August 3rd –
Press Conference – All Japan Kick Boxing "SUPER FIGHT" (August 22nd, 2004)

Back in 24th of July, at the Korakuen Hall, the event “SUPER FIGHT” by All Japan Kick Boxing was a huge success.
This time, again, five on five, Japan against the world, will happen, under the elbow-shots-allowed rulings between light and featherweight fighters.
“The Stray Dog” Satoshi Kobayashi will face Andy Donaldson who is making his Japanese debut. Donaldson’s record is 14 – 3 – 2 and he is 22 years old. He likes to build his offense with his punches and low-kicks, and supposedly, his trademark is aggressiveness. His other weapon is elbow shot he acquired in Thailand. Kobayashi, on the other hand, is a WKA World Lightweight Champion but Donaldson is a WKA South Pacific Champion too. Therefore, this fight, I believe, is going to be a crucial stage for Kobayashi, who has been struggling because of his injury just coming back from loss in the second round of the lightweight tournament.

August 20th –
Press conference – LOVE IMPACT (August 29th, 2004)

Sayachiyo Shibata, the World Kickboxing Champion in six different organizations, will join Satoko Shinashi, forming "grappling & striking Queens" team and will make her MMA debut in the tag team bout.
Two of the are close friend with both initials S.S.

(from left to right) Satoko Shinashi, Sachiyo Shibata, and Yuka Kobayashi. Three top gals of LOVE IMPACT. Photography by Yoshinori Ihara

Shinashi is learning striking technique from Shibata but it seems like Shibata is just concentrating on scoring a KO. The opponents will be determined soon but they are scheduled to be chosen from the Red Devil KIS’S team who has been provoking Shinashi since the last event.
“Why don’t you hurry up and do some trial between you three and decided!”
When Shinashi expressed her frustrations, the fighters from Red Devil storm towards her but Shinashi countered it by throwing a water bottle then brawl erupted. The whole scene at this press conference left an impression that this one might not going to be a clean fight.
Also, Yuka Kobayashi was at the press conference.
She will be fighting in Karate-rules bout (it is going to be her third fights in LOVE IMPACT) and since she is preparing for Karate World Cup by Shin-Kyokushin Kai (New Kyokushin Karate) in next spring, her opponent, 5-foot-8 Kotoe Mori, was chosen because she wanted to take on tall and big thinking of facing foreign fighters.
Kobayashi, already with experience of defeating a tall (5-foot-8) fighter in decision this past April, said, “Just as usual, don’t get beat by the pressure of the opponent, that’s all. I know it would be difficult to land high kicks but I am thinking of a daring attack though.”
She is currently in the summer vacation, away from college, and just a week ago she won national lightweight Karate championship by Seibu-kai. It seems like she sustained no injury from the championship, and she continued her training so her condition must be excellent.

August 22nd, 200 - "SUPER FIGHT - LIGHTNING -"
a t Korakuen Hall
The Main Event – Japan vs. T he World – The Fifth Bout
Satoshi Kobayashi (Japan) vs. Andy Donaldson (New Zealand)

Kobayashi begins with his usual game; utilizing his left and right low-kicks. Just before the end of the first round, he throws a left blow to the body but receives a hard counterpunch - left hook - but there is no damage.
Even in the second round he keeps on pushing the pace building his offense around his right low-kick, obviously feeling a little elbowroom sometime throwing spinning backhand blows.
Kobayashi continues, in the third round, but Donaldson comes back with fury of punches when Kobayashi’s guards are down. Donaldson indeed is tenacious intrepidly moves forward throwing kicks and punches with shouts.
However in the second round, Kobayashi landed a left hook lurched back Donaldson then followed it with a barrage of right low-kicks and finally successfully scored a knock down. After that, Kobayashi, just concentrated on attacking with his right low-kicks and put Donaldson on the canvass.

Pasjunsuk however started to understand Shimizu's fight style and began using the Muay Thai clinch to avoid attacks, slamming Shimizu down on the canvass several times. There were moments when Pasjunsuk beckoned Shimizu, who couldn't step inside for an offense.

In the fourth round, Shimizu's outer right eye corner was cut by Pasjunsuk's vicious elbow.
Till the end, Shimizu couldn't change his game plan and in the fifth round alone, was slammed down on the canvass by Pasjunsuk's Muay Thai clinch more than ten times.
Unfortunately, Shimizu ended up betraying his fan's expectations.

May 19 2004 – SMACK GIRL

Finally, it was officially announced – the women's MMA event SMACK GIRL is coming back to Korakuen Hall.
SMACK GIRL was started back in December of 2000 as a one-night tournament event called ReMix and since May of 2001, at a nightclub in Shibuya called Club ATOM, began periodically holding events and raised a new star named Ikuma Hoshino. But soon after Hoshino left to fight in an event called "AX," another women's MMA organization founded by people who split-up from SMACK GIRL, SMACK GIRL was forced to be in "sleep mode" for a while.

However, on February of 2002, SMACK GIRL started up again at the event hall called Differ Ariake. They kept this "once a month at Differ Ariake" style and at the end of the same year successfully held lightweight and middleweight tournaments.
Since 2003, SMACK GIRL switched their battlefield to a gigantic nightclub in Roppongi called Vel Farre and also started a women's amateur MMA event, and in a recent event held at Ohmori Gold Gym, more than 30 female amateur fighters competed. SMACK GIRL is now firmly in place as the long established women's MMA organization in Japan.

SMACK GIRL came up with original rules such as 30 seconds limits on the ground, to pursue the participation of kick boxers. Even though it is low budget SMACK GIRL made video clips to introduce the fighters, spent money on lighting effects for the entrance, and also emphasized the medical and safety aspect, and I believe these were the reasons why SMACK GIRL is at where it is.
Finally, after three years and eight months since the beginning, SMACK GIRL is making its return to the sacred place of martial arts in Japan, Korakuen Hall.

June 19th, 2004 –
Yuka Tsuji vs. Erica Montoya for the main event!

Erica Montoya is a student of Chris Brennan's who fights in PRIDE Bushido, and has already fought three times in Japan and won each time with submission holds.
The rules are complete MMA; with no time limits on the ground and strikes to the head on the ground are allowed. Both Tsuji and Montoya have experienced these rules before but at last year's DEEP, Tsuji really couldn't do much against Anna Michelle Dantes and lost in triangle armbar. Just like Dantes, Erica Montoya's base is Jiu-jitsu, so the key is going to be how Tsuji will avoid Montoya's positioning and submission techniques and bring the matter to the standing bout.

Also, World Sambo champion Megumi Fujii is fighting in her first MMA fight.
Ever since her Sambo-only era, Fujii is very popular among male fans, sort of like a singing idol, so I'm sure the general public will be very interested in the outcome of this fight. The opponent is still undecided at this point.

August 5th, 2004 - OgmaOnline Presents: SMACK GIRL 2004
at Korakuen Hall

Yuka Tsuji vs. Erica Montoya
52 kg & Under – 5 min. 3 rounds.

Right off the bat, Montoya got on Tsuji's back and got her in trouble with rare naked choke and armbar. All Tsuji could do was to defend against the fierce attack by Montoya.
From the second round on however, Montoya ran out of gas. Even Tsuji, after the fight, said, "I could hear Erica breathing very hard and then I realized I had more stamina left, so from that point on, I was very calm." After defending Montoya's triangle choke attempt from the bottom, Tsuji started pounding to begin her offense.

In the third round, Tsuji, once again, suffered with Montoya's triangle choke and armbar attacks but after she escaped, Tsuji followed it with a vicious pounding, then quickly getting the side mount. After a few hammer shots to Montoya's face, Tsuji quickly finished it with an armbar at 4 minutes 5 seconds of the last round.
The whole event exceeded more than four hours, but at the end, it finished off with a dramatic reversal win. Without a doubt, this was one of the best bouts in the history of Women's MMA; everyone in Korakuen Hall went bananas.

By the way, Megumi Fujii made her MMA debut also by finishing Yumi Matsumoto of PUREBREED Kyoto, with rare naked choke in just 40 seconds into the first round.