Muira, Osawa Grace WEC Card Sunday
Krazy Bee hive
Jordan Breen Aug 1, 2008
Shoji flies the Krazy Bee hive
In the weeks leading up to the biggest fight of his career, Shinsuke Shoji (Pictures) is now a freelancer.
Shoji, who will meet Koji Oishi
(Pictures) for the vacant lightweight King
of Pancrase on Aug. 27 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, has announced his
departure from Krazy Bee, the team headed by Norifumi "Kid"
Yamamoto, where Shoji has trained for his entire pro career. Shoji
said he wanted to test himself as an individual, and a source close
to the fighter has told Sherdog.com that his departure from the
team came on amicable terms.
Shoji is not the only fighter to recently leave Krazy Bee. Late last year, standout Japanese middleweight Riki Fukuda (Pictures) left the gym to join Grabaka, alongside Sanae Kikuta (Pictures), Kazuo Misaki (Pictures) and Akihiro Gono (Pictures) among others.
Shining prospects for Pancrase's next tour
While there are title implications in store for Aug. 27's Pancrase Shining Tour card, prospects are perhaps the most compelling theme of the bill.
The undercard of the event will feature the return of Pancrase's supernova bantamweight Seiya Kawahara. The 20-year-old Kawahara debuted in May 2007 and has absolutely destroyed his first five opponents. The hottest Pancrasist prospect since Yoshiro Maeda (Pictures)'s emergence in 2003, Kawahara will take on the first major test of his pro career against former Shooto world title challenger Kentaro Imaizumi (Pictures).
Since challenging rival Ryota Matsune (Pictures) for the Shooto 132-pound world title in November 2004, Imaizumi has fallen on hard times, going winless in his last eight fights with four losses and four draws. After competing largely as a featherweight, Imaizumi returned to the bantamweight division in September, where he was dominated by Takeya Mizugaki (Pictures) in GCM's Cage Force.
Sengoku adopted prospect Maximo Blanco will also make his MMA debut against Yuki Yashima in a lightweight affair.
The 24-year-old Blanco, a native Venezuelan, took a bronze medal in the 163-pound freestyle category at the Pan American championships in 2007. Blanco, along with college wrestling star Shigeki Osawa, were announced as Sengoku projects last month, with the promotion's parent company World Victory Road funding and facilitating their development as MMA fighters. Blanco has since been training full time at the Yoshida Dojo under Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures) in Tokyo.
Featherweights Ishitwari, Fujmiya set for September Shooto scrap
Leading Shooto promoter Sustain have added another solid scrap to their Sept. 28 Shooto Tradition 03 card at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, making official a featherweight fight between surging Shintaro Ishiwatari (Pictures) and comebacking Tenkei Fujimiya (Pictures).
The 23-year-old Ishiwatari became a viral video star earlier this year courtesy of his atomic face-first slam stoppage of Kazuhiro Ito (Pictures) in February, which earned him his Class A Shooto license. Unbeaten since his March 2006 pro debut, Ishiwatari was arguably Class B Shooto's most exciting and dynamic competitor prior to his promotion.
Tabbed for success after being crowned Shooto 143-pound rookie champion in 2005, Fujimiya has not lived up to the hype as a Class A Shooto competitor. Loser of his last three bouts, Fujimiya dropped a highly questionable decision to Bao Quach (Pictures) last August in Irvine, Calif., but was very lackluster in a deflating majority decision loss to Hiroshi Nakamura (Pictures) (Pictures) in March.
Sustain's Sept. 28 card will be headlined by a 132-pound world title clash between champion Masakatsu Ueda (Pictures) and challenger Marcos "Louro" Galvao, with other scheduled tilts including Yasuhiro Urushitani (Pictures) taking on Yuki Shoujou (Pictures) and Masaaki Sugawara (Pictures) squaring off with Takuya Mori (Pictures).
Deep Megaton finale Saturday at FACE
This Saturday at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Deep will put a bow on perhaps the finest novelty promotion in Japanese MMA in 2008 with the conclusion of its the Megaton Grand Prix.
Deep's Megaton Grand Prix began in March with a field 16 Japanese competitors all weighing over 220 pounds and kicked off with a noodle-eating contest between the participants and Deep promoter Shigeru Saeki. Following the May quarterfinals, the Megaton final four are Shunji Kosaka, Shunsuke Inoue (Pictures), Ken Orihashi (Pictures), and overwhelming tournament favorite Yusuke Kawaguchi (Pictures), who dealt with his first two Megaton tournament opponents in a combined 56 seconds.
Much in the fashion of Deep's recent middleweight championship tournament, the semifinal pairings will be drawn on the evening of the event by the competitors, with the two winners meeting in the finale later that evening.
In the Megaton GP reserve bout, Mamoru Nakamura (Pictures) will take on Waka Arashi (Pictures), and Sotaro Yamada (Pictures) will take on Ryoji Suzuki in a welterweight affair. The card will also feature a one-night tag team grappling tournament, featuring the likes of Naoya Uematsu (Pictures), Kohei Yasumi (Pictures), Isamu Sugiuchi (Pictures), Daichi Fujiwara (Pictures), Takashi Hasegawa (Pictures) and Hiroki Nagaoka (Pictures).
Mach's star pupil looks to change history in Hawaii
Not quite so far across the Pacific, a debuting Japanese fighter will face a tall task in his pro debut. Hideto Kondo will make his professional MMA debut against transplanted Brazilian veteran Sidney Silva (Pictures) on Icon Sport's “Hard Times” card Saturday at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu.
Kondo is a standout pupil of Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, and is only 18 years old. Silva, who now resides in Hawaii, hasn't competed since his brutal knockout loss to “The Ultimate Fighter” alumnus Tom Speer (Pictures) in May 2007.
The point of interest in the bout is larger than Kondo's debut alone. Traditionally, Hayato Sakurai (Pictures)'s Mach Dojo pupils have been notoriously mediocre or worse, with many of his students languishing with losing records in Class B Shooto or failing to distinguish themselves in other Japanese promotions.
Hometown Hioki meets Nakamura Sunday in Nagoya
On Sunday, Nagoya's Alive Academy will present the 15th edition of Shooto Gig Central at their familiar stomping ground of Zepp Nagoya, with hometown headliner Hatsu Hioki (Pictures) continuing his comeback campaign.
In the evening's marquee bout, Hioki will take on recently promoted Class A competitor Hiroshi Nakamura (Pictures) (Pictures), who is fresh off his March upset over Tenkei Fujimiya (Pictures). After a disastrous and disappointing 2007, Hioki has rebounded in 2008, stampeding over Katsuya Toida (Pictures) in January and Baret Yoshida (Pictures) in March. Should Hioki emerge unscathed against Nakamura, he is slated to return to TKO, where he is still the promotion's featherweight champion, at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Oct. 3 to meet Stephane "Simba" Vigneault.
In undercard attractions, Komei Okada (Pictures) and Takahiro Kajita (Pictures) will slug it out in a 154-pound contest, Takeshi Okada (Pictures) moves up to the 132-pound division to meet Akira Kibe (Pictures), Hisaki "Kotobukimaru" Hirashi meets Kenichi Hattori (Pictures) at 154 pounds, Keisuke Kurata returns from hiatus to meet Hiroshi Sakamoto (Pictures) at 123 pounds, and Kenya Kato (Pictures) and Teppei "Bull" Masuda meet in a 115-pound affair.
In 2008 Shooto rookie tournament action, prohibitive tournament favorite Takesuke Kume (Pictures) faces Yoichiro Sato in a 168-pound semifinal, Yukinari "Hibiki" Tamura meets Kunio Nakajima (Pictures) in a 154-pound quarterfinal, Yasuaki "Aki" Nagamoto tangles with Keita Yoshida in a 132-pound quarterfinal, and in a 115-pound quarterfinal bout, Hiroyuki "Ron" Kondo squares off with Masatomi Yamagami.
In the weeks leading up to the biggest fight of his career, Shinsuke Shoji (Pictures) is now a freelancer.
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Shoji is not the only fighter to recently leave Krazy Bee. Late last year, standout Japanese middleweight Riki Fukuda (Pictures) left the gym to join Grabaka, alongside Sanae Kikuta (Pictures), Kazuo Misaki (Pictures) and Akihiro Gono (Pictures) among others.
A sterling Greco Roman wrestler at Takushoku University, Shoji
began his MMA career with a lackluster 2-3-1 record before going
undefeated over his last five bouts, with wins over veterans
Takafumi
Ito (Pictures), Kenji Arai
(Pictures) and Wataru
Takahashi (Pictures). Thus far, Shoji's training for
his title clash with Oishi has consisted mostly of cardio and
roadwork, as he has yet to find mat space or decide upon a group to
train with.
Shining prospects for Pancrase's next tour
While there are title implications in store for Aug. 27's Pancrase Shining Tour card, prospects are perhaps the most compelling theme of the bill.
The undercard of the event will feature the return of Pancrase's supernova bantamweight Seiya Kawahara. The 20-year-old Kawahara debuted in May 2007 and has absolutely destroyed his first five opponents. The hottest Pancrasist prospect since Yoshiro Maeda (Pictures)'s emergence in 2003, Kawahara will take on the first major test of his pro career against former Shooto world title challenger Kentaro Imaizumi (Pictures).
Since challenging rival Ryota Matsune (Pictures) for the Shooto 132-pound world title in November 2004, Imaizumi has fallen on hard times, going winless in his last eight fights with four losses and four draws. After competing largely as a featherweight, Imaizumi returned to the bantamweight division in September, where he was dominated by Takeya Mizugaki (Pictures) in GCM's Cage Force.
Sengoku adopted prospect Maximo Blanco will also make his MMA debut against Yuki Yashima in a lightweight affair.
The 24-year-old Blanco, a native Venezuelan, took a bronze medal in the 163-pound freestyle category at the Pan American championships in 2007. Blanco, along with college wrestling star Shigeki Osawa, were announced as Sengoku projects last month, with the promotion's parent company World Victory Road funding and facilitating their development as MMA fighters. Blanco has since been training full time at the Yoshida Dojo under Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures) in Tokyo.
Featherweights Ishitwari, Fujmiya set for September Shooto scrap
Leading Shooto promoter Sustain have added another solid scrap to their Sept. 28 Shooto Tradition 03 card at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, making official a featherweight fight between surging Shintaro Ishiwatari (Pictures) and comebacking Tenkei Fujimiya (Pictures).
The 23-year-old Ishiwatari became a viral video star earlier this year courtesy of his atomic face-first slam stoppage of Kazuhiro Ito (Pictures) in February, which earned him his Class A Shooto license. Unbeaten since his March 2006 pro debut, Ishiwatari was arguably Class B Shooto's most exciting and dynamic competitor prior to his promotion.
Tabbed for success after being crowned Shooto 143-pound rookie champion in 2005, Fujimiya has not lived up to the hype as a Class A Shooto competitor. Loser of his last three bouts, Fujimiya dropped a highly questionable decision to Bao Quach (Pictures) last August in Irvine, Calif., but was very lackluster in a deflating majority decision loss to Hiroshi Nakamura (Pictures) (Pictures) in March.
Sustain's Sept. 28 card will be headlined by a 132-pound world title clash between champion Masakatsu Ueda (Pictures) and challenger Marcos "Louro" Galvao, with other scheduled tilts including Yasuhiro Urushitani (Pictures) taking on Yuki Shoujou (Pictures) and Masaaki Sugawara (Pictures) squaring off with Takuya Mori (Pictures).
Deep Megaton finale Saturday at FACE
This Saturday at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Deep will put a bow on perhaps the finest novelty promotion in Japanese MMA in 2008 with the conclusion of its the Megaton Grand Prix.
Deep's Megaton Grand Prix began in March with a field 16 Japanese competitors all weighing over 220 pounds and kicked off with a noodle-eating contest between the participants and Deep promoter Shigeru Saeki. Following the May quarterfinals, the Megaton final four are Shunji Kosaka, Shunsuke Inoue (Pictures), Ken Orihashi (Pictures), and overwhelming tournament favorite Yusuke Kawaguchi (Pictures), who dealt with his first two Megaton tournament opponents in a combined 56 seconds.
Much in the fashion of Deep's recent middleweight championship tournament, the semifinal pairings will be drawn on the evening of the event by the competitors, with the two winners meeting in the finale later that evening.
In the Megaton GP reserve bout, Mamoru Nakamura (Pictures) will take on Waka Arashi (Pictures), and Sotaro Yamada (Pictures) will take on Ryoji Suzuki in a welterweight affair. The card will also feature a one-night tag team grappling tournament, featuring the likes of Naoya Uematsu (Pictures), Kohei Yasumi (Pictures), Isamu Sugiuchi (Pictures), Daichi Fujiwara (Pictures), Takashi Hasegawa (Pictures) and Hiroki Nagaoka (Pictures).
Mach's star pupil looks to change history in Hawaii
Not quite so far across the Pacific, a debuting Japanese fighter will face a tall task in his pro debut. Hideto Kondo will make his professional MMA debut against transplanted Brazilian veteran Sidney Silva (Pictures) on Icon Sport's “Hard Times” card Saturday at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu.
Kondo is a standout pupil of Hayato "Mach" Sakurai, and is only 18 years old. Silva, who now resides in Hawaii, hasn't competed since his brutal knockout loss to “The Ultimate Fighter” alumnus Tom Speer (Pictures) in May 2007.
The point of interest in the bout is larger than Kondo's debut alone. Traditionally, Hayato Sakurai (Pictures)'s Mach Dojo pupils have been notoriously mediocre or worse, with many of his students languishing with losing records in Class B Shooto or failing to distinguish themselves in other Japanese promotions.
Hometown Hioki meets Nakamura Sunday in Nagoya
On Sunday, Nagoya's Alive Academy will present the 15th edition of Shooto Gig Central at their familiar stomping ground of Zepp Nagoya, with hometown headliner Hatsu Hioki (Pictures) continuing his comeback campaign.
In the evening's marquee bout, Hioki will take on recently promoted Class A competitor Hiroshi Nakamura (Pictures) (Pictures), who is fresh off his March upset over Tenkei Fujimiya (Pictures). After a disastrous and disappointing 2007, Hioki has rebounded in 2008, stampeding over Katsuya Toida (Pictures) in January and Baret Yoshida (Pictures) in March. Should Hioki emerge unscathed against Nakamura, he is slated to return to TKO, where he is still the promotion's featherweight champion, at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Oct. 3 to meet Stephane "Simba" Vigneault.
In undercard attractions, Komei Okada (Pictures) and Takahiro Kajita (Pictures) will slug it out in a 154-pound contest, Takeshi Okada (Pictures) moves up to the 132-pound division to meet Akira Kibe (Pictures), Hisaki "Kotobukimaru" Hirashi meets Kenichi Hattori (Pictures) at 154 pounds, Keisuke Kurata returns from hiatus to meet Hiroshi Sakamoto (Pictures) at 123 pounds, and Kenya Kato (Pictures) and Teppei "Bull" Masuda meet in a 115-pound affair.
In 2008 Shooto rookie tournament action, prohibitive tournament favorite Takesuke Kume (Pictures) faces Yoichiro Sato in a 168-pound semifinal, Yukinari "Hibiki" Tamura meets Kunio Nakajima (Pictures) in a 154-pound quarterfinal, Yasuaki "Aki" Nagamoto tangles with Keita Yoshida in a 132-pound quarterfinal, and in a 115-pound quarterfinal bout, Hiroyuki "Ron" Kondo squares off with Masatomi Yamagami.
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