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[2000-06-18-BattlARTS] Yuki Ishikawa vs Takeshi Ono


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Ono was just unreal here. He's wearing gloves, but MMA type ones and not the boxing ones I'm used to seeing him wear, but he throws all the boxing combinations you loved his 2010 run for as well as all the junior flash submissions you could think of. It was like watching a combination of 2010 Ono and the world's greatest Ikuto Hidaka, a really remarkable performance. Of course Ishikawa is no slouch either, his stiffness and high level matwork added to the match as much as you'd expect but this was more of an Ono showcase. There was no wasted motion, the match pretty much started with a nearfall in Ishikawa catching an Ono takedown attempt into a Guillotine, and from there on it was just non stop smashmouth action. Ono hit a quick head kick combo to pay him back and then dramatically threw himself on the floor to recuperate which was a great spot, melodrama isn't exactly the first thing associated with Battlarts but in a small dose it can work great. ****1/4

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From what I've gathered, Ono in these days was relegated to lower carder status whose single matches were either clipped, or against total scrubs, which is a shame. This is a rare chance to see a proper match, and it seems Ono at this point was not much less good than he was in 2010. They make the most out of an 8 minute match, Ishikawa is bigger and much higher ranked, but he takes a bit of a backseat and lets Ono go all out. Match has some pretty spectacular matwork, Ono is amazing at diving for submissions at lightning speed, which gives Ishikawa a good opportunity to show off his mat skills against a highly skilled opponent. To supplement the matwork Ono beats Ishikawa full force, including pounding on his head with fists and knees on the ground. The last couple minutes are especially off the charts, a proper main event between the two would've been amazing.

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  • 5 months later...

Strong underneath BattlARTS match of someone like Ono really having to go after the supreme ace in Ishikawa. I liked how Ono pushed the pace and his transitions as Jetlag mentioned were spectacular and brisk. This gave the match a sense of danger for Ishikawa that wouldn't have normally have been there given Ono's stature. The match went a good length of time where Ono comes out looking stronger but the pecking order of the promotional hierarchy remains in place. ***1/4 (6.4)

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  • 1 month later...
I'm on an Ono/Battlarts kick right now and it may be colouring my perception, but I thought this was truly phenomenal; like one of the best sub-ten minute matches I've ever seen. Ono is one of the all time greatest at swarming a guy and he was unbelievable in this, going after Ishikawa at the bell and not relenting for a second, just crawling all over him, blasting him in the face -- he was a ferocious little machine. All of the punches and kicks looked immaculate, but it was the way he was leaping into those leglocks that impressed me most. He was grabbing them from absolutely everywhere and you know you're onto something when even Ishikawa looks like he's struggling to contain you. It led to an amazing bit where Ishikawa finally managed to hold onto him as Ono went for maybe his eighth crazy rolling kneebar of the match, hoist him in the air and drop him on his neck with a huge German suplex. Ishikawa for his part was excellent as well. You know his matwork is going to rule and he was countering in slick and awesome ways, usually by grabbing limbs and bending them at more angles than there existed joints to be bent at. There was one part as well where he'd just taken a shot to the face - could've been a kick, a punch, a knee, it was hard to keep track - and he came out smiling, like the extent to which this match was not a monkey show pleased him greatly. I would need to play-by-play this whole thing in order to note down everything I liked about it because I thought it was tremendous from start to finish. Seriously loved it.
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Eh, I'm with OJ and don't agree with the general overlook of this... Not saying it wasn't good, because it was, however I don't feel it was as good as it's being made out to be. I really dug the endless scrambles which I thought were great, namely Ono channeling Sakuraba and using a cartwheel to escape an armbar attempt. However Ono looks really flimsy, similar to Spanky in TWA levels of flimsy and thus a lot of the stuff he does doesn't come off looking as good as it would if it were someone else. I'm not sure that's what OJ was going for, but that's how it came across to me. Anyway, this was fairly good however.

 

***

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  • 4 weeks later...

I really enjoyed this. Very much an Ono showcase of reversals, takedowns, and slipping through Ishikawa's more experienced fingers to a snag a leg or pop him with a couple of kicks. Real slick matwork, with Ishikawa mostly weathering Ono's combos in order to find an opening for the usual takedown>submission. But Ono proves to be a bit more wily than he probably anticipated. I liked the sequence where Ishikawa catches one of his punches and tries to take him down with the armbar, but Ono cartwheels out of it and moves into a rear waistlock. He has a lot of answers of Ishikawa's defense but in the end, taps out to the vet. Cool stuff.

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I'm kind of surprised by the comments here as this was far more conservative than I expected. BattlARTS is often a balancing act between Strong Style and Shoot Style but I thought this veered towards the former and Ono wasn't nearly as violent as I expected. Perhaps I should watch it again.

 

It's more the former but "Ono as submissions freak & Murakami-lite manic" is a great mix to watch from someone who already could pay so many unique roles within the extended troupe, especially since he's so underrated from almost all of his stuff we have being BAT/FU-TEN. All Ono is good Ono and this is some GOOD Ono.

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  • 6 months later...

I enjoyed this match, but didn't think it was anything great.  Ono was impressive with his kicks here and did a good job of playing the underdog trying to push the pace to defeat the veteran.  Solid matwork and strikes here with everything delivering as expected.  ***1/2

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  • GSR changed the title to [2000-06-18-BattlARTS] Yuki Ishikawa vs Takeshi Ono
  • 3 years later...

I loved this. Ono's slipperiness and flash was such an interesting contrast to Ishikawa's more disciplined approach. The opening guillotine choke out(?) from Ishikawa into the two receipt kicks from Ono, who histrionically falls down afterwards, caught my eye and they never lost it. 

***1/2

 

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