(Jorge Masvidal vs. Ryan Schulz; more videos here.)
From today’s Sengoku show at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan…
Middleweight GP 1st Round:
Yuki Sasaki def. Yuki Kondo via submission (rear-naked choke), round 2
Siyar Bahadurzada def. Evangelista Santos via TKO (injury), round 1
Jorge Santiago def. Logan Clark via submission (arm triangle choke), round 1
Kazuhiro Nakamura def. Paul Cahoon via unanimous decision
Lightweights:
Jorge Masvidal def. Ryan Schultz via TKO, round 1
Kiuma Kunioku def. Sol Kwon via unanimous decision
Heavyweights:
Muhammed Lawal def. Travis Wiuff via TKO, round 1
Light-Heavyweights:
Xande Ribeiro def. Takashi Sugiura via TKO, round 3
Helloooooooo! Anybody still alive out there? It seems like the entire MMA world has clocked out early to get a jump on their Good Friday parties. Here’s the news we were too disinterested to mention up until now, when we really have no choice:
— Due to visa problems in Brasil, Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos has been forced to pull out of his match against Joey Villasenor at next Saturday’s Strikeforce/EliteXC event. Said Strikeforce veep Mike Afromowitz, “The delay in his arrival would jeopardize him getting licensed in time for the fight…we’re still looking to finalize a replacement.”
— Unrelated to the Santos drop-out, a match between welterweights Tiki Ghosn (9-7) and Luke Stewart (5-0) has been added to the undercard of the Strikeforce/EliteXC show. Ghosn has lost his last four matches; though he’s done well in smaller promotions, he went 0-4 in the UFC and 1-3 in WEC fights.
— Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza has been added to DREAM’s middleweight tournament — which will kick off April 29th in Japan — and has been working out at Xtreme Couture with Wanderlei Silva and Robert Drysdale. Souza has been undefeated since losing his professional debut at Jungle Fight 1 in 2003, and has never been out of the first round.
— And why isn’t Kazushi Sakuraba participating in the DREAM middleweight tournament? “I got a small scab on my leg which was [s]till bleeding.” Aw come on man, you gotta fight through that!
— The new EliteXC/CBS TV spots, starring Kimbo Slice, can be seen here.
Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Peter Graham — Their pre-fight-beef gets squashed quickly in the ring as Fujita takes Graham down and chokes him out in 83 seconds.
Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos vs. Makoto Takimoto — ‘Borg comes out swinging in his usual style, but is even more dominant on the ground and gets the better of Takimoto in a heel-hook war.
Kazuo Misaki vs. Siyar Bahadurzada — Bahadurzada dishonors his Shooto belt by succumbing to a guillotine choke in the second round.
Our earlier mentions of Chute Boxe and rope-a-dope reminded us of this light heavyweight match from Cage Rage 15 (2/4/06), which could easily earn a place in our greatest fights of all-time list. The first round features as much slugging as you’d expect from these two, but it’s the second round that makes the fight legendary. Cyborg and Melvin become so exhausted from whaling on each other that at one point they can do little more than stand with their hands down and suck air. Luckily, Manhoef has a little extra in the tank. Watch Cyborg baby-punch Melvin’s lifeless body at the end — totally adorable. (Fight starts at the 2:26 mark.)
