Image via Sportsnavi
Image via NJPW
Image via Sportsnavi
When Buddy Roberts was named as a replacement for Rousimar Palhares, many eyebrows were raised at the matchmaking. Not to discredit Roberts, but the difference in experience between the two fighters is huge with this being only Roberts' second fight in the UFC. Okami, of course, is coming off a hard fought loss to Tim Boestch with the fight before that a loss to champion Anderson Silva.
Tonight, Okami got back in the win column. And while Roberts showed himself as a game competitor, willing to stand and trade with Okami, his grappling simply was not there. Okami, on one occasion, appeared to be stunned following a quick exchange between the two fighters. After that it was all Okami. With just seconds to go in the first round, Okami gained mount and begin to pile on the punches, albeit Roberts was covering up quite well.
The second frame was nearly a carbon copy of the last seconds of the first, with Okami easily fighting his way to mount. Roberts turned his back and Okami begin to rain down punches on the side of Roberts' head and arms, lying there helplessly. Herb Dean had no choice but to stop the fight, even though Roberts did not appear to be hurt whatsoever. It was a simple case of a fighter not intelligently defending himself.
Okami gets back in the win column with the fight over Roberts. Due to Palhares being out for an unforeseen amount of time, the predictability of his next opponent remains quite uncertain.
Roberts will no question be commended for his performance. While losing the fight, he did something UFC brass love, he stepped up against a top competitor on short notice.
Masakatsu Funaki is one of the legends of the sport that most fans have no idea of. During a time when MMA was flourishing in the form of Pancrase, Funaki was a wrecking machine. In a time where the names Shamrock and Ruten were synonymous with P4P stardom, Funaki was the man to put it to these fighters. Funaki is the only man to have defeated both Shamrock brothers and Bas Ruten. Names such as Guy Mezger, Vernon White, Semmy Schilt, and in his last fight, Minowaman, are also on the list of Funaki's victims. In short, Funaki is a legend of MMA.
Another legend, and quite possibly the most dominant fighter of his time, Rickson Gracie, fought Funaki in his last fight. The event was Colosseum 2000 and the venue was the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. Thirty million viewers watched as Rickson Gracie and Masakatsu Funaki went to war in one of the biggest events in mixed martial arts history. Sporting a samurai suit during his entrance, Funaki went into the fight without the notion of giving up on his mind.
Funaki ended up passing out when locked in Rickson Gracie's arms. Gracie remained the biggest superstar in Japanese mixed martial arts, something Funaki was looking to take from the Brazilian.
image from MMAJunkie.com
Eiji Mitsuoka was a last minute replacement to fight Takanori Gomi at UFC 144, the promotions return to Japan. Mitsuoka was given a chance at redemption after bringing the fight to Gomi in the first round of their fight before being knocked out by The Fireball Kid. That chance did not go so well for the Japanese fighter.
In a fight that saw little Mitsuoka and a lot of Lentz, the Japanese fighter never could get it going against his opponent. Mitsuoka shot in on Lentz, a shot that had little behind it and that was basically all he had to offer, save for defending a choke. Lentz controlled the fight the entire time, slamming Mitsuoka at one point as well as maintaining dominant position after dominant position before finishing him off in just under four minutes.
This likely spells the end to Mitsuoka's short UFC career. Granted he gave Gomi a great fight, it was simply not there tonight. It is likely that Mitsuoka could find himself back with DEEP or even with OneFC as the other two promotions he fought with have gone belly up (DREAM, WVR). Nevertheless, we have not seen the last of Eiji Mitsuoka.
Melvin Manhoef will continue his Asian tour. The Dutchman, who recently competed with OneFC, will return to Asia only this time in Korea to fight Kim Jae Young at RoadFC 009 and will be the main event of the card.
Manhoef's last fight ended in a bit of disappointment when his shin bone split through his skin after exchanging leg kicks, causing the fight to be stopped and ruled a no contest. Manhoef's fight with Nakanishi will hopefully be rebooked at some point as the two are very highly touted fighters that would have no doubt put on a good show.
Kim Jae Young is 14-9 and a veteran of the Korean circuit. Having fought the majority of his fights with Spirit MC, Young is now a regular with the promotion. He has also seen fights with M-1 Global and DEEP. The idea here is obviously to create a fight between two sluggers as Young has won over 70% of his fights by knockout. We know what Manhoef is capable of.
This is Manhoef's first fight with RoadFC, part of the OneFC Network of Asian promotions. The fight will be contested at middleweight.
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