Shoko Sato is a seasoned veteran who made his pro debut in 2007. After stints with Pancrase, Vale Tudo Japan and Road FC the 31 year old has found a home at Shooto where he holds the bantamweight title.
On Saturday Sato (30-16-3-1) at Shooto 11/17 he will be making the second defence of the belt he won just over a year ago. The experienced bantamweight is set to rematch fellow veteran Yo Saito (20-14-4) at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.
The two first met in January at Shooto 1/28. It was a non-title bout and Saito scored a decision win. While that was a three rounder this weekend’s rematch is scheduled for five and this time Sato’s belt will be on the line.
The co-main event features flyweight prospect Takumi Tamaru (8-1-1). Just like Sato he is coming off an impressive win at Shooto 7/15 when he snapped Yosuke Saruta’s eight-fight undefeated streak.
Tamaru is going up against Tadaaki Yamamoto (15-11-3) who is ten years his senior and coming off a three-fight losing skid. However the veteran’s last three bouts have all been against top-level opponents and he should provide a stern test of the young prospect’s current credentials.
Shooto 11/17, Tokyo, November 17th
Shoko Sato (c) vs Yo Saito (For World Bantamweight Title)
Takumi Tamaru vs Tadaaki Yamamoto (Flyweight)
Junji Ito vs Ryosuke Honda (Strawweight)
Naoyuki Kotani vs Shutaro Debana (Lightweight)
Yoichi Fukumoto vs Yuta Kaneko (Lightweight)
Takamasa Kiuchi vs Shuto Aki (Strawweight)
Ryo Okada vs Nobuki Fujii (Bantamweight)
Tatsuya Ando vs Go Minamide (Bantamweight)
Kyung Pyo Kim vs Daisuke Hoshino (Welterweight)
Kazuma Kuramoto vs Kei Iwaki (Bantamweight)
