Pancrase 285 Results and Review





Pancrase 285 took place again at Differ Ariake, Sunday March 12. It was an exciting card and all the action was called by Stewart Fulton and Jeremy Deschner on UFC FightPass. The card was full of surprises and great fights, with two King of Pancrase championship belts changing hands.

Fight 1. Kazushi Sugiyama defeats Satoshi Inaba by unanimous decision (29-28 x 3)
Rough fight for Inaba. This fight makes 3 losses in a a row for him. He also made Guy DeLumeau’s fight reel being the first person to be submitted by a Twister in Pancrase history.
Sugiyama started the fight ranked #36 in the Japan featherweight division. This fight helped him improve his ranking.

Fight 2. Hiroyuki Oshiro defeats Masaya Takita by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27).
Hulk smash works in Pancrase too. After Takita tried several failed spinning backfists and not really landing any, Oshiro pulls out ahead with his pure strength. Takita has not won a fight since October 2011. It looks like the curtain may be closing on his long career. This was his 4th loss in a row. Oshiro turns his record around from his devastating loss at Pancrase 279 to Kenta Sakuma.

Fight 3. Hiroaki Ijima defeats Suguru Hayasaka by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Iijima also turns his record around and recovers from his loss to Toru Ogawa back in Nov. 2016 at Pancrase 279 by defeating Suguru Hayasaka.
Hayasaka’s one fight winning streak was abruptly put to an end. It was his first fight back in Tokyo since winning at the Pancrase Sapporo event over Takuya Goto.

Fight 4. Toshinori Tsunemura defeats Daiki Gojima by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28).
Gojima last competed in December 2016 at Pancrase 283 where he nailed an impressive win with punches and a slam. However that was not enough to stop Toshinori Tsunemura who moves his winning streak to 4 fights in a row.

Fight 5. Yuya Wakamatsu defeats Yuki Ueshima by TKO (ground and pound). Round 1, 2:49
An impressive win by Wakamatsu who used his fast punches and strength to outclass and beat his opponent Yuki Uejima. Uejima was the older of the two fighters with considerably more cage time than Wakamatsu. But Wakamatsu, now on a 7-fight winning streak is not showing any signs of slowing down. Yuya Wakamatsu has 100% MMA star potential and looks to show the world what he is made of.

Fight 6. Takaaki Nara defeats Yuki Kondo by unanimous decision (30-27 x 3).
Nara who had just had 2 fights on his record put up a great battle against Mr. Pancrase himself, Yuki Kondo. Kondo fought is 101st fight that evening against a much younger fighter. In the end Nara walked away with the win but we have to say that all our respect goes to Yuki Kondo on such an amazing career accomplishment.

Fight 7. Miura Ayaka defeats Magdaléna Šormová by unanimous decision (30-27 x 3).
Perhaps the slowest fight on the card. This was a fight of holding. Then there was a couple of punches. Then there was holding… more holding… followed by holding and the buzzer. Miura wins the fight but in rather one dimensional fashion for her Pancrase debut. Surprisingly, the very experienced referee, Mr. Umeki, did not move to stand them up at any point. Miura’s head coach, Ryo Chonan, was very vocal in his apology to Šormova after the fight and even took to social media criticizing his fighter heavily for merely pinning her opponent for nearly the entire match.

Fight 8. Senzo Ikeda defeats Tateki Matsuda by unanimous decision (29-28 x 3).
Ikeda has and in and out fighting style that Matsuda had trouble dealing with. Ikeda bounces in and throws a hammerfist to the face with the lead hand very often. On at least two occasions they clashed heads, causing swelling around Matsuda’s eye affecting his vision, but it seems the ref did not catch it.

Fight 9. Masakatsu Ueda defeats Victor Henry by unanimous decision (29-28 x 3).
Victor Henry is a crowd favorite in Japan. However, his last three fights have not gone his way. He put up a brilliant and technical fight against Ueda this their second time to face each other. If you are a fan of world class grappling, you could study this fight for months. Both fighters pushed the pace and fought to the very end. This time round Masakatsu Ueda came out on top, two years down the line. This division is exciting because in Pancrase 286, the bantamweight champion Shintaro Ishiwatari, who has beat both Henry and Ueda, will defend his belt against Raphael Silva who has also beat both fighters. The winner at Pancrase 286 will most likely take on Ueda in the near future. Keep an eye on this division. Some good things are happening here.

Fight 10. (Co-Main Event) Mamoru Yamaguchi defeats Ryuichi Miki by split decision (48-47, 48-47, 47-48) – for the fly weight King of Pancrase title.
Great fight by these two warriors. They used to train together. Mamoru was the elder classman to Miki back in the day. This was going to be Mamoru’s last chance at a title in Pancrase. All his efforts paid off on Sunday as he beat Miki by split decision to take the flyweight King of Pancrase title and realize his dream. We are looking forward to seeing him defend his title later this year.

Fight 11. Nazareno Malegarie defeats Issei Tamura by submission (rear-naked choke). Round 1, 2:40 – for the featherweight King of Pancrase title.
This was an amazing story and fight. Two former UFC fighters battling it out for the King of Pancrase belt. Malegarie who is originally from Argintina but lives with his family in Brazil took a hard leg kick to just below his knee in the beginning moments of the 1st round. He later told us that he felt that if he’d taken another shot like that that it would have been all over for him. But, he kept on fighting and scored a takedown early securing his signature body triangle from the back. After that it was just a few seconds until he locked in a RNC and won the fight to become the new champion.
Malegarie was so humble and happy as he accepted the belt. His father, who is also one of his coaches was excited and stood next to him beaming a great big smile.
Malagarie has not lost in Pancrase and is looking forward to defending his title in the near future.

About the Author

Jeremy Deschner
Black Belt in American Karate from the Texas Karate Institute. Now training in Brazilian Jiujitsu in Japan. Twitter: @mmajpn1 @jiujitsu_Jedi
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