SENGOKU 8, Yoyogi National Stadium Second Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan 05/02/2009
By Crimson Mask
Replay airs tonight at 9 PM ET on HDnet.
Ron Kruck replaces Kenny Rice. This HAS to be a 'plus'. Bas already setting a record for most whoops and boops in a night. Recap of the first round of the Featherweight GP tourney setting part of tonight's second round matchups. Preview of the non tourney fights.
Here's the opening ceremony, sorta. Except they talk over it and you can't hear the arena audio.
Shigeki Osawa vs. Kota Ishibashi and Hirotoshi Saito vs. Yoshitaka Abe are dark matches.
Maximo Blanco vs. Akihiko Mori opens the telecast.
Here's the prefight arena promo to the dreaded Right Round Medley. These are great though. This is Blanco. Wrestling bg. Venezuelan. Here's Mori. Also wrestling bg. His family once ruled a big chunk of Japan and he wears Samurai gear into the ring. Mori in first. 6-6-1. Blanco has cool music with surf guitar. 2-1-1. Heavily favored. Yoshida in the house.
Mori taller, Blanco thicker. Both righty. They collide and Blanco attacks from clinch. TD right into side. Mori gets guard. Goes for arm bar. They roll. Blanco escapes and takes back. Riding and elbowing the body. Hammering the head. Has the ankle trapped. Mori knees the leg. Ref calls action and then break. Checking Blanco's nose. Looks broke but no BFD. Blanco drops Mori with a left hook then lands a foot stomp which is legal. Side mount, Mori tries a knee bar. Blanco backs out. Ref standup. Mori wild. Blanco lands an upper right counter and misses a flying knee, lands a spin back kick to the body. Drops Mori with a big right hook counter. Blanco soccer kicks him in the head after he's down which is a foul. Dumb as shit because he had the fight won. TO as they check Mori. Fight is over. Doctor stoppage. Blanco turns a victory backflip but he loses by DQ. Too bad. Was a fun fight while it lasted. Mori cuts his promo from his ass. I mean he's still down. They stretcher him out.
Travis Wiuff vs. Stanislav Nedkov
The veteran heavyweight Wiuff (pronounced 'View') was riding pretty high last year after winning the Kiddie Pool Abortion and KOing Iron Head Fujita and looked to have a squash coming against a pro-debuting light heavyweight. The light heavyweight turned out to be King Mo who blasted Wiuff out in short order. Now Wiuff's career future is being questioned (although Mo has since knocked off two more veterans and seems to be no ordinary prospect). Nedkov who I don't know is supposed to be a prospect himself so this is a sort of crossroads fight.
Showing View KOing Fujita. Now showing Mo blasting him, but that's his only loss in his last 10 fights. He has 60+. Here's Nedkov. Only 5 fights. Bulgarian. Nedkov in first. 5-0. 4 1st round KOs. BJJ black belt and wrestler. Enters to some kind of Bulgarian dirge. Here comes View to some slow Johnny Cash I think which sounds like James Brown by comparison. 54-12. This fight is at 205. View has weighed around 250, 260 his last few. Still the bigger man.
Rightys. View with a leaping left hook and clinches. Nedkov knees the gut. Scramble. Another knee goes south. TO. Nedkov charges. Clinch. Nedkov knees the legs. View knees the legs. Presses Nedkov into the corner. Ref break, another knee went low. They collide again and clinch. View footstomps. Nedkov knees him in the nads again. This one hurt. View is down. He has 5 minutes. I think we're getting another DQ here, though. Nope. He's up and wants to go. Nedkov gets a red card. That's a fine and he loses a point. Collide again. Clinch. Nedkov throwing knees, ref break. View gets a low kick off before Nedkov charges again. Clinch. View corners him again. ANOTHER knee in the nads. ANOTHER TO. Refs conferring. View still wants to go. Another red card. Another clinch. View corners him again. Ref break. Clinch. Wild trading. They hit the ground more from mutual slips than anything else. Nedkov on top in guard. Drops a shot or two. View punches up a couple times. Nothing really of note in the round so it goes 10-8 View.
Clinch and knees are flying again. View slams, into HG. Nedkov gets full butterfly guard. View dropping little shots. Goes body body head. Ref calls action. Nedkov tries elevator, nada. HG. Ref break. Nedkov up slow, complaining back of head. Ref ain't buying. Nedkov lands a wild right lead. Clinch. Nedkov knees the body. Ref break. View scores a KD and grabs a Guillotine from HG. Nedkov out and gets guard. View dropping small shots again. Corner wants him up and punching down. Nedkov clinging. View 10-9.
Nedkov looking gassed in the corner. Nedkov drops View with a right lead and G&Ps from HG. View ducks under the bottom rope but Nedkov gets through with another hard shot and the ref calls it. Sumo guy comes in to give the trophy. Weird fight. Nedkov sits to cut his promo. Still gassed. Says thank you in English then goes to Russian or Bulgarian. Stands up. Thank you very much. Still puffing. Thanks God and everybody. Thanks Sengoku. Thank you very much. The 'thank you very much' sounds exactly like Andy doing Latka.
Boy this is off to a weird start. Kruck is doing a very good job btw.
Makoto Takimoto vs. Michael Costa
Takimoto was a Gold Medalist in Judo but has been thrown to the wolves in MMA and is 4-5. His vid shows him in a courtroom. Which apparently was a TV show he acted in. He drops to welter for this fight. Costa is a Chute Boxe guy who gave Nick The Goat Thompson a great fight last time out in a losing effort---I thought it was one of the best fights of last year. Costa in first in a Jesus Is My Coach t shirt and a fedora. 9-4, 8 by stoppage. Didn't dance as much as he did coming in for Thompson. Takimoto in to some Vegas music. Costa several years younger and packing a lot more muscle.
Taki lefty. Costa blasting low kicks early. High kick, flying knee, pulls guard with a guillotine. Taki gets to HG and is really out of the choke. Pulls all the way out. Goes for arm bar but Costa defends. Taki gets side control. Arm bar try again. Costa locks arms and blocks. Both go for heel hooks. Taki switches from an inverted to a regular and gets the tap. Superb while it lasted. Costa limps to the corner. Taki says he thought he would lose, and was going to retire if he did. Costa gets the mic. Waving a Bible. Gives it to Taki who is already on the floor on his way back to the locker room and stops to accept it. Uh...
Marlon Sandro vs. Nick Denis
K looks like we're going into the tourney fights now. This could easily have been the finals with different seeding. Sandro is one of the favorites and has super BJJ. Denis is a very good striker and once again style should determine result.
Here's the vid. Sandro King of Pancrase. Subbing guys left and right. Denis King of the Cage. KOing guys left and right. Denis in first to some sorta Bond sounding music. 7-0. 6 KOs 1 sub. Here is Sandro to Brazilian hip hop. 13-0. 7 subs 3 KOs. Size very close, Denis is 7 years younger.
Rightys. HOLY SHIT! Sandro drops Denis with an right uppercut left hook and KOs him cold with 7 followup right hooks to the ground! The grappler KOs the striker! NINETEEN seconds.
Sandro shpritzes God, personal problems in training, yada. Runs to the corner and stops Denis on his way through the ropes to shake hands. Thanks his fans and Sengoku. Wow. That was highlight reel material.
Chan Sung Jung vs. Masanori Kanehara
This also shapes up competitive but frankly because it's probably the two weakest fighters left in the GP. Kanehara seems ordinary at everything and Jung seems all power and no technique. Not sure how to call this one either. Suspect Jung overpowers him.
Jung is either an idiot savant fighter or a great con man. Won some kinda kickboxing reality show in Korea. Kanehara is from some promotion which doesn't allow ground strikes and has no decisions---all distance fights are draws. Jung in to some lollipop song. Kanehara vid, trains with a guy in a zombie mask. Jung is called the Korean Zombie. Apprently he dissed Kanehara as an opponent. Plus Kanehara beat his teammate in the first round of the GP. Jung 6-0. Kanehara 12-5-5. Jung appears to flip off the house on his intro.
Rightys. Jung telegraphs a kick by a mile. Kanehara jabs. Low kick, nothing on it, another with more juice. Jung punches wild. Kanehara TD. FG. Free shots with his right hand. Tries to pass. Still getting free shots. HG. Grinds the forearm. More hammerfists. Grind hammer grind. Ref standup. Jung warned for inaction. Clinch. Jung knees the body. Kanehara gets a power double. Jung flails from the bottom, lands a heel kick, reverses, Kanehara reverses, through the ropes, standup. Both wild, both landing. Kanehara 10-9. Action round if a little wild.
Kanehara shoots. Jung knees the body. Both throw wild. Kanehara flash KD. Jung lands. Kanehara TD. Jung flails. Almost reverses. Tries omaplata. Thumps with his free hand. Loses it, misses upkick, gets guard. Jung striking more from the bottom. Triangle attempt to arm bar. Kanehara escapes back into guard. Arm bar try again. Jung outpunching from the bottom. Triangle attempt again, Kanehara regains guard and tries a leglock. Jung landing heel kicks from the bottom. Scramble. Jung gets NS. Through the ropes. No break. Jung gets on top, Kanehara grabs a heel hook but too late in the round. GREAT round. Jung 10-9.
Jung won't touch gloves. Both blasting away. Jung misses a high kick and slips. Kanehara on top. FG to HG. Nothing happening. Kanehara pulls his leg out, side, knees the head. Jung regains guard. Triangle try, striking from the bottom, they scramble up. Kanehara on the double. Gets the TD near the ropes. Jung kicks away from the bottom and escapes and lands a knee. Gets NS, kneeing. Scramble. Reset in center. No. Standup, Bombs away. Both landing. Jung gets NS again. Guard. Jung blasting from the top. HG. Knees the head. Stands out. Kanehara upkick. Jung stomps. Kanehara goes for heel hook, nada. Ended up being a terrific fight. Jung 10-9 and I have him 29-28.
Scores... 30-29 Kanehara. 30-29 Kanehara. 29-28 Kanehara. Jung can't believe it. I call bullshit.
Kanehara says he'll be stronger at the semis.
Alexandre Ribeiro vs. Keiichiro Yamamiya
Back to non tourney. Ribiero, who is legendary in BJJ but only 1-0 in MMA (and won a sloppy fight with strikes) vs. Yamamiya who has 67 fights and is ex King of Pancrase. Yamamiya 34-23-9 in first. Bas beat him 12 years ago. He's 36. Ribiero in to Marley.
Size is close. Gono at the Japanese table. Yamamiya lefty. Xandre circling. Slow start. Xandre shoots behind a right lead. Kei stuffing the single. Ref break. Xandre shoots behind a flurry and gets the double after some posing. HG. Mount. G&P. Kei hip thrusts and turns to the ropes. Reset in center, more G&P. Kei turns. Xandre body scissors and going for the RNC. Scrambles to arm bar. Flips it over. Time runs out. Xandre 10-8.
Kei short with a right. Xandre shoots. Kei sprawls, pushes the head down. Xandre just powers up and pulls on the double. Kei scrambles up. Clinched through the ropes. Ref just pulls the limbs back in. Ref break. Xandre high kick, clinch, Kei knee. Xandre on the single. Ref break. Kei left lead. Xandre misses high kick. Pace slows. Clinch, sloppy strikes on the break. Kei starting to land punches. Xandre looks gassed. Kei left lead. Xandre high kick. Lunges with punches, missing. Kei flying knee try, caught and slammed by Xandre. Passes to side. Mount at the bell. Even round by me.
Wild trading. Big shot Xandre, big shot Kei. Pace slows. Kei steps in with an upper, Xandre nails him with a counter right hook on the button and follows up with another couple to the ground for the KO.
Xandre promos in English. Nice to be here, thank God, hello to my family, Brazil, US, one more KO, what can I say, great grappler knocks people out, see you next time. (He's sloppy, though... ).
Hey, ROH commercial with Flair leads into intermission. They recap more first round matches of the GP. Here's Phan's whole fight. He was getting outboxed till he scored the late 1st round Fitzsimmons Shift one punch KO. Here is Hioki's dominant 1st round sub grappling win over Chris Manuel. Kruck gets my vote for the permanent chair. He's ten times smarter than Rice and is keeping Bas on the case and from going silly like he usually does. He hasn't booped since the intro. This is Bas' best call in several years.
Back up with Leonardo Santos vs. Kazunori Yokota, non tourney.
Yokota lost to Kitaoka in the LW GP. Santos is 6-2 and on a 5 fight streak and is Waggney Fabiano's brother. Yokota is 8-2-3 with 6 decision wins and .500 last year. Santos has all physical advantages. Yokota favored.
Rightys. Santos MUCH taller and longer. Trade low kicks, Yokota's harder. Santos shoots. Gets it. Straight to mount. Back, hooks in. Yokota turns, turns again. Santos has back with body triangle. Yokota wrist controlling. Reverses into Santos' guard. Santos playing sticky. Yokota pounds the body. Santos tries for a sub, Yokota spins out, reset away from the ropes that took 30 seconds. Yokoya pulls up and drops some shots, a stomp, defends subs, Santos goes for a triangle at the bell. Yokota 10-9.
Trade rights. Santos flying knee lands but caught and taken down. FG. Situp and Yokota knees the head. Passes to HG but Santos regains FG. Yokota postures up but drops back in. Knees the head even from FG. Up, stomp, back in. Santos' long legs are working against him. He reverses, gets rear waistlock, to mount. Now Yokota playing sticky. Yokota turns. Santos gets body triangle and drops shots from the top. Yokota reverses into FG. Yokota 10-9.
Kitaoka in the house. Both kick short, Santos lands a right. Low kick, clinch. Yokota knees the body, tries to drag Santos down. Santos on a single, knees the body. Ref break. Yoko jabs. Trade body shots and clinch. Trading evenly. Yoko shoots but Santos gets the TD. HG. Santos looking for side choke. Yoko turns to his side. Santos thumps away, warned for back of the head. Mount. Back, scissors. Yoko reverses into FG again. Another slow reset. Yoko pulls up and punches and stomps at the bell to even the round, so Yokota 30-28.
Scores... 30-28 Yokota. 29-28 Santos. 29-28... Yokota. He says Santos was stronger than he expected. Apologizes for the fight. Wants a shot at Kitaoka, who smirks.
Back to tourney fights with Nam Phan vs. Michihiro Omigawa.
Also figures to be a competitive battle with both off impressive wins. Phan needs to keep it standing and Omigawa needs to make Phan deal with his Judo and whoever dictates the fight should win.
Vid opens with Omigawa's postfight house mic 'FUCK YOU!' to everybody who expected him to lose to Davis. Shows Phan's KO. Here's Phan to Viet R&B which Bas likes. 15-5, 3 wins out of his last 4, plus 3-0 in boxing. Here's Omigawa. 5-7-1 overall but looked like a world beater against Davis. Phan taller and younger. Omigawa thicker.
Both righty. Omigawa bobbing and weaving like he's the pro boxer. Shoots and gets the TD. Phan counters with a heel hook. Omigawa counters with guillotine. Phan flips over and slips the choke. Omigawa knees the head and gets NS. More knees, Phan up. Omigawa regains guillotine, rolling cradles Phan over, Phan gets out. NS again and knee. Phan up but still in front chancery, Omigawa with a mare. More knees from NS. Phan out and up. Phan 2-1 with a body shot. Omigawa counters. Phan 2-1 again. Body kick. Jab. Body hook, Phan finding the range. Omigawa throws a couple rights, closes and gets a waistlock and legtrip TD and misses a stomp, Phan up, Omigawa landing punches, Phan in trouble. Clinches. Omigawa takes him down. Knees the head, G&Ps and the ref steps in. VERY impressive. Does not tell anybody to fuck themselves on his promo.
Hatsu Hioki vs. Ronnie Mann
This also could easily have been the finals with different seeding. Hioki is the odds on (and crowd) favorite and has killer ground skills. Mann was very impressive himself, especially on the ground, although vs. lesser comp, and has to be a dark horse to pull the upset.
Vid recaps their first round wins and spends about 75% of the time on Hioki. Mann, or Ushiwara as he is known in Japan, in first. 17-1-1, 10 subs. Black father, Japanese mother, from the UK. Hioki 18-3-2 and will have height and reach and is heavily favored. Mann is 22, Hioki 25.
Rightys. Mann right lead. 2-1. Hioki shoots. Mann stuffs. Blocks a hiptoss with a whizzer. Hioki gets the TD. Mann turns in. NS. On a single. Hioki pops the head. Mann grapevines the leg. Hoki tries an Anaconda. Rolling. Mann pulls out. Hioki mounts. Mann out the back but into a Triangle. Mann tries to step over and stomp. Hioki pulls him back, traps one hand, hammering the head with his free hand still from the Triangle. Mann taps.
Hioki thanks everybody, will do his best at the finals in August, so on.
For some reason they close the show with King Mo's last fight. Would have rather seen the other two fights from this card especially as Osawa is national and world college wrestling champion and is getting the push.
One last note on Kruck---I do NOT like him in his usual Third Wheel role on these telecasts and Inside MMA, which consists of him doing obviously scripted, memorized and practiced in the mirror commentaries and interview questions, which he frankly sucks at. He's a lousy actor, but he's very good at spontaneous commentary. FAR FAR better than Rice.
Another good no frills card from Sengoku, overcoming the weird start. 3 out of the 4 of the GP fights were impressive wins and even though Kanehara's was dubious it was a great fight, and I'm sure the other three guys are glad Jung, who I don't know what to make of and I doubt anybody else does either, is out of there. Omigawa seems like a whole different fighter, and Hioki and Sandro look unbeatable at this level. The semis and finals are close to a tossup.
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