Bloody Elbow, for MMA and UFC news

Masakatsu Ueda submits Ralph Acosta with a brabo choke in the second round. Acosta stepped in as a late replacement for Farkhad Sharipov when Sharipov couldn't obtain a Visa. Ueda is a former SHOOTO champion at 132 pounds. Today's event, called Shooto - Shootor's Legacy 1, was the first major Japanese show of the new year.

At Shooto Brazil 19 on Sunday, Hernani Perpetuo (blue gloves) took the vacant Shooto South America 167-pound title with a three-round unanimous decision win over "Junior Killer" Romario Silva. The fight was a rematch of an Aug. 6 bout which saw Silva win by technical submission when referee Mario Yamasaki waved off the fight due to an armbar. The show also hosted the opening two rounds of an eight-man 114-pound South American title tournament, where "Maicon" Willian Costa and Lincon de Sa each punched their tickets to the finals on Dec. 11. The winner of the tournament will likely head to Japan to challenge Shooto world champ Rambaa Somdet. Full results here. Photo by Eduardo Ferreira for Tatame.

Darren Uyenoyama, seen above with the kids from Tokyo's Abe Ani Combat Club, upset Shooto 132-pound world champion Shuichiro Katsumura via second-round TKO on Thursday in their non-title bout at "The Way of Shooto 5." Uyenoyama will likely get a shot at Katsumura's title next, though no timeline was set for a rematch. In the evening's semi-main event, Junji "Sarumaru" Ito continued to solidify his reputation as one of Japan's top 115-pounders, spoiling the flyweight debut of Guam's Jesse Taitano with a TKO at 4:50 of round three. Photo by SKILL MMA.

Former flyweight King of Pancrase Mitsuhisa Sunabe (12-6-3; pictured at right) will square off against Shooto's Noboru "Shinpei" Tahara (9-4-1) in Pancrase on September 5th, the promotion announced today during an online broadcast. The scheduled three-rounder marks the first significant interpromotional bout between Shooto and Pancrase since they ended a seven year period of non-cooperation in the Shooto ring last fall. (Read more about the feud between the two organizations in this SKILL MMA post.) Sunabe is 4-1 since moving to flyweight in 2008, but was on the wrong end of a majority decision in February and lost his title to current champ Kiyotaka Shimizu. "Shinpei" recently moved back to 123 pounds and has notched two straight wins following his November loss to Rambaa Somdet.

"We'll probably have two world championship matches [at Shooto Brazil 17 on August 7th] and from now on Shooto Brazil will be responsible for deciding the American titles... We'll have the South American title and yet another title of the Americas," explains Andre Pederneiras, president of Shooto South America, revealing first-hand that Shooto will hold events in the United States or Canada in 2011. Source: Tatame

Shooto 154-pound world champion Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire (17-2) has signed with the UFC and will debut on August 1st against Thiago Tavares (14-3-1), according to manager Andre Pederneiras. Source: Gracie Mag Photo: Sherdog UFC on Versus 2 coverage

Shooto Brazil 125-pound champion Jussier "Formiga" da Silva (3-0; pictured) will defend his title against Alexandre Pantoja (7-1) at Shooto Brazil 16 on June 12th in Rio de Janeiro. Photo by Guilherme Cruz for Tatame.