Hidehiko Yoshida Bests Satoshi Ishii in His Debut Fight

Satoshi Ishii held Japanese MMA hostage after his 2008 Gold Medal win, wearing clothing of various promotions and showing up at their shows; Affliction, DREAM, UFC, Sengoku, before he finally signed with Sengoku. His training has brought him to many camps, but the reports from inside of those camps in the U.S. seemed to be that while strong and a quick learner, the language barrier and inability to pick a camp to train with has hindered his growth. After talking to Heavy.com's Kendal Shields, the word in the Judo community is rather harsh towards young Ishii, that he essentially is not a very smart man. He goes to war with Hidehiko Yoshida, the man who paved the path for Ishii years earlier. 

Yoshida comes out looking focused, outside of the party noisemaker in his mouth, while Ishii looks a bit pensive, facing down one of his heroes, a true veteran. Ishii paces at the national anthem, while Yoshida reflects, maybe wondering about Ishii's Kawajiri hairstyle. The fight scroll tells us that this is not just a fight, but a fight.

A right hook by Yoshida tells Ishii what it feels like to be in a MMA fight and to feel the pressure of a country and industry's hopes on your shoulders. Ishii gets a giant, Chuck Liddell overhand right to his face and it stuns him. Yoshida won't stop coming with knees now, as Yoshida is a true mixed martial artist. After some circling, Yoshida introduces Ishii's face to his fists again. Ishii was humbled in round one, and in round two he was just holding on for dear life. Ishii tries to find his groove and delivers a few knees, one of which lands squarely on the balls of Yoshida.

The scene that unfolds is clearly Japanese, as they remove the cracked cup mid-ring and Yoshida throws it to the fans as towels are draped over the ropes in the corner and in front of millions watching on TV and 40,000 fans Hidehiko Yoshida replaces his cup and repositions his jewels. Ishii was issued a red card for the low blow, in a strange turn of events for an unintentional blow. The round finally finishes out, new cups and a happy referee with Ishii taking Yoshida down and showing a little bit of his ground game. The third round saw a worn and emasculated Yoshida against a frustrated and somewhat confused Ishii as this fight goes the distance. All three judges score this bout for the old school, with Ishii losing his debut bout to the older, wiser, newly-soprano Yoshida.