Archive
Akiyama Talks Misaki!
Yohsihiro Akiyama talks about his NYE fight against Kazuo Misaki in this interview from a Korean TV show.
Krazy! More Lightweights To SENGOKU
Two fights have been announced for SENGOKU II on May 18th. Undefeated and very entertaining Korean Kwang Hee Lee will take on Pride veteran Eiji Mitsuoka, who defeated Joachim Hansen in his last fight. In the other announced fight Satoru Kitaoka will make his SENGOKU debut against Hero’s veteran Ian Schaffa.
Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Joachim Hansen Part 1, 2
SENGOKU II
Date: May 18th, 2008
Place: Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan
Fights:
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Ian Schaffa
Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Kwang Hee Lee
Participants:
Roger Gracie
Yoshihiro Nakao
Yuki Sasaki
Possible Participants:
Kevin Randleman
Jorge Santiago
Jeff Monson
Three GP Fights Announced! Sakuraba Will Compete!
Three fights for the upcoming first round of the DREAM Middleweight GP have been announced. In one fight Kazushi Sakuraba will face Brazilian born Kyokushin Karate fighter Andrews Nakahara. In the second two legends will collide as Kiyoshi Tamura takes on Masakatsu Funaki. In the last announced fight Pride veterans Denis Kang and Gegard Mousasi will meet.
Andrews Nakahara is a very good Kyokushin Karate fighter and is only 24 years old, but I don’t think he has ever fought in an MMA fight before. He is 183 cm tall and weighs 80 kg. Here is his Kyokushin Karate tournament history from Kyokushin4Life:
- All American Open Karate Championships 2007 (IKO-1) – 2nd Place
- All American Open Karate Championships 2006 (IKO-1) – 1st Place
- All American Open Karate Championships 2005 (IKO-1) – 2nd Place
- All American Open Karate Championships 2004 (IKO-1) – 7th Place
- 3rd World Weight Category Championships 2005 (IKO-1) – 1st Place
- 6th South American Karate Tournament 2004 (IKO-1) – 1st Place (MW)
- Brazilian Open 2004 (IKO-1) – 2nd Place
- South American Open 2005 (IKO-1) – 1st Place
OLYMPIA DREAM.2 Middleweight GP 2008 1st Round
Date: April 29th, 2008
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan
Middleweight GP 1st Round:
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Andrews Nakahara
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masakatsu Funaki
Denis Kang vs. Gegard Mousasi
Middleweight GP Participants:
Yoon Dong Sik
Yoshihiro Akiyama
Shungo Oyama
Kin Taiei
Minowaman
Possible GP Participants:
Dae Won Kim
Mamed Khalidov
Daniel Acacio
Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza
Possible Participants:
Marcelo Garcia
American Top Team! Japan Schedule
From AmericanTopTeam.com:
April 28th DREAMS Japan
Denis Kang vs TBA
Marcelo Garcia Vs TBAMay 18th WVR Japan
Jeff Monson pending
Jorge Santiago pending
Jorge Santiago is a good signing by WVR. 2007 was a great year for him as he went 4-0 and won the Strikeforce 4-Man Tournament. Maybe a fight between Santiago and Sasaki will happen at SENGOKU II as Sasaki was supposed to face him in the first round of the Strikeforce Tournament. The other three aren’t surprising, Monson has fights all over the world lined up this year.
SENGOKU II
Date: May 18th, 2008
Place: Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan
Participants:
Roger Gracie
Satoru Kitaoka
Yoshihiro Nakao
Yuki Sasaki
Possible Participants:
Kevin Randleman
Jorge Santiago
Jeff Monson
Combat Wrestling! Teacher Vs. Student
At the 14th All-Japan Combat Wrestling Championships two days ago Takanori Gomi competed in an exhibition tag team match against the man who developed Combat Wrestling, Noriaki Kiguchi (the man who is facing Gomi first in the video below). Kiguchi Gym is where Gomi’s career really started as he joined the gym after he dropped out of school and his parents disowned him.
Another thing to note is that Satoru Kitaoka won the tournament in the 80 kg class. He is one of the new signings of WVR and will probably get a shot at Gomi if he wins a couple of fights. He has defeated fighters such as Carlos Condit, Hidehiko Hasegawa, Paul Daley, Fabricio Monteiro and Kurt Pellegrino. Now he is going down to the Lightweight division for his SENGOKU debut.
(Photo by: Kamipro)
Rumors! We Are Heading For The Three Events In 20 Days Period
No point in having a blog inside a blog. More posts from now on, even though they might be short.
March 23rd – Nick Thompson Has Three Fights Left With WVR
MMAFighting.com: What is your status with World Victory Road?
Thompson: I have got a four-fight deal with them. So I have three fights left and it’s non-exclusive and I’m expected to sign something with HCF (Hardcore Championship Fighting) up in Canada in the day or two. So I’ll be fighting for those two organizations, kinda switching in between the two.
MMAFighting.com: For your next fight, are we going to see you at the HCF first or right back to World Victory Road?
Thompson: Sounds like I’ll be fighting HCF next and then possibly returning to Japan in June.
Read the whole interview here.
———————————
March 23rd – Gomi To Fight At SENGOKU III Next
It looks like Gomi’s next fight will be at SENGOKU III in Saitama Super Arena on June 8th.
———————————
March 23rd – Misaki Still With WVR?
I know that Misaki’s contract with WVR was only for one fight, but in this new Sherdog article it says:
Grabaka frontman Sanae Kikuta , as well as World Victory Road executive and J-ROCK president Takahiro Kokuho are reportedly leading the negotiations with Strikeforce, which would reportedly allow Misaki retain the ability to fight for WVR’s Sengoku promotion in Japan while competing in Strikeforce stateside.
So it seems like he will continue fighting for SENGOKU.
———————————
March 21st – Jacare In DREAM Middleweight GP?
Throwdown: When is your next MMA fight & with what organization?
Jacare: April 29, 2008 for DREAM 2 in Japan 185lbs weight.
Read the whole interview here.
———————————
March 21st – Daniel Acacio In DREAM Middleweight GP?
Rudimar Fedrigo says that there is a strong possibility that Acacio will participate in the GP after his recent victory in Finland.
SENGOKU II! WVR Announces The First Names
Four names have been announced for SENGOKU II on May 18th. They are Roger Gracie, Satoru Kitaoka, Yoshihiro Nakao and UFC veteran Yuki Sasaki.
Kitaoka has fought mostly in Pancrase throughout his career and was on a great five fight winning streak where he defeated fighters such as Paul Daley and Fabricio Monteiro, but, in January his streak ended as he lost to Katsuya Inoue by split decision for the vacant King Of Pancrase Welterweight title.
Yoshihiro Nakao was one of the rumored opponents for Mirko Cro Cop on March 15th, but that didn’t happen and he will now fight in SENGOKU. He last fought at Pride’s final event in April of 2007 where he submitted Edson Drago.
Yuki Sasaki has fought in most big promotions around the world. You might remember him best for his good effort against Dean Lister at UFC Fight Night 6 in 2006. He was supposed to fight in a 4-man Strikeforce tournament last year but was pulled out of it because he didn’t get medically cleared by the CSAC.
SENGOKU II
Date: May 18th, 2008
Place: Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan
Participants:
Roger Gracie
Satoru Kitaoka
Yoshihiro Nakao
Yuki Sasaki
Kevin Randleman
(Photo by: GBRing)
Awakened! DREAM.1
DREAM.1 is over and it wasn’t the best of events, there were a few boring fights and the main event didn’t end the way we wanted, but that’s how it is sometimes. You probably know by now where to find the videos of the fights, so let’s look ahead, at the Middleweight GP opening round on April 29th…
Seven fighters were present and announced for the GP during DREAM.1, they were: Kazushi Sakuraba, Yoon Dong Sik, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Minowaman, Kiyoshi Tamura, Kin Taiei and Masakatsu Funaki. Also, Kiyoshi Tamura and Denis Kang are on the event poster, so expect them to participate.
OLYMPIA DREAM.2 Middleweight GP 2008 1st Round
Date: April 29th, 2008
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan
Middleweight GP Participants:
Kazushi Sakuraba
Yoon Dong Sik
Yoshihiro Akiyama
Shungo Oyama
Kin Taiei
Masakatsu Funaki
Minowaman
Kiyoshi Tamura
Denis Kang
Kawajiri’s DS Training! Mirko To Japan
Kawajiri’s DS Training
Tatsuya Kawajiri showed his Nintendo DS with the game “Flash Focus: Vision Training in Minutes a Day” during an open training session with Mitsuhiro Ishida yesterday. The game gives your eyes a workout and helps improve eye movement, hand-eye coordination, peripheral vision and other things.
Mirko CroCop On His Way
Here is a video with Mirko before his departure to Japan.
Mark Hunt To DREAM After K-1 Title Fight?
The Japan MMA site has an article up from an interview with Mark Hunt where he says that his K-1 fight with Semmy Schilt is the only K-1 rules fight in his current contract, the rest are MMA.
Hidetaka Monma Preparing For “Mach”
DREAM Rules Announced!
Update: What I wrote seems to be about right, but another important thing that a member of the Kakutougi forums pointed out: Ground position in DREAM means a three point position (both feet and one hand). So for example, if a fighter has both knees and one hand on the floor, then no kicks to the head are allowed. I think it was four point at Yarennoka!, but that is changed now.
I’m not 100% sure, so don’t think of this as fact until I update the post with a better translation, but:
—————————
Round Lengths
- 10 minute first round, 5 minute second round.
- 90 second interval between rounds.
Judging
- Fights are judged in their entirety.
- No draws are possible, the judges must pick a winner.
Knees, Elbows, Stomps & Soccer Kicks
- Stomps and soccer kicks to the head of a grounded opponent are not allowed, but they are allowed to the rest of the body. Though if both fighters are on the ground, they are allowed to the head.
- Elbows to the head are not allowed.
- Knees to the head of a grounded opponent are allowed.
- If there is a 15 kg or more weight difference between the fighters knees to the head of a grounded opponent are not allowed.
- Ground position in DREAM means a three point position (both feet and one hand). So for example, if a fighter has both knees and one hand on the floor, then no kicks to the head are allowed.
—————————
Nightmare Of Battle 