The Daily Haymaker (10/23)

• W-UD vs  Michihiro Omigawa (13-14-1) , 12-31-12 –  It was a dominating three-round decision victory for “The Crusher” thanks to a steady diet of takedowns and arm triangle attempts.  
• W-1st Sub vs Donald Sanchez (29-13), 3-12-12 – Kawajiri submitted Sanchez with a triangle choke in the first round.  The finish came after Kawajiri tripped Sanchez down with a body clinch takedown, passed to side control, and trapped his opponent with the choke as a response to an escape attempt from Sanchez.
• W-2nd Sub vs Kazuyuki Miyata (13-9), 12-31-11 – With six seconds left in the second frame, Tatsuya Kawajiri sunk in an arm triangle submission on Miyata for the victory.  Kawajiri dominated most of the fight with his wrestling. He set up his double-leg takedowns with punching combinations and clinch-work.  

Katsunori Kikuno had a few fights in DREAM, but the majority of his MMA resume lies in the DEEP organization where he held the promotion’s lightweight strap. What Kikuno brings to the table is an entertaining and unique karate style that should win him plenty of fans in his UFC debut.  He’s on a five fight win streak, but his last three opponents were over the age of 40.  How far Kikuno goes in the UFC will be entirely dependent on who the Joe Silva matches him up with.

Two random tidbits on Kikuno: First, I’m about 78% sure his March 9th “fight” against Takafumi Ito was fake.  The bout was pancrase-style with no gloves, and Ito went down twenty seconds in because of a palm strike from Kikuno.  The reason I think it was fake (ASIDE FROM THE FACT HE WAS FINISHED FROM A PALM STRIKE) is that Ito sold the “knockout”worse than The Ultimate Warrior.  After he got “knocked out”, Ito was scrambling around ring, selling it like he got hit with a stinkface from Rikishi. My second tidbit on the 31 year-old judo black belt is that whenever you google Katsunori Kikuno, the first suggestion that pops up is “Katsunori Kikuno Crescent Kick”. That’s fantastic.

To conclude this news item, I’d like to present my “Hey Dana, Sign These Japanese Fighters Please” wish list.

1. Mikihito Yamaguchi (9-2), flyweight – Only 20 years old, Yamaguchi is coming off the best victory of his career over Mamoru Yamaguchi.  Before that, Yamaguchi also picked up a rear-naked-choke victory over Junji Ito.  Yamaguchi is young, has upside, and would be a great addition to the UFC’s flyweight division.
2. Mamoru Yamaguchi (26-8-4), flyweight – Sure, Yamaguchi is a 36 year-old that hasn’t won in his last four tilts, but he’s an exciting fighter and his Afro is simply stunning. This one is just a guilty pleasure for me. 
3. Masanori Kanehara (23-10-5), bantamweight – There are younger, better prospects available, but it’s long overdue for the 30 year-old veteran to get a shot in America, especially after finishing his last six foes.
4. Satoshi Ishii (10-2-1), heavyweight – Ishii’s been refining his game with Josh Barnett, and it’s shown. The Olympic Judo gold medalist just picked up a convincing decision win over former UFC fighter Jeff Monson during the past weekend. Ishii is easily the best Japanese heavyweight in the sport. 
5. Shinya Aoki (34-6, 1 NC), featherweight –  I mean, duh. 

2. Guilherme Cruz of MMAFighting reported late Tuesday night that 19 year-old featherweight Julio Cesar Neves (28-0) has signed with Bellator.  Neves has finished 25 of his opponents with 6 of those finishes coming by way of flying knee knockout.  The acquisition of the Brazilian prospect was a smart one by Bellator.  Sure, Neves has faced weak competition, but he’s an promising fighter that has unknown upside.  When you’re not the UFC, it’s paramount to take chances on prospects like Neves.

3.  The UFC 166 medical suspensions were made public, and to the surprise of no one, Junior Dos Santos was suspended indefinitely.  The other two fighters suspended indefinitely were Shawn Jordan and Tim Boetsch.  The one surprising suspension was Cain Velasquez being suspended until April 18th with a possible broken jaw.  Hopefully, Velasquez’s jaw isn’t broken because it would be a shame to postpone his future title defense against Fabricio Werdum.  Velasquez’s medical suspension can end earlier with the approval of a doctor.

4. There was a tragedy in the boxing world on Tuesday.  26 year-old super bantamweight Frankie Leal passed away in a San Diego hospital following a knock-out loss to Raul Hilares on Saturday that caused his body to go comatose and remain in that state until his untimely passing yesterday.  Frankie Leal had a professional record of 20-8-3.

Fights Made

Bellator 108 – 11/15/13

Bantamweight Bout

Marcos Galvao (14-6-1) vs Tom McKenna (7-3)

Background: Season 6 Bantamweight tournament winner Marcos Galvao is one of the top 135 pounders in Bellator.  Galvao has amassed a 4-3 record in the organization, and the last time he was in the Bellator cage was in February where Galvao lost to champion Eduardo Dantas. Since his loss, Galvao won a Shooto Brazil fight via TKO over Pilao Santana. Tom McKenna is a Louisville, Kentucky native that has struggled when facing better competItion.  Last Decemeber, Masanori Kanehara finished him with punches in the first round, and Sergio Pettis submitted him in the first frame at LFC 53.

Excitement Level: 2 out of 10.  This should be a textbook win for Marcos Galvao.

Middleweight Bout

Nah-Shon Burrell (10-3) vs Dante Rivera (15-7)

Background: At 23, Nah-Shon Burrell’s best years are still ahead of him, and that should be a great sign for Burrell who already has UFC experience.  Burrell put together a record of 3-2 in his five fight stint in the UFC and Strikeforce.  If Dante Rivera’s name rings a bell, that’s because he was a member of The Ultimate Fighter Season 7 cast.  Rivera is looking to get his first Bellator win following a debut loss against Lyman Good.

Excitement Level: 4 out of 10.  This is a more even match-up that pits an intriguing fighter with potential in Nah-Shown Burrell against a grizzly veteran in Dante Rivera who has finished 73% of his opponents.  Burrell does have a takedown game, but look for him to keep it on the feet against the grappling-savy Rivera.

Glory 12 – 11-23-13

Middleweight Bout (Kickboxing)

Joe Schilling vs Wayne Barrett 

Background: This fight will be the main event of a stacked Glory 12 card that features Giorgio Petrosyan and Robin van Roosmalen in a lightweight tournament.  Joe Schilling won the Glory 10 middleweight tournament while Wayne Barrett is coming off two straight finishes at Glory 9 and 10.

Excitement Level: 8 out of 10.  This is a match-up between the two best American middleweight kickboxers. The bout should provide fireworks and clarify who is the best American middleweight kickboxer.

Must Reads

1. To prepare for UFC Fight Night 30, check out Mike Bohn’s 40 pre-fight fact article about the event on MMAJunkie.  Bohn provides intriguing facts such as [Jimy] “Hettes’ 11 takedowns landed against Phan at UFC 141 stands as the single-fight UFC/WEC featherweight record.” There are several other fun factoids in the piece, but don’t let Rosi Sexton know about Bohn’s note on her being “the oldest fighter currently signed to the UFC women’s bantamweight division.” Check out the article here: bit.ly/1bboKsF

2. Dave Meltzer of MMAFighting takes a well though-out look at “what’s next for the top stars” of UFC 166 here: http://bit.ly/1cU8leo

3. If you’re a fan of sweet graphs then Sherdog’s look at the UFC champions by the numbers is a must-read. Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/J06Jos

4. Personally, I’m not a big fan of talking about Fallon Fox.  My apathy towards discussion about Fox has nothing to do with her being a transgender.  It has everything to do with her being a 43 year-old fighter that still hasn’t beaten an opponent with a winning record.  Personally, I found all of the discussion about a lower-level fighter tiring. With that being said, I really enjoyed the article Ben Fowlkes of MMA Junkie did on Ashlee Evans-Smith who gave Fox her first loss at CFA 13.  In the piece, light is shed on Evans-Smith’s reaction to the overwhelming amount of  social media messages she received about Fallon Fox and her future as a fighter.  Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/1eGWVLA

5. In honor of Junior Dos Santos basically knocking himself out during the main event of UFC 166, CagePotato put together an entertaining list (with video!) of their eight favorite self-knockouts. Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/1a5lHCh

And, that’ll do it for today’s Daily Haymaker.  Thanks for reading, and I’ll leave you with a quote from William Penn.

“Humility and knowledge in poor clothes excel pride and ignorance in costly attire.”

-Daniel can be reached @danielgal or at [email protected].