Munenori Sawa vs. Yujiro Yamamoto (BattlARTS, 8/30/09)

When it comes to the BattlARTS bati-bati-boys, I've always gravitated toward Yujiro Yamamoto, whose matwork and transitions were slick as catshit. Munenori Sawa can definitely hold his own on the mat and I actually prefer him working the ground as opposed to throwing baseball punches and Shining Wizards. Really good intense grappling to open with lots of reversals. There's a great moment when Yamamoto starts elbowing Sawa while he's got him by the legs, which allows him to grab the arm submission. Of course, there's plenty of stiff kicks and face slaps as the match progresses. Yamamoto's defense is really good early, especially in blocking the figure-four attempt. Sawa's dragon screw legwhip into the ropes was one of the more gnarly spots of the match, which he follows up with a bunch of pissy kicks. When Sawa lands his baseball punch, Yamamoto doesn't go down but when he tries for a follow up, Yamamoto smacks him and his his own submarine-style baseball slap. In the end, Sawa wins with a neat trapped kneebar but this match had it all, from the struggle on the mat, cool counters, and stiff exchanges in between.

Kengo Mashimo vs. Shinjitsu Nohashi (Futen, 4/26/09)

This kind of match...this is my bread-and-butter. A 12-minute ditty with Kengo Mashimo working like he's too good to be in the same ring as little Shinjitsu Nohashi, who puts on a fun underdog performance. The strikes are stiff, the matwork engaging, and the camera is...uh, adequate. Mashimo starts with these condescending bald head slaps before they scramble around the mat, with Nohashi trying to hold his own. After a good hard kick to the ribs, Mashimo muscles Nohashi up with a deadlift gutwrench suplex and keeps peppering him with the knees and kicks (including an ASS KICK) until Nohashi stops his momentum with a big headbutt. Mashimo is quick to recover, utilizing a crisp takedown into the double wristlock, but Nohashi is able to cut him down with a leg trip, stomping at his face and head before turning him over into the single leg crab. He transitions from the single leg>STF>rear naked choke but Mashimo's able to exert more pressure, turning the hold against him. Finally, Nohashi unloads with some absolutely nasty headbutts (including a running headbutt), bloodying himself in the process. He hits a backdrop suplex, an awesome top rope basement dropkick, and goes right back to the choke. But in the end, he can't hang on and after powering out, Mashimo hits the brainbuster and high kick to the head to KO Nohashi.

KENTA vs. Ricky Marvin (NOAH, 10/15/09)

This has to be the best sub-3:00 match, right? I mean, they managed to pack a 25:00+ minute main event into two minutes and some change. Ricky “Livin’ La Vida Loca Extreme” Marvin, really wants to win this, hitting the John Woo dropkick, the powerbomb, the thrust kick, before KENTA no sells it all to obliterate Marvin with a rolling lariat. For the most part, Marvin has answers to KENTA’s big offense, countering the first Go 2 Sleep attempt with the rana, but the second attempt connects and KENTA blasts him with the punt kick to win.