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.