ONE: CENTURY PART II Prelims Start Show With Incredible Action

ONE: CENTURY PART II kicked off with a quintet of entertaining bouts that set the standard for the second half of the biggest event in martial arts history on Sunday, 13 October.

The card at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan kicked off with contests that matched Shooto World Champions against their counterparts from Pancrase in four battles between the best from Japan’s oldest mixed martial arts organizations.

Hot on their heels, a two-time former ONE Women’s Atomweight World Title challenger set out to get another shot at the gold in a rematch against one of her toughest opponents to date.

Yamaguchi Digs Deep To Defeat Huang

Mei “V.V.” Yamaguchi was forced to take her rematch with Jenny “Lady GoGo” Huang to the ground when she was battered with kicks in the opening moments. She immediately took the back, but the Chinese athlete recovered guard and attacked with hammerfists as her rival chipped away with punches.

Huang looked loose on the feet in the second period, too, while her Japanese adversary charged in with right hands. Yamaguchi never relented with her pursuit of the takedown, either, but “Lady GoGo” battled back to her feet every time she was taken to the canvas.

The woman from Fairtex Training Center could sense an upset ahead of the final frame, but “V.V.” walked through strikes to get the bout to the ground again, where she passed to side control. It looked like she might be close to a finish when she established a crucifix position and let her ground and pound go, but Huang endured and worked back up to her feet.

Despite her efforts, “Lady GoGo” could not find a decisive strike, and the final bell brought a unanimous decision for Yamaguchi. Now 21-11-1 overall with a four-bout win streak in ONE, “V.V.” called for a third match with “Unstoppable” Angela Lee during her interview.

Saruta’s KO Evens The Honors For Shooto

Yosuke “The Ninja” Saruta tied the scores up in the Shooto vs. Pancrase series as the former ONE Strawweight World Champion hit Daichi Kitakata with a stunning second-round knockout.

The 32-year-old from Saitama was dominant from the first bell as he took his rival down and controlled him with apparent ease to land ground and pound.

Kitakata landed cleanly with a knee and a head kick, but Saruta quickly caught the Osaka native’s second high kick to put him on his back again. From guard, he was more aggressive than before, and a couple of perfect punches knocked his rival out cold.

He struck first with a right hammerfist, and then looped a left hand over directly onto the chin to force the stoppage at the 0:59 mark of round two and raise his pro record to 20-9-3.

Sato’s Striking Earns Stunning Knockout

Shooto Bantamweight World Champion Shoko Sato landed the first blow against Rafael “Morcego” Silva with a damaging calf kick, which prompted the Brazilian to grapple for the rest of the round. However, he struggled to get the Japanese athlete to the mat against the fence. 

Sato flew out of the blocks for round two and looked confident in the stand-up exchanges as he attacked with a jumping knee. “Morcego” tried to neutralize him with a double-leg takedown, but Sato got straight back to his feet.

As soon as Sato broke free of the Pancrase Bantamweight World Champion’s grasp, he landed a hard knee and then an unrelenting barrage of punches, and Silva struggled to stay standing.

A final right hand sent the dazed Brazilian down for a TKO victory with 4:30 elapsed in the second stanza to raise his record to 34-17-3 (1 NC), including two victories on the global stage.

Aggressive Tetsuka Wins Stand-Up War

Shooto Welterweight World Champion Hernani Perpetuo began a striking battle with Hiroyuki “Last Samurai” Tetsuka by finding a home for his jab and hard kicks, including one to the head that briefly pushed his rival back. However, The Pancrase Welterweight World Champion returned fire with hard hooks to the body and engaged toe-to-toe until the bell.

The man from Tochigi, Japan started the second frame aggressively to put the Nova União representative on the back foot. His momentum slowed when he ate a well-timed right hand, but “Last Samurai” recovered quickly, and continued to unleash his punishing boxing.

It was all to play for in the final stanza as Perpetuo fired his kicks and straight punches, but Tetsuka maintained the pressure and spun the Brazilian around with a right low kick. He also scored when he countered a spinning kick with a flurry of punches, and then caught a high kick to run his opponent onto the canvas.

“Last Samurai” gradually upped the intensity with his punches and elbows from top position, and though he had to absorb some up-kicks, his late offensive on the ground was enough to earn a unanimous decision and push his record to 8-3.

“The Hawk” Gets Pancrase Off To Flying Start

Pancrase Lightweight World Champion Takasuke “The Hawk” Kume’s right hand landed early and often against Koshi “Luxor” Matsumoto – including a couple that seemed to stun the Shooto Lightweight World Champion.

An accidental clash of heads did some serious damage to “The Hawk’s” face toward the end of the round, and he seemed in a hurry to finish before the bell as he scrambled for a rear-naked choke, but he let himself get reversed and almost got trapped in an armbar.

Matsumoto took control on the ground for much of the second stanza, but Kume was dominant again in the final five minutes as he dumped his rival onto the mat to unleash his knees and attack with several more submission attempts.

After a competitive 15 minutes, that late dominance seemed to make the difference for the 34-year-old from Aici, who took the unanimous decision and improved his record to 23-5-4.