grand prix
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(In Trigg’s defense, he had just gotten out of the pool.)
Sengoku’s “Fourth Battle” went down today in Saitama, Japan, featuring the long-awaited returns of Takanori Gomi and Frank Trigg, and the first round of their lightweight grand prix. In a non-tourney main event bout, Gomi faced 5-1 Korean DEEP vet Seung Hwan Bang — who should have been steamrolled by the legendary “Fireball Kid” — but Bang hung in for all three rounds. Eventually, Gomi’s accurate striking and control of the fight’s pace convinced the judges to unanimously give him the win. Trigg’s opponent was Makoto Takimoto, a judoka and PRIDE vet who came into the fight with a 4-4 MMA record, and as with Gomi, the fight was a little more difficult than it should have been. Trigg dominated the standup and inflicted major damage from top positions on the ground, but Takimoto nearly caught Twinkle Toes in a kimura in the second round, and spent a lot of the third on top; still, it wasn’t enough to prevent the judges from giving Trigg the decision after the fight went the distance.
The first round of Sengoku’s lightweight tournament held some surprises as three big names were unceremoniously bounced out of the competition. The HIT Squad’s Clay French was tapped in 31 seconds via achilles lock by former Pancrase mainstay Satoru Kitaoka, and jiu-jitsu ace Rodrigo Damm also suffered a first-round submission at the hands of Eiji Mitsuoka. Former IFL lightweight champ Ryan Schultz, who was the biggest favorite to win his first GP match, got his lights put out by a superman-punch from Cage Force champ Mizuto Hirota in the second round of their fight. Full results after the jump; videos to come.
Main Event Bouts:
Takanori Gomi def. Seung Hwan Bang via unanimous decision
Frank Trigg def. Makoto Takimoto via unanimous decision
Lightweight Grand Prix Opening Round:
Mizuto Hirota def. Ryan Schultz via KO (superman punch), 4:25 of round 2
Kazunori Yokata def. Bojan Kosednar via unanimous decision
Eiji Mitsuoka def. Rodrigo Damm via submission (rear naked choke), 3:13 of round 1
Satoru Kitaoka def. Clay French via submission (achilles lock), 0:31 of round 1
Undercard:
Valentijn Overeem def. Yoshihiki Takahashi via KO (flying knee), 2:42 of round 1
Moise Rimbon def. Peter Graham via submission (rear naked choke), 0:42 of round 2
Yang Dong Yi def. Pawel Nastula via TKO, 2:15 of round 2
Written by admin on August 24th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on lightweights and Japan and grand prix and Fourth Battle and gp and Superman punch and results and Frank Trigg and Takanori Gomi and Recap and "Sengoku" and Ryan Schultz and MMA.
DREAM has updated the official card for their second event (April 29th; Saitama, Japan), with seven fights of the upcoming middleweight tournament already locked down. The biggest surprise is the addition of Frank Trigg, who will be taking on Brazilian Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza (7-1). Trigg, who we consider to be the #9 middleweight in the world, most recently competed at HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon (12/15/07), where he submitted Edwin Dewees in the first round. The other six fights booked for DREAM’s middleweight GP are:
Denis Kang vs. Gegard Mousasi
Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa vs Kin Taiei
Kazushi Sakuraba (depending on traffic) vs. Andrews Nakahara
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Masakatsu Funaki
Magomed Sultanakhmadov vs. Zelg Galesic
Yoon Dong Sik vs. Shungo Oyama
Other fighters rumored to fill out the eighth and final tourney fight include Yoshihiro Akiyama (who has been battling injuries), Daniel Acacio, Dae Won Kim, and Mamed Khalidov. DREAM.2 will also feature the do-over match between Shinya Aoki and Gesias Calvancante, to decide who will advance to round two of the lightweight GP on May 11th. In addition, GracieFighter.com is saying that Nick Diaz has verbally accepted a DREAM.2 fight against Marcelo Garcia, a former competitive grappler who lost his pro MMA debut last October at a K-1 HERO’s event. However, Garcia has reportedly backed out of the fight, and a new opponent may not be found for Diaz.
Written by admin on April 18th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Japan and grand prix and DREAM and Frank Trigg and Nick Diaz and News and MMA.
(Just throw a band-aid on it.)
Remember when Kazushi Sakuraba said “a small scab” on his leg was the reason he would not be participating in DREAM 2’s Middleweight Grand Prix? Well, the scab has been touched by an angel — or maybe he just decided to cowboy up — because Nightmare of Battle is listing three match-ups that have been announced for the GP, including one between Sakuraba and newbie Andrews Nakahara. The other two fights will see Kiyoshi Tamura versus Masakatsu Funaki and Denis Kang versus Gegard Mousasi.
Here’s the scoop on Andrews Nakahara: he’s a 24-year-old Kyokushin Karate fighter, but there is no MMA record for him yet. He was born in Brazil, is six feet tall, and likes intimate dinner conversation. He has done well for himself in Karate tournaments, according to Kyokushin4Life:
– All American Open Karate Championships 2007 (IKO-1) - 2nd Place
– All American Open Karate Championships 2006 (IKO-1) - 1st Place
– All American Open Karate Championships 2005 (IKO-1) - 2nd Place
– All American Open Karate Championships 2004 (IKO-1) - 7th Place
– 3rd World Weight Category Championships 2005 (IKO-1) - 1st Place
– 6th South American Karate Tournament 2004 (IKO-1) - 1st Place
– Brazilian Open 2004 (IKO-1) - 2nd Place
– South American Open 2005 (IKO-1) - 1st Place
How well all this may translate to a fight with an MMA vet like Sakuraba remains to be seen. Little else is known about Nak, so who knows how extensive his wrestling and ground work has been. Oh, and if you’re the sort that likes cruising around the websites of various dojos, go here to visit Nakahara’s dojo.
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Written by admin on March 27th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on grand prix and Nakahara and DREAM 2 and sakuraba and News and Denis Kang and MMA.
