Marlon Sandro is fighting this weekend at the prestigious PANCRASE promotion in Japan. His opponent is Isao Kobayashi (16-2-4) and is one of the very few high level Japanese fighters not to be signed to a major promotion.
As most good MMA fan know Marlon Sandro is a Bellator fighter and ex “King of Pancrase” fighter having defeated Masaya Takita and winning the featherweight belt in 2008 before going on to win the Sengoku featherweight strap in 2010 by defeating the always exciting Masanori Kanehara (who just proved himself 10 fold against Alex Caceras at UFC Hunt VS Nelson).
Marlon Sandro made headlines recently by responding to Conor McGregor's slight in his home favela and inviting him to see the work of his social project once his fight with Jose is over:
The rest of the fightcard is truly epic with Hiroyuki Takaya, Hiroyuki Abe, Atsushi Yamamoto and other notables on the card. Marlon's fight is not the main event instead Shigeki Iijima VS Kenta Takizawa takes top spot:
Another fight worth mentioning on the card is Taisuki Okuno (12-9) VS Takasuke Kume (16-4). Both are Shooto and Pancrase vets with Okuno having fought in Deep and Sengoku and Kume in Road FC.
We don't think Kume will be looking quite like this if he fights in the US but who knows? (Older photo not from weigh in)
GarlicSauce - Didn't know Pancrase was still around!
Still going strong. This is the 266 show! I think they have a far more loyal following as their core is grassroots MMA. The main event is being fought between two guys with one of them having no pro wins even though they have fighters on the card with 20+ wins. They let the amatuers come up and win a place to fight on the main event and this brings them a loyal supporting fanbase. Pretty impressive really. I am sure someone on here knows the ins and outs of Pancrase and ther politics much better then me - would like to know more myself
The headliner of Pancrase 266 can be described as "controversial" because this was a close fight.
In the first round, Marlon Sandro scored a knock down with a left jab followed by a right straight. It didn't look like ISAO was hurt but it was a clear knock down. Also, Sandro scored a take down as well.
Sandro also scored another take down in the second round. Sandro even took the back for a moment too. ISAO also did score with solid elbow shots but Sandro also countered with his right straight punches.
In the final round, Sandro unleashed a left high kick but ISAO countered with barrage of punches. Sandro took this for a while but shot in for another take down. From there Sandro kept the top position for a while. Eventually ISAO escaped and the fight got back on their feet. ISAO landed few shots but majority of time were spent on Sandro pushing a 26-year old to the cage.
This was a hard fight to score because neither of them really had a decisive advantage. However, simply, the number of takedowns and one knock down in the first round should have given Sandro an advantage but two of the three judges saw the fight differently. Two judges scored the bout 29-28 and ISAO won via split decision.
When the scoring was announced, Sandro looked somehow detached but his corner man, Leo Santos, raised both hands expressing that he is not happy with judges' decision.
In the co-main, a 37-year old Hiroyuki Takaya showed that he still got the mileage left in his gas tank.
He faced a veteran, Guy Delumeau, from team GUTSMAN.
From the beginning Takaya pushed the pace with his strong hands. Delumeau was able to take him to the ground in the second, however, in the final round, Takaya pressured American with right and left combinations and finally landed a left hook to the chin. Delumeau went down and when Takaya chased him with few more shot the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
