Shooto had there awesome card early this morning at JCB Hall in Tokyo and I've seen most of the fights by now. The biggest news was that Takanori Gomi rebounded nicely and put away Shooto Welterweight Champion Takashi Nakakura in a non-title fight. Gomi finished him off with a combo of punches along the ropes, including a very nice body shot. Since this was a non-title affair, what Shooto would normally do would be to book an immediate rematch, but this time with the title on the line. However I don't see much value in this as I don't see how the second fight would be any different. Apparently Nakakura said that if he lost, he would give the belt to Gomi, but I don't see Shooto recognizing that as an official title change. But all-in-all, Gomi took his first steps in getting back on track and once again becoming a legit lightweight contender.
Takeshi Inoue beat Shooto legend Rumino Sato in the main event in what was suppose to be a "passing of the torch" type fight. Problem was that Sato has already passed the torch two or three times before. Sato has no business being in the ring with top contenders anymore. He is well past his prime and will never beat anyone have decent these days. With that said, he is a legend of Shooto (think Ken Shamrock to American MMA...without the failed drug test) and should be moved into a Spokesmen like role. Sato did so much for Shooto, they can't forget about him. However giving him title shots that he didn't deserve (he had lost 5 of 6 heading into this fight and fights he has no chance of winning, is not the way to remember Sato.
Hirota winning over Ishida was definitely an upset. And he just didn't beat him, he destroyed him pretty good. Ishida, with all his big fight experience I thought would be able to handle Hirota. My upset pick in Ueda to beat Boku didn't turn out too well for me. And lastly, Fujii picked up an easy win in 52 seconds over her Jane Doe Korean opponent as expected.
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