Former UFC welterweight Kuniyoshi Hironaka (13-6) knocked out Yoshihiro Koyama (10-2-1) at 4:27 of round one to earn the vacant Cage Force lightweight title at Cage Force 12 in Tokyo Saturday. Featherweight Wataru Miki (14-7-3) submitted Tomonori Taniguchi (2-6) in a rear naked choke at 4:36 of round three. Lightweight Yasunori Kanehara (1-4-1) TKO'd “KG Shinto” Hiroki Kuga (1-1) in 55 seconds. ...

Former UFC welterweight Kuniyoshi Hironaka (12-6) and Yoshihiro Koyama (10-1-1) will contest for the Cage Force lightweight title at Cage Force 12 in Tokyo 12 September, Cage Force announced Sunday. Cage Force is Japan's first cage-based MMA promotion and considered a UFC-qualifying promotion for Japanese fighters. Current UFC talents who entered the Octagon after stints in Cage Force include "Thunder" Yushin Okami (23-4), "Outlaw" Dan Hardy (22-6), and "Zenko" Yoshiyuki Yoshida (11-3). That trio alone holds a 12-2 record in the Octagon. Hironaka fared less well with a 1-3 UFC record, but is riding a two-fight winning streak into the title fight. He TKO'd puroresu's Katsuhiko Nagata (4-4) at Cage Force 11 in Tokyo 27 June. ...

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) ...

Interim welterweight King of Pancrase Katsuya Inoue successfully defended his title versus Satoru Kitaoka Wednesday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. The fight was scored 29-29 by all three judges; but, under the championship rule of “must decision”, the judges were instructed to choose a victor. Two chose Inoue and one chose Kitaoka, giving Inoue a split decision victory. The meeting was the third between the two Japanese fighters. Inoue won a unanimous decision in 2004 and the two fought to a draw in 2006. Inoue improves to 16-5-2, 10-2-1 in Pancrase. He holds a decision victory over Kyle Noke, who fights Scott Smith on ExliteXC's February 16 card in Miami. Kitaoka falls to 19-8-9, with victories over ProElite's Paul Daley, WEC's Carlos Condit, and UFC's Kurt Pellegrino. The first lightweight King of Pancrase was also decided on Pancrase's first iteration of their 2008 "Shining" tour. Japan's Shoji knocked out Russia's Artur Oumakhanov with a high kick 21 seconds into the second round. Shoji improves to 6-2, five wins by knockout, and picks up some brass. Oumakhanov falls to 7-2, 2-1 in Pancrase. Shining 1 is the first show since Pancrase adopted new weight classifications based on the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. On the undercard, Russian middleweight Alavutdin Gadzhiyev knocked out "The Pink Typhoon" Yuji Hisamatsu in 41 seconds to improve to 6-1, four wins by knockout, and 4-0 in Pancrase. In 155-pound matchups, Shinsuke Shoji versus Yuichi Ikari and Wataru Takahashi versus Daisuke Hanazawa both ended as draws. Japanese welterweight Sotaro Yamada caught countrymen Kiichi "Strasser" Kunimoto in a rear naked choke at 1:42 of the first round to improve to 5-3, all in Pancrase. Undefeated bantamweight phenom Seiya Kawahara debuted in Pancrase by knocking out veteran Pancrase punching bag Yuki Yamasawa in 28 seconds with a high kick, improving to 4-0. Pancrase’s second “Shooting” event occurs in March. No location or fight card has been announced. ...