Hello, Japan: Minowaman Gets Kinniku Busted

Three days after his Super Hulk Tournament win over Bob Sapp at DREAM.9, Ikuhisa Minowa took on Japanese superhero Kinnikuman (aka Kid Muscle) on Friday in a pro wrestling bout at Kinnikumania 2009, a 30th anniversary celebration for the famed manga/anime series. "Minowaman" was pinned following a devastating Kinniku Buster (pictured). Interestingly, Sapp fought Kinnikuman (actually masked Japanese freestyle wrestling champion Akihiko Tanaka) at FEG's Dynamite!! 2008 New Year's Eve show.

Minowa will fight next at September's DREAM.11, alongside fellow Super Hulk semifinalists Gegard Mousasi, Sokoudjou and Hong Man Choi. The tournament championship bout will probably take place at this year's Dynamite!! event, DREAM's Keiichi Sasahara told reporters following this week's show.

- Akira Maeda's The Outsider has released details on its first ever tournament, which Maeda announced plans for last month. The promotion returns with its seventh show on August 9th at Differ Ariake, featuring the "selection round" of its 65-70kg (143-154 lbs.) tournament. The first and second rounds of the tournament take place on October 11th, followed by the semifinals and finals on December 13th. At the end of the tournament, the winner will receive a cash prize (amount to be announced) and championship belt; tournament results will also be used to form the company's first official rankings, to be determined be the Outsider "executive committee." In my opinion, the addition of transparent rankings can only be a good thing for any organization and especially its fans.

The Outsider is a really fun "amateur" event (though the results are listed on the Fight Finder) filled with gangsters, hot rodders, bikers and tattoo artists. Rules are similar to K-1 Hero's rules, and participants are required to be aged 16-35 with no more than three pro fights (though the latter restriction has been loosened for this tournament). Lots of colorful personalities (to put it mildly) and more exciting fights than one might expect, in part due to the audience, which is filled with various fighters' crews, families and friends. There's some footage on YouTube, or if you like to keep it legit, the first four events were just released on DVD today.

- Sengoku's "Gold Rush Project" introduces the four lightweight participants in the Sengoku Gold Cup on this Sunday's SENGOKU-G. Last Sunday's featured the bantamweight fighters - video below. The fighters introduced are, in order: Daisuke Endo (Wajyutsu Keisyukai), Takeshi Numajiri (Kiguchi Dojo), Hiroyuki Hara (P's Lab) and Ryosuke Komori (Yoshida Dojo). Dig the armbar Numajiri throws on his mountain bike, and Hara's (presumably Kitaoka-inspired) taste in fashion.