| Sign Up | Google+

Hello, Japan: Sengoku Gold Cup Match-Ups, Shooto and Pancrase Title Bouts Announced

Pairings for the opening round of the Sengoku Gold Cup were revealed on yesterday's episode of SENGOKU-G.

Here's what they look like:

Bantamweight (60kg)

Daisuke Endo (3-3 / Wajyutsu Keisyukai Suruga)
vs. Takeshi "Ken" Numajiri (1-1 / Kiguchi Dojo)

Makoto "Shin" Takenaka* (1-4 / P's Lab Tokyo)
vs. Ryosuke Komori (3-1 / Yoshida Dojo)

Featherweight (65kg)

Takayuki Kishi (1-2-2 / X-One Gym - Team ZST)
vs. Shigeki Osawa (2-0 / Yoshida Dojo)

Toru Harai (6-2 / Mori Dojo)
vs. Makoto Sannai (1-1 / Gutsman)

Lightweight (70kg)

Koji Ando (2-0-2 / Wajyutsu Keisyukai Tokyo)
vs. Kohei Maruyama (2-0 am. / SK Absolute)

Ikuo Usuda (4-0 / Kiguchi Dojo)
vs. Kota Okazawa (5-1-2 / Team ZST - AXIS)

* It appears Hiroyuki Hara (1-2) has been forced out due to an arm injury and will be replaced by his teammate Takenaka. He was also TKO'd less than a month ago.

- Though not yet officially announced, Shooto's website now lists bantamweight ace "BJ" Kojima's (10-3-5) July 19th opponent as South American bantamweight champ Jussiê Formiga (2-0). Formiga is a Nova Uniao product with only a pair of professional bouts under his belt, though the March Shooto rankings had him in the #6 spot. Kojima's featherweight counterpart, Masakatsu Ueda (9-0-2), will defend his title against Formiga's teammate, the #1 ranked Eduardo "Dudu" Dantas (7-1), on the same card.

- Unpredictable World Victory Road prospect Maximo Blanco (2-2-1, 1 NC) will have a chance to wipe away memories of his recent in-ring troubles on August 8th when he challenges Lightweight King of Pancrase Katsuya Inoue (18-6-4) at Differ Ariake. The Venezuelan botched his return to Sengoku last month by illegally soccer kicking Akihiko Mori seconds after downing the journeyman with a solid right hook. On the heels of that performance, the title shot comes as a bit of a surprise, but a win here by either man would presumably bump them straight into Sengoku. As a member of Yoshia Dojo, Blanco was part of last week's "training camp from hell" in Chiba Prefecture.

Another title match was announced for the August card - which will also hold the 2009 Neo-Blood Tournament Finals - as 7th Middleweight King of Pancrase Izuru Takeuchi (25-10-6) will defend against the #1 ranked, Kazushi Sakuraba-trained Takenori Sato (9-5-4).

20090615-00000029-spnavi-fight-view-000_medium

Inoue and Blanco (via Sportsnavi)

                                                                                                                                                                                                               

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Bloody Elbow readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bloody Elbow editors or staff.

Recent FanPosts

View All Fan Posts

The Next FanPosts

There are 6 Comments. Load Now. Loading

Shortcuts to mastering the comment thread. Use wisely.

C - Next Comment
X - Mark as Read

R - Reply
Z - Mark Read & Next

Shift + C - Previous
Shift + A - Mark All Read

Comment Settings

Live comment alert: Hide it!

Comments for this post are closed.

tracking_pixel_5349_tracker tracking_pixel_5351_tracker