In the last installment of our epic blab fest, Kid Nate and Luke Thomas discuss the Mayweather method of hyping fights, the influence of pro wrestling on Muhammad Ali, the tension between MMA and amateur wrestling, the tension between the UFC's spectacle-driven PPV model and the way they "book fights like they're the NCAA," and poor, sad Satoshi Ishii. Pore over the insight at MMA Nation.
Banner image provided by Anton Tabuena Another edition of Monday Morning Head Kicks coming at you. In this final last week of January, we finally have some more significant kickboxing to cover....
Satoshi Ishii (top) earned a technical submission win over Katsuyori Shibata in their MMA contest at the K-1 World MAX 2010 Final in Tokyo on Monday. Ishii scored an early takedown, flattened Shibata out, and wrenched a kimura from knee-on-belly position which forced referee Yuji Shimada to call a halt to the bout at 3:30 of the first round. Ishii improved to 3-1 with three straight wins since dropping his debut to Hidehiko Yoshida last New Year's Eve. Photo by Sportsnavi.
Olympic judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii (2-1) will take on last-minute replacement Katsuyori Shibata (4-9-1) in an MMA rules bout at Monday's 2010 K-1 World MAX Final in Tokyo. Shibata -- a pro wrestling convert and pupil of Kazushi Sakuraba -- was announced by Fighting and Entertainment Group on Sunday afternoon after Ishii's original opponent, kickboxer Antz Nansen, failed his pre-fight medicals due to a pre-existing injury. Photo by GBRing.
Satoshi Ishii will face kickboxer Antz Nansen in a DREAM rules bout at the K-1 World MAX 2010 Final on Nov. 8, parent company Fighting and Entertainment Group announced via Ustream on Wednesday. Ishii appeared on the webcast in a pre-recorded message from Los Angeles, where he's currently training. Ishii will not be the first Olympic judoka Nansen has met: on Sept. 23, 2009, the New Zealand native TKO'd 2004 silver medalist Hiroshi Izumi in both men's MMA debut.
DREAM has added a last-minute bout between 2008 Beijing Olympics gold-medalist Satoshi Ishii and pro wrestler-slash-fighter Ikuhisa "Minowaman" Minowa to Saturday's DREAM.16 in Nagoya, Japan. The pair will meet in an openweight contest.
Olympic gold medalist, Satoshi Ishii announced that he's targeting another Olympic berth on 2016, but there's a twist -- He wants to represent Team USA this time.
The seeming failure of highly touted prospect Satoshi Ishii has implications for the future of MMA.
