Archive for the 'Sengoku' Category

Real men stay up / get up for Sengoku shows. Join us.

The official Total-MMA.com AIM Sengoku chat is now live. The room is ‘loganclarkforthewin’. Add me on AIM - Iain Total MMA - if there is any problems.

ALAN: I’m excited for the night/early morning/whatever it is wherever you are of fights. A dude who’s been to Saitama is in chat with us, and he’s quite adamant that the building is pretty empty though, which is interesting.

1. Fabio Silva 9-4-0 vs. 28-22-3 Kazuo Takahashi

ALAN: The intro video was done to “The Boys are Back in Town,” so I’m reasonably sure this will be awesome. First round had some good give and take, with Takahashi getting a takedown and controlling in top position, Silva reversing it, and some okay standup between the two. I actually give it to Takahashi and would score it 10-9, but this is Japan.

Round 2 doesn’t go the same way. Silva runs out, punches a lot, and Takahashi falls down. The ref takes his time to stop the fight and so he absorbs some head stomps.

2. Rodrigo Damm 7-1-0 vs. 13-2-0 Jorge Masvidal

ALAN: Masvidal is all sorts of awesome, so I am excited for this also.

Well, he kinda makes my faith worthless. Early knockdown of Damm leads to a takedown by Damm, but that goes nowhere. The fight is back on its feet and its really tenative standup from both. Round 2 is absurdly slow, and then somehow Damm drops a right hand on Masvidal’s chin nearing the end of it that drops Masvidal. Some punches on the ground later and a surprise Damm KO win.

IAIN: That was the outcome I least suspected, but it was a very poor stoppage. Worse than Vera/Werdum last night. Masvidal had won the first but the fight wasn’t terribly exciting and made worse by the inconclusive finish.

3. Choi Mu Bae 7-2-0 vs. 3-2-0 Marcio Cruz

Cruz runs over Choi Mu Bae here. Once it hit the mat Cruz had this on lock and controlled Choi and constantly put him in bad situations. The triangle from being on Choi’s back was choice. Good win for Marcio, who got put in with too stiff of competition too fast.

IAIN: God or Pe De Pano answered my prayers. I requested an early stoppage and they delivered in tremendous style. I am not sure who to thank specifically. Although with Cruz having so many BJJ titles maybe it is not fair of me to differentiate between the two.

4. Sanae Kikuta 26-6-3 vs. 12-5-0 Chris Rice

IAIN: Oh yes, UK MMA is ready to make it’s mark on Sengoku. Excuse me while I stand for the national anthem…

ALAN: Iain will not be please. Kikuta gets this to the ground with the slowest shot ever, and from there positions himself for the slooooooowwwwwwwwessssssst armbar ever. It made Brad Imes’ TUF triangle look masterful.

IAIN: Chris Rice, you have let Britain down. I will no longer be voting for you in the BBC’s Sports Personality Of The Year awards come December. My vote will go to ‘Buzz’ Berry again.

5. Nick Thompson 35-9-1 vs. 9-3-0 Michael Costa

IAIN: Thompson is largely dull it seems, as a character, whereas Costa has dressed up and is dancing to the ring. I cannot overlook this and will be cheering accordingly.

ALAN: First round was pretty nothing. Thompson almost gets an armbar early and then Costa gets out of it and lays in guard for 3 minutes. Second round was a vast improvement. Thompson is nearly KOed by Costa and then put on his back, but he is able to sweep his way to side mount and then gets a kimura to win the bout. Not too bad in the end.

IAIN: Thompson is wearing motherchuffin’ ZUBAS. TJ De Santis on Sherdog was right - people from minnesota really do wear them in a non-ironic way. Half-way through the fight I was questioning how good Thompson was as a fighter. He lost his first Sengoku fight despite the result and was losing this. However he recovered well and got a good victory here. I am not ready to call him World Top Twenty material like some but I am interested in seeing him fight again.

INTERMISSION - WILL AMERICA BE AWAKE FOR THE SECOND HALF?

Intermission ends and they announce a bunch of Russian dudes fighting on the 8/24 show along with Frank Trigg and a lightweight tournament featuring Mitsuoka, Ludwig, Damm, Gomi and a few other guys.

6. Kazuo Misaki 19-8-2 vs. 11-1-0 Logan Clark

IAIN: This is where I win money. Go Clark!

In a strange but pleasant turn of events, Logan Clark’s brother has joined the Total MMA live chat and will be watching the fight with us. Another reason to cheer for him.

ALAN: Not the most exciting fight ever. Misaki went out to channel Lyoto Machida and basically succeeded. Clark just didn’t impose his size and reach here. The jab, when doubled, worked well, but he only did it in combination a couple times in the fight. Misaki just took the bout with low kicks and some sharp, fast, but generally not powerful punching in a defensive performance that was not exactly for the ages.

IAIN: Misaki ran a lot. I thought Clark should have gone for more takedowns and tried to repeat the Frank Trigg / Misaki fight but he chose to stand for the whole fifteen minutes basically. He was not outclassed and great fighters have lost to Misaki but there was the opportunity to win here.

7. Kazuyuki Fujita 15-6-0 vs. 53-11-0 Travis Wiuff

IAIN: Here comes that good up-and-coming fighter (so says John Peretti) Travis Wiuff, YAMMA champion. YAMMA and Bodog champs on this show so far. Sengoku is truly the king of B-league MMA.

ALAN: So there are two guys, and both are noted as wrestlers. What happens? They punch! And in this case, Wiuff lands first and hardest. Fujita just crumples and Wiuff wins the fight as he hammerfists Fujita into oblivion.

IAIN: Never doubt the power of a YAMMA champ. Maybe now people will listen?

8. Hidehiko Yoshida 7-6-1 vs. 12-12-0 Maurice Smith

IAIN: When you’re relying on a main event to save a show, and it features a nearly 50-year-old kickboxer against a washed-up, 40-year-old judoka then it is not a ringing endorsement of the show as a whole.

ALAN: So Yoshida and Smith stand for awhile and nothing happens. And then Yoshida clinches, gets a takedown, gets to side control and has some side headlock/gi choke thing and Smith didn’t tap and goes out. Well, that was not very good.

IAIN: Oh man, avoid this show unless you’re an incredible hardcore. Yoshida is covered in ticker tape and streamers afterwards like he has actually done something worth celebrating.

ALAN: We had a short discussion in chat about how bad this was. I think it was worse than Elite XC’s last show, UFC 83, and that Strikeforce show with Sapp/Nortje. No doubt in my mind. It wasn’t YAMMA bad but that is because there were actually conclusions to these fights generally. There is really no reason to see this.

I am feeling awfully rough and for God knows what reason I got up to watch Sengoku at 8am. Live results shall go here.

1. Satoru Kitaoka vs. Ian Schaffa

Kitaoka won by armbar within a minute or two. Nothing else to say. Schaffa looked rubbish.

2. Mike Pyle vs. Dan Hornbuckle

God, the battle has already started before they enter the ring. They are duking it out to see who can have the worst fucking entrance music possible.

Pyle won via triangle in the first round.

Our very own BILL THOMPSON rates Hornbuckle as a prospect but he got outworked in every aspect of the game here pretty much. DH looks to have a good takedown but Pyle’s boxing looked pretty slick and his jiu-jitsu was far superior. Nice finish to the fight. I’ve just checked and Hornbuckle was 15-1 coming into that fight which surprises me.

3. Eiji Mitsuoka vs. Kwang Hee Lee

TURN THE MUSIC OFF. If HDNet was carrying this show they’d have to dub their own tunes not out of copyright fear but just to try and retain some credibility. I like Mitsuoka though so I shall persevere.

Also, whilst we’re not talking Scott Ferrall levels of ring announcer, the microphone guy is pretty terrible. No idea why Japanese companies would be so keen to appoint a random yank.

Another first round finish. Mitsuoka won by rear naked choke. I believe there was some hype surrounding Lee coming into this fight but he didn’t show anything of note. Eiji took him down after coming off slightly poorer when standing and controlled it from there. Lee struggled to keep him from passing to side but once he did he soon took the back and IT WAS ALL OVER to quote Goldberg.

4. Yuki Sasaki vs. Jorge Santiago

Not long until RandleMAN now…

Good first round. Sasaki looked a little scared of the much bigger Jorge when standing. he eventually decided to just run at him and hold him hopefully which led to a takedown. He got the back, secured the body triangle and his arm underneath Jorge’s chin. I’ve no idea how he didn’t finish the fight. They stood up again and Jorge looked better but still rather sloppy.

Whilst I didn’t expect him to be steamrolled, I picked Jorge to win this fight but he’s losing two rounds to nil at the moment. Sasaki is controlling it with his submission game and again I’ve no idea how he hasn’t finished the fight yet. He had a nice arm triangle and was about to sink in an armbar just at the bell went for the end of the round.

I take it all back. Well, almost. Santiago finished with a sweet armbar in the start of the third. Sasaki had his chances and only has himself to blame really. Sunglasses for everyone!

5. Yoshihiro Nakao vs. Big Jim York

I just want your extra time and your…

KISS!

I shall forever associate Tom Jones with people kissing Heath Herring from now on.

I think Nakao is one of those things that only people in Japan understand. He is absolutely HORRID though and I don’t want to see him fight ever again. He’s shaking his arse and generally running away from combat in this. I fear another two rounds of the same. I don’t care who wins or loses, please just finigh the fight someone.

Hey, they listened to me. Nakao came out, went for the takedown and used the punch to the face technique to knock down York as he was blocking it. Obligatory hammerfists follow and the ref stops it. RANDLEMAN IS NEXT! He will not let me down like last fight.

Intermission. Crowd is announced as 9,268.

6. Kevin Randleman vs. Ryo Kawamura

This is the sort of fight that I should hate because it’s a dominating LHW taking on an under-experieced native middlweight but I’ll let them off if it means a nice win for Rand.

Odd first round. KR won it but he never really looked finishing or anyting close despite having some prety dominating positions in the corner. Just a display in not losing really from Kawamura who isn’t offering any offence.

Rounds two and three are pretty similar in the sense that Kawamura lost his fear and started to believe he could actually win the fight. There were times when he was actually stalking Randleman which was a slightly bizarre sight given the size difference. He had much better stand up generally and some nice high kicks although nothing too damaging. This was mixed in with various takedowns from the Randle which will probably win him the fight.

Yep, unanimous decision. Kawamura looked much better in losing here than he did in winning at the first Sengoku. KR was not at his best but he is still a better man than you or I.

Interesting post-fight speech where he says he thinks he should have lost the fight and that Kawamura deserves a rematch. He starts chanting “ONE MORE TIME”. The crowd seemed so reluctant to join in with the chanting but eventually they were too polite and gave in.

7. Roger Gracie vs. Yuki Kondo

To the surprise of nobody, Roger submitted Yuki in the first round. His grappling game is scary despite the fact that he pretty much doesn’t use ground and pound at all. Very impressive display although against a hugely undersized opponent.

Looks like they might run Roger-Yoshida at some point judging by the post mtch festivities. Bunch of flowers means IT’S ON MOTHERFUCKER.

8. Josh Barnett vs. Jeff Monson

Pretty dull fight to be fair with both men looking reluctant to exchange. Possibly because they made a point of saying how good friends they are. You could say they shouldn’t have agreed to fight if it was going to be an issue but there you go.

Barnett has won the first with low kicks and takedown defence. Monson hasn’t really done anything though.

I was just in the middle of saying how unless the referee breaks it up that Monson will stay on top forever as he is so hard to shift, when Barnett casually jumped back to his feet. More active round but I would sat Barnett edged it and is currently 2-0 up in that sense.

Third round is more of the same. Josh is winning the stand up and negating what little offence is being offered by Monson. This is more like sparring than an actual fight and the fans doen’t seem impressed although obviously they’re not booing the shit out of it. Monson is a hard guy to finish and Barnett showed improved kicks and knees but there’s no need to go out of your way to see this. Which is a good way to summise the whole card actually.

Barnett win the unanimous decision.