This was a nice title fight. Ueda is a guy who usually leaves me cold but I respected his performance here. Junji's not really a shoot guy but Ueda allowed this to be a contest irrespective of their skill levels. Junji took the fight to Ueda and the champ was on the defensive from the get-go. The action was stiff and competitive and they never once fell back on any of the cliches of hierarchy or roles. It was pure competition the whole way through and they topped it off with a wonderful back-and-forth submission battle in the finest tradition of the flashier shoot style guys. That's not always my cup of tea but it suited this match to a tee. A top performance from Ueda and a fine under-the-radar bout to begin the year. 

Good juniors BattlARTS. Junji.com has a simple strategy of mainly focusing on the right arm of Usuda and Usuda sold it well.  He is fine utilizing his kicks and late in the game, junji realizes he probably should have been focusing on that and tries to pivot. Some really slick transitions and finishing submissions in the final moments with Usuda not relinquishing a cross armbreaker and eventually picking up the victory. ***1/2 (7.2)