Neo Blood Qualifying Tournament Featherweight Semifinal: Nobuhisa Kudo vs. Yuki Takahashi 1R 1:32. They went all out for the ankle locks right away, and it appeared there wasn't going to be much striking here, but the one punch turned out to be one of the most improbable and spectacular KO's I've ever seen. When both stood up in the scramble after Kudo's attempt to drop into another ankle lock failed, Kudo just jacked Takahashi's jaw with a huge right hook. What made it so memorable wasn't simply that it came totally out of nowhere, but that Takahashi was so out of it he fell into a squat with his shoulder actually crashing his own knee as his head bobbled in between his legs!
Neo Blood Qualifying Tournament Lightweight Final: Ben Buchan vs. Shinriki Akiyama 1R 3:05. Buchan had an outside trip into mount, and kept looking for the armbar. The advantage changed back and forth with more focus on keeping position than 20 years ago, but still the obvious Pancrase preference to try to finish first, before Buchan finally hit the bell down armbar.
Shotaro Yabe vs. Joshua Robison 1R 4:28. Robison appeared to be a solid conventional fighter, but he wasn't prepared for all the submissions Yabe would throw at him once he secured top control. Yabe nearly had Robison with a lengthy triangle before taking him out with the armbar.
Malcolm Hendrix vs. Atsushi Saito 1R 3:59. This was such a wild, out of control brawl that Saito actually tried a lariat! The technique wasn't very good, but it's nice to actually see a fight in 2013 that possesses the unbridled aggression of the earliest days of no holds barred fighting. They seemed to tire quickly, and Hendrix was able to hit a rear naked choke thta wasn't even that deep soon after getting the 1st takedown, seemingly because Saito was already lagging too much to offer proper resistance. Above average match.
Chikara Shimabukuro vs. Yusuke Ogikubo 1R 0:29. Shimabukuro flicked out the left jab then came over the top with the right for the 1 punch knockout.
Harushige Sasagawa vs. Tomoharu Arao 2R. A more technically sound, but less exciting bout. The first round was close, but Sasagawa clearly took over in the 2nd with his grappling, holding a lengthy body lock and swelling Arao's left eye with punches. Average match.
Toshihiro Komiya vs. Yukio Kishi 2R. Two grinders struggling for position, but Komiya won the grappling and jiu jitsu battles. It started out with grueling for the viewer to sit through clinching, but although time ultimately ran out, Komiya was at least very aggressive taking Kishi's back and going for the choke once he did finally leverage him to the canvas. Komiya had the quick takedown in the second, but Kishi kept reguarding until Komiya finally took his back again. Poor match.
Featherweight Tournament Final: Nobuhisa Kudo vs. Kentaro Ushiku 1R 1:52. Kudo came out aggressive, but got caught with an outside trip. Ushiku seemed in control, but Kudo creeped his legs up his sides, and as soon as Ushiku started to ground & pound, locked the armbar for the win.
Takatoshi Matsumoto vs. Kota Kondo R2 1:44. Matsumoto was a lefty with a reach advantage, but wanted nothing to do with standup to the point he essentially baited Kondo down on top of him to start the fight like the old BJJ masters. Matsumoto faired much better when he got his own takedown, getting Kondo's back when a reversal failed and going for the rear naked choke for the rest of the round. Kondo came out swinging in R2, but after 1 good shot Matsumoto dropped for a single leg and went back to outgrappling Kondo, mounting when an ill advised Kondo guillotine failed then taking Kondo's back right after he'd rolled him with a headlock and tapping him with a rear naked choke. An entertaining match because although Kondo was overmatched on the mat, he kept trying things, giving Matsumoto the opportunity to show his superior mat technique with a counter. Above average match.
Satoshi Inaba vs. Toshihiro Taguchi 1R 2:37. Inaba was much quicker, more fluid, and light on his feet. He was clearly too good for Taguchi in standup, though he didn't actually land that many shots. It was very difficult to determine exactly what happened, but it seemed an overhand by Inaba might have caused an orbital injury, so Taguchi pulled guard and the ref had the doctor check him out once he realized Taguchi wasn't right.
Toshikazu Suzuki vs. Toru Kanamori R1 2:02. Kanamori cut Suzuki early, and after a long delay, got aggressive looking to get the stoppage. However, after a good knee, Kanamori got caught charging in with an overhand left and Suzuki put a flurry on him then looked for the takedown. Suzuki couldn't hit the throw, but hopped on his back and got the quick tap to the standing rear naked choke.
Hiroki Aoki vs. Kohei Tokeshi R2 1:49. Aoki had the 5 inch reach advantage, but got worked over on the inside in Tokeshi's muay thai clinch due to Tokeshi's powerful knees and overhand right. Aoki was able to withstand this to start both rounds though, take Tokeshi's back and drag him down. On the ground, Aoki dominated mainly due to his body triangle, which led to the rear naked choke finish in the 2nd. A pretty interesting fight since both did very well in their own area.
Naoki Tajima vs. Hideki Nishino 3R. Nishino was all about the takedown early, getting a quick outside trip against the ropes, but southpaw Tajima was packing thunder in the left, cracking him with a big left hook when he got up then bloodying Nishino's nose with a straight. Tajima had a good left kick as well, particularly the front kick, and was the one doing all the damage even though Nishino might get the 1st round from crappy judges for riding time. Tajima was winning all the exchanges in the 2nd and 3rd, not only landing more shots, but also much harder ones. Nishino's weapon was his right straight, and he cracked Tajima good once early in the 3rd, but he pretty much gave up on the takedowns after the 1st, so I had him losing 30-27. Above average match.
Hiroshi Hayashi vs. Christopher Yeagley R1 1:49. Yeagley managed to shake himself out of a slam, but Hayashi stood over and punched down, hurting him with a right as he came around the left side then pounding him out.
Taichi Nakajima vs. Shoko Sato 3R. These guys started slow because they're tall 135ers who had to adjust to suddenly not having the reach advantage, but the match got better and better with each round. It may not have been textbook perfect MMA, but what I liked about this is they were unpredictable, and kept coming up with takedowns and reversals you don't normally see. Veteran Sato was the first to start closing the distance, getting into range and scoring often in the 2nd half of R1. Nakajima defended well early in R2, tiring the veteran out enough that he began to take over through a combination of being slightly unorthodox and simply improvising well. Nakajima had a takedown late in R2, and it was enough to earn him the round, sending it to the extra round. Nakajima's on the fly skills were best exemplified by sprawling just enough to barely defend a double leg then tripping Sato up with his arms to take control. Sato almost had an elevator into a triangle or armbar, but then swept with a backward roll into a heel hook only to have Nakajima escape and take him right back down. Sato kept finding ways to get off his back, but it took so much energy that Nakajima would just be right back in on the single leg. Nakajima won a unanimous decision. Good match.
Noboru Tahara vs. Takuya Eizumi 3R. Wrestler vs. striker with grappler Tahara doing what he needed to do, but unfortunately that was mostly negating action. Eizumi looked for the bomb in standup, while Tahara just wanted to grab him and take him down. Eizumi needed more fakes or at leatst volume because Tahara wasn't just going to let him crack him with a KO blow, but Tahara would take him down if he even thought about overcommitting to anything. Eizumi's best offense was actually when he sprawled and kicked Tahara in the face as Tahara was standing back up from the failed takedown. Below average match.
Shunpei Ota vs. Tomoaki Ueyama R1 1:01. Ota got the takedown and was so deep in on the neck before Ueyama could react he was able to submit him even though he got the hooks in well after the choke.
AKA vs. Pancrast: William Noland vs. Keiichiro Yamamiya 3R. Noland kept Yamamiya's back against the ropes, but never actually cut off the ring, so Yamamiya basically did laps and occasionally someone would land a strike. Noland began to take advantage of his reach advantage, landing the middle kick consistently in R2, and Yamamiya never had an answer. Noland tried to attack the head once he had Yamamiya's hands dropping to defend the body, but Yamamiya was still able to defend the head. Yamamiya had the occasional good body punch, but was really never able to get much offense going though because he had to charge off the ropes to try to land a punch, so there wasn't much deception. Average match.
Welterweight Next Challenger Decision Tournament Final: Shingo Suzuki vs. Sojiro Orui R2 3:29. These two strikes might not have been the most technically sound, but you never knew what you were going to get from them, and that awkwardness and unpredictability kept things interesting. Suzuki had a strong desire to be offensive, but he'd leave himself really prone when he'd rush Orui with his head up. Orui soon dropped Suzuki when he charged into a right hook counter and tried to pound him out on the ground, but Suzuki nearly armbarred him and was able to regroup in his guard. Suzuki got a mouse under his right eye, and Orui was targetting it with the jab. Orui's confidence seemed to be growing while Suzuki began to hesitate on his charges, and it was now Orui who was concentrating on trying to be offensive. However, just when you thought Orui had taken over the fight, Suzuki ducked left to avoid the jab and landed an awkward short left uppercut then came over the top with a right for the KO. Above average match.
AB (Hiroki Aoki) vs. Kota Okazawa R3 2:01. Fun grappling match that didn't follow the typical patterns, instead the highlights were usually unexpected if not genuinely surprising attacks or counters. Okazawa would get the takedowns, but this Aoki would immediately attack with submissions like that Aoki. Aoki was a real risk taker. He gave his back trying to escape the mount, managed to stand and tried for a Kimura sweep only to get reversed and wind up right back in Okazawa's mount. In a sequence I don't recall seeing before, Okazawa gambled for the arm when AB bucked, so AB somehow managed to sneak around and take his back. After getting taken down and mounted in the previous rounds, AB worked a clinch in the corner and somehow got Okazawa's back, body triangled, flattened him out, and threw lefts until they stopped it because Okazawa was defenseless. Okazawa made some mistakes here, but at least from a fan's perspective, they allowed AB and the match itself to be more enjoyable. Good match.
Takenori Sato vs. Akihiro Maruyama 3R. A stalemate best exemplified by a 2+ minute stretch in the 2nd where Sato tried to go for a standing Kimura, and Maruyama just joined his hands and kept a solid base to stay on his feet blocking it. They were so even in the standing grappling that neither could get a takedown, and if they did the other was up in a few seconds without taking any damage. Maruyama seemed to be attacking most of the fight without ever touching Sato, and Sato seemed to be feeling him out looking for the opening that he never actually found. Sato has that cool, calm aura where he always feels in control, and it was Maruyama doing most of the work without doing any damage or seeming to stress Sato in the least, but on the other hand Maruyama was the one that was doing something that vaguely purported to "attacking". They all had it 30-30, which is the sort of scoring I'd like to see stateside for matches where no one has any near finishes or does any damage rather than equating 3 more seconds of useless control to a point (round). Poor match.
Akira Okada vs. Jyuntaro Ami R1 2:48. Okada just seemed to take this way more seriously (Ami was busy doing Huckster poses before the fight) and was there to destroy Ami from the get go. Okada landed some nice punches, took Ami down, and delivered a ridiculous head kick when Ami pushed him off with his feet and was thinking about standing. Ami was cut really badly from the vicious shin to the forehead, and Okada was quick to pounce on him and pound his way to the doctor stop.
Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. Nobuhiro Yoshitake R1 3:36. Exciting, high level standup fight. Ishiwatari is a southpaw and owned the distance with his reach advantage, but Yoshitake did a good job of countering with rights and darting in. Ishiwatari was just the smarter fighter though, always making Yoshitake think about 1 thing to set up another, for instance after Yoshitake defended a takedown, Ishiwatari dropped down to fake another but then came over the top with a right. The finish was awesome with Ishiwatari catching Yoshitake coming in with a short left hand then punting him with the soccer kick when he was on all fours.
Pancrast vs. WAND FIGHT TEAM: ISAO vs. Jorge Patino Macaco 3R. A very evenly contested match that wasn't the most entertaining in the 1st two rounds, but was nonetheless very back and forth, and they made up for it by really opening up and taking chances in the 3rd. The first two rounds were mainly grappling, with Patino have more time in top control, but neither threatening or doing any damage. Nearly 40-year-old Patino was definitely the more fatigued than 24-year-old ISAO in R3, and when he gave up on his takedown against the ropes, ISAO started to push the pace and blast him with clinch knees to bloody Patino. Patino came back getting rear mount, but ISAO turned to top control while Patino was screwing around with a bizarre kneebar. This position, like all others, didn't last long and ISAO wound up going for a Kimura after Patino stood, but it was Patino who nearly got it. Patino got ISAO's back again from a standing position, and was able to get him down by picking a leg to go into a kneebar that looked like the old pro wrestling stump puller, but Patino was so high on the back that ISAO easily slipped his head out through Patino's legs and got another takedown. I really enjoyed R3 both for the heart and the daring. A lot of people probably think it's terrible that they just call these even fights draws, but rather than making the guys shell up in the 3rd for fear of losing, they really went for it because they had nothing to lose. Above average match.
King of Pancrase Featherweight Title Match: Takumi Nakayama vs. Koji Oishi 3R. They started off cautiously, with neither taking many risks even into the 2nd round. While it was close throughout, it turned into a worthwhile match in the 2nd half. Takumi's conditioning began to be the determining factor in the 2nd, as he just kept pressuring Oishi, and had the strength and wrestling to get him down. Takumi had a takedown then hurt Oishi with a series of short right clinch uppercuts when Oishi stood, but was called for a foul for continuing to attack on the outside after he'd knocked a stunned Oishi through the ropes. Though Oishi got a "break" in being given plenty of time to recover from damage that was mostly legal, Takumi was right back on him with another takedown, and was now able to work him over on the ground. Oishi was the more technically skilled striker, but what changed things in round 3 is he finally realized he needed to disengage in order to actually capitalize. Now that Oishi wasn't getting locked up and taken down, he could use his movement to pick Takumi apart from the outside. Now it was Oishi's pressure, as well as some effective body punches, that began to wear Takumi down a bit. One judge scored it for Takumi, but the other two had it 29-29, resulting in a majority decision draw. Above average match.
Akira Okada vs. Keigo Hirayama R1 4:48. Hirayama had a huge reach advantage, but was never able to use it, as Okada able to get inside and outmuscled him in the clinch game and takedown game. Hirayama got back up late, but Okada backed him into the ropes and dropped him with a right hook. Hirayama got up, but Okada just plowed forward with a flurry of lefts and rights until Hirayama crumbled.
Eiji Ishikawa vs. Akihiro Yamazaki 3R. A total grind. This wasn't lay and pray, but Ishikawa dominated to such an extent with his wrestling the whole fight you almost felt he was glued to Yamazaki. Yamazaki was working an open guard, being active, and taking chances. Sometimes he made something happen, mostly in the good 3rd round with a kneebar and rear naked choke attempt, but even then more often Ishikawa used Yamazaki's risk taking to his advantage. Ishikawa won a unanimous decision. Average match.
Daniel Swain vs. Tomonari Kanomata R2 4:36. Swain's wrestling and aggressive ground and pound was just too good, even understanding the different rules and risking position to stand up and kick Kanomata when he was down. Swain was by no means a one-dimensional wrestler. He didn't need his standup, but he did everything really well on the ground, Kanomata just wouldn't tap or stop moving so the ref could put him out of his misery, so the comprehensive beatdown continued for much longer than it should have, with Kanomata's ear taking a real bludgeoning. The highlight for me was Swain's beautiful belly to back suplex early in the 1st. Above average match.
Yuki Kosaka vs. Ryan Hayes 3R. Competitive standup fight early that shifted entirely toward Kosaka after the 1st. Kosaka really put the volume on Hayes, not slowing down as the fight progressed despite the obvious fatigue from throwing seemingly 500 head punches. Kosaka had no real variety, but his plentiful head punch combos were damaging Hayes face. Hayes really wanted the takedown, but kept expending a lot of energy failing, and even when he got the takedowns, Kosaka was right back up. Hayes did drive Kosaka through the middle rope to the floor on a single leg attempt. Hayes was really fading midway through the 2nd to the point he looked ready to collapse from sheer exhaustion, and seeing the fatigue just made Kosaka just attack that much harder. Both men showed a lot of heart here, with Hayes recovering well in between rounds and scoring a couple flash takedowns early in the 3rd before Kosaka again took over with his head punches, and Hayes again faded (though not as badly). I had this 30-27 Kosaka, but one judge had it even, so Kosaka wound up winning by majority decision. Above average match.
Akihiro Murayama vs. Yuki Kondo 3R. Evenly matched battle of veterans. The first two rounds could have gone either way, with the main difference for me being Murayama had better movement in standup. Murayama came out with a big right then left hook, dropping Kondo to start the 3rd then machine gunned with hammerfists and looked to choke him out. Kondo made a push later in the round to try to steal it back, but what initially looked like a knockdown turned out to be an accidental headbutt to Murayama's chin. Murayama won a unanimous decision. Average match.
Noboru Tahara vs. Hiroyuki Abe R1 0:40. Tahara followed the right middle kick with a right hook to the chin.
Guy Delameau vs. Yojiro Uchimura R2 2:28. Uchimura was just firing away, landing some good middle kicks as well as punches to the body. Delameau generally landed the cleaner shots though because he was more patient and had some defensive orientation whereas Uchimura was only thinking offense. Delameau also had a clear wrestling advantage. He got Uchimura down in the corner, and applied a guillotine choke with Uchimura sitting in the corner for the win. Above average match.
Yuji Hisamatsu vs. Kei Yamamiya 3R. Majority Decision
Ikkei Nagamura vs. Naoki Yoshioka R1 4:28
Takuya Eizumi vs. Teppei Masuda R1 3:32
Mitsuhisa Sunabe vs. Chikara Shimabukuro 3R Unanimous Decision
Takatoshi Matsumoto vs. Tomoaki Ueyama R1 1:44
Amber Brown vs. Kikuyo Ishikawa R3 3:27
Andy Main vs. Hiroki Aoki 3R. Majority Decision
Takumi Shimazaki vs. Kishi Matsuura R1 1:24
Hikaru Hasumi vs. Shuichi Kanda 2R Split Decision
Eric Fought vs. Toru Kanamori R2 4:35
Naohiro Takaoka vs. Katsuhiro Sakanaka 2R Unanimous Decision
Kosuke Terashima vs. Gaku Suwazono 2R draw
Tatsuya So vs. Yuki Ueshima R2 0:26
Kenta Takagi vs. Kenji Nagaki R2 2:52
Flyweight Tournament Final: Kent Kambe vs. Naoto Ayuta 1R
Featherweight Tournament Final: Juntaro Ushiku vs. Kosaku Yanai 1R
Lightweight Tournament Final: Takayuki Ijima vs. Gaku Hirayama
Yusuke Mitsuzuka vs. Ryuya Suzuki R2 3:42
Chiaki Wakana vs. Yukio Kishi 2R Unanimous Decision
Toshihiro Komiya vs. Nobuhisa Kudo 2R Majority Draw
Gen Ikeda vs. Suguru Hayasaka 2R Unanimous Draw
Hiroshi Ono vs. Masaomi Saito R1 1:21
Yo Saito vs. Toshihiro Shimizu 2R Unanimous Decision
list
Lando Vannata vs. Mitsuyoshi Nakai R1 4:13
Keigo Hirayama vs. Shinobu Miura 3R
Hiroshi Hayashi vs. Kosei Kubota R1 2:53
Yukitaka Musashi vs. Takehiro Ishii R2 0:35
Ikkei Nagamura vs. Shinnosuke Oba R1 3:36
Guy Delameau vs. Hiroyuki Oshiro 3R
Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. Alan Yoshihiro Yamaniha 3R
TG: Caitlin Mercer vs. Justine Kish 3R. Caitlin didn't believe she could beat Justine and was just frozen the entire fight. Kish danced around, came in, landed spinning shots, knocked Mercer off her feet, and Mercer got up and stood there some more. Kish had a knockdown getting in and landing a short right in the 1st. Totally one-sided. Average match.
Tomoaki Ueyama vs. Yu Kuwabara 2R Majority Draw
Kent Kambe vs. Daiki Yamaishi R1 4:31
Kentaro Ushiku vs. Hikaru Hasumi R1 0:11
Yusei Shimokawa vs. Suguru Hayasaka R1 3:24
Kosuke Terashima vs. Tatsuya Suzuki R2 4:54
Nobuki Fujii vs. Takahiro Takaoka R1 4:57
Yusuke Kitago vs. Chiaki Wakana 2R Unanimous Decision
Takashi Sato vs. Joe Proctor R1 2:31
Genpei Hayashi vs. Atsushi Ueda 3R UD
Hiroaki Ijima vs. Naoyuki Kato 3R UD
Yoshiki Nakahara vs. Yusuke Kawanago 1:15 R1
Kosuke Terashima vs. Shuichi Kanda 3R UD
Bayzet Khatkhokhu vs. Shunpei Ota 2:54 R1
Sergei Martynov vs. Hikaru Sato 2:03 R1
Bislan Etleshev vs. Kenta Takagi 3:40 R2
Alan Yoshihiro Yamaniha vs. Kenta Takizawa 3:44 R2
Masakatsu Ueda vs. Jose Alday 2:02 R3
Yusuke Yachi vs. Rodolfo Rubio Perez 3R UD
Hatsu Hioki vs. Kyosuke Yokoyama 1:35 R1
Toshihiro Komiya vs. Shun Miyakawa 3R UD
Hiroyuki Tetsuka vs. Makoto Kawawa 0:10 R1
bonus
12/4/15 LFC Women's Flyweight Title Decision Match: Andrea Lee vs. Ariel Beck R3 4:22
5/21/16 VFC Welterweight Title Decision Match: Rousimar Palhares vs. Emil Meek R1 0:45
Kohei Kuraoka vs. Tatsuyuki Nakamura 3R Unanimous Dec
Shigeki Iijima vs. Shun Miyakawa 3R Unanimous Dec
Masahide Hiraoka vs. Kenzo Hirokawa 3R Unanimous Dec
Taiyo Hayashi vs. Satoshi Kogure 3R Unanimous Dec
Makoto Kawawa vs. Mauricio Okumura 3R Unanimous Dec
Kazunari Kimura vs. Hanbyo Oniyama 3R Unanimous Dec
Yoshinori Horie vs. Kota Fujisaki R1 2:36
Yojiro Uchimura vs. Suguru Nii R2 2:57
Takafumi Ato vs. Yuya Kodama R3 2:13
Hiroyuki Oshiro vs. Yasuhiro Kawamura 3R unanimous decision
Takaaki Nara vs. Kosei Kubota 3R unanimous decision
Takumi Suzuki vs. Kazushi Sugiyama 3R unanimous decision
Yuki Niimura vs. Ikkei Nagamura R2 2:58
Kanako Murata vs. Claire Fryer 3R unanimous decision
Masakatsu Ueda vs. Toshinori Tsunemura 3R unanimous decision
Yuki Kondo vs. Ikuhisa Minowa 3R unanimous decision
Kazuki Tokudome vs. Keiran Joblin 3R unanimous decision
Welterweight Title Match: Daiji Abe vs. Hiromitsu Miura R2 0:26
NEO BLOOD 2018 Semifinals
Satoshi Miyokawa vs. Ryuji Abe 3R UD
Ryusuke Noda vs. Takahito Tomozawa 3R UD
Chihiro Suzuki vs. Kento Mizutani 3:00 R1
Satoru Enomoto vs. Katsuyuki Hironaka 2:09 R1
Masahide Hiraoka vs. Seio Date 3R UD
Katsushi Kojima vs. Naohiro Matsukawa 2:11 R1
main card
Yusuke Ogikubo vs. Kohei Kuraoka 3R SD
Taiki Akiba vs. Yuki Yasunaga 2:39 R2
Ryo Hatta vs. Teppei Maeyama 4:49 R1
Toshinori Tsunemura vs. Hidekazu Fukushima 3R UD
Kenta Takizawa vs. Hiroyuki Oshiro 2:05 R2
Issei Tamura vs. Yoshinori Horie 1:28 R2
Tom Santos vs. Yusaku Inoue 2:10 R2
2018 NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R Flyweight: Kiyoshiro Akasaki vs. Tatsuki Okano 2:21 R3
2018 NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R Bantamweight: Yuichi Ohashi vs. Yusei Tashiro 1:57 R1. Amazing finish where Tashiro has Ohashi mounted, but Ohashi sweeps into an armbar.
2018 NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R Bantamweight: Yosuke Nomura vs. Yuma Kitamura 2R SD
2018 NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R Featherweight: Darani Date vs. Hanbyo Oniyama 0:13 R2
2018 NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R Featherweight: Takuya Saito vs. Taroh Kotobuki 1:39 R1
Toshihiro Taguchi vs. Yasutaka Kato R1
Andre Barquero Morera vs. Tatsuya Watanabe 2:03 R1. Bad stoppage here as the ref had a bad angle & decided to stop the fight when Watanabe relaxed into Morera's triangle after throwing 4 punches. This wasn't good defense, but it was clear he wasn't actually out & was just waiting to make his next move.
Takashi Matsuoka vs. Makoto Fukaya 1:10 R2
Masayuki Kikuiri vs. Shigeaki Kusayanagi 2:34 R3
Tatsuya So vs. Suguru Hayasaka 2:08 R1. Great finish as Hayasaka picks So's leg, but So locks the haneorigatame & sweeps for the submission.
Juntaro Ushiku vs. Yojiro Uchimura 3R Split Dec
Satoru Kitaoka vs. Taras Sapa 4:44 R1
Interim Featherweight KING OF PANCRASE Title: Isao Kobayashi vs. Koyomi Matsushima 4:30 R1
Strawweight KING OF PANCRASE Title: Mitsuhisa Sunabe vs. Shinya Murofushi 4:11 R2. Murofushi tries for a guard pull guillotine, and while he has the choke in pretty deep with Sunabe standing, Sunabe is able to seemingly KO him slamming his way out. Sunabe gets in 5 punches on the ground before the ref realizes to stop it.
Toshio Mitani vs. Hiroyuki Sugiura 0:34 R2
Hiroshi Takahashi vs. Atsushi Ueda 3R UD
2018 Neo Blood Tournament Bantamweight: Junya Ogawa vs. Junichi Hirata 3R UD
2018 Neo Blood Tournament Feartherweight: Shinsuke Kamei vs. Katsushi Kojima 3R UD
Yutaka Kobayashi vs. Juntaro Ami 3R UD
Taiyo Hayashi vs. Shunichi Shimizu 3R UD
Masatatsu Ueda vs. Kohei Kuraoka 3R UD
Kunio Nakamura vs. Kenta Takagi 0:07 R1
Daichi Kitakata vs. Hiroaki Ijima 0:46 R2
Nobuki Fujii vs. Alan Yoshihiro Yamaniha 3R UD
Akihiro Murayama vs. Takaaki Nara 0:48 R1
Tom Santos vs. Kenichiro Togashi 3:43 R1
Emi Fujino vs. Sharon Jacobson 3R UD
Pancrase Interim Bantamweight Title: Rafael Silva vs. Masakatsu Ueda 5R UD
2018 Neo Blood Tournament 2R Featherweight: Darani Date vs. Takuya Saito 3R UD
2018 Neo Blood Tournament 2R Bantamweight: Yuichi Ohashi vs. Junya Ogawa 0:30 R1
2018 Neo Blood Tournament 2R Bantamweight: Yuma Nomura vs. Masahide Hiraoka 3R UD
2018 Neo Blood Tournament 2R Flyweight: Kohei Sugiyama vs. Kiyoshiro Akasaki 2:21 R1
2018 Neo Blood Tournament 2R Flyweight: Chihiro Suzuki vs. Satoru Enomoto 3R UD
Ryusuke Noda vs. Satoshi Miyokawa 3R UD
Masaya Takita vs. Kazunari Kimura 3R UD
Yoko Higashi vs. Nao Murayama 3R UD
Kseniya Guseva vs. Raika Emiko 3R SD
Toru Ogawa vs. Tateki Matsuda 2:50 R1
Kenta Takizawa vs. Toshinori Tsunemura 2:03 R2
Yuya Wakamatsu vs. Mamoru Yamaguchi 0:39 R2
Anton Kuivanen vs. Takasuke Kume 4:56 R2
Pancrase Welterweight Title Decision Match: Glaico Franca vs. Takashi Sato 1:15 R4. Franca showed a lot of promise winning TUF Brazil, but got an unwarranted quick axe from the UFC losing to undefeated Gregor Gillespie & top 10 ranked James Vick. He's won his five fights since then & is a finisher, with all but 2 of his wins 18 coming inside the distance. Sato is a striker who started off more as a brawler, but is recently starting to figure things out & become more technically sound. The first round was fought at distance, and southpaw Sato did a nice job of using his step jab to set up the left straight, but his big weapon here was the left elbow. He used it so much I started to wonder if he simply broke his hand & was forced to improvise Urijah Faber style, but Sato was just the quicker fighter & Franca didn't really have an answer for it or Sato getting inside in general, as his best standing offense was distance kicks. This wasn't a striker vs. grappler match by any means, but it was sort of playing out as such, with Sato taking the first round that was all standup then Franca taking the second where he was able to get it to the ground early on landing a right straight & then faking another but dropping down into the takedown. Sato kept getting right up, but couldn't free himself from Franca's waistlock & would just get hauled right back down. Even when Sato would hiptoss Franca, Franca would be right back locking Sato's hips out of the scramble for another takedown. This round was tiring for both, but despite Sato coming on in standup in the final seconds, having to defend the constant takedowns took more out of him than going for them drained Franca. Round 3 was an excellent round as Franca tried to press this advantage coming out quick, but Sato quickly regained control rocking him with an elbow. Sato really put a ton of pressure on Franca looking for the finish by backing him with the jab then closing the distance with the big elbow. Franca was doing a decent job blocking, but Sato realized he wasn't that dangerous because he was in defensive mode from being rocked & would throw in a lead hook or a body shot to get in around the defenses. Franca's takedowns were failing & his nose was leaking blood as Sato threw punches around the back with both on their knees. Sato punched himself out though, and Franca not only took over in the grappling, he quickly went from seemingly out of the fight to a rear naked choke attempt. Franca could never get his arms under the chin though, and Sato turned into guard then got his elbows going on the ground. Sato nearly took Franca's back for a choke attempt in the final seconds, but this time Franca turned out. With Sato up 2-1 & seemingly having the momentum on his side, it looked good for him, but man he seemed to lose energy between rounds rather than recovering a little. Sato just didn't have it anymore in the 4th when it came to footwork, zip on the jab, or generally the energy to fight Franca off. Franca quickly got hold of him against the cage, and Sato doesn't really know how to defend there, always turning his back rather than working for underhooks & trying to turn Franca & disengage. Franca got his hooks in quickly after the takedown & Sato really didn't have the energy to carry his weight, much less take the strikes & fight off the choke attempt. You felt kind of bad for Sato because this was his first 5 round fight, and he pushed so hard in the 3rd he just didn't have anything left for the championship rounds. It's hard to really say that going for the finish was wrong though, as he's finished 10 of his 13 wins, 9 of which were in the 1st round, so this is what has always worked for him. Very good match.
Kento Mizutani vs. Kazuho Ikeda 0:23 R3
Yohei Misawa vs. Tatsuya Watanabe 3R UD
Yukasa Sakurai vs. Kaneaki Watanabe 3R UD
Tatsuyuki Nakamura vs. Yuki Yasunaga 3R UD
Teppei Maeyama vs. Toshiya Takashima 4:29 R1
Hiroyuki Tetsuka vs. Toshikazu Suzuki 1:18 R3
Yojiro Uchimura vs. Vitor Toffanelli 2:12 R1
Yuta Sato vs. Juntaro Ushiku 3R UD
Taiki Akiba vs. Yusuke Ogikubo 3:40 R1
Yuki Niimura vs. Genpei Hayashi R3 0:01 Technical Majority Dec
Ryo Hatta vs. Marcus Paulo Amaral 1:48 R2
Loma Lookboonmee vs. Hana Date 4:32 R2
Pancrase Women's Strawweight Title Decision Match: Viviane Araujo vs. Emi Fujino 0:19 R3
Kota Kawahata vs. Masataka Hiraga 1:17 R1. Kawahata KO'd Hiraga powerbombing his way out of a triangle.
2019 Strawweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Satoshi Miyokawa vs. Keisuke Tachibana 3R SD
2019 Flyweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Kiyoshiro Akasaki vs. Satoshi Date 3R UD
2019 Flyweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Yohei Misawa vs. Katsuyuki Hironaka 3R UD
2019 Flyweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Satoru Enomoto vs. Tatsuki Okano 3R UD
2019 Bantamweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Nobuaki Yamamoto vs. Seio Date R3 0:36
2019 Bantamweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Yuki Nagai vs. Kenzo Hirokawa 2:49 R1
2019 Bantamweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Junpei Ueno vs. Hiroki Otani 2:31 R1
Kohei Maeda vs. Junichi Hirata 3R UD
Mitsuhiro Taki vs. Ryo Iseki 3R UD
Ukyo Abe vs. Yutaka Kobayashi 3R UD
Yoko Higashi vs. Seo Yoon Jung 2:14 R1
Yusuke Ogikubo vs. Tatsuyuki Nakamura 3R UD
Taiki Akiba vs. Ryuichi Miki 3R SD
Michinori Tanaka vs. Vladimir Leontyev 3R UD
Shohei Masumizu vs. Rilley Dutro 3R UD
Yoshinori Horie vs. Hiroshige Tanaka 1:41 R1
Hiroto Uesako vs. Salimkhan Sadulloev 0:16 R2. What a weird match. The ref seems to stop the fight when Sadulloev is overwhelming Uesako, but it turns out he was instead warning Sadulloev for a kick to the head of a downed opponent, which was actually a kick to the armpit & thus legal. After a long break, Uesako recovered enough to survive the round. At the start of the 2nd, Sadulloev crumbled from a kick to the left knee, and couldn't continue, though he was holding his rib rather than the knee, so I'm not sure what the injury was or when it occured.
Bantamweight King of Pancrase Title: Rafael Silva vs. Kenta Takizawa 3:22 R1
No Respect 2/17/03 Melbourne (Ex VQ): Stan The Man Longinidis vs. Gurkan Ozkan. Stan came back after a 2 year absense to face Tarik Solak's champion Ozkan in an open weight grudge match with a $100,000 bounty for injuring Paul Orndorff, I mean, winning by KO. Stan had a noticable size advantage, but was at the very end of his career, in fact this wound up being his last match despite it supposedly being the 1st of a 3 match contract. He was out of shape, quite rusty, & didn't move very well at this point, so he was thus all about throwing a setup shot to try to finish with a huge overhand because power is the last thing to go, and Ozkan was naturally a super middleweight. While the 2 minute rounds favored Stan's aggressive style, Ozkan wanted no part of eating these haymakers after getting dropped in the 1st, and settled into a strategy of working over Stan's bad knees from the outside while trying to creep forward behind the jab. Ozkan said he would out kick Stan, and this was a good strategy given how many knee surgeries Stan has withstood, but no matter what he was out to avoid getting caught with the end of Stan's combination. If Stan was anywhere near his prime, he would likely have finished Ozkan by the 2nd round, but the fact he wasn't made for an interesting fight, especially to Michael Schiavello, who was as much Ozkan's personal cheerleader as play by play man. The match had a pro wrestling feel to it as many of Solak promoted shows tended to, including the combatants going head to head during the pre match instructions until Stan pushed Ozkan off for a big pre match pull apart. Stan dropped Ozkan at the end of the 1st with the basic combo he was using all night, the low kick setting up just try to reach the opponent with the big overhands or hooks. This one worked because the low kick turned Ozkan so he couldn't back to avoid the punches. Ozkan had a better 2nd round, giving Stan some of his own medicine landing the low kick, avoiding the counter, and stunning Stan with a right hook. Ozkan followed up well, using the jab to back Stan then throwing heavy punch combos when he had him on the ropes. Ozkan tried to use his jab & low kick to hold the center & inch forward, but Stan would back him when he took the initiative, which unfortunately was less & less often as the fight progressed. Stan just wasn't active enough, and it was Ozkan taking the rounds by beating up Stan's old knees. At the start of the 9th, Ozkan landed a couple right hooks then backed Stan into the ropes and upended him with some low kicks. Stan didn't seem particularly hurt, and got up at the 8 count, but his corner threw in the towel. The fight seemed legitimate up until this point, but many people believe it was fixed because there was no reason for the fight not to continue there. Stan was down a couple rounds so he would likely have lost the decision, but he didn't seem particularly hurt or injured, certainly not to the point he couldn't finish the fight.
2019 Strawweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Tatsuki Ozaki vs. Ryuji Abe 3R UD
2019 Strawweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Takashi Araya vs. Kei Arimura 3R UD
2019 Flyweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Yosuke Shimoda vs. Daiki Nishimura 3R SD
2019 Bantamweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Masahide Hiraoka vs. Ryosuke Takasugi Unanimous Dec
2019 Featherweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Michio Ito vs. Tatsuhiko Iwamoto 0:57 R3
2019 Featherweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Yota Tatsunari vs. Ryosuke Shiotsu 0:18 R2
2019 Featherweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Yohei Nada vs. Darani Date 3R SD
2019 Welterweight NEO BLOOD Tournament 1R: Masayoshi Watanabe vs. Takashi Yamashita 3R UD
Naoki Arikawa vs. Yuma Nakajima 2:04 R2
Kenta Takagi vs. Kazuma Maruyama 1:31 R1
Raika Emiko vs. Mayra Cantuaria 3:17 R1
Yusuke Kasuya vs. Masayuki Kikuiri R1 1:01
Yojiro Uchimura vs. Shinsuke Kamei 3R UD. Kamei delivered one of the most recklessly violent performances I've seen here, whether he didn't comprehending the notion of caution or have other options in his game, he just charging forward unleashing full power right hands with no thought beyond knocking Uchimura into next week. Kamei won last year's NEO BLOOD tournament, but now the 4-0 prospect was taking on a gatekeeper that's 12 years older & has over 30 pro fights. Kamei did have a 9" reach advantage to somewhat even things out, but his lack of weapons hampered him, as it seemed more that he had to keep going back to the same few tactics, and while that made for a classic war, it also got him into a lot of trouble as the veteran was able to time his aggression as the fight progressed. They eased into the battle with Kamei stepping forward & using the right straight to back Uchimura then going for the right high kick. Once Kamei finally gambled to close the distance, Kamei threw a clinch knee then chased after Uchimura with crazy violent rights hands trying scare him off from every trying this tactic again. Kamei mostly missed, but still Uchimura had limited options against the cage, and when Kamei was able to back Uchimura again, he unleashed such furious right hands that Uchimura slipped trying to avoid them & angle off the cage. Uchimura did get up before Kamei dropped to many bombs & hammerfists on him, but still this was a good round for the youngster. Uchimura came out aggressively in the second, spinning on a kick fake then jumping forward & switching to a superman punch that leveled Kamei. Kamei refused to back down, coming forward behind big right hands and doing his best to steal the round back. With 20 seconds left, I would have said he succeeded, but Uchimura came over the top of Kamei's right straight with a left to drop him again. Uchimura got so lost trying to flurry for the win he didn't realize the 10 second clapper wasn't the end of the round, and just turned his back on Kamei & started walking to his corner, nearly taking a right hook he didn't expect. Once Uchimura was informed the fight was still on, he managed to get a high kick in before the round ended for real. The second round was really great, and it's a testament to both how good it was and how bad judges are that it wasn't unanimous for Uchimura despite Kamei hitting the canvas twice. Kamei didn't let the fact that Uchimura was now able to counter his right straight deter him from throwing it in the 3rd, still coming at Uchimura with as much vigor & recklessness as ever. Uchimura wobbled Kamei with the counter a few minutes in, but Kamei came right back trying flying knees, eating a right hook for his trouble. There was an odd sequence late in the 3rd where Kamei rolled out of the clinch into a kneebar, but he was too low and Uchimura was able to stand & literally run away. Kamei chased him all the way across the ring, almost taking a spinning backfist & stumbling, but finally getting a bodylock against the cage. The fight was still up for grabs in the last minute, but Uchimura was able to land a few more overhand lefts. This round was super close, and the overhands probably just swung things in Uchimura's favor as he managed to get the unanimous decision. Excellent match.
Akira Okada vs. Kenichiro Togashi 3R UD
Yuto Hokamura vs. Toshinori Tsunemura 3:11 R1
Emi Fujino vs. Kseniya Guseva 3R UD
Kyle Aguon vs. Taichi Nakajima 3R SD
Daichi Kitakata vs. Tatsuya So 3R UD
Inaugural Women's Flyweight King of Pancrase Title: Takayo Hashi vs. Sidy Rocha 5R UD
Lightweight King of Pancrase Title: Takasuke Kume vs. Tom Santos 1:08 R3
WAM 5/9/14 (VG VQ): Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karla Benitez 3R UD
2019 Neo Blood Tournament 2R Flyweight: Satoru Enomoto vs. Yohei Misawa 3R UD
2019 Neo Blood Tournament 2R Flyweight: Kiyoshiro Akasaki vs. Yosuke Shimoda 2:52 R2
2019 Neo Blood Tournament 2R Bantamweight: Junpei Ueno vs. Nobuaki Yamamoto 3R SD
2019 Neo Blood Tournament 2R Bantamweight: Masahide Hiraoka vs. Yuki Nagai 3R UD
2019 Neo Blood Tournament 1R Featherweight: Kazuki Kasai vs. Takuya Saito 1:54 R3
Joji Goto vs. Seio Date 2:59 R3
Sho Sekihara vs. Nobuhisa Kudo 3R UD
Kohei Maeda vs. Shun Miyakawa 3R UD
Kaneaki Watanabe vs. Yasutaka Kato 1:25 R1
Tatsuya Tomozane vs. Yuki Yamamoto 3R UD
Shuhei Sakano vs. Yuki Kosaka 3R SD
Yuta Miyazawa vs. Takafumi Ato 3R SD
Katsushi Sugiyama vs. Yusuke Kawanago 2:59 R1
Chihaya Yoneyama vs. Joey Crisostomo Jr 1:43 R2
Yuichi Ohashi vs. Bakhytbek Duishobaev 0:41 R1
Takeshi Kasugai vs. Hidekazu Fukushima 3R UD
Yuki Kondo vs. Akihiro Gono 3R UD
Kazumasa Majima vs. Issei Tamura 3:41 R3
Toru Ogawa vs. Mamoru Yamaguchi 3R UD
Pancrase Featherweight Title Unification: Isao Kobayashi vs. Nazareno Malegarie 5R UD
Tatsuki Ozaki vs. Takashi Araya 1:08 R1
Yohei Nada vs. Yota Tatsunari 2:13 R1
Masayoshi Watanabe vs. Real King Date 3R SD
Naoki Arikawa vs. Kento Mizutani 3R UD
Yuki Tashiro vs. Toru Fujii 1:13 R1
Ryo Iseki vs. Ippei Takase 3R UD
Juan Lizama vs. Mitsuhiro Taki 3R UD
Kyohei Wakimoto vs. Toshikazu Suzuki 3R UD
Genpei Hayashi vs. Ukyo Abe 2:39 R1
Kohei Sugiyama vs. Ryosuke Kano 3R SD
Toshiya Takashima vs. Suguru Hayasaka 3R UD
Adam Antolin vs. Teppei Maeyama 4:05 R3
JJ Ambrose vs. Akihiro Murayama 3R UD
Ryuichi Miki vs. Manabu Inoue 4:55 R2
Yoko Higashi vs. Young Ji Kim 3R UD
Eiji Ishikawa vs. Ikuhisa Minowa 3R UD
Interim Welterweight King of Pancrase: Hiroyuki Tetsuka vs. Kenta Takagi 3:36 R1
Satoshi Date vs. Katsuyuki Hironaka 2:22 R1
Daiki Nishimura vs. Yuma Nakajima 3R SD
Joji Goto vs. Junichi Hirata 1:47 R1
Shinmare Komori vs. Toshihiro Taguchi 2:02 R1
Kazuki Kasai vs. Michio Ito 3R SD
Tatsuya Saika vs. Yutaka Kobayashi 1:34 R1
Takashi Matsuoka vs. Shinichi Taira 3R UD
Masayuki Watanabe vs. Tatsuyuki Nakamura 4:29 R3
Masayuki Kikuiri vs. Yasuaki Kishimoto 3R Draw
Suguru Nii vs. Taiyo Hayashi 0:14 R3
Bokang Masunyane vs. Yusuke Ogikubo 3R UD
Raika Emiko vs. Gleicielen Farias 0:45 R1
Yuta Sato vs. Taichi Nakajima 3R UD
Alan Yoshihiro Yamaniha vs. Toshinori Tsunemura 4:07 R3
Interim Flyweight King of Pancrase Title: Shohei Masumizu vs. Masatatsu Ueda 4:50 R2
Bantamweight King of Pancrase Title: Rafael Silva vs. Yuto Hokamura 1:54 R2
Strawweight King of Pancrase Title: Daichi Kitakata vs. Mitsuhisa Sunabe 0:38 R5
9/29/12: Justin Gaethje vs. Sam Young
3/28/15: Justin Gaethje vs. Luis Palomino R3 3:57
Satoshi Date vs. Kazuho Ikeda 1:27 R2
Sho Sekihara vs. Nobuaki Yamamoto 3R UD
Kota Matsui vs. Takuya Saito 3R UD
Yuki Yamamoto vs. Mayabu Date 3R UD
2019 NEO BLOOD Tournament Final Straweight: Tatsuki Ozaki vs. Satoshi Miyokawa 3R UD
2019 NEO BLOOD Tournament Final Flyweight: Satoru Enomoto vs. Kiyoshiro Akasaki 1:50 R2
2019 NEO BLOOD Tournament Final Bantamweight: Masahide Hiraoka vs. Junpei Ueno 3R UD
Yohei Nada vs. Kazuki Kasai Split Dec
Shinmare Komori vs. Kota Kondo 3R UD
Yuta Miyazawa vs. Yusuke Uehara 3R UD
Genpei Hayashi vs. Kenichiro Togashi 3R SD
Mayra Cantuaria vs. Takayo Hashi 3R UD
Tatsuya Saika vs. Tom Santos 4:17 R1
Issei Tamura vs. Katsushi Sugiyama 1:25 R1
Emi Fujino vs. Edna Oliveira R2
Rilley Dutro vs. Toru Ogawa 4:33 R1
Pancrase Interim Lightweight Title: Salimkhan Sadulloev vs. Yusuke Kasuya 0:37 R2
S
S
S