Sherdog.com Preview: PRIDE “Shockwave” ’05 Part II
Makoto Takimoto vs. Sanae Kikuta
Dec 30, 2005
TAKIMOTO: Makoto
Takimoto (Pictures) won the gold medal in the
81-kilogram division in judo at the 2000 Olympic games in Sydney,
Australia. Considered a dark horse for the medal due to his poor
performance in the Asian Judo Championships earlier that year,
Takimoto pulled off upset wins over Alvaro Paseyro of Uruguay by
yusei-gachi (decision), Gaston Garcia of Argentina by ippon
(full point) and Ruslan Seilkhanov of Kazakstan by ippon (full
point).
The medal round was a repeat of the 1995 Asian Judo Championships final, as Cho In-Chul of South Korea fell to Takimoto via yusei-gachi (decision). Though given a 30 percent chance of winning the medal by judo pundits, the four-time Kodokan Cup winner was highly aggressive and took the win over the heavily favored Cho.
Hidehiko Yoshida
(Pictures) as well as Kosai, Watanabe
and boxing coach Riki Onodera are molding Makoto for MMA. Other
than his judo prowess, Takimoto had no other recognized martial
arts combat experience leading up to his appearance in the 2004 New
Year’s Eve show. And recruiting Takimoto to take part in the ’04
PRIDE “Shockwave” event was fellow gold medalist and 2000 Olympic
games participant Yoshida.
Yoshida has emerged as a huge mover and shaker in Japan, using his position to bring Takimoto on board despite the objections of “the powers that be” in judo politics. In his MMA debut, Makoto battled “Sentoryu” Henry Miller (Pictures) of Takada Dojo last New Year’s Eve and beat him by unanimous decision.
KIKUTA: Judo stylist Sanae Kikuta (Pictures) is one of the most accomplished fighters in Japan, yet he’s only been in PRIDE three times (1-1-1) and only once the last seven years. Kikuta has made his name on the Pancrase circuit but he’s also fought in SHOOTO, DEEP, UFC-J and the Lumax Cup. Kikuta is also the 2001 Abu Dhabi 77kg-87kg champion. He sports a 24-6-3 record in MMA.
Sanae fought in the Lumax Cup events where they grapple and strike while wearing gis. He won the 1996 and 1997 Tournament of J Heavyweight Title. Kikuta fought four times to win the ’96 title and three times to win the ’97 belt, defeating some solid competition along the way including Egan Inoue (Pictures) and Masanori Suda (Pictures) (twice).
These tournaments sometimes also featured such recognizable fighters as Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures), Alexander Otsuka (Pictures), Akira Shoji (Pictures) and Murakami Kazunari. Kikuta made his PFC debut ’98 against Renzo Gracie (Pictures) in a long and somewhat boring bout, losing to Gracie by guillotine choke after what seemed like an hour.
Returning to PRIDE 4, Kikuta fought to a draw with Daijiro Matsui (Pictures). After a bout in SHOOTO with Paul Jones, Kikuta made his way to Pancrase.
He met many solid foreign fighters including Murilo Bustamante (Pictures), Travis Fulton, and Alex Stiebling (Pictures), as well as fellow countrymen Yoshiki Takahashi (Pictures), Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures), Minoru Suzuki and Ryushi Yanagisawa. His UFC debut in ’00 was a successful one, submitting Eugene Jackson. But a move to the UFC was not to be and Sanae returned to Pancrase and rattled off another five wins (1 loss, 1 NC).
2001 was a year that many Japanese fighters were not doing well in the Abu Dhabi Submission Fighting Championships, especially against Brazilians. In that year’s event, Takanori Gomi (Pictures) was subbed by Matt Serra (Pictures); Akihiro Gono (Pictures) was subbed by Antonio Schembri (Pictures); Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures) was subbed by Ricardo Liborio (Pictures); Hiroyuki Abe (Pictures) was subbed by Robson Moura (Pictures); Genki Sudo (Pictures) was beaten by Rodrigo Gracie on points; Tetsuji Kato (Pictures) was subbed by Leonardo Silva dos Santos; Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) was beaten by Rolles Gracie on points; and Yoshiaki Yatsu subbed by Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures). And all of these defeats took place in the Elimination Round.
Kikuta was Japan’s only hope that year and he came through. Sanae beat Evan Tanner (Pictures) on points in Elimination Round, beat Australian Chris Brown on points in quarterfinals, beat Egan Inoue (Pictures) on points in the semifinals and beat Saulo Ribeiro on points in the final. However when he returned to PRIDE 20 in ’02, he was mauled by Alexander Otsuka (Pictures) and though he won a decision, he left with a bad taste in his mouth and has not been back since.
In the last few years Kikuta fought outside Pancrase just once, in the UFO Legend show, where he was KO’d by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures). Kikuta has been away from the ring for just over a year but he’s faced stiff competition in his last five fights. Kikuta battled three UFC veterans, defeating Elvis Sinosic and Keith Rockel (Pictures) by decision. He also fought to a draw with Yuki Kondo (Pictures) before being KO’d by Kondo in November of ’03.
MY PICK: Kikuta. This is a bout the more experienced Kikuta should win. He’s a solid grappler and truly wants to get a submission win over an Olympic gold medalist. Takimoto wants to step up his striking game, stating he knew fans were not pleased when he went to the ground with Dong Sik Yoon (Pictures). Sanae has a lot riding on this bout in terms of respect. He feels, as many Japanese fans feel, that he is an uncrowned Japanese champion of submission fighting. Well, he’s on the biggest stage in the world so it’s time to prove it. I feel it will be Kikuta by submission in the second round.
The medal round was a repeat of the 1995 Asian Judo Championships final, as Cho In-Chul of South Korea fell to Takimoto via yusei-gachi (decision). Though given a 30 percent chance of winning the medal by judo pundits, the four-time Kodokan Cup winner was highly aggressive and took the win over the heavily favored Cho.
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Yoshida has emerged as a huge mover and shaker in Japan, using his position to bring Takimoto on board despite the objections of “the powers that be” in judo politics. In his MMA debut, Makoto battled “Sentoryu” Henry Miller (Pictures) of Takada Dojo last New Year’s Eve and beat him by unanimous decision.
He returned to the PFC and faced Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures), losing by decision at the
“Critical Countdown” ’05 show. Tamura was aggressive and had a more
complex game than Miller so it was a step up in competition. In
October at PRIDE 30, Takimoto battled Korean judoka Dong Sik Yoon (Pictures). Makoto, facing someone as
inexperienced as himself, came out on top, again by decision.
KIKUTA: Judo stylist Sanae Kikuta (Pictures) is one of the most accomplished fighters in Japan, yet he’s only been in PRIDE three times (1-1-1) and only once the last seven years. Kikuta has made his name on the Pancrase circuit but he’s also fought in SHOOTO, DEEP, UFC-J and the Lumax Cup. Kikuta is also the 2001 Abu Dhabi 77kg-87kg champion. He sports a 24-6-3 record in MMA.
Sanae fought in the Lumax Cup events where they grapple and strike while wearing gis. He won the 1996 and 1997 Tournament of J Heavyweight Title. Kikuta fought four times to win the ’96 title and three times to win the ’97 belt, defeating some solid competition along the way including Egan Inoue (Pictures) and Masanori Suda (Pictures) (twice).
These tournaments sometimes also featured such recognizable fighters as Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures), Alexander Otsuka (Pictures), Akira Shoji (Pictures) and Murakami Kazunari. Kikuta made his PFC debut ’98 against Renzo Gracie (Pictures) in a long and somewhat boring bout, losing to Gracie by guillotine choke after what seemed like an hour.
Returning to PRIDE 4, Kikuta fought to a draw with Daijiro Matsui (Pictures). After a bout in SHOOTO with Paul Jones, Kikuta made his way to Pancrase.
He met many solid foreign fighters including Murilo Bustamante (Pictures), Travis Fulton, and Alex Stiebling (Pictures), as well as fellow countrymen Yoshiki Takahashi (Pictures), Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures), Minoru Suzuki and Ryushi Yanagisawa. His UFC debut in ’00 was a successful one, submitting Eugene Jackson. But a move to the UFC was not to be and Sanae returned to Pancrase and rattled off another five wins (1 loss, 1 NC).
2001 was a year that many Japanese fighters were not doing well in the Abu Dhabi Submission Fighting Championships, especially against Brazilians. In that year’s event, Takanori Gomi (Pictures) was subbed by Matt Serra (Pictures); Akihiro Gono (Pictures) was subbed by Antonio Schembri (Pictures); Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures) was subbed by Ricardo Liborio (Pictures); Hiroyuki Abe (Pictures) was subbed by Robson Moura (Pictures); Genki Sudo (Pictures) was beaten by Rodrigo Gracie on points; Tetsuji Kato (Pictures) was subbed by Leonardo Silva dos Santos; Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) was beaten by Rolles Gracie on points; and Yoshiaki Yatsu subbed by Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures). And all of these defeats took place in the Elimination Round.
Kikuta was Japan’s only hope that year and he came through. Sanae beat Evan Tanner (Pictures) on points in Elimination Round, beat Australian Chris Brown on points in quarterfinals, beat Egan Inoue (Pictures) on points in the semifinals and beat Saulo Ribeiro on points in the final. However when he returned to PRIDE 20 in ’02, he was mauled by Alexander Otsuka (Pictures) and though he won a decision, he left with a bad taste in his mouth and has not been back since.
In the last few years Kikuta fought outside Pancrase just once, in the UFO Legend show, where he was KO’d by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures). Kikuta has been away from the ring for just over a year but he’s faced stiff competition in his last five fights. Kikuta battled three UFC veterans, defeating Elvis Sinosic and Keith Rockel (Pictures) by decision. He also fought to a draw with Yuki Kondo (Pictures) before being KO’d by Kondo in November of ’03.
MY PICK: Kikuta. This is a bout the more experienced Kikuta should win. He’s a solid grappler and truly wants to get a submission win over an Olympic gold medalist. Takimoto wants to step up his striking game, stating he knew fans were not pleased when he went to the ground with Dong Sik Yoon (Pictures). Sanae has a lot riding on this bout in terms of respect. He feels, as many Japanese fans feel, that he is an uncrowned Japanese champion of submission fighting. Well, he’s on the biggest stage in the world so it’s time to prove it. I feel it will be Kikuta by submission in the second round.
