This Monday, a national holiday in Japan, Pancrase will hold their 2nd numbered event of the year, Pancrase 342. Set to go down at the Tachikawa Stage Garden in Tokyo, Japan, the event will be headlined by an interim Strawweight Title match between the two veterans Ryohei Kurosawa and Takafumi “Little” Ato. Elsewhere on the card, former champions Kume and Karen are both set to return and Shogo Sato, an up-and-coming prospect, will look to keep his undefeated record intact. The event will be available for those in Japan via U-Next and those outside of Japan via Tiget.
Crowning a new Interim Strawweight Champion
When Keito Yamakita joined One Championship in 2023, Pancrase lost their Strawweight Champion. Now, Kurosawa, a former Shooto champion who is currently ranked 2nd in the division, is set to face Little, the fourth ranked Strawweight, in order to determine the new interim champion. As you may recall, Kurosawa joined Pancrase last July and earned this shot by winning both his fights since, including a victory over now 3rd ranked Ryo Hatta. He currently trains at the now re-branded The Blackbelt Japan, with the likes of Rei Tsuraya, Ougikubo, Kanna Asakura, and the newly crowned Flyweight champion Honoka Shigeta.
Across the cage from Kurosawa will be Little, a physical therapist who is an established Pancrase veteran who’s fought for them 15 times since joining in 2014. Despite having 23 fights under his belt, Little doesn’t appear to be slowing down and in his last fight, a split-decision victory over Takuei Teraoka, his chin and stamina were on full display. However, when he steps into the cage on Monday, he will be facing a man who has knock out power, so it will be interesting to see if his chin holds up and he’s able to implement his relentlessly aggressive style or whether Kurosawa will be able to hurt him and take control.
Kume returns to action, takes on Kasuya
In the co-main event, former champion and current number 3 in the division, Takasuke Kume is set to face the number 1 contender Yusuke Kasuya in a bout that will have Lightweight title implications. If you may recall, Kume actually won the championship by submitting the current champion, Tatsuya Saika, in December of 2021. However, since their bout, the two have had very different career trajectories. Kume, a 38 year old veteran of 36 fights, who had already suffered some pretty serious injuries throughout his career, was forced to sit out for roughly a year and a half due to an injury before returning and losing the title to Akira via split-decision. Saika on the other hand, has fought 6 times since losing to Kume, defeating Kasuya and then Akira for the title most recently. Kasuya for his part, was riding a 3 fight winning streak before losing to Saika last December.
Karen returns, promises “blood-fest” against Ghost
In the sole women’s bout, former Strawweight champion Karen returns to action, promising another “blood festival” as she will look to knock out South Korea’s Ye Rin Hong, who came to prominence when she took part in Black Combat’s first women’s bout last February. Notably, after that match it was reported that Hong, better known as “Ghost”, would have to retire for personal reasons. While the circumstances around that decision are unknown, it is nice to see that she is getting back into the cage, considering that she is only 21 years old. It is actually fitting that her first fight post-retirement will be taking place in Pancrase, since she actually made her pro-debut in Pancrase back in 2019, when she fought Sayako.
For Karen, 2023 saw a lot of change. She switched teams, lost her title, made her Shooto debut, defeated her first international opponent, and ended the year on a two fight win-streak. Now, having trained with the likes of Honoka Shigeta and Kanna Asakura at The Blackbelt Japan for more than a year, she will look to showcase her growth and at just 20 years old it will be interesting to see how much she has evolved. Ghost isn’t a pushover, she put up a tough fight against Oshima and likes to strike, so this should be a good test for Karen, who’s mentioned wanting to fight in the UFC in the past.
Full Card
- Ryohei Kurosawa vs Little
- Yusuke Kasuya vs Takasuke Kume
- Shogo Sato vs Hiroki Nagaoka
- Karen vs Hong Yerin
- Takashi Matsuoka vs Hong Sung Chan
- Mitsuhisa Sunabe vs Kohei Maeda
- Takuei Teraoka vs Kaisei Ujihara
- Yoshiito Itokawa vs Hiroyasu Sakurai
- Mizuki Sakamoto vs Harumasa Yachi
- Chisei Yohena vs Yusei Nakaui
- Sora Yamasaki vs Axel Ryota
- Ryosuke Tanaka vs Ruki Saito
How to Watch
- In Japan. the event will be broadcast on U-Next.
- An English broadcast is available via tiget (2,000 Yen)
English 
Japanese