ZST - 07/16/2012: RINGS Rules Bouts

Keisuke Fujiwara (left) will face the man who owns IT business, Kenichi Ito.

ZST has always been insisting on doing their own thing.

They do tag-team bout, grappling only bout, and also former RINGS rules bout where striking to the head on the ground is prohibited.

And so far, all the bouts announced for the upcoming Differ Ariake shows, besides SWAT! tournament, are all former RINGS rules bouts, therefore, one fight added on Friday was also a bout under the rules created by Akira Maeda, the founder of RINGS.

Keisuke Fujiwara from team Spinning Garage will take on Kenichi Ito and this one is contracted at under 61.2 kg, which is basically a bantamweight.

Fujiwara is the current ZST bantamweight champion and just defended his title for the third time, against Tetsuya Fusano, in March of this year.

His opponent Ito has the nickname "IT President of Roppongi" so we can all assume he owns some IT business based in one of the most famous night life spot in the world. Ito visited several gyms in the US few months ago including a visit to Ricardo Almeida's gym to train with Frank Edgar. When he scored a submission win in SWAT! in May he asked for a fight fight against a featherweight champ Masayuki Okude. And beating Fujiwara should get him closer to a title shot against Okude so It is should be highly motivated for this fight.

ZST Office Presents
～FIGHTING NETWORK ZST～BATTLE HAZARD 06
Sunday, July 16th, 2012 at Differ Ariake, Tokyo, Japan
Doors Open - 14:00 / Fight Starts - 14:10 / 1st Part (SWAT! Tournament 2012 First Round Starts）
2nd Part - 17：00 (Main Card Starts)
Confirmed Cards (Subject to Change):

RINGS Rules Under 61.2 KG Bout 5 min / 3R
Keisuke Fujiwara(Japan / Spinning Garage) vs. Kenichi Ito (Japan / Freelance)
RINGS Rules Open-weight Bout 10 min / 1R
Takumi Yano(Japan / Guokai) vs. Yuichiro Yajima (Japan / Zendo-kai Shinjuku Dojo)
RINGS Rules Under 65.8 KG Bout 5 min / 2R
Ken Yasuda(Japan / SONIC SQUAD) vs. Yutaka Shimamura (Japan / Uruno Dojo)

SWAT! Tournament 2012 First Round - confirmed fighters

Flyweight (Under 55 kg)
Satoshi Ishimori (Japan / Reversal Gym Yokohama Grand Slam) 
Yuki Kawabata (Japan / move) 
Koji Suzuki (Japan / MSD Goshindou) 
Ryo Hatta (Japan / Strapple) 
Wataru Matsuoka (Japan / T-BLOOD）
Ryosuke Taninaka (Japan / Wrestle-win) 
Masatomo Yamagami (Japan / Paraestra Hachiouji) 

Bantamweight (Under 60 kg)
Seiwa Ikezaki (Japan / Bumonkai)
Seiichiro Ito (Japan / Reversal Gym Yokohama Grand Slam)
Takao Ueda (Japan / Paraestra Kasai) 
Nobuyuki Kanaizuka (Japan / Reversal Gym Tokyo Stand Out) 
Masashi Nakamura (Japan / Maruwa Gym) 
Seiou Yamada (Japan / Team DATE)
Hiroaki Yoshioka (Japan / Brightness Monma Dojo) 
Shuto Watanabe (Japan / Nexusense）

Featherweight (Under 65 kg)
Ryusuke Uchida (Japan / Grand Slam KREW) 
Yoichi Kouno (Japan / Maruwa Gym Yokohama) 
Ken Komoda (Japan / Bumonkai) 　
Kazuki Hayashida (Japan / MSD Goshindou) 
Hiroki Hiiro  (Japan / Reversal Gym Yokohama Grand Slam) 
Tomomitsu Hinuma (Japan / RIKI GYM）
Koichi Masuda (Japan / move)
Akira Washiyama (Japan / Zendo-kai Yokohama) 

Lightweight (Under 70 kg)
Yasunori Izumida (Japan / move) 
Yusuke Otsuka (Japan / R-BLOOD）
Dai Kagaya (Japan / Tsunashima Jiu-jitsu) 
Ryo Sakuma (Japan / Paraestra Koga) 
Mitsunari Takimoto (Japan / move)
Yamamoto Hamamatsu (Japan / AACC）
Naoyuki Mori (Japan / Maruwa Gym Yokohama) 
Masaki Yamane (Japan / Maruwa Gym Yokohama) 


Ticket Prices:
VIP - 15,000 yen / SRS - 10,000 yen / S - 7,000 yen / A - 5,000 yen 
*from one-year old ticket is required
**500 yen more at the door.


Report by Shu Hirata
Photo courtesy of GBR (www.gbring.com)