DEEP 47 Annoucements
by EKP on Mar 19, 2010 12:49 PM EDT
in DEEP
0 comments
DEEP made some announcements today at Korakuen Hall in regards to the upcoming DEEP 47 Impact show which takes place April 17th. Already announced is the special Memorial Retirement Exhibition between Miku Matsumoto (23-4) and Megumi Fujii (19-0).
The brackets for the DEEP Light-Heavyweight GP semi-final round were set. Ryuta Noji (9-5-0) will meet Shunsuke Inoue (7-4-2) and Yoshiyuki Nakanishi (6-1-0) will face Christian “Tonton” M’Pumbu (15-2-1). In a LHW GP Reserve match, Bernard Ackah (4-3-0) returns to meet Minoru Kato (2-9-3). .
Other fights announced include DEEP Bantamweight champion Masakazu Imanari (18-7-2) going up against Isao Terada (8-9-4) in a non-title match. Heavyweight Kazuhisa Tazawa (4-1-1) takes on Spike 22's Roque Martinez (5-2-0), Yasuhiro Kawasaki (4-1-1) meets Tomoya Kato (8-1-1) and Hirohide Fujinuma (7-4-2) will take on former Sumo Yoichi "Wakashoyo" Babaguchi (1-4-1).
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4-time K-1 Japan tournament champion and recently retired Musashi headed to the Dragon Dojo and met up with K-1 Heavyweight Champion Kyotaro who prepares for his upcoming match with Peter Aerts.
about 22 hours ago
EKP
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Fedor Emelianenko vs. Hidehiko Yoshida at ASTRA? Stranger Things Have Happened
by D.W. on Mar 19, 2010 12:24 AM EDT
in Sengoku
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Remember when we said M-1 could possibly be looking into other partners beyond Strikeforce and people quickly dismissed it? Well, not so fast. Apparently in the next issue of Nikkan Sports which is dropping today in Japan they bluntly say, "Retirement match against Fedor, world's strongest man" for Yoshida's retirement bout. Here is a translation from our good friend Zeus at MiddleEasy;
An article in tomorrow's Nikkan Sports newspaper says that Yoshida's retirement fight in ASTRA will most likely be against Fedor. The exact quote is "Retirement match against Fedor, world's strongest man". According to the newspaper, Fedor's camp got in contact with Yoshida when he announced his retirement fight somewhere around February 8th and both parties have been negotiating ever since. There is a final meeting that will be held in Japan at Dream 13 which should finalize the negotiations. If nothing pans out after Dream 13, then they apparently have other fighters readily available to fight Yoshida.
As always, a grain of sand, possibly salt when it comes to rumors like this, especially from a dirtsheet like Nikkan Sports. They can be incredibly accurate or they can grasp at straws for strong headlines to peddle their wares. Until we get something official, consider this a rumor.
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Petrosyan Drops Out of Sato Fight Due to Injury
by Fraser Coffeen on Mar 18, 2010 10:56 PM EDT
in K-1 MAX
3 comments
Huge and unfortunate news regarding the MAX Japan event - it appears MAX champion Giorgio Petrosyan has dropped out of his March 27 fight with #5 ranked fighter Yoshihiro Sato. It's Showtime, who handles Petrosyan's management, announced the news at Dutch forum mixfight.nl, stating that the champion needed time off to have surgery on his hand. This is the same hand injury that Petrosyan aggravated at the MAX finals last year and that forced him out of the big Masato fight at Dynamite. Reports are that Petrosyan reinjured the hand last weekend against Khem Sitsongpeenong in Milan.
Although K-1 has not yet made the announcement official, It's Showtime is indeed an official representative of Petrosyan, so it looks like this is not simply a rumor.
This is, without a doubt, very unfortunate news. You hate to see any fighter injured, and this in particular was a very compelling and much anticipated fight. For K-1, this has to be very difficult, as Petrosyan has yet to fight for the organization since winning the MAX crown. As a newcomer to the company, they are no doubt looking to build him up to fans, and this was a good opportunity to do just that, while also potentially building up a new Japanese ace to replace Masato. With Masato gone, they also need all the star power they can get, and the loss of the main event is no help in that area.
Some fans are now questioning the prudence of Petrosyan taking two big fights just two weeks apart (against Khem and Sato). Always a busy fighter, Petrosyan has a very full schedule this spring, and with a full schedule, these sort of injuries can indeed happen. Moving forward, while I appreciate his hard work and would love to see him fight again soon, let's hope he takes the time needed to let this injury properly heal, and prevent it from becoming an ongoing issue.
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Aoki/Melendez Comment on Upcoming Strikeforce Match
by EKP on Mar 18, 2010 11:58 AM EDT
in MMA
1 comment
Strikeforce World Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez:
I don’t think you’ll be seeing 20-hit combos like me and Josh (Thomson) going out there but you’ll see some hard hitting, probably see a little more technical. This is probably going to be a lot more technical. It’s unbelievable that he’s coming to the U.S. to fight me. It says something about him, and he’s the biggest star in Japan. That shows some confidence. I’m happy about it.
"Aoki is the No. 2 fighter in the world and I think he’s an amazing mixed martial artist. I’m excited to fight the guy. That’s what he has on everybody — his ground game and submission. Am I prepared for it? I believe so. I have to be prepared for all his submissions.
"My biggest advantage in this fight is my stand up and my patience. I’ve been fortunate enough to see the Aoki style. I’m just going to be patient and let it happen. I think I can knock this guy out in two rounds.
"I’m really happy to have this fight on CBS. Millions of people will be watching and, yeah, it definitely makes a difference. To me it’s a coming out party to display my skills to the world."
DREAM Champion and Challenger Shinya Aoki:
"This fight is nothing special. I will fight as usual. I feel I’m representing DREAM and also Japan."
"He’s a very aggressive fighter. He’s a good fighter representing the United States. It’s going to be a very quick fight, a quick submission or a quick knockout, but either way it’s going to be a personal fight.
"He’s a top-ranked fighter in the United States but I can take his pressure and I’m going to beat him and take back two world title belts to Japan."
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K-1 MAX Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Yoshihiro Sato Preview Vid
by D.W. on Mar 18, 2010 11:23 AM EDT
in K-1 MAX
5 comments
Yet another K-1 MAX film, an awesome preview of a Superfight between Petrosyan and Sato, really playing up what Sato has on the line here, with overtones of his "mediocre" career and this being a road to redemption.
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Pancrase Passion Tour 2 - 3/22
by EKP on Mar 18, 2010 10:19 AM EDT
in Pancrase
0 comments
This Monday is a big day for Japanese MMA as DREAM debut's their first show of 2010, Shooto holds an event at Korakuen Hall and Pancrase run's the Pancrase - Passion Tour 2 from Azelea Taisho Hall in Osaka. It will the Pancrase organizations third show of 2010.
The main event will see a Welterweight re-match between Takada Dojo's Tomoyoshi Iwamiya (6-10) and Kiichi Kunimoto (8-3). It was back in October 2008 at Pancrase - Shining 8 when Iwamiya beat Kunimoto by decision. Tomoyoshi Iwamiya struggled last year loosing in all three of his outings. But, looking back to 2008 he was an impressive 4-1. Kunimoto went through 2009 undefeated and is riding a three fight winning streak coming into this match. Interestingly enough, his last loss came at the hands of Tomoyoshi Iwamiya.
In the semi-main, PANCRASEism Welterweight Masahiro Toryu (7-4-4) will meet Yu Shiori (8-2). Masahiro Toryu has only lost once in seven outings, with notable wins over Kosei Kubota and Tomoyoshi Iwamiya. Yu Shiori will be a strong challenger and he's unbeaten in his last three fights and was 2-0 last year.
Another interesting match will see the winner of the DEEP - Future Kings Tournament 2009 Motonobu Tezuka (11-3-3) face Nobuhiro Yoshitake (3-6-2). Tezuka was put together a four fight winning streak and is unbeaten in his last 7 fights.
You can checkout the full card after the jump.
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Saenchai, Kaoklai Win in California Event
by Fraser Coffeen on Mar 17, 2010 10:14 PM EDT
0 comments
This past weekend saw two of Muay Thai's biggest international stars competin on American soil as Saenchai sor Kingstar and Kaoklai Kaennorsing both took part in a Muay Thai event in El Monte, California. Both Thai fighters emerged victorious, with Kaoklai scoring a 3rd round knockout via elbows over Magnum Sakai, while Saenchai had a spectacular highlight reel KO in round 1 against Tetsuya Yamato. Saenchai's full fight can be seen below.
Also of note, Kaoklai mentioned a desire to move to Los Angeles to work as a trainer, which certainly would be a moost to the US Muay Thai scene.
Full results after the jump, with comments courtesy of K-1Fans.
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