TOKYO — Japan’s two most popular fighters, 2003 and 2008 K-1 WORLD MAX GP champion Masato and Japanese MMA legend Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto, joined forces on Saturday at the Roppongi Hills Arena to promote the “Stands Up Japan” charity fight event in aid of victims of the March 11 Japan earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Masato stepped away from the ring in his prime in 2009, but he returned on Saturday to face two formidable opponents in one day in Shoot Boxing super welterweight champion and 2006 S-cup champion Kenichi Ogata and All Japan karate champion Kazuya Yasuhiro. With “KID” unable to fight due to injury, Shooto legend and former pacific rim champion Rumina Sato stepped up to take on on Jin Hirano, an Iwate-based figher who lost his home and gym in the tsunami.
Many other icons of the Japanese fight sport industry participated to support disaster victims, and MMA Fighting.com was ringside to capture the action.
TOKYO — Japan’s two most popular fighters, 2003 and 2008 K-1 WORLD MAX GP champion Masato and Japanese MMA legend Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto, joined forces on Saturday at the Roppongi Hills Arena to promote the “Stands Up Japan” charity fight event in aid of victims of the March 11 Japan earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
Masato stepped away from the ring in his prime in 2009, but he returned on Saturday to face two formidable opponents in one day in Shoot Boxing super welterweight champion and 2006 S-cup champion Kenichi Ogata and All Japan karate champion Kazuya Yasuhiro. With “KID” unable to fight due to injury, Shooto legend and former pacific rim champion Rumina Sato stepped up to take on on Jin Hirano, an Iwate-based figher who lost his home and gym in the tsunami.
Many other icons of the Japanese fight sport industry participated to support disaster victims, and MMA Fighting.com was ringside to capture the action.
The MMA Wrap-Up was gone for a minute, but now it’s back just in time to break down Georges St. Pierre‘s win at UFC 129 and ask the question, how did we get from ‘Don’t blink’ to ‘I’m sorry for the fans’? As usual, there’s an answer that only leads to more questions.
The MMA Wrap-Up was gone for a minute, but now it’s back just in time to break down Georges St. Pierre‘s win at UFC 129 and ask the question, how did we get from ‘Don’t blink’ to ‘I’m sorry for the fans’? As usual, there’s an answer that only leads to more questions.
The UFC announced yesterday that featherweight veteran Rani Yahya — who most recently scored an upset decision over Mike Brown at Fight for the Troops 2 — has suffered an injury, and will not be able to face Dustin Poirier at UFC 131 (June 11th, Vancouver). Filling in for him will be Octagon first-timer Jason “Shotgun” Young (8-3), a former Cage Rage lightweight champion based in London, England. Last month, Young competed at Ontario’s first sanctioned MMA event, where he scored a unanimous decision over Jorge Britto. (You can see Jason talk about that match here, if you want to get a sense of the dude’s vibe.)
The UFC announced yesterday that featherweight veteran Rani Yahya — who most recently scored an upset decision over Mike Brown at Fight for the Troops 2 — has suffered an injury, and will not be able to face Dustin Poirier at UFC 131 (June 11th, Vancouver). Filling in for him will be Octagon first-timer Jason “Shotgun” Young (8-3), a former Cage Rage lightweight champion based in London, England. Last month, Young competed at Ontario’s first sanctioned MMA event, where he scored a unanimous decision over Jorge Britto. (You can see Jason talk about that match here, if you want to get a sense of the dude’s vibe.)
TORONTO — MMA Fighting caught up with Master Steven Seagal following UFC 129 to talk to him about Lyoto Machida‘s spectacular front kick knockout of Randy Couture. This marks the second time in over two months that a fight ends due the kick (Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort at UFC 126) and the second time a fighter credits Seagal for teaching him the kick.
Seagal also addressed the critics who claim he is taking credit for a kick he didn’t invent.
TORONTO — MMA Fighting caught up with Master Steven Seagal following UFC 129 to talk to him about Lyoto Machida‘s spectacular front kick knockout of Randy Couture. This marks the second time in over two months that a fight ends due the kick (Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort at UFC 126) and the second time a fighter credits Seagal for teaching him the kick.
Seagal also addressed the critics who claim he is taking credit for a kick he didn’t invent.
TORONTO — MMA Fighting spoke to UFC president Dana White following UFC 129 about Georges St-Pierre’s performance against Jake Shields, whether GSP should be criticized for not finishing finishing Shields, what’s next for the champion, whether he now believes this is the end of Randy Couture’s career, the decision to allow Mark Hominick to fight after “The Machine” developed a hematoma on his forehead and his overall thoughts on the event at Rogers Centre.
TORONTO — MMA Fighting spoke to UFC president Dana White following UFC 129 about Georges St-Pierre’s performance against Jake Shields, whether GSP should be criticized for not finishing finishing Shields, what’s next for the champion, whether he now believes this is the end of Randy Couture’s career, the decision to allow Mark Hominick to fight after “The Machine” developed a hematoma on his forehead and his overall thoughts on the event at Rogers Centre.