» Fighter: Yuki Kondo

MMA rookie “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal (1-0) upset “Diesel” Travis Wiuff (53-12) by first-round TKO at 2:11 Sunday night in Tokyo.

Lawal staggered Wiuff with a right Superman punch, then rushed in with a double-leg takedown at the ropes.  Lawal leapt on Wiuff and finished him off with ground’n’pound.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion “Xande” Alexandre Ribeiro (1-0) TKO’d Takashi Sugiura (1-3) in the last minute of his anticipated MMA debut.

Read More About Lawal Upsets Wiuff in MMA Debut, Ribeiro Also Victorious at Sengoku 5…

Sunday in Tokyo at Sengoku II, Fighters.com’s third-ranked heavyweight “Babyface Assassin” Josh Barnett (22-5) ground out a unanimous decision over “Snowman” Jeff Monson (24-8) in a match battled mostly on the mat.

Heavyweight “Monster” Kevin Randleman (17-12) also pulled out a UD over Pancrase star Ryo Kawamura (8-3-2).  The decision was considered controversial.

Monson and Randleman are scheduled to fight on a 24 June card in Charlotte.

Highly-touted Roger Gracie (2-0) remained undefeated after tapping MMA vet Yuki Kondo (48-22-6) in a rear naked choke at 2:40 of round one.

“Kiss” Yoshihiro Nakao (7-1) called out “Ironhead” Kazuyuki Fujita (15-6) after knocking out Kiwi “Big” Jim York (9-2) 46-seconds into round two.

American Top Team welterweight Jorge Santiago (17-7) fought off near-submissions before finding his own submission of Grabaka’s Yuki Sasaki (21-14-1) in a third-round armbar at 2:10.

Lighweight Eiji Mitsuoka (13-5-2) took only 4:15 to sink a rear naked choke submission in on “Crazy” Kwang Hee Lee (5-1).

Xtreme Couture welterweight “Quicksand” Mike Pyle (16-5-1) locked in a triangle choke to tap “Handler” Dan Hornbuckle (15-2) at 4:52 of round one.

Welterweight Pancrase vet Satoru Kitaoka (20-8-9) submitted Aussie Ian James Schaffa (7-5-1) in a guillotine choke in just 50 seconds to begin the night.

Japanese MMA promoter World Victory Road has officially named weathered vet Yuki Kondo (48-21-6) as the opponent for Roger Gracie (1-0) at their Tokyo Sengoku II event 18 May.

Gracie debuted in MMA in December 2006, tapping “H20″ Ron Waterman (15-5-2) in an armbar at 3:38.

In 2005, Gracie won the 88-98kg and open weight divisions at the Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championship by submitting all eight opponents, which had never been done.

Long-time Pancrase fighter Kondo was upset by Keiichiro Yamamiya (33-22-9) last week, losing a majority decision to the striker.

The 32-year old is 6-8-1 with no notable victories since knocking off four straight wins in ‘03 and ‘04.

Sunday night, Differ Ariake in Tokyo hosted the latest installment of Pancrase.

Light heavyweight Grabaka striker Keiichiro Yamamiya (33-22-9) scored a second consecutive upset, this time going long with veteran Yuki Kondo (48-21-6).   The judges called a majority decision in Yamamiya’s favor by scores of 30-29 twice and 30-30.

In December, Yamamiya won an upset unanimous decision over Ryo Kawamura (8-2-2).

Pancrase crowned a new King at welterweight when Takuya Wada (17-8-8) won a unanimous decision over Jason Palacios (5-4).  Palacios was a late replacement for Frenchman Bryan Rafiq (5-2).

Lightweight King of Pancrase Shoji Maruyama (6-2-1) weathered a mat struggle with Koji Oishi (16-7-5) to retain his title by majority draw.  Judges scores were 30-29 for Oishi, 29-29, and 30-30.

“The Pink Typhoon” Yuji Hisamatsu (11-14-4) blew over Swede Matti Makela (9-6) by TKO at 4:52 of the first round.

“J-Taro” Masaya Takita (9-9-2) evened up his record with a second-round KO of Manabu Inoue (6-4-1) at 1:16.  “J-Taro” clocked Inoue clean with a knee strike as Inoue shot.

Middleweight warrior Ryuji Ohori (3-2) battled back from a pounding to submit Daisuke Watanabe (17-28-4) in an armbar at 4:46 of the second round.  It was Watanabe’s third consecutive defeat.

Team Sakuraba’s Wataru Takahashi submitted Yuko Sakaguchi in an armbar at 4:23 of round one.

Undefeated Djamal Kurbanov (3-0-1) and Katsuya Inoue (16-5-3) fought to a majority draw by scores of 30-29 for Inoue, 29-29, and 28-28.

Lightweight Steve Magdaleno (4-0-1) won a unanimous decision over Korean Il Gyu Park (1-1).

Featherweight Hirotoshi Saito (1-0) won a unanimous decision debut over Hayatao Shimizu.

Bantamweight Yasutomo Tanaka (5-1-3) submitted Motonobu Tezuka (6-3-1) by rear naked choke at 2:30 of round two.

In his pro debut, Takuya Eizumi (1-0) TKO’d featherweight Ryota Sasaki (0-2) at :43 of round two.

Pancrase opens act three of it’s Shining tour at Differ Ariake 27 April starring venerable middleweight vets Yuki Kondo (48-20-6) and Keiichiro Yamamiya (32-22-9) in a rematch a dozen years on.

Kondo KO’d Keiichiro while I was scheduling 100-level firsts for my freshman year at uni’ way back in ‘96.

That “L” was Yamamiya’s first; but, in ‘08 the two warriors come with victories over “Hightower” Semmy Schilt (25-14-1), “Lights Out” Chris Lytle (25-15-5),  Frank Shamrock (24-8-1), Denis Kang (29-9-1), and Masakatsu Funaki (38-12-1) between them.

The entire lineup is below:

Yuki Kondo v Keiichiro Yamamiya
Shoji Maruyama (6-2) v Koji Oishi (16-7-4)
Bryan Rafiq (5-2) v Takuya Wada (16-8-8)
“The Pink Typhoon” Yuji Hisamatsu (10-14-4) v Matti Makela (9-5)
Manabu Inoue (6-3-1) v “J-Taro” Masaya Takita (8-9-2)
Daisuke Watanabe(17-27-4) v Ryuji Ohori (2-2)
Yukio Sakaguchi (1-2) v Wataru Takahashi (5-10-3)