Kieran Joblin and Claire Fryer came up short in their Pancrase debuts on Sunday, both losing to Japanese opponents at Pancrase 288.
The event took place at Differ Ariake in Tokyo, Japan and was broadcast live on UFC Fight Pass.
Joblin who had earned his shot at Pancrase after taking out last year’s XFC ‘Road to Pancrase’ tournament, lost a unanimous decision to former UFC fighter Kazuki Tokudome. The 30-year-old Japanese fighter took centre of the cage with Joblin wanting to take it to the ground early. Tokudome though, stayed a step ahead whenever it went to the ground, reversing takedown attempts and securing mount as he out-wrestled Joblin through-out the contest.
In the end, all three judges scored the bout to Tokudome as he takes his record to 18-7-1, which includes just one loss in his last seven outings since being released from the UFC. Joblin drops to 20-8.
Earlier in the night, Brisbane based Claire Fryer put on a spirited performance in a decision loss to Kanako Murata in a women’s strawweight contest.
In the main event, Daiji Abe scored a big win over Hiromitsu Miura to claim the promotions welterweight strap.
Full Results:
- Daiji Abe def. Hiromitsu Miura via TKO (Punches), Rd 2, 0:26 – Pancrase welterweight title
- Kazuki Tokudome def. Kieran Joblin (New Zealand) via Decision (Unanimous)
- Yuki Kondo def. Ikuhisa Minowa via Decision (Unanimous)
- Masakatsu Ueda def. Toshinori Tsunemura via Decision (Unanimous)
- Kanako Murata def. Claire Fryer (Australia) via Decision (Unanimous)
- Yuki Niimura def. Ikkei Nagamura via KO (Punch), Rd 2, 2:58
- Takumi Suzuki def. Tatsushi Sugiyama via Decision (Unanimous)
- Takaaki Nara def. Kosei Kubota via Decision (Unanimous)
- Hiroyuki Oshiro def. Yasuhiro Kawamura via Decision (Unanimous)
- Takafumi Ato def. Yuya Kodama via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 3, 2:10
- Yojiro Uchimura def. Suguru Nii via TKO (Knee & Punches), Rd 2, 2:57
- Yoshinori Horie def. Kota Fujisaki via KO (Punch), Rd 1, 2:36
- Kazunari Kimura def. Hanmyo Oniyama via Decision (Unanimous)
- Makoto Kawawa def. Marcio Okumura via Decision (Unanimous)
- Taiyo Hayashi def. Satoshi Kogure via Decision (Unanimous)
- Masahide Hiraoka def. Kenzo Hirokawa via Decision (Unanimous)
- Shigeki Iijima def. Shun Miyakawa via Decision (Unanimous)
- Kohei Kuraoka def. Tatsuyuki Nakamura via Decision (Unanimous)