Kitaoka Lackluster in Split-Decision Win
TOKYO, Sept. 5 -- Satoru
Kitaoka (Pictures) won the fight but failed to
impress.
Pancrase's No. 1-ranked welterweight needed a split decision to defeat Jason Palacios (Pictures) in the main event of the promotion's Sept. 5 show.
Palacios, a late replacement, landed early with a picture-perfect
right hook that countered a kick. He then followed up with strikes
on the ground, and although Kitaoka is known as a dynamic grappler
-- through past performances and close associations with Shinya Aoki (Pictures), Hidehiko Hasegawa
(Pictures), and Masakazu Imanari (Pictures) -- the Japanese fighter
floundered under Palacios' pressure.
Bloodied and dazed, Kitaoka eventually caught his foe's right leg and struggled for a leglock. Apparently, however, Palacios was unconcerned with the submission attempt, and he continued punching, even from the bottom. After quitting on the leg, Kitaoka transitioned to half guard, where he smothered Palacios and peppered him with strikes. His opponent returned fire from his back, though. In fact, Palacios fought well on the bottom, staying calm and landing strikes as he defended two more leglock attempts.
Palacios, who has fought for the Tokyo Sabres in the IFL, stopped a takedown to open the third round and kicked at his downed opponent's legs. As soon as Kitaoka bounced to his feet, though, the fight returned to its previous pattern. Kitaoka executed another takedown, then played it safe in the half guard, throwing short hooks and hammer fists.
With only a minute remaining, Palacios kicked Kitaoka off and tried to get back to his feet. Kitaoka charged in to keep the fight on the ground and did so, but he ate several well-placed up-kicks while punching and stomping at Palacios before the final bell. In the end Kitaoka won despite his uncharacteristic performance, as two judges scored the bout 29-28 in his favor, and one scored it 30-28 Palacios.
Featherweight King of Pancrase Yoshiro Maeda (Pictures) fought through early adversity to stop Johnny Frachey in the first round. After absorbing a high kick to the temple that nearly knocked him flat, Maeda's autopilot kicked in. He initiated a crucial scramble, and a crowd-pleasing exchange of positions ensued, which included Maeda escaping the mount.
Back on the feet, Maeda played with showy high kicks, and Frachey responded with low kicks and single punches. The game ended 3:38 into the round, when Maeda crumpled his opponent with a punch to the body and then stomped on his head.
In the evening's middleweight contender bout, Izuru Takeuchi (Pictures) used a jab and bodylock takedowns to defeat foul-prone Bryan Rafiq (Pictures). Rafiq's weapons of choice were an occasional overhand left hook and a left jab. Twice he landed two unintentional low blows, and he received a yellow card for holding the ropes while Takeuchi swept him during the second round.
If not for the card, the fight likely would have been a draw. With it, all three judges scored the bout 30-29 Takeuchi, who earned a rematch and a title shot against middleweight King of Pancrase Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures).
Ryo Kawamura (Pictures) also suffered a low blow before rallying against Jaime Fletcher (Pictures), who had take early control of their match with several piercing inside leg kicks. Tightly thrown right- and left-hand counters scored for Kawamura, before a solid right hook connected with Fletcher's chin and dropped him to all fours. The referee intervened, in what may have been an early stoppage, to halt the bout 1:36 into the first round.
Yuji Hoshino (Pictures) made quick work of Eriya Matsuda (Pictures) in a lightweight bout. During a scramble on the mat, Hoshino grabbed an Achilles lock. With little space for Matsuda to maneuver given the pair's proximity to the ropes, the referee interfered at a key moment and stopped the bout to move both fighters to the center just as Hoshino locked in the hold. Perhaps seeing that he'd stopped the fight at a critical juncture, the referee then quickly restarted the bout, only to have Matsuda tap immediately to the already locked-on Achilles hold.
Koji Yoshimoto (Pictures), the Neo-Blood featherweight winner by default, drew with No. 4-ranked Mitsuhisa Sunabe (Pictures) in a classic striker-versus-grappler match. Sunabe, the grappler, pushed for takedown attempt after takedown attempt, opting not to strike. Using picturesque sprawls, Yoshimoto was able to prevent Sunabe's takedowns for a while. Eventually Sunabe's tenacity paid off, however, and he maintained top position for most of the first two rounds.
Yoshimoto stayed active on the bottom, scrambling off his back by sheer will rather than skill. Additionally, Sunabe's repeated takedown attempts left him gassed going into the third round, and Yoshimoto pounding on his opponent throughout the final frame. After two rounds of grappling control by Sunabe and one round of punishing pugilism by Yoshimoto, the fight was scored a split draw: 29-28 Sunabe, 29-29, 29-29.
In what was shaping up to be a complete walkover by Alavutdin Gadzhiyev (Pictures), his middleweight bout against Daisuke Watanabe (Pictures) ended early in the second round due to an unintentional head butt. Until that point Gadzhiyev bowled over his Japanese opponent with a barrage of left and right hooks a la Karate Kid's secret Miyagi technique. Watanabe received only a few of these vicious punches, but he was still floored. He then found himself under his opponent, eating more brutal strikes.
Round two looked to be a repeat of the first before the unintentional clash of heads. It happened in the clinch and opened a large cut over Watanabe's right eye. With the gash bleeding copiously, Pancrase officials stopped the bout. Following a guideline perhaps unique to Pancrase, rather than deeming the bout a no contest, the judges rendered their decisions at the time of the stoppage. Given Gadzhiyev's domination in the first round and the limited action of the second, the Russian won a split decision: 19-18, 19-18, 19-19.
Shinsuke Shoji (Pictures) and Flavio Tanaka (Pictures) both did damage on the feet in their lightweight bout, but Shoji's wrestling proved the deciding factor. The fighters caught each other with winging rights, hard left jabs and even a boot to the face from Tanaka while Shoji was switching levels for a takedown. Shoji's ability to absorb punishment while pushing forward for the takedown and his subsequent top control eventually put him in the mount at the end of the second round. From there he pounded out his exhausted opponent 2:29 into the period.
Pancrase's No. 1-ranked welterweight needed a split decision to defeat Jason Palacios (Pictures) in the main event of the promotion's Sept. 5 show.
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Bloodied and dazed, Kitaoka eventually caught his foe's right leg and struggled for a leglock. Apparently, however, Palacios was unconcerned with the submission attempt, and he continued punching, even from the bottom. After quitting on the leg, Kitaoka transitioned to half guard, where he smothered Palacios and peppered him with strikes. His opponent returned fire from his back, though. In fact, Palacios fought well on the bottom, staying calm and landing strikes as he defended two more leglock attempts.
In the second round Kitaoka, appearing winded, doggedly pursued a
takedown. He was finally successful midway through, but then he did
little damage from his top position in the half guard.
Palacios, who has fought for the Tokyo Sabres in the IFL, stopped a takedown to open the third round and kicked at his downed opponent's legs. As soon as Kitaoka bounced to his feet, though, the fight returned to its previous pattern. Kitaoka executed another takedown, then played it safe in the half guard, throwing short hooks and hammer fists.
With only a minute remaining, Palacios kicked Kitaoka off and tried to get back to his feet. Kitaoka charged in to keep the fight on the ground and did so, but he ate several well-placed up-kicks while punching and stomping at Palacios before the final bell. In the end Kitaoka won despite his uncharacteristic performance, as two judges scored the bout 29-28 in his favor, and one scored it 30-28 Palacios.
Featherweight King of Pancrase Yoshiro Maeda (Pictures) fought through early adversity to stop Johnny Frachey in the first round. After absorbing a high kick to the temple that nearly knocked him flat, Maeda's autopilot kicked in. He initiated a crucial scramble, and a crowd-pleasing exchange of positions ensued, which included Maeda escaping the mount.
Back on the feet, Maeda played with showy high kicks, and Frachey responded with low kicks and single punches. The game ended 3:38 into the round, when Maeda crumpled his opponent with a punch to the body and then stomped on his head.
In the evening's middleweight contender bout, Izuru Takeuchi (Pictures) used a jab and bodylock takedowns to defeat foul-prone Bryan Rafiq (Pictures). Rafiq's weapons of choice were an occasional overhand left hook and a left jab. Twice he landed two unintentional low blows, and he received a yellow card for holding the ropes while Takeuchi swept him during the second round.
If not for the card, the fight likely would have been a draw. With it, all three judges scored the bout 30-29 Takeuchi, who earned a rematch and a title shot against middleweight King of Pancrase Yuichi Nakanishi (Pictures).
Ryo Kawamura (Pictures) also suffered a low blow before rallying against Jaime Fletcher (Pictures), who had take early control of their match with several piercing inside leg kicks. Tightly thrown right- and left-hand counters scored for Kawamura, before a solid right hook connected with Fletcher's chin and dropped him to all fours. The referee intervened, in what may have been an early stoppage, to halt the bout 1:36 into the first round.
Yuji Hoshino (Pictures) made quick work of Eriya Matsuda (Pictures) in a lightweight bout. During a scramble on the mat, Hoshino grabbed an Achilles lock. With little space for Matsuda to maneuver given the pair's proximity to the ropes, the referee interfered at a key moment and stopped the bout to move both fighters to the center just as Hoshino locked in the hold. Perhaps seeing that he'd stopped the fight at a critical juncture, the referee then quickly restarted the bout, only to have Matsuda tap immediately to the already locked-on Achilles hold.
Koji Yoshimoto (Pictures), the Neo-Blood featherweight winner by default, drew with No. 4-ranked Mitsuhisa Sunabe (Pictures) in a classic striker-versus-grappler match. Sunabe, the grappler, pushed for takedown attempt after takedown attempt, opting not to strike. Using picturesque sprawls, Yoshimoto was able to prevent Sunabe's takedowns for a while. Eventually Sunabe's tenacity paid off, however, and he maintained top position for most of the first two rounds.
Yoshimoto stayed active on the bottom, scrambling off his back by sheer will rather than skill. Additionally, Sunabe's repeated takedown attempts left him gassed going into the third round, and Yoshimoto pounding on his opponent throughout the final frame. After two rounds of grappling control by Sunabe and one round of punishing pugilism by Yoshimoto, the fight was scored a split draw: 29-28 Sunabe, 29-29, 29-29.
In what was shaping up to be a complete walkover by Alavutdin Gadzhiyev (Pictures), his middleweight bout against Daisuke Watanabe (Pictures) ended early in the second round due to an unintentional head butt. Until that point Gadzhiyev bowled over his Japanese opponent with a barrage of left and right hooks a la Karate Kid's secret Miyagi technique. Watanabe received only a few of these vicious punches, but he was still floored. He then found himself under his opponent, eating more brutal strikes.
Round two looked to be a repeat of the first before the unintentional clash of heads. It happened in the clinch and opened a large cut over Watanabe's right eye. With the gash bleeding copiously, Pancrase officials stopped the bout. Following a guideline perhaps unique to Pancrase, rather than deeming the bout a no contest, the judges rendered their decisions at the time of the stoppage. Given Gadzhiyev's domination in the first round and the limited action of the second, the Russian won a split decision: 19-18, 19-18, 19-19.
Shinsuke Shoji (Pictures) and Flavio Tanaka (Pictures) both did damage on the feet in their lightweight bout, but Shoji's wrestling proved the deciding factor. The fighters caught each other with winging rights, hard left jabs and even a boot to the face from Tanaka while Shoji was switching levels for a takedown. Shoji's ability to absorb punishment while pushing forward for the takedown and his subsequent top control eventually put him in the mount at the end of the second round. From there he pounded out his exhausted opponent 2:29 into the period.
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