DEEP MEGATON GP Finals (8/28/2008)/ClubDeep (8/30/2008)

The finals of one of MMA's greatest tournaments.

Before the event really gets underway, there's a tag team grappling tournament that is sorta interesting to watch and better to fast forward through.

GP TIME~

1) Ken Orihashi vs. Shinsuke Inoue: Inoue still has the terrible hair.

FIGHT: Inoue Submission Rnd 1. Complete domination from Inoue, who wins by straight armbar coming out of the mount. Orihashi's attempt at a takedown or just pushing Inoue to the corner went nowhere and he nearly got guillotined. He absorbed more shots standing than you might expect given that it was his forte (though he does suck at it). The takedown was a nice sweep where Inoue took a headlock and then stepped over Orihashi's lead foot and put him down. (0)

2) Shunji Kosaka vs. Yusuke Kawaguchi: This could be ugly.

FIGHT: Kawaguchi TKO Rnd 1. Interesting thing that I see here is that Kawaguchi gets hit with two right hands coming in with hands down. This would be a problem when he upgraded the competition. Of course, he gets a body lock takedown and rapes Kosaka with shots. All of 45 seconds, mostly of GNP. (0)

3) Mamoru Nakamura vs. Wakaarashi: Sumo takes on Nakamura, a brawler, in this alternate bout for the Megaton GP.

FIGHT: Wakaarashi TKO Rnd 1. Bad stop; after both men had been trading, Nakamura gets hit with a couple right hands and falls down. Wakaarashi goes after him and nearly gets caught in a omaplata. Of course, the ref had already jumped in, so.... (0)

At this point, we get a Oyaji Grappling Rules match between Samio Kimura and Shinchiro Eguchi. What does that mean? I guess it means they have shirts. Someone wins and I fast forwarded.

4) Sotaro Yamada vs. Ryoji Suzuki: No idea who either is. Its a welterweight contest.

FIGHT: Draw. Fight is clipped a bit, so its not 100% certain who should win in my mind. I will say that it looks like Yamada took the first and Suzuki the second round of the two round fight. Yamada's game was to get the fight down, and he pulled guard a number of times. Jump guard too. Suzuki was better standing for sure and a better wrestler, but he got suckered into that grappling stuff in round 1 and I don't think that he came away looking better from what was shown. In round two, he doesn't let Yamada get him down without staying on top and looking dominant. (0)

MIKA and some other girl are then in a submission grappling match I fast forward through.

At this point, the show flashes over to ClubDEEP Kyoto 8/30/2008.

5) Yasuaki Kishimoto vs. Tetsuya Fukunaga: Uhhh....

FIGHT: Kishimoto Submission Rnd 2. Squash. Kishimoto throws Fukunaga early and exhibits a huge gap in grappling talent. He runs shit on Fukunaga, who has some skill at defense and not much else. And that's assumed only because he wasn't instantly choked out. (0)

6) Ricardo Algusto vs. Atsushi Kondo:

FIGHT: Kondo TKO Rnd 1. The gaijin here gets taken down rather quickly and taps out to a kimura from side control. Not much of a fight. Kondo dumped him with a nice headlock sorta move. (0)

7) Makoto Kamaya vs. Hiroto Hattori: featherweight bout.

FIGHT: Kamaya Majority Decision. Again, this is clipped so you don't know with total certainty what happened. What I saw was this: Hattori is a pretty standard box-n-wrestle MMA fighter. Kamaya uses a karate stance and loves lead high kicks. And he's not easy to take down because Hattori can't figure out how to properly close the distance with him. In short: Kamaya is pretty rad. (0)

8) Marcelo Nakamura vs. Bum Chan Kang: Korean fights random pseudobrazilian?

FIGHT: Kang TKO Rnd 2. Clipped fight in which we see Nakamura, who might be 45, looking for takedowns constantly and getting thrown and or punched very often and or swept. Kang also looks huge in comparison. Eventually Nakamura gets bashed out after eating a knee and freezing up while looking for an ankle pick. (0)

9) Miya Mo vs. Yoshiyume Chodo: Japanese people who fight!

FIGHT: Chodo Submission Rnd 1. Lots of wild swinging to start. It is apparent quickly that Mo wants to be awesome at submission and goes for all sorts of wild stuff like Saku Kimuras. And it is also apparently that Chodo is stronger and can hold him down and work for stuff himself. He gets to side control after some badly planned submission attempts go awry for Mo and ends up cranking a kimura for a submission win. (0)

Seichi Ikemoto and Dokonjonosuke Mishma then perform in a exhibition for the crowd and there are lots of funny submissions and belts being waived around.

10) Ken Hamamura vs. Hyun Joo Kim: Kim is another CMA Korea product, as it seems everyone there is.

FIGHT: Hamamura TKO Rnd 1. The corner for Kim throws in the towel as Hamamura, having acquired the takedown, wrenches back an arm and punches him hard over and over and over. (0)

11) Takahiro Kajita vs. Tomoyuki Fukami: Lightweight journeymen.

FIGHT: Draw. Fukami I actually feel wins the fight because he does something in the standup game and Kajita rarely gets takedowns. When he does, they certainly don't seem to have the value Fukami's clean boxing does, but again - its clipped, its two rounds. If Kajita deserves the first, he deserves the fight. Fukami is 9-1-6 but rarely fought in ZST, which is pretty amazing. Hasn't fought in 15 months or so. Kajita, meanwhile, seems to be a basic wrestler with some really middling punching and doesn't rush to pass the guard. (0)

12) Yusuke Kawaguchi vs. Shinsuke Inoue: Inoue comes out to ridiculous video game music. The national anthem plays in this tiny ass nightclub before the fight. There's like 500 people there. Maybe. Somewhere a baby screams as the belt is displayed. I can't make this shit up.

FIGHT: Kawaguchi Split Decision. You can't ask for a lot more than this. Yeah, its sloppy pier six brawl stuff at times, but both guys throw hard, and Inoue actually lands better single shots. He almost sits down Kawaguchi early in round one and gets a throw on him. He also gets out from under him after absorbing a ton of shots late in the second to try and rally. Tons of heart. In fact, his technique is much better. But Kawaguchi is a much larger man. He's athletic, he can wrestle, he can force guys down to the mat. He pushes badly with his shots, he's easy to hit, and he's not explosive shooting or rushing to the clinch, but here, against Inoue, he's well matched and we get an entertaining contest. Inoue is in tears after losing and Kawaguchi is equally enthused as Inoue is depressed. Wonderful but terrible stuff. (2)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Kawaguchi/Inoue (8/28/08)

KO OF THE NIGHT: Hamamura/Kim (8/30/08)

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Orihashi/Inoue (8/28/08)

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT(S): 2,5 out of 10. I'm kinda glad to be done with these, because so much of it was filler from ClubDEEP and those shows suck. The Megaton stuff was all stupid but entertaining in its simplicity. The finals of the tournament was a great success and I wouldn't be upset to see them try this all again one day.

D&R Rating: 3% (2/60)

DEEP: ClubDEEP Toyama - Barbarian Festa 7 (6/1/2008)

MOAR OUTRAGE INTRO. Okay, this is the best part about the promotion, easily. What am I watching? Who the fuck knows?

1) Masakatzu Imanari & ____ vs. Hidehiko Hasegawa & ________: Tag team grappling bout with fake out pile drivers and shit. Not rated as it clearly is not MMA.

2) Yuya Osugi vs. Shinichiro Tanaka: Literally no clue who either is.

FIGHT: Osugi Split Decision. Osugi wins this, I think, off the back of some really rad judo throws in the first. He does a Crocota tribute after the fight. Sloppy, horrendous standup from both when they exchange. Looks like a slapfight between tweener girls. (0)

3) Kosuke Umeda vs. Yuichi Ikari: Umeda lost on an M-1 card and I don't think his bout was televised. If it was, who cares.

FIGHT: Ikari Unanimous Decision. Ikari can change levels and drop for the shot and Umeda doesn't really do that so he ends up on the bottom. And when he's there, he's not really good enough to prevent Ikari from working, especially in half guard, with ground and pound. Highlight of fight is Umeda getting dumped through the ropes headfirst onto the timekeeper table. (0)

4) Akira Kibe vs. Masayuki Demise: No idea what to expect here.

FIGHT: Kibe Majority Decision. In the clipped action shown, Demise wants to stand and bang and Kibe definitely does not. He chooses to get this fight to the mat where he transitions to dominant positions (ie mount) and throws shots and tries to get a RNC. He's not successful, and Demise is wily enough to often roll out of it. Kibe doesn't have particularly good throws or takedowns and so he doesn't really go anywhere in the sport. (0)

5) Miku Matsumoto vs. RENA: Female kickboxing bout. Miku is the big star here and among the all time great female MMA fighters. But this is kickboxing. Ends as a draw.

6) Yoshihiro "Barbaro 44" Tomioka vs. Takahiro Kajita: Tomioka was positioned as being a top prospect in Japan, but then lost a bunch of meaningful fights to take him to the next level. So, he wasn't one. Kajita is not one of those fights.

FIGHT: Tomioka Submission Rnd 2. Here we see why Tomioka didn't get to the next level - comprehensively outstruck in the first round and for the early stages of the second, Tomioka had no answers. Kajita let him too far inside though and Tomioka dropped and shot the double. That was pretty much all Tomioka really needed to do. He passed to side control, grapevined the head and nearside arm of Kajita in a crucifix style position, then cranked the far arm to get a kimura and tapout. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Osugi/Tanaka

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Tomioka/Kajita

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 1 out of 10. Lots of clipping plus the fact that none of the fights were really any good equals bad event. KOTC level stuff here.

D&R Rating: 0% (0/20)

DEEP ClubDEEP (5/24/2008)

From earlier in the day at Shinjuku FACE where the Megaton GP would continue that evening.

1) Kazuya Hirose vs. Guy Delameau: Okay. Delameau I've seen but retained no knowledge about.

FIGHT: Hirose TKO Rnd 1. Delameau controls the fight early on, pressing with strikes and getting a takedown. He does nothing on the mat and the fight is stood up. As soon as its back on, Hirose throws a spinning back fist that drops Delameau, and the ref jumps in to stop it. Maybe a touch early but Delameau was in real trouble.

2) Yoshitomo Watanabe vs. Ryoji Suzuki: Watanabe I've seen try to block takedowns. I know nothing about Suzuki.

FIGHT: Majority Draw. Great fight, to be honest. Not much clipping. (1)

Suzuki: Comes out a house afire with strikes, dropping Watanabe and looking all the while like he's got this in the bag. He dodges an armbar attempt early in the bout and then lands some more solid strikes and knees and when it goes back to the mat...he starts to peter out. He wings mostly arm punches in the second round and gets clipped by Watanabe. On the mat, he's nothing special. That's an understatement.

Watanabe: Huge german suplex in Round 2, good takedowns otherwise, an unspectacular chin, and some submission skill from the back. That is Watanabe in this fight in a nutshell. Very vertical stance, not a great boxer/kickboxer but he does better as the fight goes on and his opponent withers under the pace. Grappling wise he's miles ahead of Suzuki and that nearly gets him the first round and definitely wins him the second.

3) Takafumi Otsuka vs. Isamu Sugiuchi: No idea who these guys are. 65KG.

FIGHT: Otsuka TKO Rnd 1. Otsuka shoots a single and takes down Sugiuchi. On the mat, Otsuka generally controls position, working shots inside the guard. He postures up, Sugiuchi closes the guard, and Otsuka picks him up by the neck and slams him down. Punches follow and its all over.

4) Sotaru Yamada vs. Yasushi Kitazaki: Yamada has shootboxing trunks. 76KG.

FIGHT: Kitazaki Split Decision. Good fight.

Yamada: Throws a flying armbar to start. That's a good sign! However he doesn't really lock it down, and spends much of the first round under Yamada, who is phyiscally stronger and gets takedowns. He does have standing back control for a time in the second round, but Kitizaki fends off choke attempts until the bell. Seems to be the better striker but never gets the range he wants.

Kitazaki: Rushes in with strikes to close the distance and get takedowns. Common wrestler-boxer MMA style. Stiff standing, but physically strong.

5) Toshiaki Kitada vs. Ippo Watanuki: Ippo looks to perhaps have some yakuza ties with the trunks and tats.

FIGHT: Draw. Not much to write about here in review. From the clipped footage shown, I would have certainly scored it for Watanuki, who stopped Kitada's shot and forced him to pull guard repeatedly. But I'm not a judge for DEEP and who knows what their system is. Kitada wasn't really any better standing, and on the mat he actually had fewer real submission attempts than Watanuki, who had a triangle attempt from bottom and rolled for lower limb locks twice (including a toehold!). I dunno. It looks like a Watanuki win to me.

6) Misaki Takamoto vs. Naoko Omuro: Female MMA. Who are they? Not the slightest clue.

FIGHT: Takamoto Unanimous Decision. Okay, so this is women's MMA at a higher level than what was typical of the NAAFS show shown a month + ago. Does that make it good? We've gone from abjectly bad women's fighting to mediocre women's fighting. Either way, I honestly don't care to watch it any more than I do mediocre or bad men's fighting solely because women are doing it. Takamoto is clearly a better all around competitor, and she displays submission skill from the guard position, slightly better standup, and can take her opponent down. Omuro looks like she is burning off all her energy bouncing up and down when standing at a distance. Her bob is just shimmying all over the place. Takamoto nearly stretches out the limb of Omuro for an armbar that she gets from side control. Let's be honest, those don't happen every day. No tap though.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Watanabe/Suzuki

KO OF THE NIGHT: Sugiuchi/Otsuka

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 3 out of 10. Short, mediocre, clipped contests with one good clipped contest. Takes 45 minutes of your life as an upside. This sort of show is completely replaceable with generic pro MMA events in the US. Its easily eclipsed by most.

D&R Rating 3% (1/30)

DEEP Megaton GP Second Round (5/24/2008)

Along with the DEEP Megaton GP's second round is the program of ClubDEEP from 5/24/2008, which I'll review later. First though, this. The intro for the show features a hardcore song from some random Japanese band called "Fat Boy" and shows clips from the first round fights as well as fat people eating and fat ring girls. This is incredible already.

1) Kosaku Shikmasu vs. Itomo Ariyama: Ariyama is the man wearing overalls and he might be among the worst MMA fighters ever. Reserve bout?

FIGHT: Shikmasu TKO Rnd 1. He throws a front kick at the start of the fight and you can see Ariyama immediately reconsider this idea of his to fight professionally. Later he absorbs a body kick, and then a couple knees to the head before he crumples to the mat. The ref flops on him to stop the onslaught.

2) Ken Orihashi vs. Mamoru Nakamura: Should be a brawl.

FIGHT: Orihashi TKO Rnd 1. Wild brawl as expected. Rock Em Sock Em Robots with both men going down, but Orihashi gets the last knockdown and pounds out Nakamura with hammerfists, forcing a ref stoppage.

3) Katsuhiko Kumano vs. Shunji Kosaka: Kosaka is by far smaller. Kumano may be the biggest man in the tourney.

FIGHT: Kosaka TKO Rnd 1. Kumano comes rushing forward and is felled with a right hand, going straight backwards. Kosaka jumps on him and punches and the ref stops it. 10 seconds!

4) Yoichi Babaguchi vs. Yusuke Kawaguchi: Baba Booey is HUGE. Not Kumano HUGE but HUGE. Kawaguchi is still big, but has some discernable wrestling talent.

FIGHT: Kawaguchi TKO Rnd 1. Babaguchi is hit with punches right away because Kawaguchi trains for real reals and ends up being battered mercilessly for 16 seconds until finally collapsing into the ropes and seeing the ref stop it.

5) Shinsuke Inoue vs. Katsumi Yamada: Inoue's hair is bizarre: like a bowl cut and then tied to a pony tail, but short. And dyed blonde.

FIGHT: Inoue TKO RND 1. Yamada comes forward, lands a right hand, and gets down Inoue! I'm surprised the fat boy could do that. But he does nothing on top and appears gassed 40 seconds in. The ref forces a standup and Inoue throws Yamada with a cool judo sweep, mounts him, and throws hammerfists and punches until the ref stops it.

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Nakamura/Orihashi

KO OF THE NIGHT: Kosaka/Kuman

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 7.5 out of 10. It was over and done in like 20 minutes! And it had huge fat guys fighting! C'mon, what is wrong with this? Yeah, no good fights. Yeah, no real skill. But if you are watching the Megaton GP, you know what you are getting. I would rather watch this than a lot of single fights, which it takes about the same amount of time as doing. Kawaguchi does a locker room interview while wearing a Lilo And Stitch shirt. What a dude.

D&R RANKING: 0%

DEEP MEGATON GP 1ST ROUND/ClubDEEP Tokyo (3/29/2009)

The freakshow. Hated, loved. The duplicitous nature of the freakshow in MMA is what separates it from boxing in this country. We fight in a cage and let fat men in shirts, street brawlers with little training, and pro wrestlers do it to adoring fans seeking to satiate their blood lust. In Japan, it is no different. In both lands they are a necessary evil to attract the eyes to this sport that it must then turn to real fans.

I once read an article about junk food, and it said that 30 years ago, people were perfectly happy with just old fashioned nachos. Then they added beans and meat and shit to them and people needed more and more on their nachos. The release of opiates from the brain from eating such fatty food couldn't be pleased with just junk cheese any more. That is what Kimbo Slice is to the 18-34 year old male; Nachos covered in tons of meat and then more cheese. And then salsa. And yeah, there's more healthy choices, but your average meathead will just ignore them. MMA is the same.

I say this long intro because this event, held in the nightclub Shinjyuku FACE in front of about 500 people, is the alpha and omega of freakshows. All fat Japanese dudes in shirts. All fighting. Anyone who comes to the show over 100KG got free booze. This is the world we inhabit. You can't trade it for another. The opening montage is of small dudes throwing punches over the sounds of Japanese metal legends Outrage. This two hour special was aired by the folks at Samurai TV and is basically one hour of the GP and one hour of ClubDEEP and its, well, normal fights.

1) Guy Delameau vs. Hideo Matsui: No idea who either is or what the weight class is for the opener.

FIGHT: Delameau TKO Rnd 1. Clipped, I think. It shows on fightfinders as being a second round TKO, but the fight was only a 2 round bout, so that might screw it up a little. Delameau gets down Matsui, ends up taking his back, and punches him when a RNC can't be sunk. (0)

2) Sadao Kondo vs. Shingo Matsuda: HEAVILY clipped. He looks like he defended takedowns and went for a head and arm choke. (0)

3) Tetsuya Yoshioka vs. Kenji Ushioda: Yoshioka Unanimous Decision. Heavily clipped. Had a couple takedowns??? (0)

GRAPPLING EXHIBITION~ between dudes who's names I can't find. Someone wins with a Sakuraba style Kimura. Rad? Yes. When I find out who it was, I will say.

4) Tomoya Miyashita vs. Tatsumitsu Wada: Back to normal MMA action. Expecting this to be clipped because, hey, I expect lots of that and there's not enough time in the program.

FIGHT: Miyashita TKO Rnd 2. Clipped, but not outrageously so. (1)

Miyashita: Miyashita is actually getting beaten up pretty much the whole fight. Outstruck EVERYWHERE with low kicks, punches, etc. In the second round he gets hit with a head kick tha fells him, and as he gets up, he sorta throws his right hand out at a charging Wada. Wada runs right into it and lands his own shot, so both men drop. Wada doesn't get up though. He's out cold.

Wada: Decent fighter, smaller than Miyashita, and did a lot of showing off during the second round of the fight as he was lacing up his opponent with shots. But he came in real sloppy when he went for the kill and paid for it in almost cartoonish fashion. KO of the decade candidate.

5) Ippo Wantanuki vs. Isao Tereda: Tereda has a mohawk. That is what I can tell you about this fight.

FIGHT: Watananuki Unanimous Decision. Clipped again. (0)

Watannuki: Smaller man who likes to wrestle. Top control grappler. And since Tereda doesn't seem good at defending the shot or takedowns, this works well for him. He spends most of round 1 on top inside the guard giving it up only at the end of the round for a heel hook attempt. He gets to mount in the second but Tereda bucks him and lands some effective blows. Watanuki seems to steal the round in the closing 30 seconds or so by landing stout punches, getting a takedown, the back, and nearly an armbar.

Tereda: Bigger guy, likes to strike, but not much of a grappler. Guys who aren't really grapplers don't go far in MMA.

At this point we see fighters getting brought out for a lightweight tournament. I think. Then I think Imanari is out there with a DEEP belt and talks some. Then Mishma comes out and talks some. Oh! Hey! They are gonna fight at DEEP 35! I needs me that card.

6) Yoshitomo Watanabe vs. Yuki Inoue: Dudes.

FIGHT: Inoue Majority Decision. Clipped. Shock. Inoue comes forward and that's about it in terms of angles. One speed too. He gets more time on top than does his opponent, which basically gets him the win. Watanabe shows the ability to block takedowns sometimes. (0)

7) Teruhiko Kubo vs. Kousei Kubota: Wrestling shoes! I love DEEP. Kubota is wearing them and he is like so old in this sport.

FIGHT: Kubota Unanimous Decision. Dana White special breaks out in round one with both men just throwing leather...and Kubota actually gets the better of it. Same in the second as Kubota also gets a double leg takedown. Tough to take away much from Kubo - had physical advantages in size, but wide punching and middling takedown defense means he loses to a .500 fighter. (0)

8) Yasusi Kitazaki vs. Tseuneyoshi Kashimura: Mystery men to me.

FIGHT: Kitazaki Split Decision. (0)

Kitazaki: Early on when he has his legs, he throws shots coming inside and then bounces out before there can be an answer. But Kitazaki gets him down in the second and that sucks some of the energy out of him. He gets up out of half guard way too easily, and Kashimura pays big. Kitazaki gets top control after another takedown attempt leads into the night's second attempt at a Sakuraba Kimura. Not much happens there but it sorta locks the fight up for Kitazaki.

Kashimura: Grappler, OK standup that he doesn't trust enough because he doesn't throw (until late in the fight), can't counter, just covers up to defend. Gave the fight away when he had Kitazaki on his back in half guard and just postured up and basically set him free to stand.

9) Naoki Matsushita vs. Ryan Bow: Bow does reporting for Japan-MMA I think.

FIGHT: Draw. (0)

Bow: Goes for takedowns, gets them in the second round, otherwise mostly a clinch stalemate where he's pushing Matsushita. Of course, the judges make it a draw in spite of Bow controlling the bout.

Matsushita: Seems to be able to throw low kicks, engage with a closed guard when on his back, and prevent takedowns sometimes. How's that for a scouting report?

10) Luiz Andrade vs. Seung Hwan Bang: If Bang's name sounds familiar, its because he lost to Takanori Gomi and Masvidal in Sengoku. Andrade is Brazilian and living in Japan. Even fought for Japan's M-1 squad in 2009.

FIGHT:Bang Unanimous Decision. Bang goes for the takedown a lot here, which honestly surprises me. Does a really good job timing Andrade, in fact - takedowns off low kicks and punches come with instinct and someone for whom the sport has slowed down a good deal. Too bad he got out of the sport after the losses in Sengoku. Coulda been a prospect if he weren't used up so fast. (0)

MEGATON GP TIME! Even the ring girls are fat.

11) Yoshito Takahashi vs. Hiroshi Kiyohara: Not fat dudes. One in rash guard, the other in thai shorts.

FIGHT: Takahashi TKO Rnd 1. Takahashi might be the dude in the rash guard, but Kiyohara is disposed of fast. He has a big set of bandages on his knee that are probably slowing him. Just wild striking. (0)

12) Muneyuki Suzuki vs. Katsumi Yamada: YES. Fat dudes time. One is from U-File.

FIGHT: Yamada TKO Rnd 1. Suzuki is rushed at the start in spite of being the U-File guy and is dropped while running away with a right hand. He gets pounded out and Yamada keeps punching after the ref tries to break them. (0)

13) Tadahiro Hosaka vs. Shunji Kosaka: Hosaka is in gi pants and a tank top.

FIGHT: Kosaka Unanimous Decision. Kosaka uses actual technique in the fight and that makes the difference. Early on Hosaka just throws leather and actually goes into a counter punching mode, attacking when Kosaka throws leg kicks. But by the second round as both are winded, Hosaka starts to fall victim to the kicks, straighter punching of Kosaka, and also a pancake sprawl of sorts. (0)

14) Ken Orihashi vs. Kazuki Nojiri: Wow. One of these guys looks like Ryo Chonan in a fat suit.

FIGHT: Orihashi Unanimous Decision. Two fighters just standing and trading. Wild crazy brawl between two tough men. Nojiri takes the worst of it though and gets dropped in the second but hangs on and keeps throwing leather back. Nojiri seems to have some basic understanding about kickboxing. (0)

15) Katsuhiko Kumano vs. Itomo Ariyama: This fight is the symbol of the tournament: Kumano is ridiculously fat. Ariyama is even fatter. He is weighing what appear to be Pumas. He is also wearing a red long sleeve shirt and overalls. Ariyama also looks facially to perhaps have Down's.

FIGHT: Kumano Split Decision. Incredible collision of fatties who throw the worst punches. Ariyama is in trouble early taking blows, runs across the ring, but weathers an early storm. The fight then falls into a pattern of two men staring at each other and then unloading lead overhand rights. Kumano is clearly the stronger man and he shoves Ariyama around the ring in the early part of the first and second. This is a fight I'm pleased to see was cut and edited. (1)

16) Ryosuke Kojima vs. Shinsuke Inoue: Neither fighter is really that huge in this fight. In fact, they are downright svelte for this tourney.

FIGHT: Inoue Unanimous Decision. Watching this makes me feel like I accidentally exited out of the DVD and are watching random Americans in some ISKA Muay Thai tournament on Altitude TV. Lots of technigally not terrible MMA. Inoue wins a unanimous decision and its deserved. He lands a lot of low kicks and also does a solid job throwing punches and leading the action. Kojima is sorta a grizzled vet kickboxer as best I can tell here. (0)

17) Yoichi Babaguchi vs. Kintaro Tsurukame: Dudes are HUGE. Babaguchi in shoes.

FIGHT: Babaguchi TKO Rnd 1. Babaguchi wins with strikes after cornering a running Tsurukame. He drops him after a chopping right and finishes the job on the man. (0)

18) Muscle Hiranuma vs. Mamoru Nakamura: One fighter hails from MUSCLE JUNGLE GYM; guess which?

FIGHT: Nakamura Unanimous Decison. Nakamura is wide, but wider yet with punches is Hiranuma. Hiranuma can't stop takedowns very well either, but can power his way out of a kimura attempt. Muscle is all done in the first, and Nakamura pours it on in the second with punches and takedowns. He's close to finishing with a RNC when the bell rings for the end of the fight at the conclusion of the second round. Hiranuma can throw his fists around. Clipped. (0)

19) Yusuke Kawaguchi vs. Nobuyoshi Takahara: Kawaguchi is the big favorite here in the tourney.

FIGHT: Kawaguchi TKO Rnd 1. Kawaguchi comes right out and tags Takahara, then takes him down. Punching is a bit robotic, but these guys suck so its not like its a shock. He pounds out Takahara from top control in 40 seconds. (0)

FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Andrade/Bang? I guess?

KO OF THE NIGHT: Wada/Miyashita

SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: that grappling exhibition. Is that unfair?

OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. Too much clipping. Boo on clipping. However, the fat men fights were generally entertaining. None of it felt too serious, which I appreciated when watching fat men fight. Shame about the clipping though.

D&R Rating: 2% (2/95)