Good luck to these 2 bad ass muthas. Both have tough fights and have been training like madmen. Kick ass over there guys!
Just 6 more days until Jake Shields and Gilbert Melendez fight in this year's last Shooto show. Shields will face off against Akira Kikuchi, who gave him one of his toughest challenges to date. Kikuchi is one of Japan's top submission grapplers with an impressive record of 9-1. The one loss on his record was to Jake Shields. Kikuchi will now try to redeem himself and take the middleweight title belt from the only American to have ever worn it in Shooto history. Jake has other plans and promises to defend his belt and once again defeat Kikuchi.
At 7-0, Gilbert Melendez has been tearing up the 155lbs weight division. He will now be dropping down to 143.5lbs to fight against Shooto's rising star, Hiroyuki Takaya. Takaya is undefeatd and ranked as the #1 contender in Shooto's lightweight division. A win over Melendez would put him in line to challenge Alexandre "Pequeno" Nogueira for the Shooto Championship Belt. Melendez is eager to show the Japanese fans that now that he's here, he's here to stay. With Pride and the K-1 both slated for December, Shooto has assembled a lineup worthy of everyone's attention.
December 14th Tokyo
Megumi Fujii vs. Nadia Van Der Wel
Hiroyuki Abe vs. Makoto Ishikawa
Katsuya Toida vs. Rumina Sato
Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Gilbert Melendez
Alexandre F. Nogueira vs. Hideki Kadowaki
Jake Shields vs. Akira Kikuchi
Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri
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