Honoring a Tradition: Part 2
Honoring a Tradition
I know, I know. Your interest was excited, and your thirst for
international MMA was tickled but not fully quenched by reading
yesterday's epic preview of the first five of nine bouts for the
Shooto Tradition card set to christen the new and swanky JCB Hall
in Tokyo on Saturday.
Don't worry though, heads: I wouldn't leave you hanging like that.
With the first five down, we take a look at the final four bouts on the bill for Shooto's Road to 20th Anniversary, featuring returning champs, hilariously random matchups, legends in their twilight, French firefighters and Osakan shotcallers.
Takashi Nakakura (Pictures) vs. Ganjo Tentsuku (Pictures)
Shooto's 154-pound world title has some serious lineage. Uno, Gomi, Hansen, Shaolin and Kawajiri have all worn "O Rei do Shooto" around their waist, and you'd be silly not to acknowledge a trend of quality like that.
However, the aforementioned now have made it on the international stage and parlayed their Shooto runs into high-profile lightweight bouts for heavyweight purses that pro Shooto promoters can't serve up. So who is the next Shooto world champ in a proud tradition of lightweights? Who maybe, just maybe, could convert that sort of street cred into primetime payment?
That next champ will be either Takashi Nakakura (Pictures) or Ganjo Tentsuku (Pictures) -- the two fighters vying for the vacant strap in Saturday's main event.
Nakakura has enjoyed a highly unlikely recent reemergence. After his August 2005 loss to Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures), he settled into his role as the head trainer at Shooting Gym Osaka, and it seemed as though his own fight career had taken a backseat to the grooming of young Osakan prizefighters.
In the year and a half since his return to the ring, though, the 31-year-old Nakakura has looked upgraded and improved in seemingly every way imaginable. That's led to him recently knocking off fast-rising, highly touted Shooto products like Mizuto Hirota (Pictures) and Yusuke Endo (Pictures) in dominant fashion with a new and highly effective counterstriking style.
The 26-year-old Tentsuku is rugged, raw and unrelenting. Although his hot streak ended against nemesis Yusuke Endo (Pictures) in February 2007, the bleached bomber got back into the swing of things in a major way last August when he took on the aforementioned Mizuto Hirota (Pictures). Hirota was looking to rebound from his loss to Nakakura and quickly discovered that the aggressive if not outright angry Tentsuku certainly wasn't a steppingstone, as the Purebred Omiya rep took a commanding decision.
What makes this bout even more exciting is that they're not strangers, and a precedent for excitement exists.
Nakakura and Tentsuku met in October 2006 in Nakakura's first bout back from his 14-month layoff. It was a wickedly entertaining fight. Although many bouts in Shooto Japan tend to be almost well matched to a fault, which forces conservative battles, Nakakura and Tentsuku fought a nip-and-tuck, blow-for-blow battle that had several opportunities to finish and eventually ended as a draw.
What is pressing, however, is that the best opportunities to finish belonged to Nakakura. On top of that, Tentsuku, while game and gritty as all get out, is predictable albeit tough.
Nakakura's diligent work with former Shoot Boxing champ Hiromu Yoshitaka has given him a very well refined and powerful counterstriking game to go along with great grappling skills. Tentsuku will need to get this bout on the ground and pound Nakakura from the guard for at least two out of the three rounds to win a decision.
Given how much better Nakakura has become on the feet, that just isn't likely. Nakakura should be able to pick off Tentsuku's rushing attacks with quality counterpunching and preserve the distance with nasty low kicks.
Nakakura takes a rock-solid unanimous decision, takes the Shooto world title home to Osaka and proves even if the sun rises in the East, they can still set it in the West.
Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) vs. David Baron (Pictures)
With Mother's Day approaching, most understand the necessity of the token visit to our family matriarch. Sure, it's probably inconvenient if not outright annoying, but you're obliged to do it. She raised you, after all.
And so the same goes for Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) and his biennial trip into the Shooto ring.
Now entering the twilight of his career, it's hard to talk about Sakurai without being retrospective. We laughed with the former pound-for-pound star when he threw koppo kicks and flying knees and came back against Trigg, and we wept when he had the car accident, got obese and stopped giving a damn for a while.
During his '05 renaissance, Mach fit in nicely in Pride's 161-pound division. Now, with the invention of Dream and his inflation back to 168 pounds, it's hard to see quite how he fits into the broader scheme of things. All that said, the 32-year-old is coming off an entertaining curb stomping of Hidetaka Monma (Pictures) in March, which lasted about 600 punches too long.
David Baron (Pictures) has reigned as Shooto Europe's 168-pound king since he knocked off Finland's Sauli Heilimo in March 2005. But he is probably best known for his appearance in Pride, where he played the deserving albeit overmatched lamb to Takanori Gomi (Pictures), who was fresh off his embarrassing loss to Marcus Aurelio. Since that loss, the Frenchman, who daylights as a firefighter, has gone 4-0, stopping all of his opposition inside the first round.
Because of how sickly and anemic Shooto's 168-pound division is, the winner of this match would seemingly be the most suitable contender to Shinya Aoki (Pictures)'s 168-pound world title. However, that situation is wickedly cloudy.
Sure, Baron would probably be hip if he won. But would Sakurai really want to fight for the title, let alone defend it? Does Aoki, who has been pushed by FEG and Dream as of late, really have any intention of defending his title?
It's enough to make a longtime fan pine for the simpler days of Shooto, when Tetsuji Kato (Pictures) was somehow a viable title contender.
This fight could unfold in a myriad of ways, and none of them are particularly pretty for Baron. Although Sakurai has had many prior instances of miserable, uninspired performances, and although Baron does have some skills, Baron's loopy and erratic punching should make him an easy target even if Sakurai is wearing the hopelessly bulky Shooto pillow gloves.
Although Baron's takedown skills and offensive grappling look good on the European circuit, Sakurai has long proved himself to be a stalwart grappler. No matter how dumpy his physique may look when he turns up for this fight, it is hard to imagine Baron being able to impose much offense. Thankfully for him, the conditions may not line up for him to get turned into Olaf Alfonso (Pictures), but he certainly won't be playing Jake Shields (Pictures) or Ryo Chonan (Pictures) in this one.
Sakurai wins, with the impressiveness of his victory depending on how hard he actually tries.
Don't worry though, heads: I wouldn't leave you hanging like that.
With the first five down, we take a look at the final four bouts on the bill for Shooto's Road to 20th Anniversary, featuring returning champs, hilariously random matchups, legends in their twilight, French firefighters and Osakan shotcallers.
Takashi Nakakura (Pictures) vs. Ganjo Tentsuku (Pictures)
Shooto's 154-pound world title has some serious lineage. Uno, Gomi, Hansen, Shaolin and Kawajiri have all worn "O Rei do Shooto" around their waist, and you'd be silly not to acknowledge a trend of quality like that.
However, the aforementioned now have made it on the international stage and parlayed their Shooto runs into high-profile lightweight bouts for heavyweight purses that pro Shooto promoters can't serve up. So who is the next Shooto world champ in a proud tradition of lightweights? Who maybe, just maybe, could convert that sort of street cred into primetime payment?
That next champ will be either Takashi Nakakura (Pictures) or Ganjo Tentsuku (Pictures) -- the two fighters vying for the vacant strap in Saturday's main event.
Nakakura has enjoyed a highly unlikely recent reemergence. After his August 2005 loss to Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures), he settled into his role as the head trainer at Shooting Gym Osaka, and it seemed as though his own fight career had taken a backseat to the grooming of young Osakan prizefighters.
In the year and a half since his return to the ring, though, the 31-year-old Nakakura has looked upgraded and improved in seemingly every way imaginable. That's led to him recently knocking off fast-rising, highly touted Shooto products like Mizuto Hirota (Pictures) and Yusuke Endo (Pictures) in dominant fashion with a new and highly effective counterstriking style.
The 26-year-old Tentsuku is rugged, raw and unrelenting. Although his hot streak ended against nemesis Yusuke Endo (Pictures) in February 2007, the bleached bomber got back into the swing of things in a major way last August when he took on the aforementioned Mizuto Hirota (Pictures). Hirota was looking to rebound from his loss to Nakakura and quickly discovered that the aggressive if not outright angry Tentsuku certainly wasn't a steppingstone, as the Purebred Omiya rep took a commanding decision.
What makes this bout even more exciting is that they're not strangers, and a precedent for excitement exists.
Nakakura and Tentsuku met in October 2006 in Nakakura's first bout back from his 14-month layoff. It was a wickedly entertaining fight. Although many bouts in Shooto Japan tend to be almost well matched to a fault, which forces conservative battles, Nakakura and Tentsuku fought a nip-and-tuck, blow-for-blow battle that had several opportunities to finish and eventually ended as a draw.
What is pressing, however, is that the best opportunities to finish belonged to Nakakura. On top of that, Tentsuku, while game and gritty as all get out, is predictable albeit tough.
Nakakura's diligent work with former Shoot Boxing champ Hiromu Yoshitaka has given him a very well refined and powerful counterstriking game to go along with great grappling skills. Tentsuku will need to get this bout on the ground and pound Nakakura from the guard for at least two out of the three rounds to win a decision.
Given how much better Nakakura has become on the feet, that just isn't likely. Nakakura should be able to pick off Tentsuku's rushing attacks with quality counterpunching and preserve the distance with nasty low kicks.
Nakakura takes a rock-solid unanimous decision, takes the Shooto world title home to Osaka and proves even if the sun rises in the East, they can still set it in the West.
Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) vs. David Baron (Pictures)
With Mother's Day approaching, most understand the necessity of the token visit to our family matriarch. Sure, it's probably inconvenient if not outright annoying, but you're obliged to do it. She raised you, after all.
And so the same goes for Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) and his biennial trip into the Shooto ring.
Now entering the twilight of his career, it's hard to talk about Sakurai without being retrospective. We laughed with the former pound-for-pound star when he threw koppo kicks and flying knees and came back against Trigg, and we wept when he had the car accident, got obese and stopped giving a damn for a while.
During his '05 renaissance, Mach fit in nicely in Pride's 161-pound division. Now, with the invention of Dream and his inflation back to 168 pounds, it's hard to see quite how he fits into the broader scheme of things. All that said, the 32-year-old is coming off an entertaining curb stomping of Hidetaka Monma (Pictures) in March, which lasted about 600 punches too long.
David Baron (Pictures) has reigned as Shooto Europe's 168-pound king since he knocked off Finland's Sauli Heilimo in March 2005. But he is probably best known for his appearance in Pride, where he played the deserving albeit overmatched lamb to Takanori Gomi (Pictures), who was fresh off his embarrassing loss to Marcus Aurelio. Since that loss, the Frenchman, who daylights as a firefighter, has gone 4-0, stopping all of his opposition inside the first round.
Because of how sickly and anemic Shooto's 168-pound division is, the winner of this match would seemingly be the most suitable contender to Shinya Aoki (Pictures)'s 168-pound world title. However, that situation is wickedly cloudy.
Sure, Baron would probably be hip if he won. But would Sakurai really want to fight for the title, let alone defend it? Does Aoki, who has been pushed by FEG and Dream as of late, really have any intention of defending his title?
It's enough to make a longtime fan pine for the simpler days of Shooto, when Tetsuji Kato (Pictures) was somehow a viable title contender.
This fight could unfold in a myriad of ways, and none of them are particularly pretty for Baron. Although Sakurai has had many prior instances of miserable, uninspired performances, and although Baron does have some skills, Baron's loopy and erratic punching should make him an easy target even if Sakurai is wearing the hopelessly bulky Shooto pillow gloves.
Although Baron's takedown skills and offensive grappling look good on the European circuit, Sakurai has long proved himself to be a stalwart grappler. No matter how dumpy his physique may look when he turns up for this fight, it is hard to imagine Baron being able to impose much offense. Thankfully for him, the conditions may not line up for him to get turned into Olaf Alfonso (Pictures), but he certainly won't be playing Jake Shields (Pictures) or Ryo Chonan (Pictures) in this one.
Sakurai wins, with the impressiveness of his victory depending on how hard he actually tries.
Related Articles