U-STYLE (2005)

Well, technically, only one show took place in 2005 but it had a couple of matches worth checking out.

Frank Shamrock vs. Daisuke Nakamura (U-STYLE, 11/25/05)

This was a blast, with a high energy opening and fun, chaotic scrambles on the mat. Just a good, competitive, well-worked shoot-style match. Shamrock was especially good here, between his taunting Nakamura to punch his abs to just deadlifting him with a front necklock. That looked pretty gross. All of his submissions and strikes looked snug. Nakamura, on the other hand, kept whiffing on his takedowns, which Shamrock would capitalize on, mainly by wrecking the shit out of his ankle. He's able to get a straight armbar on Shamrock but Frank takes the match with a nice heel hook. Good stuff.

Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Josh Barnett (U-STYLE, 11/25/05)

Match of the night, with Barnett in beast mode. He may not as quick as Tamura but he uses his size to his advantage and stays on top of Tamura. Him just flipping Tamura over his head by the leg was a great show of strength. After Tamura downs him with a pretty nasty knee to the face, Barnett rages with a brutal uranage followed by a deadlift German. POWERFUL~!  Tamura's able to crank on the armbar but Josh is close enough to the ropes for a break. They trade kicks, Barnett plants him with the capture buster but when he tries to double dip, Tamura grabs the armbar again and finally taps him. A super fun David vs. Goliath match-up.