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UFC Fight Pass: OSP vs Okami - Sep 22


wandshogun09

Who wins and how?   

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Almost 20 years to the month since Pride was born, the UFC return to Japan's Saitama Super Arena with this lot on Friday 22nd September...

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FXX MAIN CARD
Ovince Saint Preux vs Yushin Okami 

Claudia Gadelha vs Jessica Andrade 

Takanori Gomi vs Dong Hyun Kim 

Gokhan Saki vs Henrique Da Silva 

Teruto Ishihara vs Rolando Dy

Jussier Formiga vs Ulka Sasaki  

 

FXX PRELIMS
Keita Nakamura vs Alex Morono 

Syuri Kondo vs Chan-Mi Jeon

Luke Jumeau vs Shinsho Anzai 

Hyun Gyu Lim vs Daichi Abe 

 

I really like the look of this. And we should be getting it at a nice time with it being in Japan. Sure we got that Holm-Correia Singapore card live in the afternoon here, didn't we? But yeah, it's not exactly stacked but there's enough about this one to hook me in. The main event is a no brainer, a Shogun fight is a fight I'm making time for. But add on a cracking co-main and one of the best kickboxers on the planet making the crossover to MMA...I'm in. 

 

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SHOGUN RUA VS OVINCE SAINT PREUX 2

Needless to say, I really fucking hope Shogun wins this. Ever since the UFC started running cards in Japan again in 2012, they've trotted out almost all the old Pride favourites over there. From Wanderlei Silva to Mark Hunt to Gomi to Rampage. This will be the first time Shogun will be fighting in Japan since December 2006 when he beat Kazuhiro Nakamura at Pride's Shockwave event. This is a homecoming that's been long overdue. And it's also a chance to get some revenge. 

Shogun and OSP first met back in November 2014. Once again, they were main eventing a Fight Night. And once again, it was a homecoming for Shogun as the fight was in his home country of Brazil. 

The first round started and 34 seconds later...

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Fuck you Ovince. 

Shogun got over aggressive and lunged recklessly at OSP, and got countered with a hook and couldn't recover. 34 bastard seconds. Disaster. I was gutted. Yeah, Shogun's way past his best but he's better than this. 

That was Shogun's last defeat. Since then he's actually managed to go 3-0 with wins over Little Nog, Corey Anderson and Gian Villante. It's the first time he's been able to put together 3 consecutive wins since 2006/07. I'm not delusional, he still doesn't look that good but he's certainly in a better place than where he was going into the first OSP fight. 

Since the win over Shogun in 2014, OSP has gone 3-4 in his next 7 fights. He did go the distance with Jon Jones and Volkan Oezdemir but he got finished by Jimi Manuwa and Glover Teixeira. He's basically found his level as a middle of the pack 205er. 

And here we are. 

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Shogun is a legend. He's the former UFC light heavyweight champ, won the Pride Grand Prix as a wet behind the ears prospect, solved the Machida puzzle back when Machida was thought unbeatable, stopped Overeem twice, stopped Rampage, Liddell, Machida, Griffin, Arona. Had arguably the best UFC and Pride fights ever with Hendo and Little Nog. He's a fucking MMA Don. He shouldn't be going 0-2 to Ovince Saint motherfucking Preux. He just shouldn't. 

 

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CLAUDIA GADELHA VS JESSICA ANDRADE

This has the potential to be a fantastic fight. Kind of a weird choice I guess, sticking two Brazilians against each other in Japan but whatever. They've both lost to Joanna Jedrzejczyk fairly recently but, then again, who hasn't? They're both really good fighters, tough as nails and aggressive in all areas. Both really good grapplers, both like to throw down on the feet, both can go at a high pace. Can't go wrong. Could see this being the FOTN. 

 

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GOKHAN SAKI VS HENRIQUE DA SILVA

I'm excited about this one. It's this card's ***WAND'S ONE TO WATCH***Not because I think it's going to be a great fight or anything. But I'm really intrigued to see how Gokhan Saki looks here. It's his UFC debut and he's 0-1. 

That might sound fucked up, me looking forward to a 0-1 MMA fighter making his UFC debut. I mean, fuck, that's a worse record than CM Punk had. But if you know who Saki is you'll know why.

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Saki has been a badass kickboxer for years. Former (and first ever) GLORY Light Heavyweight champion, K-1 GP finalist, various world titles in Muay Thai. Record currently stands at 83-12-0-1 with 59 KOs. Yes, 59 knockouts! He's fought a who's who of kickboxing. He's been in with the likes of Rico Verhoeven, Semmy Schilt, Peter Aerts, Badr Hari, Alistair Overeem, Tyrone Spong, Ray Sefo, Melvin Manhoef, Remy Bonjasky and Daniel Ghita. He's an animal. 

His lone MMA fight was way back in 2004. He got TKO'd by James Zikic. He was only about 20 years old back then and early in his kickboxing career. He's 33 now, with a lot of fighting experience under his belt. I suppose if he was ever going to have another crack at MMA, it's now or never. Last I read he was training at All Stars with Gustafsson, Latifi and them lot. I like it. Could've picked a lot worse camps to train with. 

He's matched up with Henrique Da Silva. 12-3 in MMA, he's primarily a striker but he's also a purple-belt in BJJ. You have to think he'll be looking to go the grappling route. He's lost his last 3 fights and got murdered by Cutelaba in seconds last time out. He needs that W badly. 

So I'm looking forward to it. It says a lot about how few people follow kickboxing when a guy like Saki is making a jump to the UFC and it's met with the sound of crickets pissing on candyfloss. 

 

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TAKANORI GOMI VS DONG HYUN KIM

Again, this isn't the more well known 'Stun Gun' Dong Hyun Kim. It's 'The Maestro' Dong Hyun Kim. And he's fighting Japanese legend Takanori Gomi, who's fallen on really hard times career-wise. If Gomi loses this, I think it's the end. It's got to be, hasn't it? He's 38 years old (even though he still looks about 9). This'll be his 50th MMA fight! And he's lost his last 4 fights. All in the first round. In fact, he hasn't even lasted 3 minutes in any of those 4 fights. Shocking. Gomi was once one of the best fighters on the planet. His fall has kind of been a quiet one compared to the more high profile declines of Rashad Evans or BJ Penn. I think that's because 1) he wasn't as big a name outside Japan as those guys and 2) his losses have been tucked away on the prelims. This must be a win or go home ting now though. A loss here puts him 0-5 and not having tasted victory since 2014. 

 

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SYURI KONDO VS CHAN-MI JEON

I don't know much about either of these two but I know they just signed Kondo. She's 28 years old, 5-0 and this is her UFC debut. I'm really out of touch with Japanese pro wrestling but apparently she's had quite a wrestling career. And she was trained by Tajiri! Fighting-wise she's from a Karate background and has a 13-1 kickboxing record. Her opponent Jeon is 19 years old, 5-1 with her one loss being her UFC debut against JJ Aldrich. 

 

Elsewhere on the card, I think Formiga vs Sasaki should be a decent flyweight fight. I've always enjoyed watching Hyun Gyu Lim fight. He's usually exciting. I like Teruto Ishihara, decent fighter, good power, funny character. And I don't think I've ever seen a bad Charles Rosa fight. 

Lots to like about this card. 

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haha, i'd love to see it.

Always had a soft spot for Yushin Okami. I wouldn't ever say he was considered a fan favorite in the UFC but he had a real good run in the promotion and was a main stay in those post-TUF boom years. He was pretty much the flag bearer of Japanese MMA in the US in them days so it's actually a nice little touch to see him get another shot. He's actually on a pretty good run going into this so it aint like he's just been selected out of desperation, there's some merit there, good on him.

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https://www.mmafighting.com/2017/9/21/16348460/mizuto-hirota-out-of-ufc-japan-for-health-reasons-following-scary-weigh-in

Following missing weight (coming in at 150lbs for the featherweight fight ) Mizuto Hirota has been pulled from the card. It's said he was unable to stand up under his own power on the morning of the weigh in. 

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Reminder: this is on Friday night, not the usual Saturday. Also with the change to the main event be sure to check that your recording is still set on your sky+/ dvr.

27 minutes ago, Rey_Piste said:

what time is the show on?

1 am prelims, 3 am main card. 

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2 hours ago, WeeAl said:

https://www.mmafighting.com/2017/9/21/16348460/mizuto-hirota-out-of-ufc-japan-for-health-reasons-following-scary-weigh-in

Following missing weight (coming in at 150lbs for the featherweight fight ) Mizuto Hirota has been pulled from the card. It's said he was unable to stand up under his own power on the morning of the weigh in. 

according to some reports it was still going ahead at one point. Cooler heads prevailed though, the guy was fucked.

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