Grandslam Way of the Cage get international IPPV

Grandslam Way of the Cage iPPV official purchase page

2014 is somewhat new start for Japanese MMA. Gym's head start own event. Common thing for those event are give chance to young talent and fighter who known but had lose recently.For this event Hideo Tokoro try to restart after his controversial decision lose against Will Campuzano.After that decision Katsumura who was Tokoro's corner argue for Shooto commission. Yuki Nakai who did judge for that fight open his criteria .That is risky move for judges and authority but he take that risk.Katsumura feel sincere for his attitude and that make him Nakai do judge for his new event.Which is Grandslam "Way of the cage".Tokoro will face Victor Henry, who train at CSW.

UFC veteran Nam Phan will face Kenichi Ito for back to win column.Nam train Judo lately,so curious about what he can do at throw category.



Shunichi Shimizu who drop flyweight will fight against Yosuke Saruta.This fight show spirit of event.Fighter who fail at major drop to new division and fight against Shooto title challenger.He suffer lopsided lose at UFC, But if Shimizu claim great perform at local and make himself a champ, I will talk about his future foreign possibility.I'm just glad there is people give chance to him who want reclaim position.

At this event, there is new trial for audience.This Ustream iPPV is 800 yen for last 3 fights (Tokoro vs Henry, Nam vs Ito and Shimizu vs Saruta). That's mean other fights are free.So if you want test yourself watching Japanese local MMA live, this is your occasion.Of course it's local MMA and not major, but you can see "local" feel at here.If you want see last 3 fight, which is near major level card, you can pay to them for support their come back story."Way of the cage" start July 13 5:30PM (Japanese time).


Hideo Tokoro

BEST fight style at lighter weight?

MMA looks differ when weight class isn't same.But how?

MMA always looks different when the smaller weight classes are involved. But why?

Speed? Yes, but it's not only that.

This past New Year's Eve, there was an upset on the local Japanese scene. Pancrase bantamweight champion Manabu Inoue, one of the SRC Asia tournament favorites, lost to ZST's Shunichi Shimizu.

Manabu Inoue is known for his takedowns and immobilizing opponents, but Shimizu succeeded in sweeping, changing position and continuously attacking Inoue.

ZST, as an organization, has strongly and silently recommended and preached an aggressive style of chain-grappling to its fighters. Because it has rules that mostly prohibit ground-and-pound, ZST has developed a different type of fighters from other Japanese organizations. It doesn't work well for the upper weight classes, but think about Masanori Kanehara's run in Sengoku, or some of Masakazu Imanari's big wins; it's beneficial for lighter-weight fighters.

I'm not saying diversity of rules is always a good thing, but I can say that I enjoy fighters who developed under different rulesets.

In heavier-weight fights, position changes and sweeps are rare, because opponents are heavier, but also because there is less space to move arms, legs and bodies, which are more thickly muscles.

In this way, weight classes and body frames greatly impact fights. Sadly, there's less talk about these difference. People always talk about reach advantages, but how about the benefit of muscularity? We need to consider this kind of thing, too.

Recently, the smaller weights like featherweight and bantamweight have had two strong teams: one is Nova Uniao, the other is Team Alpha Male. The latter is known for scrambling and positional changes. Whether east or west, weight classes and rulesets continue to impact fights, and in many ways we often don't consider.

Big thanks to Jordan Breen (write for Sherdog) for English and editing.