Powergate: Gate 5 -Ikyu-san vs. Kaneyama

Gate 5 featured Ikyu-san, a fighter named after an anime monk and Kaneyama Hiroki, a fighter named after a big mountain of money. Ikuya-san's only affiliation is the yakiniku restaurant he is trying to promote through fighting. Very, very Osaka. Kaneyama had an 11 centimeter height advantage, but Ikyu-san came in 2 kilograms heavier. Kaneyama seemed to be the particular favorite of the one ring girl who didn't look like she was escaping life across the tracks.

Kaneyama earned my support for coming in to Ripslyme's "Funktastic." Taking me back a few years to a purer, more drunken time. Ikyu-san came in to the Ikyu-san theme song. Somehow this stuff is never considered nut funny in Japan. Maybe because the term "played out" Hasn't been invented yet.

(Photos Later)

Sorry, there has been some technical difficulties with this photo set, so it will be all text like Zork.

Kaneyama was a southpaw and the better striker. He looked comfortable on his feet and his extra length was allowing him to land fairly regularly. Ikyu-san's stockiness enabled him to counter this striking with low, double leg takedowns. On the ground, Kanayama worked a half-assed rubber guard. A theme on the night.

In the 2nd round Ikyu-san continued to take Kanayama down and slam him while in the guard. A big slam from standing severely damaged Kanayama's elbow causing the fight to be stopped. It looked very serious.

As I was trying to photograph the action, I was looking through the view finder. I heard people start yelling, "Elbow! Elbow!" And Kanayama writhing in pain on the ground. I thought that he had been knocked out with an elbow and couldn't understand how Ikyu-san had got the win. It was all explained to me later.

No one was happier with their win than Ikyu-san. He took the mic and invited everyone to come to his yakiniku restaurant. He wandered around soliciting people to take photos of him. He seemed like a cool guy, but I didn't bite.

(Photos were lost in the matrix)