Monday Morning Head Kicks: January 10th to 16th

Banner image provided by Anton Tabuena

Another weekend gone and another edition of Monday Morning Head Kicks is here. While last week saw the Krush 63kg. tournament quarterfinals and K-1 MAX Madrid tournament, we certainly don't have as much in the way of event results this week. Even so, the week saw a few interesting bouts, some intriguing news, and plainly awesome articles written all around. Also, while I'm hoping to build the Monday Morning Head Kicks brand around the fact that we're all heading back to work after the weekend, I'll have today off as it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day here in the States.

The year in Japanese MMA finally got under way, as Shooto hosted Shootor's Legacy 1 on Monday, January 10th. The event brought us a new Shooto Pacific Rim champion, a quality submission from a veteran Japanese fighter, and some more solid action. The next Shootor's Legacy event should bring more exciting fights, as a certain Shooto kingpin will be in action, along with a number of recent Shooto Rookie tournament finalists.

Highly regarded Muay Thai fighter Sudsakorn Sor. Klinmee has had a pretty good run as of late, and that seems to be continuing as he scored a major victory over fellow standout Kem Sitsongpeenong in the group stage of the Isuzu Thai Fight 2011 Thailand qualifier. While Sudsakorn may be riding high, it seems that Giorgio Petrosyan may be the man to try to buck that trend later this month.

Also this week, DEEP came through with another edition of their annual grappling tournament after canceling Mayhem in Macau, there's some news involving both the It's Showtime website and another possible event for the promotion in the summer, and we've got some more updates involving both Japanese MMA fighters and K-1 veterans.

Let's get it started...

Sudsakorn in Against Petrosyan: Something that many of us already knew but weren't able to find any real confirmation of. Unless of course one of you out there could find confirmation - then you're a better human being than me. Anyway, as was recently reported, Thai standout Sudsakorn Sor. Klinmee will be Giorgio Petrosyan's opponent at Thai Boxe Mania 2011 on January 29th. The bout will be fought under K-1 rules at 70kg. You may remember hearing about the Isuzu Thai Fight qualifier that Sudsakorn is currently competing in. Well, the man who is now training out of 13 Coins in Bangkok took a decision victory against fellow top competitor Kem Sitsongpeenong this weekend.

Word is that Petrosyan's original opponent, WBC MT middleweight champion Yohan Lidon, just isn't going to be making the cut back down to 70kg. any time soon. Lidon's WBC belt is, again, at the 72.5kg. middleweight limit. That should be a difference of about six pounds, but I would encourage you to confirm that with your token European friend, or perhaps an international student if you're in college.

Shootor's Legacy 1: Well, after DEEP canceled Mayhem in Macau, Shooto was granted the opportunity to kick off another year of Japanese MMA with their Shootor's Legacy 1 event on January 10th. Ralph Acosta came in as a late replacement against Masakatsu Ueda. Ueda just wanted a brabo choke, and eventually he got it. Yoshihiro Koyama stopped Shinji Sasaki to become the Shooto Pacific Rim champion at 154lb. Taiki Tsuchiya took Tony Hervey out, Yusuke Endo defeated Daisuke Sugie, and there was some Shooto Rookie tournament action. For videos and such, follow the link to my post about the event.

It's Showtime in Germany?: In an interview with Groudandpound.de, Mix Fight Promotions head Sefer Goktepe indicated that he is working on getting an It's Showtime event to Germany on either the second or third Saturday of June. Names like Tyrone Spong, Mosab Amrani, and Gago Drago are thrown around!

Belfort's Shotokan Karate & UFC 126: Anton Tabuena over at Bloody Elbow pointed to a recent Portal Vale Tudo interview with Jayme Sandall, in which Sandall discussed Vitor Belfort's belief that his Shotokan experience will prove valuable in his upcoming match against middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva. The theme of incorporating an eclectic skill set is one that we've seen before in discussions of fighters such as Lyoto Machida and we've seen its advantages recently in performances such as the one put on by John Makdessi against Pat Audinwood at UFC 124.

As for the Silva-Belfort bout, I'm willing to believe that Belfort will have a better showing in the striking department than most of Silva's competition. We'll just have to see if his Shotokan skills will play a part in that, and if any success that he may have in the striking department will be enough to secure victory. I'm anticipating a really enjoyable bout.

M-16 in March: Shooto will be returning on March 12th with Shootor's Legacy 2. The biggest announcement related to the event so far is that Shooto flyweight (it's strawweight) champion Rambaa Somdet will defend his title against Junji Ito, runner-up of the 2008 Shooto Rookie tournament at 114lb. The card will also feature a number of Shooto Rookie tournament winners from 2009 and 2010.

Watching Rambaa fight is great, Ito can destroy people, and you have to think there will be some interesting occurrences whenever the Shooto Rookie alumni are around.

2010 Channel 7 Fight of the Year: If you have any interest in Muay Thai, you need to watch this fight. Our dear friend Phuket Fight Store posted up a fanshot of the Channel 7 fight of the year between Denkiri Sor. Sommai and Fahmai Skindewgym. The use of elbows, the throws, the teep that Denkiri employs early on, it's insane. Watch it!

Chuwattana in Pictures: My Muay Thai is a website that I've really enjoyed checking out now and then. This week, I found that Nopstar posted up a quick look at the Chuwattana gym which I felt was pretty interesting. Chuwattana is a Muay Thai gym located in the Chinatown district of Bangkok. The two names many of you would probably recognize from the gym are Jomthong and Lamsongkram. Anyway, the post over at My Muay Thai is heavy with pictures and will give you an idea of how to make it on over to the gym if you ever end up in that part of the world. Hearing from people so close to the epicenter of things in a sport such as Muay Thai, where half the time we can't even find fight videos online for weeks, is a really fascinating thing to me personally and I would encourage you guys to check it out.

La Nuit des Titans VI Update: We mentioned before that Buakaw would be meeting Youssef Boughanem at La Nuit des Titans on February 12th. Well, we also now know who will be competing in the four man 72kg. tournament happening that night. The competitors will be Aydin Tuncay, Karim Ghajji, Sebastien Billard, and Jeremy Marin.

Aydin Tuncay lost to Rafi Zouheir in the opening round of the K-1 MAX Madrid tournament last week. Karim Ghajji is the WPMF 72.5kg European champion, recently beat Yohan Lidon at 74kg., and is a pretty solid full contact karate competitor as well as an all-around cool seeming type of dude. I've seen some of Billard's bouts but he remains a largely unknown element to me, and I'm not familiar with Marin enough to speak on what he brings to the table either.

Fukuda Here!: Something that was announced a while back and I completely forgot about until a recent post over at Bloody Elbow reminded me: DEEP middleweight champion Riki Fukuda will be taking on Nick Ring on the undercard at UFC 127. The last time Fukuda competed outside of DEEP, he took a decision over Murilo Rua at Dream 8.

As for his opponent, Nick Ring will finally get his chance to fight in the UFC after being on that eleventh season of The Ultimate Fighter. Ring has a nice looking record, a not so wonderful nickname, and he actually once competed for DEEP himself back in 2006.

Dongi Yang at UFC on Versus 3: MMAJunkie has reported that DEEP veteran Dongi Yang will fight against Rob Kimmons at UFC on Versus 3 on March 3rd. This will be Yang's second bout for the promotion, after losing a split decision against Chris Camozzi at UFC 121. Yang has stopped a gang of opponents and defeated Pawel Nastula back at Sengoku's Fourth Battle in August 2008.

Dzhabar Askerov Fighting Jan. 22nd: The Contender Asia veteran will be facing off against Italian veteran Riccardo Lecca this coming Saturday in Rome. The two will face off at an event which is being promoted by Oktagon and being called KnocKOut. The event will also feature Marco Pique against Bruno Franchi. Pique has been in there against a range of top fighters, holding career wins over Chahid Oulad el Hadj, Armen Petrosyan, and current It's Showtime 70kg. champion Chris Ngimbi.

DEEP X Real King Tournament 2011: Does a grappling tournament make up for Mayhem in Macau? Well, the promotion held one this Sunday either way. Marcos Souza won the +77kg. division, while Roberto Souza topped the -77kg. field. The -69kg. tournament final saw Kohei Yasumi top Shooto rookie of the year Uruka Sasaki. The -62kg. tournament featured flyweight King of Pancrase Kiyotaka Shimizu and DEEP Future King tournament champ Satoru Enomoto. Enomoto topped Kiyotaka with a rear naked choke in the finals. I'll be sure to share videos if I come across them.

Three Steps to Looking Fly: I wanted to keep the It's Showtime online store as a secret to myself. Then the gentlemen over at LiverKick broke the news that the online store is now in English. Click, browse, buy. There are your three steps.

Uchiyama Recognized by WBA: While browsing Nikkansports, I learned that the current WBA super-featherweight champion, Japanese standout Takashi Uchiyama, is receiving some formal recognition from the sanctioning body in the lead up to his upcoming title defense against fellow Japanese boxer Takashi Miura. You can start watching Uchiyama win the WBA title here.

MMA Results

Shooto: Shootor's Legacy 1 - Monday, January 10th, in Tokyo, Japan

• Yoshihiro Koyama TKO-1 Shinji Sasaki: Koyama gains vacant 154lb. Shooto Pacific Rim title
  
• Taiki Tsuchiya TKO-1 Tony Hervey
• Yusuke Endo Maj. Dec. Daisuke Sugie
• Masakatsu Ueda Sub-2 Ralph Acosta: Ueda applied a brabo choke for the win.
  
• Kotetsu Boku UD Yukinari Tamura
• Shooto Rookie tournament bouts: Hiroshi Osato UD Takeshi Saito (123lb.), Chuji Kato Draw Kensuke Nakamura (Must Dec. for Nakamura) (143lb.), Takuya Ogura KO-1 Satoshi Kogure (132lb.), Shinichi Yoshioka UD Hiroshi Nakamura
• Other results: Shinichi Hanawa UD Toshimichi Akagi , Koji Matsumoto UD Norio Tokuhisa, Koji Nishioka Maj. Dec. Daisuke Hoshino

Muay Thai Results

Isuzu Thai Fight 2011: Thailand Qualifier - Saturday, January 15th, in Bangkok, Thailand

• Sudsakorn Sor. Klinmee Dec. Kem Sitsongpeenong: I would have to say this is a really big win for Sudsakorn, leading into the rest of the tournament as well as his upcoming bout against Giorgio Petrosyan.