Tamura Yukinari vs. Satomoto Kazuya

I have seen this happen several times, but I am always slightly surprised by it; two Paraestra fighters squaring of against each other. True Tamura "Hibiki" Yukinari fights out of Paraestra Osaka and Satomoto Kazuya fights out of Paraestra Hiroshima, but you would think they might avoid these conflicts. I guess it really isn't a big deal. One thing I will say about Paraestra fighters, regardless of their gym, they seem to be very well trained and coached and fight much more in control of themselves than a lot of Shooto competitors. I always enjoy watching them at work. Hibiki Tamura is a long limbed fighter who can strike from range. Satomoto is much more compact. He come off as a little slow, but this could be a misreading of his deliberateness.




Hibiki (in the red tights) worked single punches and several kicks from range. Satomoto bided his time.

Satomoto's main method of attack in the 1st (and again I apologize for the quality of these photos) was to latch on to Hibiki's right arm Sakuraba style and try to implement the standing Kimura. It was an interesting strategy and kept the match tied up and awkward, but not unexciting.



As poor as the next shot is it communicates the speed with which the rounds last actions played out. Failing to get his Kimura, Satomoto fell to the ground with Hibiki. He immediately spun for an armbar.



It was a good struggle, but time was, ultimately, on Tamura's side and the bell rang out.



The 2nd round was a lot more of the same with Satomoto refusing to give up on the standing Kimura.



Hibiki worked the fight back to striking but Satomoto was game there. I am not sure what landed, but blood began to erupt from the middle of Hibiki's forehead. Satomoto's corner yelled, "It was that knee!" But someone asked me, "Did you get a shot of that punch?" I have evidence of neither so let's settle on it being... something.



The doctor called a stop to the fight. Neither Tamura or his corner seemed to object. Satomoto advances in the welterweight tournament.

Ono Takayoshi vs. Kimura Tsuneo

Looking back there were a lot of weird fights that bright, Sunday afternoon in BFE Osaka. The next in line was Kimura "Jacknife" Tsuneo out of Shooting Gym Osaka taking on Ono "Kogan" Takayoshi who represents Gon's Gym. Tsuneo came out like an F'ing zoo animal. Sitting next to the ring I felt myself actually want to back away from a man much smaller than myself. He was stomping and screaming and pacing like he was trapped in a cage. Leaping to the apron he began working up power by firing himself backwards and using the ropes to launch him back forwards, much like the kid in Superman 2 at Niagra Falls. On his last attempt, having gained the power to shoot him over the ropes, Tsuneo missed and fired himself into the audience. I tried not to laugh as I had so recently been afraid of a man who was now made pitiable. He finally made it into the ring the traditional way.



Where he continued to stand, stooped and threatening sporting a sweet mohawk and banging his feet into the canvas.

Ono came out incredulous. The look on his face was the exact appropriate one for the moment and one that wouldn't have occured to me. He swayed from side to side, head cocked, lip flaring like Billy Idol.







The two looked ready to explode and I began to get nervous thinking about the clash at hand which launched itself into this:



Loads and loads of clinching against the ropes. Don't get me wrong, clinching is a struggle, but I have never seen to people so fired up to fight suddenly looking like the last thing they wanted to do was throw down on each other. I don't think it was timidity, it was probably just playing it safe and cancelling each other out.



The fight on the ground was a stalemate.



Tsuneo had a good sprawl and Ono was good at maintaining guard and getting back to standing.



I felt that Ono's strikes were much more effective than the sout-paw Tsuneo. They were a little circular, between a hook and a straight, but they were more powerfull and more prone to landing. He also took better angles and had a nice right hook. When Tsuneo hit the ground, Ono scored some nice kicks to his legs and looked to make a KO punch.



On the ground, Tsuneo's guard was also too hard a problem for Ono to solve.



So Ono opted for standing.





Tsuneo looked to clinch whenever possible.

Towards the end of the 1st round, Ono got on top of Tsuneo in front of his own corner. They began to tell him, "That's it. You've got it! Lock it in." To which Tsuneo's corner wondered, "What has he got? I don't think it is anything." I shared their sentiment, but I couldn't see the far side.



The 2nd round saw more of the same, with Ono mixing in foot stomps from the clinch.



This is where I make the disclaimer that I have made before. To photograph an event and to experience an even are very different things. My pictures can tell me, accurately, what color shorts the fighters were wearing and where they place their feet on a guard pass. But, what they can't give me, is the same impression that standing watching a fight. I thought, I knew, I assumed, that Ono had won the fight easily. The decision went to Kimura "Jacknife" Tsuneo. I don't get it. Apparently neither did Ono. He left the ring immedietly. Ikeda (I beleive it is) the head of Chokushinkai and a scary old man/former pro-wrestler ordered him and his crew back into the ring to soak in his own doo-doo.



Other people told me later that they thought Jacknife had won clearly. I don't see it. I didn't see it, but I accept that the lense alters reality.

Sugimoto Hiroshi vs. Gypsy Taro

As much as the previous fight was one of the great fights of the year, Gypsy Taro vs. Sugimoto squaring of against each other will go down as one of the most absurd. Sugimoto is my friend and fights out of Purebred Kyoto. Taro is a solid fighter with a bad record who represents Shooting Gym Osaka.



Sugimoto had been practicing his Sammy Sosa entrance for over a month.



Sugimoto (In White) comes from a Kyokushin base, and is quite strong.



What had impressed me when I saw Gypsy Taro last year was his strong striking defense, a rarity in Shooto. It would be a necessity in this fight.



Sugimoto came out looking for blood and slipped in his enthusiasm. He was running around the ring, jumping into his punches and leaping in the air for no particular reason. He had Taro backing up however. Taro's counters were somewhat effective, but Sugimoto's punches were full of power and doing serious damage to Taro's face. Even his shoulders were looking worse for the wear.



Sugi began to sense how much damage he was inflicting and upped the pace, getting a sweetly demonic look on his face.



This fight, a circus of one-two power punching punctuated by feigned knees and leaping into the air, was all over the place.



Taro went for the clinch and landed a knee or two. These however, didn't appear to slow down the action.








The end of round one took place against the post of a neutral corner. Feeling the fight, Sugi went for something he has been doing in practice lately, the old, Ryo Chonan flying scissor heel hook. I should mention at this point that Sugimoto has absurdly strong legs. I thought it was just me who thought that but other pro fighters have been mentioning it lately. So it isn't so crazy that he could pull this move off.



Sugi failed and spent the last 20 seconds trapped in the corner eating a punch or two.



Nakakura helped Taro to regroup for the 2nd. Possibly there was some ice down the pants.





While Taro was clearly damaged, Sugimoto was clearly worn down. His hands were low and all he could muster were some one-twos. They still had a good deal of power and Sugi's left had been scoring all night. This is where Taro's defense started to prove effective.




Both fighters were worn out.



A mutual doctor's break was called. Taro was bleeding and red.



Sugi had little left to give.



A vicious barfight broke out.



Sugimoto could no longer keep his hands up and stood in front of Taro, taking his beating.



A Taro slip brought the fight to the ground. Sugimoto looked re-energized and got the fight to half-guard. Then fatigue set in and he was held there until the fight was stood back up. Sugimoto's last chances were slipping away as, even though he had inflected more damage, spending a round with your hands below your waist will not win a judge's decision.



Both fighters remained game however. The crux of the fight was Taro's ability to maintain a competent boxing stance; a scarce commodity in the world of Shooto and something I would advise others to work on. My old bass teacher used to tell me that when you looked like you were playing well, you often were. Boxing is no different. Sugi's power was clearly superior but standing around looking like you are trying to bum a smoke cannot earn you a victory.

At this point the fight became so absurd that photographs, at least the kind I had the ability to take at the moment could no longer communicate the mood. Here is a video I took of the last 30 seconds or so.



Needless to say, Sugimoto lost the fight and Gypsy Taro, with Hokazono in his corner, moved on in the Rookie Tournament. If this fight comes out on video, watch it. It makes little sense and is all the more thrilling because of it.

Yoshida Keita vs. Kawamata "Geostar" Joji

I'm going to tell you from the beginning that this might be fight of the year. This match was insanely good and exciting in every moment. Great, great effort on both fighter's parts. No shame in the whole affair. Kawamata Joji, billed as George "Kawamata" Geostar, fights out of Paraestra Osaka and wore the black shorts. Yoshida Keita, in the blue shorts, fights out of Cobra Kai.

Kawamata is a south-paw who used the ropes well to escape. He is also the only fighter I have seen whose corner wore rash guards.

A good deal of the fight took place in Kawamata's corner. He was well coached.



Kawamata employed a technique that is fairly common in Shooto which is beating the stew out of someone who is in your guard while you are on the bottom. I like it. It is effective. He did a lot of damage to the right side of Yoshida's head. It was getting to Yoshida but he couldn't work out of it. Kawamata's corner kept shouting, "It's getting to him! He doesn't like it."



Yoshida worked to pass Kawamata's guard, but "Geostar" was the noticeably better grappler.





Yoshida was the more powerful striker, but Kawamata was cagey and careful. This fight had an awesome pace and alternated between standing and the ground.



Kawamata threatened with foot-sweeps through the first round.


Both fighters regrouped between rounds.




Kawamata seemed relaxed and was in control of the fight.



The second round saw lots of clinching against the ropes, especially in the corners.





Toward the end of the round Yoshida connected with a huge right kick to the body. Kawamata was visibly hurt. Yoshida, who had looked exhausted up to this point was energized and the momentum changed.



After the kicks, Kawamata's takedowns became desperate attempts to get out of stand-up exchanges. He ended up desperately clinging to Yoshida's ankle and taking a beating on the head.



The fight was accurately judged a draw with Yoshida advancing in the tournament. Kawamata had given all he had to give and left the ring sobbing. It was a truly great fight.