Posted April 24, 20241 yr comment_6021014 From what I can gather, this is Yutaka Kobayashi's pro debut, I can't find any sort of pro wrestling background on him, only MMA stuff. And it's quite a debut, even if it's a fifteen minute broadway. His matwork is very quick and smooth, very reminiscent of a young Kiyoshi Tamura. The match has some extended mat periods, but never feels lazy or like they're using the holds as an excuse to rest and kill time. Kobayashi is clearly the better mat worker in this case, and Izuchi manages to more or less not lose, but hitting a series of kicks culminating in a head kick that take a point, and staving off the juji-gatame long enough for the time limit to hit just as Kobayashi gets it locked in. Even without winning, the match establishes right out the gate that Kobayashi is someone to keep an eye on, and that he can be a problem for anyone on the UWF roster.
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