Sandro Stamps Shida for Pancrase Crown
Nova União featherweight Marlon Sandro (11-0) leaped into Pancrase’s top spot in that weight class Wednesday night at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo after nailing second-ranked Miki Shida (13-5-2) with a flying knee in the final minute of the second round.
The fighters were competing for the 66-kilo King of Pancrase title vacated by Yoshiro Maeda (23-4-2), who debuted successfully in the WEC in February.
Sandro followed his knee strike with a typhoon of fists that finished dazed Shida at 4:19 of the round. The stoppage was Sandro’s first since 2005.
Earlier in the night, Sandro’s training partner and cousin Hacran Dias (7-0-1) scrapped with Takafumi Ito (33-26-10) to a draw in a 77-kilogram match. Dias was debuting in Pancrase versus 13-year Pancrase vet Ito.
Middleweight King of Pancrase Izuru Takeuchi (24-9-6) unanimously fended off a challenge from veteran Hiromitsu Kanehara (14-19-1). Takeuchi hasn’t finished an opponent in Pancrase since 2004.
Samboist Alavutdin Gadzhiyev (7-1) kept cruising through Pancrase’s middleweight division with a TKO of Hikaru Sato(17-18-4) after just a minute-and-twenty, his third consecutive first round stoppage guaranteeing him a showdown with Takeuchi for the title.
Krazy Bee lightweight Shinsuke Shoji took a UD over Kenji Arai (12-12-2) and his bantamweight teammate Michihisa Asano (6-4-2) earned a majority decision over U-File’s “Yukito” Yuichiro Shirai (3-5-3).
Middleweights Takanori Sato (5-4-4) and Masahiro Toryu (4-3-3) fought to a draw.
Welterweight Tomoyoshi Iwamiya (4-6) won a unanimous decision over Asaki Honda (4-2-1).
