Sherdog.com Preview: SHOOTO “Victory of the truth”

Hiroyuki Abe (Pictures)
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu/Kickboxing
Team: AACC
Height: 5' 6” (168 cm)
Weight: 143 lbs. (65 kg)
Record: 6-7-2
SHOOTO record: 5-4-2

Tenkei Fujimiya (Pictures)
Kickboxing
Team: SHOOTO Gym Yokohama
Weight 143 lbs. (65 kg)
Record: 4-0-1
SHOOTO record: 4-0-1

Coming from a strong kickboxing background, Abe started in 1998 inside SHOOTO with a promising career until he met Alexandre Franca Nogueira (Pictures) in 2002 for the SHOOTO lightweight title. After losing the match to “Pequeno” by rear-naked choke, Abe basically started to follow the path of journeyman fighting for different organizations in USA and Japan, sometimes two weight divisions above his natural weight. Abe’s last seven fights have been fought in KOTC, PRIDE Bushido and Euphoria MFC with an unimpressive 1-5 record, including a no contest.

Fujimiya is the 2005 rookie of the year in the SHOOTO lightweight division. Like most fighters coming out of SHOOTO Gym Yokohama, Fujimiya has displayed tendencies to keep the fight standing as much as possible while displaying fair takedown defense. Similar his SHOOTO rookie of the year counterpart in the welterweight division, Fujimiya was promoted from class B to class A professional SHOOTO and this marks the first time he is fighting someone with experience mostly on a bigger stage.

Prediction:

Abe by decision. I know Abe has looked horrible since 2002 but there is a big experience different next to Fujimiya’s rookie tournament title. Fujimiya’s run inside the rookie tournament was not very spectacular. I know he won it but still wasn’t spectacular besides the upset over that year’s favorite, Yutaka Nishioka (Pictures).

I don’t see either fighter trying takedowns in this fight but instead they will see how many times each can knock the other down. In fact, and for those who follow SHOOTO closely, I expect this one to go similar as Abe vs. Ishikawa back in SHOOTO 2004.