On July 2nd, Pancrase has some summer treats for all you JMMA fans. Headlining the show is a King of Pancrase championship title match with Hiromitsu Miura (12-6) defending his welterweight belt for the first time since taking it from Akihiro Murayama. His challenger is young gun Daichi Abe (3-0) who, despite his relative lack of experience, confidently steps up with two 1st round KOs and an impressive win over the powerful Kenta Takagi (15-12). Miura has fought the likes of Jason Miller and Carlos Condit, plus holds a professional boxing record of 9-0 in the Super Middleweight division. Abe is the taller of the two and very good at using his reach and speed; Miura is a hard hitter and fierce whenever he lets his hands go.
Also, in an historic welterweight matchup, Yuki ‘Yukisora’ Kondo and Ikuhisa ‘Minowaman’ Minowa face each other again after 20 years. You read that right: TWENTY years. Between them they have a combined fight count of 213 fights. You read that right: TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTEEN fights. So, when you hear some UFC noob talk about some dude with a record of 9-0 and all he’s done in MMA, point them in the direction of these legends.
In the lightweight division, Kazuki Tokudome (17-7-1) wastes no time taking another high level fight against New Zealander Kieran Joblin (20-7) who is riding a 4-fight win streak, the most recent being a choke submission victory in a ‘Road to Pancrase’ match earning him the ticket to Tokyo and chance to fight the still hungry former King of Pancrase. Tokudome dropped the belt to Takasuke Kume (18-5-3) in a devastating 1st round TKO loss, and even talked about giving it all up, but stepped up in Pancrase 286 and obliterated Akira Okada (11-4-3) in 28 seconds of the 1st round. He’s back on track, and Joblin is not coming to play around. The Kiwi has 8 subs (5 by choke) and 5 KOs/TKOs among his impressive winning record, so this fight is going to be FIRE ?
JULY 2nd, live on UFC Fight Pass.
