Grabaka fighter Akihiro Gono (Pictures) played a smart, defensive game in the opening moments of his fight against Chute Boxer Daniel Acacio (Pictures), moving around and blocking the bombs that the Brazilian threw.
Gono combined his hands with quick, powerful kicks that struck his Acacio’s legs. Acacio was certainly more than willing to trade, throwing excellent charging flurries, always looking to knee from the clinch.
The second round saw some more ground work, with Gono attempting a stomp and falling into guard. From here he pounded his opponent from the top and even worked to score the mount towards the end of the fight. In the end, the Grabaka fighter took the unanimous decision.
Dan Henderson (Pictures) made short work of the “Piranha” Ryo Chonan (Pictures) in their quarterfinal match-up. After briefly circling the ring, Henderson landed a big right hand that staggered the Japanese fighter, followed by yet another hard right.
Chonan went down to the mat with Henderson chasing after him, throwing strikes on the ground. The referee rushed in and stopped the match, a totally legitimate call. Chonan was out — his hands were down when he hit the ground and couldn’t defend himself. This affair lasted 22 seconds with Henderson picking up the fast KO victory.
Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures) must have learned from his Bushido 7 mistake of trying to stand and strike with UFC veteran Phil Baroni (Pictures), because this time around, the popular Japanese fighter was all about taking his opponent down.
Minowa came down to the ring with a new brush cut, wearing a white “wife beater,” getting a huge reaction from the crowd. Baroni entered doing his trademark strut.
Minowa’s first move was to shoot in and get the takedown. From inside Baroni’s guard, the Japanese fighter worked to half, then to the side. Minowa had many submission attempts throughout, including armlocks and Kimuras from the side that he persistently held on to, and several leg submission/ankle lock attempts.
Baroni spent a lot of time struggling to get to his feet and was able to works some strong reversals, but it seemed like as soon as Baroni stood up, Minowa was shooting in to take him down.
Baroni had a good rally towards the end of the fight, connecting with knees after sprawling out from a takedown attempt and scoring a big soccer kick in the corner. The fight went to the judges and Minowa was declared the winner by unanimous decision.
Bustamante scored several takedowns over SHOOTO veteran Masanori Suda (Pictures). After knocking down the Brazilian, Suda fell into Bustamante’s guard. From here Bustamante applied an armbar from the bottom. It took a bit of effort on the BTT fighter’s part to stretch it out the armbar, but eventually Bustamante got the tapout victory.