[1998-09-21-RINGS] Tsuyoshi Kohsaka vs Mikhail Ilioukhine

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This was labeled as Christopher Haseman vs Wataru Sakata on the disc, which it is not, but this is a promising matchup all the same, so I'll take it. This turned out to be a great match. Tabe thinks this is probably a shoot. Does anyone know for sure?

[Tim Cooke]

Definite work

[Zenjo]

This was nearly all matwork and there was some impressive technique on display. They displayed creative thinking, quick movement and smart reversals. At 12m it had the right duration as well. Kohsaka was the star and in the form of his life at this point in time. His Russian adversary more than held his end up.

[soup23]

This felt like a work for me and will be ranked accordingly. Mikhali is becoming my favorite Eastern European type shoot style guy. He only has one gear but he is relentless here going after the leg of Kohsaka. Koh fires back and shows the perils of a strategy going awry as he puts Mikhali away once he weathers the storm. Perfect length match for these two at 12 minutes also. (***1/2)

[PeteF3]

Yeah, I had no inklings at all that this was a shoot. Some really beautiful mat exchanges here and some good stand-up, too.

[Control21]

Another RINGS match that flies under the radar. This was a borderline classic with lots of fluid wrestling and counterwork from both men. Kohsaka pulls out some flashy moves here, including a flying omoplata of some sort. Kohsaka also has some slick reversals in his bag, giving the stronger Ilyukhin a run for his money. Ilyukhin was also very good here, and worked his realistic SAMBO style to near perfection here, including pulling out a kani-basami. Fantastic stuff all around. ****3/4