BattlArts 1/17/10

Takeshi Takeshima v. Sanchu Tsubakichi

TKG: This is super short with Takeshima working amateur rolls and Tsubakichi fighting from below for subs. Fine mat exchanges but nothing that will make you forget RPW.

PAS: Yeah I liked this fine, but it was only about four minutes and had nothing that stood out

Bison TAGAI v. Akifumi Saito

TKG: WOW! This was super fun. Saito is turning out to be really good and does these real U-style like submissions right up against the ropes making the forced breaks and sub feel like a bigger deal. This also had a shockingly lot of cool things from TAGAI. He kept on going for headlocks into attempted throws (and never pulls it off till the throw that leads to finish), and he does a real neat turtle in par tier avoiding a lift thing earlier.

PAS: This was tremendous, it really felt like a fun first round of a WEC bantamweight match between two good Ju Jitsu guys, lots of counters and escapes done really fast. The rolling guillotine finish was Negro Navarro level awesome.

Yujiro Yamamoto v. Yoshinori Narita

TKG:I don't think I've seen Narita before but Yamamoto is a guy who is super at scrambling and Narita did an impressive job moving and avoiding that scramble. He gets a couple of takedowns and a bunch of neat attempts to get the back and some really nasty subs from the back. And they do an awesome spot where Narita is doing really cool butt scooting to avoid Yamamoto's attempts to grab hold of an extremity.

PAS:Another really fun match. Narita was especially impressive at moving between holds on the mat. He does this beautiful transition from a triangle to almost a crossface. Yamamoto is of course off the chain. The finish was tremendous with Narita on his back upkicking to avoid Yamamoto, Yamamoto does a spin, catches an ankle, locks up the other leg and twists Narita's foot off.

Keita Yano v Sanchu Tsubakichi

TKG: Keita Yano starts with a choke in the ropes and I was really worried hat we were going to get another Keita Yano "Ultimate Opportunist /Master of the B Rules Rules" match. And I have no desire to try to figure that stuff out. Instead they do about 6 minutes of mat work with a couple of rope breaks at start. Nothing bad, you always got the sense that the two were trying for finishes (not just time killing) and the actual finish was neat.

PAS: Yeah this is two perfectly acceptable Keita Yano matches in a row. This didn't have the highs of the previous two matches, but didn't have any Keita Yano lows either. I am enjoying this tourney a lot more this year, as they haven't been focused on the stupid rules.

Bison TAGAI v. Yujiro Yamamoto

TKG: This was a TAGAI power v Yamamoto scramble type matchup. Tagai has some cool bowling a guy into a takedown stuff and some cool power stuff including a giant swing into a leg lock, and Yamamoto is always good at working from below. This was probably the longest of the matches thus far and it felt like they were really building up to something. Again another neat finish.

PAS: This is the matchup I wanted to see coming out of the first round, and it didn't disappoint. The finish was really good, I liked how Yamamoto was able to use his leverage to negate some Tagai's power and sink in the triangle.

Yuki Ishikawa/Alexander Otsuka v. Tiger Shark/Super Tiger II

PAS: Not really the match I wanted to see, but a really good match nonetheless. Ishikawa and Otsuka are kind of the BattlArts Megapowers, but the work most of the match selling a beating from the Tigers. Both Ishikawa and Otsuka are really great at selling beatings, timing comebacks, throwing in little shots, evoking sympathy. Still this is BattlArts and if these guys are going to sell a big beating, the beating better be bigger. The Tigers need to bring it, and for the most part they didn't. Still they built to hot tag really well, and we had a pretty hot finish, with Otsuka dumping Tiger Shark on his neck.

TKG: Phil pretty much covers this. I kind of want to see Ishikawa and Otsuka working from above but they are guys who are awesome working from below. For old vets vs younger athletic opponents. I would like some of that athleticism to look like it hurts. Still if you close one eye and just watch the vet's selling this is pretty awesome. Both Otsuka and Ishikawa are really awesome at throwing in hope spots when working from below that ar just absolutely nasty. At one pint Tiger Shark is in the mount throwing hands and Ishikawa just jets a punch upward that made you go "Holy shit". I kind of expected it to be followed up with a rolling tag.

Keita Yano v. Yujiro Yamamoto

TKG: This does have a weird B rules finish but could be enjoyed without any understanding of the rules. Yano continues to be unobjectionable and Yamamoto is able to deliver the fire to keep you interested. And they pretty much keep this moving. No real stoppages, just both guys countering and moving around the ring till they get to a finish.

PAS: Yeah the workrate in this match was impressive, a mat sprint with a pair of athletic guys moving a million miles an hour, constantly trying to grab arms, legs and necks. I wasn't paying attention to the rope breaks, so I didn't understand why the rope break didn't count, it was still a cool finish. Really enjoyable show, for something I wasn't looking forward too.