The Chronological History of MMA
Chapter 11: UWF-I Moving On 5th 8/24/91 Shizuoka Sangyokan
By Michael Betz & Mike Lorefice 4/16/20

Welcome back! As we continue to reflect in our state of house arrest upon all things, trivial and otherwise, we shall take a moment to ponder the road less traveled, and further our quest for the esoteric knowledge of our predecessors. We find ourselves at the Shizuoka Sangyoukan Concert Hall, which is located within the Shizuoka Prefecture of Japan (an area best known for being the home of Mt. Fuji). This hall was a popular spot in the '80's as a layover for many of the top concert acts of the day, hosting Hall and Oates, Toto, Bryan Adams, and others until branching out in the '90's and opening its doors to various pro wrestling events in addition to their usual fare. Perhaps, it's a step up from the bowling alley where we last found Takada and Co. performing, but that remains to be seen.

Right away, this scribe is excited to see Makoto Ohe opening things up again, this time testing his foot fighting prowess against yet another unknown kickboxer, named Marv Winon (which as of press time, I've been unable to procure any further information on). The last fighter we saw thrown to Ohe was an explosive, but completely inexperienced Taekwondo (?) practitioner, and this time his opponent at least seems to have his footwork in place and to belay some boxing experience, even if he comes across as a bit nervous.

Winon starts off by circling around Ohe, keeping his distance and trying to occasionally sneak in a low kick or combination, but while he's doing this, Ohe keeps measuring his distance and times his counterstrike as Winon presses his attack. Winon is getting a few shots in, but is leaving his face unprotected during his attacks, and is taking the worse of the exchanges. Round 1 ends with Ohe being up on points, and his experience really showing compared to his opponent.

Round 2 starts with Winon becoming more aggressive, and engaging right away, even going for a flying knee, and at one point landing a nasty side kick against Ohe, but he lost his mojo about a minute into the round when Ohe got him up against the ropes and really shook his equilibrium with some solid punches. Winon spent the rest of round 2 getting picked apart with precise leg strikes form Ohe, and it seemed to sap whatever confidence he had going into round 3, as he spent the rest of the round being very conservative, which is exactly the wrong strategy against someone who's an experienced surgeon like Ohe. Winon's best bet would have been to simply blitzkrieg Ohe, and hope to catch him off guard, but his timidity is only serving to have him picked apart here. Still, he was able to survive round 3, and seemingly read my mind, as he went into round 4 throwing a nice flurry of combinations. Some of these got through to Ohe, as straight boxing seems to be the biggest weakness in his game, but it was for naught, as whatever he was able to land was quickly negated by Ohe firing off brutal kicks for the rest of the round.

Winon was barely able to make it into round 5, being down on points 24-40. Round 5 begins, and Winon was doing well whenever the fight got into close range by being able to use his boxing, but whenever Ohe backed up a little bit and gave himself some space, he would brutalize Winon's ribs with his kicks, and usually follow up with a nice right straight down the pipe. Much credit to Winon, who was able to persevere and go the distance with Ohe. This was a fun way to start the show, and Ohe is always entertaining, but in the future it would be nice to see them track down a more seasoned opponent for him.

ML: I'm always glad to see these kickboxing shoots on the card, but this felt like a bully beatdown where the timid picked on kid does his best to run around the playground to avoid the inevitable confrontation, hoping the thug will either get bored or recess will somehow just end. At first I thought Winon was a karate stylist because his focus was on maintaining distance, but the more he literally hit his back on the ropes trying to maintain as much distance from Ohe as possible at all times, the more I couldn't tell what he was beyond scared. For every 1 step Ohe moved forward, Winon seemed to try to move 4 steps sideways. Ohe was thrown off his game by an opponent who didn't want to engage, and seemed to want to use the Thai clinch more simply to prevent Winon from endlessly running, which did lead to a left high kick knockdown in the 4th. Needless to say this wasn't going to be a fight where Ohe landed a lot of extended combos, but understanding that, he focused on sniping Winon with power shots, and was very accurate in doing so.

Next up is our Shoot-Style Prodigy, Kiyoshi Tamura, vs. resident workhorse, Yuko Miyato. Right away, we are off to a fast pace as Miyato plunges into his bag of Tachi-Waza tricks looking for a takedown, in this case with a nice Kata Guruma (Fireman's Carry) and O-Goshi (Major hip throw), but Tamura is too slick on the ground. Once the fight travels there, he reverses his situation and secures a straight armbar on Miyato, forcing a rope escape. Miyato defaults to a more kickboxing based strategy, landing a few strikes, but there is no containing Tamura in any position for more than a few seconds, and the rest of the fight followed in a whirlwind of transitions, submission attacks from every angle, and naked aggression. While this wasn't realistic in modern MMA terms with the 23432 position changes, it was exciting, and we are getting more and more glimpses of not only Tamura's genius, but how a new art is emerging from the pro wrestling zeitgeist as we are starting to see glimpses of what is possible when skilled practitioners get together and pretend to fight like they are really going to fight. Tamura ends the fight with a rear naked choke coming off a failed kneebar attempt from Miyato. This was very entertaining, if a bit short, and Miyato's bread-and-butter Judo/Kickboxing style played well with Tamura's flash & fury.

ML: It's hard for me to imagine that anyone improved more in 1991 than Kiyoshi Tamura, who, after missing virually all of 1990 with a fractured orbital, is now both leaving everyone in the dust, while at the same time pulling incredible matches out of them that are way beyond what his opponents are doing with anyone else or the increase in quality the other top workers can pull out of their opponents. Tamura is making great leaps in his ground movement, developing a perpetual motion style (which obviously is what you should be doing if you are actually trying when the antiquated techniques of the opponents don't control your body, much less lock you in place, but basic logical techniques rarely stop pro wrestlers from lazy hokem) that makes everyone else seem like dinosaurs. Miyato was a good performer in the U.W.F. where the standard of mat wrestling was still more toward New Japan's idea of good enough, but has looked rather dated so far in UWF-I until this match where Tamura's insistence on moving hid the holes in Miyato's no control ground game and really made him an effective performer once again. Meanwhile, Tamura's defense is improving magnificently, as his style is increasingly built around turning defense into offense. He's developing his game based upon the premise that with his speed and technical mastery, as long as he can play the motion (scramble) game, he'll eventually win the battle of adjustments. Miyato is one of the quicker guys in the promotion, but it's immediately apparent that he's having trouble keeping up with Tamura, who has made the adjustment to Miyato's attack or counter as soon, if not before, he got it off. Miyato would like to slow things down a bit, but he doesn't have the wrestling or BJJ to force Tamura to stay put, and Tamura isn't going to volunteer that on his own, so Miyato is forced into Tamura's hyper mode. This was such a great sprint because Tamura was able to utilize the legitimate positions and techniques with movements that were so quick and precise it was at once super flashy but also urgent and realistic. Whenever Miyato tried to go on the offensive or change positions, Tamura found a way, often totally unexpected, to use his movement against him & take over. For instance, there's a beautiful spot where Miyato tried to swing into an armbar from side mount, but Tamura used a backwards roll to get off the canvas, spinning into a standing position but immediately dropping back down into an Achilles' tendon hold. Another great counter saw Miyato slipping out the side of Tamura's facelock & trying to work the arm, but Tamura pivoted off a headstand to take Miyato's back. Every time you see a Tamura match, you see these kind of things that no one else is doing, done so fast, smooth, & effortlessly that they just seem second nature. Miyato definitely has the striking advantage when he can keep it in standup, and finally took over with a middle kick knockdown followed by a spinning heel kick knockdown. Miyato has a giant 13-6 advantage on the scoreboard after a belly-to-belly suplex into a 1/2 crab forces a rope break, which is something we are already seeing Tamura use less and less of. This is beginning to look like the great Tamura vs. Anjo match where the advantage shifts to the wily veteran Anjo the longer the match goes, and the point system favors the guy who can score on his feet because it's much easier to get a knockdown than 3 near submissions, even from someone who favors the striking end, that's just so ridiculously imbalanced. Tamura isn't slowing down this time though, and does another crazy counter, now being ready & taking a guillotine off a Miyato's second attempt at the fireman's carry. The bout grows increasingly brutal after Miyato just cold cocks Tamura in the face & tries for the ipponzeoi, but Tamura takes his back & drops into a rear naked choke. One of the problems with the match is Miyato doesn't have enough counters of his own to really chain the escapes & submission attempts together, but finally he does deliver, peeling the hooks off by attacking the top leg then spinning into a kneebar only to have Tamura spin to his knees & aggressively slap Miyato in the face until he releases, then adds in some stomps for good measure. The impact & intensity of the striking is really growing by the second, and while the match may be less believable at times because of Tamura's flash, the fire & heat these guys are building up is at least allowing the audience to buy into the fact that they don't like each other & really want to win. Miyato is laying into Tamura with some big body kicks down the stretch, but Tamura does his drop down/go behind to drag Miyato down into another rear naked choke. Miyato attacked the top leg again, but Tamura released the choke & used what's left of his hooks to roll Miyato to his stomach. Miyato immediately scrambled back to his feet before Tamura could flatten him out, but Tamura pulled him down into the choke for the upset win before Miyato could get close enough to grab the ropes. This is just Tamura's 11th match, and it's a big notch in his belt coming against a 6th year fighter who was 2-0 against him. While 10 minutes seems short for these guys, especially given it's a 3 match plus a one sided shoot card with nothing else looking like it needs tons of time, length is not really what you are looking for in a worked shoot. In fact, being shorter almost certainly probably made for a better match because Tamura could just keep exploding the whole time & Miyato didn't seem to be his usual 1 trick pony, being for once the favorite while also forced to react to all the crazy stuff the kid was throwing at him. The usual downfall of a Miyato match is it just drags on the mat, especially when they start playing footsies, but this was all blazing fury, as even Miyato was actually reversing and sweeping regularly rather than just laying around on the mat. This wasn't as epic as Tamura vs. Anjo, but it was better in many respects, and almost every moment was interesting & exciting. It's been almost 29 years, but I was still constantly rewinding to see what Tamura was managing to do & how he pulled it off, which is very abnormal for me. Tamura was clearly a whole lot better than in the Anjo match even though it's only been a month & a half. Though the "downfall" is that Yuko isn't as good or well rounded as Anjo, Tamura got a ton out of him carrying the veteran to the match of his career. Tamura's stuff just feels way more modern than anything else we are seeing, the maestro not only innovating in a breathtaking manner but raising the level of his opponent so many notches it's hard to even fathom them having a match with anyone else that remotely approaches this. ****1/2

Next up is a newcomer to our ranks, Gary Albright. Albright had gotten his start in the final days of Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling, having received training from such famous hookers as Lou Thez, Billy Robinson, and Danny Hodge in the process. He had even managed to win the tag team championship of that promotion, before losing it to Chris Benoit and Biff Wellington (whom we know as Wellington Wilkins Jr from the PWFG) right before the promotion folded. Now he has migrated to the sea of shoot style, and right away we see our zebra-clad warrior Yoji Anjo taunting him before the match, threating him with vicious knees. The match starts with Albright trying to charge Anjo into the corner of the ring, but Anjo is much quicker, and is able to fire off a volley of kicks to ribs/midsection. Albright is eventually able to catch Anjo and decides to toss him like a frisbee out of the ring. Now we are starting to see the true spirit of this contest take shape, the everlasting conflict between the Zebra and the Wildebeest. Anjo would continue to use his speed and land kicks and palm strikes, only to get pushed into the ropes or suplexed onto the canvas, but once the fight hit the canvas, Albright didn't really seem to know what to do, which left Anjo looking for submissions. Once back on the feet, Albright gave Anjo several powerful suplexes which led to a knockout victory for Albright.

This was nothing more than pro wrestling showboating, an exercise put forth to set Albright up as a suplexing monster, intent on slamming the life out of the heroic Japanese natives, and honestly within the realm of this promotion it worked. It was entertaining, and while Tom Burton is more credible from a Vale Tudo/NHB standpoint, Albright has a lot more entertainment finesse and is a better fit for what this promotion is trying to do. I do however question the long-term viability of Albright, as I suspect that his ferocious monster shtick is likely to have a limited shelf-life.

ML: Albright is the prototype '80's monster gaijin that the little Japanese guys are all vying to upset. He screams chip on his shoulder & bad attitude, one could picture him coming out to W.A.S.P.'s "Mean Man" instead of the godawful generic written in 10 seconds AC/DC monotony he eventually adopted. The problem is it's the '90's, and shoot wrestling is supposed to be the real deal, not the worn out theatrical cartoon. While this match is entertaining, it's basically an American wrestling match where they use some more legitimate kickboxing, amateur wrestling, and a touch of sumo. Anjo tries to stay on the outside & kick, but Albright would just eat them all as if they were nothing until he pushed Anjo into the ropes & grabbed him for the big ride. Albright was a good athlete for his size in these days, and his suplexes were some of the most impressive ever with a great combination of speed and impact, but this was the typical short sighted UWF-I booking. Yes, this match does a great job of getting Albright over in his debut, but the previous 4 shows were spent trying to break Anjo out of the pack & into the #2 or 3 spot in the promotion, yet here he literally couldn't muster a single shot that even phased the mighty man for Pennsylvania by way of Karachi, Pakistan.

Lastly, we have Nobuhiko Takada and Billy Scott vs. Kazuo Yamazaki and Tatsuo Nakano. I'm bewildered as to their insistence upon continually giving us tag-matches for a main event, as it neither serves to bolster the shoot-credibility (for can anything legitimate ever come from a tag match?) nor does it really add anything within a pro wrestling framework, as the UWF-I doesn't have a tag-division, or any titles at all for that matter, so there aren't really any stakes in a format like this. It just serves to add some filler, but I would rather see 20 more minutes of Tamura cartwheeling over a lackey than stuffing most of the time allotted onto a team event. Still, any day to witness Yamazaki is a good one, so there is that.

Billy Scott starts off against Nakano, and he is continuing to show himself as a wise investment, as his suplexes, strikes, and wrestling singlet all come across credibly. The match phases into Takada vs Yamazaki, which is pleasant as these two have always had good chemistry with each other (for example, their match at UWF Fighting Prospect #5 on 9-11-85 being one of the best shoot-style matches this scribe has witnessed). As always, whenever the two of them were in the ring together it was total fire, and I wish, at least in the short term,they had structured the main events around Yamazaki chasing Takada as the heir apparent to his throne. It really felt like the inclusions of Nakano and Scott were simply to pad things out and include their other performers. To be fair, they all did a good job making the match exciting, but really didn't further the plot, so to speak. The match ends at 28:09 with a Bob Backland inspired chicken-wing submission from Yamazaki, which was rather odd.

ML: UWF-I is really running with the idea that the tag match is unique to them. Basically this was a way to have Takada vs. Yamazaki without Yamazaki having to do the job. All the heat was on this pairing, and these two exchanged knockdowns a few times. Early on, Yamazaki struck first landing a liver kick, but Takada came back countering a takedown attempt with a palm. Later, Takada got the knockdown with a series of palms followed by a high kick, but Yamazaki came back with a spinning high kick to even the score at 12. Takada was again more effective here because he basically just did kickboxing, and when Yamazaki went to the mat with him, he knew how to avoid Takada's many weaknesses, though Takada made sure to get his 1/2 crab in on Nakano. The problem with doing one excessively long match after two short ones is it's hard to match the level of urgency. Albright's match may have had its flaws, but they did do a great job of getting over the idea that Anjo's life was practically in danger if he couldn't keep the big guy off him, whereas being 3 times as long, this was obviously a lot more up & down. This match wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly memorable either. Yamazaki's portions were good, particularly against Takada. Scott continued to show potential, but just felt like an afterthought, and Nakano, while not doing anything wrong per se, was totally forgettable.

Final Thoughts: This was an entertaining, if flawed, card top to bottom. We got another exciting kickboxing bout from Ohe, and Tamura continues to deliver. Since they are choosing to be more tethered to the pro-wrestling end of the spectrum they could stand to have a more focused direction in some of the booking, as they feel a bit like a ship without a rudder at the moment. Still, this is nitpicking as they continue to deliver entertaining events if nothing else, which isn't something Maeda has managed to do yet.

In other news:

Police Officers within Los Angeles County recently agreed to stop Nanchaku use in response to a lawsuit by six members of the pro-life group Operation Rescue. The LAPD agreed to cease use of all Nanchaku weapons at anti-abortion protests, as part of a settlement towards a lawsuit with the organization. Although possession of Nanchaku by ordinary citizens is unlawful in the State of California, police organizations in the state often use this ancient weapon as a restraint/compliance tool. The settlement only forbids the LAPD from using these weapons against plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and they are still free to use them against members of other groups at other protests. The LAPD first started using Nanchaku in 1989 and have since received over 30 lawsuits against the city, claiming medical damages, some purporting to have suffered broken bones and nerve damage.

Akira Maeda was originally supposed to fight Dutch fighter Frank "Freak" Hamaker at the 8-1-91 event in Osaka, but had to rebook with Dick Virj, due to Hamaker getting reconstructive surgery on his knee.

It's been confirmed that Bob Backland has agreed to face off against Nobuhiko Takada at next months UWF-I show on 9-26-91, and possibly in November as well.

RINGS is having to move its next card from 9-4-91 to 9-14-91, as Akira Maeda's knee is still in bad shape, and he won't be able to perform in time.