March 12th was the return of Quintet to Tokyo. We have all been trying to ride out the pandemic here in Japan and waiting to see when we will get our chance for the vaccine. That will be later in the Summer of 2021, but we went ahead and pushed on with Quintet Fight Night 6 in Tokyo.
This time, the Quintet powers that be decided on a new venue for the promotion. The theater was located in the Red Light District of Tokyo in a little town called Roppongi. If you have visited Japan or you have the opportunity to live here, Roppongi is a place where dreams are made, battles are fought, and the sky is the limit! There are many stories that you can hear from people who have been through the town for a drink or a bit more.
This event’s venue was at the Ex Theater. It is a medium, enclosed theater that seats 920 people. This time they could not use the entire seating capacity due to the fact that Tokyo was in a lockdown state of emergency. Only 50% of the capacity or even less could be used. On this day every other seat was left open so that the guests could safely social distance.
For Quintet, each time they offer a fight night event they try to offer an interesting card. Sometimes it is all Japanese dojos on the card. Sometimes it is an international invitational tournament with fighters from all over the world. This time around the card was filled with amazing female fighters on 3 teams. A total of 15 combatants in all. If you live in Japan, and you know the people that compete on a regular basis, the names on this card were impressive and not strangers to us fans at all.
Another good point about Quintet competitions is that their rules are always evolving. This time around was not different in this fact. They added another enhancement to the rule set for this competition. This rule will remain in place going forward as well.
The New Rule
In the competition, if the referee sees an athlete stalling or there is no action for a few seconds you will hear the ref shout “Action”. You will also see the side referees start to flag the competition meaning they are looking for more aggressiveness from the athletes. If the center ref is still not happy with the action on the mat he can stand both combatants back up in the center of the mat and issue one or both a foul. In Japanese, this is called a SHIDO.
The number of Shido is accumulated for the whole team. In the event of a draw, at the end of the whole round, the number of Shido are counted and the team with the highest number will lose. This has always been a rule in Quintet. This time, however, after a Shido is called, the athlete who did not get a Shido can choose a re-start position. There are 4 positions to choose from. Knee on Belly, mount, side control, or back.
Results
Opening Match
Reon Niwa def. Shota Nagano via judges’ decision
Round 1: Team Carpe Diem vs. Team Fairtex
SARAMI def. Kazuko Sakamoto via disqualification (jumping into guard from clinch) at 5:20
SARAMI def. Ryoko Yoshida via submission (armbar) at 2:25
Carolina De Amorim Kuwahara def. SARAMI via submission (armbar) at 2:23
Carolina De Amorim Kuwahara vs. Mitomo Moriwaki ends in a time limit draw
Haruki Ishiguro def. Julyanna Laurentino via submission (armbar) at 0:15
Kanon Kishida def. Haruki Ishiguro via submission (rear-naked choke) at 6:47
Satomi Suga def. Kanon Kishida via submission (d’arce choke) at 1:45
Team Carpe Diem advances after all Team Fairtex grapplers eliminated
Special Match
Saku Jr. vs. Kazuhiro Suzuki ends in a draw via one submission for each fighter*
*Iron Man Exhibition match: leg-based submissions prohibited, whoever has the most submissions after eight minutes wins
Round 2: Team Fairtex vs. Team Coroblock
Kazuko Sakamoto vs. Yuki Ono ends in a time limit draw
Julyanna Laurentino vs. Emi Fujino ends in a time limit draw
Carolina De Amorim Kuwahara vs. Norika Ryu ends in a time limit draw
Ryoko Yoshida def. Windy Tomomi via submission (armbar) at 2:55
Takayo Hashi def. Ryoko Yoshida via submission (hammerlock) at 3:29
Takayo Hashi vs. Kanon Kishida ends in a time limit draw
Team Fairtex advances via judges’ decision after no winners determined and each team had an equal number of warnings
Special Match
Tomoshige Sera def. Daisuke Nakamura via judges’ decision
Championship Matchup: Team Carpe Diem vs. Team Fairtex
Yuki Uchiyama def. Kanon Kishida via submission (ankle lock) at 0:50
Yuki Uchiyama def. Julyanna Laurentino via submission (kneebar) at 2:33
Yuki Uchiyama vs. Kazuko Sakamoto ends in a time limit draw
Mitomo Moriwaki def. Ryoko Yoshida via submission (armbar) at 1:28
Mitomo Moriwaki vs. Carolina De Amorim Kuwahara ends in a time limit draw
Team Carpe Diem WINS EVENT after all Team Fairtex grapplers eliminated
