[ZST.23]: Preview (20/02/2010)

ZST.23 goes this Saturday from Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo headlined by the ZST Bantamweight title fight between the champion, Keisuke Fujiwara (7-2-3) and challenger Shunichi Shimizu (16-5-7). These two have a bit of history as they met once before back in November '08 when Fujiwara defeated Shimizu by knock out in the second round. Fujiwara is returning to ZST after fighting at DREAM.12 were he lost to Tomoya Miyashita (16-7-8) by decision.

Naoyuki Kotani (20-9-6) comes into his match against Kenichi Ito (7-3-4) fresh off a win over DREAM/M-1 veteran Daisuke Nakamura (20-12-0). He has loads of experience on his side having appeared in PRIDE and the UFC. Kenichi Ito, who fights with Alliance-Square, is unbeaten in all four of his matches from 2009. Last September he drew against the very good Kota Okazawa (who has not lost in over two years).

Also keep an eye on Nova Uniao Japan's Bantamweight Tetsuya Fusano (5-1-1) and Core Featherweight Yuru Hayasaka (5-2-0) as both fighters are on pretty decent winning streaks. Hayasaka won five straight in 2009 and Fusano has won four in a row dating back to December '08.

Besides the standard ZST matches, there are four SWAT! and one Genesis fight scheduled on the card.


ZST.23
February 20th, 2010
Shinjuku FACE

ZST Bantamweight Title (5R x 5Min)
6. Keisuke Fujiwara (7-2-3) (c) vs Shunichi Shimizu (16-5-7)

2R x 5Min:
5. LW: Naoyuki Kotani (20-9-6) vs. Kenichi Ito (7-3-4)
4. LW: LUIZ (10-8-3) vs. Motoki Osako (3-1-1)
3. BW: Toshihiro Shimizu (7-8-5) vs. Tetsuya Fusano (5-1-1)
2. FW: Yuichiro Yajima (9-10-1) vs. Yuru Hayasaka (5-2-0)
1. FW: Kohei Kuraoka (7-3-1) vs. Masamitsu Nakamura (3-0-1)

SWAT! Fights (2R x 5Min)
4. LW: Yosuke Akahiro (5-6-1) vs. Takashi Yasui (0-3-1)
3. FW: Kotaku Kawazu vs. Takahiro Baba (1-2-2)
2. BW: Makoto Takenaka vs. Kengo Okubo (1-4-1)
1. FW: Akira Omura (0-14-1) vs. Ryota Kobayashi (0-0-2)

Genesis Fights (1R x 5Min)
1. BW: Fumitaka Iizuka vs. Teppei Shimizu