Good news, everyone! Gabi Garcia is fighting 53-year old pro wrestler Shinobu Kandori. Takanori Gomi, recently released from the UFC after losing five straight, is fighting Yusuke Yachi. Should actually be competitive. Also note that Cro Cop is fighting TK who's only 47 and has fought twice in the last decade. These cards are normally batshit but it is less crazy this year I think.
That's apparently 26 pounds. How do you miss weight by that much? Seems like something you would have to try to do.
Results Men's BW Grand Prix- Manel Kape def. Ian McCall (TKO- cut) Kyoji Horiguchi def. Gabriel Oliveira (KO) Takafumi Otsuka def. Khalid Taha (sub) Shintaro Ishiwatari def. Kevin Petshi (KO) Kyoji Horiguchi def. Manel Kape (sub) Shintaro Ishiwatari def. Takafumi Otsuka (UD) Kyoji Horiguchi def. Shintaro Ishiwatari (TKO) (winner) (23-2) Women's AW Grand Prix- Rena Kubota def. Irene Rivera (TKO) Kanna Asakura def. Maria Oliveira (sub) Kanna Asakura def. Rena Kubota (sub) (winner) (11-2) Women's FW Kickboxing Tournament- Tenshin Nasukawa def. Yuta Hamamoto (KO) Yamato Fujita def. Mitsuhisa Sunabe (KO) Tenshin Nasukawa def. Yamato Fujita (TKO) (winner) (24-0) Jiri Prochazka def. Karl Albrektsson (TKO) Cindy Dandois def. Reina Miura (SD) Hiroyuki Takaya def. Baataryn Azjavkhian (UD) Jae Hoon Moon def. Anthony Birchak (SD) Kai Asakura def. Kizaemon Saiga (TKO) Kana Watanabe def. Shizuka Sugiyama (UD) Kiichi Kunimoto def. Satoru Kitaoka (UD) Mirko Cro Cop def. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (TKO) Shinju Nozawa-Auclair def. Chelsea LaGrasse (sub) Yusuke Yachi def. Takanori Gomi (sub)
Of note... Former UFC FLW contender Ian McCall lost to Manel Kape due to a cut. He moves to 2-2-1 in his last five bouts (spread over nearly six years) and looks to be petering out. Kyoji Horiguchi won all three bouts in the GP, taking the championship and moving to 23-2 in his career. The 27-year old is arguably the best fighter in Japan and possibly the best outside of the UFC depending on where you rank the likes of Rory MacDonald. His only losses are to DJ and a majority decision loss to Masakatsu Ueda years ago. Gabi Garcia's bout with Shinobu Kandori was canceled. Garcia issued a public apology for missing weight. Rizin could do a better job in finding girls to fight her. Cindy Dandois, who won her bout with Reina Miura, has offered. Mirko Cro Cop defeated a very old looking TK in the first round via TKO. Cro Cop is on an eight-fight winning streak facing mostly respectable opposition including Satoshi Ishii x2, Gabe Gonzaga, and Mo Lawal. He only fought once in 2017 but four times in 2016. Yusuke Yachi defeated Takanori Gomi via triangle choke in the first round. Gomi's career has gone completely off the rails having lost his last six bouts, all in the first round. Kickboxing star Rena was defeated by Kanna Asakura in the finals of the Atomweight GP.
