[2006-02-26-Big Mouth Loud] Katsumi Usuda vs Hiroyuki Ito

Ito looked somewhat unpolished here, he has nice kicks and I liked his palm strike flurries but he doesn't seem to have much clue how to work and time his stuff. Usuda carried him through the mat exchanges and executed some really cool holds, love his Wakigatame/bodyscissors. Finishing stretch was neat as they finally started going after each other with brutal stand up exchanges but the match didn't really seem to click before that as they'd just awkwardly reset after every sequence, though a great TKO finish will make me quickly forget the bout's shortcomings. ***-***1/4