I recently attended the Shooto "the Arrival" event at the No Limits Event Center in Irvine, CA. It was really an action packed night of fights, with only 2 of the 9 fights going to the judges score cards. One of those decisions just happened to be the best and most exciting fight of the night.
That fight just happened to be the main event, which featured hometown favorite and Shooto vet Bao Quach against 2005 Shooto lightweight rookie champion Tenkei Fujimiya. Bao, who trains at the No Limits MMA gym with Team Oyama, really had a huge edge with almost the whole arena rooting for him. He didn't take this for granted though and came out with some very powerful strikes. He had some lightening quick kicks in the first round that you could still hear through all the crowd noise. Fujimiya showed an incredible chin though, one of the best at 145 lbs. no doubt. He took many kicks and punches to the face and head, and still kept coming at Quach.
In the second round I feel that Fujimiya took over with some amazing body shots and continued to take Bao's shots with no problem. It was a very close round with some good exchanges, but I gave the edge to Fujimiya.
The third round was more of the same. Bao looked noticibly tired in this round though, and was backing up the whole time. Fujimiya did his best to play to the crowd, sticking his head out and taunting Bao, then sizing him up and pointing where he was gonna throw. The fight ended up going to the scored cards and Bao won in a split decision. Oddly enough one of the judges had it 30-27 for Bao. I was thinking Cecil Peoples may have been in the building because there is no way Bao won every round. Definitely a great fight though.
In another bout on the main card Gladiatior Challenge lightweight champion Brian Cobb took on Shooto vet Kenichiro Togashi. Togashi came out tough with some nice strikes that looked like they rattled Cobb, but after that Cobb took over. He used his wrestling skills and power to dominate the rest of the match. Togashi had a couple of nice submission attempts, but Cobb would just power out of them with slams. This went on for about two rounds. In the third round Cobb got a nice takedown, got good position Togashi, and stopped the fight with strikes.
2006 Shooto lightweight rookie champion Akiyo "Wicky" Nishiura had a tough time in his US debut. He was outwrestled and outstruck by the more experienced Joe Camacho. "Wicky" just never seemed to have his normal explosiveness in the fight. I'm not sure if it was because it was his first fight at 155 lbs or because it was his first fight out of Japan. Not to discount Camacho. He came in with a great gameplan. He had a couple of nice submission attempts that "Wicky" powered out of. Camacho pretty much dominated the whole fight and if it not had been for a couple of illegal kicks/knees, he would have won every score card 30-27. Instead it ended in a majority draw.
That fight just happened to be the main event, which featured hometown favorite and Shooto vet Bao Quach against 2005 Shooto lightweight rookie champion Tenkei Fujimiya. Bao, who trains at the No Limits MMA gym with Team Oyama, really had a huge edge with almost the whole arena rooting for him. He didn't take this for granted though and came out with some very powerful strikes. He had some lightening quick kicks in the first round that you could still hear through all the crowd noise. Fujimiya showed an incredible chin though, one of the best at 145 lbs. no doubt. He took many kicks and punches to the face and head, and still kept coming at Quach.
In the second round I feel that Fujimiya took over with some amazing body shots and continued to take Bao's shots with no problem. It was a very close round with some good exchanges, but I gave the edge to Fujimiya.
The third round was more of the same. Bao looked noticibly tired in this round though, and was backing up the whole time. Fujimiya did his best to play to the crowd, sticking his head out and taunting Bao, then sizing him up and pointing where he was gonna throw. The fight ended up going to the scored cards and Bao won in a split decision. Oddly enough one of the judges had it 30-27 for Bao. I was thinking Cecil Peoples may have been in the building because there is no way Bao won every round. Definitely a great fight though.
In another bout on the main card Gladiatior Challenge lightweight champion Brian Cobb took on Shooto vet Kenichiro Togashi. Togashi came out tough with some nice strikes that looked like they rattled Cobb, but after that Cobb took over. He used his wrestling skills and power to dominate the rest of the match. Togashi had a couple of nice submission attempts, but Cobb would just power out of them with slams. This went on for about two rounds. In the third round Cobb got a nice takedown, got good position Togashi, and stopped the fight with strikes.
2006 Shooto lightweight rookie champion Akiyo "Wicky" Nishiura had a tough time in his US debut. He was outwrestled and outstruck by the more experienced Joe Camacho. "Wicky" just never seemed to have his normal explosiveness in the fight. I'm not sure if it was because it was his first fight at 155 lbs or because it was his first fight out of Japan. Not to discount Camacho. He came in with a great gameplan. He had a couple of nice submission attempts that "Wicky" powered out of. Camacho pretty much dominated the whole fight and if it not had been for a couple of illegal kicks/knees, he would have won every score card 30-27. Instead it ended in a majority draw.
In attendence for the event were King of Pancrase and former UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett, WEC lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCollough, Frank Trigg, Erik Paulson, Rob Emerson, Andy Wang, and Gabe Reudigar. Also, Herb Dean was a referee for a few of the matches.
Here are the full results:
FULL RESULTS:
- Bao Quach def. Tenkei Fujimiya by Split Decision.
- Brian Cobb def. Kenichiro Togashi by TKO at 2:20, R3
- Joe Camacho and Akiyo "Wicky" Nishiura fought to a Majority Draw
- Brett Cooper def. Vince Guzman by Anaconda Choke at 1:58, R1
- Rick McKorkal def. Kelvin Nimsiriruengphol by TKO at 2:17, R2
- Richie Collingham def. Travis McRoberts by Rear Naked Choke at 2:05, R1
- Leo Hirai def. Raja Shippen by Heel Hook at 1:32, R2
- Martin Bautista def. Albert Hill by TKO at 2:56, R1
- Steve Grode def. Carlos Fuentes by Unanimous Decision
FULL RESULTS:
- Bao Quach def. Tenkei Fujimiya by Split Decision.
- Brian Cobb def. Kenichiro Togashi by TKO at 2:20, R3
- Joe Camacho and Akiyo "Wicky" Nishiura fought to a Majority Draw
- Brett Cooper def. Vince Guzman by Anaconda Choke at 1:58, R1
- Rick McKorkal def. Kelvin Nimsiriruengphol by TKO at 2:17, R2
- Richie Collingham def. Travis McRoberts by Rear Naked Choke at 2:05, R1
- Leo Hirai def. Raja Shippen by Heel Hook at 1:32, R2
- Martin Bautista def. Albert Hill by TKO at 2:56, R1
- Steve Grode def. Carlos Fuentes by Unanimous Decision
