Akira Kikuchi defeated Jake Shields Decision (Unanimous) 5:00 3R
The SHOOTO middleweight title match between Jake Shields and Akira Kikuchi ended by decision. The score was 30-27, 30-29, 30-28 for Kikuchi. I don’t have any problem with this score. Kikuchi fought well compared to other fights, like his contest against Jutaro Nakao in May.
In this title match, I just noticed that Jake Shields looked a bit gassed at the end of every round while Kikuchi was fighting for three rounds like some sort of electric toy which was installed with brand new Energizer batteries. I mean electric robot toy. (Who giggled? Focus your mind on the sport!)
Our photographer, Stephen Martinez, who used to be a teammate of Kikuchi, noticed a bit more than me. Stephen spit out his thought with his very friendly Spanish accent. “Tonight’s Kikuchi was like re-boned Kikuchi," he said. "Brand new Kikuchi. His whole skill looks upgraded very much since I left the gym, or maybe even from his last fight in September.”
On the way back home, I got another story about Kikuchi’s fight style. I met a K’s Factory (this is the name of the Gym which Akira Kikuchi and Rumina Sato belong to) fighter, and he said, “Kikuchi fought Jake once in 2003. And he noticed that his ground game doesn’t work well against Jake. Then he focused on striking more this time. And this strategy worked well tonight. He caught a good rhythm in stand up game. And this rhythm continued on the ground game too.”
Good for Kikuchi. Let’s look at Kikuchi’s fight record: 9-1 (6 subs,1 KO). Looking good! I wonder who’s gonna be a first challenger for this middleweight title. Ray Cooper? Jutaro Nakao is out from SHOOTO . Kikuchi’s biggest rival, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, dislocated his elbow a couple of weeks ago, so he's out. Chris Lytle? Jhun? Looks like there are a lot of tough guy here, too. But it seems they are all busy with other organizations.
Will this Kikuchi Empire last long? Anyway, congrats Akira Kikuchi. Not drinking alcohol for 10 days before the fight worked!
