[2003-02-15-U-Style] Hiroyuki Ito vs Ryuki Ueyama

[Jetlag]

The debut show (2/15/2003) had a decent undercard with Ito/Ueyama being the one standout match to deliver some high end shootstyle action. Ueyama feels very Tamura inspired with his almost dance like knee grinding and position switching on the ground. The match obviously had lots of good matwork with the opening exchange being perhaps the dopest on the show, and then Ito, after almost getting submitted, starts doing his dismissive mugging and "I will bite you" grin. Lots of feisty palm strikes.

[Edwin]

I thought this was very good. This maybe an unpopular opinion, but if I'm watching modern shoot style that's going to resemble MMA as much as possible, I want folks throwing heat behind their strikes and constantly scrambling looking to grab limbs or chokes and going for sweeps to improve their positions instead of just sitting in loose kneebars. That's exactly what we get here. Ueyama and Ito pack the heat behind their palm strikes and Ito even drops Ueyama with a sick knee from the clinch early on which leads to some exciting grappling exchanges with Ueyama taking the lead with a great looking flying armbar. That entire scramble looked like what we would get years later in the Tokoro/Nakamura fight year later. After the initial scramble they slow it down and the grappling exchanges aren't as intense, but there's still some dramatic moments with some submissions and some pretty near strikes thrown. Beautiful finish with Ueyama rolling into an ankle lock.

[MikeCampbell]

I have to say that I disagree with both of you. This didn't really do a damn thing for me, outside of the first exchange. After they separated, Ito was like a deer in the headlights. Even when he lucked into something like that takedown, his first instinct was to cover up instead of press his advantage. In comparison to Ito, Ueyama looks like a young Tamura. Whether or not he is, I can't say because this is the first U-Style show I've seen outside of a few clips here and there.