Invicta 36 8/9/19: Victoria Leonardo vs. Stephanie Geltmacher 3R. Leonardo tried to use her reach to score on the outside with the jab, front, and side kick, but Geltmacher kept biting down on her mouthpiece & blitzing in with punch combos. The pace was really high because Geltmacher wasn't just going to stand around getting picked apart, but her Diego Sanchez style of charging & throwing rapid fire so the opponent didn't have time for their counters definitely wasn't nearly as accurate as Leonardo's sniping, and he real goal of getting in on the legs for the takedown wasn't materializing. Geltmacher did get a headlock throw early in the 2nd, and this was a much better round for her because she was able to force a lot more grappling and clinching sequences, making progress toward a rear naked choke while Leonardo splattered the canvas. Leonardo was still winning the standup, and came on late in the round including a sweet superkick. The fight was probably even going into the 3rd, but Geltmacher slowed down considerably, and Leonardo kept landing clean shots to the face that were not doing wonders for Geltmacher's cuts. I was hoping that Geltmacher was going to make a push in the last 2 minutes, but her nose was all busted up, and she didn't get her final wind until the last 15 seconds. I thought this was a clear 29-28 victory for Leonardo, but they shockingly announced a 29-28 split decision for Geltmacher. After the plastic Barbie did a particularly lame interview with the triumphant loser that totally ignored the confusing decision, Ray Flores gave an interview with the commissioner that was hard to decipher, but the main point was that Leonardo was actually the winner once the judges figured out how to add. At least they got it before they left the cage because otherwise it surely never would have been fixed. Good match.

UFC 241 8/17/19

Drakkar Klose vs. Christos Giagos 3R. These are two of the physically strongest fighters in the division, and that was an issue early for Klose, who tends to rely on overpowering his opponents in the clinching/grappling aspects. Giagos had a clear advantage in footwork, and he was confusing Klose with his stance switches as well as keeping his low kicks at bay by answering with a n aggressive punch combo. Giagos is known to fade because he's such a thick guy for the division while Klose is known to have great cardio & take over later, but it was Giagos who was putting a huge pace on Klose, with two takedowns early in the 2nd leading to a rear naked choke that Joe Rogan thought Klose was tapping from, but probably wasn't as threatening as the announcers made it sound as it seemed to always be on the chin. Klose just gutted it out, and now the good work he did with clinch knees earlier in the round to get at Giagos' tank combined with Giagos expending so much energy trying to finish the neck crank, began to pay off, as Klose turned it up & started landing the uppercut. Klose made up for the early takedowns in the round with his own, and was battering a winded Giagos on the ground, busting him open with an elbow. Giagos didn't have the energy to maintain his footwork in the 3rd, and now was eating calf kicks and not answering them, switching stances only because his leg was damaged. Klose's confidence was now soaring, as the fight had gone as planned, and now that he'd weathered the early storm, he was dealing with a compromised opponent who he could just disrespectfully walk down & pick apart. Giagos was still landing his share of right hands and left middle kicks though, and statistically was still almost playing even with Klose in the 3rd with 90 seconds left in the round. Klose scooped Giagos onto his shoulders for a huge double leg slam, but Giagos got off his knees and summoned the energy for one last big flurry in the final 15 seconds. I had Klose winning rounds 2 & 3, but given all 3 rounds were competitive enough that you wouldn't have to be Adalaide Byrd to give it to the other fighter, I was surprised that everyone had it 29-28 Klose. Good match.

Paulo Costa vs. Yoel Romero 3R. Costa is an even bigger specimen than Romero, taller and arguably thicker & more muscular, but despite being two of the bigger fighters in the middleweight division, they are very different fighters. While both have massive power, and this was a hell of a slugfest with both fighters mostly standing toe to toe bombing away, Costa relies on relentless pressure while Romero is much less consistent but more fluid, explosive, and athletic. Costa's size & stamina made it a tough go for Romero, who doesn't usually need a game to keep the opponent off him or at bay because normally no one wants to be in his face allowing him to head hunt them. Though the strike totals were ultimately pretty similar, Costa dominated the positional game, backing Romero until he was trapped against the cage, and just unloading on him so he not only didn't have room to use his speed, his flying knee, or his new taekwondo kicks, but to evade Costa's haymakers as well. Romero could still hit hard, but not with the same momentum he normally generates by closing distance so quickly, and he just had so many less options on the inside. Nonetheless, it looked like the match might be over inside 2 minutes as Costa dropped Romero with a short left hook, but then as he tried to pursue his advantage, Romero put him down with a right hook, though this was more of a slip. Romero is a lot better mover, and he was flowing at times, but he rarely was trying to time Costa coming forward or honestly doing anything to deter him from doing so in the first half of the fight. One exception came midway through the 1st when he backed Costa with a long left then when Costa tried to close the distance, he came forward with the jumping knee and backed him into the cage throwing big punches, but most of the time it was Costa walking him down into the cage & Romero eating the first punch then trying to answer with one of his own. Romero's goal certainly wasn't to spend all night punching Costa's head, but while both were dangerous at distance, Costa was consistently able to follow his shots up by stepping forward and throwing again, whereas Romero could back him up now & then, but since he doesn't use a jab, almost solely relies on his speed to land naked shots, and doesn't have great cardio, there was nothing he could do to keep Costa from stealing his space. Both were strongest in the 1st, and Costa did a better job working the body to slow Romero down, landing close to half his strikes there. Costa's front kick also helped to keep Romero out of the center, but his body punches were just nasty. With Costa slowing some midway through the second, Romero was able to make adjustments. He shifted to a more flowing boxing style, circling & flicking some jabs. While this was effective in halting Costa's forward movement momentarily, Romero wasn't doing much damage here, so Costa would let him tire himself out a little then rip another body hook & follow with a hook or overhand to the head. It was odd seeing Romero get so decisively beaten in weight of shot. Romero had a takedown at the end of the 2nd, and that plus fatigue seemed to have Costa hesitating a bit in the 3rd. Romero knew he needed a big 3rd round, and he really cleaned up his boxing game, doing less of the right hand flicking and throwing the left with more conviction. He upped his pace considerably, and was now doubling up his jab, sometimes throwing 3 or 4 unanswered. Costa's left eye was swelling quite a bit from all these straights. Costa had his moments in this round including a high kick, but was pretty tired & generally just outworked. Costa won a unanimous decision 29-28. Very good match.

Nate Diaz vs. Anthony Pettis 3R. This is a fight Diaz should win on paper, but you had know idea what Diaz would show up given he hasn't fought since they gave the golden McNugget the close decision 3 years ago. Pettis' style does pose problems for even a top form Diaz because Diaz's desire to utilize his reach advantage and pepper the opponent from the outset with endless quick straights gives Pettis the distance to use his kicks, diversity, and creativity. We didn't see any of that Diaz here, as he instead looked to fight entirely from the clinch or the canvas, doing a good job of creating an angle to get inside without taking a kick then working his dirty boxing and knees against the cage until he could get Pettis down. Pettis threw a ton of leather because that's what was available, and while he didn't have a lot of offense on the ground, these were also really entertaining sequences where he kept twisting and turning out of danger, and sometimes Diaz's desire to finish with the submission led to Pettis getting top control. Pettis was looking to set up the big high kick that Josh Thomson used on Diaz 6 years ago, and in the meantime punish his legs as always, but Diaz checked a low kick to start the 2nd, and Pettis' ankle began to swell. Pettis was able to keep Diaz off him enough in the 1st half of this round to damage Diaz's right eye, but eventually Diaz's pressure slowed Pettis down enough that he trapped him against the cage & took the top after a good clinch knee. Pettis got back up quickly & cut Diaz around the eye, but for the most part this section with Pettis having his back on the cage is where Diaz really took over, holding one of Pettis' wrists & hitting him with the other hand. Whereas Pettis started the first two rounds pretty well before Nate took over, in the 3rd his swollen ankle was giving out on him & he didn't have the energy to be on his horse, so it was phone booth fighting until Diaz got him down. Diaz almost got the stoppage 90 seconds in, dropping Pettis with a couple huge knees and a body shot then flurrying on the ground. Diaz got the hooks in, but Pettis turned into Nate's guard & stabilized. This fight had some of the best ground fighting of the year, with the activity just as high as in the standup. It was basically a perpetual scramble, as Diaz was just throwing to open up his opportunity to pounce on a choke or armbar, but Pettis kept rolling to counter them all. I don't think Pettis won any rounds, which is one reason Costa vs. Romero was the fight of the night, but he certainly made it a fun fight duking it out when they were toe to toe & defending beautifully on the ground. Diaz won a unanimous decision 30–27, 30–27, 29–28. Very good match.

UFC Heavyweight Title: Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic R4 4:09. Miocic fought really confidently in their 1st fight. You could tell he believed he was the better striker & the more powerful fighter, a real heavyweight as opposed to a chubby guy who could easily fight at 185 if not lower if he ever got in shape. Miocic was coming forward throwing punch combos, and willing to lock up with Cormier because even though Cormier is a much better wrestler, Stipe's height & strength gave him the ability to potentially win these exchanges. Cormier was fighting with his fingers straight out like Jon Jones the whole fight, and while Marc Goddard kept warning him, that didn't stop them from predictably getting jabbed in Stipe's eyes, sometimes legally with punches, sometimes not. The fight totally turned with a blatant eye gouge, and Miocic clearly hadn't recovered when it restarted. Cormier then thrust him in the other eye, which Goddard couldn't see because he was on the opposite side, followed through wrapping his arm behind Miocic's head, and finished him on the break with a short right hook. UFC proceeded to celebrate this cheating as one of the greatest victories in the history of the promotion, and despite holding the belt for over 2 years, Stipe only got a rematch because he just sat out while the roider who hasn't won a fight this decade resigned with the WWE and Cormier eventually came around to the idea that rematching Miocic was better than losing to Jones again. Tonight's contest was a much different story though, as it was now Cormier who had all the confidence, while Miocic was mostly standing around hoping Cormier would give him an opening. Cormier showed significant improvements in his boxing game, confusing Miocic by grabbing his hands then getting a quick punch combo through on the break. Though Miocic was still the more technical boxer, Cormier boxed him without getting into many of those conventional style exchanges, and was just beating him with his hand speed. You figured Miocic would work to improve his kicking game to impede Cormier's jab and forward progress, but it was the other way around, with Cormier landing the low kicks at distance, which forced Miocic into the boxing range where Cormier could play handsies. Cormier had a slam off the outside single midway through the 1st, and punched Miocic in the head for the rest of the round. Herb Dean edged closer to the bottom of my ref rankings refusing Miocic a break by insisting a blatant Cormier eye gouge was clean, and I was half expecting Cormier to just end it again within 30 seconds. This began to wake Miocic up though, and while he still lost the round because Cormier was landing in combination while he was only throwing one hard shot, he at least did some good damage just standing there exchanging with Cormier. Miocic's defense was basically non existant though, with Cormier being the one who threw the combo out of the hand grab every time and also scoring every time making Miocic defend the clinch/takedown when he dug for an underhook then coming over the top with the punch. Cormier's hand games were also throwing Stipe off of what should have been his game plan, pulling him into endless head punching exchanges which then kept him off the areas of Cormier you actually want to attack, the body & the legs. Miocic began to open up in the 3rd, finally pressing forward and getting off first. I would say that Stipe wasn't defending the jab at all, except that would imply he was defending something else. In any case, Cormier was just landing down the middle at will, and the thumb was finding it's way into the eye socket now & then, but you can't call that because it's a punch. Miocic got a takedown, which was only notable because Jones is the only guy that ever took Cormier down in MMA before. In general, Miocic probably won the round because he had a strong first 3 minutes, but he was looking very tired down the stretch, and DC sensed that & upped the pressure considerably, perhaps coming on enough to take it back. Maybe DC upped the pressure too much trying to steal the 3rd because he suddenly looked fatigued to start the 4th, and Miocic was walking him down again, but neither were throwing much until Miocic finally threw a left body hook 2 minutes in. From there, it was like something clicked, perhaps the ghost of Dusty Rhodes visited him & kept going on endlessly about the belly-welly, but in any case Miocic realized this tactic he should have been employing all along was actually a thing, and now he was all about ripping to the body. Cormier dropped his hands to try to defend it, but every one was landing anyway. Miocic began following with the right straight, and eventually wobbled Cormier then flurried on him against the cage for the stoppage. This was a remarkable comeback from Miocic in that he was able to win a fight he was clearly losing almost immediately through one late adjustment. Good match.

UFC Fight Night 156 8/10/19

Enrique Barzola vs. Bobby Moffett 3R. Fast-paced technical fight where the defense was ahead of the offense in the first half then they began exchanging in the 2nd half. Moffett has really good footwork and head movement, and was able to keep Barzola on the outside, reaching for his strikes & too far away to get the takedown. The problem for Moffett is he wasn't doing a good job of then countering Barzola, so while in some sense he was making Barzola look foolish, there's the line of thought that Barzola was the more active fighter who was always on the prowl. Barzola began to figure Moffett out, and was landing the lead left hook consistently as the 2nd round progressed. Eventually, Barzola had built up enough of a lead in the round that Moffett had to push forward and stand in front of him trading to try to get some of these back, and the match continued mostly in this vein. The end of this round was really action packed, and the third was equally as good as Moffett again fought at a closer distance, leading to more strikes connecting for both. Moffett did a good job of beating up Barzola's body in the 3rd. Barzola still had more pressure & more aggression, but Moffett was finally able to occasionally intercept him with the right or land it as Barzola was exiting. I'm still not sure if it was enough, but definitely making Barzola pay was the missing ingredient. The statistics told a different story though, as Moffett made Barzola miss so much he ultimately outlanded him by 4. There was a classic moment when the 30-27 Barzola scorecard was announced after the 29-28 Moffett where Moffett actually cupped his hand around his mouth & booed. His mood didn't get any better when Barzola got the other card 29–28. Good match.

Vicente Luque vs. Mike Perry 3R. Perry seemed to actually be making some progress under Greg Jackson, but is now back to not figuring out on his own in Florida. Still, this was a more disciplined performance from him than most of his previous. Perry seemed to be moving a little better and have a little more quickness in general. Still, the problem is everyone knows he's looking for the huge right hand, so he was mostly throwing single shots. He tried to feint or throw the jab or left high kick to open up the right, but Luque wasn't afraid of anything coming from the left side, and kept his left hand at his head to protect himself from right haymaker in case Perry threw it. Perry would try to create an angle for it, but while he was outlanding Luque in the 1st and did win the round, it was mostly throwing the left then not following because nothing was there or just putting out the naked right off some footwork that wasn't fancy enough to fool Luque. Luque was staying calm & patient, mostly chopping at Perry's legs in the 1st. In the 2nd, he began to press forward, and this is where he had the big advantage because Perry's hands are low & wide, so when Perry was standing in front of him rather than trying to angle in and out, it was easy for Luque to land straights down the middle. The problem with consistently walking forward is there's no exit, and with the closer range the more powerful puncher Perry was now able to answer with his own punch combos. He bloodied Luque's nose with an uppercut, and definitely landed more good clean shots in this round than in the 1st, but now Luque was dictating and Perry was taking a lot of punishment in the process, his face a bloody mess. Perry tried to switch to his wrestling and lay his way to victory in the 3rd, flipping off the booing fans during the "most grueling part of MMA". The ref eventually split them up, but Perry was able to get hold of Luque catching the right leg after Luque broke his nose with a devastating flying knee. Luque dropped into a guillotine, and squeezed for all he was worth for a minute, causing Perry's blood to leak all over his ribcage like a faucet. By the time Perry finally got his head free, the round was almost over and he wasn't able to do anything to make up the difference. I'm sure someone wants to give this round to Perry for being on top, but losing a bunch of blood while getting suffocated doesn't rank highly on any reasonable scoring criteria, and if we want to look at the striking earlier, certainly the shattering of Perry's nose was the decisive technique. I was still afraid Perry would get the decision, but luckily Luque got it 28–29, 29–28, 29–28. Good match.

NJPW 8/12/95: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Kazuo Yamazaki 6:22. Yamazaki is the most underrated shooter of his era largely because at the time, people didn't understand what a real match actually looked like, and just defaulted to the flashy excitement Takada brought not realizing how loose it was, how little water it held and the feeble amount of resistance that was involved. While it's true that Yamazaki is not as exciting in a pro wrestling sense, I would suggest he's often more exciting in a worked shoot sense, which is what he cares about anyway, because he tells stories and actually works for and earns his offense. This was Yamazaki's second match in NJ after finally returning from the floudering UWF-I, a promotion that had disgracefully transformed him from a UWF main eventer who was capable of beating even the legendary Akira Maeda and was the promotions best bout machine to the UWF-I jobber who made whoever they were setting up to challenge Takada next look great. I assume Yamazaki hung in so long because shooting was his real passion, and while this match showed the potential for that style in New Japan, he knew most of the guys above him such as Muto were entrenched in their old school fakery and weren't going to take the time to figure out how to believably incorporate their offense. Even though Liger is a high flying junior who wants to do high spots for the fun of it and is expected to entertain, he wasn't that kind of opponent, and embraced the challenge of doing a "real" match. It turned out to be one of the most credible worked shoots of the first half of the 90's outside of Pancrase, and showed the real potential of the NJ vs. UWF-I program if NJ's goal would have been to do something sustainable and memorable rather than to squash the myth of shooting through cheesy fake Buddy Rogers submissions. Though Yamazaki was a junior in his day, Liger clearly had the speed & mobility advantages over him and, more importantly, was in only his second match back from suffering a broken leg against Muto & Pegasus on 9/24/94, so Yamazaki targetted the leg with low kicks. Liger actually didn't just stand there for these like the usual cooperating tool, but rather enacted a reactive strategy where he did his best to check the low kicks so he wasn't taking damage, and preferably catch them so he could trip Yamazaki up for the takedown. Leg locks were a lot more viable at this time, especially in Japan where it was a long time before ground strikes to the face were legal, but I still would have preferred more counters to them, a rope escape just seems so lame when you can just roll because the opponent has no body control. The fact that Yamazaki was working the ankle on the leg that wasn't injured probably says something about Liger needing to regain his confidence in his body, or that his return was rushed so he could be a part of the big summer tour. The problem with this match is in order to not loose too much believability, they have to keep it short, and it wound up being a tight little themed match that could have used a few more answers from Liger to take it to the next level. Liger had one nice armbar counter to the ankle lock, but generally lacked any reasonable resistance on the ground to the ashikubigamate, a move that's shockingly easy to counter in countless different ways. I wasn't a big fan of the finish where he eventually just got frustrated & tried to abandon shooting, hitting something of a no cooperation backdrop &, in the one nod to pro wrestling, his powerbomb for the only near fall of the match after Yamazaki dropped to his butt to avoid the first time. The finish itself was good though as Liger tried to take advantage of a prone Yamazaki, with a nasty knee to the head while Yamazaki is on his knees and something of a penalty kick, but Yamazaki caught the 2nd one into the ankle lock for the submission. ***

IR #906 8/26/18, ICExInfinity Title Match: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Maya Yukihi 17:40 of 21:27. What a difference two years can make in the development of a young wrestler. When Fujimoto defended this title against Yukihi on 7/18/16, it was a glorified rookie match where Tsukasa had to keep dumbing things down. This was by far the biggest match of Yukihi's career headlining a near 5,000 seat arena against Ice Ribbon's ace in Tsukasa's 10th Anniversary Match, and they delivered a match worthy of the venue where Fujimoto was now able to challenge not only Yukihi, but also herself. These two brought everything they had and then some, with urgency, intensity, & creativity from start to finish. It felt more like a mid '00's Marufuji junior match than your typical modern joshi match, with a striking base but more of an improvisational feel to an action/reaction style match that's really developed by capitalizing on your ring positioning and immediately answering every movement of the opponent. Yukihi isn't quite there yet overall as she's still a bit methodical and can't carry the other slugs in this promotion or make it an exciting contest on her own like Fujimoto can, but she's got a ton of potential as she has size and can do a little of everything. This wasn't exactly her usual style, but she often a rudo catcher who shows diverse offense - some kicks, brawling, suplexes, and a few athletic spots such as her swanton finisher - so she has potential to go in this or many other directions. Fujimoto is a great opponent for her because she has that explosiveness and knows how to use her speed and athleticism to make the transitions fluid and keep the match flowing in general. Yukihi was able to give a confident performance with Fujimoto leading her through the match and providing most of the dynamic offense. These two worked really well together, and everything was clicking to the point it never seemed like they were doing the style of one or the other, as both were sharp with their answers and the match was perpetual motion. There were things here and there that ideally could have been done a little better, but because they were moving so well in addition to just keeping a high pace, it was more about the surprise of what they were going to come up with than gearing up for a big strike and then it being disappointing that it was just okay since they devoted a minute to it being the next big thing. Yukihi's kicks were on point, but she was less of a brawler here because Tsukasa can do more interesting things and there's no necesity to just knock off chunks of time with her. This style pushed Yukihi a lot more, it requires so much more timing, creativity, and alertness, and Yukihi set out to match Fujimoto and was able to show better speed & body control than usual to keep right up with her in all situations as they were going back and forth. After countless near falls, Tsukasa finally won with her venus shoot, but Yukihi proved she could more than hang at this level, and has not only remained in the main event picture, but captured the title in the rematch. Definitely one of the best matches in the history of the company, with a great performance by Fujimoto that came off because Yukihi kept going further & further over her head, and succeeding almost because she refused to doubt herself. ****

IR RIBBONMANIA2018 12/31/18, ICExInfinity Title Match: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Maya Yukihi 23:50. Sometimes doing a different match isn't a good thing. Watching this right after their 8/26/18 match, it was really frustrating how little intensity & urgency there was, especially at the outset. Though this match was more brutal than their previous, the tone was off because they were obviously not taking the first half seriously. Though the 8/26 bout was spectacular, it never felt merely like a performance where they were doing things because they could/should/or just wanted to pad the match & check off all the "necessary" boxes, it felt spontaneous. They did more matwork & striking here, and thus with the far lower degree of difficulty the execution was a little better, but it was the timing and how hard they pushed themselves to be timely that made the 8/26 match so outstanding. It wasn't so much the quantity of the "shooting" but not really aspects here, as that they were very obviously just killing time because they were going long. It was too much like a typical uninspiring start from Tsukasa's hero Manami Toyota minus the actual action at the outset that let her get away with it, and what made that more frustrating is this was only 2+ minutes longer than their previous nonstop match. In some sense it's understandable that Korakuen Hall wasn't providing the same level of motivation as Yokohama Bunka Gym, but on the other hand that building is so far out of Ice Ribbon's league (only NJ can get more than half capacity there these days) that there were roughly the same number in attendance for both shows. The match was designed to shore up Yukihi as one of their main eventers, and there was some storyline reasoning to focusing on a slower match featuring strikes & submissions as it's more her style than Tsukasa's. I suppose Yukihi could be thought to have the advantage here, but Tsukasa is doing soccer & penalty kicks in all her big matches, and is enough of a better athlete & more competent performer that more or less anything she does looks is probably going to look at least a bit better than what the more deliberate Yukihi can muster. The style was actually more toward Fujimoto's matches with Arisa Nakajima, and any while obviously any comparison to Nakajima is not going to favor young Yukihi, it wasn't what the difference in skill so much as the difference in drive that hurt this, as Nakajima would have mustered more intensity & credibility in the first 2 minutes than they found in nearly 25. They picked up tonight's match more with stiffness than with speed, and the match was harder hitting this time, with Yukihi landing some big slaps and elbows rather than primarily just kicking. The second half of the match was definitely quality, but they were really just doing what was expected, in other words that generic "what a big match is supposed to be" that you get for instance with lesser GHC Heavyweight Title matches rather than the freewheeling lets discover what our match can be that made their August match special. Yukihi scored the upset with her swanton to capture the title for the 1st time, ending Tsukasa's record 6th reign. I don't want to bag on the match too much, it's good and while I'm not confident Yukihi is ready to lead the sort of opposition Ice Ribbon can throw at her to something memorable, that's more on them than here and it's not like the alternatives to Tsukasa have ever been able to either. It's more than reasonable to try build the company around Yukihi given she's a decade younger than Fujimoto & she's just so much better than Sera in every way, has the size but with some actual body control & fluidity so she doesn't make the sequences & counters look clunky and just settle for the most generic constructs. ***

IR #926 Ryogoku KFC Ribbon 2018 12/9/18, Misaki Ohata vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 15:00. You should know by now that Fujimoto fighting a name outsider in the middle of the card means a match where she'll actually get to test herself that will finish as a draw. Unfortunately, it takes a retirement road match to get her paired with someone who can at least compete with her athletically. The Blue Fairy is really missed, as she was one of the only wrestlers in the history of WAVE that could unequivocally be called a hard worker. Ohata actually isn't an amazing athlete for her size, but she's someone who could be a model for Tsukushi as through trial and error she eventually figured out how to more or less get the most she could out of what she has. This wasn't the usual Fujimoto match because Ohata's former partner Mio Shirai was at ringside rather than reffing, and they did a few comedy spots centered around her, with Ohata pulling Mio in front of her to keep Fujimoto from going through with her plancha then Mio double crossing by throwing a ball & chain into a charging Ohata's path to trip her up. I could have lived without the weapon spots, but after seeing Risa Sera struggle to counter even the most basic lockup much less anything else in their 10/28/18 title match, it was great seeing Fujimoto not have to dumb & slow down for the opponent. For the most part, this was a well developed athletic spotfest. They started out having fun, but the match gained considerably momentum as it progressed, getting to the point where Fujimoto somehow still couldn't get the pin after hitting 3 infinity in a row. The stretch run was strong, and you really didn't want to see this end. ***1/4

IR #793 3/26/17, Arisa Nakajima vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 20:00. There's nothing that says this isn't going to be a friendly partner match like a bunch of early hairpulling and beating your pal with an umbrella. While the initial stages looked like a schoolyard scrap, what makes the Nakajima/Fujimoto matches so good is they are incredibly urgent. These two have cardio for days, & are there to fight from start to finish. One of the things that makes so Arisa amazing is she approaches the contest as though it were a real fight, not only wasting no time herself & going at it full force the entire match as though it actually mattered, but demanding this of her opponent as well. There's none of that turning their back or laying around because they can get away with it since it's a show nonsense in an Arisa bout. This Ice Ribbon meeting was more toward Fujimoto's match, showing the urgency through the high pace, while the 12/13/17 SEAdLINNNG contest was more toward Nakajima's match, showing the urgency through the intensity. These aspects were both very much present in both contests, but even though a lot of the offense was similar, the matches felt very different, with this one coming off as more of a flashy high paced affair that also used strikes and submissions, while the subsequent battle was more of a violent encounter that had its share of moonsaults and the like. The diversity of both is such that they can make things feel fresh through small shifts and divergences. This was the lesser of their 2017 encounters, as it felt more like a workrate match with a bit of sloppiness even though that was really only in the middle, with the beginning and end being quite an aggressive fight. Obviously maintaining the highest level of quality for the extra 10 minutes helped put the 12/13 match over the top. I liked that they switched more to beating down as this one drew to a close, somewhat hoping to open up some kind of knockout, but mostly out of frustrating that they'd thrown all they had at each other for 15 minutes without making any progress. It's amazing to see a match of this quality on an Ice Ribbon show, much less in the middle of it. I know they don't like to put a draw as the main event or above title matches, but man these other girls had no prayer of following this. ****

SEAdLINNNG Share The Moment 12/13/17: Arisa Nakajima vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 30:00. Classic joshi partners battle where they wanted to kill each other for half an hour then went back to being, well, Best Friends. I expected the match to be more choreographed & flashy, and while they weren't afraid to do a moonsaults or even an avalanche style DDT onto the ring apron, at it's core it was more their version of the Shibata violence match with Marufuji's athleticism & creativity to be opportunistic in inserting beautiful counters & spectacular moves out of the striking base. They were in each other's face from start to finish just beating each other down, and even though they did a very urgent 20 minute draw on 3/26/17, you still never felt they were going the distance again because the intensity was at 10 the whole time. Shibata's routine is a 15 minute match, but they never stalled or screwed around or let up in any way to account for all the extra time, instead they innovated. Obviously Shibata is a technically superior striker who hits a lot harder, and while Nakajima strikes fast her impact can be inconsistent, but what made this match stand out and be their own is they were able to seamlessly incorporate all their high spots to make up the other half without making the contest feel contrived or in any way a show where they were just inserting their usual stuff to do offense because it was expected of them. The striking wasn't the usual exchanges in between the other offense, it was brief but constant. They would slow each other down with a few strikes then sneak in a big move when the opponent was groggy or use the momentum from a missed strike to go into a high spot. The best sequence began with Fujimoto hitting a soccer ball kick, but when she tried to follow with the penalty kick, Nakajima dropped to her back then did a kip up, ducked a lariat and tried a wheelbarrow victory roll, but Fujimoto did a handspring out only to hurt herself when Arisa once again avoided the penalty kick kind of like Thiago Santos against Jon Jones. The aggressive, unfriendly tone was set before the bell when Tsukasa offered a handshake, but Arisa slapped her hand away, so Tsukasa slapped her then tried to walk to her corner only to get ambushed. Nakajima is tiny, but she's such a fierce competitor you always feel like she's the last one you'd actually want to mess with because she's so relentless. The way she went after Tsukasa with a chair early then had to be restrained from using a ladder, you'd think this was a decade long blood feud rather than that her next match would once again be tagging with Fujimoto. Nakajima is one of the most interesting grapplers because her sequences aren't full on cooperation. She was able to show when they were "agreeing" to do something such as grab hands for the basic lock up, and when they are being tentative while looking for an opening or having to work to gain/maintain an advantage. This time it was more her match than Fujimoto's, and though Fujimoto is a lot more diverse than she gets credit for and probably one of the better female strikers, it was Nakajima that was getting so many of the little things right & really making the match a lot better than it would have been if you gave basically anyone else the basic layout. She is truly a special talent. The match threatened to become contrived when Fujimoto did a Toyota sequence dropkicking Nakajima to the floor and clapping as she made her way to the top rope for her plancha, but Arisa doesn't play that, and let Fujimoto know by winging a chair into her. In general though, they got away with doing more highspots than most would have because they are so quick, athletic, and explosive that the moves didn't seem like the clunky changes of pace or style they would if ordinary athletes were trying to emulate their match. The one sequence where they lost the plot was when Fujimoto hit a missile kick from each corner, it was much too slow & deliberate for the rest of the match, and she kept begging for encouragement rather than sticking to the kick before & after to buy time to do next move. The match seemed close to ending when Fujimoto ducked a punch into her infinity, hit the venus shoot, and went for the Tsukadora, but Arisa countered with a huge Dragon suplex for a double sell spot. I liked Arisa seeming to counter the Japanese ocean cyclone suplex with a schoolboy, but instead standing up and setting up la magistral, but giving Tsukasa a reverse kick to the face as she was twisting into the pin. Tsukasa did finally hit the JOCS for the cliche time conveniently expires non finish. Their stamina was probably the most impressive aspect, as they were never threatening to slow down despite going all out for the duration. It was amazing to see a match of this quality at all, but given the current landscape, especially to see both give career level performances outside the main event, but I don't think Nakajima cares about any of that stuff, it's mainly about the opportunity to challenge herself. ****3/4

IR Yokohama Ribbon 2017 Golden Week II 5/5/17: Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 15:00. You knew something was up when this wasn't the main event, and given Fujimoto's draw with Arisa Nakajima in March, you could probably guess what it was. While this was a good match, unlike the Nakajima draw, it certainly wasn't as good as it sounds on paper, which can partly be attributed to both working featured tags for SEAdLINNNG that day. They really eased into things, and that hurt a lot as you need to fear Hiroyo for her monster routine to work, and this just felt like a whole lot of cooperation with both doing their things in between Hiroyo playing to the crowd. I liked Hiroyo threatening to pound Fujimoto against the ropes then deciding to break cleanly only to have Fujimoto slap her in the face, but this should have woken up the giant & led to her immediately bringing the pain. The match picked up with Matsumoto working Fujimoto's back with some power moves and taunting her into standing up for herself with strike exchanges, which was always going to be a losing battle. Fujimoto began to fight smarter, beating her with her athleticism & getting her strikes in between highspots, but there was a really contrived sequence where Hiroyo whipped her into the corner then just kneeled in a 3 point stance playing to the crowd until Fujimoto finally got up for Fujimoto could cut her off with a dropkick. The most effective of the striking sequences had Matsumoto use a slap to set up a spin only to have Tsukasa beat her to the blow badly with a climb up enzuigiri. Fujimoto was playing a dangerous game of getting on Matsumoto's back, but although she got thrown off the apron, she didn't take a really big power move until Matsumto hit her Ligerbomb just in time for time to expire. A nice match, but definitely one that mostly seemed to be setting up a bigger match that unfortunately has yet to happen, perhaps because someone would have to win? ***

IR #765 11/3/16, ICExInfinity Title Match: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Tsukushi 30:00. Tsukushi is in an odd spot where other than tonight's opponent she has considerably more ability than the rest of Ice Ribbon's sad roster at this point, but she's not good enough to make the match by making the opponent look good or allowing the rudo to do it but taking her opportunities to pounce on any opening with something really flashy. Her move set is good enough to hold your interest, but she doesn't incorporate the moves, she just does them, so none of them are really any more impressive in action than if you just told her to show you [insert name of hold]. Tsukasa did her best to push her into actually developing her offense & working the moves in, and was able to get some good sequences & counters out of Tsukushi. Tsukushi did her best to work over her head, which led to some painful miscues, though I'd still rather see this than leaving her to her devices of you do some moves then I'll do some moves. It's hard to know where to rate Tsukushi because she's definitely ahead of the curve for her age (19 here), but she's also been wrestling since she was 12. As far as 5 foot range wrestlers go, she's probably below average in athleticism, fluidity, and body control. This is the sort of match she needs to be having where she's forced to do a lot of striking, use some submissions, incorporate some more difficult transitions and counters, work for her offense, and just generally work out of her comfort zone. The problem is she needs to be doing this regularly, and the only wrestler in Ice Ribbon that's capable of leading her through this kind of match is Fujimoto. This isn't necessarily a match you judge by minute to minute details or even the end result. The reality is the bout was much too long for Tsukushi & Fujimoto is too advanced for her, but while there's repetion and flubs, Tsukushi showed potential of reaching the next level here that she doesn't show on her own. The early portion was mostly parity, focusing on exchanging strikes but even down to both going from corner to corner to deliver their Toyota missile kicks. There was one sweet spot where Fujimoto handspringed out of Tsukushi's wheelbarrow victory roll into a penalty kick, but they saved the majority of their finishers for a big push in the final 5 minutes. This portion was quite impressive, and Tsukushi did well enough with the strike exchanges to make you believe she wouldn't just get run over by Fujimoto. As with all Fujimoto draws, someone was saved by the bell. In this case, it was pretty funny because Risa Sera & Fujimoto were announcing and when the bell rang at 2 on Fujimoto's venus shoot Sera suddenly comes out with an "oooooh nooooo!", which Fujimoto then parroted. ***

IR #775 ~RibbonMania 2016~ 12/31/16, ICExInfinity Title Tournament Semifinal Match: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Tsukushi 13:11. Tsukasa vacated the title after her 30:00 draw with Tsukushi on 11/3/16, leading to a tournament that started later in the month. One would think that they'd have to go deep into the rematch to declare a victor, but since they had the semifinals and final on the same night, that wasn't really an option. Tsukushi isn't exactly Arisa Nakajima who can go full speed for days and keep you at the edge of your seat, she can be fun, but has limited ability to really implement her arsenal and isn't going to be very creative unless someone like Fujimoto forces her to. I liked that the draw forced her to dig deep, and Tsukka had her working some more interesting counters & transitions, but realistically a medium length sprint is much more within her capabilities and she was miles better in this match, throwing out a lot of good athletic offense and performing it more cleanly. It seemed like she knew what she was in for this time, and even if things didn't always go well on 11/3, she just seemed a lot more confident and prepared for this rematch. The opening was great with Tsukushi countering Tsukasa's charge with her denden mushi then having Tsukasa stop her Tiger suplex & drop into a JOCS attempt only to have Tsukushi victory roll her but fail on her footstomp. Those are the kind of finishers they were saving until the end of their draw, but it's not so much that they were firing off more spots here, as that they were able to improve upon things they were doing in the previous match. For instance, when they switched to striking, Tsukushi caught Fujimoto's soccer ball kick & spun into the ankle hold only to have Fujimoto roll into her own ankle hold, so Tsukushi got out of the submission game by into one of her lucha spinning headscissors. Tsukushi was the featured performer here since she was losing, she got to do the tree of woe footstomp to get it to the floor & the plancha off the arena entrance while they were battling on the outside. She also had the best counter, a different variation of something they did last match where she stopped Fujimoto's venus shoot by beating her to the corner and countering with her harukaze. They still did some striking & submission sequences, but overall the match was more of a fast paced spotfest where the other stuff was more an opportunistic way to briefly gain an advantage and wear the opponent down so they would be less likely to counter the next big thing. Fujimoto won with her infinity followed by a JOCS, but it felt like Tsukushi was a real rival in this match, whereas she was more a clunky student in the previous one. This match really smoked the final, where Sera couldn't come close to keeping up with Fujimoto and was typically deliberate & telegraphed despite their best efforts. ***1/2

JWP-MANIA X 2016 4/3/16

Two Count Rules Match: Leon vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 9:11. The Plum Mariko style rules turned this into something of a lightning match. There was never any sense that they were going to go long, but as always I'd rather see wrestlers go all out for 10 minutes than bloat a 10 minute match into 30 minutes of inaction. They set the tone of flash pins at the outset with Tsukasa avoiding the spear in the corner then trying the schoolboy 3 times in a row. I wouldn't want to see these rules all the time, but they make for a really fun change of pace for workers such as these two who can really counter because suddenly everything becomes dangerous. Another nice early spot that works better in this type of match was Leon dropping to her back to avoid the penalty kick then hooking Fujimoto's arms with her legs into a sunset flip finish style pinning predicament, which they rolled back & forth on. The match was really urgent from start to finish because you just had to be on guard. You couldn't just play it safe, but at the same time, each mistake was magnified because you had so much less time to rectify it. I felt the rules gave Fujimoto the advantage because Leon is a lot more apt to use submissions, which are kind of pointless here, whereas Fujimoto has a variety of no damage cradles. The finish saw her try the best of these, the Tsukadora, but Takase dropped on top. I think it would have been better to just end it here than to have Fujimoto kick out then lose to a jackknife cradle, which really wasn't a fluid transition since Leon had to back up after the kick out in order to get Fujimoto's feet in front of her. Overall, the match started better than it finished, but it's nice to get something with both skill & effort early on the card. ***

JWP Openweight Title Match: Mayumi Ozaki vs. Arisa Nakajima 15:36. A matchup between two of the all-time greats is likely to disappoint when there's more than two decades difference in their age. Though these two would undoubtedly have torn the house down if we could pit the '90's version of Ozaki against the current version of Arisa, they actually managed to both do the best match they could given reality and thus overachieve. Taking place in JWP was key because Bolshoi frankly held Ozaki to a much higher standard than Ozaki holds herself to in her own Oz Academy promotion, and thus Mayumi was expected to actually do her own work rather than relying on the fuzz, who thankfully was not invited. It's not uncommon to see two women who are only around 5' headlining a JWP show, Baba liked guys who were tall like him, Bolshoi likes women who are skilled like her. This wasn't your typical JWP match though. While it was similar to a handful of Dress Up Wild Fight matches Ozaki had in JWP before her career went downhill moving to Chigusa's retirement home, bloody brawls that largely center upon weapon use aren't exactly running rampant in the pure wrestling oriented J. Certainly the '90's Ozaki would have enjoyed engaging Nakajima in a series of lightning counters, but at 47-years-old Nakajima would just run circles around her, and Ozaki had to use her brawling in order to have a chance. She riled Nakajima up before the bell by heaving the JWP title belt to the floor then, not long after it was retreived, she managed to stop Nakajima's early charge by nailing her with it. Much of Ozaki's offense was just beating down with belt and chain, but this wasn't the sort of overbooked trash we see in Oz Academy or the many increasingly American oriented Japanese promotions, it was more of an old school brawl with little b.s. and enough moments of good striking and wrestling. Nakajima bleed like a stuck pig, regularly having to wipe blood out of her eyes to see while Ozaki kept working it over to make things even gorier. The match was mostly Ozaki's because she was armed and also the one doing the job, but I like that Nakajima did her thing rather than just conceeding to do Ozaki's match by fighting fire with fire. This allowed Ozaki to be the consistency, while Nakajima could be the skill & excitement. While Ozaki worked as close as she could to her old JWP days, her formula for dragging Nakajima through the match was not only unnecessary but not beneficial given this wasn't some young scrub who had 1/50th of Ozaki's ability, but rather one of the most talent & creative women in the game. Nakajima had a few nice counters turning a punch in a wakigatame and a chain shot into a flying armbar, but generally the transitions to her brief offense were a lot less interesting than they should have been. Actually, rather than leading to Nakajima's offense, the mostly served the purpose of setting up a striking exchange, which Ozaki inexplicably tended to win, and/or giving Ozaki a reason to use her actual wrestling before she got the weapon back. The deck was clearly stacked against Nakajima since there was no rule enforcement, even when she nearly caused a double KO with a huge Shibata headbutt, the chain was right next to Ozaki to regain the advantage with when she came to her senses, though in this case Arisa finally used it on her. The finish was gimmicky with Ozaki accidentally taking out ref Tessy Sugo when Nakajima ducked the mist spew, but the whole serves her right for being so underhanded & disrespectful worked in their advantage as Sugo wasn't there to count her falls then finally stumbled to her feet when Nakajima knocked Ozaki back with a front kick, causing Ozaki to unexpectedly boomerang off Sugo into a big Nakajima elbow for the KO. The big problem with the finish was that Nakajima was inexplicably making no real traction with her striking until this point. She should have gotten more offense, but the length was right for what Ozaki can do these days and the result of beating a legend to start her 3rd reign with the JWP Openweight Title is going to be more memorable than how she got there. Ozaki had the last laugh though, kicking the trophy before they could present it to Nakajima, and though Nakajima made a mad dash to save it from being tossed to the floor like the title earlier, Ozaki still managed to smash it in the ring. ***1/2

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