Fighters Only

Issue 009

November 2005

Welterweight and Lightweight Tournaments

September 25, 2005 Ariake Colosseum, Tokyo, Japan

Two eight-man tournaments in one day — where both lightweights and welterweights battled it out for two new belts created by Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE), in what I consider to be one of their best initiatives yet. It is usually the heavyweight and middleweight fighters who are favoured by the spotlight, but with the creation of these two new weight divisions our attention will now also be focussed towards these lighter-weight fighters.

The finals for both weight divisions have been scheduled for December 31 in the grand finale at the end of the year, where we expect to find out who is the best in each category. The finals will consist of a Brazil vs USA showdown in the welterweight category and a Japan vs Japan face-off in the lightweight category.

With fantastic fights and outstanding protagonists, I couldn’t believe how fast this tournament happened nor how exciting the fighters’ performances were. Exactly five KOs, four submissions and four decisions defined the best action in a night packed full of

deft moves.

There were 14 fights (including the alternates) on the day, with the welterweight tournament starting first.

WELTERWEIGHT TOURNAMENTS

Paulo Filho vs Ryuta Sakurai

Some of the fighters who took part in the tournament are usually seen in the middleweight division but were included after cutting enough weight. Such was the case with the Brazilian alternate Paulo Filho, who had more problems dropping from 98kg to just 83kg than he did when he managed to armbar the Japanese Ryuta Sakurai in 3:49 of round one.

Akihiro Gono vs Daniel Acacio

The first bout in the welterweight category was a confrontation between the hope of Chute Boxe Daniel Acacio and the slippery Akihiro Gono from Japan. Both fighters had moments of advantage in the first round, but Acacio showed a little more aggression when he applied a knockdown over Gono. Gono did well on the ground, managed to free himself and then started work on his counter-attack. Gono’s strikes and low kicks were also a deciding factor in this fight, which at the close of round one showed a gassed Acacio. Round two was a little similar but the exhausted Acacio was forced to work on the ground from the bottom position. Gono took a mount position to dispatch the Brazilian Acacio by unanimous decision after two rounds.

Dan Henderson vs Ryo Chonan

The second fight display again involved a fighter used to being seen in the middleweight division. This was Dan Henderson, the aggressive wrestler, who took on Japanese idol Ryo ‘The Piranha’ Chonan, one of Japan’s hopes for success in conquering this tournament. But within 25 seconds of the first round Henderson landed two right-straight punches that knocked Chonan down to the canvas, winning by KO and getting himself a place on the final.

Ikuhisa Minowa vs Phil Baroni

Ikuhisa Minowa and Phil Baroni collided for the second time this year in the third quarterfinal. Minowa had been KO’d in their first fight, and when he stepped up on the ring it was not just his appearance that had changed (with a totally shaven head) but his fighting attitude was going to be different against the stronger Baroni. They squared-off and Minowa faked his willingness to trade punches on the feet, but when Baroni landed, Minowa took a shot and brought Baroni down. The fight lasted nearly ten minutes with Minowa in Baroni’s guard, landing punches and trying some arm locks. Since neither fighter was really effective on the ground I thought the fight should be brought back to the feet, and the referee did just that. Minowa worked to keep the fight on the feet, but the most dangerous moment was when he got the mount position and sunk an arm lock. Baroni is confident about his wrestling skills and he wouldn’t have believed that Minowa could take him down; Minowa did and Baroni didn’t know how to work from the bottom. Close to the end of round one Baroni reversed Minowa and went to the top, but the missed soccer kick attempts on Minowa’s head and a few punches were the only real aggression shown by Baroni in the round.

Round two was a replay of round one, as Minowa refused to fight on the feet and took Baroni down several times. Once again on the ground close to the end of the round, Baroni got top position and tried to maul Minowa, who suffered a bit but survived until the bell sounded. The result was a unanimous decision in favour of Ikuhisa Minowa.

Murilo Bustamante vs Masanori Suda

The last quarterfinal was a clash between Brazilian Top Team’s Murilo Bustamante and Shooto light-heavyweight belt holder Masanori Suda. Bustamante already knew that he could be the only Brazilian to proceed, since Acacio lost the first quarterfinals of the night. Bustamante started to show his superiority by clinching and taking Suda down. Suda had the speed and moves to come back to his feet. Suda didn’t want to fight on the ground, but Bustamante didn’t refuse to trade punches and connected a combo (a jab and straight) that fooled Suda. However, in a moment of pure intelligence, Suda threw a spinning-punch that connected with Bustamante’s face, sending him to the ground. Suda went ahead to punch Bustamante, but Bustamante worked with his long legs to control Suda and, in turn, attacked Suda with a tight armbar. There were a few seconds of tension then Suda screamed; the referee jumped in and stopped the fight at 3:20 of round one.

Suda vs Bustamante

Suda vs Bustamante was the last fight before the lightweight tournament began. In previous tournaments Pride didn’t establish brackets but I think this new formula is better, because fighters can have a rest before their second fight of the night.

LIGHTWEIGHT TOURNAMENTS

Dokonjonosuke Mishima vs Charles Bennett

The first match of the lightweight tournament was the alternate fight, where Dokonjonosuke Mishima leg locked the limited Charles Bennett in 4:04 of round one to win the fight by submission. It’s impressive that fighters like Bennett are able to participate in an important tournament like Bushido and other fighters such as Vitor ’Shaolin’ Ribeiro, for example, are so far away.

Hayato Sakurai vs Jens Pulver

Jens Pulver and Hayato Sakurai fought the first quarterfinal in a match where 99% of the battle took place on the feet. Sakurai kicked Pulver to devastating effect, while Pulver had two good moments in the fight when he shook Sakurai’s head with punches. Sakurai’s kicks gave him an advantage over Pulver, who was TKO’d in 8:56 of round one by a body shot, a knee and several strikes that dropped him to the mat.

Joachim Hansen vs Yves Edwards

Joachim Hansen won by split decision over Yves Edwards in a fight where I, personally, expected more. I knew that on the feet Edwards would have a chance to knock Hansen out and that Hansen had, with his ground ‘n’ pound style, a way to do the same to Edwards. But during the two rounds Edwards didn’t get a chance to pass over the hands of Hansen, which blocked all hand strikes, while Hansen took Edwards down and worked effectively by passing the guard and putting a knee to Edwards’ stomach. In the second round Hansen suplexed Edwards and confirmed his superiority by controlling the whole of round two.

I just don’t understand why one of the judges gave his vote to Edwards: even though he’s a good striker, none of his punches connected with Hansen’s face.

Takanori Gomi vs Tatsuya Kawajiri

To prove who’d take the title of the 21st Century’s boy, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Takanori Gomi provided a fight full of expectation. Both these Japanese stars built their careers through Shooto, in the same category but at different times. And when, at the last Pride, Kawajiri challenged Gomi to make their fight in the quarterfinals, there was only one certain outcome — we were going to see an explosion in the ring when they met.

Kawajiri started the fight by landing a dangerous but inaccurate right-straight (over-hand) punch that missed — we would see Kawajiri landing this same punch several times during the fight, but not one connected. Gomi’s calmness and superb boxing skills undermined any resistance from Kawajiri, who realised that trading punches on the feet against Gomi was a mistake. Kawajiri shot but it was inaccurate too, and Gomi managed to corner Kawajiri with punches then landed knees, which put Kawajiri on the ground. Gomi took Kawajiri’s back with two hooks and mauled him until Gomi saw an opening and sunk a rear naked choke that finished the contest at 7:42 of round one.

Luiz Azeredo vs Naoyuki Kotani

Eleven seconds, half of what Henderson needed to dispatch Chonan, was all Luiz Azeredo needed to smash ZST competitor Naoyuki Kotani with a right-straight punch on the chin followed by a soccer kick to the head, resulting in a win by KO.

WELTERWEIGHT SEMI-FINALS

Dan Henderson vs Akihiro Gono

The welterweight semi-finals took place shortly after the last lightweight quarterfinal, and this time Gono didn’t get to use his circling-around-the-ring tactic efficiently. Henderson rocked Gono on the feet with heavy punches and when the fight went to the ground he kept up the pressure. The only good moments for Gono were when the referee gave a yellow card to Henderson for an accidental head butt and when he connected with a high kick. But Henderson was determined, and guaranteed his place in the final with a right cross that KO’d Gono at 7:58 of round one.

With these two KOs Henderson accomplished what he had promised before the tournament when he stated: “I came here to knock my opponents out!”

Murilo Bustamante vs Ikuhisa Minowa

The second semi-final was a fight between former team-mates — Minowa joined Bustamante in BTT in 2003. Bustamante wanted to prove that he had the better game to face Henderson in the finals and, even though Minowa had the crowd on his side, he schooled Minowa during the whole fight. The pace dictated by Bustamante was too much for Minowa, who couldn’t avoid the takedowns but survived bravely when Bustamante sunk an arm triangle. Minowa escaped but didn’t succeed in turning the fight to his advantage. It was just a matter of time until the end of the fight, and it came when Bustamante took advantage of a hesitation from Minowa in butt scoot position to soccer kick Minowa’s face twice at 9:51 of round one — realising the goal of seeing a Japanese fighter in the welterweight finals.

“I’d prefer not to fight against Minowa, but we’re professional fighters. Now I’ll prepare myself to face Henderson and give continuity to our first fight, which didn’t finish”

On December 31 we’ll see a re-match of the Pride Final Conflict 2003 superfight, where an accidental head butt – alleged by Bustamante — resulted in a quick KO in Henderson’s favour.

LIGHTWEIGHT SEMI-FINALS

Joachim Hansen vs Hayato Sakurai

The first lightweight semi-final saw Hayato ‘Mach’ Sakurai walking into the ring against Norwegian Joachim Hansen. As in his first fight of the day, Sakurai was determined to guide the pace with low kicks. Hansen traded punches, but what he wanted was to fight on the ground with Sakurai underneath him. Hansen had a few good moments, however some connecting low kicks and a knock down by Sakurai unbalanced him. A few times during the fight Hansen connected two or three punches from the top position — when the fight was on the ground — inside Sakurai’s guard, but not one of them was enough to hurt the warrior Sakurai.

In the second round Sakurai was taken down and had to free himself from a side control position, he was then able to knee, kick and punch Hansen to take a unanimous decision, that in my opinion could have been a split decision to either fighter.

Takanori Gomi vs Luiz Azeredo

Gomi, the Japanese Shooto legend, took on Chute Boxer Azeredo in the last fight of the night. Both fighters had faced each other at Bushido 7 where Gomi won by KO.

In this second match — the best of the event — they started with a frank trade of punches and Gomi suffered the first sign of a KO when Azeredo connected, forcing Gomi to clinch. After a quick recovery it was time for Gomi to rock Azeredo with punches. At exactly 1.28 of the first round Azeredo took Gomi down and we realised that Gomi didn’t have any good ground tactics — he just closed his guard and grabbed Azeredo’s body to stall the fight and returned to the feet. As a result, he was handed a blue card for stalling.

Gomi would receive one more card, a green one this time, for the same reason. At this stage Azeredo had already lost one tooth due to the earlier trade of punches. Back on their feet, Azeredo unleashed a fly knee that missed and Gomi took the advantage to connect a right cross followed by several strikes that nearly left Azeredo unconscious. Gomi’s accurate boxing technique dominated Azeredo during the two rounds, and the unanimous decision went to Gomi.

THE FINAL WORD

The Japanese dream of having two representatives at the final of one of these two tournaments had been accomplished. The final will be a clash between two of the best fighters in the world. As for us, we’ll just have to wait until December 31 to find out whether our expectations for this fight will be fulfilled!

Hayato Sakurai def. Jens Pulver by TKO (Strikes), 8:56 of R1

Joachim Hansen def. Yves Edwards by Split Decision

Takanori Gomi def. Tatsuya Kawajiri by Submission (Rear Naked Choke), 7:42 of R1

Luiz Azeredo def. Naoyuki Kotani by KO (Strikes), 0:11 of R1

Welterweight Semi-finals

Dan Henderson def. Akihiro Gono by KO (Punch), 7:58 of R1

Murilo Bustamante def. Ikuhisa Minowa by TKO (Strikes), 9:51 of R1

Lightweight Semi-finals

Hayato Sakurai def. Joachim Hansen by Unanimous Decision

Takanori Gomi def. Luiz Azeredo by Unanimous Decision

Full Results:

Welterweight