Fighters Advance to Cageforce Semifinals
TOKYO, June 9 -- Japan's premier cage-fighting event, Cageforce,
continued to roll along as Differ Ariake played host to the
quarterfinals of the promotion's lightweight tournament.
The GCM backed promotion has really developed since debuting in March 2005 as the oddly titled D.O.G.
Gone are the days of empty seats and low production values. Every
show is a sellout and the whole look of the event has vastly
improved, boasting big-screen displays, TV cameras and a
professional commentary team that often includes veteran fighter
Caol Uno (Pictures).
Since joining the World Wide Cage Network, the promotion has seen a wealth of Japanese and international talent grace its octagon. This year, the promotion ran its first-ever lightweight and welterweight tournaments, with the winners of each division hoping to impress the decision makers within the UFC.
Saturday's main event featured Koutetsu Boku (Pictures), who bested Jarkko Latomaki (Pictures) last March to make it to the quarterfinals, against seeded fighter David Gardner (Pictures).
Boku looked very sharp, especially on his feet. The speed of his punches and kicks made Gardner look slow by comparison. The Killer Bee fighter landed accurate punches from a distance and connected with viciously-hard low-kicks, seemingly at will, for which the American had no answer.
Gardner started out well, scoring an early takedown, but in the second and third rounds the Team Quest South fighter looked very sluggish. Fortunately for the Detroit native, there are no soccer kicks allowed in Cageforce, because if there were this fight would certainly not have gone the distance.
Perhaps due to expending most of his energy in the opening period, Gardner showed fatigue by sitting up on his knees after failed shot attempts and slowly getting to his feet, fully exposing himself to attack. Knowing that he couldn't throw soccer kicks to his downed opponent, Boku opted to dive down with punches to Gardner's head. In the third it got to the point where Gardner was so slow in returning to his feet that Boku would stay away and taunt him to get up.
Despite Gardner's poor stand-up and seemingly poor cardio, the guy did have an incredible knack for getting Boku to his back. Even after Boku sprawled out of the initial takedown attempt, Gardner would hold onto a leg and eventually drag the Japanese fighter to the ground. During the many scrambles in the fight, Gardner always managed to end up with top position, but he didn't have the energy to capitalize.
Gardner was just plain outclassed, and when the fight went to the judges Boku took the unanimous decision.
Eiji Mitsuoka (Pictures) went through Brain Cobb to make it to the quarterfinals, while his opponent Takumi Nakayama (Pictures) dusted off Yoichi Fukumoto on his way to their encounter.
The last two minutes of this short fight must have been the longest of Nakayama's life. Mitsuoka scored the mount fairly early after some initial jousting and proceeded to maul the Paraestra Osaka fighter with punches and short elbows that sliced open nasty gashes on his head.
Nakayama twisted in a desperate attempt to escape, but he just couldn't shake his Wajyutsu Keishukai RJW opponent. The beatdown continued until the referee had seen enough and called for an end at 3:30 of the first round.
With this win, Mitsuoka will face Boku in the semifinals on September 9.
Artur Oumakhanov (Pictures) bested Kaynan Kaku (Pictures) on his way to his quarterfinal bout with Wataru Miki (Pictures).
The Russian sambo champion has made quite an impression since his September 2006 debut by executing a monster suplex to knockout Yuji Miyazaki (Pictures) and taking out PANCRASEism top dog Takafumi Ito (Pictures).
Oumakhanov has some very deceptive hands with a freakish amount of power behind them for a lightweight. His takedowns are top notch, and he passes the guard with relative ease.
Tonight he came out to the cage with his left knee heavily bandaged and it was obvious from the opening bell that Oumakhanov wasn't anywhere near 100 percent. Despite this, he more than kept pace with Miki, who seemed too hesitant to engage throughout the entire bout.
The tricky Oumakhanov kept his hands low, looking to land a big right hand counter. Miki mostly circled on the outside, occasionally coming in with some punches followed by a few knees, but the talented Russian tied him up and pinned him at the fence before he could do any damage.
In the third, Oumakhanov really turned up the pressure, throwing heavy bombs that Miki just barely survived. Even with a bad knee he was still bringing it to Miki, tying up the Wajyutsu Keishukai fighter and scoring a takedown in the last 30 seconds. The fight went to the judges and Oumakhanov, fighting under the SK Absolute Russia banner, walked away with the majority decision.
In their quarterfinal battle, Tomonari Kanomata (Pictures) was pretty much all over Wataru Takahashi (Pictures), pounding from the guard in the first, then taking back-control and attempting to sink in the rear-naked choke for just about the full duration of the second. The third saw Kanomata score several takedowns and maintain dominant ground control.
Kanomata was really in the driver's seat and never faced in any real danger. The fight went to the judges and he walked away with the unanimous victory.
With the win, Kanomata will now face Oumakhanov in the other half of the semifinals in September.
Perhaps wanting to keep his skills sharp for the upcoming Cageforce welterweight tournament semifinals, Akira Kikuchi (Pictures) took on Ju Pyo Hong in a non-tournament fight.
Kikuchi dominated, scoring a single-leg takedown early that led him to the mount. On the bottom, the CMA Korea fighter brought his legs up to escape, but it wasn't before long that he found himself trapped under the mount again. The Killer Bee Kikuchi fired down punches until the referee came in and stopped action at the 3:06 mark of the first round.
Donald Cerrone displayed some pretty good submission skills off his back in his bout against Yasuyoshi Kanehara (Pictures).
In the second, Kanehara scored a decent takedown but found himself in a triangle choke. Cerrone secured the technique, forcing his opponent to tap at the 2:46 mark.
Yuji Hoshino (Pictures) had some good charging hand combinations and vicious leg kicks against Jong Man Kim.
Hoshino moved around the ring well, slipping punches and avoiding his opponent's shots. Several toe-to-toe exchanges occurred throughout the course of this fight, with the momentum switching depending on who got the luckier punch. The fight went the distance and was ruled a draw.
The GCM backed promotion has really developed since debuting in March 2005 as the oddly titled D.O.G.
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Since joining the World Wide Cage Network, the promotion has seen a wealth of Japanese and international talent grace its octagon. This year, the promotion ran its first-ever lightweight and welterweight tournaments, with the winners of each division hoping to impress the decision makers within the UFC.
Fifteen fighters started off in the lightweight tournament, and
through two events the number was cut down to eight. Tonight's show
was to decide the final four.
Saturday's main event featured Koutetsu Boku (Pictures), who bested Jarkko Latomaki (Pictures) last March to make it to the quarterfinals, against seeded fighter David Gardner (Pictures).
Boku looked very sharp, especially on his feet. The speed of his punches and kicks made Gardner look slow by comparison. The Killer Bee fighter landed accurate punches from a distance and connected with viciously-hard low-kicks, seemingly at will, for which the American had no answer.
Gardner started out well, scoring an early takedown, but in the second and third rounds the Team Quest South fighter looked very sluggish. Fortunately for the Detroit native, there are no soccer kicks allowed in Cageforce, because if there were this fight would certainly not have gone the distance.
Perhaps due to expending most of his energy in the opening period, Gardner showed fatigue by sitting up on his knees after failed shot attempts and slowly getting to his feet, fully exposing himself to attack. Knowing that he couldn't throw soccer kicks to his downed opponent, Boku opted to dive down with punches to Gardner's head. In the third it got to the point where Gardner was so slow in returning to his feet that Boku would stay away and taunt him to get up.
Despite Gardner's poor stand-up and seemingly poor cardio, the guy did have an incredible knack for getting Boku to his back. Even after Boku sprawled out of the initial takedown attempt, Gardner would hold onto a leg and eventually drag the Japanese fighter to the ground. During the many scrambles in the fight, Gardner always managed to end up with top position, but he didn't have the energy to capitalize.
Gardner was just plain outclassed, and when the fight went to the judges Boku took the unanimous decision.
Eiji Mitsuoka (Pictures) went through Brain Cobb to make it to the quarterfinals, while his opponent Takumi Nakayama (Pictures) dusted off Yoichi Fukumoto on his way to their encounter.
The last two minutes of this short fight must have been the longest of Nakayama's life. Mitsuoka scored the mount fairly early after some initial jousting and proceeded to maul the Paraestra Osaka fighter with punches and short elbows that sliced open nasty gashes on his head.
Nakayama twisted in a desperate attempt to escape, but he just couldn't shake his Wajyutsu Keishukai RJW opponent. The beatdown continued until the referee had seen enough and called for an end at 3:30 of the first round.
With this win, Mitsuoka will face Boku in the semifinals on September 9.
Artur Oumakhanov (Pictures) bested Kaynan Kaku (Pictures) on his way to his quarterfinal bout with Wataru Miki (Pictures).
The Russian sambo champion has made quite an impression since his September 2006 debut by executing a monster suplex to knockout Yuji Miyazaki (Pictures) and taking out PANCRASEism top dog Takafumi Ito (Pictures).
Oumakhanov has some very deceptive hands with a freakish amount of power behind them for a lightweight. His takedowns are top notch, and he passes the guard with relative ease.
Tonight he came out to the cage with his left knee heavily bandaged and it was obvious from the opening bell that Oumakhanov wasn't anywhere near 100 percent. Despite this, he more than kept pace with Miki, who seemed too hesitant to engage throughout the entire bout.
The tricky Oumakhanov kept his hands low, looking to land a big right hand counter. Miki mostly circled on the outside, occasionally coming in with some punches followed by a few knees, but the talented Russian tied him up and pinned him at the fence before he could do any damage.
In the third, Oumakhanov really turned up the pressure, throwing heavy bombs that Miki just barely survived. Even with a bad knee he was still bringing it to Miki, tying up the Wajyutsu Keishukai fighter and scoring a takedown in the last 30 seconds. The fight went to the judges and Oumakhanov, fighting under the SK Absolute Russia banner, walked away with the majority decision.
In their quarterfinal battle, Tomonari Kanomata (Pictures) was pretty much all over Wataru Takahashi (Pictures), pounding from the guard in the first, then taking back-control and attempting to sink in the rear-naked choke for just about the full duration of the second. The third saw Kanomata score several takedowns and maintain dominant ground control.
Kanomata was really in the driver's seat and never faced in any real danger. The fight went to the judges and he walked away with the unanimous victory.
With the win, Kanomata will now face Oumakhanov in the other half of the semifinals in September.
Perhaps wanting to keep his skills sharp for the upcoming Cageforce welterweight tournament semifinals, Akira Kikuchi (Pictures) took on Ju Pyo Hong in a non-tournament fight.
Kikuchi dominated, scoring a single-leg takedown early that led him to the mount. On the bottom, the CMA Korea fighter brought his legs up to escape, but it wasn't before long that he found himself trapped under the mount again. The Killer Bee Kikuchi fired down punches until the referee came in and stopped action at the 3:06 mark of the first round.
Donald Cerrone displayed some pretty good submission skills off his back in his bout against Yasuyoshi Kanehara (Pictures).
In the second, Kanehara scored a decent takedown but found himself in a triangle choke. Cerrone secured the technique, forcing his opponent to tap at the 2:46 mark.
Yuji Hoshino (Pictures) had some good charging hand combinations and vicious leg kicks against Jong Man Kim.
Hoshino moved around the ring well, slipping punches and avoiding his opponent's shots. Several toe-to-toe exchanges occurred throughout the course of this fight, with the momentum switching depending on who got the luckier punch. The fight went the distance and was ruled a draw.
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