There was a big 20th anniversary Shooto card in Japan this last weekend, however for the Japanese fans the celebration was dampened by several big upsets. Perhaps the most well known fighter on the card, as well as one of my favorites, Hayato "Mach" Sakurai was defeated by David Baron by guillotine choke 4:50 into the first round. I must say, I was extremely disappointed with Sakurai's performance, he looked sluggish and out of shape. If he is going to fight Nick Diaz for the Dream welterweight title in July, he should probably train a little harder if he wants to pull out a win. David Baron did look very solid, his grappling was slick, and I would like to see him continue to fight elite competition.
Another big upset was Savant Young taking out "Lion" Takeshi Inoue in a convincing decision. His record may not reflect it, but Savant Young is a quality fighter whose seven losses are often due to a fighting much larger opponents. A win over the former number one featherweight in the world is a great accomplishment for Young.
In one of the best fights of the year, Akitoshi Tamura defeated Rumina Sato by North/South choke in the third round. Although Sato is well past is prime, he showed he is still capable of fighting and fighting well, as the two men fought at a rapid pace for the entire duration of the fight.
It was a great card from Shooto, unfortunately there may not be a Shooto card as good as it for a long time, but at least there were great fights to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the world's oldest MMA promotion.
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