The first Shooto even of 2019 took place at the Korakuen Hall last weekend. In the main event Ryo Okada snatched the bantamweight title from Kazuma Sone courtesy of a first round stoppage.
Sone (23-17) was last seen losing to Yuki Motoya at Rizin 12. He was back in the Shooto cage and looking to defend his bantamweight belt for the first time. Things didn’t pan out like that as a left hook from Okada (14-4) finished the fight late in the opening round.
As well as earning the right to call himself a Shooto champion Okada can also expect a contract offer from ONE Championship. The two promotions signed a deal which will see all future champions signed by the Singapore based organization.
In the co-main event Kiyotaka Shimizu (22-14) underlined his credentials as a top flyweight contender with a stoppage win that also came late in the opening round. He finished Maeda (36-17) with ground and pound.
Shooto 1/27, Tokyo, January 27th
Ryo Okada def. Kazuma Sone by KO (Punch) at 4:58 of Round 1
Kiyotaka Shimizu def. Yoshiro Maeda by TKO (Punches) at 4:37 of Round 1
Yutaka Saito def. Markus Held by TKO (Punches) at 3:29 of Round 2
Yohei Sakamoto def. Derricott Yamamoto by KO (Corner Stoppage) at 3:06 of Round 1
Yuki Kawana def. Yuki Okano by Decision (Unanimous) at 5:00 of Round 3
Mamoru Uoi def. Nobuki Fujii by Decision (Unanimous) at 5:00 of Round 3
Takashi Nakayama def. Jin Aoi by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 2:16 of round 1
Ryohei Kurosawa def. Yuya Kodama by Submission (Rear Naked Choke) at 3:30 of Round 2
Tsubasa Saito def. Hideto Okada by Decision (Unanimous) at 5:00 of Round 3
Chelsey Hibsch def. Sarah Jane McCann by Decision (Unanimous) at 5:00 of Round 2
Koyuru Tanoue def. Atsushi Makigaya by Decision (Unanimous) at 5:00 of Round 2
Megumi Sugimoto def. Megumi Kigoshi by Decision (Unanimous) at 3:00 of Round 2
Takehiro Nakaike def. Haruto Nakayama by Submission (Armbar) at 2:22 of Round 1
