QUINTET's first event of the year, "QUINTET FIGHT NIGHT 6 in TOKYO," was held at EX THEATER ROPPONGI on March 12.
The combined weight across five grapplers in this women's tournament is 280kg. The three teams below fought to win the three-way playoff.
〈TEAM CARPE DIEM〉
Haruki Ishiguro
Yuki Uchiyama
Mitomo Moriwaki
Satomi Suga
SARAMI
〈TEAM Fairtex〉
Carolina De Amorim Kuwahara
Kanon Kishida
Julyanna Laurentino
Kazuko Sakamoto
Ryoko Yoshida
〈TEAM Coroblock〉
Emi Fujino
WINDY Tomomi
Takayo Hashi
Yuki Ono
Norika Ryu
Before the women's three-way playoff match, Reon Niwa and Shota Nagano went head to head in the Opening Fight. Nagano went for leg locks like his master Hideo Tokoro from the beginning. Meanwhile, Niwa tried to score from the bottom. Nagano went for the legs repeatedly, but Niwa took a mounting position from the back, followed by a chokehold and then an armbar, but Nagano managed to escape. Niwa took him from the back again, and Nagano went for a straight foot lock. Just before the time ran out, he attempted an armlock. In the end, Niwa won the aggressive battle with zero penalties by flag decision.
The draw was held in public before the match, and the first match was played between CARPE DIEM and Fairtex.
The first battle was between CARPE DIEM's SARAMI and Fairtex's Sakamoto. The MMA fighter SARAMI kept the pressure on and got a shoulder lock from a mounting position. However, she was not able to win and brought it to a breakoff. At this point, Sakamoto jumped on and used a closed guard, but this was ruled as a foul. SARAMI was immediately declared as the winner.
SARAMI faced Yoshida in the second bout. This time, she went for a front choke immediately. Although Yoshida escaped this, she turned to the back and went for a mounting position. From there, she got an armbar and won this fight as well. Next, she confronted Carolina in the third round. Since there was more than a 7kg weight difference, the match time was reduced to four minutes.
Despite the limited time available, Carolina took the lead with an armbar from an omoplata. She was able to show her strength as Fairtex's team leader.
In the next fight, Moriwaki, CARPE DIEM's second fighter, took to the mat. The time for this match was also reduced to four minutes due to the weight difference. Moriwaki went for Carolina's leg, but Carolina caught Moriwaki in an ankle hold and then brought her down in a mounting position. Moriwaki stood the kneebar and ankle hold during the last minutes, the time expired, and both fighters left the ring.
Next up was CARPE DIEM's third fighter Ishiguro, and Fairtex's fourth fighter, Julyanna. Ishiguro won in 15 seconds with a beautiful armbar, leaving only the fifth fighter Kishida for Fairtex.
If Kishida loses this match, it's all over for Fairtex. Ishiguro attacked Kishida from below with various moves. With only 1 minute to go, Kishida turned to Ishiguro's back and won an Ippon with a choke. Even with a draw, Fairtex would have lost. Kishida didn't allow the fight be settled.
CARPE DIEM's fourth fighter was Suga. She took Kishida's neck while attempting a pass to exhausted Kishida, and won by a d'arce choke. With Suga's victory, CARPE DIEM advanced to the playoff.
After the match-up between CARPE DIEM and Fairtex, the awaited Iron Man Exhibition Match was held between SAKU Jr. and Kazuhiro Suzuki. SAKU Jr. entered with the same theme song as his father, Kazushi Sakuraba. The referee for this bout was Yuji Shimada. SAKU Jr. set up a leg lock and an armbar from the beginning and won an armlock from a side triangle choke. Suzuki then attempted an armbar, but SAKU Jr. managed to clear it. From there, both wrestlers attempted many leg locks. Suzuki also won with a kneebar to put the score at 1:1. During the last minute, SAKU Jr. got an armlock, one of his father's favorite techniques. Suzuki went for an armbar. Both fighters escaped, and the match ended with no winner or loser as it was an exhibition match.
After the fight, Sakuraba joined the stage to hold a graduation ceremony for his son. Saku Jr. is graduating from college this spring, and he and his fellow judo club players appeared on stage. Sakuraba sent a message to them saying, "I hope you all become wonderful and respectable adults."
The second women's three-way playoff match was between Fairtex and Coroblock, with Sakamoto and Ono in the first round. Sakamoto got caught in a triangle choke and tried to grab the arm as well, but this was brought to a breakoff. Ono pressured from above and went for a leg lock. There were less than three minutes left when the referee gave both a penalty. Sakamoto went for an armbar, but Ono blocked it. Late in the round, Sakamoto received another penalty for dragging behind. The fight ended in a draw, but there was a difference in the number of penalties.
The next match was between Fujino and Julyanna. Julyanna pulled back and attempted an armbar, but Fujino put pressure on her from above. Fujino then took Julyanna's arm and got an armlock, but Julyanna managed to escape that. Fujino continued to attack from the bottom. Julyanna pulled back and got her legs, but Fujino kept the top position. The fight ended in a draw.
Fairtex's team leader, Carolina, fought with Ryu in the third match. The match time was four minutes. Ryu is well known for her powerful punching and kicking skills in MMA. Carolina tried to attack from the bottom, but both fighters were given a penalty. Once they restarted, Carolina went for a triangle choke, but Ryu defended it. Carolina attempted a triangle choke again, but Ryu managed to resist it, but this was given a penalty. They restarted the fight in the side back position, and Ryu was able to stand up to get a tackle. Again, the fight ended in a draw.
Yoshida and WINDY clashed in the fourth round. WINDY is originally a kickboxer, but she is also a powerful grappler. Even when she was swept down by a large outer reap, she attempted to attack from the back. WINDY hung in there until the very last second, but Yoshida won in the end with an armbar. This was the first win in this match.
Coroblock's Hashi appeared in the next round. Due to the weight difference, the match time was four minutes. Hashi made many fierce attacks from the beginning since the time was limited. In the first minute, she moved to the back and got an Americana lock from a mounted position. With less than 30 seconds left, she won against Yoshida, continuing on to the final round.
In the fight between Hashi and Kishida, Kishida first went to the top from a sprawling position. She quickly attempted for a chokehold from the back, but Hashi escaped. Both fighters were given penalties, and when the fight resumed, Kishida took Hashi down with a large outer reap. Kishida got a front choke in the last two minutes. The match hung in the balance as Hashi got in the top position again. As they tied in the number of penalties, the fifth fighter's winner was decided by the flag. Fairtex was declared the winner, thus leading to the championship match against CARPE DIEM again.
The Special Single Match held before the three-way championship match was between Daisuke Nakamura and Tomoshige Sera. The promo video shown before the fight introduced the match as a professional wrestling versus jiu-jitsu MMA match. Sera attacked from the bottom, and Nakamura fought back, then Sera mounted on Nakamura and took him from the back. Nakamura held it, but Sera mounted on him again. Sera continued with a guillotine choke, an arm-triangle choke, and an armbar, but Nakamura managed to escape. The audience buzzed with excitement. Sera kept attacking to the end with different holds, such as guillotine chokes to win the fight by flag decision.
The final match of the women's three-way playoff was between CARPE DIEM and Fairtex. For Fairtex, this was their third match this day.
Uchiyama, who hadn't appeared in the first match, faced Fairtex's previous match's fifth fighter Kishida in the first round. Although Kishida had to fight back-to-back, she planned to "crush" Uchiyama. However, in the four-minute match, Uchiyama attacked from below and won by Ippon with a straight footlock in 50 seconds.
The match time for Uchiyama and Julyanna lasted for four minutes. Again, Uchiyama attacked with a series of leg locks. This time, she won by a kneebar.
Next up was Uchiyama and Sakamoto. Although Uchiyama was still the first fighter for CARPE DIEM, Sakamoto was already the third fighter for Fairtex. The match time for this fight was also four minutes. Uchiyama again attacked aggressively, taking the neck from a mounting position. The fight ended in a draw, but CARPE DIEM held a huge advantage in terms of the number of fighters left.
In CARPE DIEM's second fighter, Moriwaki, and Fairtex's fourth fighter, Yoshida's match-up, Moriwaki won by an armbar from a mounting position. Only the captain, Carolina, remains for Fairtex.
Moriwaki and Carolina had four minutes to fight. CARPE DIEM's victory would be determined even if Moriwaki got away with a draw. Moriwaki was very aggressive and didn't let Carolina take control and didn't let her get an armbar from a mounting position. Moriwaki was able to bring victory to CARPE DIEM as time ran out. CARPE DIEM was able to win with only two fighters. Compared to the first match, it wasn't close at all.
At the closing ceremony, Sakuraba presented a heart-shaped medal to the members of TEAM CARPE DIEM. "I hope that we will be able to invite 10th PLANET to come over and fight with us after the pandemic," said Sakuraba. In his wrap-up speech, he said, "The 10th Planet in the U.S., Brazilian teams, and the Polaris Pro Grappling based in the U.K. are all also mighty teams. I want to build the strongest team in Japan and have a four-nation tournament." Let's look forward to seeing how the QUINTET women's tournament unfolds in the future.
(Report by Norihiro Hashimoto, a freelance MMA writer)
