Satoshi Ishii vs. Ikuhisa Minowa Added to Saturday's DREAM.16
by Chris Nelson on Sep 22, 2010 10:07 AM EDT
in Asian MMA News
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Olympic judoka-turned-fighter Satoshi Ishii will compete on home soil for the first time in nearly nine months this Saturday, Sept. 25, when he takes on fan favorite Ikuhisa Minowa in a last-minute match at "DREAM.16" in Nagoya, Japan. The promotion made the bout official at a press conference today, after the news had been leaked some hours before by sports site Sponichi.co.jp and confirmed on Minowa's blog.
The openweight affair now looks to be the biggest ratings draw on the star-starved card, as Japanese fans will get their first look at the 2008 Beijing gold-medalist since Ishii's unsuccessful MMA debut against Hidehiko Yoshida at "Dynamite!" last New Year's Eve. As officials from DREAM parent company Fighting and Entertainment Group have noted, ratings for the show's prime-time airing on the Tokyo Broadcasting System could be crucial to DREAM's survival.
The 23-year-old has spent the eight months since his loss to Yoshida traveling the globe and training with the likes of Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and Phil Baroni. In June, he picked up his first professional MMA win at "Xplosion," a small event in New Zealand, where he armbarred Kiwi kickboxer Tafa "Thumper" Misipati in under three minutes. Despite signing with World Victory Road over 15 months ago, Ishii has yet to compete under the Sengoku Raiden Championships banner; this will be his second bout "on loan" to FEG. Details on the specifics of the talent exchange were not discussed, though FEG CEO Sadaharu Tanikawa mentioned the possibility of DREAM sending fighters to SRC in the future.
"Super Hulk" champion Minowa had originally been slated to face fellow PRIDE Fighting Championships veteran James "The Colossus" Thompson. According to MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani on Twitter, Thompson and his team arrived in Japan yesterday and DREAM officials are seeking a replacement opponent for the English heavyweight.
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Judo versus Pro Wrestling
This is going to be epic. What a classic matchup. Minowa better wear his Super Hluk belt out to the ring.
Epic matchup
Actually really looking forward to it!
Forever indebted to CroCop's left leg for getting me into MMA
by Well Read Idiot on Sep 22, 2010 9:18 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Minowa is going to take a beating
Minowa’s bread & butter has been submitting giants with no grappling ability. Ishii is a powerful submission savvy athlete.
‘Minowaman’ is a shadow of his former self. Ikuhisa ‘The Punk’ Minowa would never have lost to guys like Kin & Shibata. The Pancrase/Pride era ‘Punk’ might have stood a chance against Ishii. The 2010 version is going to get mauled.
Doubtful
Ishii has done zero (in MMA) to impress me and I doubt he’s so improved that he’ll “maul” Minowa.
"Now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb."
by menckenstein on Sep 22, 2010 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions
Ishii would maul Kin & Shibata, and those guys were too much for Minowa to handle.
Minowaman has been making a living by beating guys with absolutely no idea what they are doing. Ishii is a world class judoka and a fantastic athlete to boot. He hasn’t done anything in MMA yet, but he will. He is going to brutalize Minowa. It’s going to be painful to watch.
He beat Sokoudjou, who is a powerful Judoka (although a pretty disapointing mma fighter). Sokoudjou has more experience, and better striking then Ishii, so I don’t think its fair to say that Minowa is going to get Mauled
Sokonojudo has no heart. He would have quit after a first round like the one Ishii experienced versus Yoshida. Ishii stuck it out and wound up putting a beating on Yoshida by the end of the fight. I guarantee you that Ishii will be a much better fighter than the Cameroonian before it is all said and done.
Gentlemen's bet?
"Now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb."
by menckenstein on Sep 22, 2010 11:48 AM EDT up reply actions
Minowa’s mullet is approximately 4,000 times sweeter than Miguel Torres’.
by ufc4 on Sep 22, 2010 9:43 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Seeing as Ishii is on the USA judo team now
I think the Japanese will be praying for a career-ending superhlukheelhook.
by judonerd on Sep 22, 2010 10:12 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Isn’t this DREAM pulling shenanigans at the last minute on Thompson?
Thompson is landing in Japan and they are changing his opponent. Now he doesn’t know who he will face or if he will get another opponent.
I’m guessing as usual DREAM gets a pass for operating like this.
Just BE.
I’m sure Vitor being healthy came as no surprise to Vitor. Thompson OTOH was probably very surprised to learn that his opponent had changed after landing in Nippon.
by Steve4192 on Sep 22, 2010 12:54 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs
I liked the Thompson matchup more personally. At least that would’ve been fireworks. This one may be super slow like the Sokoju fight.
by JimmersonzGlove on Sep 22, 2010 2:56 PM EDT reply actions
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