Monday Morning Head Kicks: January 31st to February 6th

Banner image provided by Anton Tabuena

It's Monday morning and you know what that means. Of course, UFC 126 was the big story this week. People were wondering all sorts of things: what could Vitor Belfort offer Anderson Silva and how would Anderson Silva respond? Would Jon Jones be deemed the future of MMA or the most recent overblown fighter? Could the Japanese fighters represent and win some fights? There were other questions, but I'll spare you. You know what happened, and if you don't, well read on. Or, read on either way I mean. You know?

Saturday may have been rough for Japanese MMA, but Pancrase, ZST, and DEEP did what they could on Sunday. There's a new King of Pancrase and a certain former King of Pancrase just fell flat while dropping down a weight class.

A slightly less huge week for kickboxing, but Andy Souwer was in action against Abraham Roqueni in Malaga, Spain. That didn't quite end like you would expect. Oh yeah, and Yasuhiro Kido headlined the Big Bang 4 card in Japan on Friday. More than anything, this was a week for fight announcements in the kickboxing community. News related to Nieky Holzken, Mosab Amrani, Harut Grigorian, and more can be found below.

The 144lb. Fuktien Group Tournament was set to begin at Omnoi Stadium in Thailand this weekend. Still no word on results, but I'll bring them you way as soon as possible. Elsewhere in the world of Muay Thai, we finally got video for Nong-O's upset loss to Sagetdao from January 25th at Lumpinee Stadium. There were some really great techniques thrown in that bout, and even in defeat Nong-O threw some insane elbows. Recommend you watch it. A couple fight announcements to round things out: you already knew this if you read our interview with John Wayne Parr, but Thor Hoopman will be facing Paul Slowinski in Australia in a few weeks. Lastly, newly crowned WPMF welterweight champion Antuan Siangboxing will be meeting one of the competitors from the Thai Fight 2011 Thailand Qualifier in March.

Let's get it going.

UFC 126: While the biggest event of the week may have had some moments that left a lot of fans complaining, it ultimately provided us with the sort of moments that fight fans will talk about for some time to come. Anderson Silva's front kick knockout was a thing of beauty and, while it's certainly not unprecedented, was something we haven't seen many times before in combat sports. The way Jon Jones was presented with the opportunity to face Mauricio Rua for the light heavyweight title was pretty great, even if a bit overdone. The rest of my thoughts can be found here.

Souwer Loses in Spain: Let's get this out of the way: Abraham Roqueni is not a bad fighter. He's the sort of guy that has been in there with other accomplished kickboxers, and even in defeat he has a skill set that can cause trouble for opponents. He throws in combination, often adding in solid leg kicks. He likes the head kick and I've seen him use it effectively after going to the body. Regardless, he just was not supposed t beat Andy Souwer in Spain on Saturday. The bout had its issues - a lot of people have questioned the knockdown Roqueni scored in the second and noted the interesting manner in which Roqueni's cut was checked in the third. Legitimate points (the latter more so than the former, in my opinion), but still, Andy Souwer just took another loss to a fighter he should have beaten. Video from the bout is here.

Takenori Sato, New Welterweight King of Pancrase: At Pancrase's Impressive Tour 1, the student of Kazushi Sakuraba got his fight with Kengo Ura to the ground, advanced position, and secured a kimura. Obviously this is regarded as one of those lesser titles out there and Sato may not have the most impressive record around, but I'll be curious to see how his run as King of Pancrase goes. Of course, his victory is also not without some question, as Ura did not tap to the kimura and the bout was instead called off after one of the supplementary referees (please stop with the madness, promotions) expressed concern and the in-ring referee halted the bout.

Nieky Holzken vs. Thilo Schneider February 26th: These two are set to headline a Golden Glory sponsored event in Eindhoven on the 26th. Though the German Schneider will be a clear underdog in this championship bout, it will actually be his World Full Contact Association title on the line when the two meet near the 77kg. limit. This will likely be viewed as a warm up bout for the Golden Glory Breda product Holzken, as he'll likely be able to pick up another trinket and move forward. Holzken will be returning to action after closing out 2010 with a victory over Murthel Groenhart. Check out highlights from the United Glory bout here.

The Sengoku Situation: In the early part of the week, Japanese MMA news was dominated by the postponement of SRC 17. A few selections of the coverage: Daniel Herbertson's article explaining the dynamic existing between World Victory Road and Japanese MMA media, Bloody Elbow's Jonathan Snowden considers the decline of Japanese MMA, and our own Matthew Roth adds to the mix. I'm not sure if it's a worse sign that the event was actually postponed or that the reasoning behind it is so out there.

The Reorientation of Japanese MMA?: Look above. There's more talk about the struggles of a Japanese MMA promotion. The major organizations are having issues and the efforts of the UFC and Strikeforce to make in-roads in Japan are evident. Despite any word to the contrary, it seems very likely that Strikeforce will end up hosting an event in Japan on April 10th, as Daniel Herbertson recently noted in his Nippon Weekly report. You can also view Ariel Helwani's recent interview with Michihiro Omigawa, as Omigawa considers the "alternative" for Japanese fighters presented by the American organizations. With both Omigawa and Yamamoto having lost at UFC 126, perhaps it's worth thinking about the tension that exists between the promotion's expansionist efforts and the need to make cuts to an overloaded roster. Granted, the real issues in that regard are at lightweight, but it should be interesting to see how the UFC's efforts in Japan are altered if Japanese fighters continue have negative results in the promotion.

WMC Troubles: Well, if you're an MMA fan, maybe you'll be comforted by the knowledge that bad decision making and questionable business practices plague almost all combat sports organizations. Mike LNg over at ScienceOf8Limbs recently ran an interview with John Cockburn, the former president of Australian Muay Thai. You can find the interview, in two parts, on So8L (Part 1, Part 2). There have been questions about the WMC for some time. A number of issues surrounding The Contender Asia were being discussed by folks some time ago, and this interview highlights further questions that have been raised. WMC vice-president Stephan Fox certainly doesn't come away looking too great after this interview, particularly with the discussion of the relationship between the WMC and lesser organizations and the interplay between Fox's professional duties and personal gains. Interesting stuff and I hope that we'll get to see the other side of it eventually.

Tweeting Tanikawa: Nightmare of Battle reminds us that sometimes folks just won't give in.

Nong-O vs. Sagetdao Fight Video: Finally got word on the results of one of the bigger Muay Thai bouts to happen in January. I should preface everything by saying it seems Nong-O has switched gyms, as he is listed as Nong-O Gaiyanghaadaogym now. I know, I know - Sit Or. was so much easier. Anyway, he fought Sagetdao Petpayathai at Lumpinee Stadium on January 25th at 130lb. Despite an earlier loss to Nong-O, which came just under a year ago, Sagetdao was able to control the bout and notch a unanimous decision victory. Video here.

Mosab Amrani in Action February 19th: The always exciting Amrani is scheduled to meet Fatih Ozkan in a bout being held just outside of the city of Utrecht, southeast of Amsterdam on February 19th.

Antuan Siangboxing to Face Nopparat Kiatkhumthorn March 5th: Nopparat holds a prior win over Antuan. Nopparat is coming off of mixed results in the Thai Fight 2011 Qualifier, while Antuan just topped Bovy Sor. Udomson for the World Profesional Muay Thai Federation Welterweight title. The bout could certainly provide Antuan a chance to build his growing reputation.

Grigorian vs. van Opstal Next Weekend: It's Showtime indicated some time ago that Team Souwer fighter Henri van Opstal would be facing Marat Grigorian at the promotion's Brussels event in late March. Well, it seems van Opstal is just going to take on the whole family of Armenians, as he will meet Marat's brother, Harut Grigorian, on the War of the Ring card in Amsterdam next Saturday. Promo video sort of deal here.

Paul Slowinski, Boonchu Gym Fighters at Knees of Fury 32: Boonchu product Thor Hoopman, who recently dropped a championship bout against Wehas Topkingboxing in Thailand, will be meeting Paul Slowinski in the feature bout of the Australian promotion's February 26th event. Ra Jonathon, another Boonchu fighter, is set to appear on the card as well.

Quarteron vs. Spinghel: Also next weekend, French super heavyweight Patrice Quarteron will meet American fighter Radu Spinghel in France. Remember when Quarteron hit Bob Sapp with knees and Bob Sapp was done? Yeah.

MMA Results

UFC 126: Silva vs. Belfort - Saturday, February 5th, in Las Vegas, Nevada

• Anderson Silva KO-1 Vitor Belfort
• Forrest Griffin UD Rich Franklin
• Jon Jones SUB-2 Ryan Bader
• Chad Mendes UD Michihiro Omigawa
• Demetrious Johnson UD Norifumi Yamamoto
• Other results: Jake Ellenberger SD Carlos Eduardo Rocha, Miguel Torres UD Antonio Banuelos, Donald Cerrone SUB-2 Paul Kelly, Paul Taylor KO-2 Gabe Ruediger, Kyle Kingsbury TKO-1 Ricardo Romero, Mike Pierce TKO-2 Kenny Robertson
  

Pancrase Impressive Tour 1 - Sunday, February 6th, in Tokyo, Japan

• Takenori Sato SUB-1 Kengo Ura
• Akihito Tanaka UD Yuhei Fukuda
  
• Hiroki Nagaoka UD Yuki Kondo
  
• Eiji Ishakawa MD Masahiro Toryu
• Seiya Kawahara TKO-2 Takumi Murata
• Tomonari Kanomata UD Tomoyuki Miyaji
• Other results: Masahiro Oishi DRAW Masaya Takita, Tashiro Nishiuchi MD Shoko Sato, Keiichiro Yamamiya DRAW Kosei Kubota, Yoshihiro Matsunaga UD Takuya Eizumi, Isao Hirose SUB-2  Hayato Sato, Kazuki Tokudome TKO-1 Junichi Ota, Tatsuhiko Nishizaka TKO-1 Tamotsu Kitada, Katsunori Takahashi SUB-2 Daisuke Shimoyama, Ryota Masuda TKO-2 Norifumi Aihara, Jonathan Shores UD Yoji Saito, Takashi Ito DRAW Akihiro Sakurai, Hayato Shimizu SUB-2 Shohei Kondo, Daisuke Tsujita SUB-1 Yasuto Taito

ZST 27 - Sunday, February 6th, in Tokyo, Japan

• Keisuke Fujiwara SUB-5 Toshihiro Shimizu
• Kenichi Ito SUB-1 Yoshitaka Abe
• Other results: Masayuki Okude KO-1 Masamitsu Nakamura, Naoyuki Kotani SUB-1 Keigo Hirayama, Yuki Yamamoto NC Yoshihiro Saegusa

Kickboxing Results

Big Bang 4 - Friday, February 4th, in Tokyo, Japan

• Yasuhiro Kido DEC Takayoshi Kitayama

El Desafio K-1 - Saturday, February 5th, in Malaga, Spain

• Abraham Roqueni DEC Andy Souwer
  
• Youness el Mhassani DEC Oliver Tinda
• Other results: Fran Palenzuela DEC Denis Schneidmiller, Sev Rijse KO-2 Julio Sanchez, Hafid el Boustati DRAW Manuel Hinojo

Ring of Honor - Saturday, February 5th, in Nitra, Slovakia

• Alexey Ignashov DEC Roman Kleibl
• Vitali Akhramenko DEC Tomas Kohout
• Other results: Yuksel Ayaydin DEC Agron Preteni, Vladimir Moravcik TKO-3 Abdoul Toure, Mamadou Keta KO-1 Thomas Senkyr