An up-and-coming star of Pancrase, Ryo Kawamura, who is taking on a veteran Hiromitsu Kanehara in the upcoming March 18th show at Korakuen Hall, invited the reporters to his training session on March 9th however it was far from a real practice. First, the middleweight hope of Pancrase showed up with a much lighter featherweight fighter Tatsuya So. Demolished a little guy in front of everyone. Then So ran out of the ring but came back with two round girls, Super Terrific Cuties, then these two sisters attacked on Kawamura, submitted him with an armbar. Uhm, yes it was a skit. Then Kawamura commented, "All I have is momentum. Kanehara-san might try to sway by but I would like to score a crushing defeat by overwhelming him." Kawamura just came back from bodogFIGHT in Costa Rica as a corner man of Windy Tomomi. Perhaps his sense of humor was inspired by Calvin Ayre, the founder of bodogFIGHT who always surrounds himself with hot looking bodog girls.

Ryo Kawamura getting beat by sister-duo Rika and Yumi Irie, two round girls of Pancrase.

Two days before Kawamura was rolling around with two girls, his opponent, Kanehara, invited the reporters to his training session at Nippon Sport Science University wrestling team. Ever since Kanehara was in the Kingdom organization, about ten years ago, Kanehara has been practicing with this university team. It used to be a once a week affair but since the end of RINGS, he has been training with the team four times a week. He began with greco-roman spar for about twenty 2-minute periods, then moved to freestyle spar for another ten periods. On this day, his sparring partner was the winner of last year's All Japan Junior Championship. And this kid sprawled out of every take down attempts by Kanehara. "Young kids, they've got physical energy" a 36-year old Kanehara, with a wry smile, told the reporters, "I can beat a kid who just entered college but by the end of his freshman year, I usually start getting beat." His opponent Kawamura is only 25 so he is one of those "young kids." Kanehara said, "Yesterday, I finally go to watch his two fights against Brazilians. He is young so he has got a physical capacity, and his punches looked heavy." However, Kanehara is very enthusiastic about this match, "I am sure he is on a roll, but for his sake, the old man should teach him a lesson, and win. I want to do something that would make him say 'What a hell is this' and show him the depth of MMA." Just for the record, some Japanese fans might consider this the battle between "The Last Ace of RINGS" and "The Future Ace of Pancrase" but Kaneahra said, "It has been a while since RINGS has folded so I really can't think of that way."
The other interesting cards for this show are the three fights between Pancrase fighters and Ex-Spetsnaz from Russia. UFC veteran Koji Oishi with Ichirou Kanai and DJ taiki are taking on three Russians from the SK Absolute Russia team. Oishi, who is coming off from two KO wins in a row, is taking on Djalili Salmanov. Back in September Djalili had his first fight in Japan and lost but it was against one of Japan's top guns at this weight class K-taro Nakamura. He has won numerous tournament in Russia including National Militant Organization Martial Arts and Russian Interior Ministry Commando Sambo so he certainly is not a walk in the park.
For Kanai, this is going to be his first fight against a non-Japanese fighter. His opponent, Otinashvili Arkadi is 33-year old, has won National Russian Sambo and National Militant Organization Martial Arts tournament. Kanai is now emphasizing his training on jiu-jitsu so this one might ended up being a heated ground battle.
DJ is taking on Djavathan Salmanov. DJ just won a kickboxing bout and Djavathan is a winner of the 2005 Far East Russia Militant Organization Martial Arts tournament so this fight probably is going to be a classic battle between a striker and the grappler.

On the other end, Ryo's opponent, Hiromitsu Kanehara is going through full work outs with the wrestling team of Japan Sport Science University.

World Pancrase Create 'PANCRASE 2007 RISING TOUR'
Sunday, March 18th, 2007
Doors Open - 11:30 AM
Fight Starts - Noon

The Main Event - Light-heavyweight Bout 5 min / 3R
Ryo Kawamura (Japan / Pancrase-ism) vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara (Japan / U.K.R.)
6th Match - Japan vs. Ex-Spetsnaz Welterweight Bout 5 min / 2R
Koji Oishi (Japan / Pancrase-ism) vs. Djalili Salmanov (Russia / SK Absolute Russia)
5th Match - Japan vs. Ex-Spetsnaz Middleweight Bout 5 min . 2R
Ichirou Kanai (Japan / Pancrase-ism) vs. Otinashvili Arkadi (Russia / SK Absolute Russia)
4th Match - Japan vs. Ex-Spetsnaz Featherweight Bout 5 min / 2R
DJ taiki (Japan / K.I.B.A.) vs. Djavathan Salmanov (Russia / SK Absolute)
3rd Match - Lightweight Bout 5 min / 2R
Takumi Yano (Japan / Ugo-kai) vs. Eriya Matsuda (TEAM Sakaguchi Dojo)
2nd Match - Lightweight Bout 5 min / 2R
Yuji Hoshino (Japan / Wajiu-tsu Keishu-kai GODS) vs. Shou Ji (Japan / K.I.B.A.)
1st Match - Welterweight Bout 5 min / 2R
Asaki Kida (Japan / Pancrase P's LAB) vs. Seiki Ryo (Japan / STAND)
Ticket Prices:
SS - 12,000 yen, A - 8,000 yen, B - 6,500 yen, C - 5,000 yen, D - 4,000 yen
*500 yen more at the door

Super Terrific Cuties - Yumi and Rika Irie - this year's Pancrase round girls. These two will be signing autographs between 11:30 and noon at the show.

A bright young hope of Pancrase light-heavyweight, Ryo Kawamura, is taking on ex-RINGS fighter, Hiromitsu Kanehara. Kawamura scored a dramatic come from behinid KO win over Daniel Acacio in September of last year. In the next fight, vs. Nilson de Castro in December, it ended up in a draw but Kawamura came very close to knocking out Castro in the second round. For Kanehara, this is going to be the first Pancrase appearance since he lost to current heavyweight King of Pancrase Arbocius Tiger in April of last year. He has been losing for the past few years so it would be interesting to see if the veteran can show his pride in the ring. The one other confirmed card for this show is Yuzo Hoshino from Wajiu-tsu Keishu-kai GODS vs. SHOJI from K.I.B.A.

PANCRASES 2007 RISING TOUR
Sunday, March 18th, 2007
At Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Doors Open - 11:30 am
Fight Starts - 12:00

Confirmed Cards (Subject to Change):
Light-heavyweight Bout 5 min / 3R
Ryo Kawamura (Japan / Pancrase-ism) vs. Hiromitsu Kanehara (Japan / U.K.R.)
Lightweight Bout 5 min / 2R
Yuso Hoshino (Japan / Wajiu-tsu Keishu-kai GODS) vs. SHOJI (Japan / K.I.B.A.)

Also Scheduled to Fight:
Koji Oishi (Japan / Pancrase-ism)
Ichirou Kanei (Japan / Pancrase-ism)
Takumi Yano (Japan / Ugo-kai)
D.J. taiki (Japan / K.I.B.A.)

Ticket Prices:
SS - 12,000 yen, A - 8,000 yen, C - 5,000 yen, D - 4,000 yen