draw. (0)

10) TORU KOGA vs. KYUHEI UENO: Another Ueno appearance, this in a five rounder.

Insane head and arm suplex/tazplex by Koga, but like most pro wrestling moves, useless in MMA. Ueno keeps getting kicks caught and Koga is taking advantage. He might have a dorky bowl cut, but that was cool in '95. Maybe. And he's not a bad fighter. By the second round, Ueno has him figured out and should have gotten credit for two knockdowns. However, Koga dropped and looked like he was headed for a leg when he got hurt by the punches, letting him off the hook by the judges. Final round sees Koga and Ueno almost go out of the ring after some wild punching and clinch, but a body shot to Koga drops him. Ref calls it as a shot: Ueno takes the back and proceeds to beat him into giving up the RNC. Not too terrible, but not special either. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT(s): Doishi/Nonaka

KO OF THE NIGHT(s): Nagasaki/Frazier

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT(s): Sato/Oosugi

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT (s): 5 out of 10. Totally down the middle average with a couple great performances by the best names on the show.

D&R Rating: 24% (11/45)

Saturday, January 9, 2010

SHOOTO (Disc 2): Professional Shooting 35 (7/29/1995)

Disc One was done like, a year and a half ago. So yes, a long time coming. Can you believe there's like 166 to go? ONE HUNDRED SIXTY SIX.

Anyways, background since we're talking about something old and crusty. This is being held in the Omiya Skate Center, which also ran several joshi cards in the 1990s and a single NJPW card in 1993. This is a very small venue, in case you're wondering. The ring for this event is an octagonal ring featuring 3 ropes, diagonal support ropes, and Vale Tudo netting from the second rope down to the canvas. The video indicates that this is Shooto Complete Vale Tudo Access: Professional Shooting 35. I am very sad to have never seen most of 1-34. So is everyone else not named Tiger Mask, who does a long interview at the start of this DVD.

1) TOSHIYUKI WADO vs. JONATHAN EUSEBIO: A 147lb bout, believe it or not. Wado is hailing from K'z Factory and Eusebio is from the Inosanto camp. Yes. Dan Inosanto protege circa 1995. Don't worry, he's not the last. 3 3 minute rounds.

Tenative standup as is often the case in Shooto, followd by a clinch and a takedown into full mount by Wado. Eusebio gives the back, and gee, this is gonna be short. He gets to the ropes and we have a break and standup. Another Wado takedown, back to full mount, but with no action in 3 or so seconds, we get another standup; Shooto has lots of these back then. Both stare at each other till the bell. Wado continues this in the second round and eventually mounts and gets and armbar out of that. Only pro fight on record for either. (0)

2) RUMINA SATO vs. RON BALICKI: Sato is a legend and Balicki is a footnote. Here is why.

Balicki comes to throw BOMBZ but is 13 years too early; Sato gets a takedown, but nothing comes of it. Another Sato shot, Balicki defends, tries to spin out, and is thrown down. He's let up and we continue. Sato throws a high kick, left straight, clinches, takes down Balicki, and goes to full mount. Balicki isn't totally lousy; he goes out the back and drops for a heel hook! Unfortunately, this is SATO and he ends up having his opponent posture up, defend, break free and then throw himself on top of poor Ron Balicki all in one motion. Sato then grabs and arm and pulls the armbar. Oh so sweet. (3)

3) CARL FRANKS vs. REMCO PARDOEL: Remco was featured in the last class doing a Shooto class in the Netherlands. He is also a very bad man who had built a name in Pancrase and the UFC prior to this. Franks is a no-name who trains at Grappling Unlimited and would be competing as a middleweight today, likely. 3 8 minute rounds.

A strange fight: Pardoel comes forward to maul Franks and Franks, being a wrestler apparently, is able to defend take downs and throws and they trade low kicks most of the fight. Pardoel does get the better of this in general as he's the bigger guy, and it looks more and more like he's gonna wear down Franks by simple pushing him off with his hands (which are nowhere near protecting him for a punch) and then throwing the low kick. He gets lazy and sloppy and throws a right hand after pushing at one point, and that's all Franks needs; he rushes in with the takedown and is in the half guard of Pardoel. At this point, he tees off on Remco and Remco actually taps as the bell rings from the punches. The ref misses this and there is all sorts of confusion as he's unwilling to continue. End result? No contest. Franks got screwed. (1) for the name value and the strange end.

4) KAZUHIRO KUSAYANAGI vs. KYUHEI UENO: Kusayanagi had an unspectacular record in Shooto coming in, and Ueno (then simply tagged "Kyuhei") had gone a hard five rounds with Yuki Nakai, one of the original lower weight heroes of MMA. Well, I think it was hard because at least he made it that far. Not like I have it on video, you know? 5 3 minute rounds, middleweight contest (Kusayanagi comes in at 163, Ueno at 154).

First round is lots of Kusayanagi taking down Ueno and then getting stood up. Standup is wild with no one clearly ahead. Second round is more of the same; Kyuhei's unorthodox striking seems to be taking Kusayanagi offguard and hurting his timing, but the takedowns are still coming, even if Kusayanagi never capitalizes. Ueno does finally defend a shot late in the round. Kyuhei then radically changes gameplans in the third and pulls guard, but the strength of Kusayanagi is such that he holds Ueno up in the air and slams him. Ueno is really pressing now and is actually defending the doubles and singles from Kusayanagi to some degree. Towards the end of the round, Kyuhei Ueno shoots a double of his own to score a late takedown.

The turn in the fight is clear in the 4th: Ueno and Kusayanagi trade wild shots at the start, and Kyuhei throws down Kusayanagi with a belly to belly. He looks for an farside armbar from side control, but Kusayanagi defends and goes for a heel hook, ending that sequence with a rope break. Wow. Ueno again scores the takedown after the restart and Kusayanagi is looking for an armbar from guard; again, another rope break. Kusayanagi shoots a single, Ueno defends and ends up on top, then easily transitioning to mount. Kusayanagi looks to turn, give his back, and then escape as the bell rings. Great, great action in the fourth. Fifth and final opens and Ueno drops Kusayanagi with a right hand virtually at the bell for a 9 count. Kusayanagi shoots, but runs into a pancake sprawl, gives up the back, and takes punches until the fight is stopped. Absolutely fantastic stuff from the early, early days of MMA. It holds up even now, 15 years later. (2)

5) NOBORU ASAHI vs. LEONID ZASLAVSKY: A title fight! I think. Asahi is the Shooto Lightweight champ and Zaslavsky has never fought in MMA before but being Ukrainian via Australia, he is probably a judoka or wrestler who might be game.

Zaslavsky proves me right by shooting immediately, but Asahi tries for the triangle. Actually, that is this fight in a nutshell for both rounds it goes. Zaslavsky gets the takedowns and Asahi is willing to pull guard too. In fact, its really what he's aspiring for: He throws strikes only to get to the clinch and drag down Zaslavsky. In the second round, Asahi throws a spinning back fist that closes the distance, then drops down into a heel hook out of the clinch, forcing a tap out. (4) This is a tough fight to rank and I don't consider it absolutely vital, since neither guy is a legend or anything of the sort. In fact, Zaslavsky is basically a nobody who never won an MMA fight. Regardless, this is an important bout as any Shooto title fight would have been at these weight classes now in retrospect, particularly with WEC having usurped them as the home of the lower weights.

-INTERVIEWS WITH THE FIGHTERS! Nothing learned.

6) ENSON INOUE vs. ED DE KRUIJF: Enson is a big deal. De Kruijf won a Cage Fight title in Holland beating Bob Schrijber. This is back to "freestyle" rules and 3 8 minute rounds.

Inoue clinches, tries to take down De Kruijf, and De Kruijf tries to hold down a headlock. Inoue and De Kruijf get tangled in the nets and are moved to center ring to restart on the mat. Inoue takes the back (as one expects) and flattens out De Kruijf, eventually transitioning to an armbar by the nets. Fight is stopped and De Kruijf is complaining; My guess is he was trying for a rope break and instead the ref called it. Kinda lame, that. (3)

-INOUE INTERVIEW! In japanese.
7) ERIK PAULSON vs. BEN SPIJKERS: Oh, man. This fight. Paulson is a huge name even still, though no longer as a fighter. Spijkers is a Olympic medal winning judoka and Paulson is a future Shooto Champ. They would reappear on another MMA card a few months later on opposite ends of brackets during the World Combat Championship show I reviewed here.

I feel bad even trying to give this a play-by-play, and so from now on, no more PBP for Shooto shows. It takes away from my joy of watching them, honestly. Spijkers wants this on the mat; its what he knows. Early in the match Spijkers is going for a head crank and both men tumble out of the ring. Luckily they're caught by the seconds outside. After the restart, its more of Spijkers shooting the double and Paulson defending it fairly competently and then throwing low kicks. Spijkers is just asking for a guillotine here, leaving his head exposed. He does get a takedown for the first time in round one at the bell, but it looks like a Paulson round. Go to the second: Paulson drops for a kneebar in the second after defending the shot, but it fails and the ref stands 'em. Paulson is feeling better about the clinch game and is throwing knees and dirty boxing; Spijkers answers with a headlock into throw. Paulson maneuvers out and we hit the bell.

Third round is action of the good kind: Spijkers seems to quit due to the strikes momentarily against the ropes, but spins around and continues. He gets caught in the thai clinch of Paulson and in a desperate attempt to escape, manages to throw himself out of the ring head first. After a period where its debated if the fight will continue, we have a restart. Paulson is now feeling really good in close: he's throwing uppercuts inside along with the low kicks and knees. Spijkers proves durable; he shoots, gets a takedown, and moves to knee on belly as the bell rings.

Entering the 4th, this is still very competitive. Spijkers gets tied up in the ropes during a clinch trying to get away from Paulson in the clinch. Clearly, Spijkers wants nothing to do with being vertical and is looking only to shoot. Big right hand by Paulson wakes up the crowd. Spijkers ends up getting taken down and gives up his back to rope break; the ref seems to warn him. He does shoot a single at the end of the round and get it, but its Paulson's round.

Final round is short: Spijkers' laziness regarding protecting his neck when shooting is finally exposed. Paulson locks a guillotine on with the arm in, and then Spijkers moves the shoulder out of the way for him in foolish fashion. He has no choice but to tap. Great fight. (4)

Afterwards, interviews with both men. Paulson thanks Inosanto's camp, Spijkers admits Paulson is better at mixing the two elements of the sport together and promises to Paulson that if they meet again, he will "choke him the hell out". They do not.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Paulson/Spijkers

KO OF THE NIGHT: Kyuhei/Kusayanagi

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Inoue/De Kruijf

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 8 out of 10. Some slow moments here and there, but overall, as such a higher level of competition than the UFC and many modern second tier promotions. When I see Cage Combat MMA on my DVR soon from this fall in Grand Rapids, I don't expect anything this good.

D&R Rating: 48.5% (17/35), making this the highest rated MMA show I've done for the blog yet.

ShoMMA/Strikeforce Challengers 5: 11/20/2009

Strikeforce Challengers this time comes from Kansas City, Kansas, where a number of events have been held. The main event was a riff on UFC 105; Couture/Vera, except with the wives. Well, they were the wives until Kim's divorce a couple weeks before this event.

1) CHAD VANCE vs. KEVIN CASEY: Guys! Casey believes in the power of BJJ. We believe in you too, Kevin.

Clinch to start with and Casey pushes Vance to the cage. Vance is landing some stuff in the clinch...oh, hiptoss attempt goes badly and Casey is taking the back. RNC, good night folks. (0)

2) RAFAEL FEIJAO CAVALCANTE vs. AARON ROSA: Cavalcante was a real prospect up until he got throttled by an old, ornery kickboxer. Rosa is now a solid midpack gatekeeper.

Clinch to start the first and Feijao backs up Rosa to the fence, then takes him down off the trip. Rosa bounces up while eating some shots, and its hugging time. Crowd and announcers know this is lousy. The ref separates this after 4 minutes and we're back to a clinch 5 seconds later. Ugh. More of this in the second round, but when they do separate (which does happen), Feijao is landing solid blows; in particular, a nice combo of overhand right/knee/takedown. No action on the mat, and its back to standup. Rosa is caught with a punch and drops, leading to some GNP and the fight's end. Only one angle is shown for the finish in replays and it looks a lot to me like there was a headbutt and not a punch there that dropped Rosa. (2)

3) BOBBY VOELKER vs. ERIK APPLE: Apple is fighting again! Yay! Somehow I've missed reviewing a Voelker fight, though I saw him fight Amir Rahnavarni in M-1 a long time ago. I just didn't review it, you see. At least, yet.

Apple throws the overhand right to start and drops Voelker, and he's all over him. Voelker is able to get up, hold the clinch, and slow the fight down; this allows him recovery time. Apple tries to prevent a rally by shoving off and then throwing down again, but they trade and Voelker does surprisingly well. Apple starts looking for takedowns more often than not and there's a pattern that develops of takedown attempts, defense by Voelker, exchanges, and separation. Apple does get a takedown, but Voelker walk walks up and regains the clinch, then hits a trip takedown of his own, landing some clean blows while trying to pass at the end of the round. Good action round there.

In the second, Voelker rocks Apple early and takes him down into half guard. Apple does force his way to his feet but is clearly tired and very wild. Voelker drops him with punches and Apple is just flat out done. The ref is forced to stop it as Voelker throws leather on the mat. Big win for the gatekeeper, and a solid fight. (1)

4) KIM COUTURE vs. KERRY VERA: If Vera is at all good, she destroys Couture.

Couture is destroyed with a flurry of punches less than two minutes in. Not worth rating. Freakshow bout.

5) RUDY BEARS vs. TYRON WOODLEY: Bears cannot be all bad; he did beat Brendan Seguin once. Woodley though is an elite prospect that Strikeforce picked up before the UFC was ready to commit to him. And its for the best, really; these are the fights he needs, and he can't get them in the UFC.

Bears closes the distance with his striking, and Woodley does the smart thing and clinches. He slams the hell out of Bears, moves to the full mount, but doesn't look steady. Bears bucks him off (though nearly ends up in a triangle doing so), and gets standing again. He eats a knee in the clinch, is taken down again, and Woodley locks in a head and arm triangle before putting Bears to sleep. Impressive by Woodley, who is still like 7-8 fights away from a real challenge at 170. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Apple/Voelker

KO OF THE NIGHT: Vera/Couture

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Bears/Woodley

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 6 out of 10. Woodley looks good and Apple/Voelker was fun, but the rest felt meaningless.

D&R Rating: 25% (5/20)

ShoMMA/Strikeforce Challengers 4: 11/6/2009

Another one of the developmental Strikeforce events, also like many others from Frenso, CA.

1) ZOILA FRAUSTO vs. ELISHA HELSPER: Women fighting! Hooray! I suppose.

Frausto throws kicks in the first and lands, Helsper throws punches that do not. Frausto 10-9 round 1. Round 2: Helsper doesn't close the distance at all even though its her only way to win. Does eventually pursue a takedown when she's kicked in the head and cut, but gets tossed to the mat by Frausto. Round 3 sees Helsper come out desperate and get a takedown, but the effort is nullified by a poor referee standup and Frausto gets her to the mat and lands superior shots throughout, winning a wide unanimous decision. I don't rate women's fights.

2) MERRIT WARREN vs. THOMAS DIAGNE: Diagne is here because he's a San Shou guy from France and trains with, WHO ELSE, Cung Le.

Diagne hits a big slam early, but does not much. Warren moves into full guard, gets Diagne trying to move around without any idea of what he'd doing, and hooks up the inverted heel hook. Oh, Cung Le. (0)

3) JESSE TAYLOR vs. LUKE ROCKHOLD: Taylor is potentially the dumbest man to ever be on TV. Rockhold has been a Strikeforce favorite for who knows how long.

Taylor shoots in, as you would expect with him being a one note wrestler, but Rockhold defends the takedown and keeps it standing for a little while. Taylor's strength is just too much though and he gets Rockhold to his back. Rockhold has a really active guard; who doesn't like that? Taylor does escape any submission attempts being thrown and there's a scramble. Taylor actually goes for the submission guy's back at one point, only to be reversed as Rockhold goes out the back and sinks in a choke of his own. Really a big win for Rockhold. (2)

4) BRANDON CASH vs. SHANE DEL ROSARIO: Cash is a nobody and Del Rosario is a well regarded prospect. So what happens? The obvious? No!

Cash drops Del Rosario really early with a huge right hand and he's all over Shane for much of the fight, dropping all sorts of shots on his dome and trying his best to keep Del Rosario on his back. Cash looks well on his way to winning, but he gets very sloppy on offense, and Del Rosario shows us why he's well regarded: He starts going for rubber guard, and as Cash slows, he catches the unknown pseudoprospect with a glitzy record in a omaplata and sweeps him, soon after forcing a tap out due to the shoulder lock. Impressive to see him come back from adversity, though I think you'll see future capable fighters rush him. (2)

5) BILLY EVANGELISTA vs. JORGE GURGEL: Gurgel has now officially entered journeyman status, while Evangelista is still a prospect with room to grow.

Round 1 is terrible. Zero action with Evangelista landing some low kicks once a minute or so and taking down Gurgel with 6 seconds remaining. Second is slightly better; Gurgel is coming forward now with his wild shots (as he has since the knee injury against Imanari), but is taken down by Evangelista with a sweep. Evangelista does an adequate amount of battering for my taste on top, but the ref disagrees and stands them. Gurgel clips him with a high kick with half a minute remaining and goes for a guillotine. Still gave it to Evangelista.

Final round; Early on its a standup fight. Gurgel just can't shoot and hasn't been able to for years, but his standup isn't getting better and eating right hands forces him to actually try to get down Evangelista. He proves successful in tripping him, though little comes of it. Evangelista is cut by a kick during the exchanges late in the round and takes down Gurgel himself. Its a easy unanimous decision for Evangelista in my eyes, and he continues to progress in the sport. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Cash/Del Rosario

KO OF THE NIGHT: None, perhaps Cole Escovedo's on the dark portion?

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Cash/Del Rosario

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 4 out of 10. Fights that went to decision were terrible. Fights that didn't were too short to really be "good", even if there was back and forth and "action".

D&R Rating: 30% (6/20)