The infamous hall of pre-UFC shoots continues to grow, with the latest addition of THREE MORE SHOOTS thanks to this last RINGS event. (This excludes any/all Shooto fights, as those were all-shoot.)
Here is the latest list:
Freek Hamakers vs. Charlie Lieveld (A Free-Fight that took place on 11-20-88 at a Dutch kickboxing event)
Gerard Gordeau vs. Dick Veldhuis (A Free-Fight that took place on 2-19-89 at a Dutch kickboxing event)
Yusuke Fuke vs. Lawi Napataya (PWFG 7-26-91)
Minoru Suzuki vs Lawi Napataya (PWFG 8-23-91)
Ken Shamrock vs Kazuo Takahashi (PWFG 11-3-91)
Nobuaki Kakuda vs Herman Renting (RINGS 12-7-91)
Gerard Gordeau vs. Mitsuya Nagai (RINGS 12-7-91)
Minoru Suzuki vs Takaku Fuke (PWFG 1-15-92) This was a shoot, but there were no strikes. It was similar to a ADCC match.
Billy Scott vs James Warring (UWFI 12-22-92)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Trevor Brebick (UWFI 12-22-92)
Mitsuya Nagai vs. Koichiro Kimura (RINGS 1-25-92)
Nobuaki Kakuda vs Rob Kaman (Rings 1-25-92)
Masaaki Satake vs Gerard Gordeau (Rings 1-25-92)
Adam Watt vs. Hans Nyman (RINGS 3-5-92)
Nobuaki Kakuda vs. Rudy Ewoldt (RINGS 3-5-92)
Masaaki Satake vs. Fred Oosterom (RINGS 3-5-92)
Gus Garcia va Richard Carle (PWFG 3-20-92)
Ozzie Alvarez vs Pedro Goderich (PWFG 3-20-92)
John Lana vs Herman Cicedo (PWFG 3-20-92)
Pieter Smit vs. Mikoki Ichihara (Sediokaikan/RINGS 3-26-92)
Herman Renting vs. Yoshinori Nishi (Sediokaikan/RINGS 3-26-92)
Naoyuki Taira vs. Eric Edlenbos, (Sediokaikan/RINGS 3-26-92)
Maurice Smith vs. Masaaki Satake (Sediokaikan/RINGS 3-26-92)
Yoshinori Nishi vs Willie Peeters (RINGS 4-3-92)
Kazuo Takahashi vs Yuki Ishikawa (PWFG 4-19-92)
Kiyoshi Tamura vs Mathew Saad Mohammed (UWF-I 5-8-92)
Minoru Suzuki vs Yuki Ishikawa (PWFG 6-25-92)
Yoshinori Nishi vs Peter Dijkman (RINGS 6-25-92)
Mitsuya Nagai vs Nobuaki Kakuda (RINGS 6-25-92)
Naoyuki Taira vs Eric van der Hoeven (RINGS 6-25-92)
Masaaki Satake vs Willie Peeters (RINGS 6-25-92)
Nobuaki Kikuta vs. Yukihiro Takenam (RINGS 7-16-92)
Chris Dolman vs Buzariashibili Ramaji (Rings 7-16-92)
Masaaki Satake vs Peter Oele (RINGS 7-16-92)
Kakutogi Road Presents: Sayamaâs Corner "The Story of Shooto Vol.13
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.
Previous Page Translated
Article 59: Indication of surrender: The competitor must communicate clearly to the referee his will of surrender by saying, âI give up,â or by tapping the mat or opponent with his hand.
Article 60: Voicing surrender: During the match when caught by a submission hold or hook, if the competitor immediately utters a vocal sound, without any thought, even without the [recognized] indication of âgiving up,â the referee will take this to mean surrender and counts it as ippon [full point].
Article 61: Refereeâs decision: When a competitor is caught in a submission hold or hook but cannot make the indication of surrender or refuses to, or when driven to a dangerous position during the match by striking techniques, as a duty the referee can stop the match by uttering, âthatâs it,â and decide on the winner.
Article 62: Fleeing: During the match if a competitor deliberately goes out of bounds, this will be regarded as abandoning the match and will signify a loss.
Article 63: Fleeing by U-turn: During the match if a competitor turns his back on his opponent and loses any will to fight, this will be regarded as abandoning the match and will signify a loss.
Article 64: Abandoning the match: During the match if a competitor abandons the match, it will be recognized as âabandoning the matchâ and will signify a loss.
Article 65: Doctorâs stoppage: During the match if a competitor gets injured and the judges/referee decide he cannot continue the match, it will count as a loss for the injured competitor by âdoctorâs stoppage.â
Case 1: Doctorâs call: During the match if a competitor gets injured, the judges/referee can interrupt the match and have the certified doctor check the injury on the competitor to decide if the match can be continued or not.
Article 66: Injury: During the match if a competitor gets injured, the judges can decide/referee the winner on the basis of the cause of the injury.
Chapter 7: The Match:
Article 67: Proscription of objections to the judges: Competitors must in no case at all object to the judges/referee.
Article 68: Weighing: Before the match the competitors must be weighed at the time and place designated by the Federation.
Article 69: Health checkup: Before the match the competitors must undergo a health checkup by a Federation authorized doctor at the time and place designated by the Federation.
Article 70: Arena [Stadium] : Matches will be conducted only within the arena.
Article 71: Techniques out of bounds: Techniques or holds made by both or either of the competitors when out of bounds will not count [count as invalid].
Article 72: Standing position out of bounds: Out of bounds in the position of standing techniques would be the position when one foot completely steps beyond the dividing line to the outside.
Article 73: Ground position out of bounds: Out of bounds in sacrifice throws [suplexes or throws falling to the ground] or ground techniques would be when more than half of the body exits beyond the dividing line to the outside.
Article 74: Valid techniques out of bounds: When the competitorâs move or technique was made within bounds up to the moment it had its effect, even if the opponentâs body is out of bounds, it will fully count.
Article 75: Commencement of the match:
Case 1: Stand-by within the ring [octagon]: Competitors will bow and enter the arena to stand-by.
Case 2: The call: The referee will call both competitors to the center of the mat.
Case 3: Final check: The referee will make a final check of the competitorsâ clothing, equipment, and body, and go over the rules.
Case 4: Stand-by: With the refereeâs call of âoutside,â the competitors will exit the center zone to stand-by [await] for the match.
Case 5: Start [Commencement]: Following the bow to/with the referee, the match begins with the refereeâs signaling of âstart [begin].â
Article 76: Free position: When both competitors are in the stand-up position, all permitted techniques, such as striking, throwing, and submission techniques and so on, can be exchanged.
Article 77: Ground position: This is when either one or both competitors are in the position for ground techniques (when any point in the body above the knee touches the mat).
Article 78: Restriction of striking techniques in the ground position: In the ground position, no striking techniques are permitted at all.
Article 79: Limit of ground position: When ground fighting has not led to any submission position within 30 seconds, the referee will call a break and the competitors will be stood up to commence the match from the starting position.
Article 80: Ground limit stand position: Even if both competitors stand up within the 30 second time limit [for ground fighting], the ground position will continue [translator: Iâm not sure what this means.]
Article 81: Indication of free position: When one or both competitors free themselves from close contact within 30 seconds [of grappling] and sufficiently separated himself/themselves, the judge can signal by raising one hand and have them restart the match from the free position.
Article 82: Difference (in/out) start: When the time limit is up in the ground position, the match is restarted from the free position at the free start line with the competitor who was dominant at the time limit positioned from the center and the competitor who was in a less dominant position at the time positioned towards the boundary and from a standup free position with the competitors separated over one meter.
Article 83: Level start: When the time limit is up in the ground position and the competitors were equal in their dominance or had achieved a freed status, the match is restarted at the closest free start line with both competitors taking the line at the center horizontally with one side of the center zone, from a standing position at least one meter apart from each other.
Article 84: Center start: The restart of a match after competitor/s went out of bounds occurs from the center start position.
Article 85: Avoiding the free position: When a competitor intentionally falls to, and invites his opponent, to the ground position numerous times, he will receive a caution.
Article 86: Restriction of the use of striking techniques: punches must use the area of the palm and cannot employ finger pokes, knuckles, or head buts.
Article 87: Restriction of the area of attack: Strikes to the lower abdomen, to joint areas from the front, and to the back of the head [occipital region] are not permitted.
Article 88: Restriction to grappling techniques:
Case 1: When grabbing fingers, it must be more than three fingers.
Case 2: Grabbing the clothing/uniform or equipment worn by the competitor or anything he has or his hair is not permitted.
Article 89: Restriction of holding protective equipment: Grabbing the protective equipment with the hand or using its protruding parts to push or pull is not permitted. But holding it with the arm/s is permitted.
Article 90: Restriction of bridging: To raise a bridging opponent in the direction of his head or to pick him up and drop him is not permitted.
Article 91: Crushing: Jumping on a lying opponentâs head with momentum is not permitted.
Article 92: Dropping: Lifting an opponent in the ground position and dropping [slamming] him on the mat is not permitted.
Article 93: Excessive attacks: Once the judges or referee indicates a break or calls, âthatâs it,â the striker must promptly release his attack.
Article 94: Common sense attacks: In no case may morally impermissible actions, such as biting, pinching, scratching, and so on be allowed.
Article 95: End of match:
Case 1: When the match has ended with a victory, such as by ippon, the competitors must return to the center position and await the refereeâs signaling of the victor.
Case 2: At the end of a match that went the full time limit, competitors must return to the center position and await the refereeâs signaling of the decision.
Article 96: After the matchâs end: After the decision, competitors must bow and return to their respective corners and exit the mat and bow to the mat center and go to their locker/changing rooms.
Chapter 8: Foul and Caution:
Article 97: Guidance: When a competitor commits a foul that is not grave and due to ignorance, he will receive one guidance; and if he commits the same foul twice, he will receive one warning.
Article 98: Warning: When a foul is committed, the judge/referee will interrupt the match and give the competitor a warning.
Article 99: Admonition: When a foul is committed a second time, the competitor will receive an admonition and one point will be subtracted from his score.
Article 100: Admonition loss: After receiving an admonition, if a foul is committed again graver than what deserves a warning, the competitor loses the match by disqualification.
Previous Page Translated
Article 101: Immediate admonition: For a grave foul committed, regardless of whether he receives a warning or not, the competitor will immediately receive an admonition or lose the match due to immediate admonition (disqualification).
Article 102: Caution: Conducting the match passively will be considered a foul; and when the competitor is not sufficiently active in pursuing attacks, it will be considered an escape and he will receive an admonition, and with three such cautions, he will lose by admonition [disqualification].
Article 103: Restriction of forbidden attacks: The following conducts are forbidden:
1) Not following the orders of the referee; objecting to the referee.
2) Growing the finger nails. Putting oil or cleats on the head or body.
3) Excessive attacks.
4) From the standing position to persistently and intentionally invite the opponent into the ground position
5) To raise the bridging opponent in the direction of his head. Or to lift him up and drop him.
6) With momentum to fall on top of a lying opponent.
7) To utilize the fingers, knuckles, or butting [head buts] in striking techniques.
8) To strike against the lower abdomen, joint areas, or back of the head.
9)To strike against an opponent in the ground position
Previous Page Translated
10)To grab equipment, clothing, hair and so on.
11)To put the hand in the opponentâs mouth.
12) To act in a way that does not follow common sense or demeanor.
13) To act passively.
14) To run out of bounds.
Chapter 9: Refereeâs Signals:
Among refereeâs signals there are the following six kinds:
Begin
Ippon [full point]
Separate
Ground Position
From ground position to free position
Thatâs It
Move to standing position (signal made by competitor)
Authorized by the Shooting Federation
To Be ContinuedâŚ
*Note: Volumes 14,15,16, and soon 17, can all be found over at www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoad
" 12) To act in a way that does not follow common sense or demeanor."
Christ, that sums up my life to date.
right there with you brother
Nice⌠amazing history âŚ
on one of my daily crawls through the darkest recesses of the internets in search of VHS instructionals that have eluded me, i came across a couple best of ADCC DVDâs with matches from the 99â tournament.
Search ebay with the following, " ADCC JIU JITSU DVD ~ LOT OF 2 DVDs ~ THE BEST OF ADCC VOLUME 2 & 3 ~ NICE PRICE!" At $9 shipped, itâs a steal. Disclaimer: i have nothing to do with the auction
Up until you told me that the 99â set was sold in its entirety back in the day, my understanding was that this âbest ofâ set was the only way to get matches from 99. In fact, I think that the only matches from 99â that you can find on Fight Pass are within this best of set.
I just remember it being at least 5 dvdâs, i never watched any of it, just piled it on the pile. i could be mistaken and itâs a 98 or 2000, ADCC wasnât a priority, it was just something iâd grab in passing, but not actively search out
Kakutogi Road: The Complete History of MMA Vol.42 "Countdown to Termination"
Editors Note: Mike Lorefice (of MMA/Puroresu mega-center quebrada.net) will have his comments be preceded by his initials. Also, special thanks to our resident translator John Krummel!
The date is 7-27-92, and the countdown has begun. Events have been propelled into motion that cannot be undone, and in approximately 5 months, a cataclysmic event will take place which will forever pave the way for MMA to take hold of the greater public consciousness.
This, of course, is the great exodus of most of PWFGâs key players as they leave to start up the Pancrase organization. Yes, only four more PWFG events will take place after this one before Funaki, Suzuki, and others make giant waves within the Japanese press by starting up a promotion based around professional wrestling being a pure sport, one where all ranges of combat must be considered. This wasnât a new idea by any means; Satoru Sayama had been preaching âShootingâ (I.E., MMA) to anyone that would listen since at least 1984. However, Funaki was wiser than Sayama in his presentation in that he packaged MMA as a real style of pro wrestling. This approach enabled the product to be easily digested by the public en masse. Sayamaâs vision was too cerebral, too unpretentious, and required a certain degree of education to jump into. Whereas with Pancrase, it was like taking an already hot oven and turning up the temperature 25 degrees. Sayama tried to work around this by endlessly promoting his sport and going as far as to spend time at each Shooto event discussing the various concepts to what paying audience there was, but was only marginally successful in attracting anyone to the Korakuen Hall. That started to change in 1994 with the UFC and the Gracie family making waves throughout the world, which partially prompted the introduction of the Vale Tudo Japan series of events. From '94 onwards, Shooto enjoyed a larger audience, but still lagged, overall, behind the other kakutogi promotions during the PRIDE FC era.
ML: Some of the difference can be chalked up to Sayama being uncompromising in maintaining the legitimacy of the real sport he created, whereas Pancrase really followed the U.W.F. path of trying to be the most realistic form of pro wrestling, and thus had many shades of pro wrestling, most notably points of cooperation and even some worked finishes.
Still, much of these iconic moments in history are upcoming in the horizon. For now, let us enjoy the beginning of the final moments of the truest version of the PWFG.
There is a scene in Groundhog Day where Bill Murray is experiencing a new day, after being forced to live through a time loop for an unspecified amount of time (current thinking on the matter has it around 40 years) and says, âAnything different is good!â Thatâs how I feel right now, knowing that we are going to get an opening match thatâs not comprised of the same two people, in what feels like an eternity. Yes, I could hug Fujiwara right now for breaking up the formula, even if for a moment, to give us Ryushi Yanagisawa vs Diesuel Berto. When we last saw Yanigisawa he was having his 2nd match with Jerry Flynn, with both matches being good, especially their first. Berto on the other hand, through no fault of his own, was forced to be in a 30min draw with Yuki Ishikawa that was totally forgettable.
This wound up being one of the more bizarre matches weâve witnessed as it was either a shoot or a work-gone-wrong, but it only lasted about 1 ½ mins, so itâs hard to give a fair analysis. Ryushi opens with a couple of stiff kicks before Berto catches his leg and takes him down. Once theyâre on the mat Berto holds his leg, while obviously considering an ankle lock, but wisely opts for a hard shot to Yanagisawaâs stomach. The ref stands them up, and moments later, Yanagisawa kicks Berto flush in the chin for the knockout. Everything here was stiff and credible, but it did seem to be missing the typical energy of a shoot. Still, a minute isnât enough time to assess something like that, and while I would speculate that it was a work-gone-wrong, given the information we have, it could be fair to call this a shoot with an asterisk next to it.
ML: PWFG doesnât normally have shoots, or really short matches of any type, as they donât have a very large roster. I thought this was a work, but the finishing high kick was legitimate, perhaps they just tried a little too hard to make it to finish look as realistic as possible and/or Yanagisawa just landed too hard/flush on the chin accidentally? Itâs not impossible that this was a shoot, and they were a bit tepid because they were feeling each other out, but I would go with a work because the energy, intensity, and general vibe seemed more like a work. Either way, it was more interesting than a silly Bill Murray movie.
Now itâs time for another battle of the young lions, as Kazuo Takahashi and Yuki Ishikawa are set to fight it out for the rights to be future flag-bearers for this shoot-pride. Both have been mixing it up lately, being in both worked and shoot contests, although even Takahashiâs works have been rather intense in the last few months. The first thing I notice is Takahashi giving Ishikawa a nasty stare that Iâve never seen him do before. Heâs always been intense in the ring, but very respectful leading up to that point, so Iâm wondering if thereâs some bad blood here.
Not three seconds into this, and it would seem that my suspicions are correct, they are attacking each other with malice only reserved for thine enemies. Kazuo wins the fierce slapping war, quickly getting his opponent to the ground, and pulls out a nice trick I used to do in my younger days, which is to control your opponent with a half-nelson. This didnât last long before Kazuo just decided to start slapping Yuko like he was insulting his mother. Whatever this is, it may well wind up being one of the stiffest slugfests that the PWFG ever produced.
The rest of this match was just as nasty, with Kazuo often getting the better of Yuki due to his slow takedown attempts, but it wasnât without some great moments from Ishikawa. We saw Yuki pull out several toys from his box of punishments. Soccer kicks, headbutts, elbow grinding from the mount, and a couple of slaps that were so hard I felt it through my monitor, were all to be seen from the future owner of Battlarts. The lack of BJJ these days was a double-edged sword as it caused some slow lapses in the action, but also forced some creative entries. There was one fun moment where Takahashi wanted to fall back for a straight ankle-lock, so he set it up with a diving headbutt, which could be considered an act of genius. The ending of this match was a work (where Ishikawa had to do his duty to a Boston crab that came out of nowhere) but everything leading up to it was a borderline shoot with a nice grudge match feel. ***Âź
ML: This looked much more like a shoot to me than the 1st match, but I still donât feel like it was actually a shoot. It seemed like a precursor to Pancrase where they were working a match but hitting more or less for real the entire time, then doing a predetermined finish with the infamous crab, as opposed to the first match where it seemed like they were working a match, but the finishing shot was legitimate for whatever reason. In any case, these guys really gave you the sense that they didnât like one another, with things getting chippy early and often. The hatred, disrespect (mostly from Takahashi) & intensity were awesome, and really made this a notable fight. Takahashi was clearly out to bully the rookie, aided by his sized advantage and far superior wrestling skill. He wasnât above taking semi cheap shots to put the young punk in his place such as numerous headbutts, grinding his elbow & fist into Ishikawaâs face, and kicking Ishikawa when he was getting up. At one point, after a particularly brutal headbutt, the ref was checking Ishikawaâs face to make sure everything was still in the right place! Ishikawa was very spunky, and wouldnât back down, leading to some great slap exchanges. I didnât feel like Takahashi was going all out to win, but rather trying to humiliate Ishikawa by showing him up at every turn, giving him some opportunities to try to gain the advantage so he could thwart him. Then, when he finally had enough of playing around, he âgot seriousâ and did a quick, explosive takedown into the crab. This was really good, especially for a match that very reasonably wasnât particularly competitive. ***1/2
So far, we have a lot of momentum going into the third match, but thatâs all about to come to an end, no thanks to the buffoonery of Johnny Barrett and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. While my esteemed colleague, Mike Lorefice, may vehemently disagree with me, I would much rather take another heaping of Takayama, than deal with Mr. JB, again. With Takayama, even though he will fail spectacularly, at least he will put forth a real effort which will give us a fiery crescendo of failure, as opposed to the monotonous meanderings of Mr. JB.
Barrett tries kicking Fujiwara, only to have his leg caught, and was then put in some kind of perverse version of a shoot-style airplane spin (minus the takeoff). Things somehow manage to get worse on the mat where the submissions that Mr. JB seems to know are the dreaded ârubbing the elbow on the back of your opponentâs head,â and a truly atrocious toehold. Not to be undone, Fujiwara gives us the worst push kick weâve seen so far, before eventually ending this farce with the same hamstring curl of doom that he defeated Funaki with a year prior. Awful, but quick and worth a chuckle.
ML: What we have here is a DUD so uneventful and pathetic itâs hard to describe. I mean, saying they worked for a takedown and then worked for a submission would make it sound like there was actually something going on, and like it was just any other match. The thing is, nothing really happened, and as soon as it threatened to, it was comedic, intentionally from Fujiwara because he couldnât take his opponent seriously, and unintentionally for Barrett because he went to the WWE school of overselling. I still think this is less intolerable than putting up with 15 minutes of Takayamaâs ineptness. When people are terrible, the best things that can happen are their matches are short and they donât waste the time and effort of someone who would have had a good match against a reasonable opponent. Barrettâs matches tend to meet those qualifications so to speak, so they are easier to stomach than Kanehara going from all-time classics to inept clunkers through no fault of his own.
Now for something that could potentially get us back on track, Ken Shamrock vs. Jerry Flynn. I am excited going into this, as this is a great matchup on paper. Both are bigger men with legitimate skills, which could lead to an intriguing grappler vs. striker setup. Flynn has had several great moments since he hit the scene, including some good matches with Yanagisawa and Sano, and a great outing against Takaku Fuke. On the other hand, Shamrock is probably still rightfully agitated about having to relinquish his top foreigner spot to Bart Vale. The fight starts with an interesting sequence where both men parry and feint, trying to figure out a way to successfully initiate an attack. Both men checked each otherâs light kicks as they were testing the waters before Shamrock drew first blood by grabbing Flynn and contorting him down to the canvas. Shamrock then initiated some gutsy armbar attempts that didnât work but did show some impressive athleticism for someone of his size. This wound up being a mixed bag, as the first half of this match was somewhat hampered by the lack of intensity in the standup portions (they seemed overly cautious to avoid hurting one another) but did pick up in the 2nd. It went to the ground more frequently than I would have liked, but at least Shamrock was always aggressively looking for a submission, and it never felt like it stalled out. It was a very dominant performance for Ken, which was fine but would have been much better had he given Flynn more opportunities. Things ended on a high note, however, with a nice armbar entry from Shamrock, after being reversed from the mount position. Decent **ž
ML: This started way too tepid, and while it may have wound up being the best of the rare gaijin battles weâve seen so far in PWFG, it was disappointing, and certainly below the level of Shamrock typical match. Things really picked up when Flynn scored a knockdown with a flurry of strikes that included two high kicks, and Shamrock came back angry to immediately get the knockdown back. That minute was great, but otherwise this was kind of meh. Flynn obviously had the advantage in striking, while Shamrock was clearly the superior grappler, and the stronger fighter overall. Flynn did a pretty good job of defending on the ground to stay out of real trouble, but Shamrock eventually countered into an armbar for the win.
Now, after an almost 9-month layoff, we get to see the return of Duane Koslowski, as he is set to face off against Minoru Suzuki. When we last saw Duane, he was having a good match against Masakatsu Funaki right up to the point that he appeared to injure himself, and the match ended abruptly. Suzuki has been the most prone to be the one in a shoot within the PWFG, but should he go that route again this evening, will not likely find Koslowski as easy of a target to bully around due to his excellent wrestling pedigree. 5-seconds into the match and Suzuki already looks fantastic. He is so springy and light on his feet, and quickly moves in and out so that you never know when exactly he is going to attack. Instead of shooting in right away, he sneaks in a few nice thigh kicks, which has Koslowski on the defensive. I was surprised at how easily Suzuki was able to get Koslowski down with a low single-leg takedown, which was instantly followed by the best armbar attempt all night. Also, how surprisingly explosive Koslowski was in exploding out of the submission. He seems to have developed an instinct to know exactly when he is in trouble and conserved his energy for just the right moment. Sadly, without any BJJ knowledge, he didnât really know how to capitalize on securing the side mount but instead did the only thing he could probably think of, which was grab an ankle and hope for the best. Of course, that only led him to get heel-hooked in response, thus prompting the first rope escape. The rest of this match saw Suzuki continue to shine and itâs easy to see how he became such a force in Pancrase in the first couple of years of their existence. Not to say that Koslowski was bad, as he was able to control Suzuki more frequently than I would have expected but was never really able to capitalize on his weight or strength advantages due to the lack of his submission game. Suzuki even had some tricks up his sleeve, such as some nasty knees when Duane went for his strongest asset, the clinch, or a beautiful suplex when Duane became off-balance from trying to work from that position. It eventually ends when Suzuki secures an ankle lock. Koslowski wasnât able to put Suzuki in any real danger but put up a hell of a fight, nonetheless. ***½
ML: An interesting match that unfortunately never really got there, mostly because it was so short. Kozlowski obviously had the positional advantage with his Olympic wrestling, but Suzuki was obviously the better submission fighter, and would eventually take over on the ground even against a master of a certain discipline of ground control because he was just so much more well rounded. The match was certainly holding my interest while it was taking place, but ultimately not much happened beyond the positional battles, ending with Suzuki countering into an Achillesâ tendon hold out of nowhere.
Now for the moment that we can only hope will quickly wash over us like an unassuming mist, Bart âChampion of the Worldâ Vale must do battle with the modern-day Samurai, Masakatsu Funaki. Thankfully, Funaki has traded in his karuta (samurai armor) for the posher stylings of zebra-patterned zubaz. Yes, Funaki looks like he found some time to squeeze this match in between his 6-days-a-week, twice-a-day, âsplit routineâ at his local Goldâs Gym. Things are underway and Funaki is looking superfluid, briskly moving in and out while sticking Vale with some crisp kicks. Funakiâs intensity is forcing Vale to drop the flashy cheeseball routine and act more seriously. Vale seems genuinely flummoxed on how to engage Funaki, and this more measured approach is better for us all. A lengthy ground battle followed, with Funaki looking like a million bucks. It always felt like he could end this anytime he wanted to and was merely toying with Vale. Eventually, he gave Vale his turn, and I will admit that Vale put in some real effort here, but isnât able to mask his lack of natural athleticism. The rest of this match may have been the defining moment in Valeâs career. By constantly putting pressure on Vale, Funaki was able to force Vale to give us his best, and this was entirely compelling despite its 30min running time. Vale showed some good strategy by frequently utilizing the side stance to keep Fuanki at bay, which forced Fuanki to have to carefully time his attacks and takedowns. The match had a good blend of standup and mat-time, never stalling out too long in one realm or the other, and even on the ground Vale was intense and credible, even if he will never be confused for a submission wizard. The ending was bizarre, however, as it looked like the time ran out while Fuanki was going for some kind of weird variation of a straight armbar, but the match is listed as a submission victory for Funaki, which makes him the new âChampion of the World,â I suppose. I canât believe Iâm about to say this, but this was very solid. ****
ML: A 30 minute Vale match that is almost passable, I suppose, is a major accomplishment, but this may be your most Meltzerized match rating. I had this as the fourth best match on a mostly forgettable six match show where the other two matches were less than 4 minutes, and never even considered the possibility of it surpassing even **. Definitely one of Funakiâs least realistic matches, but unfortunately, not really gaining any entertainment value in the tradeoff unless you really enjoy watching Valeâs typical slow-motion forms exhibition. I normally like Funakiâs standup a lot, and wish we would see more of it, but because Vale is Mr. Molasses, Funaki didnât use any of his speed or footwork, and mostly just kind of looked silly standing right in front of Bartman so he could be kicked, or actively walking into them. Logically, Funaki would have been landing low kicks and circling off, but Funaki wasnât really even attacking at all in order to support Valeâs slow high/middle kick from the side stance style. Instead, he would step forward and wait for Vale to movie kick him, rather than plowing through the pocket and actually tie Vale up or take him down so he couldnât. Finally, 20 minutes into the match, Funaki ate a spinning high kick to the shoulder blade in order to respond with a double-leg takedown. After that, Funaki would sometimes put up a high block then shoot when Vale chose not to kick him. On the ground, not a lot happened as you would expect. Vale is about as active as Brock Lesnar, while Funaki remained the king of patience. Even the knockdowns were unconvincing. Vale had a knockdown early on with a high kick that Funaki clearly doubled blocked with crossed forearms. Then there was a truly hilarious spot where Funaki was on his knees, with Vale working an amateur wrestling position from the side, and Funaki somehow managed to score a knockdown with a little reverse elbow to the nose. While not the epic disaster it sounded like on paper, Vale did way more to make Funaki look ba than Funaki did to make Vale look good.
Conclusion: For the most part, I enjoyed what I saw here, and felt that this was a step in the right direction. The first match was a possible shoot, or at least had a legit knockout if nothing else. The 2nd was an edgy shoot, right up until the worked ending. Shamrock/Flynn could have been better but was decent. Suzuki/Koslowski was interesting and intense, and the main event, to the shock of anyone that follows this column, was a miracle. Shoot-style matches have almost no business being 30-min long, and itâs surefire suicide to book Bart Vale in one, but somehow Funaki was able to pull a rabbit out of his hat and make this work. With all that being said, itâs almost a shame knowing that the time is coming to an end for this iteration of Fujiwara Co. It seems that many of the key players want to shoot, and are edging closer and closer to it, but for whatever reason, Fujiwara isnât comfortable in fully committing to this idea. This leads me to think that Akira Maeda was wiser than perhaps Iâve given him credit for in the past, as he has never seemed to have an issue with shooting, or whoâs doing it, as long as it doesnât interfere in his main event plans. A match like Takahashi/Ishikawa didnât need a contrived worked ending, as whoever won that shoot wouldnât have affected the long-term plans of the company.
ML: The notable aspect of the show is the 1st two matches doing a nice job of blurring the line between fantasy & reality. This is what Funaki and co. will do such a good job of running with a year from now.
Also, itâs easy to understand why this format likely felt increasingly constraining to Fuanki and his brethren. Imagine that you were a young man in the prime of his life and spending everyday eating/training/living like a professional fighter, but only getting to put your skills to the test behind closed doors, in sparring sessions. Even then, sparring is only going to test you so much, and if you felt like you had something to prove or wanted to know more about what you were capable of, then itâs easy to understand why there was a longing for something more. New Japan may have started the trend of training its pro wrestlers as quasi-professional fighters within their dojo system, but this concept was elevated in the U.W.F. years, and these guys all had experience in how to work a pro wrestling style, but their lifestyles and passions lied with real fighting. Hopefully, one of the things that we will be able to accomplish with this project is to get to interview enough of these key players and find out what the behind-the-scenes atmosphere was like leading to the final moments of this countdown. Was Fujiwara pressed by Fuanki and others to go in a more shoot direction? How did Fujiwara feel about allowing the public to see real shoots? Was it more of an issue with whoever was backing them financially? A lot of questions remain before us, but we will diligently continue our quest to flesh out this history and hopefully together, get a clearer picture of how this all came to be.
ML: I think it really comes down to the Megame money backers, and the other stuff just arose from the rubble of them no longer being willing to support PWFG in the form weâve seen for the first two years. I donât think Pancrase forms because Funaki & Suzuki just couldnât do this worked stuff anymore, itâs more like, if PWFG as we know it is done, letâs do something different rather than just rehashing the same ideas under a new moniker and/or with new financers.
Before we end this, I would like to take a moment to share what our translator, Hebisasori, was able to find out when he reviewed the event. Here is a summary of the comments/interviews from this event, in his words:
Ryuji Yanagisawaâs speech during the entrance ceremony: As a representative of Fujiwara gumi, he thanks the audience for coming⌠says theyâll all do their best to fight hard and give a good show.
Yanagisawaâs pre-fight interview (vs Berto): I havenât lost to Fuke or Ishikawa [in his previous bouts] so thereâs no way Iâm going to lose this time. I can certainly beat Fuke, but I drew with Ishikawa so this time Iâm going to fight to win.
Ishikawaâs prefight interview (vs Takahashi): Iâve fought 4 times now so this time I want to show the result [of improvement, of his training] and show how much Iâve approached Takahashiâs level or even that I can beat him.
Takahashiâs prefight interview (vs Ishikawa): Iâve gained weight, so I think Iâm stronger now, my speed is the same. Iâm going to wear the leggers [shin pads] this time so I want to test what it is like and how it is different from fighting without them. [I believe if you donât wear the leg-paddings (called âleggersâ), youâre allowed to kick; otherwise, you canât]. Itâs hot today and Ishikawa has stamina while Iâm not too confident about my stamina [he means cardio], Iâll have to try not to allow the match go to a draw and I want to end the fight before I start sweating.
Suzukiâs prefight interview (vs. Koslowski): Asked about what he knows of Koslowski, Suzuki says: I saw him fight 3 years ago at the Tokyo Dome and since then heâs fought several times at Fujiwaragumi. In amateur or Olympic style wrestling heâs number 1 in the US, but thatâs pretty much all he has. Asked who he wants to fight next, he says: I want to fight Fujiwara since if I trace my roots in prowrestling it would go back to Fujiwara. So, I feel the need to fight him and beat him. And thereâve been several opportunities in the past, but they didnât pan out and I drew him once. When asked if he has confidence: It doesnât matter. Whether itâs a newbie beginner or an old veteran like Fujiwara, once I get into the ring, Iâll hit the opponent hard and choke him our as hard as I can. Thatâs all there is to it.
Funakiâs prefight interview (vs. Vale): About his impression of Bart Vale, he says: Back in the UWF days, many young fighters, including himself and Shamrock as well, after winning once or twice, would start moving up in the ranks and start thinking theyâre invincibleâŚin that sense Vale is on a roll⌠and this also makes him a formidable/dangerous opponent as heâs [recently] faced Shamrock and Fujiwara. So, I need to be careful, and itâs very hot today too! When asked about his strategy: Iâll avoid getting hit by Valeâs kicks with those long legs he has; When he tries to kick me, Iâll grab the leg and then take him to the ground. Because of the sweat, Iâll try to grab areas that wonât slip like an ankle in order to hook a submission.}
*This entire event can be found in full over at www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoad *
*In other news*
Ramona Gatto is the KICK Womenâs World Bantamweight Champion and sheâs looking for a rematch with Kathy Long!
Current KICK Womenâs World Bantamweight Champion, Ramona Gatto, was recently featured in an issue of Black Belt Magazine , about how she was robbed last year in an ISKA title match against Kathy Long. She said that while she started slow, she should have had a dominant point victory, and that if Longâs camp had done some research as to who she was, they never would have let Kathy fight her, as they only allow her to fight easy fights. She also claimed that Long agreed to give her a rematch, only to squelch out on it, and is looking to get back in the ring with her to settle the score.
Kathy Long responded to this challenge in the very same issue of Black Belt Magazine . They interviewed her on a wide range of subjects (including how she is making a transition to Hollywood films, even being offered roles in TMNT 3 and Red Scorpion 2) and when the subject of Ramona came up, this is what she had to say, âShe keeps telling people that I wonât fight her. Iâm sorry. I have fought her. After the fight I tried to tell her that she was a great fighter. She yelled and screamed at me and called me names. Told me there was no way that I won. I was going to offer her a rematch, but after all the name-calling, and the yelling and the screaming, and the bad attitude that she had, I decided that I wasnât going to do her any favors. If someoneâs going to treat me like that, why should I do something for them?â Hopefully, we will get to see this settled in the ring at a future date!
David Gobedshivili, the Soviet superheavyweight who won a gold medal in both the 1980 and 1988 Olympic games in freestyle, will make his pro debut after the 1992 games on a PWFG event in October at the Tokyo Dome. He is set to be facing Minoru Suzuki. For the same event, it is being rumored that the PWFG are in talks with Tommy Morrison (who had a leading role in Rocky V a couple of years ago) about possibly making an appearance. They are also reportedly talking again with Don âNakayaâ Neilsen, but its unclear if they want him to rematch Fujiwara or someone else.
There have also been rumors that the UWF-I and RINGS have been discussing ways to try and co-promote a supercard.
Rob Kaman is set to return to RINGS to fight Masaaki Satake, in what should be a great match.
Kazuo Yamazaki recently spoke to the Japanese press, and is calling out Koji Kitao, demanding a rematch.
Live now over on the youtube
The picture of Ramona doesnât do her justice, she was a fetching little wench back in her day.
Kakutogi Road Presents: Sayamaâs Corner "The Story of Shooto Vol.14"
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, we are forging ahead with our translation of âShooting: The Technical Shooting Fightâ from 1986
Previous Page Translated
Chapter on the BasicsâLetâs start shooting
Shooting requires that you extend your sensibility from head to toes so you can follow any kind movement.
This is necessary also for attack and defense and for the prevention of dangerous situations and becomes possible only after the accumulation of basic training day after day.
Previous Page Translated
- Stretching: Stretching the waist and hip muscles, crotch joints, and thighs
1.1: From this position inhale deeply
1.2: While slowly exhaling gradually bend your torso and grab the left ankle with the left hand
1.3 Return to position 1 and twist your body to the right and place your left elbow on your right knee.
1.4 [Translatorâs note: The following two pictures appear in the next page at the top but they seem out of place and I believe they belong here:] Return to 1 and bend your upper body sideways and grab your right knee with your left hand and your left ankle with your right hand.
1.5: Return to 1 and, keeping your left leg stretched out, curve your upper body to the back. Keep your knee flat on the ground.
2. Stretching the thighs, waist and hip muscles, knee joints, and calves
2.1:Stretch by placing the inner part of your whole left leg and the right heel on the mat. Even if you can do this all the way, stretch a little more each day.
2.2: With the intent to stretch the thigh of your right leg, slowly bend your upper body to the front and place your chest snugly on to the right leg
2.3: Return to position 1 and pulling the left hand behind you, turn your waist to the left. Keep your line of vision at the tip of your left leg
- Stretching the shoulder muscles, waist and hips, glutes, crotch joints, spine, and neck (cervix):
3.1: Spread legs wide and place hands on mat at shoulder width.
3.2: Enter your head between your shoulders and make sure your buttocks is behind your heals to the back.
3.3: Pushup while stretching. This also serves as strength training.
3.4: Skim the mat with your arms as if you are crawling the ground and stretch.
3.5: Support your weight with both arms and flexibly stretch upwards.
3.6: Stretch both arms and spine. Look straight upwards.
Previous Page Translated
4. Stretching the inner thigh muscles, back thigh muscles, and spine
4.1: Gradually spread both legs to the right and left.
4.2: If you are stiff donât overdo this.
4.3: In order to prevent curving your back at this position, raise your ankles.
4.4: From the lower abdomen, slowly lower your upper body as if you are pressing your chest to the front
5. Stretching the sides of the body, shoulder muscles, and shoulder joints:
5.1: Keep your feet shoulder width apart and with the left arm hold your right upper arm (tricep part). Slowly twist it to the left. Then do the same with the opposite side.
6. Stretching the neck muscles, cervix, and shoulder area:
6.1: With chest forward, grasp your hands behind your head. As if hugging your head with both arms, slowly lower it with the elbows. When returning to the start position, raise with the head.
6.2 Spread your feet a little wider than shoulder width and pressing your left ear with the right hand, lower the right shoulder. Do the same with the opposite side.
6.3: Do not separate your heel from the mat. Keeping your spine straight, press your chin to the back.
[Top of page:] Stretching in English means âto stretchâ or âto pull.â About twenty years ago this exercise was developed by American sports medical scientists and then spread around the world and is currently being used in all kinds of sports as warm up and preparatory exercises.
Stretching trains to stretch and pull the muscles and tendons throughout the body in order to broaden or extend the scope of movement of the joints and prevent injuries.
[Side bar:] Point: âIn order to increase the effect of stretching, relax the shoulders, inhale deeply, and while exhaling slowly stretch. Then while taking shallow breaths, maintain the stretched position for a while.â
Previous Page Translated
7: (In Pairs) Stretching the front thigh muscles, waist and hips, and lower spine:
7.1: Stand above your partner who is lying stomach down, facing the opposite direction.
7.2: Holding your partnerâs feet in your armpits, raise his knees with your hands.
7.3: Sit on your partnerâs buttocks and stretch his spine.
7.4: Stabilize your partnerâs feet with your armpits.
7.5: Bend this part of your partner (pointed to in the picture).
8. Stretching the waist and hips, shoulder muscles, nape of the neck, and upper spine:
8.1: Stand above your partner who is lying stomach and face down [but facing in the same direction].
8.2: Grab your partnerâs upper arms [biceps] and lift him.
8.3: Place your hands on his chin and pull him up to make his face look up
8.4: [continued in next page 35 out of order:] Hooking your partnerâs arms on both of your knees, bend his upper back
8.5: How to place your hands.
8.6: Sit on this part of your opponent (pointed to in the picture).
To Be ContinuedâŚ
*Volumes 15, 16, 17, and 18 are all available over at www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoad . Donât miss any of our exciting misadventures!
the fact that âbreak his back make him humbleâ were not the instructions for the camel clutch stretch makes me very sad
Itâs true. All we can be thankful for is at least Sayama brought some prestige for that infamous crustacean from Boston.
Kakutogi Road Presents: Sayamaâs Corner "The Story of Shooto Vol.15"
*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. *
Previous Page Translated
Body Weight Training:
Leg training (1):
1.1: Relax your whole body, and stand with your feet shoulder width apart.
1.2: Swing your arms from back to front while bending your knees.
1.3: Spreading/flexing your chest, lower your hips, and push your butt out behind you. When doing this raise your heels while balancing.
1.4 Increasing your speed, stand up with rhythm.
1.5: Bad example: [in the photo] [Donât] look down with back bent and not completely lowering your hips.
Leg training (2):
2.1: Stand with your legs spread wide and your arms crossed.
2.2: With your chest flexed, bend your legs left and right.
2.3: By lowering your hips sufficiently and doing this for many repetitions, this exercise produces the effect of both strengthening the legs and stretching.
Knee and abdominal muscle training:
1: Place the soles of both legs of your opponent, lying supine on the ground, on your left knee.
2: With your left arm between your opponentâs knees, have him squeeze it with his knees.
3: Left your opponent with your left arm. The opponent must tightly squeeze his knees and not lose the arm.
Pushup (1):
1.1 Put your feet on a chair and your hands shoulder width apart [on the floor]. Look straight forward. Keep the body straight like a stick.
1.2: Deeply bend the arms until your chest is about to touch the mat. Make sure your lower abdomen does not sink forward.
3.3: Bad example: The lower abdomen has dropped and the arms are not completely bent. Pushups are not only for the arms but trains the abdominal and back muscles as well.
Previous Page Translated
[Top of page:]
There is no need to have muscles to the degree of a weight lifter or a body builder, but we do need muscles that would allow us to move the body freely without restriction.
Unless you do your body weight training in a balanced manner, training the upper body, lower body, front of the body, and back of the body, you will gain muscles that are just one-sided or unbalanced, so be aware of this.
[Side bar:]
Point: âJapanese people, compared to foreigners [non-Japanese], are strong in their lower body but weak in the upper body. There is no need for showy hard muscles, but increase your power with flexible and tenacious muscles [instead].â
Pushup (2):
2.1: Pushup to strengthen your wrists by placing your palms up.
2.2: Place your hands a little wider than shoulder width and deeply bend your arms while looking forward.
Pushup (3):
3.1: Do a handstand with your partner assisting (or you can do this alone against a wall).
3.2: During the handstand, look straight below
3.3: Pushup using only the strength of your arms. Deeply bend your arms so that your head almost touches the floor.
Pushup (4):
4.1: Handstand pushups using chairs.
4.2: Do a handstand on chairs with your partner assisting
4.3: Bend your arms even more deeply than in pushup (3). Donât overdo this when you first start. Rather than increasing the quantity it is better to attempt to do this [even once] completely.
To Be ContinuedâŚ
Donât be caught acting in a way that defies common sense or demeanor!
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That illustration is hilarious
Kakutogi Road: The Complete History of MMA Vol.43 "Birth of a Blue-Eyed Samurai"
Mike Lorefice (of MMA/Puroresu mega-center quebrada.net) will have his comments be preceded by his initials. Also, special thanks to John Krummel for his help with translations!
It seems that in any major endeavor, there is a brilliancy that bursts forth once a generation that will forever alter the dynamics of how that undertaking is perceived by its subsequent followers. Yes, true legends only come along once or twice in a lifetime, and they tend to be stars that burn far too quickly, but will be felt for many years to come. Andy Hug was one such star, a ball of energy that didnât last half as long as it should have, but burned far brighter than anyone that has come after. Of course, anyone that has followed 90s kickboxing knows of this incredible talent, but we are now reaching an era where much of what he and his contemporaries did are starting to be forgotten, and hopefully, we can help change that. When we started this road of motley misadventures, we began in March of 1991, and while the history of MMA will always be our primary focus, we have always made it a point to try and cover kickboxing as well, not only is it a shared passion between myself and my esteemed colleague, Mike Lorefice, but is in even more dire need of historical analysis than even early MMA is.
Andy Hug was born 9-7-64 in Zurich, Switzerland, but was raised in the Wohlen municipality of Aargau, Switzerland. He took a keen interest in sports at a young age, starting with football (soccer) until the Kyokushin karate bug bit him at the age of ten years old. He instantly took to it, and trained hard until he was able to win various regional titles in the late 70s in the middleweight category (176 pounds). He eventually made his way to the heavyweight division in 1984, and that same year made it to the fourth round of the Kyokushin World Cup. The next year, he won his first major title by taking the crown at the 1985 European Championships. He continued to compete at a high level in the Kyokushin karate tournament scene before joining Sediokaikan in 1992. As we will continue to cover/discover in the days ahead, Hug was an incredible talent in the karate/kickboxing arena. Although barely a heavyweight, he was able to frequently perform maneuvers rarely seen in high-level competition, most notably the ax-kick. He also made up for his lack of size with an incredible athleticism mixed in with a lot of unconventional lines of attack, which eventually led to him winning the K1 World Grand Prix in 1996, and almost winning again in 1997. Sadly, his life was cut far too short due to a sudden bout with leukemia at the age of 35 in the year 2000.
The date is 7-30-92, and we now find ourselves with our first opportunity to look at Hug via his inclusion at the 2nd Sediokaikan Kakutogi Olympic. We witnessed the first of these events four months prior, which was an event co-promoted with RINGS and was essentially a full-blown MMA event minus the opening exhibition with Akira Maeda. This time around, though Akira Maeda is in the crowd, it does not appear that RINGS is involved, but it does appear that there will be some variance in the rules from bout to bout, and that grappling will be allowed in some of them.
The first match-up on this card is Yoshinori Nishi vs. Greg Douglas and will be contested under Karate Semi-contact Special Rules, which if Iâm honest, I must admit I have no idea what that means. The first thing that we notice is that not only is RINGS not involved this time out, but neither is an actual ring. Instead, we are back to the Sediokaikan norm of using an absurdly large square mat for close-quarters combat. Nishi fought in a very cautious style, but was scarily accurate when he chose to fire. Douglas appears to be the faster fighter, but is apprehensive about committing to anything. Rounds 2 and 3 saw Douglas get a lot looser and more into the groove but like myself, he didnât seem to fully understand the rules, and was penalized for punching Nishi in the face, which is illegal. He was penalized again for taking Nishi down and punching him in the stomach while in his guard. Apparently, grappling and submissions are allowed on the ground, but either no striking at all or just not to the head? The match was a draw after three rounds. Quite interesting, but also uneventful. I suspect that Douglas would have been very dangerous if he understood the rules more.
ML: Cautious fight. Nishi kept coming forward, but Douglas backed away from his attacks rather than engaging, which can make for a difficult fight when thereâs maybe 50 feet to work with. Douglas mainly threw a quick low impact counter after getting hit with one or two strikes. Nishi landed more often, but never really connected with any solid blows. Douglas may have been the better fighter, but Iâm not sure he knew the rules too well. He cut Nishi with a left hook in the 2nd round, the first good shot he landed, but punches to the face were illegal in this one. He caught Nishiâs leg and took him down, but failed to score due to an illegal punch. Douglas seemed to finally be getting the hang of taking Nishi down by the end of the fight. Fair but relatively uneventful.
Toshiyuki Yanagisawa vs Andy Hug:
Our very first glimpse of Andy Hug is in a behind-the-scenes vignette where he is AX KICKING HIS TRAINING PARTNER!! I apologize for my enthusiasm, but this was a truly glorious preview of whatâs in store for the next 7 ½ years. Before the bout begins, we get to see Nobuaki Kakuda taking on the role of referee, which is something he would continue to do well into the K-1 era, and for this we are thankful. This will be under normal Sediokaikan karate rules. The fight starts, and right away the ax kick returns, which is just one of many reasons why Hug was such a special talent, as in almost anyone elseâs hands (or feet as the case may be), this would be far too impractical a maneuver. This was a fast-paced 5 round slugfest that saw Hug throw just about every variation of a kick that you could think of. He put a complete clinic on Yanagisawa as almost every time Yanigisawa would try to enter into phone booth range, he would eat about three kicks for his trouble. Yanagisawa would get the occasional punch or low-kick to land but was probably on a 6-1 losing end of any exchanges. Still, he had tons of heart and just would not quit. This fight was tons of fun despite being so one-sided.
ML: I give Yanagisawa credit for going the distance with Hug in this fast-paced bout. Andy was putting on a clinic at his expense, but there was no quit in Yanagisawa. No punches to the face is probably to Hugâs advantage, as his kicking is so good he can be extremely effective essentially without throwing any punches, even just for the distraction/misdirection. Hugâs flexibility is tremendous, for instance he landed a left axe kick and kept his leg extended in midair, coming right back with a left high kick (which I believe missed). That kind of technique also requires super one foot balance, which Hug regularly displayed, even changing pivot feet so quickly the right leg would be up with a strike the second the left leg was down. Hug cut Yanagisawaâs left eye with a right high kick. At one point, he landed a left axe kick followed by a left high kick then put Yanagisawa down with a right leg sweep. Later he put him down with a spinning leg sweep. Good albeit onesided bout.
Yoshihisa Tagami vs. Andrei Artamonov:
This match will be under âKarate Glove Rulesâ which Iâm guessing is an esoteric way of saying âkickboxing match.â Tagami was a fighter most notably seen in the early K-1 era, whose powers probably peaked around 1993. His most important contribution was his unquestionably awesome mustache, by far the best in kakutogi history. Artamonov, however, is completely unknown to me. Right away, Artamonov is looking super impressive, almost like Bruce Lee, both in speed and taste in shiny black pants. He is effortlessly moving in and out, kicking Tagami at will. Tagami seems to be the more powerful of the two and occasionally bullies his way into close enough range to land some hard shots, but most of the time, Artamonov can flee away. Round 2 was more of the same, with Tagami barely being able to land anything. Round 3 is when it all turned around for Tagami. Up to this point, he was playing the role of a counter fighter, trying to time his kicks around Artamonovâs attacks. The speed discrepancy was too great for this strategy to work, so in this round, he just went full blast and kept bum-rushing Artamonov at every opportunity. This approach worked splendidly, as Artamonov wasnât able to handle the constant aggression, and eventually ate a high kick to the jaw, which ended the fight. Good fight, and a great example of smart strategy winning the day.
ML: Tagami is a very aggressive fighter who keeps the pressure on, but unfortunately, Artamonov could run all night. Tagami got off to a quick start then Artamonov was just in retreat mode. Artamonov tried being the aggressor at the start of R2, but resorted to running after taking a few kicks. Artamonovâs big problem is heâd eat a left low or middle kick just about every time he tried to punch. Tagami eventually tired of Artamonovâs hiding, chasing after him and landing kicks. Even a swift kick in the Jimmy couldnât slow Tagami down. In fact, it may just have made him more determined, as he knocking Artamonov out with a left high kick not long after. Surprisingly pretty good in spite of Artamonovâs best efforts to avoid contact.
Manson Gibson vs. Taiei Kin:
This match will be held under âKarate Glove and Semi Contact Rulesâ which Iâm guessing means that this is a kickboxing match with some degree of grappling/submissions allowed. Gibson is one of the mutual favorites of myself, and my esteemed colleague, Mike Lorefice, so any day that we get to see him in action is a good one. Taiei Kin, on the other hand, is perhaps one of the most underrated Japanese kickboxers when it comes to his importance in historical discussions. Never the flashiest, or most entertaining fighter, he was always a very tough opponent and one of the most consistently top performers out of the Japanese natives in the 90s K-1 era. He was also robbed of his rightful victory at a Sediokaikan 57-man kickboxing/karate tournament when Kazuyoshi Ishii (Sediokaikan/K1 founder) overturned an obvious judgesâ decision in the finals. This travesty gave his golden boy, Masaaki Satake, another undeserved round and wound up tilting the contest in Satakeâs favor.
The fight hasnât even started yet, and Gibson is being both flashy and disrespectful. He went as far as to kiss him during the opening stare down while the announcer was speaking. We begin, and Gibsonâs footwork and athleticism are off-the-charts. Here is a guy that once fought Ernesto Hoost with nothing but sidekicks and spinning back fists, and still managed to completely confound him in the process. Round 1 was weird in that no one really wanted to draw first blood. Gibson kept threatening a sidekick or spinning technique, and this seemed to befuddle Kin. Round 2 sees the gloves come off, which I can only assume means that there will be no face punches in this round. Kin was more aggressive in round 2, and landed a few good shots but spent most of his exchanges getting slammed. One spectacular moment saw Gibson just toss him over his back for some major hangtime. Gibson didnât land much this round, but he didnât have to, as every time Kin tried to do something he would either get taken down or slammed. Takedowns seem to be permitted, but they werenât allowed to do anything on the ground once it got there, so I am still at a loss as to what format the rules are following.
Round 3 sees a lot more aggressiveness from Kin, who presses more of an attack and manages to duck a spinning head kick and follows it up with a great short punch to Gibsonâs jaw. This change in fortunes made Gibson woozy, and it even seemed like he was in trouble, but he managed to regain his composure just in time to resume his sidekicks and slams. Kin was able to fare a little better here with a few strikes in the clinch before being tossed to the mat, but still didnât have any reasonable answers to Gibsonâs strange ways.
We are back to taped fists for Round 4. Gibson almost murdered Taiei with a head kick followed by a punch to the jaw, but this is now illegal as apparently, punches are illegal in even-numbered rounds (with no gloves). Kin recovers, only to get flatlined again with another closed fist punch. Thatâs game-over for Gibson, who is now disqualified. This is a hard fight to rate. On one hand, itâs always a pleasure to see Gibson operate, as he had to have been the most unorthodox kickboxer of his era to reach a high level of competition. However, this same uniqueness also led to an odd staccato rhythm in this fight where it was mostly a confused Kin trying to figure out what to do with him. Not much happened in the first two rounds, but it was a unique experience all the same.
ML: Gibson has excellent footwork, and is so light on his feet. He beautifully utilized his side stance to keep Kin off balance and on the defensive as he looked for his spinning kicks. Gibson would come in by repeatedly spinning, with Kin not even throwing as he was so baffled. Kin, who is normally one of the better counter strikers, backed away as usual, but was never able to go on the offensive out of his opponentâs miss, and thus barely landed anything in the first two rounds. Kin landed a high kick in the 2nd, and tried to press forward, but Gibson countered with a suisha otoshi. In the third, Kin avoided a spinning kick and put Gibson down with a short right hand to the chin, which was legal because they wore kickboxing gloves in the 1st & 3rd. Gibson put Kin down twice in round 4, but unfortunately for him they were both with illegal punches at the end of the combination because they both fought with karate taped fists in the 2nd & 4th, resulting in a DQ. Kin was hurt fairly badly the second time, his eye almost immediately closed, and was rather unhappy with Gibson after the fight, as there was also a low blow and a few really slow breaks. That being said, Gibson is a kickboxer whose instincts are to punch to the head, so it had to be really difficult to remember every other round that he couldnât do what he always does. Certainly a disappointing finish, but the expected high level of fighting from two of the best. Entertaining fight, though more for people who enjoy quality defense and movement, as not that much really connected despite the aggressive high risk attacking.
Dale âApolloâ Cook vs. Toshiyuki Atokawa
Itâs Christmas in July over here, as another one of our favorites, Dale âApolloâ Cook, is here to surely show everyone else how this is supposed to be done. Cook was someone that always looks amazing, and has always looked about 60% better than his opponent in any fight Iâve seen him in. Sadly, many of his fights are lost to us, and one of our mission parameters at Kakutogi HQ is to locate more of his fights. This fight was 4 rounds of Atokawa getting owned by an excellent showcase of Cookâs skills. No mater what range of the fight it was, Cook was better than his opponent. Atokawa showed tons of heart, and to be fair, had some decent moments when he wasnât wearing gloves, but this was almost a one-way show for Cook. Fun fight.
ML: Atokawa is one of those natives who seems to always fight a name foreigner who is more talented than him, but always gives his all, and that translates into a tough action packed fight. Atokawa was aggressive, especially in the final round, but Cook does such a nice job of making little movements that Atokawa rarely landed cleanly anywhere but to the leg. Cook is so great it doesnât matter much whether heâs counterpunching or attacking to fill any lulls. He was way more accurate than Atokawa. Cook put Atokawa down early with a straight left counter, and had several good takedowns, mostly with the STO, but overall it was a lot closer than I would have expected. Atokawa didnât wear boxing gloves, so he wasnât supposed to be allowed to punch to the head, but of course, he accidentally did it anyway, with Cook punching himself in the chin twice to alert the ref to the infraction. Good match.
Masaaki Satake vs. Ahmad Muhammad
This was just two minutes of Satake beating up some random dude that had no business being there. Muhammad seemed to barely be able to move his feet, which caused him to just be a stationary target for Satake.
ML: I realize Satake was âgoodâ in these days, or rather the pet of promoter Ishii, but this slaughter seemed more due to Muhammad being past his prime. I donât actually know anything about the guy, but his footwork stunk, and seemed to cost him the first knockdown. Satake then hurt him with a low kick for the second knockdown, resulting in Muhammad gimping around the rest of the bout. Satake kept the pressure on, and why not as he was hitting Muhammad at will.
Conclusion: Despite the bizarre and confusing rules this was a fun event. I wish it had more of the MMA feel that its predecessor did, but it was still a very worthwhile show, and it was a delight to see Hug in action.
ML: The fights were a bit all over the place with these weird rules that changed by the round, but there was a lot of talent of this show, with three all time greats in Cook, Gibson, and Andy all delivering typically fun matches. Especially given they werenât even fighting in a ring, or under kickboxing rules, this event greatly exceeded my expectations.
*This entire rare event, along with tons of other priceless treasures can be found over at www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoad *
Also, thanks to our resident translator, John Krummel, we no longer have to wonder through life in a state of delirium, wondering what exactly the rules were to this event, or what some of the comments were that the fighters made. Here, in his own words, is a translation from Japanese to English of what was going on:
"Introduction Narrator: Douglas is a wrestler but has experienced some striking and is trying to form his own version of a complete fighting style. Nishi experienced Kyokushin karate and Daidojuku karate and is founder of Keishukai. Hug formerly from Kyokushinkai with his unbeatable axe kick; Yanagisawa of Seidokaikan has fought in many memorable bouts. Artamonov is full contact karate fighter from the ex-Soviet Union and is undefeated. Tagami from Seidokaikan, light weight figher, mainly in kickboxing. Gibson, is kickboxing world middle weight champion and the hawk weight champion in shoot boxing and has many other titles; Kin, a young hopeful fighter from Seidokaikan. Cook is UKF world middle weight champion, experienced in kickboxing but also in boxing with high KO rate. Atokawa from Seidokaikan, beat Satake in the karate world cup. Muhammad, former WKA super heavy wt. chamption; Satake of Seidokaikan, aiming for the top position on the martial arts road.
Ishii, Seidokaikan chairmanâs opening speech: Thanks for coming, this is our 2nd Martial arts OlympicsâŚWeâre planning to continue doing these events every year over the next few years to make martial arts as popular as F1 [Formula 1 car racing⌠very popular in Japan at the time⌠inspiration for the term K1 he later comes up]⌠Please keep cheering and enjoy the show, thank you⌠Osu!
Karate Semi-contact Special Rule: Yoshinori Nishi vs. Greg Douglas 3R (3min rounds):
By âsemi-contactâ they mean Kyokushin/Seidokaikan type karate rules that is bare knuckle full strikes without punches/hand strikes to the head. Win by KO or referee/doctor stop or 3 downs in one round. Escaping out of the mat twice is considered one down. Grappling is allowed. No hand strikes to head and no striking on the ground.
Nishiâs post-fight comments: âI could only use my left leg today, Iâm not too happy.â
Seido Karate Rule: Andy Hug vs. Toshiyuki Yanagisawa 5R (3 min rounds)
Narrator: Any Hug, after transitioning to a professional fighter, has been further perfecting his axe kick. Yanagisawa would like to showcase his talent that he had shown in Seidokaikan tournaments.
âSemi contactâ karate rules (meaning no face punches, full-contact); after a down if the fighter is unable to make a fighting pose within 5 seconds, he would lose (by ippon = full point); if he can make a fighting pose, he loses half point. No throws, no face punches, and grabbing is allowed for one second. Kakuda is the referee. [I think this was Andy Hugâs first public fight in Japan after leaving the Kyokushinkai organization, and being picked up by Seidokaikan to fight professionally.]
Post fight interview with Atokawa: About his thoughts on Hug: âHeâs strong⌠very strong.â
35:50
Karate Glove Rule: Yoshihisa Tagami vs. Andrei Artamonov 5R (3 mins rounds) 1:58.
Glove rules; Win by KO, TKO, or 3 downs in one round. No headbutts, groin attacks, throws, or strikes to downed opponent. Leg kicks are allowed but no elbows and knees to head.
Post fight comments of Tagami: âI did it! Alright!â When questioned about his opponent, he says, âAfter he punched me, I felt I could take his strikes, so while letting him hit me, I went on the offense.â
Karate Glove & Semi-contact Rule: Manson Gibson vs. Taiei Kin 4R (3 mins rounds).
Mixed rules alternating between rounds: the gloved rounds are in muaythai rules, allowing elbows and knees; During the karate rounds [Kyokushin/Seido type rules, bareknuckle with no face punches], you can wear gloves if you want to.
Kinâs post fight comments⌠His seconds tell him âyou wonâ and Kin says âI got one down from him!â
Karate Glove & Semi-contact Rule: Dale âApolloâ Cook vs. Toshiyuki Atokawa 4R (3mins rounds).
Mixed rules like previous fight (knock down bareknuckle karate (âkyokushin/Seidokaikanâ rules) + kickboxing (âgloved karateâ). Gloved rules is muaythai rules allowing elbows and knees. For karate rules the fighter can wear gloves he wishes (which is what Cook chose to do).
After the fight, narratorâs comment: Cook asks Atokawa for forgiveness for accidentally hitting his face during the karate rounds and they show mutual respect⌠And among the cheering spectators in the audience, there was also the face of Akira Maeda. Cook wins by decision.
Post-fight interview with Atokawa: âItâs true that in the first round I got knocked down, but for the rest of the rounds in content, my low kicks were hurting him and I hit him with my knees. But unfortunately he had already gotten me with a decisive down earlier. But in any case, for myself, Iâm pretty satisfied [with how the fight went].â
Karate Glove Rule: Masaaki Satake vs. Ahmad Muhammad 5 rounds (3 min rounds)
Narrator before the fight: the martial arts road in unfolding in 1992 with this man Satake as the leading player. He is now in the process of treading the path to the peak. However for Satake, who is still uncertain about fighting with gloves, this fight weighs heavy as an anticipation of his many to come future bouts with formidable opponents. He cannot lose.
Full contact karate rules: Win by KO, TKO, and 3 downs in one round counts as a KO. No headbuts, throws, groin attacks, attacks to downed opponents; no elbows and no knees to head/face.
Post fight narration: The former WKA superheavy weight champion was no match for Satake. The fighter who had conquered the world on this day was lacking as an opponent for Satake. Responding to the âSatakeâ chant, Satake was already looking past the horizon of Muhammad.
Postfight interview with Satake: âThe Seidokaikan fighters today were doing so so, so I wanted to make a big bang to end todayâs event, so it was good. With this I will continue to improve [âstep upâ] and Iâll continue training hard for my next fights. Plus the younger fighters [in Seidokaikan karate] are coming up too, so it will become interestingâŚâ
*Kakutogi Rewind*
Now, to end this month with a bang, we decided to go way back into our vaults and pull out the oldest footage we have of Andy Hug, at a karate tournament from 1989! The event in question was the 4th All Europe Karate Championship, which featured several talents that would become notorious in later years, most notably Gerard Gordeau, Michael Thompson, and of course, Andy Hug. I should also note that while going over this video, it was a lot of fun to notice Kyokushin Karate founder, Mas Oyama, hold a press conference, because of the unbridled joy that could be seen on his face, when he was talking about karate to the press and public. Both Andy Hug and British karateka, Michael Thompson, made it to the finals of this event. Both Thompson and Hug have been here before, Hug won this event back in 1987, and Thompson took 3rd in 1982 and 2nd in 1987. This time frame was probably at the peak of Thompsonâs karate powers, whereas Hug wasnât quite into his absolute best version of himself. As the 90s continued, Thompson continued to compete in both Sediokaikan karate as well as K1 kickboxing, and did very well, but never quite got to the top echelon.
Even as far back as 89, we can see that Hug is already a very special talent. He starts the fight by bum-rushing Thompson with an attempted flurry of punches (which Thompson was able to quickly avoid), and when Thompson started to press his attack, he was almost decapitated by an effortless spinning roundhouse from Hug. Thompson then spent most of the match trying to keep his distance and utilize well-time his attacks, which worked some of the time, but also served to give Hug distance, and play the role of the counter-striker. What it really came down to in this fight was Hugâs variety. He was constantly shifting his attacks and his range. Sometimes, Hug would fight from a distance, and then just as quickly, rush in to fire some offense off from the clinch. Hugâs continuing variations seemed to take Thompson out of his game, although he did manage to sneak in some of his game in, especially a brutal punch to Hugâs midsection, and a surprise high-kick to his face. The match went to a decision, which was awarded to Hug. Nice fun fight.
ML: Hug was fighting at 176 pounds here, which is reasonable, if these days even small for a fighter under 6 foot. He was certainly not one of the bigger fighters in the weight class, although he is about the same size as Thompson, who was billed at 5â11". Hug just has so much diversity though, and the speed and flexibility to incorporate a lot of kicks that other people wouldnât be all to pull off in a competitive situation. One of the highlights of the tournament was a beautiful spinning high kick knockdown that Hug scored in his 2nd round match against Dejan Zelesov. Thompson was more than a worthy adversary, a 3 time British Open winner here, who also won the title again in 1990, and later joined forces with Andy in Team Andy Hug. He did a good job of using punches to the liver, and that eventually opened up a high kick, but he certainly didnât have as many weapons as Hug. This was definitely an interesting and competitive match, but in the form that it was shown in here, I wouldnât want to be in charge of picking the winner.
*This very rare Kyokushin Karate tournament, featuring a young Andy Hug, can be found over at www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoad *
The infamous hall of pre-UFC shoots that weâve covered in these columns continues to grow, thanks to another Sediokaikan Combat Sports Olympic.The rules were confusing as they changed from fight to fight, and sometimes from round to round, but an actual mma format was present for one of these fights. (This list excludes any/all Shooto fights, as those were all-shoot.)
Here is the latest list:
Freek Hamakers vs. Charlie Lieveld (A Free-Fight that took place on 11-20-88 at a Dutch kickboxing event)
Gerard Gordeau vs. Dick Veldhuis (A Free-Fight that took place on 2-19-89 at a Dutch kickboxing event)
Yusuke Fuke vs. Lawi Napataya (PWFG 7-26-91)
Minoru Suzuki vs Lawi Napataya (PWFG 8-23-91)
Ken Shamrock vs Kazuo Takahashi (PWFG 11-3-91)
Nobuaki Kakuda vs Herman Renting (RINGS 12-7-91)
Gerard Gordeau vs. Mitsuya Nagai (RINGS 12-7-91)
Minoru Suzuki vs Takaku Fuke (PWFG 1-15-92) This was a shoot, but there were no strikes. It was similar to a ADCC match.
Billy Scott vs James Warring (UWFI 12-22-92)
Nobuhiko Takada vs Trevor Brebick (UWFI 12-22-92)
Mitsuya Nagai vs. Koichiro Kimura (RINGS 1-25-92)
Nobuaki Kakuda vs Rob Kaman (Rings 1-25-92)
Masaaki Satake vs Gerard Gordeau (Rings 1-25-92)
Adam Watt vs. Hans Nyman (RINGS 3-5-92)
Nobuaki Kakuda vs. Rudy Ewoldt (RINGS 3-5-92)
Masaaki Satake vs. Fred Oosterom (RINGS 3-5-92)
Gus Garcia va Richard Carle (PWFG 3-20-92)
Ozzie Alvarez vs Pedro Goderich (PWFG 3-20-92)
John Lana vs Herman Cicedo (PWFG 3-20-92)
Pieter Smit vs. Mikoki Ichihara (Sediokaikan/RINGS 3-26-92)
Herman Renting vs. Yoshinori Nishi (Sediokaikan/RINGS 3-26-92)
Naoyuki Taira vs. Eric Edlenbos, (Sediokaikan/RINGS 3-26-92)
Maurice Smith vs. Masaaki Satake (Sediokaikan/RINGS 3-26-92)
Yoshinori Nishi vs Willie Peeters (RINGS 4-3-92)
Kazuo Takahashi vs Yuki Ishikawa (PWFG 4-19-92)
Kiyoshi Tamura vs Mathew Saad Mohammed (UWF-I 5-8-92)
Minoru Suzuki vs Yuki Ishikawa (PWFG 6-25-92)
Yoshinori Nishi vs Peter Dijkman (RINGS 6-25-92)
Mitsuya Nagai vs Nobuaki Kakuda (RINGS 6-25-92)
Naoyuki Taira vs Eric van der Hoeven (RINGS 6-25-92)
Masaaki Satake vs Willie Peeters (RINGS 6-25-92)
Nobuaki Kikuta vs. Yukihiro Takenam (RINGS 7-16-92)
Chris Dolman vs Buzariashibili Ramaji (Rings 7-16-92)
Masaaki Satake vs Peter Oele (RINGS 7-16-92)
Yoshinori Nishi vs. Greg Douglas (Sediokaikan-Kakutogi-Olympic-II 7-30-92)
Kakutogi Road Presents: Sayamaâs Corner "The Story of Shooto Vol.16"
*Note: This is a continuation of where we left of last time. Special thanks to John Krummel for his work in translating this. *
Previous Page TranslatedâŚ
Bridging:
Basic training in bridging (1):
1.1: Go on all fours with your feet spread widely and put your head on the mat.
1.2: Movement to strengthen the neck in the front. Put your back of the head on the mat.
Bridging (2):
2.1: Grab your partnerâs hand tightly and stand with your feet shoulder width apart.
2.2 Put your head on the mat as close as possible to your own feet.
2.3: Once you are supporting yourself on your toes and head, put your nose on the mat and thrust your butt upwards.
2.4: Without having your partner pull you, return with your own strength.
2.5 Once your neck has been strengthened and your body made flexible, try this alone.
2.6 Bad example [photo is in next page]: The hips are too low and not depicting an arc.
2.7: {Photo is in next page} For people whose hips fall too low or those who cannot lift their hips when returning, [the partner can] assist them by pulling the area of their belt.
Previous Page Translated
{Top of page} Bridging, which is one basic form of training in wrestling, is not only effective in defense but very often can also be used in offense.
Among the basic offensive techniques in shooting there are many techniques taking the bridge as the basis. And in order to master wrestling skills, it is absolutely necessary to strengthen the neck.
[Side bar:]
Point: âWater fall bridge (bridge like a flowing water fall). This was one of Gotchâs sayings. A bridge that flows from top to bottom like a water fall is a necessary requirement for executing a powerful sault (throw).â
1.4: Movement to strengthen the neck on the sides. Put your ear on the mat.
Previous Page Translated
Break falls [this is put in incorrect English as âRollâ]
Front break fall (1):
1.1: Close your arm pits, put your arms to the front [palms facing front], standing on your knees.
1.2: Fall to the front with your body straight
1.3 Relaxing your body, break the fall with your whole body.
Back break fall (2):
2.1: Break fall to the back like a rolling ball.
2.2: Fall backwards while looking at your own navel.
2.3: Be careful not to hit the back of your head.
Left/right break fall (3):
3.1: Do this lying down, alternating left and right.
3.2: Fix your left hand (the hand opposite to the hand breaking the fall) on the body, taking care to not be carelessly hooked by a submission.
3.3: Make it a habit to immediately pull in your right hand (the hand breaking the fall) as well, after breaking the fall.
Important point: firmly guard both hands/arms [from being submitted].
Side bar:]
Point: âIn contrast to other combat sports, in the case of shooting, after breaking your fall grappling (submission techniques) awaits. After the break fall, it is necessary to quickly pull in your arms and legs to prevent carelessly having your hands or feet taken [by a submission lock].â
Previous Page Translated
Basics: Distancing and Posture in Shooting
Posture is not kata [formâas in traditional martial arts]. It is a posture that enables one to cope with any situation.
The posture naturally changes depending on the strategy or opponentâs distance. In shooting that makes use of all techniques of âstriking, throwing, submitting,â we need to master the posture of each technique.
To Be ContinuedâŚ
