Shooto 'Gig Central Volume 16' quick preview

More Japanese mixed martial arts to look forward to this weekend when Shooto hosts the upcoming 'Gig Central Vol:16' event on Sunday October 26 at the Tokai TV Telepia Hall in Nagoya, Japan.

In main event action we have Yoshitaro Niimi up against Xavier Lucas for the vacant Shooto Pacific Rim Middleweight Title. Niimi is ranked #1 by Shooto in the Pacific Rim division and has a win over UFC import Yoshiyuki "Zenko" Yoshida in his MMA debut back in 2005.

Thats not to suggest he'll walk right through Xavier Lucas, who Shooto ranks at #3.

A fight in the Light Heavyweight (183lbs) Rookie Tournament is also scheduled to take place when Makoto Maeda faces Naoji Mikoshiba. Maeda came up short in his last fight when he was finished in the first round with some vicious punches from Akihiro Murayama at 'Shooting Disco 3' back in October 2007.

We'll also be treated to a women's bout between Kinuka Sasaki and Mutsumi Kasai. The fight seems a tad bit of a mismatch. Kasai is undefeated, beating all of her previous opponents in round one with a submission.

Sasaki did win her last fight, a unanimous decision win over Miki Morifuji at Kingdom Of Grapple's 'Summerfest 2008' in August, but prior to that she had a six-fight losing streak.

Here is the official fight card for Gig Central Vol: 16:

Main Card:

Masato Fujiwara (5-10-5) vs. Kenichi Hattori (5-3-3)
Hiroshi Sakamoto (3-3) vs. Hiroharu Matsufuji (2-4)
Kinuka Sasaki (2-6) vs. Mutsumi Kasai (2-0)
Kenichi Sawada (3-9-2) vs. Teppei Masuda (1-2)
Naohiro Mizuno (3-1) vs. Mitsuru Kobayashi (2-0)

Pacific Rim Middleweight Title Fight:

Yoshitaro Niimi (6-2-2) vs. Xavier Lucas (4-1-1)

Light Heavyweight Rookie Tournament 2nd Round:
Makoto Maeda (1-1-1) vs. Naoji Mikoshiba (2-0)