This weekend Pancrase 294 is live from Studio Coast in Chiba, Japan. This is the new venue that the promotion started to use from the beginning of the 2018 season. The first fights we saw there were amazing and worth checking out on UFC Fightpass in case you missed the live event.
This time the promotion brings us Pancrase 294. This will be their second even in the new venue. Over the years Pancrase has brought us some of the best fights in JMMA and this time it should be the same. The card is stacked with some mouth-watering fights that we have wanted to see. Let’s take a look at some of the fights.
Yuki Yasunaga vs. Taiki Akiba:
Yuki Yasunaga 14-12-1 (Win-Loss-Draw), is a crowd favorite that is always in motion. We have never seen him slow down for a second. He walks out to the theme song from the Austin Powers movie and it is an interesting walk out. We wouldn’t call it a dance, but more of a nonstop wiggle that will make you smile. Although he is a crowd favorite in JMMA his 4 fight losing streak has to be weighing down on him. He will be coming into this fight looking to put a stop to that streak. With 4 losses in a row, you can bet that he is coming into this fight with fire in his belly.
He will be clashing with Taiki Akiba 7-6-1 (Win-Loss-Draw). Akiba’s last fight was in December 2017 in the Deep Promotion. He currently has a 1 fight winning streak after laying a beat down on Takeshi Hara 1-6-0 (Win-Loss-Draw) in 23 seconds of Round 1 in his last match. That last fight was in the cross-promotion between Pancrase and Deep. Now that Akiba had such a quick and decisive victory over Hara from Pancrase, it seems like he is going into the Yasunaga fight with a bit of confidence. The fact that Yasunaga is fighting for his professional life trying to end that 4 fight losing streak and Akiba is coming in riding high on the hog lets us know we are going to get a great matchup.
Alan Yoshihiro Yamaniha vs. Kintaro Masakari
Alan “Hiro” Yamaniha 14-6-4 (Win-Loss-Draw) is a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu fighter that trains at TS GYM. He also trains with the famous Roberto “Satoshi” de Souza 6-0-0 (Win-Loss-Draw) who fights in Real Fight Championship promotion. He is also very famous on the Japanese Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competition circuit.
Yamaniha has fought the who’s who in the JMMA world. He always puts on a high-level fight and is a crowd pleaser. He is coming into this fight off a 1 fight loss to Masakatsu Ueda 26-5-2 (Win-Loss-Draw) during the Co-main event of Pancrase 291 back in November of 2017. That fight was also amazing and showed off the skills of both fighters. Do yourself a favor and watch that fight on UFC Fightpass.
Yamaniha is taking on another killer named from Osaka named, Kintaro Masakari 9-7-2 (Win-Loss-Draw). Masakari fights out of P’s Lab Osaka x Inagakigumi. He is coming into this fight after securing a win over his last opponent, Jun Doi 14-6-1 (Win-Loss-Draw), in just 14 seconds of Round 1 back in December 2017 at the Pancrase vs Deep cross-promotion event. Look for these two killers to go to war in the cage!
Kenta Takizawa vs. Hiroyuki Oshiro:
Kenta Takizawa 7-4-0 (Win-Loss-Draw) is an up and coming fighter. He is fighting out of Reversal Gym Tokyo Standout in Shibuya Japan. He is coming in on a loss so you know that is going to motivate him more than anything to get back on track. His last fight was against a strong Brazilian named Andre Cirne 11-4-0, 1 NC (Win-Loss-Draw) who is on a current 3 fight winning streak. Takizawa’s last fight was in November of 2017 so he must be ready to get back in the cage.
Takizawa will be facing the Okinawan warrior known as Hulk, Hiroyuki Oshiro 8-4-2 (Win-Loss-Draw). Hulk trains out of Vos Gym in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. His last fight was in another promotion known as Hex Fight Series out of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Unfortunately, he suffered a loss during his stint Down Under. He also comes into the fight on a loss. You can expect he will want to turn that round and Takizawa is going to be the only thing standing in his way. Who will win? You will have to tune in and see, but don’t blink, you could miss it.
Full Card for Pancrase 294:
Issei Tamura vs. Yoshinori Horie
H. Fukushima vs. T. Tsunemura
Kenta Takizawa vs. Hiroyuki Oshiro
A. Yoshihiro Yamaniha vs. Kintaro Masakari
Yusaku Inoue vs. Tom Santos
Ryo Hatta vs. Teppei Maeyama
Yuki Yasunaga vs. Taiki Akiba
Yusuke Ogikubo vs. Kohei Kuraoka
Katsushi Kojima vs. Naohiro Matsukawa
Keisuke Kamei vs. Ryosuke Shiozu
Masahide Hiraoka vs. Seio Date
Satoru Enomoto vs. K. Hironaka
Chihiro Suzuki vs. Kento Mizutani
Ryusuke Noda vs. Takahito Tomozawa
Ryuji Abe vs. Satoshi Miyokawa
Many more good fights on this card for your entertainment. Of course, MMA Japan will be there and live Tweeting from the event. Please follow @mmajpn1 on Twitter for more information about JMMA fights!
