Yuki Kondo and Kiyotaka Shimizu Retain King of Pancrase Titles

Filed under: News, JapanYuki Kondo and Kiyotaka Shimizu both retained their King of Pancrase titles and Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday. For the former, it wasn’t in the fashion that one would hope.

Kondo fought to a draw with the third-ranked…

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Yuki Kondo and Kiyotaka Shimizu both retained their King of Pancrase titles and Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday. For the former, it wasn’t in the fashion that one would hope.

Kondo fought to a draw with the third-ranked Yuji Hisamatsu, circling backward for three rounds and occasionally throwing a cautious strike in a snoozer. Hisamatsu pressed forward but his striking was too unpolished to phase Kondo who responded with counter body kicks and straight punches but neither fighters was at all effective. All three judges ruled it a draw, and the sponsors who were quite literally asleep at ringside, ruled it a bore.

Kiyotaka Shimizu was much more impressive in his retention, staying in the pocket and striking with Isao Hirose. It was battle of fine slips and counters and Shimizu was constantly better by the slightest of margins and was good enough to open a gaping wound over Hirose’s eye to get the doctor stoppage in the second.

Koichiro Matsumoto Captures DEEP Featherweight Title

Filed under: News, JapanKoichiro Matsumoto captured Takafumi Otsuka’s DEEP Featherweight title, and handed the DREAM veteran his third loss in five outings, at DEEP 48 in Differ Ariake, Tokyo, Japan on Saturday.

Otuska seemed to control the fight over…

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Koichiro Matsumoto captured Takafumi Otsuka‘s DEEP Featherweight title, and handed the DREAM veteran his third loss in five outings, at DEEP 48 in Differ Ariake, Tokyo, Japan on Saturday.

Otuska seemed to control the fight over three rounds with his wrestling and was never in danger on the feet but three of the five judges saw the bout for Matsumoto.

Korean prospect Won Sik Park also had issues with DEEP officials but he does not yet know the result of his match. Park finished Ruki Ueyama with legal soccer kicks towards the end of round one but the bout was stopped due to an apparent illegal knee although DEEP officials were unable to agree if an illegal blow was thrown and thus unable to render a result.

Four Fights Added to DREAM.15. More Trouble at Featherweight

Filed under: DREAM, News, JapanOnly one week prior to DREAM.15 we are finally starting to get some more matches, but it looks like FEG are having troubles. Yoshida Dojo fighters Kazuhiro Nakamura and Michihiro Omigawa have officially made the move to D…

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Only one week prior to DREAM.15 we are finally starting to get some more matches, but it looks like FEG are having troubles. Yoshida Dojo fighters Kazuhiro Nakamura and Michihiro Omigawa have officially made the move to DREAM where they will face Karl “Psycho” Amousso and Young Sam Jung respectively. You can be forgiven for not recognizing the name Young Sam Jung. One of Japan’s best at featherweight will be facing an 0-2 fighter. Both losses come by first round KO.

Mitsuhiro Ishida will be making the move down to “featherweight” to meet Daiki “DJ.taiki” Hata and the light-heavyweight title eliminator match between Gegard Mousasi vs. Jake O’Brien was made official.

When using the term featherweight with DREAM, one must use caution though. Omigawa rejected DREAM’s odd weight limit of 63kg and will instead fight at 65kg and the Ishida vs. DJ.taiki weight limit is still under negotiation.

More details after the break.

Fighters Announced for Jewels Lightweight Tournament in July

Filed under: News, JapanLeading Women’s MMA promoter Jewels have revealed seven of the eight fighters for the opening round of their 115-pound tournament to be held on July 31st at Shinjuku Face.

Competing to be the first Queen of Jewels’ lightweight …

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Leading Women’s MMA promoter Jewels have revealed seven of the eight fighters for the opening round of their 115-pound tournament to be held on July 31st at Shinjuku Face.

Competing to be the first Queen of Jewels’ lightweight division will be established stars Seo Hee Ham, Mika Nagano and Saori Ishioka. Prospects Sakura Nomura, Ayaka Hamazaki, Celine Haga and Mai Ichii along with one fighter who is yet to be announced will round out the tournament.

Yoshihiro Akiyama Still Not 100 Percent on Fighting Chris Leben

Filed under: UFC, NewsYoshihiro Akiyama’s management has told MMAFighting.com that the Japanese/Korean fighter is still not sure if he will be fighting Wanderlei Silva’s replacement, Chris Leben.

Akiyama was scheduled to hold a press conference at Nar…

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Yoshihiro Akiyama‘s management has told MMAFighting.com that the Japanese/Korean fighter is still not sure if he will be fighting Wanderlei Silva‘s replacement, Chris Leben.

Akiyama was scheduled to hold a press conference at Narita Airport in Japan prior to his departure tomorrow but only hours ago Akiyama’s manager told MMAFighting.com that he is not 100% on whether Akiyama will make the trip to Vegas. Akiyama has reportedly been suffering from depression ever since Silva’s injury was announced and has not trained for the past week.

Update: Akiyama has since updated his blog. “I had various choices but … I’ll do my best in my fight!”

Shigeyuki Uchiyama’s Ear Successfully Reattached

Filed under: News, JapanAfter a large part of his ear was ripped off in a Pancrase bout with Masaya Takita almost three weeks ago, Shigeyuki Uchiyama underwent multiple surgeries utilizing veins from his thigh to reattach his ear and has now been relea…

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After a large part of his ear was ripped off in a Pancrase bout with Masaya Takita almost three weeks ago, Shigeyuki Uchiyama underwent multiple surgeries utilizing veins from his thigh to reattach his ear and has now been released from the hospital.

Uchiyama was finally released on Wednesday, but he was originally set for release back on June 15th. Complications arose after the first surgery due to the heavily cauliflowered nature of Uchiyama’s ear and further surgery was needed. Doctors will be checking the ear regularly over the next 20 days but they have declared the surgery a success and Uchiyama is already back in the gym.