Ringside report from the “Land of the Rising Sun”
by Kaoru Tsukamoto/Asgard MMA.

25th April
After arrival Matti Mäkelä, Omar Bouiche and I went a sparring session at Pancrase Lab gym in Tokyo. The press was making interviews and took pictures. Matti was a bit tired as he hadent eaten enough as he cut weight for weight in next day. He was carrying an extra 3.5kg.

In the gym we met Jason Palacios and his corner man Jeremy who immediatly became good friends. Omar and Matti warmed up with light rolling. Matti looked a bit nervous in while rolling, which was natural because of all the cameras. Jason moved very well and he seemed to be talented. We got the announcement that Jasons fight is for the Pancrase title belt, which is vacant. Jason is going to fight Takuya Wada.

The press ask questions such Mattis impression about the opponent (Yuji Hisamatsu) and what he knows about him, what fight plans he got and so on. We explained about the MMA situation of Sweden and that Jorgen Kruth soon will be in Japan. Press gets very interested. Some of the guys from the press have checked Mattis fights with Valentin on Youtube and really like Matti’s wild fighting style. In the office they showed us a video of Hisamatsus fights, and he has good takedowns and ground game. A good motivation Matti.

When we leave the office it rains. Matti has scaled his weight in the gym where they have the official scale. He had plus a couple of kilos which seem not hard to cut until tomorrow. He is young. Tomorrow 2 o’clock is the official weight in day. I hope Matti can ride out the hardest part of the day. He looks tired after the long flight and the time difference. He is hungry too. We get into a Japanese restaurant and order chicken file and salad for Matti. I don’t like the hard diet, it makes the fighter tired both mentally and the physical. After Pancrase we went to Ginza, which has hundreds of bars and nightclubs. It is famous for shopping too. Omar and Matti went to see a movie to relax. Then we walked around and went back to hotel in the rain.

26th April – Weigh-in day.
Its raining outside and the temperature is around 18C
Matti didn’t go to sauna in the morning - seems he didnt need to. We arrive at Pancrase gym around 2 o’clock. It is already crowded with both press and fighters. The gym is something like 20m x 10m - one room with a square ring and weight machines in the corner. Kondo, Yamamiya, Josh Barnett, Inoue, Oishi and many other guys are answering questions, being interviewed and photgraphed.

Matti finds Hisamatsu and he goes to say hi. Hisamatsu look a bit nervous. Hisamatsu is a chiropractor and besides of bing a fighter he runs his own clinic.

Fighters weight in one after another. Everybody passes the contracted weight. Yamamiya sits in the corner and looks down in silence. This title fight fight is a big one for him. The king of Pancrase, Kondo, is relaxed as usual. Many people like him. His nickname is Fudo-shin, which means the unmovable mind in Japanese. Then the title match sign-in starts between Inoue and Jason. Jason now look slightly nervous. Matti pass the weigh-in. We feel very happy. Now he can eat. Matti eats some bananas immediately after the weigh-in.

We go out to the street and buy sweet breads. There are thousands of restaurants and shops all over in Tokyo. Raining a bit harder now. We get in a noodle shop and order Chinese. Then we take the subway to get into town. Japanese GW (golden week) a biggest holiday starts today. There is much less traffic and people walks slightly slower. Tomorrow is the day.

April 27 Sunday
Pancrase Shining 3
Organization: Pancrase
Date: April 27, 2008
Location: Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan

The arena Differ Ariake locates in Tokyo, which was made for new the land in Tokyo bay to expand. So the land is opened and not many people living yet. We cross the big bridges over the water and reaches there. The Differ Ariake is made for concerts. You can imagine a huge box without windows. There can make seats around 1200.

We share the room with Jason and his corner Jeremy. We have more than 5 hours. So Matti and Jason try to sleep. The gate opens at 3. Seems many people are coming. I can see Yushin Okami, Kaol Uno and Ishii, Yanagisawa. We tape Mattis hands and the judges come to check and to sign the tapes. Japanese fighters are busy warming up and the ring is filled with fighters. It is good our dressing room is big - we can warm up inside the dressing room. But we have no mat though. Matti’s kicks are powerful. The Pancrase rules allow stomps and soccer kicks to the head on the ground. Matti is ready for that.

Matti’s name is announced to stand by in the very dark backside stage. Kaol Uno and his crew are checking the game in the back stage too. A match ended and the KOed Japanese fighter is carried out from the ring on a stretcher and passing in front of us. He seems unconscious.

The war is on and Matti is fully charged. He enters the ring. Then Hisamatsu comes in. He has a crew with him that does a dance performance. The dancers are wearing pink costumes. Japanese likes this kind of shows. Matti exchanges both punches and kicks. But not much effective hits happen. Soon Hisamatsu catches Matti in the clinch. Taken down to the mat Matti soon manage to stand up. Again Matti is taken down. Then Hisamatsu lift his leg high and stomps. It is not easy to see if it connected to Matti’s head. But I didnt think it was serious as Matti checks stomp and guards his face with his arms. Then the referee calls for a break. At least I thought so. But it was game over. The referee took the hand of Hisamatsu high and I didn’t understand what has happened. Why is the fight finished? Matti didnt show any sign of being hurt, just confused and frustrated.

A happy Hisamatsu take the microphone and announced the victory. I still haven’t a clue what is going. The next fight starts and the show goes on. We go to the dressing room.

Jason’s fight comes. Omar gets to his corner with Jeremy. Kazuhiro Hamanaka (Sakuraba Dojo) joins the corner as well. Jason fights hard and well. Wada tries to take him down. The battle goes back and forth. Jason escapes several times, but gets a yellow card for grabbing the rope. Wada manage to do many takedowns but not much decidable action happens. In the end it was Wada’s hand was raised.

The main event Kondo vs. Yamamita starts. Veteran fighters experienced hard battles in many years face toe to toe in the ring. Yamamiya looks charged and Kondo doesn’t show anything in the face. They exchange sharp strikes and kicks. Kondo hits better I think. Yamamiya keeps the distance from Kondo. Kondo chase him trying to close the distance to finish with kicks and punches. Yamamiya doesn’t give the chance, tries to keep his game plan tight. The judge decision went to Yamamiya. Yamamiya took the microphone and announced he wants to keep fighting in Pancrase.

After the event we met Pancrase president Ozaki and judges. Ozaki is happy to see Omar again. Josh Barnett came to say hello to Omar. The judges explained the referee opinion for Matti’s fight and promised the video check and the report later.

Anyway, the show was a success with sold out tickets. We get a ride to the hotel to get a shower, food and some sleep. The day after tomorrow comes DREAM 2 in Saitama Arena.

April 29 Tuesday
Dream 2
Date: April 29, 2008
Location: Saitama Arena in Tokyo, Japan

It is sunny day and a holiday called Showa, which comes from Showa Emperor. Omar, Matti and I meet at Saitama Shintoshin station at 14:00. The show starts at 16:00. We had no idea where our seats are. So we planned to meet early at arena. The arena locates a half hour north from Tokyo station. The capacity is up to 50.000 seats. You can see the big doom from the platform. At first we check shops to buy T-shirts. They sell Saku, JZ, KID, Fedor, Minowa, Genki, Aoki and others. There are not many people yet at the shops. So we get our T’s easy. The prices are from 3800 to 4500 yen, which is around 40 to 45 USD. Then thinking about the long day to be packed in arena we go and buy food and drinks.

We find the gate N, which is the backside of the arena. There are peoples around 50 standing waiting for the entry. But the gate does not open. The temperature goes high and the heat attacks hard. It could be almost 30 in the sun. Waiting more than 30 minutes finally the gate opens. Our seats are N Gate, 428 Door, 14 Lane and Number 621,622 and 623. Man, our seats are on the 4th floor almost 100 meters from the ring and high up to the roof. Sad. Sitting and waiting for the opening this is better than outside because of the air conditioning. Finally the show started in 30 minutes plus.

Toyo Tires and Olympia, which are not big names in Japan, sponsor DREAM. And the owner is FEG, which runs K1 in Japan. They have no regular TV on-air but have minor cable TV. PPV costs 30 USD. I was a bit shocked that JZ has lost to Aoki. I believe some of you have heard that JZ got pissed because of the last judge. In this match actually Aoki worked good to stop JZ’s powerful attacks. It is not easy to win JZ even in judge, I think. Minowa vs. Kim Taiei and Oyama vs. Yung were low keys. Sakuraba is still very popular in Japan. Audience gets happy for his entry. Sakuraba gets in the ring with two mask-men. In this show Saku has refused to enter the tournament and submitted Kyokushin fighter Nakahara in Face-lock. Nakahara fought good in his first MMA match but I am not so excited about this fight. Saku is so much experienced fighting out through very tough fighters. So I do not find any exciting point in this card that Saku has won to this MMA beginner just like a black belt vs. white belt. Well, well, I know Saku had too much injured and cannot fight well anymore.

I liked the fight between Benkei and Mousasi. Seems like both of them train hard fitting good to MMA games. Especially I was shocked to see Kang to be submitted in triangle by Mousasi. Do you think it was accident? I don’t think so. Must be hell hard to catch Kang in triangle? Or was Kang in bad condition in sick or something? The best thing in the show was Jacare. Man, his move was awesome. I hear his ground game is even to Couture’s. I want to see him fight – now! This guy is interesting. Tamura vs. Funaki? I do not find that any interesting point in this card. Funaki has not fought for too long time. Once he had a big name and who still remember the name of UWF? Tamura didn’t look happy to KO Funaki there. Or was he happy?

Immediately after the final much we went outside of the arena. Because the small station will be filled up with peoples chaos. We walked down to another side of the station for dinner. We get in a Japanese restaurant “Izakaya Style” and order something like 20 different dishes from meat to sushi. Mostly are like side dishes for drinking and the price is cheap. In 30 USD you are filled up with good food included desserts. All are in photo menu easy to know what is it, fresh and tasty. This was the last dinner for Omar and Matti. They go home tomorrow. I will stay longer in Japan and hopefully join Jorgen Kruth and check out his first MMA fight - in Pancrase!

More from DREAM 3 will come soon… And some pictures. Stay tuned!