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.