For the second time in his fighting career, Toby Imada has made a surprising run in a tournament. Imada entered the 2010 S-Cup as an injury replacement for Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennet, and he reached the finals before falling to Buakaw Por. Pramuk.
Shoot Boxing is a sport that combines kickboxing, standing submissions and point-scoring throws and takedowns.
In the first round, Imada faced off against Shoot Boxing super welterweight champion Takaaki Umeno. The Shoot Boxing veteran seemed to have the fight in hand, but Imada scored a shocking knockout late in the final round.
Then, Imada met two-time K-1 MAX and three-time S-Cup champion Andy Souwer. Imada’s judo background and the sport’s quirky rules worked in his favor. He ultimately took the fight by split decision.
Pramuk reached the finals with back-to-back decision victories over Hiroki Shishido and Henri van Opstal. The two-time K-1 MAX champion picked up where he left off against Imada and finished the fight by TKO in the second round.
Toby! Toby! Toby!
Buakaw’s Muay Thai seems perfect for this event. Not surprising he won.
Still kinda weird that Andy and Buakaw chose this event over K1 Max this year.
Do you guys know if they weren’t invited?
Souwer has a very close relationship with Shoot Boxing. He is loyal to the promotion and wears the long pants to represent. When asked at the S-Cup press conference about K-1 MAX, Pramuk said, “my contract has ended, I’m in a new one now,” so take that for what it is worth.
For an MMA fighter on short notice for this contest, Toby Imada put on an absolutely great performance. Although clearly hurt going into the finals against the fearsome Buakaw, Toby Imada looked like he was capable of disposing Buakaw in a similar manner as he did Andy Souwer. But he was defenseless with one leg gone. All three fights were awesome, nevertheless. I guess this just shows what a great fighter Toby Imada was all along.
Thank you for posint.