On Christmas Day, Pancrase returned to Yokohama for the first time since 2014. Taking place at the Yokohama Budokan, 2 new champions were crowned, a champion lost in a non-title bout, a future title contender may have been decided, and Nii earned another first round finish. As the final event of 2022, Pancrase showcased some of their younger talent and fighters that will likely be busy in 2023, fighters like Rei Tsuraya, who clearly has the potential to be a big star.
Zenny makes splash, upsets Sayako
It is no secret that Asia is a hotbed of Atomweight talent and as part of the lead-up to this fight, Pancrase announced that they will be establishing an Atomweight division in 2023. [1] With this in the background, the fight between Zenny and Sayako carried a special significance, as it is a real possibility that the winner could fight for the new title or be crowned the new champion sometime in the near future. For Zenny, this fight was also significant in that it was her first fight in two years, her first fight post-One Championship, and marked her return to Atomweight. Even then, the Taiwanese pioneer barely tipped the scale at 46.55kg (102.6lbs). Living and training in Japan now, Zenny made the most of this opportunity, bloodying Sayako with strikes before submitting her in the 2nd round with a rear-naked choke. With a performance like this, once can only hope that Pancrase brings her back soon.
Rei Tsuraya crowned Flyweight Champion
When Tsuraya made his Pancrase debut in April, it was a big deal. Just 19 at the time, the son of Paraestra’s Hiroshi Tsuraya, was 3-0, with 3 finishes. Now, 8 months later, Rei is 6-0 with 6 finishes and is the new Flyweight Champion. Having already signed with a U.S. based manager, Rei mentioned his desire to fight in the UFC during his post-fight speech. It is hard to tell when this may happen, but if Rei continues to finish opponents at this rate, it may be sooner than later.
Salt upsets Karen
Salt, a fighter with a kickboxing background who trains with Shooto staple Miku Nakamura, defeated the champion in a non-title bout. Coming into the fight with a significant height and reach advantage, Salt was able to effectively counter Karen’s grappling, while getting the better of the action on the feet, winning every round en route to an unanimous decision victory. This marks the first time that the 19 year old has lost, so it will be interesting to see how she responds. She’s expressed interest in training and fighting abroad so maybe those will play a factor in how she progresses as well. Whatever the case, now that she has lost, a potential rematch will be looming on the horizon, with the title on the line.
Results
- (C) Rei Tsuraya defeated Satoru Enomoto via RNC at 1:03 of RD 2
- (C) Toshitaka Nakanishi defeated Jae Hyun Bang via SD
- Tatsuya Saika defeated Shuji Yamauchi via KO at 4:49 of RD 1
- Ryo Tajima defeated Tsune via TKO at 3:13 of RD 4
- Salt defeated Karen via UD
- Seiichiro Ito defeated Masatatsu Ueda via RNC at 1:26 of RD 2
- Issei Tamura defeated Ryo via UD
- Genpei Hayashi defeated Kota Shirakawa via TKO at 3:33 of RD 1
- Akihiro Murayama defeated Hiroki Nagaoka via UD
- Suguru Nii defeated Ryo Takagi via Armlock at 1:14 of RD 1
- Yusuke Kasuya defeated Yuki Okano via RNC at 4:47 of RD 1
- Rui Imura defeated Kenta Sakuma via UD
- Zenny Huang defeated Sayako via RNC at 2:17 of RD 2
- Takuya Kuramoto defeated Yasutaka Kato via TKO at 1:16 of RD 1
- Ryo Yazawa defeated Kaito KImoto via TKO at 0:15 of RD 1
- Sodai Mitobe defeated Omito Kanazawa via RNC at 3:23 of RD 2
- Reo Yamaguchi defeated Arashi Okada via UD (Amateur)
Japanese 
English