Shootors Duke it Out at Battle Mix Tokyo 3
TOKYO, May 26 -- With the busy summer fight season fast
approaching, The Kinema Club in the heart of the Ueno district once
again played host to Shooto's newest promotion, Battle Mix.
The series, now in it's third installment, was designed as a venue where both male and female Shootors could hone their skills, working their way to Class A and B licenses.
The main event featured a Class A battle, pitting hard striking
Atsushi "ATCH Anarchy" Takeuchi against Takehiro Harusaki
(Pictures). Both of these guys have
tasted victory in the Battle Mix ring, with Harusaki winning a
decision over Kenichi
Sawada (Pictures) last March, and Takeuchi knocking
out Kenichi Takeda
(Pictures) at Battle Mix 1.
This battle played out almost exclusively on the feet, only once briefly hitting the mat in the first. Takeuchi again displayed the phenomenal striking that he used to knock out his previous Battle Mix opponent, charging forward and linking punches together in devastating combinations.
Equally as impressive as Takeuchi's hard-hitting combinations were Harusaki's well-timed counters with his right hand. Harusaki knocked Takeuchi down in the first off a well placed counter for a standing-eight count, then continued to time his opponent and connect with the right hand whenever Takeuchi bought the heat his way.
Takeuchi definitely threw more punches, but Harusaki landed the better quality counters. This bout went the three-round allotted limit, and in the end it was the counterpunching Harusaki who impressed the judges more, taking the split decision victory, 29-27 and 29-28 twice.
Yohei Suzuki (Pictures) and Tomonori Taniguchi made their Battle Mix debut in the evening's co-main event bout.
The first round mostly played out in the clinch, with both fighters jockeying for position, while in the second the leather was flying as both Suzuki and Taniguchi opted to slug it out.
On this night, it was Taniguchi's fists that found their mark first. The Mach Dojo fighter knocked Suzuki to the mat with two hard right hands to the chin, but the tough Suzuki managed to beat the count.
Taniguchi could sense that the end was near, and on the restart rushed in with an excellent combination of hands that sent the Paraestra Tokyo fighter to the mat for the second time.
Once again, Suzuki showed the fortitude to beat the count, but the referee ruled that he was not fit to continue, calling an end to the fight at the 2:41 mark, giving Taniguchi the TKO victory.
Atsushi Asano (Pictures), now fighting out of Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures)'s Killer Bee camp, squared off against Junya Kudou in a real striker's war.
Asano used his reach advantage well in this one, tagging his opponent from the outside with stiff jabs and landing clean right hands. The Killer Bee fighter scored the takedowns in this one, but really couldn't capitalize on them before his opponent was able to work back to his feet.
Kodou managed to answer Asano's pressure with big right hand counters, eventually landing a hard one in the second round that cut his opponent above his left eye. Blood began to run profusely, prompting the referee to send Asano to the corner for a doctor check, where it was determined that he could not continue. The fight was called at the 3:21 mark, giving Kodou the victory.
This is a tough loss for Asano; he was winning this fight with his striking and, with only a minute and a half to go until the end of the bout, most likely would have won.
"The Battle of Paraestra" saw Takehiro "Tiger" Ishii square off against Hiroyuki Ikeda.
This played out as the striker versus the grappler. Ikeda connected with some crisp punches from the outside and looked much more savvy on his feet than his opponent, while Ishii did an excellent job of working for submissions on the mat.
In both the first and second round, Ishii took his opponent's back, looking to sink in a rear-naked choke, then transitioned to armbar. Unfortunately for the Paraestra Tokyo fighter, both times his opponent was saved by the bell. Indeed, if Ishii had just a few more seconds, especially in the first round, he could have very well have taken the submission victory.
Ishii's activity on the mat must have impressed the judges, as he was awarded the decision victory.
Yosuke Ebihara (Pictures) displayed some slick grappling in his bout against Kenji Hasoya (Pictures), taking his opponent's back and going for triangles and armbars from the bottom. Hasoya inflicted most of his damage on his feet and from within the guard.
Towards the end of the second, Hasoya passed the guard and worked for a rear-naked choke. The fight went the distance and Hasoya took the majority decision.
Just as with Takehiro Harusaki (Pictures), Hiroharu Matsufuji showed off some excellent counterpunching in his bout against Jyoji Shimada, often tagging his opponent with stinging left hooks and sharp jabs.
After escaping the first Kimura attempt, Matsufuji managed to apply another, this time fully extending it from the top. Shimada shifted his body in an attempt to relieve the pressure, but could not escape and was eventually forced to tap at the 3:40 mark of the second round.
Kyoko Takabayashi (Pictures) took Masako Yoshida (Pictures) to jiu-jitsu school in their bout, scoring a takedown and quickly passing to the side. From here the Smackgirl and Shooto veteran took Yoshida's back and sank in a rear naked choke for the tapout victory at the 1:57 mark of the first. Yoshida never even had a chance to get into this bout.
Kinuka Sasaki's excellent striking was nullified by Wajyutsu Keishukai Tokyo's Mizuho Sato (Pictures)'s takedown and ground game. Once on the mat, Sato passed guard, worked for the step-over triangle, then transitioned to armbar. Sato totally controlled on the mat and Sasaki had to think fast to escape the submission attempts that were thrown at her. The fight went the distance and Sato took the majority decision.
The series, now in it's third installment, was designed as a venue where both male and female Shootors could hone their skills, working their way to Class A and B licenses.
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This battle played out almost exclusively on the feet, only once briefly hitting the mat in the first. Takeuchi again displayed the phenomenal striking that he used to knock out his previous Battle Mix opponent, charging forward and linking punches together in devastating combinations.
The fighter from Tokyo did most of his damage against the ropes and
in the corners, unleashing flurries that Harusaki had to think fast
to avoid.
Equally as impressive as Takeuchi's hard-hitting combinations were Harusaki's well-timed counters with his right hand. Harusaki knocked Takeuchi down in the first off a well placed counter for a standing-eight count, then continued to time his opponent and connect with the right hand whenever Takeuchi bought the heat his way.
Takeuchi definitely threw more punches, but Harusaki landed the better quality counters. This bout went the three-round allotted limit, and in the end it was the counterpunching Harusaki who impressed the judges more, taking the split decision victory, 29-27 and 29-28 twice.
Yohei Suzuki (Pictures) and Tomonori Taniguchi made their Battle Mix debut in the evening's co-main event bout.
The first round mostly played out in the clinch, with both fighters jockeying for position, while in the second the leather was flying as both Suzuki and Taniguchi opted to slug it out.
On this night, it was Taniguchi's fists that found their mark first. The Mach Dojo fighter knocked Suzuki to the mat with two hard right hands to the chin, but the tough Suzuki managed to beat the count.
Taniguchi could sense that the end was near, and on the restart rushed in with an excellent combination of hands that sent the Paraestra Tokyo fighter to the mat for the second time.
Once again, Suzuki showed the fortitude to beat the count, but the referee ruled that he was not fit to continue, calling an end to the fight at the 2:41 mark, giving Taniguchi the TKO victory.
Atsushi Asano (Pictures), now fighting out of Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures)'s Killer Bee camp, squared off against Junya Kudou in a real striker's war.
Asano used his reach advantage well in this one, tagging his opponent from the outside with stiff jabs and landing clean right hands. The Killer Bee fighter scored the takedowns in this one, but really couldn't capitalize on them before his opponent was able to work back to his feet.
Kodou managed to answer Asano's pressure with big right hand counters, eventually landing a hard one in the second round that cut his opponent above his left eye. Blood began to run profusely, prompting the referee to send Asano to the corner for a doctor check, where it was determined that he could not continue. The fight was called at the 3:21 mark, giving Kodou the victory.
This is a tough loss for Asano; he was winning this fight with his striking and, with only a minute and a half to go until the end of the bout, most likely would have won.
"The Battle of Paraestra" saw Takehiro "Tiger" Ishii square off against Hiroyuki Ikeda.
This played out as the striker versus the grappler. Ikeda connected with some crisp punches from the outside and looked much more savvy on his feet than his opponent, while Ishii did an excellent job of working for submissions on the mat.
In both the first and second round, Ishii took his opponent's back, looking to sink in a rear-naked choke, then transitioned to armbar. Unfortunately for the Paraestra Tokyo fighter, both times his opponent was saved by the bell. Indeed, if Ishii had just a few more seconds, especially in the first round, he could have very well have taken the submission victory.
Ishii's activity on the mat must have impressed the judges, as he was awarded the decision victory.
Yosuke Ebihara (Pictures) displayed some slick grappling in his bout against Kenji Hasoya (Pictures), taking his opponent's back and going for triangles and armbars from the bottom. Hasoya inflicted most of his damage on his feet and from within the guard.
Towards the end of the second, Hasoya passed the guard and worked for a rear-naked choke. The fight went the distance and Hasoya took the majority decision.
Just as with Takehiro Harusaki (Pictures), Hiroharu Matsufuji showed off some excellent counterpunching in his bout against Jyoji Shimada, often tagging his opponent with stinging left hooks and sharp jabs.
After escaping the first Kimura attempt, Matsufuji managed to apply another, this time fully extending it from the top. Shimada shifted his body in an attempt to relieve the pressure, but could not escape and was eventually forced to tap at the 3:40 mark of the second round.
Kyoko Takabayashi (Pictures) took Masako Yoshida (Pictures) to jiu-jitsu school in their bout, scoring a takedown and quickly passing to the side. From here the Smackgirl and Shooto veteran took Yoshida's back and sank in a rear naked choke for the tapout victory at the 1:57 mark of the first. Yoshida never even had a chance to get into this bout.
Kinuka Sasaki's excellent striking was nullified by Wajyutsu Keishukai Tokyo's Mizuho Sato (Pictures)'s takedown and ground game. Once on the mat, Sato passed guard, worked for the step-over triangle, then transitioned to armbar. Sato totally controlled on the mat and Sasaki had to think fast to escape the submission attempts that were thrown at her. The fight went the distance and Sato took the majority decision.
