2006 Shooto 167-Pound Rookie Tournament Semifinal
Yuki Konishi (Shooting Gym Kobe) vs. Yoshitaro Niimi (Tsudanuma Dojo)

Over the years, Shooto's 167-pound class has produced some great talent. Roughly a decade ago, we met Hayato Sakurai (Pictures), Jutaro Nakao (Pictures) and Tetsuji Kato (Pictures). Since then, Shinya Aoki (Pictures), Akira Kikuchi (Pictures) and Kuniyoshi Hironaka (Pictures) have all risen to prominence in the Shooto ring. However, the young stars of Shooto's 167-pound class in recent years have been kings amongst fools in a very shallow, underdeveloped weight class, which has seen very little quality depth emerge through the Shooto system.

The good news for Shooto, however, is that last year's rookie tournament gave us runner-up Yoshiyuki Yoshida (Pictures), a very solid prospect, and rookie champion Keita Nakamura (Pictures), who is undefeated in 15 professional fights and now wears the Shooto Pacific-Rim title around his waist.

Even better, of all the 2006 Shooto rookie classes, the 167-pound crop is arguably the strongest. Two key contributors to the strength of this year's 167-pound rookie class are Yoshitaro Niimi and Yuki Konishi.

Both fighters entered this year's Shooto 167-pound rookie tournament with a certain degree of buzz. The Tsudanuma Dojo-trained Niimi came in with two wins, including one over last year's rookie tournament runner-up Yoshiyuki Yoshida (Pictures) in his debut, while Konishi ran wild over a hapless, chinless Yosuke Mikami, en route to a crushing first round knockout via punches in only 62 seconds.

Both men needed strokes of luck to advance to the semifinals of the rookie tournament, as each fought to draws in their quarterfinal bouts — Konishi against Toshihiko Sugimoto and Niimi against Akihiro Yamazaki — and were fortunate to pull the lucky envelope from Kazuhiro Sakamato's hand that contained the figurative golden ticket to the next round of the tournament.

Like many bouts between rookies in Shooto, the extent of what either man can offer in the ring is unknown. Niimi thus far has shown to be fairly competent in all aspects of the game, but lacks any kind of considerably damaging offense. While a good wrestler, Niimi's game seems more predicated on position than pounding, and hasn't shown any aptitude in finishing with submissions. He is serviceable on his feet and has been able to use the clinch effectively to throw knees, especially in his bout with Yoshida, but doesn't appear to have knockout power.

Konishi is perhaps even harder to read. While it's clear that he appears to be a banger by nature, his effectiveness as one is difficult to gauge. Against Yosuke Mikami, it looked as though Mikami had never spent a day sparring in his life. Konishi beat him senseless from pillar to post for just over a minute before a merciful referee stoppage. That thrashing seems to speak more to the futility of Mikami than the potency of Konishi, especially given a ho-hum effort in his last fight against Toshihiko Sugimoto, when Konishi didn't so closely resemble the human steamroller he was against Mikami.

Given the inexperience and the relative unpredictability of such rookies, making an accurate analysis is hard. Nonetheless, I will be brave and pick Niimi by decision. In the ring he will likely be both the bigger, stronger fighter and should have the luxury of choosing where the fight happens. In the stand-up, Niimi is not the punching bag that Mikami is, and his positional style on the ground is not particularly damaging, but can at least provide the difference necessary to win rounds.

A draw is very possible given the two-round format of Class B fights, but Niimi appears to be a little more refined as a fighter and therefore gets my nod. However, whether it is Niimi or Konishi who wins, neither man will have much to celebrate yet. A semifinal win will earn one a spot in the finals against prohibitive tournament favorite Taisuke Okuno, who has shown both an unconquerable fighting spirit and a penchant for destroying his opponents with his fists in his first three professional fights.