TOKYO, Nov. 4 — For the past week this reporter has been riding the pine at Korakuen Hall. First DEEP last Friday, then boxing on Monday, and now the Pancrase Spiral 9 tonight (with SHOOTO to come on Sunday).
Tonight my Sherdog mate Stephen Martinez reiterated a thought I’ve often had myself — how much he’d love to get a piece of the floor, a ceiling tile, a chunk of the wall or anything when it is eventually torn down.
The amount of MMA history that has gone down in this seemingly innocuous venue is truly unbelievable. Just in the past week I’ve witnessed a lot, now times it by every single day of the venue’s lifetime and it’s massive, an MMA shrine.
Pancrase has had a couple of lackluster shows recently, and my faith in the promotion was starting to wane, but tonight’s event has re-established my faith. PANCRASEism fighter and UFC hopeful Koji Oishi (Pictures) took on Paul Rodriguez from Gracie Barra Orlando. The Gracie disciple looked a bit thicker and stronger than his Japanese counterpart.
This was basically a boxing match with a few kicks and shot attempts thrown in for good measure. Oishi looked very similar to Jutaro Nakao (Pictures) in this fight — stalking his opponent and remaining relatively stationary. While Rodriguez was moving, the Japanese fighter stood flatfooted, waiting for the American to come in so as he could nail him with counterpunches.
This strategy worked well for Oshi in the beginning; he scored several hard uppercuts and pounded Rodriguez with left hooks. However, the problem with waiting flatfooted is that while you’re solid and in a good spot to counter, your going to take any punches that get past your defenses full on — much worse than if you were moving, not to mention that it also makes you an easy target.
Oshi felt the full power of many of Rodriguez punches in this one. He was also highly susceptible to brutally hard low kicks; the smacks echoed throughout Korakuen Hall and left a huge welt on the outside of his left leg. Whilst tagging his opponent with some heavy hands, by the end of the second round the Pancrase veteran had a large swell around his right eye.
The third round saw the slugfest continue. Oishi put together some excellent combos, stunning Rodriguez. When clinched in the corners he used shoulder strikes to create some space. This isn’t to say that Rodriguez was any slouch. He had an awesome flurry-into-shot, a la Luiz Firmino (Pictures), but unfortunately was too close to the ropes to score the takedown.
This one ended with Oishi running past a downed Rodriguez legs, only to have the American fighter get to his feet in an instant. The fight went to the judges and was scored 30-29, 29-29, 30-30 for the draw.
Hawaiian native Poai Suganuma (Pictures) squared off against former Kyokushin Karate practitioner Ryuta Noji (Pictures) for his second outing in a Pancrase ring. His first time out was an entertaining bout against the spirited Hikaru Sato (Pictures).
Suganuma looked strong and ripped compared to Noji. For a big guy he moved and avoided punches masterfully, scoring the takedown and achieving the mount.
His Japanese opponent twisted to escape this dangerous predicament, only to fall into a triangle. The American locked the technique on tight, but Noji hung on. Upon realizing that he wasn’t going to get the choke-out, Suganuma began punching Noji, who could not escape the clamped down technique, in the face. A river of blood poured from the cuts opened by Suganuma’s strikes.
After a few more moments of punches and pressure from the triangle, a bloodied Noji was forced to tapout.
Dutch fighter Furdjel de Windt displayed his submission prowess against the Kenji Arai. The Japanese fighter looked similar to his fellow countryman Mamoru Yamaguchi (Pictures), sporting a fair sized Afro.
This was an excellent fight, having a good mix of strikes, both on the ground and on the feet, submission attempts and reversals. Windt had a great heelhook attempt and locked on two solid armbar attempts from his back. Arai defended both of these, first by standing and throwing stomps to the face to escape, then by stacking his opponent to his shoulder blades and setting his knee atop the Dutchman’s face.
The second round started with Arai throwing a nice, albeit grazing, high kick to Windt’s head. After some jockeying for position on the ground Arai fell back looking for an Achilles lock before transitioning into a heelhook. But the wily Dutchman escaped, falling to his back only to transition and slide along his opponent’s back to hook on yet another armbar attempt.
Windt managed to jump up on his opponent early in the third, causing the Japanese fighter’s legs to apparently give out under the weight, and scored the mount. From here Arai bridged hard, pulling off a textbook reversal, ending up in the guard from where he let his fists go. The Pancrase veteran really opened up in the closing moments, scoring well-placed stomps, kicks and punches at the end.
The fight went to the judges and Arai got the unanimous victory (30-29, 30-28, 29-28).