My favorite Japanese translation site at Suki MMA has some interesting quotes that came from the post-fight speech at World Victory Road: Sengoku. Here's the small excerpt that Suki claims was said after the bout:

"After the fight, Gomi said, Ludwig was a very good fighter. This victory was brought by an accident and I will fight him again. Thank you for coming to see my fight held on a weekday. I have good company to work with and....

He was in tears and couldn't continue. He got the applause of fans and said, I will train hard and continue fighting. Thank you for supporting me."

Gomi is a great fighter, and he proved to me that he is still a dangerous striker with the ability to counter and attack with dynamite power. I'm still not understanding the point of a rematch, or why Gomi is discrediting his victory to the fact that Ludwig was bleeding and the fight had to be stopped.

Although the fight didn't last long, it was clear that Gomi's standup skills were crisp, precise, and damaging. Not only did he catch Ludwig with a great counter punch, but he also managed to crush him earlier in the bout with the blow that eventually created the gash on his nose. Precision power punching won Gomi that fight, and that's what he's known for. Does Ludwig deserve a rematch because the cut ended the fight? I think it's safe to say that most of the hardcore fanbase would rather see Gomi take someone else on after displaying a striking clinic on Ludwig's face. Take the credit you deserve, Gomi. Ludwig was outclassed on the feet, and I don't see it going any other way.

World Victory Road's inaugural event kicked off on early Wednesday morning for all of us stateside. Although the event's fight card was fairly predictable, it still had a big upset, impressive finishes, and some overall good bouts between veteran fighters. The PRIDE-esque entrances and production were a breath of fresh air to many MMA fans who haven't been privy to the recent New Year's Eve blast of MMA action from Japan. The event also marked the much anticipated return of Takanori Gomi and Josh Barnett, both winning their first matches in over a year.

Gomi devastates Ludwig, Barnett submits Yoshida late

Although Gomi was hit with the first exchange from Duane "Bang" Ludwig, he still proved that his striking is much more precise and powerful than that of his opponent. In the following exchanges, Ludwig sustained a heavy cut and was nearly knocked out cold by the heavy hands of Takanori Gomi. Gomi followed with a counter left that finished Ludwig only 2:28 in the first round.

It isn't the most impressive win for Gomi considering Ludwig wasn't top notch competition, but it was fairly impressive in a sense that Gomi has had such a long layoff. He came into this bout as a heavy favorite and proved that his striking was much more superior. Hopefully World Victory Road can set Gomi up with some better talent to push his skills against.

Barnett defeated Yoshida late in the third round via a heel hook submission, improving his record to 21-5. From the start, the match hit the floor in mostly a technical grappling bout between the two. Yoshida struggled to sink in armlocks while Barnett defended by threatening with the anklelock/heel hook. Much of the fight revolved around Barnett's leg locks, and Yoshida escaped the holds effectively throughout the fight. As the second round ended, it was evident that Yoshida was beginning to gas out as well. The third round saw Barnett dominate on the ground, and he eventually sunk in a heel hook submission to end it. Yoshida was a formidable opponent for two rounds, but the technical prowess of Barnett and the fact that Yoshida was gassing could not hold off "The Babyface Assassin".

Barnett wasn't incredibly impressive in this bout, but then again, he hasn't been incredibly impressive in many of his recent bouts. He works rather slowly, but he still remains very technical on the ground. He still has the skill to submit nearly anyone on the ground, but I fear Fedor would have his way with him. He's still susceptible to strikes in the standup as well, and it really doesn't seem like he's improved in quickness or survivability on the feet either. Luckily for him, he was able to keep this one on the ground against a guy who really isn't known for his hands.

Other results

Kazuo Misaki def. Siyar Bahadurzada via submission (guillotine choke), Round 2, 2:02
Kazuyuki Fujita def. Peter Graham via submission (north-south choke), Round 1, 1:32
Evangelista Santos def. Makoto Takimoto via submission (heel hook), Round 1, 4:51
Ryo Kawamura def. Antonio Braga Neto via unanimous decision
Nick Thompson def. Fabricio Monteiro via unanimous decision

Bahadurzada was touted as an upcoming prospect, but his inability to finish lesser competition really leaned me toward Misaki in this battle. Bahadurzada could improve significantly with some more strength training, but as of right now, he will likely be overpowered by better competition.

Fujita's win was no surprise. Graham was outmatched in his debut MMA fight, and the matchup was unfavorable for Graham. Fujita's wrestling and iron chin combine for a formidable test for a new MMA fighter.

Santos provided the evening's lone upset with a submission win over Makoto Takimoto at 4:51 in the first round. I picked Santos as a long shot with the possibility of devastating Takimoto with a punch or two, but he surprised myself and everyone else by shutting Takimoto down with a leg hold.

Ryo Kawamura vs. Antonio Braga Neto was supposed to be a very close fight on paper, but Kawamura's power was the x-factor in this fight. Neto was very effective in round 1, mounting Kawamura twice and dealing some damage. Kawamura escaped later in the round and landed some heavy punches that stunned Neto momentarily. The second round was more of the same, but Kawamura made good use of the armlock attempts to defend against Neto's ground and pound. As the third round came into existence, it was evident that this was going to be a very close fight. Neto had a lot of takedowns in the matchup, but Kawamura was countering with flurries of damaging punches throughout the fight. At the end of the bout, Kawamura ended up taking the decision 3-0. According to some fans attending the event, this was because the judging apparently looked at striking more than ground tactics. An argument could be made for Neto.

Unfortunately, the Nick Thompson fight was much of the same judging. Thompson was taken down quite a few times by Monteiro, yet he was still able to win the bout by a 3-0 decision win. Monteiro was visibly upset and did not agree with the decision. It's mind boggling that he didn't win a round considering the multiple submission attempts and dominating position he had in some instances.

Overall thoughts

Gomi ended the thinking that he may be a bit rusty in his first fight back from such a long hiatus. Barnett looked like the classic Josh Barnett we know and love. His technical ground game is still very formidable, but I still feel that he lacks the standup defense to take on the top talent outside the UFC.

The judging for the event wasn't exactly the best. The criteria is obviously biased toward the striking game as opposed to ground tactics. Monteiro and Neto could both make cases for their decisions. Neither one of the fighters took a round in their battles even though it was evident that they had some dominating portions during their fight.

I'll look forward to more of these events. WVR had some nice production values, and the matchups were of good quality. It'll be interesting to see who they can matchup with Gomi next. Diaz? It's a possibility. Overall, I'd give Sengoku a C+. The judging really hurt it, but the matchups were more entertaining as the night went on.

The rebirth of the Japanese mixed martial arts scene will slowly begin its ascension on Wednesday at National Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Many fans are touting the arrival of promotions like World Victory Road, DREAM, and the coalition of K-1 and former DSE staffers as the second coming of the old PRIDE style format to the sport of mixed martial arts. The card certainly shows the seriousness of WVR’s entry into the Japanese market. The main event will feature Takanori Gomi vs. Duane Ludwig with supporting matchups featuring Josh Barnett vs. Hidehiko Yoshida and Shooto champion Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Kazuo Misaki.  Sengoku has the makings of providing us with a great midweek event to get the ball rolling into the weekend.

Main Event
Takanori “The Fireball Kid” Gomi (27-3) vs. Duane “Bang” Ludwig (16-7)

Gomi is coming off a layoff that has seen him “sit the bench” since February 24, 2007 due to his contractual problems that resulted from the PRIDE/Zuffa buyout. The big question in this matchup will be whether or not Gomi will have ring rust, and if he can get inside on Ludwig’s reach and power. Gomi has excellent striking, dynamite in his hands, and is known for having a very solid wrestling game that can neutralize opponents on the ground. He’s still arguably the #1 ranked Lightweight in the world due to his numerous wins over top 10 talent, but he has recently fallen off many rankings due to his inactivity. Although this matchup may not bring him back to the top, it’s a good fight for Gomi to work his way back into the “groove” of things.

Ludwig will have a tough challenge ahead of him. There is no doubt that Ludwig possesses the punching power to put Gomi out, but Gomi’s chin is tough and his technical prowess in the standup game is world class. The x-factor is whether or not Gomi will try to put Ludwig to the mat and use his wrestling to enable a ground and pound game on Ludwig. Ludwig’s biggest weakness is on his back whether it be trying to defend submissions or avoid punches. Gomi’s highest percentage to avoid damage while inflicting massive damage could be by putting Ludwig in that very position.

Gomi trying to stand with Ludwig could create some fireworks, but a sure fire winning strategy could see Gomi putting Ludwig on his back early and trying to pound him out. Either way, I think Gomi has a few more skills that he can pull from in order to win this fight.

Leland’s Prediction: Takanori Gomi via TKO, Round 2

Siyar Bahadurzada (13-1-1) vs. Kazuo Misaki (18-8-2)

Could this be the coming out party for Siyar Bahadurzada? It’s definitely a step up in competition for the native of Afghanistan. Bahadurzada’s skillset consists of some good wrestling skills coupled with some adequate striking that has been known to stun, devastate, and eventually stop opponents on the ground. The only big flaws in Bahadurzada’s credentials revolve around his strength of record. He has only recently taken on some stiffer competition in Shiko Yamashita and Nathan Schouteren, but Misaki is a considerable step up in competition.

Misaki has had mixed results in the last two years. He’s fought some of the best competition out there in Dan Henderson, Paulo Filho, and Frank Trigg. Although Trigg is older nowadays, he implemented an excellent wrestling game against Misaki and cruised to a decision win over him. Misaki has managed to get some big wins over Kang, Henderson, and Baroni during 2006 though, which significantly up his potential to get his name back in the picture.

Misaki isn’t known as a great finisher. He has potential to finish on the floor, but his hands are known as being dangerous in the standup when he is technically precise in his strikes. His record wouldn’t indicate him as being a devastating striker though. This presents an interesting difference in both fighters’ styles. Siyar doesn’t have overwhelming standup, and Misaki has had flashes of brilliance in his standup at times. It could prove to be a breaker for Siyar in this fight. With the big step up in competition for Siyar and Misaki’s inability to finish opponents late in his career, we may see a dominant win by Misaki, but by way of decision.

Leland’s Prediction: Kazuo Misaki via decision

Josh Barnett (20-5) vs. Hidehiko Yoshida (7-5-1)

 

CroCop officially "let go" from UFC contract, signs on with DREAMS

It's official. Mirko has been let go from the UFC and has now signed with the new FEG/DSE promotion, DREAMS. The official announcement was made today in Tokyo, Japan at Metropolitan Edmont Hotel at a press conference that also went over other participants in the event as well as an event schedule. As mentioned in our previous article today, DREAMS has a solid lineup of Lightweights already on board. It looks like it will be the official comeback of the PRIDE-like format, as well as the PRIDE roster of fighters.

It also looks like the UFC was unable to renegotiate Mirko back down to a lower amount of money, so they let his $350,000 salary leave the promotion. Unfortunately for the UFC, the amount of heavyweight talent that has crept away from the promotion is becoming significant, and it could lead to another promotion picking up the pieces. Japan has 2 or 3 solid promotions now that are looking for more fighters to bring over. The UFC has some new competition.

World Victory Road announces Gomi vs. Ludwig, two other bouts

Takanori Gomi's first bout back after his long hiatus was announced this week. He'll take on Duane "Bang" Ludwig in what looks to be a standup war between the two fighters. It should be a decent battle even though Ludwig does have some weaknesses in his game that Gomi could potentially exploit. He's also considered to be the #1 Lightweight in the world.

Two other bouts were also announced. Bodog Champion Nick Thompson will take on Brazilian Fabricio Monteiro, and Ryo Kawamura will take on Antonio Braga Neto. Kawamura is a straight knockout fighter with some great ability to excite a crowd, and Neto is an undefeated prospect coming out of the Fury FC promotion. Thompson will finally move away from BodogFIGHT talent and take on someone talented in the 16-6 Monteiro. Two solid bouts that are decent undercard battles for WVR. The event is shaping up to be a quality card.

Check out our review of the DREAMS Lightweight Grand Prix as well.

World Victory Road, the newly formed mixed martial arts company that is based in Japan, announced that their first show will take place on March 5th, 2008 at Yoyogi First National Gymnasium. The event will be called "Sengoku" meaning "Fight Master" from the translation of two Chinese characters according to Taro Kotani of Sherdog.com. WVR is currently part of the new post-PRIDE push for a major MMA player to come out of Japan. World Victory Road is the parent company that will host an MMA organization, or simply host a number of events under certain monikers such as "Sengoku". From what the article says, there will be five "Sengoku" events over the course of 2008. From the sound of the details coming out from WVR, I must say that I'm not overly impressed with this organization's attempt, although we have yet to hear their entire card or any news on the stable of fighters they plan on bringing in. Let's dig into the details.

Fighters named, still some mystery

Hidehiko Yoshida, Sanae Kikuta, Makoto Takimoto, and Ryo Kawamura were all announced as fighters for the inaugural event. Yoshida (7-5-1) is somewhat of an attraction in Japan. He's a living legend to the Japanese MMA scene and has a fairly successful dojo in Japan. He's a judoka who won a gold medal in Judo at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Yoshida is a fairly old fighter for the MMA game. He's currently 38 years of age. Yoshida has had some spectacle fights that have brought him fame, but has also brought him considerable pain. Yoshida defeated fighters such as Don Frye, Mark Hunt, and "Tank" Abbott, not very impressive, but he fought to a draw against Royce Gracie, and lost decisions to Wanderlei Silva and the great American Greco-Roman wrestler Rulon Gardner in his first and only MMA fight. He is clearly a spectacle draw for Japanese fans.

Sanae Kikuta (26-6-3) is a veteran MMA fighter who trains with Team Grabaka, the camp responsible for producing some of the better fighters in Japan. Fighters such as Akihiro Gono and Kazuo Misaki train with Team Grabaka. Kikuta is one of the older fighters within the team at 36 years of age, but has a plethora of experience in the MMA scene. For the most part, Kikuta has lost when called upon to make a step up in competition. In his more recent bouts, he's had an ongoing war with Yuki Kondo, losing his most recent battle with him and drawing with him in May of 2003. His last two wins were with PRIDE at Shockwave 2005 and Bushido 13 against Makoto Takimoto and Jean Francois Lenogue respectively. He hasn't fought since November of 2006, so getting rid of the ring rust will definitely be a factor.

Makoto Takimoto (3-3) is fairly green to the MMA scene, but isn't in the judo arena. His most recent win was over Zelg Galesic at PRIDE 34, but not an overly impressive win considering Galesic isn't exactly one of the best guys on the ground when tested there. Takimoto was beaten by the veteran Sanae Kikuta at Shockwave 2005 by decision and had his eye socket completely destroyed by Gegard Mousasi at PRIDE Bushido 11. He isn't a very impressive prospect for the organization to be touting. Ryo Kawamura (7-1-2) is an exciting Pancrase knockout fighter who should bring some spectacular striking to the card. He hasn't fought unbelievable competition, but I look for WVR to match him up with someone he can stand and bang out. His only loss is to Fabio Silva, who I haven't been very impressed with since Melvin Manhoef one-two'd him into dreamland at the K-1 Hero's event on September 17th. Regardless, Kawamura may still bring a highlight reel knockout to the card.

As an American MMA fan, I'm not too excited about the card, but Yoshida can produce some good MMA and bring out a win against a tough opponent. Kikuta is a good veteran fighter, but Takimoto isn't an impressive signing for the card. Kawamura seems to be on the card to strictly produce some powerful knockouts, which is always a plus. The more interesting news about WVR is the rumors that they may be trying to get Gomi for the event. With that said, WVR will most likely be looking to bring some other fighters in as well to fight Gomi. I always hope for Melendez's name to somehow sprout up in the WVR talk, we'll see.

Other details

All of the fighters will be non-exclusive to the event and WVR, allowing them to fight for other promotions. This will allow for the fighters in the events to gain some more experience elsewhere. This is pretty standard reasoning behind those types of agreements, although we've seen this backfire at times in recent event plannings. HDNet Fights has had some dealings with Sean Salmon that recently hurt the promotions "Reckless Abandon" main event. Salmon was knocked out cold at the Strikeforce Middleweight Tournament, and is now under medical suspension that will not allow him to fight "Mayhem" Miller on the HDNet Fights card. Non-exclusivity can sometimes produce those types of situations. This is the reason why the UFC keeps their fighters exclusive, along with a whole host of financial reasons as well.

The weight classes are pretty standard from the top until  you hit the welterweight, lightweight, and featherweight divisions. Welterweight is set at 167 pounds, lightweight at roughly 150 pounds, and featherweight at 132 pounds. My initial thoughts were that if the promotion plans on bringing fighters from the States over who are familiar with the unified weight classes of the UFC or any other American promotion besides EliteXC, it may be fairly hard to deal with the constraints differing. Welterweight isn't a huge problem as we only see a 3 pound difference, but lightweight sports a 5 pound difference which seems to be a problem for some fighters. The biggest difference is the featherweight division. In the WEC, the featherweights fight as 145 pounds, making a 13 pound difference in those rules. Obviously, it is much more likely that they will find bantamweight fighters to be placed in those fights or simply use homegrown Japanese fighters. Nonetheless, I imagine we will see some changes to this structure and some catchweight fights to accomodate bigger name bouts. WVR did mention they plan on adding weight classes in the future, it's a mystery whether or not they would be in between the current structure.

WVR Rules

The most baffling thing about the announcement was the rule set that was decided on to regulate the event's action. Three five minute rounds, championship fights will be five rounds, pretty standard stuff. Knees on the ground and stomping are permitted, but you can't elbow or soccer kick someone? Huh? This seems absurd. Stomping is probably more likely to hurt you seriously than an elbow, at least in my mind. Why? Elbows in guard are fairly hard to reign down with significant power. It can be done, but a stomp with full body weight behind it can be devastating. Even soccer kicks at times may not have the force of a stomp. Even more odd, kicks and elbows at least take some training to perfect and skill to put down on an opponent at times, whereas stomps can literally be traced back to when you were a little kid pouting and stomping the ground because you didn't get any ice cream. Maybe I'm way off base, but stomps are dangerous, very dangerous. I'd rather see elbows put into the rules and stomps taken out. I'm not a huge fan of soccer kicks per say, but I can live with those in the rules. In PRIDE, many of those moves were used as finishing blows to an opponent who was already out of the fight, but in some cases, they ended bouts quickly that could have continued.

I liked seeing some of the old rules back, but honestly, some of these tactics that they have allowed require no skill. Stomps were great for passing a guard for a devastating blow, and they sometimes caused fighters to get off the floor to avoid them, therefore pressing action, but we've seen them used in the past to finish opponents who are already hurt beyond repair. Knees on the ground I can do with. At times, I feel that a fighter can move to position in a fight to open up the knee strike, but in the UFC, it isn't permitted on the ground. Case in point, Stevenson vs. Pellegrino had one instance late in the bout in which Pellegrino had one knee on the canvas as Stevenson had his knees clear to strike. Pellegrino stayed on the ground knowing he would be blasted by the strikes if he lifted his knee. Stevenson masterfully pressed Pellegrino to the fence to gain position and opened up that advantage. We probably would have seen a quick end had the knees on the ground been permitted in the UFC or in MMA in the U.S. in general. I can do without it though.

Final thoughts

Excited? I'm not. The names that were announced may be great for Japanese fans, but for me, it's nothing yet. If we can see Gomi take on someone worth a damn in this card, it'll be something worth watching. It'll be interesting to see who they can grab up from the international scene as well. HERO's and the ex-DSE promotion seem to be gaining steam, although it's been said that the ex-DSE promotion is a one-time deal. With M-1 Global supposedly supporting more events or holding their own in the Asian market, they will also be players. I'm not holding too much hope for WVR in an increasingly more crowded MMA market in Japan.