Hioki Rebounds with Win in Shooto
TOKYO, Japan, Jan. 26 -- Shooto returned to historic Korakuen Hall
for the seventh Back to Our Roots card on Saturday, which saw
Nagoya Shooto prospect Hatsu
Hioki (Pictures) take on Shooto oddity "Toikatsu"
Katsuya Toida
(Pictures) in the main event.
Often criticized in the past for being an incredibly able grappler who has suffered whenever opting to bang with opponents on the feet, Hioki would perhaps be able to get away with it on Saturday, as he was set to face one of Japan's more savvy ground fighters in Toida.
That is of course, until Toida began firing back, swinging from the
fences with wild overhand hooks that had the Nagoya native
backpedaling and countering with low kicks and jabs. While Toida
sought to position his opponent into the corners before opening up
with punches, Hioki often found himself stepping out of them at the
last minute, often getting grazed or tagged several times in the
process.
Where possible, Hioki would position himself in just the right position to use his superior length to launch counter jabs and hooks, often landing squarely on Toida's face as he evaded and stuck it to his tenaciously forward-moving opponent. Before long, a counter hook off of one of these exchanges put Toida down for the first knockdown, landing the first round squarely in Hioki's favor.
Kicking Toida's legs out from under, Hioki scored the second knockdown of the fight before an apparently frustrated and angry Toida once again charged in with winging punches. Ducking under, Hioki was able to briefly capture Toida for the body lock takedown.
Scrambling back to his feet, Toida soon found himself defending the rear-naked choke as Hioki had immediately transitioned to his back and sunken in his hooks. As Toida grasped at Hioki's wrists to pry them from his neck, Hioki quickly swung a leg over, catching the veteran grappler in a textbook armbar that had Toida immediately tapping, ending the bout at the 4:30 mark in the second round.
With this win breathing a little life into his Shooto career, Hioki has perhaps caught his break since dropping a close decision to Antonio Carvalho (Pictures) last May, when he was ranked No. 8 in the Shooto World lightweight rankings. Dropping to No. 10 after yet another loss in October to Jong Man Kim (Pictures), Hioki will presumably take a spot among Shooto's top five, rising above Toida, currently No. 5, with this much needed win.
The most technical of Saturday's bouts, the co-main event between Masakatsu Ueda (Pictures) and Atsushi Yamamoto (Pictures), did not disappoint, as the Paraestra wrestler took a hard fought unanimous decision against Yamamoto in a tense back-and-forth bout.
Employing inside low kicks and body punches that Ueda was largely unable to defend, Yamamoto was only barely able to edge out his opponent on the feet. Ueda returned in kind with mid-kicks and the occasional punch combination that had Yamamoto backing up in the second round.
With Yamamoto edging Ueda in the standup, Ueda essentially edged out Yamamoto on the ground, controlling him from the side or half-guard while accumulating points with short, small punches.
Nearly locking up a Brabo choke that had Yamamoto gasping, Ueda's control on the canvas put him ahead in the bout before Yamamoto turned things up in the third.
Doubling Ueda over with hard body punches and taking side-mount midway through, only to pass to full-mount in the final seconds of the round, Yamamoto soundly won the final round. It was too little too late however, as the resulting scorecards revealed the fight to be 29-28 all around for Ueda, awarding the stoic wrestler the unanimous decision victory.
In perhaps the evening's most interesting display of mixed messages, "KID" Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures) -- who recently changed the name of his Killer Bee gym to Krazy Bee in favor of a more family-friendly image -- angrily motioned for Yamamoto to vacate the ring upon hearing the result, leaving a surprised Ueda in the lurch as he was making his way to the opposing corner to pay his respects. In lieu of the typical handshake, the momentarily caught-off-guard Ueda quickly bowed to the backs of the retreating Krazy Bee contingent.
Since winning the Shooto world bantamweight title in February of 2007, "BJ" Shinichi Kojima (Pictures)'s career since has been riddled with curious decisions that have left the 123-pound champ suffering at their resulting consequences. Proving that he has still not learned from his previous experiences in stepping up a weight class and focusing exclusively on standup instead of his championship-winning grappling, BJ dropped yet another disappointing fight in Shooto's featherweight division this evening -- this time to So Tazawa (Pictures).
Whipping the bantamweight champ to the mat with several powerful judo hip throws, BJ looked surprisingly outgunned by Tazawa, as the true 132 pounder controlled top position and accumulated damaging points with strikes from above. When BJ did secure top position upon taking Tazawa down from the clinch, Tazawa quickly turned the tables back in his favor, sweeping Kojima with ease.
Frustrated and still looking for the ever-elusive knockout in the third round, a reckless rush by BJ opened up an opportunity for Tazawa to duck under the flurry and use his opponent's momentum for a picture perfect judo hip throw.
From side, Tazawa brought a knee up into Kojima's belly looking for all intents and purposes to pass to mount. Instead, Tazawa quickly threw up a tight armbar attempt, hyper-extending BJ's arm near to breaking. Upon closer inspection of BJ's arm, referee Taro Wakabayashi quickly intervened and stopped the bout, awarding Tazawa the technical submission win at 3:32 in the third, while a teary-eyed Kojima protested the decision.
In a battle of Shooto's elder statesmen, Jin Akimoto (Pictures) and Junji Ikoma (Pictures) fought to a majority draw after three competitive rounds. Though Akimoto, 36, was able to get his opponent to the mat after a fair deal of resistance in the clinch, he was largely unable to do much with the position, essentially sitting in Ikoma's guard as Ikoma tried to punch from below. His moments came only twice with two leg-lock attempts which, in reality, did little as they were cut short by the bell in rounds one and two.
While on his back, Ikoma, 37, punched and up-kicked as often as possible, maneuvering his legs into the triangle position, allowing him to lock Akimoto in for peppering shots to the face. With Akimoto controlling position but scoring little to no damage, leaving Ikoma to score damage but fall behind on the ground, two judges felt compelled to rule the bout a draw (29-29, 28-28), while the final judge sided with Ikoma (30-29).
Hayate Usui (Pictures) played a smart tactical game against Daisuke Ishizawa (Pictures), baiting the forward-moving Ishizawa into following him about the ring and firing off attacks that Usui was able to counter off of. Usui turned things up ever so slightly in the second round, attacking Ishizawa infrequently, but scoring with nice combinations and kicks, dropping Ishizawa with a crisp one-two midway through. As the only fighter of the two in the bout to take down and control his opponent on the floor, Usui's unanimous decision victory was more than assured when the bout went the distance (20-17, 19-18, 20-17).
Perhaps proving why "Gozo" Ayumu Shioda is a perennial Class B Shootor, Takuya Mori (Pictures) sat through the best that the grappler had to offer to pound his way to the unanimous decision victory after two rounds. With Shioda's game plan consisting of little more than running into Mori to take him down by pulling guard, Mori had little choice but to counter with hard punches from on top.
Locking up Mori in the rubber-guard to pepper his ears with point-accumulating punches, it was Mori who scored the significant damage throughout the fight, dropping huge, punishing bombs when the moments availed themselves. As such, Mori took the bout on all three score cards, 20-19, 20-18, 20-19.
"Sarumaru" Junji Ito (Pictures) demolished "Torii" Kazuyuki Yoshida in their 2008 flyweight rookie tournament bout, quickly putting away his opponent with strikes.
Coming straight out to blitz Yoshida from the opening bell, "Torii" could do little else but attempt to counter the oncoming barrage. Catching one of Yoshida's counter kicks, Ito quickly unbalanced Yoshida to take him down, where from guard, Ito pounded away until the TKO referee stoppage at a short 1:52 in the first.
"Akki" Kota Funaki went 2-0 over "Flying Monkey No. 2" Yosuke Saruta in the evening's bantamweight rookie tournament bout, the pair's second fight since meeting in last year's Shooto All-Japan Amateur semi-finals, where Funaki defeated Saruta on points.
With the protective gear off and the stakes somewhat higher, the 123-lb. All-Japan Amateur champ Funaki was able to put Saruta on queer street twice. Upon the second knockdown, Tobizaru's corner threw in the towel at 2:22 of the second round, saving their fighter from further harm.
Between the evening's bouts, two of Japan's most notable fighters, Akira Kikuchi (Pictures) and now former Shooto world featherweight champion, Akitoshi Hokazono (Pictures), retired this evening.
Kikuchi, a former Shooto world middleweight champion, ends his talented career at a record of 16-4, with his last performance being a devastating loss to Yoshiyuki Yoshida (Pictures) in last year's Cage Force welterweight tournament. Spartan and otherwise short for words, Kikuchi thanked the fans and asked for their continual support of Shooto and its ever developing roster of fighters.
Hokazono, who has been inactive since defeating Kenji Osawa (Pictures) in July of 2006 for the Shooto featherweight title, acknowledged this evening that he would like to pursue goals outside the realm of fighting, thus marking his decision to relinquish the belt and retire altogether.
Often criticized in the past for being an incredibly able grappler who has suffered whenever opting to bang with opponents on the feet, Hioki would perhaps be able to get away with it on Saturday, as he was set to face one of Japan's more savvy ground fighters in Toida.
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Where possible, Hioki would position himself in just the right position to use his superior length to launch counter jabs and hooks, often landing squarely on Toida's face as he evaded and stuck it to his tenaciously forward-moving opponent. Before long, a counter hook off of one of these exchanges put Toida down for the first knockdown, landing the first round squarely in Hioki's favor.
The second period saw more of the same as Hioki continued to evade
Toida's dangerous barrages only to return with stinging counters
that Toida could not defend against.
Kicking Toida's legs out from under, Hioki scored the second knockdown of the fight before an apparently frustrated and angry Toida once again charged in with winging punches. Ducking under, Hioki was able to briefly capture Toida for the body lock takedown.
Scrambling back to his feet, Toida soon found himself defending the rear-naked choke as Hioki had immediately transitioned to his back and sunken in his hooks. As Toida grasped at Hioki's wrists to pry them from his neck, Hioki quickly swung a leg over, catching the veteran grappler in a textbook armbar that had Toida immediately tapping, ending the bout at the 4:30 mark in the second round.
With this win breathing a little life into his Shooto career, Hioki has perhaps caught his break since dropping a close decision to Antonio Carvalho (Pictures) last May, when he was ranked No. 8 in the Shooto World lightweight rankings. Dropping to No. 10 after yet another loss in October to Jong Man Kim (Pictures), Hioki will presumably take a spot among Shooto's top five, rising above Toida, currently No. 5, with this much needed win.
The most technical of Saturday's bouts, the co-main event between Masakatsu Ueda (Pictures) and Atsushi Yamamoto (Pictures), did not disappoint, as the Paraestra wrestler took a hard fought unanimous decision against Yamamoto in a tense back-and-forth bout.
Employing inside low kicks and body punches that Ueda was largely unable to defend, Yamamoto was only barely able to edge out his opponent on the feet. Ueda returned in kind with mid-kicks and the occasional punch combination that had Yamamoto backing up in the second round.
With Yamamoto edging Ueda in the standup, Ueda essentially edged out Yamamoto on the ground, controlling him from the side or half-guard while accumulating points with short, small punches.
Nearly locking up a Brabo choke that had Yamamoto gasping, Ueda's control on the canvas put him ahead in the bout before Yamamoto turned things up in the third.
Doubling Ueda over with hard body punches and taking side-mount midway through, only to pass to full-mount in the final seconds of the round, Yamamoto soundly won the final round. It was too little too late however, as the resulting scorecards revealed the fight to be 29-28 all around for Ueda, awarding the stoic wrestler the unanimous decision victory.
In perhaps the evening's most interesting display of mixed messages, "KID" Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures) -- who recently changed the name of his Killer Bee gym to Krazy Bee in favor of a more family-friendly image -- angrily motioned for Yamamoto to vacate the ring upon hearing the result, leaving a surprised Ueda in the lurch as he was making his way to the opposing corner to pay his respects. In lieu of the typical handshake, the momentarily caught-off-guard Ueda quickly bowed to the backs of the retreating Krazy Bee contingent.
Since winning the Shooto world bantamweight title in February of 2007, "BJ" Shinichi Kojima (Pictures)'s career since has been riddled with curious decisions that have left the 123-pound champ suffering at their resulting consequences. Proving that he has still not learned from his previous experiences in stepping up a weight class and focusing exclusively on standup instead of his championship-winning grappling, BJ dropped yet another disappointing fight in Shooto's featherweight division this evening -- this time to So Tazawa (Pictures).
Whipping the bantamweight champ to the mat with several powerful judo hip throws, BJ looked surprisingly outgunned by Tazawa, as the true 132 pounder controlled top position and accumulated damaging points with strikes from above. When BJ did secure top position upon taking Tazawa down from the clinch, Tazawa quickly turned the tables back in his favor, sweeping Kojima with ease.
Frustrated and still looking for the ever-elusive knockout in the third round, a reckless rush by BJ opened up an opportunity for Tazawa to duck under the flurry and use his opponent's momentum for a picture perfect judo hip throw.
From side, Tazawa brought a knee up into Kojima's belly looking for all intents and purposes to pass to mount. Instead, Tazawa quickly threw up a tight armbar attempt, hyper-extending BJ's arm near to breaking. Upon closer inspection of BJ's arm, referee Taro Wakabayashi quickly intervened and stopped the bout, awarding Tazawa the technical submission win at 3:32 in the third, while a teary-eyed Kojima protested the decision.
In a battle of Shooto's elder statesmen, Jin Akimoto (Pictures) and Junji Ikoma (Pictures) fought to a majority draw after three competitive rounds. Though Akimoto, 36, was able to get his opponent to the mat after a fair deal of resistance in the clinch, he was largely unable to do much with the position, essentially sitting in Ikoma's guard as Ikoma tried to punch from below. His moments came only twice with two leg-lock attempts which, in reality, did little as they were cut short by the bell in rounds one and two.
While on his back, Ikoma, 37, punched and up-kicked as often as possible, maneuvering his legs into the triangle position, allowing him to lock Akimoto in for peppering shots to the face. With Akimoto controlling position but scoring little to no damage, leaving Ikoma to score damage but fall behind on the ground, two judges felt compelled to rule the bout a draw (29-29, 28-28), while the final judge sided with Ikoma (30-29).
Hayate Usui (Pictures) played a smart tactical game against Daisuke Ishizawa (Pictures), baiting the forward-moving Ishizawa into following him about the ring and firing off attacks that Usui was able to counter off of. Usui turned things up ever so slightly in the second round, attacking Ishizawa infrequently, but scoring with nice combinations and kicks, dropping Ishizawa with a crisp one-two midway through. As the only fighter of the two in the bout to take down and control his opponent on the floor, Usui's unanimous decision victory was more than assured when the bout went the distance (20-17, 19-18, 20-17).
Perhaps proving why "Gozo" Ayumu Shioda is a perennial Class B Shootor, Takuya Mori (Pictures) sat through the best that the grappler had to offer to pound his way to the unanimous decision victory after two rounds. With Shioda's game plan consisting of little more than running into Mori to take him down by pulling guard, Mori had little choice but to counter with hard punches from on top.
Locking up Mori in the rubber-guard to pepper his ears with point-accumulating punches, it was Mori who scored the significant damage throughout the fight, dropping huge, punishing bombs when the moments availed themselves. As such, Mori took the bout on all three score cards, 20-19, 20-18, 20-19.
"Sarumaru" Junji Ito (Pictures) demolished "Torii" Kazuyuki Yoshida in their 2008 flyweight rookie tournament bout, quickly putting away his opponent with strikes.
Coming straight out to blitz Yoshida from the opening bell, "Torii" could do little else but attempt to counter the oncoming barrage. Catching one of Yoshida's counter kicks, Ito quickly unbalanced Yoshida to take him down, where from guard, Ito pounded away until the TKO referee stoppage at a short 1:52 in the first.
"Akki" Kota Funaki went 2-0 over "Flying Monkey No. 2" Yosuke Saruta in the evening's bantamweight rookie tournament bout, the pair's second fight since meeting in last year's Shooto All-Japan Amateur semi-finals, where Funaki defeated Saruta on points.
With the protective gear off and the stakes somewhat higher, the 123-lb. All-Japan Amateur champ Funaki was able to put Saruta on queer street twice. Upon the second knockdown, Tobizaru's corner threw in the towel at 2:22 of the second round, saving their fighter from further harm.
Between the evening's bouts, two of Japan's most notable fighters, Akira Kikuchi (Pictures) and now former Shooto world featherweight champion, Akitoshi Hokazono (Pictures), retired this evening.
Kikuchi, a former Shooto world middleweight champion, ends his talented career at a record of 16-4, with his last performance being a devastating loss to Yoshiyuki Yoshida (Pictures) in last year's Cage Force welterweight tournament. Spartan and otherwise short for words, Kikuchi thanked the fans and asked for their continual support of Shooto and its ever developing roster of fighters.
Hokazono, who has been inactive since defeating Kenji Osawa (Pictures) in July of 2006 for the Shooto featherweight title, acknowledged this evening that he would like to pursue goals outside the realm of fighting, thus marking his decision to relinquish the belt and retire altogether.
