Hayato Sakurai
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According to GracieFighter.com, Nick Diaz will no longer be fighting Hayato “Mach” Sakurai at DREAM.5 (July 21st; Osaka, Japan) for the league’s vacant welterweight title, due to contractual obligations with EliteXC: “Apparently EliteXC has other plans for Diaz and the July date might conflict with their plans.” You could probably figure out what those plans are, but for the record, sources have informed FiveOuncesofPain that a rematch between Diaz and K.J. Noons for EliteXC’s 160-pound title will be added to the next “Saturday Night Fights” broadcast on July 26th.
Though the event was initially rumored to be held in St. Louis, it looks like that idea is being scrapped, as several major sporting events (including a monster truck rally; go figure) are already scheduled to take place in the Gateway City around that time. Now, the buzz is that the Diaz/Noons bout will take place somewhere in Stockton, California, the city that spawned those rotten Diaz brothers. Obviously, it’s a wise move from a marketing standpoint — just as EliteXC’s “Street Certified” event featuring Kimbo Slice was a hit in Kimbo’s hometown of Miami, and “Shamrock vs. Le” did bang-up business in San Jose, Nick Diaz’s rabid civic pride could translate into a wild sellout crowd in Stockton, which would be a perfect backdrop to a live television event (providing that there are no riots in the arena, of course).
At this point, EliteXC: Unfinished Business (working title) will still be headlined by the middleweight championship rematch between Robbie Lawler and Scott Smith, as well as Jake Shields vs. TBA for the vacant welterweight belt.
Written by admin on June 23rd, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on DREAM and Japan and Stockton and St. Louis and Rumors and KJ Noons and EliteXC and Nick Diaz and News and Hayato Sakurai and MMA.
Sherdog has a great piece up detailing some of the things that were said at the DREAM 3 post-fight press conference. Namely, Nick Diaz said he would rather be fighting Shinya Aoki next instead of Hayato Sakurai and Jason “Mayhem” Miller said that he would love a shot at his hero, Kazushi Sakuraba.
Nick Diaz on [...]
Written by admin on May 13th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Shinya Aoki and DREAM 3 and Kazushi Sakuraba and Jason Miller and Nick Diaz and Hayato Sakurai and MMA.
Nick Diaz (16-7) will fight Hayato “Mach” Sakurai (32-8-2) for the first-ever DREAM welterweight title at the Osakajo Hall in Osaka, Japan, on July 21, accordingly to MMAWeekly.com.
Diaz earned the right to challenge for the vacant strap with a first round technical knockout of Katsuya Inoue at DREAM 3 this past weekend. It was a fight that almost scrapped but was given the green light at the last minute by ProElite officials, which turned out to be a wise decision in hindsight.
He is healthy enough to challenge Muhsin Corbbrey at the Elite XC show slated for the Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, on June 14 (a cause for alarm prior to the fight) and he is a possible star in the making overseas — Diaz was involved in a sensational bout with Takanori Gomi … something more than likely still fresh in the minds of Japanese MMA fans.
Sakurai, on the other hand, is coming of a surprise submission loss to David Baron at Shooto: “Tradition 1″ earlier this month. “Mach” — who was recently courted by the UFC to no avail — has already competed under the DREAM banner, defeating Hidetaka Monma via technical knockout in the inaugural event back in March.
This should be an extremely exciting fight, which will punctuate the finals of the 2008 Dream Lightweight Grand Prix … what a night for mixed martial arts it is shaping up to be.
Written by admin on May 13th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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(Savant Young and Takeshi Inoue: Guess who won the decision? Photo courtesy of MMAWeekly.)
It looks like we’ll be putting together another update to our Power Rankings pretty soon — #5-ranked welterweight Hayato “Mach” Sakurai and #4-ranked featherweight Takeshi Inoue got punked yesterday at Shooto’s first 20th anniversary series show in Tokyo. Sakurai faced European Shooto vet David Baron in a slugfest that ended suddenly when Baron sunk in a guillotine choke during a takedown attempt by Sakurai. It was Sakurai’s first loss since being knocked out by Takanori Gomi at PRIDE Shockwave on New Year’s Eve 2005. In the night’s other upset, IFL vet Trenell “Savant” Young (who had an 8-7 record going into the fight) outlasted former Shooto featherweight champ “Lion” Takeshi Inoue en route to a unanimous decision victory. Near the end of the second and final round, Young caught Inoue in a guillotine choke and Inoue scrambled through the ropes to escape; Inoue seemed to be momentarily unconscious when the ref broke up the fighters and moved them to the center of the ring.
In other action, Shooto’s welterweight Pac-Rim champion Takashi Nakakura became the league’s World Welterweight champ with his unanimous decision win over Ganjo Tentsuku, and Akitoshi Tamura submitted Rumina Sato near the end of an action packed three-round brawl. Full results are below, and videos are after the jump.
Takashi Nakakura def. Ganjo Tentsuku via decision
David Baron def. Hayato Sakurai via submission (guillotine choke), 4:50 of round 1
Akitoshi Tamura def. Rumina Sato via submission (north-south choke), 2:37 of round 3
Savant Young def. Takeshi Inoue via decision
Ryuich Miki vs. Yasuhiro Urushitani ended in a draw
Yusuke Endo def. Vince Ortiz via submission (rear-naked choke), 3:34 of round 1
Bendy Casimir def. Shinji Sasaki via decision
Shinpei Tahara def. Katsuya Murofushi via TKO (doctor’s stoppage due to cut), 0:46 of round 2
Hayate Usui def. Sakae Kasuya via decision
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Written by admin on May 4th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Rumina Sato and choke and Mach and Akitoshi Tamura and David Baron and Takeshi Inoue and Savant Young and Japan and Shooto and News and Videos and Hayato Sakurai and Recap and submission and fight and MMA.
(Shane Carwin: Just one of the new faces looking for a big debut at UFC 84.)
— The UFC has confirmed the lineup for UFC 84: Ill Will (5/24, Las Vegas). Besides Penn/Sherk, Ortiz/Machida, and Silva/Jardine, the televised card will feature a light-heavyweight match between undefeated UFC newcomer Goran Reljic and Wilson Gouveia (who most recently knocked out Jason Lambert at UFC 80), as well as another 205-pound match between Thiago Silva and Octagon newbie Antonio “Samuray” Mendes. Ill Will’s undercard features appearances by Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Rob Emerson, Jon Koppenhaver, and new heavyweight acquisition Shane Carwin. Check out the complete card here.
— Shooto has announced their 20th anniversary show on May 3rd, and it’s shaping up to be a killer. Japanese welterweight star Hayato “Mach” Sakurai — whose last three fights resulted in wins against Hidetaka Monma at DREAM.1, Hidehiko Hasegawa at Yarennoka!, and Mac Danzig at PRIDE 33 — will be taking on 13-2 submission specialist David Baron, while “Lion” Takeshi Inoue and Rumina Sato will also compete against opponents to be named later.
— After suffering a nasty eye injury last September during a fight against Gesias Calvancante, Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro is back in the gym and planning his next move. That t-shirt he’s wearing should help to explain why we think he’s the fifth greatest lightweight in the world.
Written by admin on April 8th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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(Sorry bro, rock beats finger.)
Nightmare of Battle has the official fight order for Saturday’s highly-anticipated DREAM show. Notably, the fight between Gesias Calvancante and Shinya Aoki will headline the event, Cro Cop’s match with Tatsuya Mizuno will serve as a break between the first half of the lightweight tournament bouts and the second, and the opener will be Ikuhisa Minowa in an “open-weight” fight against a freak to be named tomorrow. Cutting it kind of close, huh? Anyway, the lineup goes like this:
Lightweight Tournament 1st Round (second group)
10. J.Z. Calvan vs. Shinya Aoki
9. Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Black Mamba (Kultar Gill)
8. Andre Dida vs. Eddie Alvarez
Heavyweight Feature
7. Mirko CroCop vs. Tatsuya Mizuno
Lightweight Tournament 1st Round (first group)
6. Mitsuhiro Ishida vs. Jung Bu Kyung
5. Katsuhiko Nagata vs. Artur Umakhanov
4. Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Luis Buscape
3. Kotetsu Boku vs. Joachim Hansen
Welterweight Feature
2. Hayato Sakurai vs. Hidetaka Monma (correction: This fight isn’t part of the lightweight tournament, as we said yesterday. Props to reader “robnashville” for being smarter than us.)
Open Weight Fight
1. Minowaman vs. TBA
Christ, I’d give my left nipple to be at this show. Joachim Hansen could be a dark horse to win it all, though most likely the eventual winner will be the guy who survives Saturday’s main event. Calvancante’s utter domination of his past opponents make him the obvious front-runner, and he’s been working with Eddie Bravo to deal with Aoki’s rubber guard and straightjacket-like grappling. There are some interesting betting lines here, which list Ishida/Kyung-Jung as the biggest first-round mismatch (-1000/+550), Kawajiri as the favorite to win the entire tournament, and Kultar “Black Mamba” Gill as a laughable +3800 under-underdog to go all the way. Holler at a brotha’s comments section if you have any big predictions for the show…
Written by admin on March 13th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Japan and Shinya Aoki and Gesias Calvancante and JZ Calvan and Mitsuhiro Ishida and Minowaman and Mirko Filipovic and DREAM and News and Mirko Cro Cop and Hayato Sakurai and Eddie Alvarez and Joachim Hansen and MMA.
(Koscheck/Sanchez 3 will happen when Kos allows it to happen.)
People don’t stop running their mouths just because it’s the weekend. Here’s what you may have missed…
Dana White on haters: “All I have to say about that is don’t ever (expletive) doubt us. All these (expletive) idiots out there that like to talk (expletive) and (expletive) don’t ever doubt us, man. Don’t ever, ever doubt us.”
Josh Koscheck on Diego Sanchez: “I think I’m in his head. He’s only been thinking and focusing about me for the last year. It’s actually kind of nice. He’s in the same shoes I was after The Ultimate Fighter. For two straight years I woke up every morning hating Diego Sanchez.”
Rich Franklin on his future title prospects: “Realistically, another fight with Anderson wouldn’t be that interesting for fans.”
Dana White on stock car racing: “You come over to my house this weekend and we kick back and watch TV. We put on (expletive) NASCAR. We’re like, ‘Holy (expletive). Look at all the (expletive) people at this race. All those fans and this and that. These guys got television deals and merchandise deals and all this crazy (expletive). You know what? Let’s steal two of their drivers, and let’s start our own (expletive) company. We’ll call it (expletive), you know, GASCAR instead of (expletive) NASCAR.’ That’s how (expletive) stupid it is.”
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Written by admin on March 10th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Gary Shaw and Misc. and Shonie Carter and NASCAR and Rich Franklin and Hayato Sakurai and Joe Lauzon and Josh Koscheck and Dana White and MMA.
(Mach Sakurai works over Mac Danzig at PRIDE 33.)
A lot of news coming from Japan in the wake of Sengoku’s first show and the run-up to next week’s DREAM debut…
— Nokaut.com reports that Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has finally gotten an opponent for the first DREAM show, with only nine days to spare. As Mirko wrote on his official blog: “A little over an hour ago I was contacted by DREAM officials. They informed me that my opponent on March 15 will be Yoshihiro Nakao from Japan. It was very important for me to fight as soon as possible and I’m happy that DREAM was able to find the opponent for me.” You may remember Nakao as the dude Heath Herring knocked out after a tender expression of affection was misinterpreted as an insult; hopefully Nakao won’t make that mistake again. DREAM1 goes down next Saturday at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.
— Hayato “Mach” Sakurai has also locked down an opponent for the DREAM show. As SukiMMA translates from his blog: “I fight Hidetaka Monma from Keisyukai. One foreign fighter and one Japanese fighter canceled and finally I got an opponent!” Monma has a 14-7-3 record, with notable wins over…well, basically nobody. The Sakurai/Monma fight doesn’t seem to be a part of the lightweight Grand Prix that’s also going down at DREAM1, but it should be an ugly rout just like the Cro Cop/Nakao feature.
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Written by admin on March 6th, 2008 with comments disabled.
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The rumored card for UFC 78 on Nov. 17 in Newark, NJ has been posted several times on FiveOuncesOfPain.com and thus far the responses haven’t been all that positive. But I need to speak up because I beg to differ; while the rumored card currently lacks star power, it’s still a strong card nonetheless.
The match with the most appeal to me is Spencer Fisher vs. Frankie Edgar. Both have already participated in match of the year candidates (Edgar vs. Tyson Griffin at UFC 67 and Fisher vs. Sam Stout at UFC Fight Night 10) and because their styles could mesh well, you have the potential for another match of the year candidate for both fighters.
It appears talks between Hayato Sakurai and the UFC have broken down as Sakurai is scheduled to fight in Japan but the UFC has found a suitable opponent for Karo Parisyan in Hector Lombard. Lombard, who represented Cuba in the Olympics in Judo, is 11-2-1 in MMA and has competed for promotions such as PRIDE and DEEP.
By putting Parisyan vs. Lombard, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva is throwing two world class Judokas together in a match that will be extremely competitive. Parisyan, who is a tad small for welterweight will be facing a fighter in Lombard who has competed at times as a middleweight. Will Karo be able to rag doll Lombard like he has so many of his other opponents? It will be interesting to find out.
Thiago Alves vs. Ryo Chonan is yet another strong matchup that’s been rumored for the card. If the UFC welterweight division wasn’t so backlogged then the bout’s outcome would have greater implications. However, who really needs implications? Just sit back and watch what looks to be another potential strong match.
Lombard and Chonan aren’t the only former PRIDE fighters that will be making their UFC debuts, as Akihiro Gono vs. Tamdan McCrory is expected to take place. While the match might not be televised, fans attending live could be in store for a surprise. Gono, 27-12-7, will be a tough test for the undefeated 20-year old.
Other rumored matches that could take place during the non-televised portion are Ed Herman vs. David Terrell and Joe Lauzon vs. Jason Reinhardt. Lauzon is originally from Massachusetts so expect strong crowd support for him while Terrell vs. Herman is a match I can’t wait to see. The middleweight division in the UFC could use a shot to the arm and Terrell could be what the doctor ordered.
One of only two people to ever be promoted as a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu by Cesar Gracie, Terrell looked like a future star following his 24 second first round knockout over Matt Lindland at UFC 49 in 2004. Unfortunately, he’s been besieged by injuries and has fought just twice in the last three years. I’m looking forward to attending the show live and seeing first hand if Terrell is someone who can make an impact under the UFC’s current middleweight landscape.
If you’re one of the people who has chosen to use “sucks” as a way to describe the rumored lineup then I suggest you go to Netflix and start renting old PRIDE DVDs so that you can become more familiar with Lombard, Chonan, and Gono as well as some old UFC DVDs (i.e. UFC 49) to either introduce or re-introduce yourself to Terrell.
In regard to the lack of star power, have a little faith in Dana White and Silva. Tickets for UFC 78 go on sale to the general public this Saturday at 10 a.m. ET. The UFC wants to do well from a business perspective and it behooves them to deliver a solid main event. Rumors persist that we could see a rematch between Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans but if Ortiz is playing hardball or his back is still not ready, then the UFC will come up with something else. Rumors about a match between Ortiz and Dan Henderson have been debunked but it appears as though the idea was at least explored. If Ortiz can’t be secured and Henderson is ready to go, then why not a match between Henderson and Evans?
On paper, UFC 78 might end up not having a lot of sex appeal but didn’t we learned from UFC 73 and UFC Fight Night 10 this year? It’s all about matchups and UFC 73 taught us that just because you have a bunch of big names all on a card, it doesn’t mean you’re going to see good matches if the fighters’ respective styles don’t mesh well. Meanwhile, UFN 10 showed us not to underestimate a card just because it doesn’t have a big name.
So please, leave UFC 78 alone!
Written by admin on October 3rd, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Jason Reinhardt and UFC 78 and Thiago Alves and Hector Lombard and Ryo Chonan and Tamdan McCrory and Akihiro Gono and David Terrell and Hayato Sakurai and Dan Henderson and Tito Ortiz and Joe Lauzon and UFC and Rashad Evans and Karo Parisyan and Frank Edgar and Dana White and MMA.
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