Pancrase 328 Results -

On Monday, a national holiday in Japan, Pancrase 328 went down at the Belle Salle Takadanobaba in Tokyo. As is the norm, the event was divided into three sections, Part I, Part II, and the Post-Lims. In Part I, Keito Yamakita became the new Strawweight Champion by defeating Daichi Kitagata, who won the title back in 2019. With this win, Yamakita climbs to 7-0 as a professional and at just 25 years old, appears to have a promising future ahead of him. With 4 out of 5 fights ending in big finishes, Part II delivered some great action for those in attendance. Rizin veteran Suguru Nii returned to the win column for the first time in three years, Raiki Endo flatlined The Outsider graduate Ryo Asami, and Nakanishi won the Featherweight Interim Championship with a methodical and dominating performance. At just 25 years old, it will be interesting to see how the now 8-3 Nakanishi does against the 27-5-2 Isao, who has wins over Kyle Aguon and Lion Takeshi.

In the sole women’s bout of the night, Nøri survived a tough first round with the tall southpaw Aoi Kuriyama. Ultimately they fought to a draw after three rounds. In RD 1, Kuriyama was able to repeatedly land big punches and dropped Nøri three times. Thanks to Pancrase’s open-scoring, we know that 2 judges gave Kuriyama a 10-9, while the third judge gave her a 10-8. RD 2 was a more even affair, with Kuryiama being the aggressor with punches. Nøri also shifted away from her kicking based strategy and started landing punches of her own and was able to get some knees off using a Muay Thai plum. Two judges scored the round 10-9 for Nøri, with the third scoring it 10-9 for Kuriyama. In RD 3, Nøri sought to keep the fight in the clinch and utilized the Muay Thai plum that she found success with in the 2nd round. Kuriyama had a hard time escaping from the plum and tried to punch her way out several times. Nøri used the position to land knees to the body. All three of the judges gave the final round to Nøri. As a result, the fight was ruled a draw. (Kuriyama [10-9-9; 10-9-9; 10-10-9]) (Nøri [9-10-10; 9-9-10; 8-10-10]) With the fight being rule a draw, it will be interesting to see if a rematch is booked down the road.

Pancrase 329

Pancrase will return to action on September 11th. Some interesting bouts have already been announced, including Tsuraya vs Ueda andFujino vs Song. It has also been reported that recently crowned Queen of Pancrase Karen and Sayako are set to participate. The event will be held at the Tachikawa Stage Garden, a fun venue in Tokyo. As always, the event will be available on PPV with English commentary.