Japanese featherweight kingpin Hatsu Hioki, considered by many to be one of the best featherweight fighters in the world, extended his winning streak to four as he defeated King of the Cage bantamweight champion Donald Sanchez in non-title action at Shooto Tradition 2011 this past weekend. Hioki impressively slapped on a triangle choke from full mount before transitioning to his back at the 1:36 mark of the second round to secure the victory.
Hioki’s future is still up in the air at this point. The 27-year-old Nagoya-born grappler hasn’t mentioned any plans to move stateside to the UFC, but his 12-1-1 record over the last three-and-a-half years would suggest that the time has come for him to tread into deeper waters. With regional stars like Marlon Sandro, Eduardo Dantas, and Michihiro Omigawa making their way stateside, it seems inevitable that Hioki would do the same.
In other action, #2-ranked featherweight Scouting Report fighter Taiki Tsuchiya was cruising his way to victory by utilizing quick footwork and impressive combination punching before getting blasted by former Shooto lightweight champion ‘Lion’ Takeshi Inoue in the second round of action. The loss will surely slow down Tsuchiya’s ascension to the top of the heap in Japan. For Inoue, it’s a sigh of relief as he had lost two straight coming into the bout on Friday.
Shooto Tradition 2011
04/29/2011 – Tokyo Dome City Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Takeshi Inoue def. Taiki Tsuchiya via TKO, 4:27, Round 2
Featherweight Championship: Koetsu Okazaki def. Shuichiro Katsumura via TKO, 2:24, Round 2
Hatsu Hioki def. Donald Sanchez via submission (triangle choke), 1:36, Round 2
Flyweight Championship: Junji Ikoma def. Junji Ito via unanimous decision
Kuniyoshi Hironaka def. Takashi Nakakura via unanimous decision
Yuki Shojo def. Noboru Tahara via unanimous decision
Mikihito Yamagami def. Atsushi Takeuchi via unanimous decision
Kyoji Horiguchi def. Takahiro Hosoi via KO, 1:06, Round 1
Akira Okada draws Koshi Matsumoto
Munehiro Kin def. Daisuke Hoshino via disqualification (groin strike), 1:27, Round 2
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