Back in Time: Shooto Gig West 9 - Sasaki Shinji vs. Paolo Milano

Sasaki Shinji (white trunks) Paolo Milano (Black Trunks)





















My Write Up at the Time:

The last fight of the night was Sasaki Shinji vs. Paulo Milano. Sasaki fights out of BURST. Milano out of Paraestra Tokyo. I am not sure who picked the music for the entrances, but they hit a home run on this one. They rocked "Number One" by Busta Rhymes and Silk The Shocker from the Blade II soundtrack. This is the first time I have heard this song played out side of my radio show. I was stoked. Sasaki was a noticeably bigger, more solidly put together guy then Milano. No slight against Milano, who looks as if he was cut from marble, but I reckon that Sasaki, covered in second-rate tattoos looks like a bad-ass next to anybody. Now that Milano was in the blue corner, that fat man, who looked like he should be wearing a fanny pack, began shouting encouragement in English. English. To an Italian that trains in Tokyo. I would wager that Milano speaks English just fine, but the assumption is annoying. Now I couldn't tune this ignorant fucker out. He sounded like he listened to outtakes of a bad American commentary and then parroted it like a ....well...like a parrot.

I might be wrong, but Milano looked like he comes form a striking base. He moved very fluidly in the stand up. He landed some strikes on Sasaki. Sasaki appeared to have the bigger punches however. Milano stomped the feet out of the clinch, which I liked. Somewhere Ruas smiled. Once the fight was on the ground, Sasaki proved to be the stronger fighter. Milano's guard was solid, but Sasaki, through both force and skill would eventually pass it and administer a beating. Milano tried to attempt the rubber guard but failed to pull his other leg free, leaving it caught inside of his opponents body. While it worked as a stop-gap defense, it had no offensive potential. While Sasaki was attempting to pass at one point, Milano unleashed a vicious up-kick which caught Sasaki square on the jaw and on up his face. It appeared to hurt and stun him. It was also illegal. Sasaki was given time to recover, awkwardly still inside of Milano's guard. More groundwork followed. Off of a scramble, Sasaki took Milano's back and choked him out. Milano threw his mouthpiece in frustration and Sasaki celebrated. He thanked the Kansai fans for supporting him cheers followed. The hot girl in the grey sweat jacket, the black mini-skirt, black tights, and red high heels who I had been following more than the fights, clutched her phone and ran out a back door. Sasaki? Who knows.

Back in Time: Shooto Gig West 9 - KODO vs. Kibe Akira

Kodo (in green)



My Write Up at the Time:

KODO from Shooting Gym Kobe faced off against Kibe Akira from NEX Sports in the next bout. Both guys came out throwing leather. I was trying to snap a picture of their big strikes when suddenly, Kibe was out cold in the corner from a giant right, his arms rigid in the air like tent posts. The crowd went nuts. So did Kodo. Sugimoto, who had changed clothes and was now sitting with us, loved it. He was a happy man anyway.

Back in Time: Shooto Gig West 9 - Hokozono Retires

A retirement ceremony was held for Hokazono Akitoshi. He said some nice things about why he fought and how the level of Kansai fighters has grown. Ten bells rang him into retirement.

Back in Time: Shooto Gig West 9 - Aberle Tanaka vs. Fujikawa Nobuyasu

Tanaka in the camo.

My write up at the time:

Aberle Tanaka Vs. Fujikawa Nobuyasu follwed. Tanaka fights out of Shooting Gym Kobe and Fujikawa out of Team Banana in Fukuoka. Fujikawa is making his debut at the age of 37. Admirable. I think I saw him fight amateur in Fukuoka. If that was him, it was a bloody, bare knuckle mess. Nakagawa reports that Fujikawa was smoking out front a la Gerard Gordeau. Tanaka's supporters launched annoying, whistling balloons to celebrate his introduction, one, however, struck him in the face and stuck there for a few awkward seconds. Both of these guys threw big punches. Tanaka showed the difference between big punching and effective punching. He put Fujikawa on the canvas twice in the first two minutes. Fujikawa was game and staggered back to his feet to the approval of the crowd. Tanaka was clever. Fujikawa was loading up for one last barrage, like a wounded Scott Smith. Tanaka approached and fired off a wicked inside leg kick, setting Fujikawa completely out of position, then Tanaka fired the winning right, forcing Fujikawa to the canvas for the third time prompting the ref to stop the bout.

Back in Time: Shooto Gig West 9 - Tamura Hibiki vs Gypsy Taro

Tamura in the white trunks. Gypsy with the Mullet.





My write-up at the time:

Next up was Tamura Hibiki from Paraestra Osaka Vs. Gypsy Taro from Shooting Gym Osaka. Tamura is a south paw and fought very intelligently. He worked good kicks into his combos and threw in several back straight kicks. He was able to get several trip takedowns and had an interesting strategy of grasping his opponents lead hand with his lead right and throwing a straight left. It worked well for him. Gypsy Taro was able to get top position several times, but showed no ability to do anything from it. His punches were strong but always followed the same pattern of countering of Tamura's right kick. He worked his shoulders well from the clinch in the corner, both to create space, and to batter Tamura. In the end, Taro simply ran out of gas, and Tamura ran away with the fight.

Back in Time: Shooto Gig West 9 -Sugimoto vs. Kishimoto

It has almost been a year since Sugimoto made his pro debut. Here are some photos from the event.



Sugimoto Hiroshi vs. Kishimoto Yasuyuki



Sugimoto uses a strategy of Ground and Pound from the bottom.



Kishimoto tried to punish Sugimoto but wasn't that effective.



Sugimoto's guard was not passable



The majority of the fight went like this.



Sugimoto was coated in Kishimoto's blood.



Sugimoto finishes with his hand raised.

My review at the time:

I don't get nervous for myself very much, but my boy, Sugimoto, who has been training at Purebred since he was 15, was set to make his debut, first on the pro card. Sugi was cornered by Eda, the former All-Japan Amateur Shooto champion, better known for wearing dresses and having funny haircuts, and Kaneyama, who teaches wrestling at Purebred. Sugimoto's opponent was Kishimoto Yasuaki who fights out of Cobra Kai in Osaka. This was a very good, 2-round fight that took place mostly on the ground due to Sugimoto's strategy of pulling guard out of the clinch. I can only assume that this has to do with Eda being in his corner and that is one of his favorite moves. Sugimoto used his guard very aggressively, not to go for submissions necessarily but to corral Kishimoto and beat him bloody from the bottom. Sugimoto initiated several guillotine attempts, but Kishimoto fought them off. Sugimoto sunk a deep triangle in the first that looked like it would end the fight. Kishimoto created some space to breathe by slamming Sugimoto to the canvas. Sugimoto maintained the triangle and proceeded to wail on Kishimoto's head from the bottom with vicious backhands. Kishimoto worked back to guard and tried some big punch attempts, which riled up the crowd, but failed to connect cleanly. The second round was more of the same. Sugimoto clinched, pulled guard with a guillotine attempt. When it didn't sink he used ground and pound from the bottom. At one point, so much blood was coming from Kishimoto that the doctors stopped the fight to have a look. They let it go on, only to see Sugimoto win by decision. He was a happy man, and so were the rest of us.

Thursday at Purebred Kyoto

Ueta Yu works on the heavy bag.



Sato Takuya gets his hair cut correct like Anthony Mason.



And works his takedown defense in preperation for his January 31st clash with Taisuke Okuno at Shooting Disco 7.



Eda Kosuke and Kawakatsu Saburo go for leg-locks.



Eda stalks Kawakatsu. Eda will face Pacific 10th ranked Tanaka Hiroyuki on March 8th at Shooto Border Season 1.



Shiba Hiroshi shadowboxes in preperation for his Powergate fight Sunday agaonst Hoshiko, February 1st in Osaka.



Eda's gold gloves from his Shooto rookie championship.



Kaneshima works on his bridges.