Best Matches Seen February 2022 |
UFC Fight Night 202 2/26/22: Priscila Cachoeira vs. Ji Yeon Kim 3R. These fighters are definitely more entertaining than good, but I would much rather see a fun fight then supposedly great fighters doing nothing. They definitely poured their heart into this standup war, going all out exchanging for 15 minutes. It's easy to see why Cachoeira is 2-4 in the UFC, as she relies soley on huge power, yet does literally nothing to set it up, refusing to throw a jab or anything that isn't a telegraphed bomb. Kim is 3-4 in UFC, but she seems like someone that could win. She is a pretty good technical striker, and was largely picking Cachoeira apart the whole fight, fighting well behind her 7 inch reach advantage or usually timing Cachoeira coming in with a sharp jab, as Cachoeira knew she had to make it a brawl and just kept coming forward no matter how many times she was getting tagged. Cachoeira was largely more successful than Kim was at dictating her type of fight, but Kim could succeed at multiple styles, whereas Cachoeira was totally outgunned unless she was dictating. These stats I'm looking at have Kim throwing almost double the strikes in the 1st round, yet it seemed like she was waiting most of the round and not actually throwing. She definitely did much better in the second half of the round, but she had to focus so much on avoiding Cachoeira haymakers that she was always on her back foot and not really getting her own counters going as well as she should have, and definitely did in the next two rounds. It felt like Cachoeira actually outlanded Kim in round 1, but definitely she landed most of the significant shots in the round, so I gave it to her. Kim did a better job of holding her ground in the second round, which was all she needed to do with that reach, and when she wasn't being forced into a defensive position, she was able to counter much more effectively. Cachoeira couldn't wait because when she did she just ate jabs, but it's obviously difficult to come forward and throw huge shots for 15 minutes. Kim was definitely the much more consistent fighter of the two, with Cachoeira going away for periods then coming on big. Cachoeira picked up the pace at the end of the second round, and continued this into the 3rd, starting super fast and just trying for the one punch knockout with a whirlwind of huge shots that were mostly parting the air. Kim was able to stop her momentarily in both portions with a solid counter though. After her big early aggression inthe 3rd, Cachoeira was just getting picked apart standing in front of Kim waiting to get another wind. Kim was just going first all throughout the middle portion of the round with Cachoeira lacking all the energy and intensity she started the round with. Kim knew that Cachoeira was going to chase her, so she was much more ready and able to intercept her coming forward in this round. Cachoeira began to have success when she switched to elbows, slicing Kim's cheek, but this was not until there were less than 100 seconds left in the round. Kim had built up a huge advantage by this point in the round, and while Cachoeira finished strongly throwing all elbows, there was just too huge a portion of this round where she was unable to have any success. Cachoeira eventually mixed a couple jumping knees in, and Kim was exhausted and basically just running at this point trying to hang on to the lead she had built up. This was ultimately a pretty close round because Cachoeira had a lot of success at the very end, but Kim still outlanded her by 33. I don't think this was a terrible decision, but every judge giving the third round to Cachoeira, resulting in her taking a 29-28 unanimous decision, was pretty shocking. Good match.
UFC Fight Night 201 2/19/22: Gloria de Paula vs. Diana Belbita. A very even muay thai match between technically good strikers, which are still rare in women's MMA. Belbita has a good jab, and does a nice job of mixing her strikes to all areas, particularly ripping the body. De Paula did a good job kicking the legs, but was mostly punching to the head, which may have been the difference here, not because she was actually more effective, but rather because the judges notice that most. They mostly just stood in the pocket and exchanged since de Paula's high takedowns failed, and it was difficult to find much between these two. The significant strikes wound up being 88 to 87 de Paula, with Belbita edging the first two rounds but de Paula having the biggest round advantage with a whopping 4 strike lead in the third. Belbita was considerably more active, but that meant de Paula was more accurate by 16%, and she probably had a little more on her strikes, on average, because she really only threw power, while Belbita was more willing to touch the opponent to try to set up the next big shot. De Paula had a flash takedown in the third that led to a lot of clinching against the cage, but once they got free, Belbita finished much stronger, probably putting together her best minute of the fight to end things, which I thought was enough to take the round. I had it 29-28 Belbita, also giving her the 1st, but basically every round could have went either way. The judges all gave de Paula rounds two and three, for the 29-28 unanimous decision. Good match.
UFC Fight Night 200 2/5/22: Julian Erosa vs. Steven Peterson 3R. A classic back and forth, all action slugfest. Erosa applied a ton of pressure to his opponent, who missed weight by three pounds, just walking him down the entire fight. Peterson did a great job of landing low kicks, but they still weren't keeping Erosa at bay, and his nose was quickly busted up. When a brawl erupted, which was often enough, Erosa was usually getting the better of it because he has quicker hands and better reflexes. That being said, Erosa doesn't have much head movement, and when Peterson tagged him, you were always feeling like the knockdown could be on the way. Peterson was, in turn, the more solid and consistent fighter, landing the same offense over and over. His corner wanted him to at least hold his ground, if not take the initiative, because the more ground he gave, the more ground Erosa was just going to continually take, he certainly wasn't relenting of his own volition any year soon. They also wanted Petrson to take advantage of Erosa's low hands by utilizing the jab as much as he could, as this had been connecting at will in the first round, it's just that Peterson wasn't using it enough because he was always on his back foot or retreating. Peterson had a much better second round, mixing the jabs and low kicks, including wobbling Erosa with an overhand right midway through. Peterson had a big flurry of light shots, as he was in pursuit for about 40 seconds before Erosa floored him with a spinning backfist out of nowhere. The second round was a great round, very back and forth. Just when you thought Erosa had done enough to steal it back, he didn't have enough energy to finish the takedown, and Peterson nailed him with a high kick on the exit. Now that Erosa had slowed down a little, he was walking into the jab a lot more when he was trying to enter. Erosa got to take down early in the third, but right into a very tight guillotine from Peterson. Erosa never developed an actual answer for Peterson's 1-2, but pounding him back worked well enough. The third round was again really close, whoever was taking the initiative was landing big, and the opponent was looking tired, but then they would find their 17th wind and steal the initiative back, rocking the opponent until the advantage changed again. The stats were almost even, with Erosa landing a few more significant strikes and having 3 takedowns, but Peterson landing more total strikes. This is the sort of fight that really should just be a draw. Peterson got what he deserved by missing weight, but at the same time you feel bad for him losing his fight of the night bonus in a fight he put his heart and soul into, and performed so well in. Erosa won a split decision 29-28. Excellent match.
GLEAT 4/29/21 Tokyo Gen Sports Palace 4F, UWF Rules: Kaz Hayashi & Daijiro Matsui vs. Yu Iizuka & Takanori Ito 11:45.
DC: Lidet Entertainment (former parent company of NOAH) founded GLEAT in the summer of 2020, and this was made possible after Lidet Entertainment president Hiroyuki Suzuki had a meeting with Kiyoshi Tamura on 1/25/20 to share ideas for the creation a new league. Tamura became an Executive Director for this league, and one of his main visions for GLEAT was that it should feature UWF-style shoot style matches on a regular basis to set them apart from what other leagues are doing. GLEAT also recruited Kaz Hayashi as Chief Technical Officer and Minoru Tanaka as UWF Rule Technical Officer. GLEAT has a sub-brand called “Lidet UWF,” which promotes the matches on the GLEAT cards that are contested under UWF Rules. GLEAT also has a sub-brand called “G Prowrestling,” which are represented by the matches on their cards that are contested under regular puroresu rules. GLEAT has several regulars that often appear on their shows, but they also bring in wrestlers from other leagues for an appearance here and there. This tag match from 4/29/21 was arguably the first noteworthy match presented by GLEAT. Minoru Tanaka was in the corner of the veteran team of Kaz Hayashi and Daijiro Matsui, and all those three are in their late 40s. Matsui used to wrestle in UWF-I and Battlarts, among other leagues. Soma Watanabe, a former Wrestle-1 worker in his mid 20s who has been taken under GLEAT’s wing for further development, was in the corner of the young team. Takanori Ito is in his late 20s. Yu Iizuka is a worker in his mid 20s, and he’s a fan of Volk Han fan and shoot style wrestling in general. Matsui and Ito started this match against each other. Matsui was the one moving around faster. Both workers caught each other’s kick attempt, which on both occasions led to a takedown. They worked a bit on the mat, but then quickly got back up. Hayashi took and blocked some of Iizuka’s kicks, and then took Iizuka to the mat. Iizuka showed his quickness on the mat, and even got an armbar on Hayashi, which led to Hayashi having to go for a rope break. Because this match was contested under UWF Rules, this meant Hayashi’s team had lost a point, since a rope break would mean a point being lost (and each team started with five points). Matsui took advantage of Iizuka being hesitant by taking him down, but Iizuka was quick to escape any threats. Iizuka accidentally hit Matsui with a low blow, which temporarily had Matsui in some trouble, but Iizuka apologized, and the bout continued. Iizuka had Matsui in enough trouble on the mat that Matsui had to go for a rope escape. The veteran team was now down two points. Ito hit a nice belly-to-belly suplex on Hayashi. Ito went for a kick, but Hayashi blocked it, and countered with a released German suplex. Ito had to go for a rope break when Hayashi applied a half Boston crab. Ito hit a couple of nice suplexes. One of them, a particularly well-executed released German suplex, even resulted in Hayashi losing a point by being down for a bit. Matsui was back in and he applied an armbar, which made Ito go for a rope break as soon as possible. Iizuka and Matsui grappled a bit, but Iizuka eventually took Matsui down with a high kick. Matsui’s team was about to lose, as they had only one point left, but the veteran quickly applied a devastating leg submission in the middle of the ring. Iizuka tried to escape, and tried to reach for the ropes, but he had no choice but to tap out. The young team gave a really good effort and came really close to victory. This was also the first good and competitive UWF Rules match presented by GLEAT, so it was a good sign for the future, as it appears this league is able to deliver good matches. ***¼
GLEAT 6/9/21 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, UWF Rules: Yu Iizuka vs. Takatoshi Matsumoto 15:00.
DC: Takatoshi Matsumoto made his pro wrestling debut on 6/21/14 against Super Tiger II (Yuji Sakuragi, a Satoru Sayama trainee) at a show produced by Hikaru Sato’s Hard Hit, which is a league that was at the time still a DDT sub-brand. Matsumoto has an MMA background, and he’s a BJJ brown belt. Yu Iizuka did some striking, but he’d also go for some groundwork himself against Matsumoto, who was fully focused on grappling. Iizuka was the first one to use a rope break when Matsumoto had him tied up in a submission hold. Iizuka was determined to show his matwork skills, even though Matsumoto was able to counter a lot of Iizuka’s attempts to be in control on the mat. At one point, it looked like Iizuka was going to get Matsumoto to go for a rope break when he attempted to apply an armbar, but Matsumoto managed to escape by rolling his way out of the move. IIzuka became slightly frustrated by Matsumoto constantly being able to escape and counter his holds. However, Iizuka was still determined to beat Matsumoto at his own game. Finally, Iizuka managed to apply a submission hold that even Matsumoto wasn’t able to escape easily, and Matsumoto used his first rope break. Both men were now tied in points (they both still had four points left, after both losing a point for a rope break each). Iizuka had to use his second rope break soon after, and Iizuka started becoming slightly more aggressive in his approach. Matsumoto remained calm, as he was fully confident his skills would get him out of trouble anytime. Things started speeding up a bit, and both used a rope break each. It was quite an even contest, but things always seemed to be slightly more in Matsumoto’s favor. Iizuka again went for an armbar attempt, but Matsumoto held both his hands together, rolled backwards a bit, used one of his legs to turn Iizuka over and applied an armbar himself. They went to the time limit, but Matsumoto was one point ahead, which meant Matsumoto was awarded the win. This was a very good match, and both workers were able to display a lot of their grappling skills. Iizuka is definitely someone GLEAT appears to be grooming for the future, but it seems they’re careful not to push him too fast, as his win-loss record isn’t necessarily something to write home about, and in this particular match, he even lost against someone who may or may not return to GLEAT anytime soon (of course, there’s no shame in losing against a skilled opponent, but this was Matsumoto’s first and only appearance in GLEAT at the time of this writing). ***½
GLEAT 7/1/21 Tokyo Dome City Hall, UWF Rules: SHO vs. Takanori Ito 16:17.
DC: This was the main event of the show. It was really nice to see SHO in a match where he can display his true skills, which is something he’s rarely able to do in NJPW, especially as a heel. SHO initially tried to beat Ito on the mat, which was a good idea, since SHO has the ability to be a good mat wrestler. Ito preferred to rely more on striking, and tried to get some good kicks in whenever he saw an opening. Ito had to use his first rope escape when SHO went for an armbar attempt. Soon after this, Ito had to go for another rope break when SHO went for a Kimura lock. SHO was definitely working with urgency. Ito knew he had to start fighting back, so he grabbed a leglock, which made SHO go for the ropes. Ito executed a nice suplex and went for a submission hold, but SHO countered and had Ito in trouble on the mat. Ito showed his power, lifting SHO and dropping him on the canvas to get out of the hold. Ito followed with a released German suplex, which made SHO lose a point because he was down. They were tied now with 3 points left each. They had a heated strike exchange that had some slaps and kicks. SHO went down after a kick. Things were now looking good for Ito, but SHO retaliated and managed to make Ito submit. This was a very good UWF-style match. Takanori Ito was good and showed he has the potential to become a better worker at some point, but he probably could have shown a bit more intensity to make this bout even better. SHO definitely showed that it would be very interesting to see him get invited for a UWF Rules match in GLEAT again in the near future. ***¾
GLEAT 7/22/21 Tokyo Gen Sports Palace 4F, UWF Rules: Yu Iizuka vs. Takuya Nomura 15:00.
DC: GLEAT’s Yu Iizuka took on BJPW’s Takuya Nomura. They went back-and-forth with the standup striking and matwork. It seemed they didn’t follow a certain gameplan, as they were just reacting by whatever the moment called for. This somewhat reckless approach resulted in some very interesting counter wrestling, which saw both workers constantly struggling to get the advantage over the other, and both had to think fast and react on the spot. Nomura’s size and power advantage occasionally gave him the advantage, but Iizuka had that determination and fighting spirit that kept him going, and he was quicker and slicker with his movements and reactions. Iizuka was the first to use a rope break. After a slick counter by Iizuka, Nomura had to go for a rope break because he was caught in a submission hold. Iizuka went down after a knee strike. Nomura had a lot of momentum, and Iizuka had to go for a rope break. Nomura didn’t have the advantage in points for too long, as Iizuka managed to get Nomura to go for a rope break. With 200 seconds to go in this 15-minute time limit bout, they were both down to 2 points. When there were 75 seconds left, Iizuka was caught in a sleeper hold and had to go for a rope break, which was crucial for the end result. They spent most of the final minute clobbering each other with standup strikes. Both workers had shown very good intensity throughout the match. This was a really good bout, and it was arguably the best match held under UWF Rules in the year 2021. ****
GLEAT 10/9/21 Tokyo Shinjuku FACE, UWF Rules: Minoru Tanaka & Takanori Ito vs. Hikaru Sato & Ryo Kawamura 14:04.
DC: Hikaru Sato, the producer of the Hard Hit league, is quite a diverse competitor, as he has an MMA background, and he can be a serious fighter, but he’s not afraid to dress up like a maid from time to time, and he’s also fine with wrestling in less serious puroresu leagues (like DDT, YMZ and a plethora of small indy puroresu leagues). However, here in GLEAT, he’s being booked for his skills as a shoot style fighter, and was quite a skilled and serious fighter in this UWF Rules tag team match. What made Sato’s performance so noteworthy here is that he was committed to being in serious fighter mode here. Sato’s tag team partner here was Ryo Kawamura (a.k.a. Rocky Kawamura or Rocky Kawamura 2), who also has an MMA background, and most of his puroresu appearances have been in Sato’s Hard Hit. Their opponents were Minoru Tanaka & Takanori Ito, who represented GLEAT. Takanori Ito and Hikaru Sato started, and were both very cautious waiting for the other guy to make a mistake. This was quite intriguing, as they were building the suspense really well. They eventually got a bit more adventurous by just going for strikes without the extra cautiousness they displayed at the very beginning. Sato eventually took Ito down and twisted his arm, which made Ito wince and grab the ropes. They tagged out, and it was time for Minoru Tanaka and Ryo Kawamura to square off. They did some stand-up striking at first, and Tanaka tried to take Kawamura down, but Kawamura ended on top and was able to do some damage via some ground striking. Kawamura tagged Sato in, and Sato took it to the mat. Tanaka really put over well that he really didn’t want to use a rope break but then he had to use a rope break after a leg submission hold was applied on him. Tanaka & Ito were now two points down. Ito entered the ring, and he showed more intensity than he’s shown in his entire run in GLEAT, so credit to Sato & Kawamura for bringing that extra intensity that was usually missing from Ito out of him in this bout. Ito suplexed Sato, which resulted in Sato being down and losing a point. Sato wasn’t too happy about it, and started twisting Ito’s ankle, which made Ito wince in pain and grab the ropes. Ito was now super alert and super intense. It’s almost like this match made a lightbulb go off in Ito’s head, like now he fully knew how to work this type of match. I like that Sato wouldn’t sell for him when he didn’t hit a kick properly. Of course, that’s really how it should be, especially in shoot style wrestling. Kawamura and Tanaka were tagged in. Tanaka was brave, but somewhat reckless by not being ready to block strikes that were bound to come at him properly, and he went down after a series of vicious strikes that saw Tanaka start bleeding from the nose, which meant his team only had one point left. Kawamura was very no-nonsense and vicious, so much so that Tanaka went down again after Kawamura’s barrage of hand strikes, leaving his team with 0 points. This meant that Sato & Kawamura were the victors. The work was really good, but what really made this so interesting was the uncooperativeness shown by Sato & Kawamura, which helped put this over like a serious contest. Ito had been showing very good potential in previous bouts, but this one saw him step up his game quite a bit more, which was cool to see. Tanaka showed a lot of courage and his selflessness really helped make this match work. This was a very good match with the only minor downside being that it was a little bit one-sided overall. ***½
GLEAT 12/30/21 Tokyo Dome City Hall, UWF Rules: Minoru Suzuki & Hikaru Sato vs. Yu Iizuka & Tetsuya Izuchi 9:21.
DC: Minoru Suzuki & Hikaru Sato represented Suzuki’s Pancrase MISSION stable. Their opponents represented GLEAT. Tetsuya Izuchi started off bravely against Sato, but Sato’s skills forced Izuchi to go for a rope break early. When Suzuki entered the ring, Izuchi was backed in his own corner by Suzuki, which enabled Iizuka to tag in. Suzuki and Iizuka were quick on the mat, and this is the sort of skilled mat wrestling action that we haven’t seen from Suzuki for a while. Sato and Izuchi battled each other again, and their battle was stiff enough that Izuchi started bleeding from the mouth. Sato once again made Izuchi go for a rope break. Sato had Izuchi in a lot of trouble again soon after this because of a half Boston crab, and Izuchi lost a point, because used an escape when he made the tag to Iizuka while stuck in the hold. Suzuki and Iizuka battled each other on the mat. Suzuki hit some vicious punches to Iizuka while Iizuka was in the ropes, and Suzuki decided to kick Iizuka for fun. This behavior earned Suzuki a yellow card, which meant their team lost their first point. Suzuki was distracted when he started arguing with the ref over the yellow card, and Iizuka took advantage and hit a kick that sent Suzuki down. Iizuki followed this up with a leg submission that caused Suzuki to go for a rope break. Against all odds, the teams were now tied, 2-2. Suzuki decided that his opponents had fun for long enough now, and he went for a Fujiwara armbar on Iizuka, which caused Iizuka to tap out. This was a fun and good match. It was a bit one-sided overall, but I liked how Iizuka’s team managed to surprisingly get Suzuki’s team to lose three points before Iizuka ultimately had to tap out to Suzuki’s Fujiwara armbar. After the match, Suzuki shook hands with Kiyoshi Tamura. ***¼
GLEAT 12/30/21 Tokyo Dome City Hall, UWF Rules: Takanori Ito vs. Shuji Ishikawa 9:21.
DC: They were a bit cautious of each other early on, and it took a while for them to get warmed up, but once they did, it turned into a brutal fight. Takanori Ito seems to get more impressive with each fight, and here he was more alert and intense than we’ve ever seen him. All Japan’s Shuji Ishikawa proved that he should get invited more often. Ishikawa threw some wicked suplexes, and proved to be a tough challenge for Ito. They were so occupied with beating each other up that they didn’t mind getting yellow cards for breaking the rules. This was pretty good and lots of fun. ***¼
