Three titles were on the line at Pancrase 340. The welterweight belt changed hands in the main event with Ryuichiro Sumimura stopping Genpei Hayashi midway through the final round.
Sumimura got Hayashi down early in the opening round but he couldn’t keep him there. The challenger consistently looked to close the distance and briefly had his opponent’s back.
They traded leg kicks at the start of the second with Sumimura scoring another takedown in a fight that wasn’t producing too much action. Things did begin to heat up in the third with Hayashi finally starting to land some punches.
Keisuke Takazawa
Flying knee
Sumimura was relentless in pursuit of takedowns and consistently frustrated Hayashi’s attempts at offence. The champion attempted a flying knee at the end of the third but it didn’t connect.
In the fourth round Sumimura started to take over. He took Hayashi down and moved into mount, landing a barrage of punches that would have finished the fight if the bell hadn’t come to his opponent’s rescue.
The momentum was with Sumimura and Hayashi cut a frustrated figure at this stage. The challenger was able to take him down again in the fifth round and quickly secured mount.
There was plenty of time for Sumimura to work and he landed punches from mount until the referee stepped in at the 2:05 mark. He secures the Pancrase welterweight title and moves up to 23-8-1 while his opponent drops to 13-12-1.
Keisuke Takazawa
Two titles
In the co-main event Seiichiro Ito choked Naoki Arikawa unconscious in a fight which had the interim flyweight title on the line. He finished the fight with a rear naked choke in the second round.
Tokitaka Nakanishi (11-3) and Yasuhiro Kawamura (15-9-1) were fighting for the vacant Pancrase bantamweight belt. This one also ended with someone unconscious, the latter sinking in an arm triangle choke at the end of the opening round.
Pancrase 340, Tokyo, December 25th
Ryuichiro Sumimura def. Genpei Hayashi via TKO (Punches) at 2:09 of R5
Seiichiro Ito def. Naoki Arikawa via Technical Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 3:05 of R2
Tokitaka Nakanishi def. Yasuhiro Kawamura via Technical Submission (Arm-Triangle Choke) at 4:45 of R1
Tatsuya Saika def. Yusuke Kasuya via Decision (Unanimous)
Sayako Fujita def. Mei Yamaguchi via Decision (Split)
Satomi Takano def. Zenny Huang via Decision (Unanimous)
Naoki Hirata def. Shinsuke Kamei via Decision (Unanimous)
Ryogo Takahashi vs. Sang Won Kim ends in Technical Draw (Split)
Ryo Asami def. Yuito Yanagawa via Submission (Armbar) at 0:33 of R3
Muhammad Salohidinov def. Toki Matsui via Decision (Unanimous)
Wataru Miki def. Yuki Kondo via Decision (Unanimous)
Ryo Tajima def. Kunihisa Sasa via Decision (Unanimous)
Shogo Sato def. Takahiro Kawanaka via TKO (Punches) at 1:22 of R1
Genta Shindo def. Misaki Umehara via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke) at 1:51 of R1
