The pancrase guy (maeda) fought wasn't footlock crazy, and that led to Baret getting KO'd! Just messing.
I honestly believe that Minowa beat Ryan Gracie, the judges were way off that night IMO. The portion of the fight where Minowa was in control, was exciting.
He has submitted a BJJ black belt with a rolling kneebar, triangled one of Japan's top grapplers in Daiju Takase, caught Sasaki with a beautiful toe hold, and escaped from an ungodly amount of trouble from guys like Tamura and Kikuta. (Sasaki has only been submitted twice in over 30 fights, once in his debut and once against Minowa.)
yj, had a feelin' the maeda comment was coming :-( thing is, when i was in osaka 2 mos ago, baret told me to go train w/ those guys as maeda's school is located there. i couldn't find the school though.
anyway, i don't think minowa won that night against ryan, but it was close. the japanese really like this guy though. i remember him jumping w/ ryan in guard on him, but wasn't able to get anything going. they both gassed at the end. boring. if he could get his striking game going though--then he'd be really cool. but until then, i await unimpressed.
ng,
didn't want to diminish a win, but i'd rather see somebody get slammed to the ground. his guard passed, pounded from the mount. and then choked or armbarred. just my personal pref. hey, did i just describe bj vs bang to a t?
"Like he pointed to the ceiling to distract them?"
I don't know why he did it, but it made it much more dramatic. Like when The Rock bounces off the ropes before dropping the people's elbow, you know?
Minowa has done a few really crazy things over the years.
When he fought Filho, in the last minute of the fight he literally landed a piledriver, and then unleashed a wild flurry of punches as the clock ran out. When the fight ended, he got up and screamed "I AM PRO WRESTLER!!!"
He fought Semmy Schilt. At the beginning of the fight, he did a forward somersault into single leg takedown... And it worked. Schilt stood there like "WTF?" and Minowa took him down. I actually used that move in a BJJ match, but it didn't work for me. :)
Eiko Koikie is engaged (maybe now married?) to Wataru Sakata, who is an MMA fighter who built his career in RINGS I believe. He has fought guys like Renzo Gracie, Daniel Gracie and Mario Sperry. Submitted Brandon Lee Hinle with a leg lock.