Satoshi Ishii took another step in his progression as a mixed martial artist by downing legendary kickboxer Jerome LeBanner. The 38-year-old K-1 veteran had a tough time staying off his back. Ishii took him down whenever and wherever.
The Japanese judo champion's best round was the third when he threatened with several kimura attempts. He rolled to a unanimous decision against a guy fighting MMA for the first time since 2006.
Ishii (pictured on the right) was giving away 31 pounds and used a lot of energy in controlling the Frenchman on the floor. There's still questions about his stamina. At only 233 pounds, he's also caught in no man's land between light heavyweight and the massive heavyweights. The 24-year-old is now 4-1 in MMA.
While Ishii may be the future of Japanese MMA, Kazushi Sakaraba is clearly the past. The 41-year-old lost again and walked away from the ring looking like an accident victim. He didn't suffer much damage in his loss against Marius Zaromskis but one of his cauliflower ears got popped early in the fight, making it impossible to continue.
Just 90 seconds into the fight, Sakuraba (26-14-1) was bleeding like a stuff pig. The doctors checked it once then Zaromskis landed another good shot on that right ear. Sakuraba clearly felt the pain and grabbed the ear. HDNet color voice Frank Trigg said "his ear fell off the side of his head."
The doctor stopped the fight and Sakuraba left the ring with his head in a towel wrapped by loads of tape. The man who once fought a 90-minute battle against Royce Gracie, has now lost three straight and five-of-seven.
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