Beyond the Octagon: Finals set for Road to UFC: Japan
By
Rainer Lee
@TheRainerLee
on Sep 9, 2015, 9:00p
A look at what big-show veterans are up to on the regional circuits.
Last weekend proved relatively quiet as far as big-show alumni are concerned. Nevertheless, a key match was in the offing, as the TUF-like Road to UFC: Japan aired its final episode, which featured a bout between
Akiyo Nishiura
and
Teruto Ishihara
to determine who would be joining
Mizuto Hirota
in the finals at UFC Fight Night 75.
Road to UFC: Japan began with a field of eight: Mizuto Hirota, Daiki Hata, Akiyo Nishiura, Teruto Ishihara, Hiroyuki Oshiro, Nobumitsu Osawa, Tatsuya Ando, and Tatsunao Nagakura. The tournament's quarterfinal round unfolded predictably enough, with veterans-of-note Hirota, Hata, and Nishiura all advancing. Among the more unknown competitors, the Team-Alpha-Male-affiliated Ishihara was an easy pick to advance to the semifinals, especially given his match-up with Ando, the least-experienced of the cast, from whom he ended up taking a majority decision.
In the first of the semifinal matches, Hirota earned a unanimous decision in his fight with Hata, who seemed to be technically porous and in less-than-excellent shape during his time on the show. Was Hata's disappointing showing due to a general decline in form (he's over ten years into his MMA career) or the vagaries of training on a reality-TV show? Perhaps neither: he's frequently gone to majority and split-decisions before, and he's often struggled against fighters the caliber of Hirota. This may simply be his ceiling. At any rate, two-time UFC veteran Hirota has secured a second tour in the Octagon as he advances to the finals.
And last Monday, the show's last match took place, with Akiyo Nishiura and Teruto Ishihara trading periods of positional dominance in Rounds 1 and 2 to force a third, tie-breaking round, during which the pair switched things up to trade strikes at range. After another closely-contested five minutes, the judges ruled a majority decision in favor of Ishihara. Incidentally, Ishihara vs. Nishiura is the fifth of the show's six fights that went to a decision; only Nishiura finished an opponent (a first-round TKO of Hiroyuki Oshiro).
Team Barnett's Ishihara will face Team Nelson's Hirota at UFC Fight Night 75 on September 26th.
Ishihara vs. Nishiura can be seen
here
. Action starts at 5:40.
Also this weekend, the widely-traveled
Tony Lopez
(38-18, 0-1 Bellator) re-captured the KOTC heavyweight title following a second-round rear-naked choke of
Anthony McDonald
(2-2-0). This makes two straight wins for Lopez, who last July delivered a third-round knockout of UFC veteran and former Top 10 light-heavyweight
Houston Alexander
.
Former Strikeforce title challenger
Jan Finney
(8-12, 0-2 Strikeforce) was also in action this weekend, facing
Marciea Allen
(5-2, 0-1 WSOF, 0-1 Invicta) in the main event of Ohio's IT Fight Series 35. Finney endured an infamously brutal fight with Cristiane Justino for the latter's featherweight title. That concussive defeat would give way to two more (T)KOs--to Liz Carmouche and Holly Holm--before Finney went on an extended hiatus. She returned to competition earlier this year, though her three-plus years away from the ring haven't done her much good: she lost her return bout to Valentina Shevchenko in February, and against the aforementioned Allen this weekend she dropped a unanimous decision. This makes for five straight losses total.
And in the main event of Pennsylvania's WCC 44, TUF 14's
Dustin Pague
fell to 1-2 in his post-UFC career as he tapped out to a rear-naked choke from
Anthony Morgan
(6-5-0). Pague's overall record stands at 12-11-0. For Morgan, the victory pulls him out of a four-fight skid.
Finally, in far-flung Romania, super-heavyweight super-legend
Alexandru Lungu
(12-3, 0-1 PRIDE) returned to the RXF ring, where he defeated
Mahmoud Hassan
(1-4-0) via shoulder choke in Round 1. Lungu is on a three-fight win streak, highlighted by a TKO of "Mighty Mo" Siala Siliga.
Lungu vs. Hassan isn't the most high-level stuff you'll see, but there is a 100% chance that you'll see one super-heavyweight body-slam another, so why not just go on ahead and click
here
. Action starts at 1:30.
Click to expand...