Coolio
Tigermask trying to explain shooting to a tv presenter, the guy looks plumb flummoxed by the octagonal ring, fingerless gloves and super-safe birth control headgear. Believe this is from 86â, could be as late as 88â though. Interestingly enough, they have a mural depicting ancient greek pancration on the wall. Not my upload, some japanese cats, so i salute you, hikikomori man!
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Sayama suffered the fate of many a genius, in that he was so far ahead of his time that he merely paved the way for someone else to get the glory. Since 98 or so, American MMA is far more patterned after Shooto than anything else that preceded it.
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Definitely, he was considered a real crackpot in his day, tilting at the windmills of accepted societal convention, no-one, myself included, could wrap their head around legitimately shooting on the floor for extended periods as a viable sport. I remember thinking he must surely be suffering from pugilistic dementia, shooting the shooter and then getting lost. I was far from alone in this assumption. Even his greatest rival and friend, fellow shooter the dynamite kid tom billington, thought it was nuts.
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Attention! Volumes 10-12 are out now, and availble over at www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoadIn these latest misadventures we discover the ancient scrolls that clearly lay out the official rules for âShootingâ and it is fascinating! Join us, and be welcomed to the revolution!
Just to recap:
For only $10 a month you get to: Follow along with modern MMA from the beginning (in this case March of 1991)Almost every column/post has 2-6 hours of rare bonus footage that is usually not available publically. (There is approximately 115 hours of footage on our Patreon, and more is added every month).
We also cover a lot of kickboxing history along the way, and of course, add footage of those events whenever possible.
We include a lot of contemporaneous media/news sources to coincide with our columns, so you can follow along with the media coverage of that era, also.
Every Tue we include translations of rare MMA materials into English. Right now we are translating Shooto: The Technical Shooting Fight from 1986 into English, and when that is complete we have many other treasures that will be translated.
We have exclusive interviews with figures that were there, and one of the major goals of this project is to interview many of the Japanese/Dutch/Brazillian personalities that were important to the development of MMA, many of which, have been ignored by western media.
You also get a warm fuzzy feeling, knowing that you are helping MMA history to be adequately covered by people that actually care about it.
We hope to see you there!
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Kakutogi Road Presents: Sayamaâs Corner "The Story of Shooto Vol.10"
![[âIMG]](https://i.ibb.co/Yp6MMsJ/tigermask26.png "Click this image to show the full-size version.")
- Note: This is a continuation of where we left of last time, as we continue to rappel the depths of all shoot-mysteries. In this case, as we forge ahead with our translation of âShooting: The Technical Shooting Fightâ from 1986. *
![[âIMG]](https://i.ibb.co/JnbPQJy/tigermask24.png "Click this image to show the full-size version.")
Previous Page Translated
Training Schedule to Become Strong:
Improving bodily strength with certainty:
After waking up in the morning, the heart is not work so actively. It is quite hard to suddenly activate oneâs body fiercely. But only by overcoming that hardship one gains the feeling of âIâll do this!â by realizing both mentally and physically the start of a day.
We need to understand that even if we suddenly start working hard after not enough sleep, we would put a strain on the heart and it would be only counterproductive.
Hence we need to train by gradually warming up the body only after sufficient sleep.
The morning training begins with light jogging and warmup calisthenics, and then move to training that strengthens the heart function, such as chin ups and rope climbing, running, rabbit jumps, duck walks, and so on.
Rope climbing and chinning are training methods for acquiring pulling strength.
Rope climbing involves repeatedly climbing up and down a hanging rope many times, using only the hands.
Chinning involves training by using the horizontal bar.
These training methods are simple but reliably strengthens the physique. So what is important, rather than to increase the number of repetitions you do each time, is to continue doing it every day. With these training methods combine the use of weight training that emphasizes power and builds the body through the use of barbells and dumbbells.
Lively muscles necessary for shooting is something build through the skillful combination of these two elements.
It is also necessary to alter training methods between those who are heavier in weight and those who are lighter in weight. For example, those who are heavy should place the emphasis on strengthening the legs, while those who are lighter should increase their running in order to build their total stamina.
The ideal training menu:
6:30: get up
Warm up
Chin ups, rope climbing or rope pulling [tug of war] (3 sets each)
Jump rope
Jogging, rabbit hops, duck walks (in combinations suitable to you)
Running
Dashes [sprints] (100 km with full power ten times)
9:00: after showering, breakfast
10:00: rest, check up on theory of technique
14:00: resume training
Warm up
Stretch
Body weight training
Footwork
Training with sandbag and punching bag
16:45: rest, light rehydration
17:00: begin sparring
Sparring with striking techniques
Sparring with throwing techniques
Sparring with submission techniques
Comprehensive [combined] sparring
Special menus
Cool down
20:00: end of training
21:00: evening meal
22:30: sleep
Road work is the basis of training:
In training, road work is particularly important.
Since road work trains not only leg strength but at the same time also the heart and lungs, it is optimal for gaining all round stamina (endurance) necessary for shooting.
In road work there are four patterns:
-
Full power sprints (about 3km)
-
Ordinary running (about 8km)
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Jogging (at least 15km or more)
-
Running while keeping your own pace and measuring your time.
Dashes [sprints] (speed running) can be done by running short distances of 50 meters or 100 meters about ten times; or by running medium distances of 400 or 800 meters several times repeatedly with intervals.
By skillfully combining sprints within road work, it becomes possible to gain stamina and explosive power. But there would be no point to early morning road work, after all, if one sprains or strains oneâs body
Sharp eyes looking at the opponent. Itâs necessary to train by always keeping in mind real fighting.
![[âIMG]](https://i.ibb.co/MBhH3Ws/tigermask25.png "Click this image to show the full-size version.")
![[âIMG]](https://i.ibb.co/kKD1Zdc/tigermask27.png "Click this image to show the full-size version.")
Previous Page Partially Translated
Do your warm-up exercises with care.
When you choose a course [for roadwork], choose by keeping in mind that concrete roads can easily hurt your knees and earth paths with their unevenness can easily sprain your ankles.
As your course, you should choose a path that you are already accustomed to run on or a path that you have sufficiently inspected while walking or jogging.
When you sprain your ankle, it can be easily caught in a joint submission. So when running with injuries, pay special attention to sprained ankles.
Breakfast should be well-balanced and plentiful:
After training, wait for the sweat to drain by being still for about ten minutes. Then you can take a shower or wipe yourself with a dry towel. In either case you need to completely wipe off your sweat.
For breakfast, instead of a refreshing Japanese style breakfast, Western breakfast with high calories and nutritional value is better.
By the way, I will introduce you here to the standard breakfast given at Gotchâs dojo:
Gotch-style oatmeal with banana and raisin with plenty of honey as the main dish; dark bread, ham and eggs (with three eggs), fresh orange juice, fried chicken, vegetable salad, various types of cheese, yogurt, milk, and so on are all placed on the table.
After eating breakfast, rest your body until noon. But donât sleep during this time. This is because it is difficult to return the body, once loosened, back to its previous state in a short period of time.
Since you will begin full-scale training at 2:00 in the afternoon, as a rule do not eat lunch. But if you really feel the need to, eat things that would not strain your stomach like vegetable salad or noodles, fruits and so on, at least two hours prior to the start of your training.
Soft = technique, hard = body:
At 2:00 begin your training for real fights, such as sparring.
Basic physical strength training like leg exercises, pushups, exercises using barbells and so on, can be done before or after sparring but spend a while doing them.
If we compare the afternoon training to computers, 1) soft = the study of techniques; and 2) hard = building the body.
Do both kinds of training.
In order to study the techniques and master them (soft), we need to build physical strength that can endure them (hard).
It is also necessary to take care that practice does not become monotonous by skillfully mixing the hard and the soft.
Finish training at 8:00 and after showering, eat dinner.
For the evening meal, the most important thing to consider is nutritional balance and there is no need to eat a lot.
When I was training at the Gotch dojo, I only had two meals a day, morning and evening, but the volume was still sufficient to build up the body. Moderate dehydration is important even during training, but be careful about taking in too much water.
After the evening meal relax and use your own time efficiently.
To Be ContinuedâŚ
![[âIMG]](https://i.ibb.co/2WwYXfp/tigermask28.png "Click this image to show the full-size version.")
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Iâve got the original program for that as well, have a look on that list and tell me which one of those guys had the darkest secretâŚ?
We need more of this⌠no video rarity, poster pic upload, etc. will convey these nuances. Pre 1993 mma story must be told.
For many of us, it was UFC IIâs (1994) wide tape distribution that brought bigger attention and recognition⌠I wish there was a story around this (i.e. SEGs distribution details and in turn reach).
I can only suggest that UFC II video broke things open in my neck of the woods (Canada eh!).
DUNK
Iâm glad that someone sees the need for pre-93 MMA to see the light of day. When I started this project I debated as to where I needed to begin. I almost started with the first UFC, but Iâm glad that I didnât, because so much of its rich history can be found in the dark corners of 84-92. At some point we will get to 93 and beyond, and when we do we will already recognize a lot of the key players and ideas that were going into those first few UFCs.
to redeem tigermaskâs crooning, hereâs the record version. Sayama suplexing black tiger(marc rollerball rocco)
Kakutogi Road: The Complete History of MMA Vol.39 "Heavy is the HeadâŚThat Wears the Crown"
*Editors Note: Mike Lorefice (of MMA/Puroresu mega-center quebrada.net) will have his comments be preceded by his initials. *
There is a great scene in Pumping Iron where one of Arnold Schwarzeneggerâs friends tells him, âWhen youâre the king of the hill, thereâs only one direction you can go, and thatâs down. The wolf thatâs climbing the hill isnât as hungry as the wolf thatâs already at the top.â When Arnold heard this, he gave a coy smile and replied, âThatâs true, heâs not as hungry, but when he wants the food, itâs there!â
ML: These sage words of wisdom allowed Arnold to survive the End of Days and avoid becoming Collateral Damage before finally becoming Expendable in 2010.
That, in a nutshell, is where we are at now as of 6-28-92, as Nobuhiko Takada and the UWF-I are perched on top of the mountain, looking down upon their rival wolf packs that are envious of their recent victories. Success is oftentimes a double-edged sword, as their lead in these shoot-style sweepstakes is by no means insurmountable, and the pressure is on to maintain their position. RINGS has been making enough solid moves lately where they could overtake Takada & CO. if they start to get complacent. This is the cross that Takada must bear going forward, as itâs not enough to win the battle to get to the top, but the ability to stay on top is what matters most.
ML: Iâm not sure when UWF-I supposedly took the lead, but I am not seeing it. Akira Maeda has clearly been the best draw by a wide margin, and doesnât bother with small shows, knowing that he will put 5,000-10,000 fans in that seats simply by putting his name on the poster, basically even regardless of having an actual roster, a useful opponent, or any other natives on the show. Also, RINGS is the only promotion that has a TV contract, with all of their shows being broadcast on they pay cable channel WOWOW. UWF-I has been the most active and entertaining promotion of the three, and clearly have the deepest and most versatile roster, but letâs not forget that they have only ran two big shows so far. They both did well, and 1993 will be a much bigger year for them, but 2,000 fans at Tokyo Korakuen Hall is still where they are at most months.
When we last saw our intrepid hero, he lost the battle over the fictitious âBest in the Worldâ championship against the gargantuan Albright-monster. Now at the opening of this event, we see a pensive Takada ruminating over his loss in a pre-event interview, which segues to a montage featuring music that would make Jan Hammer proud. After these drum machine delights are finished, we must now go forward with the sad realization that Masakazu Maeda is no longer with us. This begs the question, is a world without Maeda worth living in? For those that havenât been faithfully following our columns, Masakazu Maeda and Hiromitsu Kanehara are two rookies that just gave us what was probably the greatest feud between two rookies in pro wrestling history and really pushed the envelope in how much shoot-intensity could by squeezed into a match with a worked outcome. This fantastic series ended far too soon, however, when Maeda retired last month after only his 6th match. (See Kakutogi Road #34 for more information).
Now, with his arch-rival out of the picture, Kanehara easily takes the mantle of being the finest of the young shoot-style lions. Here he is being thrown some fresh meat in the form of Yoshihiro Takayama, who would later go on to be one of the most decorated performers in puroresu history, being one of only three men on the planet to have held the heavyweight championship for All-Japan, New Japan, and Pro Wrestling Noah. If a modern MMA fan knows him at all, itâs probably from the insane beating he took in his fight against Don Frye at Pride 21 where both men grabbed each other in a hockey-style clinch and proceeded to pound each other repeatedly in the face. All those things are in the distant future, and presently he is but a former rugby player that has entered the UWF-I under the watchful eye of Takada. Here he must face someone that will undoubtedly be a far superior opponent, but hopefully, he can make a good showing of himself.
Right away these two are going at it full bore. Kanehara quickly hits a fast kick to Takayamaâs thigh, but itâs immediately clear that Takayama holds a significant height advantage, which he utilizes by swatting away Kanehara with a plethora of hard palm strikes. The problem is that Takayama seems to have an awkward way of moving around, and lacks coordination, kind of like if you placed a young Giant Baba into a shoot fight. He managed to lose his balance while throwing a stiff kick to Kaneharaâs ribs and wound up falling onto the ground and giving Kanehara a much-needed opening to a realm that he will surely be the superior fighter in. Surely enough, Kanehara grabs a quick ankle lock, prompting a rope escape, as Takayama has the height to basically grab a rope, regardless of his ring positioning. The rest of this fight was a lot better than I expected it to be, very intense with the âworkingâ kept to a minimum. Like Maeda before him, Takayama was happy to bludgeon his opponent with no remorse, but couldnât do much once the fight hit the mat. He has a weird cadence to him to be sure, sometimes moving faster than you would expect, and at other times appearing to go in slow motion (his knees always seemed to take forever to achieve liftoff) but he is tough and his size, reach, and hard palm strikes, will be a tough challenge for anyone to deal with in the future. The fight continued its intense fast pace up until Kaneharaâs victory around the 8min mark with an ultra-bizarre half-crab which morphed into a heel-hook. Great way to start the event, even if Takayama isnât quite on par with (better) Maeda. ***3/4
ML: Such is the sad state of affairs that Hiromitsu Kanehara has gone from the great fortune of always taking on another rookie in Masakazu Maeda that, while not quite as gifted as he is, would have won rookie of the year in virtually any other year to the misfortune of meeting the ultimate stumblebum in the form of the debuting Yoshihiro Takayama, who would quickly establish himself as the worst, and certainly least coordinated, native in the history of shoot-style pro wrestling. Takayama tried his best to be a substitute for Maeda, and while he isnât actually a skilled striker, throwing really wide awkward slaps, and hilariously slipping when Kanehara countered his middle kick, he did manage to push a high pace and maintain the intensity, which were the essence of what Maeda was bringing. This may be the hardest Takayama ever worked, and the most ferocity he ever brought, certainly it was a great effort on his part. Even though they cut the time in half, that was still way too long for Takayama, who probably could have gone this length in a normal UWF-I match with no problem, but at this pace was blown up after about 2 minutes. There were some embarrassing moments because Takayamaâs striking is just so lame, just too slow, wide, army/leggy, and indirect, connecting randomly if weâre lucky. Things were especially pathetic when Takayama was supposedly kicking Kanehara when he was down, but Kanehara is still fantastic, and managed to work a real magic show here to sell this Hollywood remake of his great matches. As always though, just watch the real thing.
The Crab Will Forever Lead to Thy DoomâŚ
Now itâs time for another tag-match, this time between the teams of Tatsuyo Nakano/Mark Fleming & Kiyoshi Tamura/Yuko Miyato. I would much rather see these guys broken up and given an additional match on the card, but the UWF-Iâs tag matches have been exciting lately, so I shouldnât complain too much. I would appear to owe Miyato an apology for ever doubting him, as he right away tries to inject life into this match by going on a spirited slapping spree against the portly Nakano, but this fire was quickly put out by Tatsuyoâs considerable girth. He merely grabbed Miyato and gravity did the rest, so now we are finding ourselves on the mat. Thankfully, it wasnât long before this ended, and Fleming was tagged in. Fleming then proceeded to wonderfully toss Miyato like a discus and forced the first escape with a crude rear-naked choke. This prompts Miyato to tag in Tamura, and we then got a great sequence where Tamura used his considerable speed to stifle all of Flemingâs entries, that was until Fleming surprised Tamura with a lightning quick firemanâs carry. Tamura didnât stick around to let Fleming capitalize on the takedown, however, and after he got up, he did a brilliant fake, where he seemed like he was going to try for a standard hip-throw and faked it into a quick ankle pick that took Fleming down. Sometimes, Iâm seriously surprised, and impressed, with these little nuggets of fine ne-waza that occasionally appear in these shoot-style matches. The rest of this match continued its winning ways, mostly thanks to the excellent intensity of Miyato, who was able to pull out some decent effort from Nakano, and the seemingly endless creativity of Tamura, who almost always finds a way to shine. I will still continue to gripe about there being tag-team matches in the first place, since without a tag-team division or championship title in place, there are no stakes in these kinds of matches. Still, itâs hard to complain too much when the quality is present as it was here. This was intense and exciting for almost all of itâs almost 18 minute running time. The bout is eventually won by team Fleming with Miyato being an unfortunate victim of Lou Theszâs STF. ****
ML: Fleming is proving to be a good addition, as while he will never be the most exciting worker on his own, he is someone that those who understand how to work with, and counteract his amateur wrestling, can get good things out of. Tamura is certainly one of those opponents, and Miyato did some nice things when Fleming as well. This match wasnât as flashy as many of Tamuraâs matches, but there were a lot of nice little explosions. Tamura mostly worked with Fleming, which, beyond the obvious reasons, was good because those two being the mat pairing mostly kept Nakano from his usual durdling on the canvas. Fleming tweaked his knee early on when Tamura tried to spin into a kneebar, but Fleming rolled in the wrong direction, so Tamura had to abort. I didnât really understand the point of having the score be so lopsided in the favor of Tatsuo Nakano & Mark Fleming even when I incorrectly assumed they were ultimately losing, but this was a consistently good match, with a lot of nice moments. It never felt outstanding though, most likely because Nakano and Fleming just donât have that kind of speed or athleticism. ***
Now for the return of the man with the fastest hands in the East, Masahito Kakihara! Sadly, Kakihara has been on rookie duty the last couple of months, as he was forced with the absurd task of having to carry newcomer, Mark Silver, to two thirty-minute draws in a row. Here he will be facing Yoji Anjo, who has been on fire as of late, so I expect this to be good. Needless to say, Kakihara wastes no time in launching his lightning-palmed assault, but Anjo, being well versed in the ancient G.I. Joe code of âKnowing is half the battle!â is anticipating this, and stifles much of Kakiharaâs output with some rangy kicks. Still, Kakihara is so voluminous with his hands of torment, that he is still able to push a good percentage of his strikes through, despite Anjoâs defenses.
Anjo knows that a standing battle is futile, so he wisely opts to go to the ground with a Kimura from what could be viewed as a half-guard, using only the loosest of definitions. Anjo lacked the necessary torque to properly finish this submission, but thankfully for him, Kakihara turned incorrectly into the hold, giving Anjo the needed leverage to put pressure on the shoulder, and thereby forcing the first rope escape. The rest of the match was odd with most of the offense coming from Anjo both in the standing and ground portions. Kakihara proved he isnât just a one-trick-pony by going for several submission attempts throughout the match, including a triangle choke and a couple of spinning kneebar/toe-hold entries. The problem was that while Kakihara is serviceable on the mat, he isnât strong enough to ever put any credible pressure on Anjo. Most of Kakiharaâs offense came off of Anjo botching an o-goshi or similar judo attempt, which made the ending feel very sudden and contrived when Kakihara won with a basic ankle lock, seemingly out of nowhere. This was still fast-paced enough to have been decent, but could have been much better. **3/4
ML: This was a pivitol match in Kakiharaâs career, a surprising huge win out of nowhere over an established and highly respected veteran. Previously, he only had 3 wins, with the only native being fellow rookie Yusuke Fuke in U.W.F. on 10/25/90 (after Fuke had defeated him on the previous show). They did a shorter version of Hiromitsu Kaneharaâs match, or one could say this is what Kanehara vs. Yoshihiro Takayama should have been if Takayama were actually competent. Speed, intensity, all-out aggression, this was a savage and explosive sprint. Kakihara showed some great movement and defense here. Whenever Anjo was striking, Kakihara was either making the decision to come forward to immediately get inside his striking range by blitzing him with blazing palms or backing away and dodging. One of the reasons some semblance of defense is so important in pro wrestling is that it makes the strikes actually seem meaningful. The usual nonsense of two guys standing there begging each other to hit them as hard as they can essentially assumes that while the strikes may hurt, pain is no big deal since there is exactly zero chance of it going beyond that and actually ending the fight. I mean, no one would stand there and beg the opponent to shoot or stab them (unless they were taking on Tiger Jeet Singh since they know he only uses the clumsy small sword handle rather than the giant long blade), so it just feels like the threat is so minor when people donât care to even be bothered to defend themselves. The ground fighting wasnât as good as the standup obviously, but they still went back and forth with a lot of nice fast moves. Anjo was quickly winning huge, 14-3, but the story they were telling was that the Commander was increasingly looking to keep it on the ground to press his advantage, because he could. Kakihara may not be the best mat wrestler technically or positionally, but he nonetheless kept countering Anjo well. Eventually, he did some damage with a kneebar, then when Anjo got back up, Kakihara caught his jumping knee and took him down into an Achillesâ tendon hold for the huge upset win. This booking made the result of the last match where I was expecting Tamura and Miyato to pull it out even though they were way down seem better, as this time I was expecting the experienced fighter to just stomp the upstart, so there was nothing out of the ordinary with him racking up an otherwise insurmountable lead. ***1/2
Now for the man that I feel is the sleeper hit of this outfit, Steve Day. No, he may not have been blessed with any charisma (or striking skills for that matter) but he may be the best pure wrestler that weâve witnessed since starting this project, and I suspect that with some fine tuning he could have been a very dangerous force within the early American MMA/NHB days, had he chosen to go that route. For now, he must face Kazuo Yamazaki, who I have given up on ever seeing him be elevated to his true worth, and must begrudgingly content myself to knowing that at least he is going to put forth a good match, regardless of the outcome.
The match starts with Day hitting an absolutely breathtaking Greco-Roman throw that Yamazaki tried to stave off with good balance, to no avail. Day immediately starts smothering Yamazaki, who wisely took a rope escape, not because he was locked in a submission, but just to have an opportunity to get some distance between him and Day. Itâs the little nuances like this that make Yamazaki such a stellar talent. Yamazaki then goes for a low single, which gets the fight to the mat, but Day is an excellent scrambler, and easily gets the superior position. However, he is not excellent at submissions, and despite being able to easily dictate where the fight takes place, he still seems kind of clueless on how to end the fight once he gets to where he wants to be. He attempts to choke Yamazaki after taking his back but is so awkward in doing so that Yamazaki easily fends it off until the ref stands them back up. The rest of this match was somewhat frustrating as Day is the best at what heâs good at, but since he is only good at one thing, itâs hard for him to excel in this kind of environment. The rest of this match was mostly Yamazaki finding creative ways to get the fight to the ground (I.E., a flying scissor takedown) and attacking Dayâs legs, only for Day to not really know how to stop this. I like Day, but the more I see him, the more I wish he had been part of the early UFCâs where he really would have had a chance to make a big splash. As it stands, he is good enough that his match is always going to be solid, but unspectacular. The match ends when Yamazaki gets an armbar after punishing Dayâs legs for good measure. ***
ML: Yamazaki really underachieved in 1991. He was certainly good, but nonetheless, his matches sounded better on paper than they were in actuality. He has really stepped it up on the last two shows, getting much better short matches out of the opposition and then he had the right to. The Koji Kitao match was always going to be a one man show, but that makes this one all the more interesting, where Yamazaki finally really developed the sequences to his capability, and crafted a match that was more than the sum of its parts. Day was obviously impressive here as well, as this wasnât merely Yamazaki reacting to the wrestlerâs aggression, as he would with say Tom Burton, but rather Day answering him counter for counter. I loved the urgency Yamazaki brought to some of these segments. For instance, there was a great segment where Day countered his belly to belly suplex with one of his own, but as soon as Yamazakiâs back hit the canvas, he immediately turned and took Dayâs back, trying to go into a Boston crab only to have Day roll into a heelhook, setting off a game of footsies. The finish was a similar sequence where Day countered Yamazakiâs German suplex with a go behind into one of his own, but Yamazaki spun into a Kimura attempt as soon as they landed, chaining submission attempts until he hit the armbar for the win.
The Stacheâ of Doom Fears No ManâŚ.
Now, for the deepest of humiliations⌠Yes, we will now witness, for the first time, Takada not being in the main event spot, due to his inability to become âBest of the World.â Because that legendary title is now being reserved for the Albright-monster, he must bide his time taking on Mark Silver in what is sure to be a throwaway match for both men. What followed was a quick five min match, that saw both men look light on their feet, but was ultimately an excursion for Takada to have a live opponent to use as a kicking bag. To be fair, Silver looks more confidant, but his lack of speed and lack of a ground game isnât doing him any favors. Fairly entertaining for what it was, but totally skippable. Takada must simply bide his time before the powers that be grant him another chance to redeem himself from the gargantuan gaijin. **
ML: A passable nothing match. It was more active and competent than I was expecting to be, but the same time it was totally just there. The fans got to see Takada a break a sweat, if he even did.
Albright came, he saw, and he suplexed the daylights out of Tom Burton. This was even more of a throwaway than the last match, with it only lasting a little over two minutes, but at least this made sense contextually. The giant Albright-monster is on his reign of terror, and not even another big man, such as Burton, can stop him. Can anyone? Will Takada eventually be able to redeem his people and the U-Spirit by foisting away the crown from Gary? Many are the burning questions that await us, but what is for certain is that the UWF-I continues to succeed despite its best efforts. Their booking lacks any kind of long-term vision and most of the pairings feel as interchangeable as a plotline to an episode of Law and Order. Still, they have loads of raw talent, and that is enough to keep them at the top, for now.
ML: This was an improvement in the sense that Albrightâs match looked much less cartoonish, as he was really explosive and stiff here, more credibly overwhelming a fellow big man, if credible can be used in a âshootâ match that is built around gigantic suplexes. Calling this a match is an overstatement though, as Burton had one offensive move in 2 1/2 minutes.
Conclusion: A solid event that isnât quite in the must-see category. Certainly not a bad way to spend 1 ½ hours, as we got a great tag match, a good opening, and a couple of solid, but not quite great mid-card matches. The last two bouts were pointless, but we all knew that going into it, and at least they were quick. Solid show but could have been a lot better with any type of competent booking at the helm.
ML: This was an excellent show if you wanted to see a series of interesting , high quality undercard matches. On the other hand, it was a bad show if you wanted to see the two big names, who gave little more than exhibitions against Crash Test Dummies, or expected the undercard matches to actually lead somewhere.
*Note: You can relive this entire event with us over at www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoad *
In Other News
On 7-7-92 the Daido Juku Karate organization held another one of their âWarsâ events, where they generally invite fighters from other promotions/disciplines to compete against their practitioners. In addition to this, they generally mix these intra-promotional bouts with karate fights of their own, not dissimilar to those seen within Sediokaikan. However, unlike Sediokaikan, they allow punches to the face during competition, but they make their fighters wear headgear that wouldnât have been out of place on a Joe DâAmato flick. They also permit ground fighting, including submissions, but the time they are generally permitted on the mat is far too quick to be of any practical value.
The event opened up with an exhibition between Daido Juku karateka, Shigeaki Koganemaru, and Thai Boxer, Compet Sissahahan. First off, credit must be given to this org for allowing their first bout to be a fight between two different styles, as it says a lot to the confidence in their style, especially when facing a seasoned Thai fighter. This wound up being an interesting contrast between these two styles of stand-up fighting. The Thai was able to continually spam low kicks that Koganemaru never had a decent response for, but by the same token, Shigeaki was able to seemingly throw his opponent at will, which showed some versatility in his style.
Another highlight included an appearance from Koichiro Kimura. Interestingly, Kimura is entering into this as a representative of S.A.W. (Submission Arts Wrestling) and not as a RINGS performer, despite competing within both organizations. This match is done under S.A.W. rules, so when the fighters are standing then punches, kicks, etc, are allowed, but when/if the fight goes to the ground, then it would seem that strikes are prohibited, and grappling must ensue. Kimura shows his excellent wrestling skills, yet again, as he was able to take down his opponent, Toshiyuki Ito, at will. It seems that in a S.A.W. contest, a match does not end when a fighter is able to secure a submission, but is restarted, and presumably the victim of the submission loses a point. Easy win for Kimura, and an interesting look at this burgeoning sport/discipline.
ML: Kimura and Ito put on a fun little exhibition fight where they were just diving on submissions back and forth. They would tap as soon as someone hooked something, but even then, immediately continuing on the damaged joint felt a bit awkward.
*Note you can witness not only this rare event, but other ultra rare Daido Juku moments over at www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoad *
Joe Malenko is said to be starting with the PWFG in August.
It would appear that Dave Meltzer and his reporting within the Pro Wrestling Observer , canât catch a break with the UWF-I. Here is liaison for that organization, Gene Pelc, reaching out yet again, to voice his disapproval with some of Daveâs comments, especially as it pertains to the recent fights that Trevor Berbick and James Warring had with the promotion. Here are his comments, quoted verbatim:
âIâm again contacting you on behalf of the UWF International. You write that Hachiro Tanaka (SWS/Megame Super) owns a percentage of the UWFI. This is untrue. He has absolutely no ownership or other financial position in the UWFI.
Your interpretation of the Warring-Berbick matches continues to misrepresent the facts. Berbick didnât want to be kicked, but he surely knew about kicks being in the rules and wanted the fight money. All he had to do was say he wouldnât fight with kicks, and weâd have happily canceled his contract. We had a back-up fighter ready and willing to go.
At the 5/8 Yokohama Arena promotion, former sumo champ Koji Kitao koâd Kazuo Yamazaki with a series of low kicks, not a kick to the face. Gary Albright will not be out of action until August due to injuries suffered in his fight. In fact, he will be on the card in Hakata on 6/28.â
Gene Pelc
UWF International
Tokyo, Japan
**Editors note: No response has been issued by Dave Meltzer as of press time. **
Mean gene laying it down on crazy dave
Indeed. Meltzer canât catch a break with Gene at the wheel.
Kakutogi Road Presents: Sayamaâs Corner "The Story of Shooto Vol.11"
An Early Sketch for Shootoâs Intended OctagonâŚ
![[âIMG]](https://i.ibb.co/M8h4LHM/tigermask29.png "Click this image to show the full-size version.")
Previous Page Translated
Do your warm-up exercises with care.
When you choose a course [for roadwork], choose by keeping in mind that concrete roads can easily hurt your knees and earth paths with their unevenness can easily sprain your ankles.
As your course, you should choose a path that you are already accustomed to run on or a path that you have sufficiently inspected while walking or jogging.
When you sprain your ankle, it can be easily caught in a joint submission. So when running with injuries, pay special attention to sprained ankles.
Breakfast should be well-balanced and plentiful:
After training, wait for the sweat to drain by being still for about ten minutes. Then you can take a shower or wipe yourself with a dry towel. In either case you need to completely wipe off your sweat.
For breakfast, instead of a refreshing Japanese style breakfast, Western breakfast with high calories and nutritional value is better.
By the way, I will introduce you here to the standard breakfast given at Gotchâs dojo:
Gotch-style oatmeal with banana and raisin with plenty of honey as the main dish; dark bread, ham and eggs (with three eggs), fresh orange juice, fried chicken, vegetable salad, various types of cheese, yogurt, milk, and so on are all placed on the table.
After eating breakfast, rest your body until noon. But donât sleep during this time. This is because it is difficult to return the body, once loosened, back to its previous state in a short period of time.
Since you will begin full-scale training at 2:00 in the afternoon, as a rule do not eat lunch. But if you really feel the need to, eat things that would not strain your stomach like vegetable salad or noodles, fruits and so on, at least two hours prior to the start of your training.
Soft = technique, hard = body:
At 2:00 begin your training for real fights, such as sparring.
Basic physical strength training like leg exercises, pushups, exercises using barbells and so on, can be done before or after sparring but spend a while doing them.
If we compare the afternoon training to computers, 1) soft = the study of techniques; and 2) hard = building the body.
Do both kinds of training.
In order to study the techniques and master them (soft), we need to build physical strength that can endure them (hard).
It is also necessary to take care that practice does not become monotonous by skillfully mixing the hard and the soft.
Finish training at 8:00 and after showering, eat dinner.
For the evening meal, the most important thing to consider is nutritional balance and there is no need to eat a lot.
When I was training at the Gotch dojo, I only had two meals a day, morning and evening, but the volume was still sufficient to build up the body. Moderate dehydration is important even during training, but be careful about taking in too much water.
After the evening meal relax and use your own time efficiently.
Be sure to make a note of anything you noticed:
It is also important to reflect upon the training of the day and make a note of what you noticed without forgetting about it.
Make it a habit to write down any idea that comes to you, whether by drawing or with sentences. Years later these notes will be valuable assets.
Eight hours is the best duration for sleep. Both lack of sleep and too much sleep will lead to destroying the bodyâs rhythm.
Each person is different due to physical fitness and the environment, and thus what is effective in training will be different for them.
Begin by making your own plan and building a training schedule that is right for you.
Pushups. My own record was 90 times.
Learning the distance from your opponent with your body, throw an accurate and yet effective kick.
![[âIMG]](https://i.ibb.co/XZRrzGy/tigermask30.png "Click this image to show the full-size version.")
Previous Page TranslatedâŚ
Shooting Official Rules:
Chapter 1: Fighting area:
Article 1: Determination of the mat size: Octagon shape with a 10 meter distance for the floor mat between opposing regions with the diagonal lines reaching each side [translatorâs note: Iâm not sure what this means].
Article 2: Out-of-bounds zone: The inner loop will be partitioned with the width of 1 meter by a conspicuous color as the out-of-bounds zone.
Article 3: Center zone: 1 meter of the octagon with equal regions will be partitioned diagonally as the center zone for the starting positions for the fighters at the start of the match.
Article 4: Free start position line: A line is drawn from every corner of the octagon as the free start position line.
Article 5: Determination of the material: The mat will be an official mat authorized by the Shooting Federation and will be tightly stretched across the canvas to prevent tripping.
Article 6: Determination of out-of-bounds: The out-of-bounds zone will be of the same material as the in-bounds area and at least two meters of it will extend beyond the partitioning line with nothing placed on it.
Article 7: Front and sides: One corner of the octagon will be the front, the second corner from its right will be the white corner, and the second corner from its left will be the red corner. Officials will be seated at the front corner, and each of the white and red corners will be the entrance area for the athletes.
Article 8: Seating of officials: The seating of officials will be in the center of the front corner. The mat chairman (chief judge) will be seated in its middle seat, the official record keeper will be seated on the right, and next to him is seated the time-keeper. And on both sides of the front corner from some distance will be seated the sub-judges.
Chapter 2: Equipment for competition:
Article 9: Clothing: The competitors must not wear any clothes other than what is admitted by the Shooting Federation.
Article 10: Tights: Competitors must wear tights authorized by the Shooting Federation.
Article 11: Shoes: Competitors must wear shoes authorized by the Shooting Federation.
Article 12: Wearing anything other than what is required: You cannot wear anything that would hinder the fight or any protectors other than what is required.
Article 13: Body: 1) Toe nails must not be grown; 2) Hair and body must be not oiled up.
Article 14: Protectors : Competitors must only wear protectors recognized by the Shooting Federation.
Article 15: Protective Mask: Competitors must wear the protective mask recognized by the Shooting Federation.
Article 16: Leg protectors: Competitors must wear leg protectors recognized by the Shooting Federation.
Article 17: Knee protectors: Competitors must wear knee protectors recognized by the Shooting Federation.
Article 18: Foul cup: Competitors must wear a foul cup recognized by the Shooting Federation.
Article 19: Hand protectors: Competitors may wear hand protectors recognized by the Shooting Federation.
Chapter 3: Judging:
Article 20: Judging: Judging is to be fair and impartial and has the highest authority and the match proceeds according to its instructions.
Article 21: Number of judges: There will be four judges per match.
Article 22: Judge-chairman (Matt chairman) : While the matt chairman judges the whole [of the match], the judges concurrently take the total [points] counted by each judge.
Article 23: Referee: The referee directly oversees the match and allows it to proceed. And when the total points of the judges equal a draw, the referee ultimately decides the winner.
Article 24: Judges: The judges are positioned behind each corner and assist the referee, and make the judgment when the match ends in decision.
Article 25: Judgment: Members of the judgment committee [referee and judges] decide the winner.
Article 26: Regulation: Members of the judgment committee must take their designated positions and during the match must not be allowed to talk to others or look elsewhere.
Article 27: Indication of judgment: Judgment committee members must indicate their judgment promptly.
Article 28: Summoning call: The referee extends his hands towards both competitors standing by within the arena [octagon] and invite both to come to the center zone by calling âcenter.â
Article 29: Final check: At the center of the mat the referee performs a final check of both fightersâ wear and equipment, their medical checkup, and rules.
Article 30: Stand-by: The referee directs both of his palms from inside to outside and with the command âoutside,â moves both competitors to outside of the center zone to prompt them to stand-by [be ready].
Article 31: Start of the match: The referee at the center between the two competitors makes the command of âbowâ while fixing his right hand with the thumb pointing up at the level of his chest and arm extended. After their bowing, he lowers his land and calls âstartâ to begin the match.
Article 32: Indication of ground position: During the match, when either or both competitor/s touches the mat from the knee up, in cases where the situation is a ground position, the referee taps the back of his right hand, in a downward direction, on the top of his left palm while calling, âground.â
Article 33: Indication of free position: When the time limit [for ground fighting] or the competitor/s indicate being free [stand up?], the referee places the back of his right hand on the palm of his left hand and raises his arms, in an upward direction, while separating them left and right.
A mat for amateur wrestling is circular with a 9 meter diameter but because shooting includes striking it [the mat] is larger in size.
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Attention!
![[âIMG]](https://i.ibb.co/RY1Y8ZY/Kayfabe-Satoru-Sayama-85-compressed-pdf.png "Click this image to show the full-size version.")
Volumes 12-13 are up now on www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoad Donât miss any aspect of this fascinating dive into our shared history.
Just to recap:
For only $10 a month you get to:
Follow along with MMA from the beginning (in this case March of 1991)
Almost every column/post has 2-6 hours of rare bonus footage that is usually not available publically. (There is approximately 119 hours of footage on our Patreon, and more is added every month).
We also cover a lot of kickboxing history along the way, and of course, add footage of those events whenever possible.
We include a lot of contemporaneous media/news sources to coincide with our columns, so you can follow along with the media coverage of that era, also.
Every Tue we include translations of rare MMA materials into English. Right now we are translating Shooto: The Technical Shooting Fight from 1986 into English, and when that is complete we have many other treasures that will be translated.
We have exclusive interviews with figures that were there, and one of the major goals of this project is to interview many of the Japanese/Dutch/Brazillian personalities that were important to the development of MMA, many of which, have been ignored by western media.
You also get a warm fuzzy feeling, knowing that you are helping MMA history to be adequately covered by people that actually care about it.
âFollow along with MMA from the beginning (in this case March of 1991)â
You do realize that many of us here watched all of this play out in real time?
Right here on this forum and others before it?
For only $10 a month you will share with us what we know better than you?
Hell of a deal.
Just stop.
Not many of us watched MMA before the UFC in 1993.
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holeeee shit at 90 handstand pushups.
iâve always held to the john milius story as the octagon originator, simply because if there was 1 person in hollywood who would have had knowledge of shooto, itâd be milius, so he took this idea and just added the chainlink fence for visual effect. Tigermask used the octagon to make a clear distinction between straight up shooting and the ring of pro rasslinâ. The octagon had historical precedents in europe, as hexagon and octagon enclosures were used for trials by combat in the days of chivalry.
Yes, I think that the use of a cage is a very American flavor. Theyâve constantly been used in American pro wrestling since the 60s, but very rarely in Japan. Itâs only in recent years that the cage made its way to Japanese mma, and sadly because theyâre now trying to emulate the UFC.