Underrated Fights From Yesteryear: Tokoro vs Menjivar (K1 Hero*s 6)

[Bobby Boulders]

Hey, buds. I know a lot of us in the Contenders sub are familiar with a ton of old school stuff, but I thought I'd start posting some of the forgotten classics that we may not have watched in some time, or maybe some of the newer posters who weren't around for these fights have never had the pleasure to witness.

In 2006, K1 Hero*s held their second MWGP (Hero*s only had three weight classes, MW/LHW/HW, and MW was something more akin to WW or LW) with some of the best Japanese talent and some foreign talent who would make names for themselves in the future on the world scene. This fight was only two rounds, but was action packed bc of the outstanding grappling from both fighters. There are many submission attempts in this short fight, and most of them aren't the common submissions we generally get in fights in the present day.

Newer posters: if you haven't seen this fight, enjoy. The entire K1 Hero*s 6 event is on YouTube (or, most of it, in edited form, anyway), for anyone who is interested. One of the best MMA events that company gave us.

 

[mortal]

I haven't seen this one, great fight! Thank you!

 

[Bobby Boulders]

While on the subject of Hero*s 6, I may as well touch on the main event, Sakuraba vs Smirnovas. Smirnovas was a Lithuanian fighter who had fought mostly in RINGS and Shooto European offshoot orgs. By this time, basically, if you wanted to beat Sakuraba the refs would only award you the win if you actually killed him in the ring. Saku took a beating early on in this fight, and, realistically, it should have been stopped. Alas, it was not, and while it was apparent that Sakuraba's brains had been turned into scrambled eggs, his opponent became exhausted and it led to one of the many great comebacks that defined Sakuraba's later career. If you remember Saku's fight with Galesic, the Smirnovas fight was similar in that it took time off of Saku's life, but the Smirnovas fight was a worse beating. Sakuraba was just too damn tough for his own good.

Sakuraba vs Smirnovas, Hero*s 6


Sakuraba vs Galesic, DREAM 12


Of note in the second fight, it took place in one of the only events in DREAM to feature a cage rather than a ring. DREAM's white hexagon was beautiful.

 

[gono btw]

Hey, buds. I know a lot of us in the Contenders sub are familiar with a ton of old school stuff, but I thought I'd start posting some of the forgotten classics that we may not have watched in some time, or maybe some of the newer posters who weren't around for these fights have never had the pleasure to witness.

In 2006, K1 Hero*s held their second MWGP (Hero*s only had three weight classes, MW/LHW/HW, and MW was something more akin to WW or LW) with some of the best Japanese talent and some foreign talent who would make names for themselves in the future on the world scene. This fight was only two rounds, but was action packed bc of the outstanding grappling from both fighters. There are many submission attempts in this short fight, and most of them aren't the common submissions we generally get in fights in the present day.

Newer posters: if you haven't seen this fight, enjoy. The entire K1 Hero*s 6 event is on YouTube (or, most of it, in edited form, anyway), for anyone who is interested. One of the best MMA events that company gave us.

Good fight, slick transition to armbar at the end of the 1st Rd...

Split dec., which seems fair, but I would have given it to Tokoro, for all the sub. attempts...

Poor Ivan had to fight his whole career @ OW... while being realistically a BW...

 

[gono btw]

While on the subject of Hero*s 6, I may as well touch on the main event, Sakuraba vs Smirnovas. Smirnovas was a Lithuanian fighter who had fought mostly in RINGS and Shooto European offshoot orgs. By this time, basically, if you wanted to beat Sakuraba the refs would only award you the win if you actually killed him in the ring. Saku took a beating early on in this fight, and, realistically, it should have been stopped. Alas, it was not, and while it was apparent that Sakuraba's brains had been turned into scrambled eggs, his opponent became exhausted and it led to one of the many great comebacks that defined Sakuraba's later career. If you remember Saku's fight with Galesic, the Smirnovas fight was similar in that it took time off of Saku's life, but the Smirnovas fight was a worse beating. Sakuraba was just too damn tough for his own good.

Sakuraba vs Smirnovas, Hero*s 6


Sakuraba vs Galesic, DREAM 12


Of note in the second fight, it took place in one of the only events in DREAM to feature a cage rather than a ring. DREAM's white hexagon was beautiful.

Tough for a [Japanese] Ref. to stop a SAKU fight after the Conan incident...

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Tough for a [Japanese] Ref. to stop a SAKU fight after the Conan incident...

View attachment 473183

I imagine that how a ref for a Saku fight did his job may have actually equated to how long he would live a healthy and happy life lol.

The irony of your post is that the bullshit stoppage in the Conan fight was legitimately premature. But, in almost all of the subsequent fights where they didn't stop it and he won, he took some terrible beatings. Seeing Saku as he was around the time of the Galesic fight and the Zaromskis fight was heartbreaking. If there was ever a brain to be studied for CTE, his is a prime candidate. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up like Ali someday.

 

[gono btw]

Hey, buds. I know a lot of us in the Contenders sub are familiar with a ton of old school stuff, but I thought I'd start posting some of the forgotten classics that we may not have watched in some time, or maybe some of the newer posters who weren't around for these fights have never had the pleasure to witness.

In 2006, K1 Hero*s held their second MWGP (Hero*s only had three weight classes, MW/LHW/HW, and MW was something more akin to WW or LW) with some of the best Japanese talent and some foreign talent who would make names for themselves in the future on the world scene. This fight was only two rounds, but was action packed bc of the outstanding grappling from both fighters. There are many submission attempts in this short fight, and most of them aren't the common submissions we generally get in fights in the present day.

Newer posters: if you haven't seen this fight, enjoy. The entire K1 Hero*s 6 event is on YouTube (or, most of it, in edited form, anyway), for anyone who is interested. One of the best MMA events that company gave us.

Thinking about it, it´s quite crazy that them Japz gave the split dec. to Ivan over a Japanese...

And UFC shills keep saying they were/are all corrupt..
When you look at how Ivan was treated @ UCC against No Rush...

 

[gono btw]

I imagine that how a ref for a Saku fight did his job may have actually equated to how long he would live a healthy and happy life lol.

The irony of your post is that the bullshit stoppage in the Conan fight was legitimately premature. But, in almost all of the subsequent fights where they didn't stop it and he won, he took some terrible beatings. Seeing Saku as he was around the time of the Galesic fight and the Zaromskis fight was heartbreaking. If there was ever a brain to be studied for CTE, his is a prime candidate. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up like Ali someday.

SAKU G. was/is a weirdo, for sure he had enough leverage to accept or reject a fight, but he had that masochist D2BG attitude...

SAKU G. was a natural WW, and Gomi became a star @ WW much later, in 2005...

Weird that Pride didnt try to build SAKU´s name @ WW...He would have gone undefeated, but... bored to death...

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Thinking about it, it´s quite crazy that them Japz gave the split dec. to Ivan over a Japanese...

And UFC shills keep saying they were/are all corrupt..
When you look at how Ivan was treated @ UCC against No Rush...

To me the Japanese judges have always seemed mostly honest and had integrity. I understand there are examples of foreigners being hosed, but I think they mostly do a good job. The Japanese are fucked up by doing things like in those Saku fights. If the rules were reversed, and it was Saku bouncing Smirnovas' head through the ropes, they'd have stopped it immediately. The countries who seem to have the most biased judges, to me, and Russia and Brazil. And England, at least in the case of Bisping decisions.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

SAKU G. was/is a weirdo, for sure he had enough leverage to accept or reject a fight, but he had that masochist D2BG attitude...

SAKU G. was a natural WW, and Gomi became a star @ WW much later, in 2005...

Weird that Pride didnt try to build SAKU´s name @ WW...He would have gone undefeated, but... bored to death...

That's the legend that is Sakuraba. He very well could have been the best there ever was without a doubt if he'd have only fought guys who were his size. That he was able to win so many fights or at least look good, essentially at OW, and continue coming back again and again, he's in a class all his own. There are others who have taken similar career paths (Minowa), but they don't have the same appeal. SakuGOAT for a reason.

 

[gono btw]

To me the Japanese judges have always seemed mostly honest and had integrity. I understand there are examples of foreigners being hosed, but I think they mostly do a good job. The Japanese are fucked up by doing things like in those Saku fights. If the rules were reversed, and it was Saku bouncing Smirnovas' head through the ropes, they'd have stopped it immediately. The countries who seem to have the most biased judges, to me, and Russia and Brazil. And England, at least in the case of Bisping decisions.

Russia... People still have the Maldonado incident in mind ...
Any other incident?

Depends...quite the opposite,sometimes..

@ IAFC 1, Igor beat Adilson Lima (Carlson Team), but Henzo whined and contested somehow the soccer kicks, hence the Org. granted Lima an instant rematch...

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Russia... People still have the Maldonado incident in mind ...
Any other incident?

Depends...

@ IAFC 1, Igor beat Adilson Lima (Carlson Team), but Henzo whined and contested somehow the soccer kicks, hence the Org. granted Lima an instant rematch...

There was a Shtrykov fight not all that long ago (may have been Bigfoot) that was suspect. Maldobabo fight was definitely suspect.

It's not to say that I think there is consistently biased judging in any particular country, just that when I do happen upon examples they are mostly in those places or situations. I wouldn't say that I watch much Russian MMA, as opposed to the stuff I normally watch and seek out, but the few times I have in recent years, two of the three main events were pretty shady.

 

[gono btw]

That's the legend that is Sakuraba. He very well could have been the best there ever was without a doubt if he'd have only fought guys who were his size. That he was able to win so many fights or at least look good, essentially at OW, and continue coming back again and again, he's in a class all his own. There are others who have taken similar career paths (Minowa), but they don't have the same appeal. SakuGOAT for a reason.

On a side note, SAKU G. was a giant, jus´ like Ali, who should have been stopped too against Holmes...

But it´s a tough decision...

 

[GIBLERTBAPTISTA]

Great fight. Almost every Tokoro fight is a great fight. Definition of a kill or be killed fighter, one of my all time favorite fighters to watch

 

[Falconkick]

Menjivar is a great fighter. Props

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Great fight. Almost every Tokoro fight is a great fight. Definition of a kill or be killed fighter, one of my all time favorite fighters to watch

He certainly would always go for the kill, which is refreshing since he was a grapple first fighter. Super fun to watch.

 

[JkMMA]

Hey, buds. I know a lot of us in the Contenders sub are familiar with a ton of old school stuff, but I thought I'd start posting some of the forgotten classics that we may not have watched in some time, or maybe some of the newer posters who weren't around for these fights have never had the pleasure to witness.

In 2006, K1 Hero*s held their second MWGP (Hero*s only had three weight classes, MW/LHW/HW, and MW was something more akin to WW or LW) with some of the best Japanese talent and some foreign talent who would make names for themselves in the future on the world scene. This fight was only two rounds, but was action packed bc of the outstanding grappling from both fighters. There are many submission attempts in this short fight, and most of them aren't the common submissions we generally get in fights in the present day.

Newer posters: if you haven't seen this fight, enjoy. The entire K1 Hero*s 6 event is on YouTube (or, most of it, in edited form, anyway), for anyone who is interested. One of the best MMA events that company gave us.

Any reason y tokoro only had 1 fight in bellator? I really thought he won his bellator debut btw.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Any reason y tokoro only had 1 fight in bellator? I really thought he won his bellator debut btw.

I imagine it was bc he signed with RIZIN. Don't know for sure.

 

[InfinityLens]

I imagine it was bc he signed with RIZIN. Don't know for sure.

Probably better off in Japan.