Koubousen Companion: News and Notes from Japan
Jordan Breen Jul 5, 2007
Popsicles (and MMA) are for the summertime.
Two of Japan's premiere promotions have had some recent hiccups with title clashes. First, Pancrase king Daizo Ishige (Pictures) got put on the shelf, leaving Katsuya Inoue (Pictures) in limbo. Then this week the injury bug bit Ryota Matsune (Pictures), canceling his anticipated showdown with Akitoshi Hokazono (Pictures). But, Pancrase was able to add a little European flavor to make the best of a bad situation, while Shooto called upon a former champ to ratchet up the star power.
But first, we have this weekend. And while UFC 73 will surely be
the focal point of every MMA fan's Saturday night, Sunday afternoon
has more to offer than you'd expect. In Tokyo, veteran Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) is putting on another intriguing,
UFC-laden seminar, while to the west DEEP is hitting Osaka for the
first time in three years, with some high stakes for Japanese
veterans.
Finally, some fresh starts are on the horizon. Female mixed martial arts are blowing up in '07, and strangely, one of female MMA's best competitors hasn't been a part of it. However, that may soon change, with big things in store for Megumi Fujii (Pictures). Meanwhile, former Dream Stage Entertainment president Nobuyuki Sakakibara may not be a player in the MMA world any more, but he isn't looking to stray too far with Ubon Inc.
Pancrase has finalized the line-up for its 2007 Neo-Blood Tournament finale at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on July 27.
The newly-restructured main event will see former welterweight King of Pancrase Katsuya Inoue (Pictures) take on Fabricio Nascimento (Pictures). Inoue was originally scheduled to take on reigning welterweight King of Pancrase Daizo Ishige (Pictures), who defeated him for the crown last August. However, Ishige sustained non-disclosed injuries in his May 27 CAGE FORCE bout with English standout Dan Hardy (Pictures), leading to him withdraw from the bout.
Nascimento, an Italian-based Brazilian, carries a 17-3 mark built on the regional European circuit. Fighting as a bodogFIGHT representative, Nascimento's prior track record has been rewarded by Pancrase officials, as this bout will now be for provisional King of Pancrase status. Therefore, the winner of the Inoue-Nascimento bout will be next in line to challenge Ishige when he has fully recovered, either late in 2007, or in early 2008.
Last minute "Lion" boosts 7/15 Shooto
In a last minute scramble to restore some star power to the July 15 card at Korakuen Hall, leading Shooto promoter Sustain has added a match between recently dethroned Shooto world champion "Lion" Takeshi Inoue (Pictures) and Holland's Marc Duncan, completing the card.
The event was originally scheduled to be headlined by an anticipated world 132-pound title clash between former champion Ryota Matsune (Pictures) and current ace Akitoshi Hokazono (Pictures). However, as Sherdog.com reported earlier this week, Matsune sustained both a partially torn bicep and broken left rib in training, and was forced to pull out. With the considerably less vogue title bout between 183-pound king Shikou Yamashita (Pictures) and Siyar Bahadurzada, Sustain quickly dug into its bag of tricks to bring in Bahadurzaga's teammate Marc Duncan to face Inoue.
Inoue is coming off his upset loss to Akitoshi Tamura (Pictures) this past May, in which he lost the Shooto 143-pound championship, while Duncan has won five of his last six, with the lone loss coming to star prospect turned UFC standout Thiago Tavares (Pictures). A regular in Shooto Europe, this will be Duncan's second trip to Japan, having been submitted by Koutetsu Boku (Pictures) in Nov. 2001.
Due to the short notice of the bout and compounded by Inoue's recent weight issues, the fight will be contested at a catch-weight of 150 pounds. The former champion struggled to make weight for his title defense against Tamura two months ago, needing additional time to weigh-in, citing the fact that his day job, which consists of washing boats, created the difficulty of keeping his weight down in training.
UFC 101 with Professor TK
This Sunday, Japanese MMA icon Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) will open up the doors of his ALLIANCE-SQUARE gym in Akasaka, Tokyo for his fifth seminar in his TK Shiki Kakuto Gakkai series.
What's TK Shiki Kakuto Gakkai, you ask?
With the cage becoming increasingly en vogue in Japanese MMA circles, and the UFC raising its profile internationally, Kohsaka decided to begin a monthly seminar series featuring video of UFC events as teaching tools. The series began with the first seminar on April 15; utilizing footage of UFC 69, Kohsaka broke down the finer aspects of technique while watching the event.
Kohsaka, the first Japanese fighter to become a regular competitor inside the octagon, will continue the curriculum on Sunday with attention on the ground game. Sunday's syllabus will examine the triangle choke techniques of Anderson Silva and Dean Lister (Pictures), as well as the armbar technique of Gabriel Gonzaga (Pictures). Kohsaka will also utilize several fights from UFC 63-67 to teach other techniques.
Kohsaka has already planned specific seminar topics, and will continue with the TK Shiki Kakuto Gakkai for at least another nine seminars into March 2008.
DEEP strikes back to Osaka for 30th Impact
While Osaka residents have had DEEP sister promotion Real Rhythm in their neck of the woods for quite some time now, the last DEEP Impact card held in Osaka was in April of 2004. That drought will come to an end Sunday, when the promotion heads to Zepp Osaka for 30th Impact.
In mid-May, DEEP boss Shigeru Saeki begin hinting at the particulars of the card on his personal blog, saying that he had already decided on a main event.
"Three or four years ago, it would be a dream fight," Saeki wrote.
Saeki further teased, "For these two fighters, this match will be putting it all on the line in their fighting careers. Well then, just who are these two?"
Those two turned out to be former Pancrase titlist Kiuma Kunioku (Pictures) and former Shooto title challenger and DEEP champion Jutaro Nakao (Pictures). As Saeki stated, the match would have been more potent a couple of years ago when Kunioku and Nakao were considered the elite Japanese competitors in their division, before the rise of fighters such as Shinya Aoki (Pictures) and Akira Kikuchi (Pictures).
However, at this juncture, with both fighters on the wrong side of 30 and a combined 95 fights between them, that only seems to add to the gravity of the bout. Both Osaka natives desperately need a win to avoid losing three in a row, and to show what they have left in the tank amongst a growing crop of Japanese welterweights.
The card will also feature another high profile Osakan in Seichi Ikemoto (Pictures), a PRIDE Bushido veteran and the head promoter and star of Real Rhythm. Ikemoto hasn't competed since last August when Daisuke Nakamura (Pictures) submitted him. His return bout will see him take on two-time DEEP veteran Jeong Ho Lee (Pictures). Another Real Rhythm standout, Ken Hamamura (Pictures), who is coming off of a draw with top Enson Inoue pupil "Gori Chan" Pat Ayuyu, will take on "YABU."
"Mega Megu" bound for Bodog
It's been a long time coming for Megumi Fujii (Pictures).
Female MMA has truly exploded into the consciousness of MMA fans in 2007, and bodogFIGHT has played a pivotal role in that surge in popularity for female fighting. Therefore, it perhaps comes as little surprise that Calvin Ayre's MMA vessel has brought arguably mixed martial arts' most talented female fighter, Megumi Fujii (Pictures), on board.
The undefeated Fujii confirmed to Sherdog.com late last week that she has signed a three-fight deal with bodogFIGHT. Fujii revealed that while she has not been informed of a potential opponent, she does plan to compete in one of the 40-some match-ups for the upcoming bodogFIGHT taping in Vancouver, which has now been delayed until mid-August.
In a bit of irony, Fujii, who has already taken two quick and easy submission wins this year over Masako Yoshida (Pictures) and Cody Welchlin, will now fight alongside multiple-time bodog veterans Hitomi Akano (Pictures), who is actually a student of Fujii, and "Tama Chan" Keiko Tamai (Pictures), who Fujii defeated in Jun. 2006.
Sakakibara resurfaces with Ubon Inc.
On April 20 Nobuyuki Sakakibara resigned as president of Dream Stage Entertainment. However, Sakakibara hasn't quite left the world of sports, as the former PRIDE boss has reemerged, heading up his own reversely-eponymous company, Ubon Inc.
Sakakibara began the company in April 2002 while working as chief producer of Dream Stage Entertainment. However, subsequent promotions to managing director, and then president in 2003 following the death of Naoto Morishita, saw the company take a backseat to Sakakibara's duties in leading DSE.
The company specializes in event production, contract management, advertising and stage casting. Yet Sakakibara has stated it is now his goal to move the company toward emphasizing the field of sports business and management. Speaking on the direction of his company, the former PRIDE boss said the strength that the sport has both in Japan and internationally in the broad media, especially television and the Internet, is incredible, and that sport impacts all people, regardless of age, gender, power or wealth.
With the company currently claiming 10 employees, and 20 million yen (approximately $163,000 American) in working capital, Sakakibara says it is his goal to immediately expand the size of the company, and has started a high profile hiring campaign for middle management employees to aid in corporate expansion.
Two of Japan's premiere promotions have had some recent hiccups with title clashes. First, Pancrase king Daizo Ishige (Pictures) got put on the shelf, leaving Katsuya Inoue (Pictures) in limbo. Then this week the injury bug bit Ryota Matsune (Pictures), canceling his anticipated showdown with Akitoshi Hokazono (Pictures). But, Pancrase was able to add a little European flavor to make the best of a bad situation, while Shooto called upon a former champ to ratchet up the star power.
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Finally, some fresh starts are on the horizon. Female mixed martial arts are blowing up in '07, and strangely, one of female MMA's best competitors hasn't been a part of it. However, that may soon change, with big things in store for Megumi Fujii (Pictures). Meanwhile, former Dream Stage Entertainment president Nobuyuki Sakakibara may not be a player in the MMA world any more, but he isn't looking to stray too far with Ubon Inc.
Inoue-Nascimento set for provisional KOP
clash
Pancrase has finalized the line-up for its 2007 Neo-Blood Tournament finale at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo on July 27.
The newly-restructured main event will see former welterweight King of Pancrase Katsuya Inoue (Pictures) take on Fabricio Nascimento (Pictures). Inoue was originally scheduled to take on reigning welterweight King of Pancrase Daizo Ishige (Pictures), who defeated him for the crown last August. However, Ishige sustained non-disclosed injuries in his May 27 CAGE FORCE bout with English standout Dan Hardy (Pictures), leading to him withdraw from the bout.
Nascimento, an Italian-based Brazilian, carries a 17-3 mark built on the regional European circuit. Fighting as a bodogFIGHT representative, Nascimento's prior track record has been rewarded by Pancrase officials, as this bout will now be for provisional King of Pancrase status. Therefore, the winner of the Inoue-Nascimento bout will be next in line to challenge Ishige when he has fully recovered, either late in 2007, or in early 2008.
Last minute "Lion" boosts 7/15 Shooto
In a last minute scramble to restore some star power to the July 15 card at Korakuen Hall, leading Shooto promoter Sustain has added a match between recently dethroned Shooto world champion "Lion" Takeshi Inoue (Pictures) and Holland's Marc Duncan, completing the card.
The event was originally scheduled to be headlined by an anticipated world 132-pound title clash between former champion Ryota Matsune (Pictures) and current ace Akitoshi Hokazono (Pictures). However, as Sherdog.com reported earlier this week, Matsune sustained both a partially torn bicep and broken left rib in training, and was forced to pull out. With the considerably less vogue title bout between 183-pound king Shikou Yamashita (Pictures) and Siyar Bahadurzada, Sustain quickly dug into its bag of tricks to bring in Bahadurzaga's teammate Marc Duncan to face Inoue.
Inoue is coming off his upset loss to Akitoshi Tamura (Pictures) this past May, in which he lost the Shooto 143-pound championship, while Duncan has won five of his last six, with the lone loss coming to star prospect turned UFC standout Thiago Tavares (Pictures). A regular in Shooto Europe, this will be Duncan's second trip to Japan, having been submitted by Koutetsu Boku (Pictures) in Nov. 2001.
Due to the short notice of the bout and compounded by Inoue's recent weight issues, the fight will be contested at a catch-weight of 150 pounds. The former champion struggled to make weight for his title defense against Tamura two months ago, needing additional time to weigh-in, citing the fact that his day job, which consists of washing boats, created the difficulty of keeping his weight down in training.
UFC 101 with Professor TK
This Sunday, Japanese MMA icon Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) will open up the doors of his ALLIANCE-SQUARE gym in Akasaka, Tokyo for his fifth seminar in his TK Shiki Kakuto Gakkai series.
What's TK Shiki Kakuto Gakkai, you ask?
With the cage becoming increasingly en vogue in Japanese MMA circles, and the UFC raising its profile internationally, Kohsaka decided to begin a monthly seminar series featuring video of UFC events as teaching tools. The series began with the first seminar on April 15; utilizing footage of UFC 69, Kohsaka broke down the finer aspects of technique while watching the event.
Kohsaka, the first Japanese fighter to become a regular competitor inside the octagon, will continue the curriculum on Sunday with attention on the ground game. Sunday's syllabus will examine the triangle choke techniques of Anderson Silva and Dean Lister (Pictures), as well as the armbar technique of Gabriel Gonzaga (Pictures). Kohsaka will also utilize several fights from UFC 63-67 to teach other techniques.
Kohsaka has already planned specific seminar topics, and will continue with the TK Shiki Kakuto Gakkai for at least another nine seminars into March 2008.
DEEP strikes back to Osaka for 30th Impact
While Osaka residents have had DEEP sister promotion Real Rhythm in their neck of the woods for quite some time now, the last DEEP Impact card held in Osaka was in April of 2004. That drought will come to an end Sunday, when the promotion heads to Zepp Osaka for 30th Impact.
In mid-May, DEEP boss Shigeru Saeki begin hinting at the particulars of the card on his personal blog, saying that he had already decided on a main event.
"Three or four years ago, it would be a dream fight," Saeki wrote.
Saeki further teased, "For these two fighters, this match will be putting it all on the line in their fighting careers. Well then, just who are these two?"
Those two turned out to be former Pancrase titlist Kiuma Kunioku (Pictures) and former Shooto title challenger and DEEP champion Jutaro Nakao (Pictures). As Saeki stated, the match would have been more potent a couple of years ago when Kunioku and Nakao were considered the elite Japanese competitors in their division, before the rise of fighters such as Shinya Aoki (Pictures) and Akira Kikuchi (Pictures).
However, at this juncture, with both fighters on the wrong side of 30 and a combined 95 fights between them, that only seems to add to the gravity of the bout. Both Osaka natives desperately need a win to avoid losing three in a row, and to show what they have left in the tank amongst a growing crop of Japanese welterweights.
The card will also feature another high profile Osakan in Seichi Ikemoto (Pictures), a PRIDE Bushido veteran and the head promoter and star of Real Rhythm. Ikemoto hasn't competed since last August when Daisuke Nakamura (Pictures) submitted him. His return bout will see him take on two-time DEEP veteran Jeong Ho Lee (Pictures). Another Real Rhythm standout, Ken Hamamura (Pictures), who is coming off of a draw with top Enson Inoue pupil "Gori Chan" Pat Ayuyu, will take on "YABU."
"Mega Megu" bound for Bodog
It's been a long time coming for Megumi Fujii (Pictures).
Female MMA has truly exploded into the consciousness of MMA fans in 2007, and bodogFIGHT has played a pivotal role in that surge in popularity for female fighting. Therefore, it perhaps comes as little surprise that Calvin Ayre's MMA vessel has brought arguably mixed martial arts' most talented female fighter, Megumi Fujii (Pictures), on board.
The undefeated Fujii confirmed to Sherdog.com late last week that she has signed a three-fight deal with bodogFIGHT. Fujii revealed that while she has not been informed of a potential opponent, she does plan to compete in one of the 40-some match-ups for the upcoming bodogFIGHT taping in Vancouver, which has now been delayed until mid-August.
In a bit of irony, Fujii, who has already taken two quick and easy submission wins this year over Masako Yoshida (Pictures) and Cody Welchlin, will now fight alongside multiple-time bodog veterans Hitomi Akano (Pictures), who is actually a student of Fujii, and "Tama Chan" Keiko Tamai (Pictures), who Fujii defeated in Jun. 2006.
Sakakibara resurfaces with Ubon Inc.
On April 20 Nobuyuki Sakakibara resigned as president of Dream Stage Entertainment. However, Sakakibara hasn't quite left the world of sports, as the former PRIDE boss has reemerged, heading up his own reversely-eponymous company, Ubon Inc.
Sakakibara began the company in April 2002 while working as chief producer of Dream Stage Entertainment. However, subsequent promotions to managing director, and then president in 2003 following the death of Naoto Morishita, saw the company take a backseat to Sakakibara's duties in leading DSE.
The company specializes in event production, contract management, advertising and stage casting. Yet Sakakibara has stated it is now his goal to move the company toward emphasizing the field of sports business and management. Speaking on the direction of his company, the former PRIDE boss said the strength that the sport has both in Japan and internationally in the broad media, especially television and the Internet, is incredible, and that sport impacts all people, regardless of age, gender, power or wealth.
With the company currently claiming 10 employees, and 20 million yen (approximately $163,000 American) in working capital, Sakakibara says it is his goal to immediately expand the size of the company, and has started a high profile hiring campaign for middle management employees to aid in corporate expansion.
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