Rani
Yahya actually didn't make weight.
He was about 3 kilos (6.62lbs) over but Taiyo Nakahara's
decision saved the Main Event of D.O.G. IV.
Nakahara couldn't say no when he knew that, inside Differ
Ariake, his fans were waiting to erupt, besides, Yahya not
being able to make the weight could also mean that he was
not in proper condition. So Nakahara said OK to the weight
issue and the fight was on.
But it took less than two minutes for Yahya to finish Nakahara
off.
Immediately off the bell Yahya shoots in, Nakahara sprawls,
gets the top position and goes for a kimura but a very composed
Yahya slowly pulls his arm out. From this moment on, what
happened was like magic.
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Nakahra tried kimura
from the bottom but that was it. Yahya (top) slowly
but surely dominated the fight. |
Yahya reverses the position takes the side mount then moves
to a north-south position. From there Yahya slowly tightens
his arms wrapped around Nakahara's neck area, and the next
moment, Nakahara was out, completely unconscious. The finishing
move is called, the North South Choke.
Nakahara's fans, filling in this live house built on artificial
land, lost their words.
After the fight, Yahya, for the first time, to the Japanese
media, revealed that he is training with Rickson Gracie. Rickson
was on Yahya's corner at this year's ADCC World Championships
so Yahya's relationship with the master of Gracie Jiu-jitsu
was a known fact among fans in this country. For Japanese
fans and MMA media, however, this was a big deal.
The next morning, every sports newspaper in Japan had Rickson,
disciple, and Yahya in their headlines.
Yahya, who is now 7-0, showed his confidence, "As
long as I can fight in my own pace, I always go for tapout
or KO win."
When he was asked of the unusual finishing choke Yahya replied,
"The finishing move is nothing special. That's not
exactly my favorite move. I've got many moves on the ground.
I am always looking for a chance to finish the fight, by tapout
or KO, either way."
Welterweight Interim King of Pancrase Katsuya Inoue
took the microphone after the fight "Next, I want
to fight (Koji) Oishi in a Pancrase show and then fight in
the bigger stage of cage fighting."
Of course, what Inoue meant was that he wants to fight in
the UFC. Inoue faced Daisuke "13" Hanazawa
from the MMA Dojo Cobra-kai. Hanazawa broke his nose in a
hard battle against Eddie Alvarez in MFC 5 a little over a
month ago but took control early with punches and strong grappling
technique.
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Hanazawa (bottom)
ran out of gass in the third and from there, it was
all Inoue. (top) |
Hanazawa pressured Inoue with jabs. Inoue, in the standing
battle, was like target practice. His nose started to bleed
ferociously. Hanazawa even executed two beautiful throws but
Inoue regained his composure in the second round, and in the
third, took over the fight when Hanazawa gassed out completely.
In addition, taking knee shots to the head in the turtle position
was something new to Hanazawa and that took hits toll also.
For the majority of the third, Inoue took the top position,
and dropped punches. Hanazawa came back at the very end of
the third with combinations but it was just way too late.
The fans expected the exchanging of hard fists between two
super-heavyweights but the battle of ex-sumo wrestler Wakashoryu
and 350-pound Soichi Nishida ended
up in a very boring spectacle, in the end, the fans did nothing
but boo both fighters.
Basically, Wakashoryu, by using his sumo technique such as
slapping and grabbing the opponent's neck to push forward,
just smothered Nishida against the fence for the entire two
rounds.
The referee had to break the action numerous times and by
the second round, every time the referee stepped in, fans
reacted, perhaps started to participate in the entire show
with a loud booing session. The referee steps in, and the
fans boo. Wakashoryu, after the fight, was in a self-question
mode, "I can push forward but afterwards, there is
no mawashi (belt). It's a lack of practice. I still have got
a long way to go."
Other Photos & Offcial Results
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