The winner of Katsuya Inoue and Satoru Kitaoka will be the new welterweight King of Pancrase.
Inoue and Kitaoka were the two fighters who made it to the final of the tournament that was supposed to decide the welterweight King of Pancrase.

But Kitaoka was the force that forfeited the final scheduled to be held May 2005 in the Pancrase Yokohama show due to a knee injury, so since then Inoue has been the Interim King of Pancrase.

Inoue, in this Pancrase show in Yokohama, defended his interim title by overcoming a toe-to-toe striking battle against Kenji Arai, and Kitaoka, since he came back from the injury, scored two first round wins in a row.

Both fought once back in November 2004 and Inoue won it in a decision.
Kitaoka always had cherished a desire for a rematch but Inoue, after winning a close fight against Daisuke "13" Hanazawa in D.O.G. VI on 12/11/05, expressed that his wish is to fight Koji Oishi instead. However, since Oishi is already confirmed to fight Daizo Ishige in this January show Kitaoka ended up getting his wish.

Inoue has never lost to a fighter from Pancrase-ism. With his superior striking skill and strong throws, he is looking to prove once again that he is the frontrunner of Pancrase's welterweights.
But Kitaoka's submission skills have been looking better than ever and this time, it's an opportunity for revenge so he will be more motivated than ever.
This first "hot match" of the Pancrase BLOW tour is definitely up for grabs. (12/28/2005)

Pancrase announced match-ups of the heavyweight tournament, which will begin with Poai Suganuma vs. Segaku Lee and Yuji Sakuragi vs. Mitsuru Sato.
Ryo Kawamura's opponent in his second Pancrase fight is going to be Yuta Watanabe. Watanabe is a 21-year old rookie who is currently undefeated (3-0) in ZST shows.
In addition, another fighter from Thailand is competing in Pancrase bout. His name is Turbo Fairtex. His pro Muay Thai record is 59-15-1. 26 years old, five foot eight, 80 kilos (176.4 lbs), and according to the releases by Pancrase, he has a win over Kaoklai Kannoersing who is currently fighting in K-1 shows.
His opponent will be announced soon. (12/26/20050)

Pancrase will begin an eight-man tournament to decide a heavyweight King of Pancrase.
The tournament is divided into two brackets.

Two first round bouts in A bracket will be held on January 26th and two first round bouts in B bracket are scheduled for April 9th at Differ Ariake in Tokyo. The semi-final and the final will be held in a later show.

Poai Suganuma, Segaku Lee, Yuji Sakuragi, and Mitsuru Sato are in the A bracket, and for April, in B bracket, Ryuta Noji is now confirmed. The other three fighters will be announced soon.
Poai who ranks first in Pancrase's heavyweight category, obviously, at this point, is a favorite to win the tournament.

This former Hawaii State wrestling champion just dominated a second ranked Noji but that was only his second pro MMA fight. Poai has got an incredible natural physical strength and quickness, I am not taking anything away from him but let's hope Pancrase would find someone who can give Poai a tough fight because Pancrase, after all, is an old house of Japanese MMA. They jut can't let a rookie storm through the tournament.

Sato actually belongs to the middleweight category but recently he has been fighting super-heavyweights in open-weight bouts. According to Pancrase, Sato gained his confidence because, in October, he gave Suganuma a run for his money.
Sato weighed in at 86.8 kg (191.34 lbs) in the December 4th show at Differ Ariake so Pancrase recognized that he can bring his weight up to 90 kg (198.45 lbs), heavyweight provision of Pancrase. (12/23/2005)

Pancrase will kick off their 2006 season with a January 26th show at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
From the next year, a featherweight (64 kg / 141.12 lbs) ranking will begin, so it makes sense that the first match announced for this show, back on December 8th, is a battle between two featherweights, Manabu Inoue and Takumi Murata.

Inoue is this year's winner of the Neo Blood Tournament featherweight division, and just finished his year with a pounding KO over Nobuyuki in November's show.
Murata also fought in the same show surprising many by taking it to the long distance ultimately drawing against Kentaro Imaizumi, the number one ranked featherweight in Shooto.

By establishing this lighter division, Pancrase is looking to promote their top fighters in this weight class such as Yoshiro Maeda and Miki Shida.

The next card announced, on December 10th, is a welterweight bout between Koji Oishi and Daizo Ishige.
Both fighters fought in the November show; Oishi drew against a UFC veteran Paul Rodriguez and Ishige exchanged strikes against 2005 Neo Blood champ Shinsuke Shoji and took a W in a decision. For fans, this match can be enjoyed as part of the team competition between Pancrase-ism and SK Absolute.

At last, Pancrase revealed that their tour title of 2006 is going to be BLOW.
The theme is, 'Blow away a confronting opponent, and by receiving the wind, new power will erupt, then developing gifts, and then aims for New Pancrase.' (12/13/2005)

Pancrase Presents: 'Pancrase 2006 BLOW TOUR’
Thursday, January 26th, 2006
At Korakuen Hall
Door Open: 17:30
Fight Start: 18:30

Confirmed Cards (subject to change):

Welterweight King of Pancrase Title Match 5 min / 3R

Katsuya Inoue (Japan / Wajiu-tsu Keishu-kai RJW) vs. Satoru Kitaoka (Japan / Pancrase-ism)

Welterweight Bout 5 min / 3R

Koji Oishi (Japan / Pancrase-ism) vs. Daizo Ishige (Japan / SK Absolute)

Featherweight Bout 5 min / 2R

Manabu Inoue (Japan / UWF Snake Pit Japan) vs. Takumi Murata (Japan / Wajiu-tsu Keishu-kai)

King of Pancrase Heavyweight Tournament First Round 5 min / 2R

Poai Suganuma (U.S.A. / TWIST) vs. Segaku Lee (Japan / Wajiu-tsu Keishu-kai RJW)

King of Pancrase Heavyweight Tournament First Round 5 min / 2R

Yuji Sakuragi (Japan / Seiken Kaikan) vs. Mitsuru Sato (Japan / Pancrase-ism)

Light-heavyweight Bout 5 min / 2R

Ryo Kawamura (Japan / Pancrase-ism) vs. Yuta Watanabe (Japan / A Square)

Also fighting: Turbo Faritex

Ticket Prices: SS 12,000 yen A 8,00 yen C 5,000 yen D 4,000
*500 yen more at the door.