Last weekend we attended Pancrase 294. It is on UFC FightPass if you could not catch it live. It was a great show with some really great JMMA Action. You can see why JMMA is the hottest area in MMA in the world today! We will review a few fights here but definitely check it out if you can on FightPass.
The main event was Brazilian fighter Tom Santos vs Japanese killer in the cage Yuasku Inoue. Inoue put up a hard fight but was caught by a couple uppercuts and eventually his knees buckled and he dropped. Santos put out the call immediately to Pancrase CEO Sakai that he wanted a title shot. Even though this was his first fight in Pancrase, we could see this happen eventually. It will be interesting to follow to see if Sakai san makes Santos prove his mettle a little more before actually giving him a title shot. That King of Pancrase belt has a lot of history behind it and we want to see people earn that belt instead of immediately being considered for a title shot.
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Another great fight on the card was the co-main event that put Issei Tamura against the serious striker Yoshinori Horie. Tamura spent the entire first round with that right missile disguised as a hand, cocked and ready. He threw many combinations that showed that he was trying to set up that devastating right hand. We know for watching Tamura fight over the years that he has one punch stopping power in that overhand right. At around 1ｍ 28 secs of Round 2 that missile landed on target and Horie was put down. Horie had put up a good fight up to this point and had dodged a couple of Tamura’s attempt to land the killer shot. In the end, Horie was so devastated that at the end of the match the ref was holding him up. He was completely out. Tamura gets his win of the evening by KO.
The last fight we want to highlight was the fight between Taiki Akiba 8-6-1 (Win-Loss-Draw)and Yuki Yasunaga 14-13-1 (Win-Loss-Draw). Akiba has been fighting in a few Pancrase events. Mostly special ones like Pancrase Osaka, or Pancrase versus Deep. In this event, Akiba put on a monster performance. He nailed Yasunaga with a vicious knee as Yasunaga was going to shoot a double leg takedown off the cage. That knee hit so hard that the sickening thud sound reverberated off the walls of Studio Coast. This was the most significant KO we have seen since Hatsu Hioki 29-11-2 (Win-Loss-Draw) was turned off in :13 seconds of Round 1 of Pancrase 287 By Hiroshige Tanaka 12-5-0 (Win-Loss-Draw)! Unfortunately for Yasunaga, this makes his losing streak go to 5 in a row. We wonder what will happen to him after this loss?
Full Results:
Tom Santos beats Yusaku Inoue by TKO (punches). Round 2, 2:10
Issei Tamura beats Yoshinori Horie by TKO (punches). Round 2, 1:28
Kenta Takizawa beats Hiroyuki Oshiro by TKO (punches). Round 2, 2:05
Ryo Hatta beats Teppei Maeyama by submission (arm-triangle choke). Round 1, 4:49
Taiki Akiba beats Yuki Yasunaga by TKO (knee and punches). Round 2, 2:39
Yusuke Ogikubo beats Kohei Kuraoka by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Katsushi Kojima beats Naohiro Matsukawa by TKO (ground and pound). Round 1, 2:11
Masahide Hiraoka beats Seio Date by unanimous decision (30-27×3)
Satoru Enomoto beats Katsuyuki Hironaka by submission (armbar). Round 1, 2:09
Chihiro Suzuki beats Kento Mizutani by TKO (referee stoppage). Round 1, 3:00
Ryusuke Noda beats Takahito Tomozawa by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Satoshi Miyokawa beats Ryuji Abe by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
Alan Yoshihiro Yamaniha vs. Kintaro Masakari fight was pulled from the card due to Masakari not being cleared by the doctor due to medical reasons.
