ASTRAL held their 6th show, HEROS, on Saturday in Japan at the Hard Knocks in Tokyo.
The fight between Hidetoshi Nakata (6-2-1) and Pawel Nastula (3-2) was very one sided. Nakata took Nastula down early and often, controlling him for all three rounds to get the unanimous decision victory. Nastula had a tough time working off his back and Nakata took advantage of that.
The bout between Astro Boy (5-3-1) and Joey The Lion (7-5) showed great composure on The Lion’s side of things. Astro Boy took The Lion down and worked him with ground strikes before the Lion was able to grab hold of Boy’s arm and locked in a strong armbar for the victory. This fight wins “Fight of the Night”, contgratulations and thanks to both fighters for putting on a performance.
Inuyasha Kagome (3-1) tried his hardest to stuff Krunoslav Slabinac’s (4-0) takedowns. Kagome stuffed 13 of the 15 attempts by Slabinac to take him down. Unfortunately for Kagome, being on the ground was all Slabinac needed to make Kagome tap.
The fight between Kenji Makuto (5-2) and Nyk Siuh (2-3) featured the quickest finish of the night. Makuto caught Siuh early with a jab that looked to have connected with Siuh’s eye. Makuto smelled blood and swarmed in with a flurry of punches before the referee was able to step in and stop the fight.
Yoshihiro Akiyama (2-1) lost by devastating domination against Masa Sakuruza (2-1). Sakuruza won by unanimous decision after taking Akiyama down and pounding him for the duration of the fight. Sakuruza landed an unprecedented 81 strikes from the ground on rout to his victory.
Hyun Tsubaki (2-1) fought Celestino Caballero (4-3) in the crowd’s least favorite fight of the evening. Caballero landed just 27% of his strikes while Tsubaki tried to take the fight to the ground all night. As Tsubaki was unable to muster up any offense, Caballero takes an easy decision.
Padr Gary (4-4) easily took the first round against Nathan Swift (7-7). However, Swift came out strong in the second round, finally landing a takedown and submitting the clinching Gary with a kimura. Good job by Swift in finding Gary’s weak spot.
Ryu Hoshi (1-2) and Johnny Izakawa (4-4) both have knockout power, so many expected a slugfest ending with a knockout. However, both looked to keep away from a big punch as Hoshi took to the clinch and Izakawa took to the ground. Hoshi did well in controlling the fight from the clinch until Izakawa took the fight to the ground and submitted
The fastest submission of the night goes to Kida Masaomi (2-0) who defeated Junji Ito (0-2). Ito surprised many and took Masaomi down right away. However, Masaomi sweeped Ito who then tried to push Masaomi off with his leg. Masaomi caught his leg and put on a devastating heel hook for the win. Masaomi will take home tonight’s “Submission of the Night” award along with his second career victory.
Kwan Lee Hong (0-2) and Naruto Uzamaki (1-1) came out swinging in their fight. Uzamaki got the better of the exchange, throwing body kicks, leg kicks, and punch combinations. At just 48 seconds into the first round, Uzamaki unleashed a vicious head kick that sent Hong tumbling to the mat before Uzamaki finished him up with strikes. Great knockout by Uzamaki who takes home the “Knockout of the Night” award.
