Cage Force Semifinals Set
With its Cage Force tournament series now righted, Greatest Common
Multiple has set the semifinal pairings for its bantamweight and
featherweight tournament brackets.
GCM had huge success with the lightweight and welterweight Cage Force tournaments in 2007, which saw 155-pound champion Artur Oumakhanov (Pictures) and runner-up Kotetsu Boku (Pictures) both land big-fight deals with Dream, while 170-pound king Yoshiyuki Yoshida (Pictures) and finalist Dan Hardy (Pictures) landed agreements with the UFC. Unfortunately, GCM's much-anticipated bantamweight and featherweight brackets got off to a shaky start this year, with multiple delays and cancellations as a result of injuries, purse demands and a host of other logistical issues.
However, with the June 22 card at Differ Ariake in Tokyo now in the books, the brackets are back on track.
In the 135-pound semifinals, tournament favorite Takeya Mizugaki (Pictures) will take on Taiyo Nakahara (Pictures), and quirky grappler Tetsu Suzuki (Pictures) will face former Shooto world champion Masahiro Oishi (Pictures). The 145-pound tournament semis will see rejuvenated Yuji Hoshino (Pictures) tangle with Grabaka grappler Takeshi Yamazaki (Pictures), and wild child "Wicky Akiyo" Akiyo Nishiura (Pictures) squares off with fellow heavy hitter Fanjin Son (Pictures).
Mizugaki quite literally punched his ticket to the semis earlier this month, cracking Daichi Fujiwara (Pictures) in the first round. Nakahara advanced in April with an inert doctor stoppage over Ryota Uozomi (Pictures). The ever-unorthodox Suzuki showed a new wrinkle in his game in advancing over Katsuya Toida (Pictures) on June 22, blitzkrieging the veteran with punches in only 16 seconds. The tournament's elder statesman at 39 years old, Oishi stopped U.K. standout Paul McVeigh (Pictures) in April in an exciting back-and-forth tilt to make it to the semis.
Hoshino, a former welterweight who is unbeaten in the last three and a half years, upset tournament favorite Antonio Carvalho (Pictures) with solid ground control to take a unanimous decision last weekend and advance to the semifinals. Yamazaki had a tougher-than-expected time in February advancing over little-known Daiki Ozaki (Pictures) via second-round submission, but he has bolstered his stock with a decision over current Pancrase champ Shoji Maruyama (Pictures) in Dream this past May.
Nishiura, who is set for action in the Shooto ring July 18 against Finland's Matteus Lahdesmaki, started his tournament run in style in February by delivering a crushing KO to South Korean slugger Jong Man Kim. Son, a late addition to the tournament, took an unceremonious cut stoppage over Tomohiko Hori (Pictures) on June 22 to advance.
GCM will bring Cage Force back to Differ Ariake in Tokyo on July 21 for one of its EX-Eastern Bound bills, but the tournament semifinals are expected to take place on the Sept. 27 card, also at the usual digs of Differ Ariake.
GCM had huge success with the lightweight and welterweight Cage Force tournaments in 2007, which saw 155-pound champion Artur Oumakhanov (Pictures) and runner-up Kotetsu Boku (Pictures) both land big-fight deals with Dream, while 170-pound king Yoshiyuki Yoshida (Pictures) and finalist Dan Hardy (Pictures) landed agreements with the UFC. Unfortunately, GCM's much-anticipated bantamweight and featherweight brackets got off to a shaky start this year, with multiple delays and cancellations as a result of injuries, purse demands and a host of other logistical issues.
However, with the June 22 card at Differ Ariake in Tokyo now in the books, the brackets are back on track.
In the 135-pound semifinals, tournament favorite Takeya Mizugaki (Pictures) will take on Taiyo Nakahara (Pictures), and quirky grappler Tetsu Suzuki (Pictures) will face former Shooto world champion Masahiro Oishi (Pictures). The 145-pound tournament semis will see rejuvenated Yuji Hoshino (Pictures) tangle with Grabaka grappler Takeshi Yamazaki (Pictures), and wild child "Wicky Akiyo" Akiyo Nishiura (Pictures) squares off with fellow heavy hitter Fanjin Son (Pictures).
Mizugaki quite literally punched his ticket to the semis earlier this month, cracking Daichi Fujiwara (Pictures) in the first round. Nakahara advanced in April with an inert doctor stoppage over Ryota Uozomi (Pictures). The ever-unorthodox Suzuki showed a new wrinkle in his game in advancing over Katsuya Toida (Pictures) on June 22, blitzkrieging the veteran with punches in only 16 seconds. The tournament's elder statesman at 39 years old, Oishi stopped U.K. standout Paul McVeigh (Pictures) in April in an exciting back-and-forth tilt to make it to the semis.
Hoshino, a former welterweight who is unbeaten in the last three and a half years, upset tournament favorite Antonio Carvalho (Pictures) with solid ground control to take a unanimous decision last weekend and advance to the semifinals. Yamazaki had a tougher-than-expected time in February advancing over little-known Daiki Ozaki (Pictures) via second-round submission, but he has bolstered his stock with a decision over current Pancrase champ Shoji Maruyama (Pictures) in Dream this past May.
Nishiura, who is set for action in the Shooto ring July 18 against Finland's Matteus Lahdesmaki, started his tournament run in style in February by delivering a crushing KO to South Korean slugger Jong Man Kim. Son, a late addition to the tournament, took an unceremonious cut stoppage over Tomohiko Hori (Pictures) on June 22 to advance.
GCM will bring Cage Force back to Differ Ariake in Tokyo on July 21 for one of its EX-Eastern Bound bills, but the tournament semifinals are expected to take place on the Sept. 27 card, also at the usual digs of Differ Ariake.
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