Shooto: Split-Draw for “BJ” and Urushitani
Tony Loiseleur Mar 16, 2007
TOKYO, Japan, March 16 — Anyone who has followed international
mixed martial arts for long has most likely realized by now that
draws happen often in Shooto.
Well, not just "often," but all the time, really.
Where many of us are used to definitive endings, where one fighter
absolutely must score higher than his opponent, most of us are
unaccustomed to the idea of two competitors being so evenly matched
that a winner simply cannot be declared. How can draws still occur
in our sport, today?
The answer is, perhaps, in that which makes Shooto so great: its exceptional ranking system, where the best are consistently matched up with the best. When the best draw with the best, as they often do in Shooto, it makes the idea of draws a little easier to swallow, let alone understand.
In their second encounter, however, despite their large strides over the past year and a half, both men were still too evenly matched to be put away by the other. If anything, tonight's bout proved to be a continuation of their first.
The first period began with both men trading cautious leg kicks with each other, gauging distance and testing the waters, before a right hook from Urushitani caused the champion to trip over his own feet while backpedaling. Kojima was quick to pop back up and chase Urushitani down with a flurry of left straights and right hooks.
Though all were avoided, Urushitani seemed to receive BJ's message and remained outside of the champion's range, tagging Kojima's lead right leg with inside leg kicks. From here, BJ was forced to push inward, engaging a counter-punching Urushitani who, for all intents and purposes, was racking up the points with his shots. Having been slightly edged out on the feet, Kojima pushed into the challenger's space to clinch and do damage there. It seemed too little, too late, however, as inactivity caused the referee to break them seconds before the bell.
The champion was briefly able to turn the stand-up game in his favor at the beginning of the second round with a solid haymaker right hook that sent Urushitani reeling back into a ring post. Though quick to pounce, BJ found a recovered Urushitani in the clinch, where both men were traded knees before being broken up by the referee.
Upon being reset at the center of the ring, once again, BJ was able to blast Urushitani square on the nose with his wild right hook. A bewildered Urushitani did his best to fire back counter punches, but they met with thin air; the champion had already dropped levels to avoid the counters and move in for a takedown.
Having speared Urushitani halfway out of the ring ropes, BJ's overzealousness may have cost him his opportunity at victory, as the referee was forced to break them up and reset them in the center of the ring. After a number of unchecked inside leg kicks, two clinches, and one failed takedown attempt later, round two closed out with the champion finding himself in the bottom position, with an eager Urushitani looming over him, searching for openings to drop heavy leather.
The third stanza saw essentially the same pattern from rounds one and two. Both men started out trading low kicks before a wild combo from Kojima put both men in the clinch, where they traded knees until being broken up. Despite hammering Urushitani with a powerful straight left to the face after catching a low kick, BJ was unable to put the challenger away, again being sucked into the clinch. The same went for Urushitani — despite landing a solid flying knee to the champion's torso, without missing a beat, Kojima responded by throwing wild haymakers in an attempt to catch Urushitani in the final moments of the bout.
After three tense rounds of back-and-forth action, the audibly split crowd in attendance at Korakuen Hall reflected exactly what would ultimately be the judges' ruling — 30–29 Kojima, 29–29, 29–28 Urushitani — for the split draw.
Retaining his bantamweight title, an emotional, teary-eyed Kojima went commented that despite being the champion, he never really thought it would be so hard to defend the belt, and that he hoped that to have the continued support of the fans in the future.
Despite not finishing his opponent with his classic, highlight-reel flying-submissions, Shooto charisma Rumina Sato (Pictures) still brought the goods this evening, putting away Shooto Europe No. 2-ranked Augusto Frota Guimaraes, opening him up with an explosive knee in the first round.
After trading several low kicks and some punches in the opening moments of the bout, Sato lunged forward with a viciously quick and powerful one-two. Tagged, but apparently not dazed, Frota seemed to be out of trouble until he dove in toward Sato's legs for the takedown.
Sato, perhaps having anticipated this all along, served up a well-placed knee to the face of the shooting Frota, opening a huge cut on his forehead. The Japanese icon quickly transitioned to take back-control, where he began to rain down some heavy hammerfists before the referee noticed copious amounts of blood coming from Frota's head.
Stopping the bout temporarily for a doctor check, it didn't take long for them to realize that Frota could not continue, giving Sato the TKO victory at 1:21 in the first by doctor stoppage.
Coming off of two losses prior to this evening's performance, Sato expressed to the crowd that he was happy with his win, idly suggesting that, if it was possible, he would like the opportunity to fight for the title by challenging current lightweight champion, "Lion" Takeshi Inoue (Pictures).
Only seconds later, Inoue was at ringside, belt in hand, as he addressed the crowd and Sato, claiming "since Rumina is one of the inspirations who got me into Shooto, I want to fight him and become a true champion." In a surprising gesture, Inoue — who has been known not to ask for opponents — then went as far as requesting from the Shooto Commission that Sato be the challenger in his scheduled title defense on May 18.
Sato ended by commenting to the Commission, "Only if you think it'll be alright. If it's justifiable, I'd love to fight for the title."
Despite Sato's place in the rankings — ranked third, with Akitoshi Tamura (Pictures) as second, and Antonio Carvalho (Pictures) atop the list — the smiles shared by Shooto's Commissioners left the impression that, because it's Sato, making the bout a reality may be far from impossible.
In even more lightweight action this evening, 2006 rookie champion "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura (Pictures) racked up his first Class A win, eking out an otherwise uninspiring split decision victory against long-time Shooto vet Hideki Kadowaki (Pictures).
Deciding to play the counter game with Kadowaki, Wicky spent most of the fight either dancing around the ring, showboating and grinning, or under Kadowaki from the side-mount. Whenever Kadowaki would shoot or take a chance at putting his fist out, Wicky would answer with a full body-twisting right hook that had momentum enough to take him off his own feet.
While the STG Yokohama bomber would rarely score with his decapitating strikes, if not for Wicky's ability to shake off his opponent and stand up while on the bottom a la Chuck Liddell (Pictures), Kadowaki would probably have ground out a decision based on control. Instead, with Kadowaki scoring takedowns at will and Wicky standing back up in kind, the wild slugger was only able to win the judges' favor in the final moments of round three.
Finally tagging Kadowaki with two flying knees to the face, wild-child Wicky took the veteran's back and deliver some savage ground and pound, just before to the bell. For his last minute efforts, Wicky was able to win over two judges 30–28 and 29-28, with one dissenting judge giving it to Kadowaki, 29–28.
Rising star Masakazu Ueda of Paraestra Tokyo moved his pro record to 5–0 tonight as he continues to build momentum by racking up a victory over tough Gutsman product, Sou Tazawa. Ueda showed his grappling prowess once more this evening, as a brabo choke attempt off of a sprawl on a failed Tazawa takedown almost caught the Gutsman fighter in the first round.
The second period saw Ueda changing things up a bit by first engaging Tazawa on the feet. Responding with several hard, connecting one-two counters however, Tazawa dissuaded any further stand-up bravado. Closing out the round, a failed judo hip throw on Tazawa's part afforded Ueda the opportunity to take top position and ground-and-pound his way to the bell.
The opening of the third frame saw more of Ueda being bullied on the feet by Tazawa, forcing the Paraestra rep to drop levels for a takedown. Anticipating this, Tazawa sprawled and set up a guillotine, which Ueda was easily able to escape from. It wasn't long however, before Ueda was able to reverse position on Tazawa, reapplying the brabo choke and cinching it well, forcing the tap at 1:59 into the third round.
Flyweight Shinya Murofushi exacted vengeance on his brother's former nemesis, "Tiger" Takehiro Ishii, this evening, scoring a solid kick to the face that put Ishii down on the mat for the 10-count. Visibly shaken, and dizzy beyond hope when answering the count, the referee was forced to call the bout in the first round at 1:34, giving Murofushi the TKO victory.
"Buffalo" Yoshitaro Niimi (Pictures) got back on the winning track this evening in his middleweight bout against Ivan Mussardo, as he out-positioned and out-struck the Swiss fighter, bludgeoning him to a stoppage late in the second.
Mussardo, whose MO until now has been to take his opponents to the floor and submit them, expended most of his energy in the first round as he tried to fulfill the first part of his game plan: getting the takedown. Niimi, however, would not cooperate. Sprawling and taking his opponent's back off of the clinch, Niimi punished Mussardo with strikes from the top for two whole periods. Gassed and unable to intelligently defend Niimi's punches from up top, the bout was called at 4:21 into the second round.
The first stanza of the evening's flyweight rookie tournament bout saw Katsuya Murofushi throwing out a number of submission attempts while being pounded out by a wary Tatsuya Yamamoto. On the feet, it looked no different, as Murofushi's few scoring combinations were no match for the power of Yamamoto's replies.
In the second, there was more of the same, with a mid-round slip that cost Murofushi his position. As Yamamoto pounced to take advantage, Murofushi quickly reached for his opponent's leg in an attempt to catch a leglock before the bell.
For a moment, it seemed as if Yamamoto would entertain the idea of a leglock battle with Murofushi, but instead opted to give up the attempt in order to sit up and ride out the round by delivering hard ground-and-pound to the side of his opponent's head. By the time the bell sounded, Murofushi appeared for a moment to be lost in the ring, unable to find his corner.
Thanks to the beating he put on Murofushi, Yamamoto was awarded the unanimous decision victor (20-19, 20–19, 20–19) advancing him to face the winner of the Hiroaki Takezawa-Hiroyuki Ikeda bout in what is currently an unscheduled semifinal bout.
In tonight's featherweight rookie tournament bout, Kazuya Tamura (Pictures) and "Jukucho" Kousuke Eda fought a back-and-forth battle, resulting in a unanimous draw after two rounds. With round one going to Tamura for pushing the pace and outworking his opponent, round two went to Eda for getting Tamura's back, where he was able to attempt a close rear-naked choke. With both rounds going to either fighter, all three judges scored the bout 19–19, leaving tournament advancement to the envelope draw.
As Tamura drew the lucky envelope, he will advance to the semifinals, where he will face one of three opponents: Yuuta Nezu, Satoru Ota, or Hiromasa Ougikubo. Yuuta Nezu and Satoru Ota will meet in Nagoya's Shooto event on March 25, with the winner advancing to face Hiromasa Ougikubo, likely in May or June. The winner of this bout will advance to face Tamura in the late summer, earning him an extended vacation until his next tournament bout.
In other Shooto news, the May 18 match-up between No. 1-ranked lightweight Antonio Carvalho (Pictures) and No. 8-ranked Hatsu Hioki (Pictures) was officially announced during this evening's intermission. As the 145-pound TKO champion, Carvalho has his work cut out for him in Hioki, a Japanese fighter who has recently been making it his duty to defeat non-Japanese fighters.
Also announced was a match-up pitting Masatoshi Abe (Pictures) against Brazilian grappling standout Daniel Otero, who is making his Class A debut after notching a dominant win over Tomohiro Hashi (Pictures) on a Dec. Shooto Brazil card.
Last but not least on the May 18 card, Akihiko Adachi (Pictures) will face Masashi Yozen (Pictures).
Well, not just "often," but all the time, really.
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The answer is, perhaps, in that which makes Shooto so great: its exceptional ranking system, where the best are consistently matched up with the best. When the best draw with the best, as they often do in Shooto, it makes the idea of draws a little easier to swallow, let alone understand.
In their first encounter in late 2005, then Abe Ani Combat Club
representative "BJ" Shinichi Kojima (Pictures) — still green and fresh off his
Class A promotion — drew with Yasuhiro Urushitani
(Pictures) of Wajutsu Keishukai RJW in
a furious back-and-forth affair where both men left everything they
had on the canvas. With almost a year and a half in which to
further hone and perfect their skills, it was assumed that one
would surely improve enough to outdo the other.
In their second encounter, however, despite their large strides over the past year and a half, both men were still too evenly matched to be put away by the other. If anything, tonight's bout proved to be a continuation of their first.
The first period began with both men trading cautious leg kicks with each other, gauging distance and testing the waters, before a right hook from Urushitani caused the champion to trip over his own feet while backpedaling. Kojima was quick to pop back up and chase Urushitani down with a flurry of left straights and right hooks.
Though all were avoided, Urushitani seemed to receive BJ's message and remained outside of the champion's range, tagging Kojima's lead right leg with inside leg kicks. From here, BJ was forced to push inward, engaging a counter-punching Urushitani who, for all intents and purposes, was racking up the points with his shots. Having been slightly edged out on the feet, Kojima pushed into the challenger's space to clinch and do damage there. It seemed too little, too late, however, as inactivity caused the referee to break them seconds before the bell.
The champion was briefly able to turn the stand-up game in his favor at the beginning of the second round with a solid haymaker right hook that sent Urushitani reeling back into a ring post. Though quick to pounce, BJ found a recovered Urushitani in the clinch, where both men were traded knees before being broken up by the referee.
Upon being reset at the center of the ring, once again, BJ was able to blast Urushitani square on the nose with his wild right hook. A bewildered Urushitani did his best to fire back counter punches, but they met with thin air; the champion had already dropped levels to avoid the counters and move in for a takedown.
Having speared Urushitani halfway out of the ring ropes, BJ's overzealousness may have cost him his opportunity at victory, as the referee was forced to break them up and reset them in the center of the ring. After a number of unchecked inside leg kicks, two clinches, and one failed takedown attempt later, round two closed out with the champion finding himself in the bottom position, with an eager Urushitani looming over him, searching for openings to drop heavy leather.
The third stanza saw essentially the same pattern from rounds one and two. Both men started out trading low kicks before a wild combo from Kojima put both men in the clinch, where they traded knees until being broken up. Despite hammering Urushitani with a powerful straight left to the face after catching a low kick, BJ was unable to put the challenger away, again being sucked into the clinch. The same went for Urushitani — despite landing a solid flying knee to the champion's torso, without missing a beat, Kojima responded by throwing wild haymakers in an attempt to catch Urushitani in the final moments of the bout.
After three tense rounds of back-and-forth action, the audibly split crowd in attendance at Korakuen Hall reflected exactly what would ultimately be the judges' ruling — 30–29 Kojima, 29–29, 29–28 Urushitani — for the split draw.
Retaining his bantamweight title, an emotional, teary-eyed Kojima went commented that despite being the champion, he never really thought it would be so hard to defend the belt, and that he hoped that to have the continued support of the fans in the future.
Despite not finishing his opponent with his classic, highlight-reel flying-submissions, Shooto charisma Rumina Sato (Pictures) still brought the goods this evening, putting away Shooto Europe No. 2-ranked Augusto Frota Guimaraes, opening him up with an explosive knee in the first round.
After trading several low kicks and some punches in the opening moments of the bout, Sato lunged forward with a viciously quick and powerful one-two. Tagged, but apparently not dazed, Frota seemed to be out of trouble until he dove in toward Sato's legs for the takedown.
Sato, perhaps having anticipated this all along, served up a well-placed knee to the face of the shooting Frota, opening a huge cut on his forehead. The Japanese icon quickly transitioned to take back-control, where he began to rain down some heavy hammerfists before the referee noticed copious amounts of blood coming from Frota's head.
Stopping the bout temporarily for a doctor check, it didn't take long for them to realize that Frota could not continue, giving Sato the TKO victory at 1:21 in the first by doctor stoppage.
Coming off of two losses prior to this evening's performance, Sato expressed to the crowd that he was happy with his win, idly suggesting that, if it was possible, he would like the opportunity to fight for the title by challenging current lightweight champion, "Lion" Takeshi Inoue (Pictures).
Only seconds later, Inoue was at ringside, belt in hand, as he addressed the crowd and Sato, claiming "since Rumina is one of the inspirations who got me into Shooto, I want to fight him and become a true champion." In a surprising gesture, Inoue — who has been known not to ask for opponents — then went as far as requesting from the Shooto Commission that Sato be the challenger in his scheduled title defense on May 18.
Sato ended by commenting to the Commission, "Only if you think it'll be alright. If it's justifiable, I'd love to fight for the title."
Despite Sato's place in the rankings — ranked third, with Akitoshi Tamura (Pictures) as second, and Antonio Carvalho (Pictures) atop the list — the smiles shared by Shooto's Commissioners left the impression that, because it's Sato, making the bout a reality may be far from impossible.
In even more lightweight action this evening, 2006 rookie champion "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura (Pictures) racked up his first Class A win, eking out an otherwise uninspiring split decision victory against long-time Shooto vet Hideki Kadowaki (Pictures).
Deciding to play the counter game with Kadowaki, Wicky spent most of the fight either dancing around the ring, showboating and grinning, or under Kadowaki from the side-mount. Whenever Kadowaki would shoot or take a chance at putting his fist out, Wicky would answer with a full body-twisting right hook that had momentum enough to take him off his own feet.
While the STG Yokohama bomber would rarely score with his decapitating strikes, if not for Wicky's ability to shake off his opponent and stand up while on the bottom a la Chuck Liddell (Pictures), Kadowaki would probably have ground out a decision based on control. Instead, with Kadowaki scoring takedowns at will and Wicky standing back up in kind, the wild slugger was only able to win the judges' favor in the final moments of round three.
Finally tagging Kadowaki with two flying knees to the face, wild-child Wicky took the veteran's back and deliver some savage ground and pound, just before to the bell. For his last minute efforts, Wicky was able to win over two judges 30–28 and 29-28, with one dissenting judge giving it to Kadowaki, 29–28.
Rising star Masakazu Ueda of Paraestra Tokyo moved his pro record to 5–0 tonight as he continues to build momentum by racking up a victory over tough Gutsman product, Sou Tazawa. Ueda showed his grappling prowess once more this evening, as a brabo choke attempt off of a sprawl on a failed Tazawa takedown almost caught the Gutsman fighter in the first round.
The second period saw Ueda changing things up a bit by first engaging Tazawa on the feet. Responding with several hard, connecting one-two counters however, Tazawa dissuaded any further stand-up bravado. Closing out the round, a failed judo hip throw on Tazawa's part afforded Ueda the opportunity to take top position and ground-and-pound his way to the bell.
The opening of the third frame saw more of Ueda being bullied on the feet by Tazawa, forcing the Paraestra rep to drop levels for a takedown. Anticipating this, Tazawa sprawled and set up a guillotine, which Ueda was easily able to escape from. It wasn't long however, before Ueda was able to reverse position on Tazawa, reapplying the brabo choke and cinching it well, forcing the tap at 1:59 into the third round.
Flyweight Shinya Murofushi exacted vengeance on his brother's former nemesis, "Tiger" Takehiro Ishii, this evening, scoring a solid kick to the face that put Ishii down on the mat for the 10-count. Visibly shaken, and dizzy beyond hope when answering the count, the referee was forced to call the bout in the first round at 1:34, giving Murofushi the TKO victory.
"Buffalo" Yoshitaro Niimi (Pictures) got back on the winning track this evening in his middleweight bout against Ivan Mussardo, as he out-positioned and out-struck the Swiss fighter, bludgeoning him to a stoppage late in the second.
Mussardo, whose MO until now has been to take his opponents to the floor and submit them, expended most of his energy in the first round as he tried to fulfill the first part of his game plan: getting the takedown. Niimi, however, would not cooperate. Sprawling and taking his opponent's back off of the clinch, Niimi punished Mussardo with strikes from the top for two whole periods. Gassed and unable to intelligently defend Niimi's punches from up top, the bout was called at 4:21 into the second round.
The first stanza of the evening's flyweight rookie tournament bout saw Katsuya Murofushi throwing out a number of submission attempts while being pounded out by a wary Tatsuya Yamamoto. On the feet, it looked no different, as Murofushi's few scoring combinations were no match for the power of Yamamoto's replies.
In the second, there was more of the same, with a mid-round slip that cost Murofushi his position. As Yamamoto pounced to take advantage, Murofushi quickly reached for his opponent's leg in an attempt to catch a leglock before the bell.
For a moment, it seemed as if Yamamoto would entertain the idea of a leglock battle with Murofushi, but instead opted to give up the attempt in order to sit up and ride out the round by delivering hard ground-and-pound to the side of his opponent's head. By the time the bell sounded, Murofushi appeared for a moment to be lost in the ring, unable to find his corner.
Thanks to the beating he put on Murofushi, Yamamoto was awarded the unanimous decision victor (20-19, 20–19, 20–19) advancing him to face the winner of the Hiroaki Takezawa-Hiroyuki Ikeda bout in what is currently an unscheduled semifinal bout.
In tonight's featherweight rookie tournament bout, Kazuya Tamura (Pictures) and "Jukucho" Kousuke Eda fought a back-and-forth battle, resulting in a unanimous draw after two rounds. With round one going to Tamura for pushing the pace and outworking his opponent, round two went to Eda for getting Tamura's back, where he was able to attempt a close rear-naked choke. With both rounds going to either fighter, all three judges scored the bout 19–19, leaving tournament advancement to the envelope draw.
As Tamura drew the lucky envelope, he will advance to the semifinals, where he will face one of three opponents: Yuuta Nezu, Satoru Ota, or Hiromasa Ougikubo. Yuuta Nezu and Satoru Ota will meet in Nagoya's Shooto event on March 25, with the winner advancing to face Hiromasa Ougikubo, likely in May or June. The winner of this bout will advance to face Tamura in the late summer, earning him an extended vacation until his next tournament bout.
In other Shooto news, the May 18 match-up between No. 1-ranked lightweight Antonio Carvalho (Pictures) and No. 8-ranked Hatsu Hioki (Pictures) was officially announced during this evening's intermission. As the 145-pound TKO champion, Carvalho has his work cut out for him in Hioki, a Japanese fighter who has recently been making it his duty to defeat non-Japanese fighters.
Also announced was a match-up pitting Masatoshi Abe (Pictures) against Brazilian grappling standout Daniel Otero, who is making his Class A debut after notching a dominant win over Tomohiro Hashi (Pictures) on a Dec. Shooto Brazil card.
Last but not least on the May 18 card, Akihiko Adachi (Pictures) will face Masashi Yozen (Pictures).
