From the early part of the first round Akitoshi Tamura got the mount position. Lion Takeshi managed to stick in both knees to get back to the guard position but Tamura kept on pounding from the top, landing precisely on the face. This continued into the second round. Tamura scored a take down, passed guard then landing fists. Lion fought back by kicking up from the bottom but Tamura, without shrinking, continued his attacks. Later in the round, Tamura ended up in the bottom but used the rubber guard very effectively never allowing Lion to drop his signature offensive tactic, pounding from the top.
In the first two rounds, all Lion did was defend and he knew he needed to make something happen in the third. However, Tamura utilized low and middle kicks,
"Made sure to not get in range of his right straight" and took control of the fight. Later in the round, Lion finally landed one right straight and Tamura's hip dropped for a second but quickly responded by taking Lion down keeping the top position.
This was the first time that a World Champ and Pan Pacific Champ met in Shooto history and on this day, Tamura dominated, becoming a double crown winner.

Backstage, Tamura told reporters, "This is great. I am so happy that I continued in Shooto. Lion was persistent. I really couldn't pass his guard. I didn't expect him to kick up like that from the bottom though. But I was lucky that he couldn't sprawl out of my shoot. I think the champ must defend the title to be considered as a real champ. I want to fight someone I never fought before though. Rumina Sato would be one of them. Antonio Carvalho sounds good too."

The Antonio Carvalho vs. Hatsu Hioki fight was a close one. In the beginning Hatsu took the mount and dominated on the ground. He landed many punches from the top definitely taking the first round. But in the second round Carvalho came back. Hatsu landed low-kicks but Carvalho took over with a right left followed by a high kick. Then Hatsu started to step backward. The second and third rounds were close but two judges gave it to Carvalho. After the fight, with tears in his eyes, he called in Hiroyuki Abe and Megumi Fujii from AACC to the ring, thanked them for all their support. Carvalho has been staying in Japan training at the AACC for a while now. Carvalho explained backstage, "It was a tough fight from the beginning. The opponent's jiu-jitsu was very good. I wanted to take the mount position and finish the fight but followed my corner man's advice and kept fighting on the feet. At the AACC Abe and Megumi Fujii really trained me well. If there is a chance, I would like to fight the winner of Lion and Tamura."

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