Ishikawa and Ikeda! Take it to the limit!

Yuki Ishikawa v Daisuke Ikeda (Battlarts, 4/15/97)

Basically an extended (long) version of one of the best match ups ever. With 30 minutes there's a little more downtime than usual, but they use that to put across the exhaustion, to sell the toll of it all, and given what these two are wont to do to each other you have a pretty good idea of how hefty a toll that is. If anything could pass as yer war of attrition it's this. One thing they captured as well as any match ever was the struggle. Every single thing was fought for, more so than in any of their other matches. They both operated at points with a sort of hesitancy, maybe because Ikeda came into the match with taped up ribs and they were playing that up, or maybe just because they knew they were going long and tried to preserve some energy. Whatever the case it worked in putting over how dangerous they knew the other was. At its core it's elite striker v elite grappler, which has really always been the core of Ikeda v Ishikawa, the former a wrecking ball with taped fists and the latter a shoe-leather tough submission machine. But as usual there'd be examples of Ishikawa showing that he can smash someone's face in - some brutal jumping high knees while Ikeda was gasping for air in the ropes - and Ikeda reeling off submissions when he needed to - a sort of straight-legged Boston crab where Ishikawa's ankles were criss-crossed. In true Battlarts fashion some of the strikes were repulsive and in ALSO true Battlarts fashion the selling to match was incredible. Ikeda threw several punches and forearm lariats that sounded like shotgun blasts, hit a grotesque early roundhouse kick, a punt to the head late on while Ishikawa was nearly horizontal, and one spin kick under the chin that was right up there with the very wildest of Battlarts strikes. Ishikawa's dead-eyed stare of the latter was unbelievable, then after absorbing all this punishment he'd get up grinning, which in itself is sort of disturbing. Imagine seeing that across the ring from you? Even a buzz saw the likes of Ikeda must've been questioning some life choices. Ishikawa's refusal to give an inch creates openings alone and of course he'll twist arms and legs at putrid angles. I also loved how he would take subtle shots at the ribs when he really needed to. Nothing overt and he wasn't specifically targeting them, but he wasn't above throwing a dart at the bullseye. Late in the match Ikeda full force boots him in the skull (hideous) and tries to kick him into a coma while Ishikawa is lying on the mat, so Ishikawa lunges into a takedown, they're throwing phone booth shots in the corner, and when Ishikawa manages to stand up he just jumps on Ikeda's stomach.