As always, some potent, punchy potpourri from across the sea.

It was over almost five years ago that K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii was arrested and indicted for getting saucy with his taxes, and this past week, he finally made his way to the hoosgow. Meanwhile, the UFC's foremost Japanese fighter Yushin Okami (Pictures) is doing some traveling of his own, but not before giving fans an open workout in Tokyo.

Pancrase has long been known for having some swell merchandise, and now fans all over the world can get a piece of Hybrid Wrestling swag with the new Pancrase online store. However, representing Pancrase will mean something more for Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures) and Daiki Hata (Pictures). After four Pancrase reps went winless on the third season of bodogFIGHT, Nakanishi and "DJ.taiki" will head to Vancouver this July to represent the Home of the Hybrid Wrestlers for the fifth season of the MMA show.

Travel isn't an issue of miles, but pounds for "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura (Pictures), as Shooting Gym Yokohama's wildchild is heading out of the 143-pound weight class. Meanwhile, Muay Thai madman "M-16" Rambaa Somdet hasn't fought MMA for a lengthy moment, but he too is sliding down the scale into Shooto's upstart 115-pound class for a July clash with de facto ace Takehiro Harusaki (Pictures).

And finally, Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) is back in Japan, and set to return to training, but not before he took the time to appear at a video game release party. With HERO'S July card approaching, did Sakuraba's smile let the cat out of the bag, or will "The Gracie Hunter" return to the ring in Yokohama?

K-1 founder Ishii finally in the clink

K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii's legal saga took another turn this week: On June 11, one day after his 54th birthday, the legendary karateka began his prison sentence.

Last November, the Supreme Court of Japan brought an end to Ishii's exhaustive appeals. Supreme Court Justice Kohei Nasu of the Third Petty Bench handed down a peremptory decree, ensuring that Ishii would spend his 22-month sentence in prison. While that sentence has now been altered, Ishii's sentence will still be a relatively stiff one, as he faces a maximum of 20 months in prison, including 60 days under an undecided detention term.

In December 2002, Ishii was arrested and indicted on charges of tax evasion. The former K-1 boss was accused of concealing 900 million yen, approximately $7.8 million dollars, and evading up to 300 million yen, in conjunction with Itoman Co. Ltd.

Two years later Ishii was initially sentenced by the Tokyo District Court to 22 months in prison, but made liberal use of the appeal process over the last two years.

The sentence is stiffer than usual for a tax evasion case in Japan: In 2005, only 156 people were found guilty of tax evasion, and only seven individuals were sentenced to prison time. Many guilty parties are given suspended sentences, and the average prison sentence for a conviction between 15-16 months.

The 54-year-old Ishii, often referred to as Master Ishii, founded K-1 in 1993. He was honored as Black Belt Magazine Man of the Year in January 2003, even after his indictment. Since his indictment, Sadaharu Tanigawa has assumed control of K-1ís parent company Fight Entertainment Group and served as K-1's CEO and matchmaker.

Okami works out for CAGE FORCE crowd

With the biggest fight of his career approaching, middleweight standout Yushin Okami (Pictures) worked out this past Saturday in Tokyo.

Okami, who has since departed for Ireland for his Saturday bout with former UFC champion Rich Franklin (Pictures), took to the cage in front of the audience at GCM's CAGE FORCE 03 card before the event got started. Working out in the octagon with his teammate and fellow UFC competitor "K-Taro" Keita Nakamura (Pictures), Okami demonstrated his varied game in the sparring match, flexing stand-up techniques, strong takedowns, and fluid, dominant grappling skills.

After the bout, Okami addressed the fans and media about his bout in Belfast.

"Franklin is a fighter without holes in his game, but I want to win by ippon again," said Okami. "I think that I can challenge for the title if I clear this great wall."

Okami also weighed in on the upcoming UFC middleweight title match-up between champion Anderson Silva (Anderson Silva' class='LinkSilver'>Pictures) and challenger Nathan Marquardt (Pictures).

"Since there is a connection [between us], I want to defeat Franklin and challenge Anderson," said Okami, referencing his Jan. 2006 win over Silva, a controversial disqualification win in which Silva knocked out Okami with an illegal kick, and a situation which Okami has stated that he wishes to rectify.

In case you need a hybrid-wrestling mug …

Pancrase has long been noted for its wide range of unique apparel.

Sadly, for the most part, their signature fighter and event t-shirts weren't accessible to fans outside of Japan. However, fans around the world now have an opportunity to grab some Pancrase gear of their own.

Pancrase recently opened an online apparel shop, catering to their international fan base. The store offers the official Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling logo on everything from t-shirts, to sweaters, to coffee cups, to messenger bags.

While the store currently offers only the most standard Pancrase logo apparel and merchandise, a Pancrase spokesperson has confirmed that if there are strong sales of the presently offered merchandise, that there is a strong possibility of the store offering the more unique fighter and event shirts which the promotion have become noted for.

DJ.taiki, Nakanishi bound for Bodog's fifth season

And an online store hasn't been Pancrase's only international venture as of late.

Pancrase confirmed their next two representatives to compete in the tapings of bodogFIGHT. With the third season of action winding down, and the already taped fifth season getting ready to go, Pancrase, through their affiliation with bodogFIGHT, will send current middleweight King of Pancrase Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures) and fan favorite "DJ.taiki" Daiki Hata (Pictures) to represent the home of the Hybrid Wrestlers.

The tapings, scheduled for July 27-29 in Vancouver, British Columbia, will see Nakanishi square off with hard-hitting Russian Sultan Tikhayev, while Hata meets season three bodog veteran JR Sims (Pictures).

The 26-year-old Nakanishi has not competed since his 181-pound Pancrase title upset victory over Izuru Takeuchi (Pictures), who represented Pancrase in the third season of bodogFIGHT. Conversely, Hata has already competed twice this year, taking a decision win over former opponent Kentaro Imaizumi (Pictures) in March, and knocking out Jameel Massouh (Pictures) last month.

"Wicky" welcomed to Shooto welterweight class

It's been a bumpy ride as of late for Kenji Kawaguchi (Pictures)'s Shooting Gym Yokohama stars, and "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura (Pictures) is looking to get a fresh start in a new weight class.

The 23-year-old Nishiura broke into the Shooto world rankings with his win over veteran Hideki Kadowaki (Pictures) this past March. With that win, as well as his breakneck, crowd-pleasing style, the 2006 rookie champion appeared poised to become one of the young stars of the weight class. However, Wicky has informed Shooto authorities that he wishes to compete in Shooto's 154-pound welterweight class in the future.

Nishiura's motivations for the weight change are unknown. Since Nishiura has never had any reported problems with making Shooto's 143-pound weight limit, his choice to move up in weight may be fueled by the fact that the 143-pound class also houses recently dethroned world champion "Lion" Takeshi Inoue (Pictures) and Tenkei Fujimiya (Pictures), two prominent competitors who are both friends and training partners of Nishiura.

Nishiura is scheduled to compete at newly recognized Shooto affiliate Warrriors Cup's June 30 event in Stockton, Calif. alongside the aforementioned Fujimiya and fellow Shooto competitors Shinji Sasaki (Pictures) and Kenichiro Togashi (Pictures) against yet-to-be-disclosed opponents. The fight will likely be Nishiura's first at the new weight.

"M-16" bound for 115 in Shooto

Shooto promoter G-STYLE certainly takes its BATTLE MIX theme literally.

With G-STYLE promoting the fourth edition of BATTLE MIX TOKYO to the Tokyo Kinema Club on July 20, the emerging Shooto promoter has lined up a considerably unusual concoction for the main event.

Shooto's developing 115-pound division has been prominently featured in the first three BATTLE MIX TOKYO cards, and that trend will continue, as de facto divisional king Takehiro Harusaki (Pictures) takes on former Muay Thai standout "M-16" Rambaa Somdet.

Somdet gained fame in his native Thailand, where he became infamous for his highly unorthodox style and unusual in-ring antics. Somdet was one of the first Thai fighters to migrate to MMA, establishing a 2-2 MMA mark in DEEP some five years ago. However, not only is his return to MMA curious: the fact that Harusaki-Somdet will be a Class A Shooto bout is something to note as well.

While Somdet does have some amateur Shooto experience, his predicament is an unusual one. Typically fighters must ply their trade in Class B Shooto before being promoted to Class A. However, Somdet's situation is perhaps worthy of comparison to Gilbert Melendez (Pictures), who was given a Class A Shooto license to make his pro Shooto debut, largely due to the fact that he had previously beaten Stephen Palling (Pictures), a then-Shooto world ranked competitor, outside of Shooto sanctioning. Similarly, Somdet defeated Class A Shooto veteran Takeyasu Hirono (Pictures) in December 2002 under the DEEP banner.

Harusaki has recently solidified himself as the king of Shooto's developing 115-pound class with a win over fellow Class A flyweight "ATCH Anarchy" Atsushi Takeuchi (Pictures) last month. With Shooto authorities hoping to organize a 115-pound world title fight by late 2008, this bout takes on a greater importance, as Harusaki will look to solidify his stature on top of the division and as the likely first world champion of the weight class, while a win for Somdet would skyrocket his status from curiosity to contender overnight.

Sakuraba speaks and smiles on video games, possible July fight

An avid video game fan, Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) appeared this past Wednesday at an Xbox 360 promotional event for the release of the new Namco-Bandai role playing game Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream, which is scheduled to hit North American shelves this coming September under the name Eternal Sonata.

In fact, the smiling Sakuraba told the crowd that while in Los Angeles recently, he was greatly dismayed by his hotel room television not having the proper terminals to hook up his Xbox 360, so much so that he went out and bought a new television so he could play video games in his room.

Sakuraba also spoke about the more pertinent point of his L.A. excursion, his rematch with Royce Gracie (Pictures). Sakuraba's comments were blunt, and echoed the sentiments of most MMA observers, as he stated simply that the bout was too short and that neither fighter was able to do any damage to the other.

The most intriguing part of Sakuraba's appearance came when he was asked about his participation in the upcoming HERO'S card on July 16.

After stating that he planned to gradually resume training very soon, a coy Sakuraba replied, "July? July is my birthday." Sakuraba then added, "Is there something happening next month?" before a large smile crept across his face.

However, his grinning should not be construed as a definite assertion that he will compete on July 16. While some of HERO'S 187-pounders such as Melvin Manhoef (Pictures), Taiei Kin (Pictures) and Katsuyori Shibata are all on the card, and scheduled to compete in the 187-pound HERO'S tournament, which Sakuraba is scheduled to participate in, it is possible that the 187-pound tournament may only be an eight-man tournament which will start in September. It is also possible that Sakuraba will be given the star treatment afforded to fighters such as Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures) and Genki Sudo (Pictures), who were given a bye in the opening round of the HERO'S tournament.