Yamaguchi Out-Strikes Shoujou for Decision
TOKYO, Feb. 23 -- A sensational Shooting Disco 04 went down
Saturday evening at night club turned fight club Shinjuku FACE,
headlined by a showdown between two of Shooto's top 123
pounders.
In the main event, Mamoru Yamaguchi (Pictures) put the kibosh on Yuki Shoujou (Pictures)'s rising star, smashing the young Class A graduate with heavy counterpunches and kicks.
Shoujou entered the first round circling the former bantamweight
champion, picking at Mamoru's lead leg with quick low kicks.
Yamaguchi checked most of them, though, and countered with short,
stiff combinations and hard Thai kicks to the midsection. When
Shoujou would charge in with a flurry, Yamaguchi locked him up in
the clinch and launched heavy left knees to the legs and back to
the midsection.
Shoujou had difficulty finding any consistent openings in the former champ's crisp, technical standup, but he did get some stinging punches past Yamaguchi's defenses. Yamaguchi's head movement apparently saved him from much damage, however, as evidenced by the active but fluid movement of his Afro. By turning his opponent's big punches into grazing shots, Yamaguchi was able to return fire with hard, multi-level counter punches that had Shoujou flinching from their force.
Shooto 183-pound prospect Akihiro Murayama (Pictures) stuck to Hiroki Sato (Pictures)'s back for a combined 10 minutes. He dropped huge hooks to the side of Sato's head and threatened with a rear-naked choke, delivering an overwhelming amount of punishment in the process. Eventually Sato maneuvered himself into an armbar for the catch. Though Murayama couldn't finish with the move, he held it until the bell, winning the one-sided unanimous decision 20-17, 20-18 and 20-16.
2007 bantamweight rookie champ Kenji Hosoya (Pictures) dropped a competitive two-round affair to Ryuichi Miki (Pictures). A tenacious Hosoya kept a high pace as he sought to pass to better positions from Miki's guard. Calm, collected and otherwise technically better, Miki put Hosoya into troubled waters with steady submissions attempts from the bottom and a vicious shin to the face. As such, all three judges ruled the bout in favor of Miki: 20-19, 20-18, 20-18.
Shintaro Ishiwatari (Pictures) crushed Kazuhiro Ito (Pictures) with a frightening face slam that knocked the 2007 lightweight rookie champ out cold. After sniping it out on the feet briefly, Ito flew in at Ishiwatari with a knee and immediately locked up an arm to attempt a kimura. Ishiwatari then dropped to his knees with Ito firmly attached, and Ito snaked his legs up around Ishiwatari's head for the leg-scissors.
The move was a mistake, though. Ito straightened out like a board, allowing Ishiwatari to stand and drop Ito face-first into the canvas for the vicious slam. All rubbery-stiff, Ito couldn't even register the two extra punches to his face before the referee saved him from further harm, ending the bout at 2:17 in the first.
Tomonori Taniguchi (Pictures), a Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) product, just can't catch a break. His run of bad luck struck yet again, this time against Masatoshi Kobayashi (Pictures).
With both fighters looking to bang, it was a matter of time till one man was caught. That man was Taniguchi, who went down off a vicious southpaw one-two. Unfortunately, the damage was far worse than just a flash knockout, as Taniguchi's left eye closed completely shortly after and prompted the doctor's stoppage at 3:01 in the first.
Noboru Tahara (Pictures)'s stubbornness saw him persistently pursuing the mount before dropping bunches of punches on a nigh-helpless Takehiro Ishii (Pictures). Looking the complete neophyte on the mat, "Tiger" Ishii was unable to save himself while Tahara ran roughshod through just about every dominant position in the book. Ishii bucked his opponent out of the mount a few times, but it wasn't long before Tahara returned to the position en route to a dominant unanimous decision: 20-18, 20-19, 20-18.
Daiki Tsuchiya and Hidenori Nishino won fight of the night honors for a riveting lightweight rookie tournament bout that had fans on the edge of their seats.
After avoiding two close omaplatas in the first round, Tsuchiya came back with big punches and body kicks. A game Nishino accepted the invitation to scrap on the feet, however, and stung with low kicks and punches of his own. But in the second round Nishino paid for his decision to stand when two consecutive one-twos from Tsuchiya put him on the mat for two knockdowns. Referee Toshiharu Suzuki called the bout at 2:54, after Nishino had failed to answer the count on the second knockdown.
Yuki Baba (Pictures) defeated Tatsuya Nakajima by unanimous decision in their featherweight rookie tourney bout. A heavy one-two from Baba put Nakajima down for the knockdown count early in the first round. Though Nakajima did not appear to be badly fazed, things did not get better. Baba followed with a takedown and dropped small punches from top until the end of the round. The final tally was 20-17 all around in favor of Baba.
Naoki Mikoshiba's calm under fire prevailed against the forward-pressing Taijiro Iseki in their light heavyweight rookie tournament bout. Though Mikoshiba looked to be the technically better striker, he was gun shy in the face of Iseki's relentless flurries. However, Mikoshiba's ability to take Iseki down with ease for some ground and pound earned him the nod on two of the judges' cards (20-19, 20-19), while the final judge ruled the bout a 19-19 draw.
Masumi Tozawa appeared to be more technical on the feet, but it was Haruo Ochi who got the first knockdown with a counter flurry in their fight. Soon after, a botched Tozawa hip throw allowed for Ochi to execute a takedown slam of his own, landing Tozawa directly on the back of his head for a startling surprise knockout at 3:11 of the first.
In the main event, Mamoru Yamaguchi (Pictures) put the kibosh on Yuki Shoujou (Pictures)'s rising star, smashing the young Class A graduate with heavy counterpunches and kicks.
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Shoujou had difficulty finding any consistent openings in the former champ's crisp, technical standup, but he did get some stinging punches past Yamaguchi's defenses. Yamaguchi's head movement apparently saved him from much damage, however, as evidenced by the active but fluid movement of his Afro. By turning his opponent's big punches into grazing shots, Yamaguchi was able to return fire with hard, multi-level counter punches that had Shoujou flinching from their force.
After three rounds of Shoujou eating the harder, cleaner shots, all
three judges ruled in favor of Yamaguchi: 30-27, 30-28, 30-27.
Shooto 183-pound prospect Akihiro Murayama (Pictures) stuck to Hiroki Sato (Pictures)'s back for a combined 10 minutes. He dropped huge hooks to the side of Sato's head and threatened with a rear-naked choke, delivering an overwhelming amount of punishment in the process. Eventually Sato maneuvered himself into an armbar for the catch. Though Murayama couldn't finish with the move, he held it until the bell, winning the one-sided unanimous decision 20-17, 20-18 and 20-16.
2007 bantamweight rookie champ Kenji Hosoya (Pictures) dropped a competitive two-round affair to Ryuichi Miki (Pictures). A tenacious Hosoya kept a high pace as he sought to pass to better positions from Miki's guard. Calm, collected and otherwise technically better, Miki put Hosoya into troubled waters with steady submissions attempts from the bottom and a vicious shin to the face. As such, all three judges ruled the bout in favor of Miki: 20-19, 20-18, 20-18.
Shintaro Ishiwatari (Pictures) crushed Kazuhiro Ito (Pictures) with a frightening face slam that knocked the 2007 lightweight rookie champ out cold. After sniping it out on the feet briefly, Ito flew in at Ishiwatari with a knee and immediately locked up an arm to attempt a kimura. Ishiwatari then dropped to his knees with Ito firmly attached, and Ito snaked his legs up around Ishiwatari's head for the leg-scissors.
The move was a mistake, though. Ito straightened out like a board, allowing Ishiwatari to stand and drop Ito face-first into the canvas for the vicious slam. All rubbery-stiff, Ito couldn't even register the two extra punches to his face before the referee saved him from further harm, ending the bout at 2:17 in the first.
Tomonori Taniguchi (Pictures), a Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) product, just can't catch a break. His run of bad luck struck yet again, this time against Masatoshi Kobayashi (Pictures).
With both fighters looking to bang, it was a matter of time till one man was caught. That man was Taniguchi, who went down off a vicious southpaw one-two. Unfortunately, the damage was far worse than just a flash knockout, as Taniguchi's left eye closed completely shortly after and prompted the doctor's stoppage at 3:01 in the first.
Noboru Tahara (Pictures)'s stubbornness saw him persistently pursuing the mount before dropping bunches of punches on a nigh-helpless Takehiro Ishii (Pictures). Looking the complete neophyte on the mat, "Tiger" Ishii was unable to save himself while Tahara ran roughshod through just about every dominant position in the book. Ishii bucked his opponent out of the mount a few times, but it wasn't long before Tahara returned to the position en route to a dominant unanimous decision: 20-18, 20-19, 20-18.
Daiki Tsuchiya and Hidenori Nishino won fight of the night honors for a riveting lightweight rookie tournament bout that had fans on the edge of their seats.
After avoiding two close omaplatas in the first round, Tsuchiya came back with big punches and body kicks. A game Nishino accepted the invitation to scrap on the feet, however, and stung with low kicks and punches of his own. But in the second round Nishino paid for his decision to stand when two consecutive one-twos from Tsuchiya put him on the mat for two knockdowns. Referee Toshiharu Suzuki called the bout at 2:54, after Nishino had failed to answer the count on the second knockdown.
Yuki Baba (Pictures) defeated Tatsuya Nakajima by unanimous decision in their featherweight rookie tourney bout. A heavy one-two from Baba put Nakajima down for the knockdown count early in the first round. Though Nakajima did not appear to be badly fazed, things did not get better. Baba followed with a takedown and dropped small punches from top until the end of the round. The final tally was 20-17 all around in favor of Baba.
Naoki Mikoshiba's calm under fire prevailed against the forward-pressing Taijiro Iseki in their light heavyweight rookie tournament bout. Though Mikoshiba looked to be the technically better striker, he was gun shy in the face of Iseki's relentless flurries. However, Mikoshiba's ability to take Iseki down with ease for some ground and pound earned him the nod on two of the judges' cards (20-19, 20-19), while the final judge ruled the bout a 19-19 draw.
Masumi Tozawa appeared to be more technical on the feet, but it was Haruo Ochi who got the first knockdown with a counter flurry in their fight. Soon after, a botched Tozawa hip throw allowed for Ochi to execute a takedown slam of his own, landing Tozawa directly on the back of his head for a startling surprise knockout at 3:11 of the first.
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