Ikuhisa Minowa, the Japanese mixed martial artist known as Minowaman, is one of the big stars of Japan's Dream promotion as its Super Hulk champion. But while Japanese fans will always enjoy watching Japanese fighters beat bigger foreigners, Minowaman isn't particularly impressive when he does it.
On Monday at Dream.13, Minowaman beat Jimmy Ambriz by second-round submission, using one of his patented toe holds to force Ambriz -- who outweighs Minowaman by about 70 pounds -- to tap. But it was a fairly dull fight that served mostly as a reminder of what a mediocre fighter Minowaman is.
Ambriz took Minowaman down early in the first round and spent about five minutes on top of him, punching him in the head over and over again, and the only reason he didn't finish Minowaman is that Ambriz is a mediocre fighter, too.
Eventually, the referee bailed Minowaman out by calling for a stand-up even though Ambriz was continuing to land punches. At that point, the ref held up a yellow card, faulting both fighters for stalling. Yellow cards are nothing new for Minowaman; he's frequently faulted for stalling.
Once the fight went back to the feet Minowaman looked OK in the stand-up, and by the second round Ambriz was gassed and Minowaman managed to submit him, but overall it's hard to be impressed with Minowaman, who improved his professional MMA record to 45-30-8. I'm sure Dream will keep putting Minowaman in freak shows he can win, but it would be nice if he could win them in more exciting fashion. With a title like "Super Hulk champion," it'd be nice to see something more than stand-ups and yellow cards.
On Monday at Dream.13, Minowaman beat Jimmy Ambriz by second-round submission, using one of his patented toe holds to force Ambriz -- who outweighs Minowaman by about 70 pounds -- to tap. But it was a fairly dull fight that served mostly as a reminder of what a mediocre fighter Minowaman is.
Ambriz took Minowaman down early in the first round and spent about five minutes on top of him, punching him in the head over and over again, and the only reason he didn't finish Minowaman is that Ambriz is a mediocre fighter, too.
Eventually, the referee bailed Minowaman out by calling for a stand-up even though Ambriz was continuing to land punches. At that point, the ref held up a yellow card, faulting both fighters for stalling. Yellow cards are nothing new for Minowaman; he's frequently faulted for stalling.
Once the fight went back to the feet Minowaman looked OK in the stand-up, and by the second round Ambriz was gassed and Minowaman managed to submit him, but overall it's hard to be impressed with Minowaman, who improved his professional MMA record to 45-30-8. I'm sure Dream will keep putting Minowaman in freak shows he can win, but it would be nice if he could win them in more exciting fashion. With a title like "Super Hulk champion," it'd be nice to see something more than stand-ups and yellow cards.
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