Han's best performance of the year. This was somewhat ironic because he appeared to be falling apart before our eyes at points, but 5 seconds later he'd look like the Han of old, leaving your mouth hanging open at just how incredible superbly worked matwork can be. This was loaded with innovative spots and sequences, and the transitions and counters were fantastic.

"This was the last great match Han was involved in, and for one month was Kosaka's best ever match," wrote James.

Han started off in typical fashion, focusing on the arm, and they would slowly move through the holds because it was too early for any of them to work. Kosaka seemed to want to fight Han in standup. Although it's not Kosaka's strength, especially at this point of his career, Han is a sambo master and the god of the mat (at least in works), so it did make sense for Kosaka not to want to play to his opponent's strength. The strategy paid off for Kosaka early, as he put Han down with a left middle kick. However, Kosaka only had a few more chance to do damage in standup, and failed to even remotely capitalize on any of them.

"Kosaka attempting to fight in standup was a smart move, particularly towards the middle of the match when it was pretty clear that Han had the better mat knowledge of the two. Luckily Kosaka, unlike most of the European RINGS workers, does have ground skills and was able to make the match more exciting by countering his way out of Han's submissions rather than just grabbing the rope every time," wrote James.

When Han got back on his feet, he went back to the arm, trying to do his patented straight arm bar where he makes his opponent flip over onto the mat to alleviate the pressure. Kosaka was flipped, but Han couldn't follow up by going right into arm bar like he normally does because Kosaka developed a counter for this. The counter started off looking like a schoolboy, but instead of rolling Han up, he brought this arm up to the other one that Han was prying with both hands. Since Kosaka got his free hand into the lock to block Han from straightening his arm, the main point of Han taking him over was defeated.

Han did get the udehishigigyakujujigatame soon enough, but Kosaka kept turning his body so they were more parallel than crossed and he'd also bring his leg up to get in Han's way. I don't think this could work in a real shoot, but it was one of the best attempts to make sense out of Han once again not getting a submission when he'd locked the arm bar on his opponent in the center of the ring.

"This was a pretty good spot, but one that didn't make the match look too real because it just wouldn't have worked in a real situation. However, I'd rather watch something like this happen than see someone sit in a legit hold for a long time without tapping," wrote James.

The highlight was Han locking in a doushime sleeper, but it wasn't successful because Kosaka was twisting his ankle, so he tried an udehishigigyakujujigatame. Kosaka spun out and took Han's back, immediately locking in a hadakajime, but Han rolled half way across the ring as fast as he could to make the ropes (it was really too obvious that Kosaka was helping him here though). Even when there wasn't nearly as much action, it was really impressive watching all the maneuvering on the mat because the technique was so good.

To show how little Kosaka did in standup after the quick start, Han actually knocked Kosaka down with a shotei and knee lift combo, which is at least seemingly a first for him. After this, Kosaka shot in for the takedown and it was basically all on the mat.

"An interesting reversal of roles at this point. Han all of a sudden was getting the better of Kosaka in standup, which would normally be Kosaka's strength, and Kosaka soon thereafter managing to beat Han on the mat, something he hadn't really come very close to doing so far in the match," wrote James.

The downfall of the match to me was the finish. First of all, the match was too short. Secondly, the match just ended rather than coming to any kind of built to conclusion. Thirdly, the finisher never appeared to be locked in even close to properly as Kosaka was choking with one of Han's arms taking the pressure off the lock. Finally, the ref missed Han's tap from the hadakajime. Kosaka, seeing the tap, began releasing the hold even though the match wasn't officially over yet, so Han, knowing this was where he was doing the job, had to tap again as quick as he could even though he wasn't really in the hold anymore (Kosaka still had his arm, but there was no real pressure on it and the move Han submitted from was a choke) so the ref would call for the bell. With all this confusion, Han didn't know how he should act after the match was over. He wound up selling briefly then looking ready to continue and complaining to the ref. Due to Han controlling the majority of the match and losing in this manner, even though it was one of RINGS best bouts, the match really didn't do the job as far as making it seem like Kosaka had surpassed Han. Considering this had been something of a program and they never had a rematch, one would have to think that was supposed to be the main point of the match.

"It would have been nice to get a longer match, but I don't really have a problem with the length because at least three more of Han's best matches also only lasted ten minutes, and legit shoot matches generally don't go long unless the rules allow one guy to lay on his back and do nothing for extended periods of times," wrote James.

The length of shoots is basically determined by the matchup; what style of fighters you have, and what each guy feels it's going to take to beat the other under this set of rules. The rules are certainly a big factor, but almost all the fighters work around them. For instance, in UFC you need to stay active to avoid a standup, so if your goal is to run out the clock, instead of just pinning your opponent down, you hold them down and throw some pawing punches to make it look like you are doing something.

"The finish where Kosaka had the choke applied, but Han slipped out of the hold whilst rolling around did detract some because, at the point where Han tapped out, Kosaka really didn't have much of a hold on him at all," wrote James.

Jerome's review:

The great thing about these two mat wrestling gods is that they only need 10 minutes to give you a super match. In this case, the match would have been awesome if the finish was on par with the rest of the fight. Even though both Kosaka and Han are better on the ground, the stand up sections were very good, with Han selling a middle kick like only he can (selling the shots of Kosaka is not a difficult thing to do for the man who made Tariel's punches credible). Later, Han got a knock down himself after a combination shotei/knee lift.

Most of the fight was contested on the mat, as it was more a near submission spotfest than a technical clinic. Han tried his straight arm bar, but Kosaka flipped to the mat and countered the hold, which led to a jujigatame attempt by the Russian, but once again Kosaka escaped after a nice counter. Another awesome sequence saw Kosaka countering Han's doushime sleeper with an ankle lock. Han reacted by putting Kosaka in a jujigatame, in his always explosive and dramatic fashion. This could have been the end, but Kosaka countered once again and locked a naked choke, which forced Han to roll to the ropes. State of the art shoot wrestling.

They went through a few points in a short span of time, including the two knock downs, but you could feel this one was going to end in an abrupt fashion because both can lock a hold literally from nowhere. Sadly, the ending of the match was kind of lame, with Kosaka taking down Han in a rather bizarre fashion and putting him once again in a naked choke. The bizarre thing is that Han tapped after the hold was released, and the referee didn't stop the match immediately, leading to a WTF reaction from the crowd and myself. Bad finish to an otherwise great match.

Special thanks to: Jerome Denis & James Phillips - Japanese Women's Wrestling

10:10

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