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Kakutogi Road: The Complete History of MMA
Topskin69:
Kakutogi Road: The Complete History of MMA Vol.25 "Blood in the Soil"
*Mike Lorefice (of the excellent MMA/Puroresu emporium quebrada.net) will have his comments be preceded by his initials. *
The great Henry David Thoreau once quipped that, “Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” Such is the same state that we now find ourselves in, as we continue to follow the beckoning of the hallowed Kakutogi Road, not simply to relive the glories of a lost era, but to seek out deeper truths of the human condition. Our latest task before us takes place on 2-15-92, and we will be returning to the infamous Korakuen Hall where the UWFI is once again ready to set the tone for the month. Last month, they nearly melted the ring with a match between Kiyoshi Tamura and Yuko Miyato that was a total blaze up, so hopefully they will be able to keep that momentum going.
Hiromitsu Kanehara vs Masakasu Maeda opens for the third time in a row. Normally, I would be prone to gripe about going to the same well over and over again, but these two just keep getting better, so if they can keep this up then I would be fine with them opening as many events as they please. Things start off with Kanehara taking the initiative as he bull rushes Maeda with a litany of stiff palm strikes, but after being initially taken off-guard, Maeda was able to regain his composure and return a volley of his own. Kanehara started to find himself on the losing end of this slap-fest, so he wisely opted to shoot in with an explosive double-leg, however Maeda is continuing to increase his skills from match to match, and was able to effortlessly switch from standing firepower to an effective sprawl.
Kanehara is simply too crafty with his grappling however, and was able to negate the sprawl by continually “turning the corner” until he was at an angle where he could forgo the takedown altogether and shift to attacking the leg of Maeda. He used this leg threat just long enough to create an opening to move to side mount, all the while subtly throwing in strikes on his grounded opponent so he could continue to move and tweak his positioning. So far this is light years ahead of what anyone in the game has produced outside of Tamura/Funaki/Han, which is amazing considering these two are “rookies” and this is only their thirst match.
Kanehara squandered his superior position with a failed armbar, which allowed Maeda to get up and start soccer kicking at will. Kanehara was able to fight his way back up and get the action back down to the ground, but not before taking another barrage of palm-strikes for his trouble. The next couple of minutes saw the two go back and forth on the mat, exchanging positions and submission attempts, but unlike most matches up to this point, or even a lot of future Pancrase matches for that matter, they would be willing to strike each other on the ground in an effort to create an opening for an attack. We have seen a little bit of this so far, but not in such a fluid and sustained way from both competitors, so this really gets a nod for being far ahead of the curve. Even the old and tired Boston crab got a breath of new life here, as there was one sequence where Maeda was going for the single-leg variation, and unlike every other pro wrestler in history, Kanehara was actually not cooperating with this, so Maeda started frantically kicking Kanehara in the back to try and force a way for him to continue to finish the maneuver. It didn’t wind up succeeding, but was brilliant all the same.
The next 10 minutes wound up being total lava, as they went to a 15 minute draw with a non-stop barrage of strikes, positions changes, and submission attempts that were traded between both men, with absolutely no let-up or dead space in-between. This might be one of my favorite matches so far, and will surely go down as one of the best matches of '92, and even if the rest of this card winds up being hot garbage, it won’t really matter as this was worth the price of admission all on its own.
ML: Kanehara arrived as one of the top 5 worked shooters in the world in this truly revolutionary bout! This was the first UWF-I match that came out of the gate looking like a shoot, and somehow it never really stopped, which would be truly amazing if it were simply a 5 minute match, but this went the whole 15. This may be the most intense worked match I've ever seen! The speed and aggression were just off the charts. That was absolutely the difference here, and totally the key to their success. They were throwing really fast open hands, and scrambling hard and fast on the canvas. There was simply no sense of cooperation at all, anywhere. Everything one fighter did, the other fighter fought against, as if for their life. If every worked match looked like this, there almost would have been no need for actual MMA. While this doesn't have the I need to rewind this awe factor of Tamura's works, it was the most relentlessly aggressive fight we've seen so far. Maeda was dead by the end from going so hard for so long. A classic! ****1/2
Seriously, whoever green-lit the idea of refusing to give Billy Scott his $500 back for that silly lime-green outfit should be waterboarded, as surely that suffering is not even worthy to be compared to what we must now endure with another JT Southern bout, this time against Masahito Kakihara. Things start off quickly, with Kakihara blitzing Southern with a palm strike assault so quick and stiff, that it’s clearly freaking the Tennessee native out. Southern starts frantically throwing some front snap-kicks to try and ward Kakihara off, when one of them connects and causes Kakihara to stumble onto the ground. Seeing this opening, JT wisely capitalized and tried to take the back of Kakihara. Though not at all pretty, JT did manage to force Kakihara into a rope escape, which would be the first and only time that JT was able to do this. The rest of this short fight saw Kakihara slap and kick the stuffing out of JT, before ending things with another northeastern crab. Thankfully, this will be the last time we see Southern, who sailed off to the more temperate waters of WCW, where he briefly managed Scotty Flamingo (Raven).
ML: The best Southern match we've seen by a mile. Kakihara put so much pressure on Southern that he had him fighting for his life. The standup was actually good because Kakihara was just blitzing him, so Southern was forced to simply react, which was at least better than him thinking. They kept it short and aggressive, which is where Kakihara is at his best. This actually found a nice balance between believably and entertainment. It wasn't great, but it was way better than the quick squashes Albright has done.
Topskin69:
Vol. 25 Continued.....
Next up, the fierce challengers from last month (Tamura and Miyato) will now be teaming up to fight Tatuyo Nakano and newcomer Mark Silver. Miyato and Nakano start first, and Miyato opens fire with some crisp kickboxing, but is completely overpowered in the clinch, and just winds up on the ground where Nakno can put all his weight on him. For whatever reason, Nakano just decides not to bother with it, and tags in Silver, who is able to move a lot quicker than his size would seem to suggest. After a brief back and forth, Miyato tags in Tamura who takes a minute or so to feel out his opponent, before taking it to the canvas and giving us ourfirst memorable moment when Silver tried a primitive toe-hold attack while being seated behind Tamura’s back, but found himself quickly countered with a slick armbar entry. Tamura and Silver continue for a couple more minutes, and Silver is moving well for a rookie. At this stage, he is showing some decent wrestling and kicking skills, placing him above Burton and Boss, but beneath Scott, so with some more refinement, I could see him being a solid addition to the roster.
Silver tags Nakano back in, which prompts Tamura to really turn up the volume as Nakano desperately tries to get a takedown, but Tamura scrambles and contorts in every way imaginable to prevent him from being successful. The fight eventually winds up on the mat when Tamura dives in for a kneebar, but only winds up plopping down on his backside, which allows Naknao to smother him, before eventually securing a kneebar of his own, prompting both a rope escape and a tag back in for Miyato. The match continued to be an entertaining and brisked pace affair, which really shined every time Miyato was in the ring. He brought all the same fire and intensity that he was showing us last month, and because of this, he was able to really elevate this match from standard boiler plate to an above-average entry. That’s not to say that the others didn’t do a good job (they all did), but he really brought his A-game, which forced Silver and Nakano to have to rise to the occasion as well. Tamura was a bit more subdued than usual, taking on more of a counter-fighter role, but even though this wasn’t his flashiest showing, it was still Tamura, and thus good. I would give this a solid *** 1/2 , as the only real drawback here was the randomness of the match/contestants, which caused it to lack any real emotional satisfaction, and simply served as a high-quality time killer.
ML: The biggest problem here was the pairings. We didn't get to see more of the best rivalry in the UWF-I because Tamura and Miyato were on the same team. On one hand, the debuting Silver did pretty well, but they kind of sacrificed Tamura & Miyato to achieve that. Nakano was more lively than one could have expected, and actually everyone was really doing a much better job tonight with the scrambling, as if they got a memo about being more urgent. While Tamura was, of course, good, it was really Miyato's energetic striking exchanges that made the match. ***
There is still a gnawing void that eats at the soul of the UWF-I, a giant Billy Scott shaped hole that is as glaring and obvious as a gaping head wound, and Shinji Sasazaki knowing this, continues to try and concoct a healing salve by sending in more Tennessee reinforcements. In this case, it’s famed NWA veteran Pez Whatley. Whatley’s most memorable run was probably an angle where he feuded with Jimmy Valiant for perceived racist comments, when Valiant said that he was the best black athlete in the NWA. After his NWA stint ran its course, he moved on to Florida and became a henchman for Kevin Sullivan, and then went to Alabama to become a top face for Southeast Championship Wrestling. Here he will be debuting against everyone’s favorite zebra-warrior, Yoji Anjo, who was able to get a decent match out of Bob Backlund, so I’m hoping that he can work his magic on Whatley, also.
The fight starts off with Anjo unleashing a fast clip of stiff kicks, but the much larger Whatley was able to take Anjo down with ease….and hold him. Anjo would get close enough to the ropes to prompt a stand up from the ref, get a few more shots in, before being taken down….and held some more. This pattern continued for the duration of the fight, until Anjo botched a throw, but when Whatley was going back to his huggy and controlling ways, Anjo was able to shift into some kind of weird variation of a reverse armbar, which seemed to cause a moment of genuine panic from Whatley, and led to a submission victory. This was bizarre, and actually came across credibly, as Whatley fought Anjo just how you would expect a huge guy with some wrestling skill (and nothing else) to, so while this wasn’t nearly as bad as last month’s Wilhelm/Kolmykov travesty, it hardly ranks as mandatory viewing either. Whatley will need a lot more training in this style before even being made an offer to return.
ML: Pez was UTC's first African-American wrestler. While I was ready to dispense with the dispenser about 30 seconds into the match, this wasn't a travesty so much as sheer boredom. It's hard to say if Whattley had any name value given WWE rightfully destroyed him by turning him into Saturday morning fodder, but he surely didn't have much potential to learn a new style given he was already 41. The finish was cool, but otherwise it was mostly lay and pray.
The savage plan to unleash the Albright-monster is now fully in motion, and there is nothing that can now be done to stop it. It is now an inevitability that the behemoth from Rhode Island will face his destiny and collide with Nobuhiko Takada for the stake of the future of the UWF-I and all that is both meet and right. Still, the time is not quite in its fullness, so this will simply be a precursor of things to come, and a way to pave the road that booker Miyato has been trying to set up now for several months.
Yes, it is time for a tag match between Nobuhiko Takada/Kazuo Yamazaki vs. Gary Albright/Tom Burton, and lonely is the path of sorrow that Yamazaki is now forced to tread upon, a once bright and shining star, the padawan to Satoru Sayama, and the seeming heir apparent to his legacy, now reduced to what will probably be another farcical exercise in putting over the suplex-monstrosity. Things open up with an interview where Tom Burton states that Nobuhiko Takada and Kazuo Yamazaki are currently the number one rated tag team in the UWF-I, which is amazing, considering that this is the first time that Takada and Yamazaki will be teaming up together in this promotion. The mic is passed to Albright, who sounds surprisingly thoughtful and lucid, and lays out the case that they can take leg-kick punishment that the Japanese will surely give them, but that the Japanese will not be able to withstand their combined size and strength for 60 minutes.
Yamazaki and Burton start the match, and it’s always a pleasure to see Yamazaki work, as he immediately throws some high kicks as feints to try and send a warning to Burton not to come charging in too quickly. Burton dodges the kick and blasts Yamazaki down with a double and passes Yamazaki’s guard by quickly sliding over into a side headlock. We then hear a very quiet, yet confidant, voice coming from Albright when he says “Let’s go Tom,” and this reminds me of how Frank Shamrock was always the best corner man that you could possibly have, as he would just quietly talk to Maurice Smith when he was in bad positions, smoothly explaining how to get out of them, and never having to yell or get overly excited. Burton didn’t seem to know how to follow up on his headlock, so when he started to shift to a new plan of attack, Yamazaki simply got up and initially went for a crab, and when he realized that was not likely, pulled out a nifty standing heel-hook, to which I don’t think I’ve yet witnessed. Not long afterwards, Yamazaki obtained an armbar, prompting another rope-escape and a tag-switch to Takada and Albright, which is the moment that the Japanese public has been waiting for. To his credit, Takada is at least pretending this is a big deal, and is moving around with a faux sense of urgency that he hasn’t been bothering to display lately, at least he is making an effort to create the façade. Albright and Takada were effectively neutralizing one another at first, with Albright stifling Takada’s offense by smothering him down to the ground, but unable to do much once the fight got there. This was until Takada was able to draw first blood with an armbar, prompting a rope escape.
The rest of the match saw Yamazaki do most of the heavy lifting, both with Burton and Albright, with a few Takada hors d'oeuvres sprinkled in to tease the audience of what was to come. Thankfully, they allowed Yamazaki more opportunities to shine against Albright than Tamura, giving him some offense, but it was for naught as it wasn’t long before Yamazaki took a trip on air Albright, and was suplexed into oblivion. This was nothing more than a trailer for the upcoming Albright/Takada bout, and on that basis, was marginally entertaining, but the real loser here is Yamazaki, who stands to be buried beyond repair from all of this. I don’t know what the terms of his contract were, but I would think now is a great time to bail for a different promotion, if at all possible.
ML: Everyone tried, but it was very uneven with Takada and Albright doing a traditional pro wrestling match, while Yamazaki and Burton at least tried to do something shoot oriented. Takada actually gave a good effort, but the match felt really out of place after all that had come before, and really came off as a silly kick and suplex exhibition that was hard to take seriously. It accomplished its goal off selling the big show main event, but even Maeda seems pretty realistic compared to what we were seeing from Takada and Albright.
Conclusion: Sort of a lateral move compared to last month if a slight downgrade. We had liquid magma in the Kanehara/Maeda match, and a very solid affair with the Tamura/Miyato/Nakano/Silver tag, but two abysmal outings with Whatley and Southern. The main event served a purpose for its time, but is hardly recommending viewing at this stage, and is rather depressing as it continues to show how much Yamazaki is being squandered. Still, two entertaining matches in a one hour event is not a bad way to go, and if Kanehara keeps getting better, then it’s going to be hard to compete with this promotion, unless they find a way to mess things up.
ML: I thought this was a big step forward until the main event. Overall, the action was faster, stiffer, and more urgent. Kanehara is improving by leaps and bounds, as is Maeda, and even though they are in the opener, others actually seemed to be following their lead and moving toward a more realistic style. There's way too many Americans though, and they are holding things back, though mainly it's the booking that on one hand wants to be a shoot league, but on the other keeps focusing on the least realistic guys to try to sell tickets.
(Editors Note: If you would like to see this event in full, along with many other rare treasures, then head on over to www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoad and become a member! *
*In other news*
Rumors continue to swirl that Roberto Duran is in talks with the PWFG to have a fight, now with the possibility of facing Masakatsu Funaki. Talk was originally centered around him fighting Yoshiaki Fujiwara at an upcoming event that’s set to take place in Florida, but Duran is reportedly only wanting to fight overseas, due to tax issues.
Willie Williams, who had a famous mixed match against Antonio Inoki on 2/27/80, signed with RINGS and due to start at their 3-5-92 event.
Legendary kickboxer, and World Karate Association heavyweight champion Maurice Smith (who worked a mixed match on a UWF show in 1989) is scheduled to face sediokaikan heavyweight, Masaaki Satake at an upcoming RINGS event.
Topskin69:
Kakutogi Road: The Complete History of MMA Vol.26 "Cognitive Dissonance"
*Mike Lorefice (From the amazing MMA/Puroresu emporium quebrada.net) will have his initials preceding his comments. *
Sometimes maturing can be the worst thing to happen to a rock band, while oftentimes it's the best thing that could happen to a jazz outfit. This is because growing up usually leads to a loss of raw power, reckless abandon, and unbridled angst that drives some of the best moments of rock, whereas a jazz outfit is likely to benefit when there is a slowing down and a greater emphasis on paying more attention to their craft. We are now in the early stages of 1992, and are seeing pro-wrestling in a similar situation. The creation of the UWF in 1984 led to the opportunity for pro-wrestling to evolve and mature, by seizing what it has always desired (and arguably had up until the 1930s), credibility. When Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Satoru Sayama, and Kazuo Yamazaki joined the nascent UWF, it offered an opportunity for a group of pro-wrestlers with varying degrees of martial arts training to sail uncharted waters by creating their idea of what a real fight would look like, if they really pretended to fight for real. Of course, the promotion fell apart before its concepts could be fleshed out to their logical conclusions, but the stage was set, and here we are now in the next evolution of what would later morph into modern MMA.
We are entering into the 2nd PWFG event of the year, and we are already seeing many on this roster bucking at the constraints that the world of worked pro-wrestling has confined them in. The last two events had actual shoots on them, and the new generation of guys like Funaki, Takahashi, and Fuke, are starting to push the envelope as to how much non-cooperation they can squeeze into their standard bouts with pre-determined finishes. Perhaps, it was their hunger to be taken seriously, or the need to prove themselves by testing their skills against one another, but one thing is certain, and that is the walls of tradition that have restricted pro-wrestling to the realms of hokum and carnival shenanigans are surely on the way to crumbling, as it won’t be long before full fledged MMA breaks forth.
First up is Lato Kiraware vs. Wellington Wilkins, and it has been a few months since we witnessed Kiroware in a surprisingly watchable match against Kazuo Takahashi. However, since he must now square off with “Block of Wood” Wilkins, I am hesitant to get my hopes up. Wilkins starts off with a deep and slow single-leg attempt, only to be neutered with an even slower sprawl from the massive Kiraware. This leads to Kiraware slamming Wilkins and slapping on one of the worst guillotine chokes we’ve seen thus far, but to his credit, he laid into Wilkins with a few heavy palm strikes when that didn’t work. Unfortunately, the striking did not last long, as Kiraware was quickly taken down with a textbook O-Goshi (full hip throw) and put into a headlock. The rest of this match was abysmal, as it was simultaneously slow, boring, and phony looking, which is quite sad considering the UWF-I has been offering molten lava for its openings for three months running. Thankfully, this was quickly over around the 6 minute mark with what could only be described as Kiraware putting Wilkins in something akin to a “rock bottom” followed by an arm-triangle choke. Bad.
ML: I keep wanted to call Lato "Killer Whale", but that would be an insult to Orcas everywhere. Lato is slow as molasses, while killer whales are among the fastest marine mammals, often reaching speeds in excess of 65 km. In any case, poor athletes don't have much of a home in worked shoots. This honestly didn't even feel like a shoot, as the main thing they had to "offer" were some fake suplexes. There's not much to say about this match beyond it's one of the worst that we've seen. It just had nothing going for it.
We are off to a bad start, and seeing Bart Vale return isn’t likely to change the course we have now found ourselves on. Thankfully he is going against Takahashi, who is spunky enough to potentially get a good match out of him, so we can only dare to dream. A somewhat subdued looking Takahashi starts the match with his usual single, but is negated by a surprisingly spry sprawl from Vale, who is moving a lot quicker than usual. The next sequence shows Takahashi grabbing one of Vale’s legs, and when Vale seemingly looks like he is going to attempt some variation of an enziguri, wisely decides to counter this with repeated slaps to Vale’s face, followed by a suplex and an armbar attempt. Sadly, the real Vale shows up next with an awful (and awfully slow) kick to Kazuo’s midsection, prompting both a down, and me wondering why it seems like everyone has their kid gloves on for this evening?
After getting up, Takahashi gets blasted flush in the face with a high kick from Vale that I don’t think was intended to actually connect. It did serve to wake him up though, and he responded by driving Vale to the mat with the energy that we are usually accustomed to seeing from him. We then got a nice sequence where Takahashi opened up Vale’s half-guard with a few palm strikes, and when Vale’s legs opened, engaged in a great spinning kneebar entry that forced Vale to get a rope escape. Vale is now starting to kick with some more urgency, which prompts Takahashi to take things back to the mat, and it is interesting to see some of the patterns that pre-BJJ grappling produced. Takahashi has Vale on his back in a full guard, and instead of trying to pass the guard, he simply opts to try to submit Vale with a Kimura. Obviously, he couldn’t get enough torque from that position, but it did prompt Vale to adjust to a half-guard, and Takahashi used that movement to crank harder on his submission, now causing an opening to pass his guard completely, which he did while instantly switching to an armbar. This was very clever, but for naught, as the weight disparity is simply too great, and all Vale had to do was stack Takahashi to escape and hit an armbar of his own. The match ends shortly thereafter when Vale energetically unleashes a flurry of awkward looking kicks that Takahashi sells for, ending the match via 10-count.
The first couple of minutes had me concerned, but once Takahashi woke up it prompted Vale to at least put forth some effort making this a somewhat entertaining, albeit disjointed, match. Takahashi’s grappling portions were on point, but the realism would be quickly thrown out the window when Vale was in standup mode. He needs to find a way to fully commit to his strikes (without hurting someone), as he tends to look way too slow and goofy when he is trying to be careful with his opponent.
ML: Takahashi give his best performance thus far, really making a strong effort to turn this into an actual match. He was aggressive and super explosive. The problem with Vale is always that his idea of matwork contains almost no actual movement. Chris Lytle may be MMA's most decorated real life firefighter, but nothing could extinguish grappling aggression like Vale taking top position. Once Takahashi made a fast move to take him down, Bart would immediately go about trying to slow the action down to a crawl, but Takahashi did as good a job of preventing that as one could hope, keeping things going as much as he could much by forcing Bart to escape from a submission, which set up his next standup blitz. Takahashi's striking and submission games were both much better: this is the first time he didn't simply look like an amateur wrestler. Vale will always provide some cringeworthy moments, but this was his most reasonable match thus far. Whilel I wouldn't call this good, it was at least a pleasant surprise.
Topskin69:
Vol. 26 Continued...
Next up is Fujiwara vs Fuke, and Fuke is coming into this both as a winner and a loser. A winner in the sense that his output in his last couple of worked matches has been fantastic, and a loser due to being completely clowned by Minoru Suzuki in a shoot grappling match from last month's show. The outcome of this will likely come down to how much sincere effort Fujiwara wants to put forth, so we will see.
After a few moments of feeling each other out, Fujiwara surprised everyone with a swift Thai kick to Fuke’s thigh, which saw him collapse, and take a 9-count before getting back up. This forces Fuke to instantly activate his judo-mode, and he quickly throws Fujiwara to the mat, only to get tangled up in the ropes, prompting a restart. Fujiwara now quickly goes for a bodylock, and is able to get behind Fuke, and unlike Sakaraba, who would always use this as a way to set up his infamous standing kimura, Fuke instead opts to drop down and attack Fujiwara’s leg. This led to an interesting and rather long sequence, where both been fought for a leg, but just when it seemed that Fujiwara was getting closer and closer to a toehold, Fuke was able to continually smite Fujiwara in the body and face, until he could transition into a armbar attempt. Fujiwara rolled onto his stomach to avoid, but then put himself in the perfect position to be triangled, and that is exactly what Fuke saw too, so he wasted no time in switching from the armbar to a triangle, and years before Quinton “Rampage” Jackson hit the scene, Fujiwara’s answer to this was to powerbomb Fuke to escape the hold. The rest of this 16 minute bout was a pleasant surprise, as it had a nice constant flow of action that was both intelligent and credible. In fact, I would go as far as to say that this was the best that we’ve seen from Fujiwara so far in PWFG, which is really another argument for Fuke being the MVP of this promotion, as he has been able to get good matches out of guys that others have not been able to. Fujiwara wins the way he began with a kick to Fuke’s thighs, only this was one down too many, as apparently PWFG is now using a scoring system that seems to be unknown to anyone besides them.
ML: Similar to the previous match, the quickly improving youngster was able to pull a better than expected match out of the middling veteran. The match was a bit too pro wrestling oriented in its storyline it though, with Fujiwara seeming to only want to low kick, but Fuke constantly catching the kick and tripping him up into a leg lock or just getting him down off a single leg, which Fujiwara would soon counter. Fuke's urgency and desire helped carry the match, but it was rather repetitive, and his overselling of the leg kicks was annoying. There was really no reason for this match to be more than 10 minutes long, as there wasn't a single point where you felt Fuke had any chance of winning, and Fujiwara just seem to be toying with him half the time.
Jerry Flynn is now set to face Minoru Suzuki, and this should be good. Flynn looked great a couple of months ago when Fuke was carrying him to an excellent 30 minute match, so I have no doubts that Suzuki will work his magic, also. Flynn is a good talent if paired with a strong leader, so this should be a welcome lead-in to the main event. Right away, Suzuki is moving with a sense of urgency that is really the distinguishing characteristic that separates the new breed of Tamura, Kanehara, Han, etc, and the old guard, and is also the key element in being able to draw something good out of just about any opponent. Suzuki's quick moving in-and-out, feinting a takedown, forces Flynn to also react quickly, and put more snap on his kicks than you would probably see him throw in a more relaxed setting. After dodging a few of Flynn’s kicks, Suzuki wisely goes for a clinch, and is able to ward off a guillotine attempt by using his low center of gravity to his advantage, and just sort of falls on top of Flynn to secure the mount position. The next couple of minutes sees Suzuki easily maintaining a superior position, but Flynn is able to power out of several submission attempts from Suzuki before eventually being able to stand himself back up.
There were lots of interesting grappling ideas/techniques on display here, even to the jaded eyes of a modern audience. For example, there was one moment where Suzuki showed us an interesting technique by faking a standing Kimura, and instantly using Flynn’s reaction to set up a headlock takedown. Another was when he was close to securing an armbar against Flynn, but Flynn was doing a good job of holding his wrist and using his strength to defend it. Suzuki’s clever solution was to punch Flynn in the stomach several times to try and force an opening, and when he saw that this wasn’t going to work, he looked over at Flynn’s ankle, and immediately released the arm, dived over to Flynn’s leg, and nailed a toehold, which forced Flynn to roll into the ropes and take an escape. The match ends shortly afterwards with Suzuki trapping Flynn in an odd, but interesting, variation of a neck crank initiated from side control. This was short, and complete one-way dominance for Suzuki, but I still liked it, as it was fast, urgent, and realistic. Flynn’s lack of any meaningful offense will keep it from being in the top echelon of matches for this year, but I felt that Suzuki really shined here, and made it work. Momentum is now on our side, as we are two good matches going into the main event.
ML: A disappointing, one-sided match where was Suzuki was into outshining Flynn rather than carrying him. Suzuki was still in shoot mode, dominating the match on the ground by regularly taking mount and swinging into armbars. Flynn wasn't able to stay on his feet long enough to capitalize on his striking advantage. Suzuki took a lot more chances on the ground, giving up dominant position attempting to finish, but it felt as close to a Funaki match as he's done.
Now for the main event, a return to the last months well, with a repeat main event between Masakatsu Funaki and Ken Shamrock. Coming off a historically important, but somewhat dry affair that could arguably be called the first Pancrase match, it will be important for them to really elevate their games here, as the difference between this card being forgettable or recommendedall rides on their performance.
These two start things off a lot faster than their last two outings, with Ken throwing kicks right away, and Funaki answering with some knees from the clinch. After some haggling in the clinch, Ken eventually trips Funaki to the mat, when he was too focused on locking in a standing Kimura. Ken shows why he never tries fighting off of his back with an armbar that Funaki saw coming from miles away, and they are both back on their feet. The 2nd wave sees both men trying to be more calculated and patient in their strikes, waiting for openings. Ken lands a few palm strikes down the pipe to Funaki’s face, which prompts Funaki to go for a low single, and takes a hold of one of Ken’s legs. This prompts Ken to go from dancing on his planted foot to trying to fall into a kneebar attack, but he telegraphed this, and Funaki slyly jumps back just in time, causing Ken to simply plop on his butt.
Funaki spends some time waiting before deciding on falling back for an ankle-lock, and just when I thought that all of Ken’s submission attempts were going to be in slow motion, he shows some beautiful explosiveness by instantly standing up and putting Funaki in a heel-hook. Funaki was able to escape, and they spent the next several minutes fighting for position on the mat, before being stood up. On their feet, they take on a laid-back sparring vibe where Funaki is effectively using his kicks by targeting both the inside and outside of Shamrock’s thighs, but is leaving his hands too low, which opens up opportunities for Shamrock to counter with blasts to the face. The rest of this 40 minute match was moderately interesting, but devoid of any real high-level energy or intensity. It was disappointing in the sense that this should have burned the house down, but instead felt like I was popping on a Brian Eno record while watching the ocean tides. That is not to say that it did not have its good moments. Some of the striking exchanges had fire to them, the finish was cool (with Funaki countering a standing toehold with a triangle choke) and there were some cool subtle moments in the grappling (like a brief headbutt war between Shamrock and Funaki), but what this boils down to is that a 40 minute worked match in the shoot-style is going to be a difficult task for anyone to pull off well, and Funaki is simply too methodical to be the one to excel in this format. One really needs the constant barrage of urgent energy that a Suzuki, Tamura, Fuke, etc can bring, if you are going to even think about pulling off this kind of match.
ML: What an odd match! Set the speed to medium, set the timer to 40 minutes, spar! While the talent here was obvious, the drama was almost nonexistent. No one ever seemed to make any progress or come close to actually winning. This wasn't Funaki durdling, I thought the mat work was a lot more flowing then we've seen from him, and they did a pretty good job of going back and forth. The stand up was somewhat lacking though, it wasn't bad, but nothing really felt like it had ill intentions either. That was really the problem. The match was fairly credible, definitely moving even more towards shooting, or at least the Pancrase hard gym sparring variety, but this was just so laid back. If they did the same basic match with a handful major occurrences and some real intensity, it would have been memorable, but in this form it all kind of washed over me and felt like MMA for Deadheads. They needed to put us on edge, not chill us out. Shamrock is normally a wild man and a killer, but today he was so ridiculously polite. Although it was easily the best match on the show, adding ten minutes was largely responsible for making it the worst of their 3 matches because it was just so ridiculously long they never manage to find their way out of self preservation mode.
Conclusion: Disappointing. A slight net-positive overall, but with the talent available we should be able to do better than bad, mediocre, good, good, and ok. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Fujiwara’s fault this time, as we got a good match between him and Fuke, but the main event was a letdown. Not that it was bad (it wasn’t), but it needed to be a lot better than it was, and instead was probably the weakest of their three matches to date. If they had distilled it into a 15 minute war, we would be having a totally different conversation right now, but I would say that the writing is clearly on the wall with this promotion. Their only logical path forward is to start including a lot more shoots in their product, but that, of course, could lead to its own drawbacks, as the risk of injuries increases, and they already have a thin roster. I hate to be saying this, as if there is any roster that I am rooting for to be the best of the best, and win the shoot-style wars, it is the PWFG, but it looks like there are going to have to be some serious changes if they want to do more than tread water every month.
ML: The biggest problem with this show is the main event was the only match where the outcome was even remotely in doubt. If they're going to give us Suzuki versus Funaki, Fujiwara versus Shamrock, Fuke versus Takahashi, etc., then that doesn't matter because those are naturally even pairings, but they are not going to book that way. They are capable of delivering interesting jobber matches, but the performers have to have that mindset rather than going out to dominate.
*This entire event, along with many other priceless artifacts, can be found over at www.patreon.com/KakutogiRoad *
*In other news*
Apparently, Lou Thez has taken more than just a passing interest in the UWF-I, as he has recently been in talks to try and bring the promotion to the United States and start promoting events there.
Double Impact recently premiered in Japan, and one of the celebrities in attendance was Akira Maeda, who had several pictures taken with its lead actor Jean-Claude van Damme, and was reported to completely dwarf the much smaller action star.
Topskin69:
Kakutogi Road: The Complete History of MMA Vol.27 "Reckless Abandon..."
*Note: Mike Lorefice (of MMA/PURO emporium quebrada.net) will have his comments preceded by his initials. *
World domination! A lofty and enticing goal that many have sought, bled, and died for, throughout the annals of history, and in this case the UWF-I is no different. Join us, as we once again witness their aspirations for martial arts supremacy, as we return to the Korakuen Hall where they are set to have their 3rd event of 1992. Not even three months into the new year, this promotion is making good on their quest to become the victor in the shoot-style wars with the constant inferno that Hiromitsu Kanehara, Kiyoshi Tamura, and (as of late) Yuko Miyato have been bringing to the table.
After the standard ceremony, we are greeted by legendary wrestling icon, Lou Thesz, who now appears to be the gaijin face of this outfit, like Karl Gotch is to the PWFG. In fact, as we reported in our last column, Thesz has been shopping the UWF-I around the United States, in an effort to hopefully start promoting events there. Here he gives us a few words, “Ladies and Gentlemen. I am pleased to be back in Japan, to witness true competitive wrestling. The UWF-International features real wrestling, not show-business. I am happy to be perpetuating a noble sport, wrestling, the thing that I have loved all my life. Thank you!”
This is a fascinating look at where we are at in the growing pains of MMA history, as you can see that the desire of people like Thesz, and others in his sphere, is for pro-wrestling to be taken seriously and treated as a legitimate martial art and sport, yet the powers that be are not confidant enough in the concept of shooting to allow it to stand on its own merits. This leads to him resorting to the chicanery that he decries, in this case, “show-business.” This also helps to explain how the promotion (and shoot-style wrestling in general) faded away and never recovered once the illusion was broken from Anjo’s dojo storming antics, and PRIDE FC exposing Takada’s false image.
Still, we will enjoy the artifice for the time being, as we are now set for round 4 in the never-ending magma stream that is Hiromitsu Kanehara and Masakazu Maeda. After their last outing, I am now fully in favor of them opening every wrestling card on every single promotion from here on out, as it was one of the best shoot-style matches I’ve seen, only coming behind some of Tamura and Han’s best work. No time is wasted as other Madea charges in with a plethora of kicks and palm strikes, but to his credit, Kanehara stands his ground, and fires off several kicks of his own. You can see that he is somewhat out of his element compared to Maeda in the striking dept, but he was able to fend off Maeda long enough to close in and execute a lovely koshi-guruma (headlock throw). Things did not stay static on the mat however, and Kanehara constantly tried to attack both the ankle and then the arm of Maeda, but Masakazu was simply too wily, and was able to defend himself from every submission entry until he got back on his feet and soccer kicked Maeda for his efforts.
After his first submission barrage did not work, Kanehara takes Maeda down again, only this time opting for a Kimura attack, but now Maeda is wisely starting to make Kanehara pay for every failed attempt on his elbow joints. After escaping the Kimura, Maeda jumped back to his feet, soccer kicked Kanehara again, but did not stop there, he kept kicking and kneeing Kanehara as he was standing back up, even to the point of wearing himself out, and eventually succumbed to a desperation throw by Kanehara.
The next 16mins were a total non-stop war, where neither opponent gave any pause and were constantly attacking or actively defending. What was really neat about this, is that it was a play on your classic grappler vs striker match, only both the grappler and the striker were also proficient in the other’s discipline, just not to the same degree. So, while Maeda was usually having to defend Kanehara’s submission attacks on the ground, he was able to launch several credible threats of his own, and while Kanehara is not as sharp on the feet as Maeda, he too was able to get some nice shots in. There were also plenty of nice subtleties throughout the match. For example, there was one nice sequence where Kanehara was standing up and grabbing Maeda’s ankle to attack and used that as a way to fake a swift kick to Maeda’s face, and later Maeda was able to return the favor, when Kanehara had him in a variation of a single-leg crab, and his response was to spin around and smash his foot into Kanehara’s head, which got a great pop from the audience.
The last minutes of the fight saw Maeda throwing palm strike after palm strike, until the point of exhaustion, but his show of heart was so profound that the crowd had a Rocky IV moment when they shouted their support with chants of “Mah-eh-da! Mah-eh-da!” This was the beginning of the end however, and it was not long afterwards that Kanehara secured a submission victory via half-crab.
Another excellent match, and I’m thankful as this will keep forcing the rest of the roster to take notice, and hopefully follow suit. While this may have been a smidge below their last outing, by virtue of the extra length and the somewhat contrived finish, make no mistake, this was still fire and well worth your time. Easily ****.
ML: I'd highly doubt that at any other time in history a feud between two rookies would be the best thing going on in pro wrestling. The latest fantastic chapter in this rivalry had a bit more of a striker vs. grappler feel, as Maeda was so aggressive, just non stop blitzing Kanehara in standup the entire match that Kanehara really had to just try to fend him off and rely on his submissions. The urgency was so out of control that they got a bit wild and sloppy at times with their striking even before Maeda gassed. If ever there was a match where both workers were possibly trying to hard, it was this one. I mean, as impressive as it was, it probably would have been a little better with a bit more patience, precision, and control of their emotions, as Maeda really exhausted himself by the final stages. The pace they kept was simply insane! They took everything to the max, if not beyond. After a series of full time draws, they utilized nearly every point at their disposal before Kanehara finally broke through. This was a really crazy match! Though it wasn't as good as their match 2 weeks earlier, it's still one of the better matches we've seen, and some of the best displays of heart and desire you'll ever come across. ****
Foot-fighting phenom, Makato Ohe, returns for a standing bout against Pat Kane. This is excellent news, as this is the first time we’ve seen Ohe this year, and if he had been on the last couple of cards (replacing JT Sothern for instance) we probably would have went from 2-classic fights, to an over-the-top 3 great matches, which would have pushed those events into legendary status. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find out any information on Pat Kane as of press time, but since Ohe is coming off of two back-to-back loses, I wouldn’t be surprised if they went back to the jobber mill to find an easy opponent for Ohe.
Both fighters come out of the gate aggressively, but while Kane is landing some good combinations, he seems to leave his face out in the open while doing so, and is eating some hard leather because of it. The rest of the fight shows an aggressive Kane varying his attacks, and showing some strong power in his fists, whereas Ohe seems to be content in patiently waiting and setting up his thunderous kicks. Even round.
Round 2 starts with more hyper-aggressive behavior from Kane, but he is still adhering to the ancient proverb that punches are best blocked with your face. While he is landing a lot of volume, Ohe is doing a great job of being the counterpuncher and setting up some truly nasty answers, both by vicious straights down the pipe, and nasty knees from the clinch. This round came down to quality vs quantity, with the former going to Kane.
Round 3 was Ohe’s turn to lead the attack, and he quickly laid into Kane with everything he had, prompting a knockdown early into the round. The rest of the round saw Kane make a bit of a comeback by wisely utilizing the uppercut whenever Ohe would try and get into clinch range. Still, this is now going to be an uphill battle for Kane to try and win this fight on points.
Round 4 has Kane coming on strong again, being the one landing the majority of the shots, but he still leaves himself wide open, and continues to suffer some very stiff counters from Ohe, particularly his left straight. Despite a strong early showing, Kane kept eating more and more counters until succumbing to another knockdown late in the round. Kane was able to get back up, right before the bell rang, but he is going to have to pull out a magic trick to win this fight in the 5th .
The final round was a strong showing for Kane, who kept pressing the attack, and continued the wise strategy of unloading uppercuts whenever Ohe tried to clinch. His impressive offensive output came at the cost of a good defense though, and he walked right into the game of a patient fighter like Ohe. Still, this round belonged to Kane, but it wasn’t enough to turn the tide, and the decision had to go to Makato. I give the UWF-I credit for continuing to find game opponents for Ohe, and this was a good match, as well as a strong showing from Kane.
ML: Kane was a strong boxer and athlete. He showed good quickness, and was generally the aggressor. His problem is his kicking game wasn't particularly developed. He basically never kicked after throwing a punch, instead just leading with a kick to control the distance and set up his punch combo. Ohe tried to work on the inside so Kane couldn't just beat him with hand speed. Kane's corner wanted to make certain he was completely refreshed going into the third, with his trainer even spraying water down his pants.Ohe probably lost the first 2 rounds, but started strong in the third, landing a big left straight then following with a series of clinch knees and a left high kick, repeating the sequence until he finally dropped Kane with the left hand. Even though Kane's defense throughout the fight was simply to attack, attack, and attack some more, Ohe still had much more success when he initiated then when he waited to land counters to Kane's open face. Kane had to be really active to make up for his lack of defense, and that was increasingly difficult In the later rounds, as Ohe's knees to the midsection really sapped his energy. Ohe landed a few big lefts in the fourth, but it felt like Kane went down from exhaustion as much as from Ohe's big shots. Kane had obviously trained hard in Xanadu, as he still fought hard trying to pull out the victory, though much of his speed was gone, with his right hand particularly lacking zip. Ohe's power advantage was just too much , especially in the second half of the fight. I had Ohe winning the last 3 rounds. Now that Ohe has dispatched of Kane, one can only hope that UWF-I can get Sidney Crosby in here next... Good match.
Now it is time for Pez Whatley vs Tatsuo Nakano. Earlier in the month, Whatley laid on top of Yoji Anjo for 5mins, and now it is his turn to lay all over Nakano. Whatley starts by continually trying to take Nakano down by way of a back body-lock, which prompts Nakano to try and counter with a standing Kimura. Whatley is wise enough to ward off the submission attempt, but while he succeeds in saving his shoulder, he does so at the expense of the takedown. After a while of vain takedown attempts, Takano changes his approach and goes into standup mode, with repeated strikes until he wins via knockout around the 4min mark. Whatley looked a little better this time, but thankfully this was noticeably shorter, and even more thankfully this will be the last time we have to see Whatley, as he went back to the states to work for WCW along with other indies.
ML: The big spot was Nakano ducking and lariat in the corner and coming back with a high kick for the face plant. This was terrible, but at least it was short, and they didn't waste Tamura or someone good on Nakano
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