In other quarterfinal action, the working class hero Hideo Tokoro (Pictures) faced off against Uno in what turned out to be an extremely entertaining match. The fight started with both fighters throwing and dodging some big punches. Uno scored the takedown first, after which he stood at Tokoro’s feet, holding his opponent’s ankles to control his legs.
It was Tokoro who really made this fight interesting. The guy is like a greased pig — the longer he rolls around on the mat and the more you try to hold him, the more he slips through your fingers. In the second he managed to pull off one of the craziest moves I’ve ever seen. He came in for a jumping, spinning axe kick al la Jadamba Narantungalag, which turned into a triangle, followed by an armbar. It was truly an incredible thing to see.
Even when Tokoro was in a bad position he always seemed to find a way out. When Uno was at his side on all fours, throwing punches at him with his right, Tokoro found a way to stand up. When Uno got back-control while they were on their feet, Tokoro managed to get a beauty of a Kimura attempt.
This fight ended with Uno almost taking Tokoro’s back, and the judges awarded him the unanimous decision. Personally, I think Tokoro did more than enough to be awarded at least one of the judge’s votes, but I guess that’s just me.
RINGS Lithuania fighter Remigijus Morkevicius faced off against Takaya in bracket A. Morkevicius was just on fire at the start of this one, exploding out of his corner to pound his opponent with kicks, punches and a series of knees to the body from the clinch. For a second I thought he was going to pound his way to a victory early on, but eventually Takaya scored the takedown and fell into half guard.
On the ground, Takaya dominated the Lithuanian. He was able to mount Remy twice in the first, where he rained down punches. Remy reversed his opponent once, only to fall into a Kimura attempt.
The second round was a real slugfest, with both fights landing some devastating kicks and punches. Once again Takaya got his opponent down and took mount, raining down combinations of punches.
The Japanese fighter was riding high, looking for an armbar between the punch combinations. Remy tried to bridge his way out of this precarious situation, but to no avail. Takaya continued to rain down the punches until the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.
In one of the evening’s super-fights, tough karate and K-1 veteran Sam Greco (Pictures) took on Judoka Shungo Oyama (Pictures). Greco had Bob Sapp (Pictures) and Ray Sefo (Pictures) in his corner.
In the entrance video, Greco stated that he planned to keep this one a stand-up affair. Greco looked much bigger than his opponent as they listened to the instructions in the center of the ring before the fight started.
True to his word, Greco came out with hard punches and low kicks. Oyama countered by catching one of these and taking the Australian down. From here, Greco simply held on until the referee stood them up.
The end was near for Oyama once the referee called for them to come back to their feet. Oyama took a hard punch at the end of a flurry, followed by a hard knee to the head that put the Japanese fighter’s lights out.
The stretcher was dragged out from underneath the ring apron, but Oyama finally awoke and was able to leave the ring under his own power.
Middleweight (167 pounds) SHOOTO champion Akira Kikuchi (Pictures) took on Kiuma Kunioku (Pictures) in what was touted as the unofficial battle between SHOOTO and Pancrase. Kikuchi had a nice single-leg takedown at the start of this match-up and briefly got mount. Kunioku reversed, only to end up in a Kimura attempt.
Kunioku seemed to come alive in the second, pounding from the top and constantly standing up to work around his opponent’s guard. He nearly got caught in an armbar, but was able to escape. In the closing seconds, Kunioku scored a strong uppercut that sent Kikuchi to the canvas. The fight was scored a draw and another round was called for.
The action went back and forth in the final round. Kikuchi had several takedown attempts and Kunioku continued to pound from the guard. The SHOOT middleweight champion was looking a bit gassed and the end. The bell sounded and the judges gave the Kikuchi.
Killer Bee fighter and SHOOTO Pacific Rim champion Koutetsu Boku (Pictures) defeated Hermes Franca (Pictures) by judges’ decision.
In the rematch from their fight in DOG, Atsushi Yamamoto (Pictures) defeated Katsuya Toida (Pictures) by judges’ decision.