On Sunday, July 2, Pancrase MMA returned to Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan, for Pancrase 288: Miura vs. Abe.
In the night’s main event, welterweight King of Pancrase champ Hiromitsu Miura took on undefeated challenger Daiji Abe. Miura won the title after five-rounds of action with Akihiro Murayama at Pancrase 281. Abe, 25, had won all three of his Pancrase outings, having finished two opponents in under one round.
In the evening’s main card action, former lightweight King of Pancrase Kazuki Tokudome made his return against decorated Kiwi lightweight Kieran Joblin, who made his Pancrase debut. Two of the legends of Japanese MMA battld for a second time when former multiple-division King of Pancrase titleholder Yuki Kondo met DREAM super hulk tournament winner and legend of the sport, Ikuhisa Minowa. Kondo submitted Minowa when the two first met, all the way back in 1997.
Other notable fights see former Shooto champion Masakatsu Ueda against Toshinori Tsunemura and top Japanese women’s prospect and high level wrestler Kanako Murata made her Pancrase debut opposite Australia’s Claire Fryer.
The event aired live on UFC Fight Pass at 2 a.m. ET.
Kazuki Tokudome def. Keiran Joblin by unanimous decision
Yuki Kondo def. Ikuhisa Minowa by unanimous decision
Masakatsu Ueda def. Toshinori Tsunemura by unanimous decision
Kanako Murata def. Claire Fryer by unanimous decision
Yuki Niimura def. Ikkei Nagamura by knockout (right hook). Round 2, 2:58
Takumi Suzuki def. Kazushi Sugiyama by unanimous decision
Takaaki Nara def. Kosei Kubota by unanimous decision
Hiroyuki Oshiro def. Yasuhiro Kawamura by unanimous decision
Takafumi Ato def. Yuya Kodama by submission (rear-naked choke). Round 3, 2:13
Yojiro Uchimura def. Suguru Nii by TKO (knee and punches). Round 2, 2:57
Yoshinori Horie def. Kota Fujisaki by knockout (overhand right). Round 1, 2:36