Ryoji Kudo has has a very good 2020. The lightweight scored his fourth win of the year at the expense of former foe Derricott Yamamoto at Tribe Tokyo Fight 9 on Sunday.
The event took place at the Hotel Mielparque in Osaka. The headliner putted Kudo against Yamamoto in a rematch with the Tribe Tokyo star looking to avenge a 2018 defeat.
Yamamoto’s career has had its ups and downs but he remains the only man to ever beat Kudo. The two clashed on a Shooto card two years ago with the former running out as a decision winner.
This time Kudo did not leave it in the hands of the judges. He stopped his opponent with strikes late in the opening round to take his record to 10-1 while Yamamoto drops to 9-7.
In welterweight action Takuya Nagata (9-3) bounced back from his submission loss at ONE Warrior Series 8 with a hard fought decision win. He outpointed Tateo Iida (8-5) after three rounds.
There was also a win for Joji Goto (11-4-1). The featherweight stopped Kenta Hattori (4-3-1) with strikes midway through the opening round.
Kouki Nakagawa (6-0-0-1) maintained his perfect professional record but the margins were fine. He squeezed past Tribe Tokyo’s Yu Karino (2-1) with a majority decision win.
Tribe Tokyo Fight 9, Osaka, December 20th
Ryoji Kudo def. Derricott Yamamoto via Decision (Unanimous)
Takuya Nagata def. Tateo Iida via Decision (Unanimous)
Joji Goto def. Kenta Hattori via KO at 3:06 of Round 1
Takanori Takahashi def. Yohei Nada via Decision (Unanimous)
Naoki Ueda def. Daichi Nishimura via Decision (Split)
Taiga Iwasaki def. Masanori Kato via KO at
4:04 of Round 2
Kouki Nakagawa def. Yu Karino via Decision (Majority)
Hiroki Otani def. Go Utsunomiya via Decision (Majority)
