Dream Welcomes Featherweights
Shinashi Gives Up 20
Jordan Breen May 9, 2008
Shinashi Gives Up 20 Pounds in Deep
The super-stacked May 19 Deep card at Korakuen Hall has now been polished off on paper with the addition of its pint-sized princess.
Adding yet another champion to Deep's deep lineup, 99-pound Deep
female champion Satoko
Shinashi (Pictures) will take on a considerably
larger adversary when she faces converted pro-wrestler Mai Ichii in a 121-pound affair.
Shinashi captured Deep's inaugural 99-pound championship in February, defeating both Fukuko Hamada (Pictures) and Sachiko Yamamoto (Pictures) to take the crown. Ichii, despite having a 20-plus-pound weight advantage, will be in the deep end competitively speaking, having only one real MMA bout. She dropped a unanimous decision loss to Emi Fujino (Pictures) in November 2006.
A new Deep middleweight champion will also be crowned. Riki Fukuda (Pictures), Yuya Shirai (Pictures), Daijiro Matsui (Pictures) and Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures) will choose their semifinal opponents lottery style at the beginning of the evening and then fight through until one man prevails.
In non-title action, Deep's welterweight king Hidehiko Hasegawa (Pictures) will face journeyman Hiroki Nagaoka (Pictures). In Deep's middleweight tournament reserve bout, former divisional champion Ryuta Sakurai (Pictures), who lost to tournament favorite Riki Fukuda (Pictures) in the opening round in February, will fight Young "Ryo" Choi. Another former champion, Jutaro Nakao (Pictures), will take on Shigetoshi Iwase (Pictures).
MARS' ‘Road to the God' Crosses Through FACE
Saturday at the swanky digs of Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, MARS will quietly stage another offering. This one is strikingly titled "The Road to the God."
Although much of the card will be fleshed out with bouts from the Blast Bout tournament, which employs kickboxing rules with MMA gloves, the bill will feature a small sampling of MMA action.
In the evening's main event, Takanori Gomi (Pictures) understudy Yuki Inoue (Pictures) will meet ultra-tough South Korean Myeon Ho Bae (Pictures).
The once-beaten Inoue, a Kiguchi Combat Wrestling disciple, took a methodical if not exciting majority decision over Yoshitomo Watanabe (Pictures) in March to get back into the win column. Bae has fought much of his career in Japan for the MARS promotion. But it was in March fighting for the upstart KHAN organization in his native South Korea that he scored his biggest win to date, taking a well-earned decision over gritty Russian Erik Oganov (Pictures) and pushing his win streak to four in a row.
In the two other MMA bouts on the card, Hiroyuki Nozawa (Pictures) will meet William Animal (Pictures) (William Animal (Pictures)' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures), and Si Won Pek will take on the colorfully nicknamed Majestic Cyborg.
Masuda to War in Warsaw
With the global realm having held little success so far, Abe Ani Combat Club product Yusuke Masuda (Pictures) will try his luck on the international stage once again this Friday. He'll compete in an eight-man, one-night light heavyweight tournament put on by top Polish promoter KSW at the Torwar Arena in Warsaw.
Masuda has fought outside of Japan twice before with dismal results. In his June 2006 stateside encounter with Michael Patt (Pictures), he was dropped and pounded out in 20 seconds. In his September 2006 encounter with Brazilian Dimitri Wanderley in Sao Paulo, he lasted only 38 seconds before being starched.
Masuda's competition figures to get no easier. Should he best native Pole Antoni Chmielewski in the opening round, the Hiroyuki Abe (Pictures) (Hiroyuki Abe (Pictures)' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures) pupil would face a field containing German slugger Martin Zawada, up-and-coming Brazilian Vitor Nobrega and former KSW tournament winner Alexey Oleinik (Pictures).
The card will also feature top Polish prospect Mamed "Cannibal" Khalidov taking on Lithuanian Valdas Pocevicius, and UFC veteran Jordan Radev (Pictures) fighting Polish veteran Grzegorz Jakubowski in what will be the retirement bout for Poland's "Mighty Bull."
Takase Looks for Another Upset Against Martin
Yusuke Masuda (Pictures) isn't the only Japanese fighter in for tough international competition. Japanese journeyman Daiju Takase (Pictures), best known for his improbable victory over pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva (Anderson Silva' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures), will return to action June 14 against UFC veteran Terry Martin (Pictures) on Adrenaline MMA's debut offering at the Sears Centre in Chicago.
A source close to Takase confirmed to Sherdog.com that the well-traveled 30-year-old has accepted the bout against the stout Chicago native.
Takase has fought only twice in the last three years. Both of those bouts were vicious and brutal knockout losses to Daniel Acacio (Pictures) in April 2005 and Hector Lombard (Pictures) in March 2006. However, Takase has recently had success in related competition, first winning a kickboxing bout in the J-Network ring last November and then earning just under $10,000 USD for 97 seconds work in a grappling match against Toru Harai (Pictures) in March. Takase took the easy win over Harai via triangle choke in the main event of Kenichi Yamamoto (Pictures)'s revived Club Fight promotion.
Martin, 27, is coming off back-to-back losses to Chris Leben (Pictures) and Marvin Eastman (Pictures) inside the UFC Octagon. He will look to rebound in front of his hometown Chicago crowd against the Japanese veteran.
The super-stacked May 19 Deep card at Korakuen Hall has now been polished off on paper with the addition of its pint-sized princess.
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Shinashi captured Deep's inaugural 99-pound championship in February, defeating both Fukuko Hamada (Pictures) and Sachiko Yamamoto (Pictures) to take the crown. Ichii, despite having a 20-plus-pound weight advantage, will be in the deep end competitively speaking, having only one real MMA bout. She dropped a unanimous decision loss to Emi Fujino (Pictures) in November 2006.
The May 19 Deep 35 Impact card will also feature Masakazu Imanari (Pictures) defending his featherweight crown
against Dokonjonosuke
Mishima (Pictures) and Kazunori Yokota (Pictures) defending his title against Pang
Sung Hwan.
A new Deep middleweight champion will also be crowned. Riki Fukuda (Pictures), Yuya Shirai (Pictures), Daijiro Matsui (Pictures) and Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures) will choose their semifinal opponents lottery style at the beginning of the evening and then fight through until one man prevails.
In non-title action, Deep's welterweight king Hidehiko Hasegawa (Pictures) will face journeyman Hiroki Nagaoka (Pictures). In Deep's middleweight tournament reserve bout, former divisional champion Ryuta Sakurai (Pictures), who lost to tournament favorite Riki Fukuda (Pictures) in the opening round in February, will fight Young "Ryo" Choi. Another former champion, Jutaro Nakao (Pictures), will take on Shigetoshi Iwase (Pictures).
MARS' ‘Road to the God' Crosses Through FACE
Saturday at the swanky digs of Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, MARS will quietly stage another offering. This one is strikingly titled "The Road to the God."
Although much of the card will be fleshed out with bouts from the Blast Bout tournament, which employs kickboxing rules with MMA gloves, the bill will feature a small sampling of MMA action.
In the evening's main event, Takanori Gomi (Pictures) understudy Yuki Inoue (Pictures) will meet ultra-tough South Korean Myeon Ho Bae (Pictures).
The once-beaten Inoue, a Kiguchi Combat Wrestling disciple, took a methodical if not exciting majority decision over Yoshitomo Watanabe (Pictures) in March to get back into the win column. Bae has fought much of his career in Japan for the MARS promotion. But it was in March fighting for the upstart KHAN organization in his native South Korea that he scored his biggest win to date, taking a well-earned decision over gritty Russian Erik Oganov (Pictures) and pushing his win streak to four in a row.
In the two other MMA bouts on the card, Hiroyuki Nozawa (Pictures) will meet William Animal (Pictures) (William Animal (Pictures)' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures), and Si Won Pek will take on the colorfully nicknamed Majestic Cyborg.
Masuda to War in Warsaw
With the global realm having held little success so far, Abe Ani Combat Club product Yusuke Masuda (Pictures) will try his luck on the international stage once again this Friday. He'll compete in an eight-man, one-night light heavyweight tournament put on by top Polish promoter KSW at the Torwar Arena in Warsaw.
Masuda has fought outside of Japan twice before with dismal results. In his June 2006 stateside encounter with Michael Patt (Pictures), he was dropped and pounded out in 20 seconds. In his September 2006 encounter with Brazilian Dimitri Wanderley in Sao Paulo, he lasted only 38 seconds before being starched.
Masuda's competition figures to get no easier. Should he best native Pole Antoni Chmielewski in the opening round, the Hiroyuki Abe (Pictures) (Hiroyuki Abe (Pictures)' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures) pupil would face a field containing German slugger Martin Zawada, up-and-coming Brazilian Vitor Nobrega and former KSW tournament winner Alexey Oleinik (Pictures).
The card will also feature top Polish prospect Mamed "Cannibal" Khalidov taking on Lithuanian Valdas Pocevicius, and UFC veteran Jordan Radev (Pictures) fighting Polish veteran Grzegorz Jakubowski in what will be the retirement bout for Poland's "Mighty Bull."
Takase Looks for Another Upset Against Martin
Yusuke Masuda (Pictures) isn't the only Japanese fighter in for tough international competition. Japanese journeyman Daiju Takase (Pictures), best known for his improbable victory over pound-for-pound kingpin Anderson Silva (Anderson Silva' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures), will return to action June 14 against UFC veteran Terry Martin (Pictures) on Adrenaline MMA's debut offering at the Sears Centre in Chicago.
A source close to Takase confirmed to Sherdog.com that the well-traveled 30-year-old has accepted the bout against the stout Chicago native.
Takase has fought only twice in the last three years. Both of those bouts were vicious and brutal knockout losses to Daniel Acacio (Pictures) in April 2005 and Hector Lombard (Pictures) in March 2006. However, Takase has recently had success in related competition, first winning a kickboxing bout in the J-Network ring last November and then earning just under $10,000 USD for 97 seconds work in a grappling match against Toru Harai (Pictures) in March. Takase took the easy win over Harai via triangle choke in the main event of Kenichi Yamamoto (Pictures)'s revived Club Fight promotion.
Martin, 27, is coming off back-to-back losses to Chris Leben (Pictures) and Marvin Eastman (Pictures) inside the UFC Octagon. He will look to rebound in front of his hometown Chicago crowd against the Japanese veteran.
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