From the ASTRAL headquarters in downtown Tokyo, company officials held a press-conference today.Event Producer Sotora Shinoda said that the debut event was a huge success and extended his gratitude and thanks to all the fighters and managers involved. He was happy with all the fights and thought all the parties involved did a fantastic job.
He announced that the next ASTRAL show, TOUSHI (Fighting Spirit) would take place on Wednesday May 19th from the Differ Ariake Arena (otherwise known as the Underground). The main event has already been confirmed as former KOF Featherweight champion Takumi Gunma (8-1) will face off against Panamanian boxing specialist Celestino "Pelenchin" Caballero (2-2). Takumi Gunma is veteran who has found success in the PFL and KOF and recently beat Mike Black (13-5-1) for the KOF Featherweight crown before leaving the organization after an ownership shuffle. Gunma is on a 5 fight winning streak and will be looking to establish himself as the ace of the ASTRAL Featherweight division. Celestino Caballero will face his toughest opponent to date as the former AJFC fighter will be looking for the big upset. But he's no pushover, with superb boxing skills and a respectable wrestling ground game he could have what it takes to pull one out from under Gunma.
Shinoda also revealed that ASTRAL was negotiating with the "Grappling Pro Gym" gym on some kind of partnership. The gym has incorporated a mixture of Wrestling, Brazilian JuJitsu and Submission Wrestling to create Black belts and Elite Wrestlers. They have 7 coaches at the 'Elite' level spanning multiple disciplines. Shinoda promised more information would be forthcoming soon.
When asked by the press about how titles/champions will be determined within the organization, Shinoda stated that they are leaning towards 'decision matches' to crown champions of a given weight class. He said that more events will be needed so fighters can start to establish themselves but they hope to start having title fights shortly. He did not rule out the idea of tournaments but it was unlikely a tournament format would be used to award champions initially.
