The last time Yuji Sakuragi (Pictures) and Fabiano Aoki met back in Oct., the bout ended in a No Contest just 17 seconds into the first round due to a low blow. Tonight both fighters were looking for a better result, but strangely enough misfortune once again reared its ugly head.
Sakuragi managed to take all the punishment that Fabiano dished out, and with a mere three seconds left in the round, the All Japan Kickboxing heavyweight champion connect with a hellacious punch that badly staggered Aoki and left him grabbing for the ropes.
The second round saw Aoki starting out by throwing flying knee against his opponent. Sakuragi got away without taking any damage and managed to answer back with a good right hand. After some more jousting, Aoki once again jumped up for a flying knee, but this time landed badly and fell to the ground.
The Brazilian went to stand but was immediately back on the mat, signaling that his knee was in pain. Doctors attended to him in the corner, but the tough fighter couldn’t put any weight on the leg. The fight was called off and Sakuragi picked up the victory. Aoki had to be carried by stretcher from the ring.
Since his loss to Mikko Rupponen last March, Pancrase veteran and Grabaka fighter Keiichiro Yamamiya (Pictures) has turned his attention to kickboxing, picking up several wins in the All Japan Kickboxing promotion. His opponent for his return to MMA Hard Combat’s Carlos Toyota.
The bout didn’t go to the ground at all for the duration of the two five-minute rounds. Yamamiya strung some good combinations off the uppercut and connected well with his left cross. Toyota grazed his opponent’s head with a high spinning kick and fired knees from the clinch. The last 30 seconds saw the Grabaka fighter work a modified clinch to land knees to the head. The fight went the distance and was ruled a draw.
American Ryan Bow (Pictures) left his current home of DEEP to take on Hard Combat’s Henri Kakiuchi.
Bow displayed the skill that made him a force in Shooto early in his career, quickly taking Kakiuchi down and passing his guard to take side-control. From here the American rained down punches with his right hand until his opponent’s corner threw in the towel to prevent their fighter from taking further damage.
Japanese wrestler Katsuhisa Fujii was all about takedowns in his battle against Jyunpei Hamada (Pictures). The Hiroshima native very nearly had this one in the bag early on, catching Hamada in a deep standing guillotine that lifted him right off his feet. But Hamada somehow managed to slip out for the escape.
The momentum shifted in Hamada’s direction by the end of the first, when he connected with a hard punch that badly staggered his opponent before it sent Fujii to the mat. From here he poured punches from the guard until the bell.
The second saw both fighters stand toe-to-toe and trade punches, with Fujii taking the worst of it and once again looking shaky on his legs. The Japanese wrestler scored a takedown after a doctor checked his cut and rain down punches from the guard to the final bell.
Fujii ate a lot of punches in this one and his face showed it after the match. The fight went to the judges and Hamada walked away with the decision.
Just like Fujii, Abe Ani Combat Club’s Takashi Otsuka was all over his opponent Luiz Luiz in terms of takedowns, constantly bringing the action to the mat and controlling from the top. In fact not once did Otsuka’s back touch the mat.
Otsuka scored side-control and mount in the first, and despite a Luiz armbar attempt in the second was never in any real danger. The fight went to the judges and Otsuka walked away with the victory.