Video: My 2010 Fight of the (Half) Year — “Lion” Takeshi vs Hatsu Hioki
Posted by Tommy Hackett on July 5th, 2010
Pictured: “Lion” Takeshi and Hatsu Hioki battle it out. Picture from MMAFighting.com.
It’s hard to believe that half of 2010, and then some, has already passed us by! There have been so many great fights this year; sometimes it all comes off overkill, and sometimes it seems every show rewrites the book. Just last weekend’s UFC brought a memorable comeback from Brock Lesnar against Shane Carwin and yet another clinic from George Sotiropoulos.
But on 30 May at JCB Hall in Tokyo, one bout’s combination of passion and skills stood out — to at least one observer.
This is my “Fight of the Half-Year” for 2010: “Lion” Takeshi Inoue vs. Hatsu Hioki for the Shooto Lightweight Title. Some of you may not be familiar with Shooto. An MMA organization with a more than 20 year history, Shooto has brought so many classic fights in the past, and one that I’ve been happy to rediscover this year. This very show also featured a spirited comeback from Rumina Sato, whose Shooto bout against Caol Uno was often described as the best of the 1990’s.
Hopefully you feel the same. Is it a perfect fight? No. Everyone knows how much I love a bout on the mat and that never developed here. But, nothing else this half year had quite this combination of guts and skill. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it too. At least you may agree that while MMA in Japan may not enjoy the glamor of years past, this bout shows it still has the passion.
Please click here for the video.
July 7th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Those were sure some strange feints by Takeshi.
July 11th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Yeah, he’s wild. It worked somewhat, particularly in the second, but I just don’t think he quite followed it up enough with his offense.
July 13th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Nice pick Tommy, I’m not very familiar with Shooto but it’s a great fight.
There has been some brilliant performances this year, like Rua in the 2nd Machida fight, Evans against Rampage, Werdum against Fedor, Lesnar against Carwinbut at the highest level i.e. world title fights, I don’t think there has been many classic fights, in that we haven’t had a fight where both fighters have been unbelievable.
Most of the classic, Fight of the Year contender matchups seem to be lower down on the card this year. My Fight of the Year is a tie between two.
Firstly, Little Nog against Jason Brilz. A brilliant fight that had pretty much everything you could ask from an MMA fight. A true underdog against a heavy favourite, and the underdog nearly beats him. On top of that, there was great striking on show, some lovely BJJ, good ground games from both guys. It just had everything, and was one of the most exciting fights, maybe because I wasn’t expecting much.
The other fight is from the UFC 116 card just gone by- Leben v Akiyama was another brilliant fight. As you can tell, I love an underdog (am British after all), and Leben stepping in to that fight just two weeks after his last one, against Akiyama, who I thought was a huge favourite, and he wins with 20 seconds remaining.
It’s a shame Rashad v Rampage wasn’t 5 rounds, because I thought that was shaping up great. Awesome wrestling from Rashad, but I got the feeling it could still end at any second from a KO from either guy. Didn’t get any closure from that fight, hopefully we’ll see it again if Rashad takes Rua’s title and Rampage puts a win or two together.