For some reason I am not surprised the pimped (well, at least nerd-wrestling twitter-pimped, which is still a niche, but it's something at least) american indy claiming to preserve the grappling style does a pretty questionable (read: shit) job of actually doing so while a japanese indy no one talks about seems to be doing just that.

 

This was really good. Sato is way better at working U-STYLE than he is at randomly grabbing chinlocks and headlocks. I like the guy but you can't hide he barely gives a shis sometimes. This played to his strengths and Honda put on a great performance as well-you wan't a guy named Honda to wrestle like Tamon Honda AND HE DOES!!! His offence was "limited" to shooty takedowns and submissions and he did a great job of selling the threat and impact of Sato's kicks and holds. Everything here was a struggle, with plenty of fighting for both takedowns and positioning on the ground and the competitors showed off their skill (which frankly matters a lot when doing something like this) nicely. The finish was brilliant-unexpected, completely caught me off guard but in a good way. ***1/4

This was a lot of fun. Top notch selling from Honda and an awesome finish. You can tell Honda is comfortable striking with Sato and so he tries to find an opening to take him down to the mat, but even then, he still gets caught.