The Way of Shooto 03; Preview

This Sunday May 30th, SHOOTO will run their big "The Way of SHOOTO 03 - Like a Tiger, Like a Dragon" show from the JCB Hall in Tokyo. On paper, it's one of the best Shooto cards in recent memory highlighted by no less then 3 Shooto World Championship fights.

The main event will see reigning Shooto Lightweight (-65kg) champion "Lion" Takeshi (18-3) facing the top ranked challenger Hatsu Hioki (20-4-2). Takeshi won the Lightweight crown back in November 2008 when he defeated then champ Hideki Kadowaki by uanimous decision. He's since sucessfully defended the title twice plus he beat Alexandre Franca Nogueira at the Vale Tudo Japan 09 show and rides a 4 fight winning streak coming into the match. Hatsu Hioki makes his return to Shooto after 4 fights in Sengoku, where he won 3 in a row but is coming off a loss against Michihiro Omigawa at Sengoku 11. Still,  Hioki will be a worthy challenger who's only been defeated once in his past ten outings.

The Shooto Welterweight (-70kg) title will also be on the line as Brazilian Willamy Chiquerim (16-2) will face off against the #1 ranked challanger and Pacific-Rim champion Yusuke Endo (13-3-2). Chiquerim won the vacant Welterweight title at "Vale Tudo Japan 09" when he finished off Kenichiro Togashi via TKO (broken nose). His record is very impressive as he's fired off 10 wins in a row dating back to September 2007. Endo is coming off a big win over Kotetsu Boku where he defended the Pacific-Rim title. These two met back in May 2009 when Chiquerim used guillotine choke very late in the 1st round for the win. You can bet Endo will be out for revenge.

The vacant Bantamweight (-56kg) title will be up grabs when the #1 ranked Yasuhiro Urushitani (16-4-6) meets the #2 ranked Ryuichi Miki (10-3-3). This fight is also a re-match as Urushitani bettered Miki back in September by uanimous decision. Yasuhiro Urushitani is one of the world's top Bantamweight/Flyweight with only a single loss over 13 fights dating back to November '04. He has notable wins over Mamoru Yamaguchi, Junji Ikoma, Matatoshi Abe and Daniel Lima. Ryuichi Miki loss to Urushitani was his first in four years and the only one through 13 fights. Miki will be out to avenge the loss and in doing so win the Bantamweight crown. 

The card is also filled with other great fights as former Shooto Featherweight (-60kg) champion Masakatsu Ueda (10-1-2) squars off against a former Lightweight champion and WEC fighter Akitoshi Tamura (14-8-2); Rumina Sato (15-14-2) takes on another former Shooto Featherweight champ Ryota Matsune (15-1-1) and Welterweights Kotetsu Boku (16-6-2) and  Yoshihiro Koyama (14-3-1) meet.