Official Pancrase Rankings - August 2009

Pancrase released their updated rankings on Friday. Not much movement, but there are a few changes stemming from the results of the August 8th "Changing Tour" show.

Official Pancrase Rankings
Updated: August 19, 2009

Lightweight (65.8kg - 70.3kg)
3rd Lightweight King of Pancrase
↑ Maximo Blanco (3-2-1, 1 NC / Yoshida Dojo)

#1: ↑ Koji Oishi (19-8-6 / PANCRASEism)
#2: ↓ Katsuya Inoue (18-7-4 / Wajyutsu Keisyukai RJW)
#2: ↓ Satoru Kitaoka (25-9-9 / PANCRASEism)
#3: ↓ Daisuke "13" Hanazawa (12-11-5 / Cobra Kai MMA Dojo)
#4: ↓ Hiroki "AB" Aoki (2-2 / Wajyutsu Keisyukai Suruga)

- All hail King Maximo. World Victory Road's top lightweight prospect bashed Katsuya Inoue en route to his first title on 8/8, while Koji Oishi moves into the #1 slot with his (apparently contentious) decision win over Felipe Olivieri at the same event.

- Since Blanco was previously ranked #5, Kitaoka, Hanazawa and Aoki each drop a spot.

Featherweight (61.2kg - 65.8kg) - no change
1st Featherweight King of Pancrase
Marlon Sandro (14-1 / Nova Uniao)

#1: Jameel Massouh (21-6 / Freestyle Academy)
#2: Masaya "J-Taro" Takita (9-12-2 / Wajyutsu Keisyukai Tokyo)
#3: Masanori Kanehara (14-6-5 / Team ZST)
#4: Kenji Arai (15-13-3 / PANCRASEism)
#5: Tashiro "Akai" Nishiuchi (12-5-9 / Nova Uniao Japan)

- It hasn't been a good month for Pancrase featherweights. King Sandro suffered his first loss in Sengoku's FWGP semifinals, robbed of a decision over Michihiro Omigawa. Massouh lost his second straight WEC bout, this time a split decision to Leonard Garcia. "J-Taro" lost to Koji Yoshida at HEAT 10 in July. Just about the only one with good luck was #3 Masanori Kanehara, who lost to Hatsu Hioki but still managed to win in the Sengoku FWGP finals against Omigawa.
- #4 Arai topped Takumi Murata on 8/8, plus picked up a win at "DEEP Toyama Impact" in June.
- #5 Nishiuchi drew with Greatest Common Multiplpe import Tomonari Kanomata on 8/8.

Openweight - no change
10th Openweight King of Pancrase
Josh Barnett (24-5 / CSW)

Heavyweight (93kg - 120.2kg) - no change
4th Heavyweight King of Pancrase
vacant

Light Heavyweight (83.9kg - 93kg)
4th Light Heavyweight King of Pancrase
Ryo Kawamura (10-4-2 / PANCRASEism)

- Kei Yamamiya has been removed from the LHW rankings due to his move to middleweight.

Middleweight (77.1kg - 83.9kg)
7th Middleweight King of Pancrase
Izuru Takeuchi (26-10-6 / SK Absolute)

Interim Middleweight King of Pancrase
Yuki Kondo (50-23-6 / PANCRASEism)

#1: Takenori Sato (9-5-5 / Laughter7)
#2: Ichiro Kanai (9-10-3 / PANCRASEism)
#3: ↑ Keiichiro Yamamiya (36-24-9 / GRABAKA)

- Kondo returned on 8/8 and picked up his 50th win against a hopelessly overmatched Ki Bum Kim - he'll likely face Takeuchi to unify the titles soon.
- Sato faces Joe Doerksen at Sengoku X in September after taking Takeuchi to a draw.
- Yamamiya enters the middleweight rankings after his win over Ryuji Ohori in June. He'll fight on 10/25, along with #2 Kanai (in separate bouts).

Welterweight (70.3kg - 77.1kg) - no change
4th Welterweight King of Pancrase
Takuya Wada (18-8-9, 1 NC / SK Absolute)

#1: Tomoyoshi Iwamiya (6-9 / Takada Dojo)
#2: Masahiro Toryu (6-4-5, 1 NC / PANCRASEism)
#3: Hiroyuki Nozawa (6-4-2 / Stand)

- Toryu drew with the unranked Kosei Kuboda on 8/8, while Iwamiya lost to "K-Taro" Nakamura in Cage Rage back on June 27th.

Bantamweight (58.0kg - 61.2kg) - no change
1st Bantamweight King of Pancrase
Manabu Inoue (7-5-1 / U.W.F. Snakepit Japan)

#1: Seiya Kawahara (7-2 / P's Lab Yokohama)

- Inoue is set to face former Shooto featherweight ace Masahiro "Jackal" Oishi at "Changing Tour 5" 10/25. Kawahara will participate on the same card, but has no opponent at current.

Flyweight (58.0kg) - no change
1st Flyweight King of Pancrase
Mitsuhisa Sunabe (9-5-3 / freelance)

#1: Isao Hirose (6-0 / Strapple)
#2: Takuya Eizumi (5-2 / Bumonkai MMA Dojo)

- Following their fight to decide the inaugural flyweight title, Sunabe and Eizumi will each fight on 10/25.