Random Notes: Post Powergate

Kanayama Yasuhiro, coming off of his victory over Yokosai and his subsequent request for a title match will apparently get his wish. The deal isn't final, but Kanayama looks to face amateur shooter Ozaki from Tottori.

Kanayama's opponent Yokosai, was hospitalized with damage to his eye after their fight, although he had no concussion.

Sakashita Yusuke, better known around the gym as "Jurassic Armbar", or "Jurassic" + whatever he is doing at the moment, will be leaving Kyoto and Purebred for Grabaka in Tokyo. He is a trainer at Gold's Gym so can transfer to any location in the country. He has a pretty good record so wants to take this chance to see how far he can go. Good luck to him.

Kaneshima Yoshikazu from Purebred will be fighting in Rings: The Outsider on March 15th. That event looks nuts. Apparently you have to have a body check to get in.

Both Eda Kosuke and Sugimoto Hiroshi, from Purebred will be fighting on the March 8th Shooto Border 1 card in Osaka. I am working on passes for this one. Eda has a chance to get ranked with a victory over Tanaka and Sugimoto will be facing Gypsy Taro, whose fights I find entertaining. Shooting Gym Osaka and Paraestra Osaka are large presences on this card.

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.

Powergate: Overcoming 2009 -Intro

Bad things happen at the harbor. I am from a harbor town. Down at the docks guys with one arm called "Lefty" splice rope with a marlin spike, a cigarette dangling out of their teeth and wrap-around sunglasses. Old dogs run around with one eye missing because they fought a pack of cats over fish scraps. Fisherman hide both pornography and shotguns under their reeking mattresses. Reeking of cigarette smoke, no showers and fish goo. Osaka's harbor is too dirty to enjoy and too clean to be interesting. It is a lifeless streetscape of concrete and cargo containers. It is where you switch trains and wait for a bus. I have always thought they should infuse every neighborhood with outdoor basketball courts and make all of he schools in the district magnets for basketball. Try to turn Minato-ku into Coney Island Asia. But that would make it interesting and the harbor has no momentum in that direction. It looks like they could hold fights on one of the rusted, brown, useless barges lining the river. However, at the end of a charmless street, under an elevated highway lies a small theater that looks like a large jazz club. The Sekaikan is attractive in all the ways the usual non-Tokyo Shooto matches, held in rec-rooms and community centers are spiritless.



Out back the Purebred crew were getting very Rocky. Eda, fresh off driving to Tokyo and back to corner Sato Takuya, was warming up Kanayama.




Shiba Hiroshi showed up to run some sprints.


The room and ring were small, but pretty much the right size for this type of affair. Anything more would have seemed unfriendly. Anything less would have been a punk show.

Powergate: Overcoming 2009

A buttload of photos and coverage coming soon.





Eda Kosuke warming up Kanayama Yasuhiro.