What
is the strength of Izuru Takeuchi? The ground
technique accumulated from years competing in Combat Sambo?
Or maybe his own way to control the pace, that was acquired
from years of ring experience? Probably both of them are his
strength but I think he becomes very tough to defeat when he
gets his opponent into "his form of fighting." Keeping
a superior position on the ground, and patiently looks for
an opportunity. And once he finds one, then he would immediately
go for the kill. When the fight is in his "form" he
is a like high mountain no one can conquer. But on this date,
Yuichi Nakanishi broke his "form"
completely. Nakanishi wobbled Takeuchi with stiff jabs and
straights then chased with powerful hooks. When Takeuchi gets
hit with punches, he slows down substantially. Just like how
he crumbled against Nathan Marquardt. Takeuchi clinched to
avoid strikes but already, his wheels were falling off. In
the second round, Nakanishi's punch continued to find a mark
in Takeuchi's face. Takeuchi did successfully take Nakanishi
down once but blood was streaming out of his nose so the referee
had to stop the action for the doctor's check. From that point
on, Takeuchi really didn't do much. Nakanishi's glove was just
getting covered with Takeuchi's nose bleed. At the end it was
a split decision but Nakanishi became the King of Pancrase
at the middleweight category.
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Izuru Takeuchi couldn't
get the fight into "his form" because of Nakanish's
stiff jabs. |
However, during the ceremony to award the belt, an incident
occur that could possibly ruins the hot war between Nakanishi
and Takeuchi. Very excited, Nakanishi's pep team and fans
influx to the ringside. Some even get up on the ring for
the celebration. When Pancrase referees and officials tried
to escort them down from the ring, some fans got excited
and suddenly there was a fray. Nakanishi took the microphone
told his fans to stop but it didn't calm them down. At the
end the rules director grabbed the microphone yelled at everyone
to settle down but still, some fans went wild, throwing chairs
into the ring.
I understand the fans wants to celebrate their hero winning
the title and I am sure Nakanishi himself wants to celebrate.
However, there were Takeuchi fans, and I am sure there were
people who were there just to enjoy the fights. Its OK to
celebrate but this time I believe they went way too far.
I hope those fans realize, on that night, there were many
fans who went home feeling distaste, and they should also
understand that they left a smirch on the moment the new
champion was crowned.
Back stage, Nakanishi commented, "Some people
told me that my fans have bad manner and I realized that
it's true. I am very sorry. MMA is not a place for people."
Official Results >> |
