Powergate: Gate 7 -Kanayama vs. Yokosai

I will try and be unbiased in these cases. It is hard when people you train with fight. Not only does training together make you pull for people in ways that other kinds of contact can't, training at Purebed Kyoto has been nothing short of an amazing experience and all of the guys there are honestly great people. Kanayama is one of the quietest, kindest, most dedicated people I have ever met in MMA. He can seemed focused and scary and hesitant and reclusive and wounded all in the same moment. He is also one of the most physically gifted human beings I have ever come across. If you ordered a piece of granite to become a person, you would mistake it for Kanayama. But I can remove that bias. The bias of acquaintanceship, as we are not that close. The bias of camaraderie. The bias of vicinity. The bias of sacrifice. Because YOKOSAI has those same bonds too.

I have heard rumor after rumor of YOKOSAI's, ne Yokoyama Toshihiko from Philoctetes Niigata, prowess. His record, however does little to reflect it. Kanayama Yasuhiro, out of Purebred Kyoto, was the 2004 Amateur Shooto lightweight champion. His pro career has been shifting towards the bottom of a mixed bag. Kanayama was a college wrestler and teaches the wrestling classes at Purebred.

Kanayama and Yokosai (in pink trunks) came out pointing at each other before touching gloves.



Kanayama's corner urged him to take it slow and applauded his wrestling stance.


Yokosai looked poised to strike. His punches were answered.



Pressured by Kanayama"s punching power, Yokosai attempted to clinch with the wrestler against the ropes. He was answered with a vicious slam.




Kanayama wore on his opponent with shoulder slams and punches to the head and body.



Kanayama initiated the guard pass.



The fighters were eventually stood up. Kanayama seemed to have the momentum and the power.



When the fight ended up back in the clinch, YOKOSAI was barbarously thrown to the canvas. The slam hurt him. Not hurt in the sense of an injury to be dealt with but hurt like it cut that place deep inside him that makes people have the will to fight. He had nothing left and was pounded out.



As Kanayama celebrated with his fans and his corner, YOKOSAI struggled with consciousness. It was a losing battle.



As Kanayama accepted a Gi from Isami and a trophy from the one hot ring girl, whose eyes seem to constantly roam for opportunity, YOKOSAI was tended to by the doctor.



Victory and defeat are not always two sides to the same coin. Sometimes they are poverty and abundance. I believe Sato Takuya is staring at the ring girl's ample bosom, as they say in the vernacular.





Kanayama was encouraged by his corner to take the mic. He used the platform to say he was back as a force and requested a shot at the championship.