Vale Tudo Japan 2009 Preview [Update]

Promoted To Frontpage From Fanposts Section By Kelvin Hunt

For those of you unfamiliar with Vale Tudo Japan Jordan Breen has a fantastic op-ed here citing how important the promotion was. VTJ 2009 will take place in JCB Hall Tokyo, Japan. For those of you that are willing to stay up or want to be early risers, the event starts at 5a.m. ET/ 1a.m. PT. For those of you that are not able to catch it but are interested in the fight I will post them later tomorrow. There are some pretty big names on the card such as Takanori Gomi, "Lion" Takeshi Inoue, Alexandre "Pequeno" Nogueira, Rumina Sato, and Mamoru Yamaguchi.  There are also some names that you might not reconige but should know like, Cory Grant, Tito Jones, Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire. This will be the first VTJin almost 10 years. I linked up some clips of prospects to watch for at the bottom of the page. Tony Loiseleur at Sherdog.com has an article that rule changes will occur for the event. Here is a quote from the article:

Though the International Shooto Commission (ISC) will be on-hand to assist in the form of officials for refereeing and judging, ISC secretary general Toshiharu Suzuki asserted that VTJ ‘09 will not be considered an official Shooto event. However, there will be official Shooto bouts on the card alongside VTJ-specific fights. Suzuki painted VTJ ‘09 as an opportunity to test out potential changes to the Shooto system in the near future. Shooto already took out its knockdown count last year. "Recently, we’ve been thinking a lot about the rules, and are in the midst of deciding whether we want to keep the old rules or adhere more to international MMA," said Suzuki. "By participating in VTJ ‘09, we can test out new things. Being a part of it will allow the commission to look at fights under different rules to know what we want to add and what we want to subtract from Shooto’s future."

The potential changes are...

Most notable are the introduction of five-round fights and knees and stomps to the head of grounded opponents, smaller gloves, the prohibition of long spats, and the absence of predetermined weight classes. "We’d also like to experiment how fighters perform under five-round fights," said Suzuki, noting a more mainstream round structure versus the three eight-minute rounds of last decade’s VTJs.

Takanori Gomi vs Tony Hervey

Gomi is set to face Tony Hervey, who is the current KOTC Lightweight champion. This is rumored to be Gomi's last fight in Japan, if it truly is his last fight he will need to be impressive in victory to increase his stock. Hervey is a heavy handed striker, his biggest wins have come against cuttrout grappler Alberto Crane, and the well-rounded Victor Valenzuela. Gomi got a rejuvenated win over Takashi Nakakura. With a win here, Gomi will have no trouble getting the UFC's attention. But will Gomi sign the exclusive deal? The cool thing about this fight is that it can go 5-5 minute rounds. Gomi rd2 TKO  

"Lion" Takeshi Inoue vs Alexandre "Pequeno" Nogueira

Nogueira was Shooto's longtime Featherweight champion that has failed to evolve with the rest of the Featherweight division. Staying relatively unactive Nogueira has only fought once every year since 2006. "Lion" Takeshi is coming off an impressive win over Rumina Sato. This fight is fairly irrelevant, I see Inoue staying away from Nogueria's dangerous Guillotine Choke and ground n' pound his way to victory. "Lion" Takeshi Inoue rd 3 TKO

Rumina Sato vs Cory Grant

Grant is a relatively unknown, Grant is coming out of the Team Quest camp. I searched for video on Grant but was unable to find anything significant. So I have absolutely no idea what this guy brings to the table. I can make an assumption that he is a decent wrestler though. Sato is a good fighter but Sato has failed to defeat the elite of his division. Three fights into Grant's career I doubt he posses the skills to beat Sato. Sato via DEC

Tenkei "Fujimiya" Oda vs Tito Jones

Oda is a veteran of Shooto, at one point Oda was on a 6 fight win streak. He has beaten veterans such as Hiroyuki Abe, Greg Loughran, and Akitoshi Tamura. Tito Jones train out of Team Alpha Male, Tito has power in his hands and a good wrestling base. Oda will be a good test for Jones. This fight has fireworks painted all over it. Both have KO power, both have good wrestling but I have Tito Jones as the winner in this one. Tito Jones rd1 KO

Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire vs Kenichiro Togashi

Togashi is a tough veteran of Shooto, he has fought as high as middleweight in his career. Now he is at his natural weight of 155 pounds. Togashi has fought the best in the world such as Hayato Sakurai, Anderson Silva, Dokonjonosuke Mishima, Vitor Ribeiro, and Gilbert Melendez. Unfortunately Togashi has lost to all of them, and I think Freire will add to Togashi's list of losses. "Chiquerim" is a fantastic prospect coming out of Shooto Brazil. I linked up some of his fights you can find towards the bottom of the page. Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire DEC

Mamoru Yamaguchi vs Jesse Taitano

Taitano is a hot Filipino prospect that has rocketing up the flyweight division rankings. Taitano uses good movement along with accurate strikes. He straight up out works opponents, and is one of my favorite flyweight fighters. You can watch his fight with #2 ranked flyweight Shinichi "BJ" Kojima here and here. Mamoru Yamaguchi is more of a "here I am rock you like a hurricane" type fighter. Yamaguchi uses range very well and uses combinations effectively. Just youtube his name and you will find plenty of exciting fights to watch. Yamaguchi is in kind of in a Rich Franklin stage of his career, he has lost to "BJ" Kojima twice and no one is interested in a forth fight. There is hope for Yamaguchi, Kojima and Jussier da Silva fight again soon for the title and if Silva wins he will most likely fight the winner of this fight. I am leaning towards the young gun Taitano in this one. Taitano DEC

Yoichiro Sato vs Jung Min Kang

I have got Sato in this one because I can hardly find information on Kang. Sato rd1 TKO

Kosuke "Jukucho" Eda vs Makoto Sannai

I'm picking the upset here, Sannai guard is pretty good and I think he will catch Eda. Eda is experienced though and he could very well get on top and ride out a decision. Sannai rd1 Submmission.

Quick Results:

Takanori Gomi def. Tony Hervey via unanimous decision (47-45, 46-45, 46-44) R5 5:00
"Lion" Takeshi Inoue def. Alexandre Franca Nogueira via TKO (punches) R4 2:58
Rumina Sato def. Cory Grant via KO (punches) R1 3:20
Tito Jones def. Tenkei "Fujimiya" Oda via unanimous decision (30-28, 30-27, 30-29) R3 5:00
Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire def. Kenichiro Togashi via TKO (doctor stoppage) R1 2:05
Mamoru Yamaguchi def. Jesse Taitano via TKO (punches) R1 4:41
Jung Ming Kang def. Yoichiro Sato via KO (punches) R1 2:48
Kosuke "Jukucho" Eda vs. Masato Sannai was ruled a majority draw (19-19, 18-19, 19-19) R2 5:00