This show started with a kickboxing contest between Rudy Lovato and Makoto Ohe. I'm pretty sure Lovato had a fairly lengthy boxing career but I have no idea who Ohe is. It was a spirited fight, but as far as I could tell it was a shoot, so in eight years if I do a 'best of UWFi' match list after watching all these shows, this won't be included. Can't be mixing the shoots with the works, brothers.
Kiyoshi Tamura v Tom Burton
This was a fun look at Tamura v an opponent who outweighs him by a fair bit who's also willing to take it to the mat. It wasn't like Tamura v Bitsadze Tariel where Tariel was about double the size of Tamura but wanted nothing to do with being on the deck. Rather than Tamura grappling with a big bear who just wanted to box his ears in you had Burton using the weight advantage to force Tamura to the mat, so Tamura had to find ways of escaping and either trying to find his own submissions or reset back to the stand up. Burton mentions in his pre-match interview that Tamura has quick feet, and before long Tamura starts finding his range with kicks. They sting a bit, not really doing a ton of damage, but Burton has to be wary of them. Eventually he catches one, and for a second or two he stops to soak in this minor victory before more or less falling on top of Tamura to take him back down. He starts to find more joy on the mat and at one point he even hits a sidewalk slam as a knockdown, but Tamura is slippery and it's hard to lock him into anything. Eventually he leaves the back door open wide enough for Tamura to slip out and grab a cross armbreaker. Tamura does not look like a wrestler who's only had eight matches at this point in his career.
Kazuo Yamazaki v Yuko Miyato
This had a little history from the debut show as Yamazaki was on the losing side of the tag opposite Miyato and Anjoh, thanks in part to a bunch of Miyato body kicks. I don't know if they deliberately played off that, but Miyato sure threw a few body kicks in this. Some of the stand up exchanges, particularly the kicks, were excellent. Kicks to the body, brutal leg kicks, and at one point Miyato broke a Yamazaki leglock by kicking him across the jaw. They also had a few exchanges standing up where they sort of jockeyed for position without fully going for a takedown. In one instance Yamazaki almost grabbed an underhook and there was this gasp from the audience at the prospect of a butterfly suplex.
Yoji Anjoh v Tatsuo Nakano
Anjoh signals pre-match that they're gonna leave out the elbows this time in a nice callback to the debut show tag. Nakano isn't in any mood for jokes, however. This lasted a shade over fifteen minutes but the first half had some downtime. Nakano was persistent, but a lot of what he was doing was reminiscent of the earliest UFCs where Royce Gracie would just lie on top of an Art Jimmerson until claustrophobia kicked in and they'd tap out because they literally couldn't move. Anjoh isn't Art Jimmerson so he didn't tap out, and this annoyed Nakano enough to start throwing elbow from the mount. Somewhere along the line Nakano's nose got busted open again and I don't think I've seen a Nakano match yet where his face doesn't get bloodied up. Everything after that is much better. Anjoh starts hucking strikes, but once more Nakano just lowers his head and keeps on coming. He's like an indestructible little beach ball. He also hits a couple big German suplexes and eventually his desire to chuck Anjoh around pays off as it directly sets up the surprise finish. This wasn't mind blowing, but the second half picked up nicely after the slowish start.
Nobuhiko Takada v JT Southern
This wasn't great. Even if I don't love Takada it's hard to criticise him for having the worst bouts on these shows when he's matched up with the worst opponents. It's not that I think Takada outright sucks anyway, it's just that I don't have a ton of interest in watching him fight a JT Southern. If I'm gonna watch him then I'd rather it was opposite Tamura or Yamazaki or Sano or, you know, someone good. Which JT Southern...isn't. Maybe. This is the only time I've seen him, but he didn't make me want to seek out more. His strikes were pretty rubbish and this was at its best when Takada blasted his way through whatever JT had as stand up defence and slapped him about the face. I haven't looked ahead to any future cards but I'm hoping Takada fights someone better soon.
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