Kancho Ishii In Greece! Scouting For Talent

K-1 godfather Kancho (Boss) Kazuyoshi Ishii was recently in Greece doing some business and scouting fighters. He has uploaded video clips of his trip to his YouTube channel.

The following are three videos from the trip, with some young Greek fighters sparring in front of Ishii: Part 1, 2, 3

This Ishii history video on his channel is a good watch as well.

It seems like things are going down in Japan these days. With the TBS/DREAM/SENGOKU article, Kancho Ishii always mentioning that WVR should buy DREAM or that they should merge, K-1 Japan only having one event thus far in 2009 (with no announced future ones yet), WVR probably waiting with ishii’s debut until November (the final DREAM event on primetime on TBS in 2009 is one month prior), etc. It’s gonna be an interesting second half of 2009.

Nightmare TV! Akiyama On Korean Variety Show

Yoshihiro Akiyama was a guest in Korean variety show Family Outing a while ago. In the show, a group of celebrities and often a guest visit different villages in South Korea and stay at a house there for two days. At the house they do some chores and play different games.

The cast address Akiyama by his Korean name, Chu Sung Hoon, in the show. The two episodes featuring Akiyama are available for download and through streaming with English subtitles here (episode 50 & 51, thanks to the subbers). They’re fun so I definitely recommend watching them.

Art Of War FC 13! Jadamba Returns

ART OF WAR 13: RISING FORCE

Since 2005, the Art of War Fighting Championship® has strived to establish itself as China’s premier mixed martial arts organization. Featuring China’s best martial arts athletes, the Art of War® is recognized by fans and industry experts as the pioneer and leader of China’s mixed martial arts revolution. The Art of War Fighting Championship® 13 – “Rising Force” returns to the National Olympic Sports Center on July 18, 2009 with 12 action-packed mixed martial arts fights for your entertainment pleasure.

Under Card:
84 kg – Xu Chao (China) versus Yoann Gouaida (France)
90 kg – Luo Qiang (China) versus Dorjderem Munkhayasgalan (Mongolia)
78 kg – Kim Dong Hyung (Korea) versus Lubomir Guedjev (Bulgaria)
66 kg – Ning Guang You (China) versus Kang Kyung Ho (Korea)
72 kg – Bernueng Sakhomsin (Thailand) versus Jadambaa Narantungalag (Mongolia)

Main Card:
72 kg – Yu Woo Sung (Korea) versus Egon Racz (Slovakia)
72 kg – Wu Hao Tian (China) versus Shukhrat Minavarov (Uzbekistan)
96+ kg – Katsuhisa Fujii (Japan) versus Rodney Glunder (Holland)
72 kg – Dai Shuang Hai (China) versus Marcin Pionke (Poland)
96+ kg – Rolles Gracie (Brazil) versus Yim Joon Soo (Korea)
78 kg – Wang Sai (China) versus Claes Beverlov (Sweden)

*Fight card subject to change

Let’s take a look at the main card…

Nightmare TV! Watanabe Vs. Uematsu

Former Japan Boxing Featherweight champion Kazuhisa Watanabe vs. the face of K-1’s Lightweight division Daisuke Uematsu from February’s K-1 MAX event.

Watanabe will face Atsushi Yamamoto in his second K-1 fight in 10 days. I hope FEG are going for a Watanabe vs. KID fight if everything goes as it should.

Ishii In Las Vegas! Convinced Of Growth

An American Ishii at Xtreme Couture article has been written and posted at the Cagewriter Yahoo! blog.

Zach Conley is just beginning to try his hand at mixed martial arts. The former Idaho State linebacker works out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. With top notch instructors like Shawn Tompkins running the place, it’s a great opportunity. But there is a downside. You may have to roll with someone that’s a bit out of your league. Conley is just 1-0 as an amateur but in a 20 minute span he found himself being dumped on his head by 2008 Olympic Judo Gold medalist Satoshi Ishii

After rolling with Ishii, Conley, trying to cover up that he’d just been smoked, said “man, that guy’s pretty good at Judo.” Gym veterans laughed as they told him
“that guy” just won the gold medal.

“I had no idea, it was a rude awakening,” Conley told Cagewriter. “That guy’s got crazy judo, I got my ass tossed all over the place. I was a state champ wrestler (in Idaho) and he tossed me like I was my little sister.”

He speaks little English but is getting along just fine. K-1 veteran Ray Sefo often serves as a translator. Believe it or not, the only guy at the gym late on Wednesday who could communicate with Ishii, was the very eloquent “New York Bad Ass”, Phil Baroni.

Read the whole article here.

I think this was his first training day since coming to Vegas. Since then it seems to have gone even better…

Ishii made a post on his blog yesterday writing that he was satisfied with training that day. Because he is convinced that he has grown, he wants a fight. He ends with: “Boss, I’m waiting for a notification”.

Misaki’s Punishment! August 2nd Fight Still On

Kazuo Misaki’s punishment by the commission was announced today. He will still be able to fight on August 2nd, but his fight money will be confiscated. Furthermore, after the August 2nd fight, he will be suspended indefinitely.

Update: This fight is a number 1 contender fight but if Misaki wins, he won’t be the next challenger because of the suspension. Misaki’s fight money will go to the Japanese AIDS Stop Foundation (which SENGOKU currently has a cooperation with) and other such voluntary activities.

News! K-1 Founder Ishii Speaks

Ishii Holds Fan Meeting - GBRing.com

Kazuyoshi Ishii Fan Meeting

Powerful K-1 founder Ishii held a fan event in Shibuya in Tokyo today. He said that he doesn’t have any intentions to become K-1 producer again. Instead, he will put all his power into a new amateur organization called International K-1 Federation (FIKA). He wants to especially advance into Europe. He says that there are a lot of strong fighters in Greece. He wants to hold K-1 events in Europe from now on in order to have it erupt there.

He also talked about the K-1 World Cup which there has been talks about for some years now. He said that they will be able to have 32 countries for their first one, compared to 7 which soccer/football had in its first World Cup (he means that the first K-1 World Cup will be at a larger scale than the first football world cup, which is now the biggest). This is also part of FIKA.

Finishing with MMA, he said that with organization DREAM and organization SENGOKU, an UFC opposition cannot be made. He said that he is currently in talks about them doing MMA together. He said that when considering the fans, doing MMA together is better.

Two Legends Appeal For 2016 Olympics In Tokyo

Koga X Yoshida - GBRing.com

Judo legends and Barcelona Olympic gold medalists Hidehiko Yoshida and Toshihiko Koga were present at a movement event for the 2016 Olympics being held in Tokyo today. Regarding SENGOKU, Yoshida said that a participation on August 2nd is still possible.

Antonio Silva Returns In September?

MMAJunkie has a new article where Antonio Silva’s manager says that he might return to SENGOKU for their September event, and that he could possibly fight in a title fight at the end of the year if the September event goes well. Read the full article here.

Yuki Kondo’s Return Opponent Announced

Yuki Kondo will make his MMA return at a Pancrase event on August 8th. His opponent was announced today and it is Korean Kim Ki Beom. Kim has won the South Korea Hapkido Championships two times, and his base is Judo and Kyokushin Karate.

Fabricio Monteiro! SENGOKU Return In September?

Tatame reports that Fabricio Monteiro still has a four fight deal with SENGOKU and that he is ready and thinks he will return to the SENGOKU ring in September. It seems that SENGOKU have had trouble finding him opponents until now. That will hopefully not be the case in the future with their their current focus on the welterweight division.

Monteiro lost in his sole SENGOKU appearance against Nick Thompson, a fight which some people thought should have been scored differently, back at the first event of the organization in March of 2008. After that he has only had one MMA fight, on July 12th of last year in Brazil where he defeated Japanese Yoshitomo Watanabe.

Monteiro is definitely a welcome addition to the SENGOKU Welterweight title rush which could end at SENGOKU NO RAN 2010 where two fighters who keep winning their welterweight fights in the organization were/are planned to face off.

Ishii To Las Vegas! Xtreme Couture Training

Ishii departs - Sportsnavi.com

Satoshi Ishii left Japan yesterday, heading to Las Vegas and Xtreme Couture for one month of training. Ishii confessed that since arriving home from the Machida training in Brazil he has, side by side with his MMA training, trained Shotokan Karate in the metropolitan area three times a week.

Ishii was originally going to head to Holland and train under Fedor Emelianenko, but because of circumstances with schedules and such, it has been postponed. SENGOKU then advised him to once again train in America.

His neck which he had surgery on recently is doing good. He said that he wants to fight a Japanese fighter in his debut, which will probably happen in November. He also said that he is planning to attend UFC 100 where his senior, Yoshihiro Akiyama, will make his UFC debut.

SENGOKU IX Update! Gono Vs. Hornbuckle

It was announced today that Akihiro Gono’s opponent for his Japan return will be Dan Hornbuckle. Hornbuckle participated in SENGOKU last year where he lost to Mike Pyle. However, since then he has two victories, capturing the Raw Combat Welterweight title in one of them.

Update: An announcement regarding Misaki’s participation on August 2nd will be made this week. Gono says that he hasn’t had much contact with Misaki recently, but he wants them to both fight on August 2nd.

Update #2: Gono has trained with Boxing champion Daisuke Naito’s trainer for two weeks. Gono is very confident in his jab after the special training. The trainer goes as far as to say that no Japanese boxer can hit such jab. He compared it to two former Japanese Boxing champions.

SENGOKU IX
Date: August 2nd, 2009
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan

SENGOKU Lightweight Title Fight (5×5):
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Mizuto Hirota

SENGOKU Featherweight GP Final (Possibly 5×5):
Hioki/Kanehara vs. Omigawa/Sandro

SENGOKU Featherweight GP Semifinals:
Hatsu Hioki vs. Masanori Kanehara
Michihiro Omigawa vs. Marlon Sandro

SENGOKU Middleweight Title Challenger Fight:
Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Kazuo Misaki

Heavyweight Fights:
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Blagoy Alexandre Ivanov
Yoshihiro “KISS” Nakao vs. Choi Mu Bae

Lightweight Fight:
Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Clay French

Welterweight Fight:
Akihiro Gono vs. Dan Hornbuckle