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)
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