×

Recent News

  • Miyamoto Musashi: Ancient Concepts for Modern Fighting

    It is commonly known in MMA circles that ancien...
  • Alexander Gustafsson: The Other Guy

    Alexander Gustafsson is in one of the worst pos...
  • The secrets to power punching, hitting hard and getting wins!

    Every fighter, be them a boxer, kick fighter or...

Calendar

January 2021
M T W T F S S
« Jan    
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031

Archives

  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • April 2013

DIESEL NEWS

  • Miyamoto Musashi: Ancient Concepts for Modern Fighting

    It is commonly known in MMA circles that ancien...
  • Alexander Gustafsson: The Other Guy

    Alexander Gustafsson is in one of the worst pos...
QUESTIONS? CALL: 07765 243012
  • SUPPORT

Diesel Gym

  • CLASSES
    • Muay Thai
    • 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu
    • MMA
    • Wrestling
    • Personal 1-2-1 Training
    • Under 16’s Class
    • Strength & Conditioning
  • GYM LIFE
    • The Diesel Team
    • Testimonials
    • FAQ’s
  • TIMETABLES & PRICES
  • LOCATION
  • MEDIA
  • ARTICLES
  • CONTACT
JOIN NOW
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Diesel Breakdown
  • Kyoji Horiguchi vs Tenshin Nasukawa: How Much Ring Did They Need?! (Rizin 13 Breakdown)
 

Kyoji Horiguchi vs Tenshin Nasukawa: How Much Ring Did They Need?! (Rizin 13 Breakdown)

Andrew | Diesel News
Friday, 26 October 2018 / Published in Diesel Breakdown

Kyoji Horiguchi vs Tenshin Nasukawa: How Much Ring Did They Need?! (Rizin 13 Breakdown)

Kyoji Horiguchi vs Tenshin Nasukawa was an exciting affair. The bout between the (at the very least) number 2 MMA fighter and the (again, at the very least) number 2 kickboxer in the world saw Tenshin looking for groin kicks at every opportunity and Kyoji Horiguchi looking quite convincing as far as kickboxing goes. It was also held in a boxing ring so tall that it was practically a cage onto itself, and so wide that they may as well have been competing in a field.

So this raises the question, how would this fight have gone down in a ring actually MEANT for men of their size?

 

Part One: Why Size Matters

Here is Bob Sapp, in a rare winning effort fighting at Rizin 13 in that very same ring. Considering Bob Sapp’s famously ludicrous size of 6’5 and 300+ pounds, it should come as very little surprise that the five rope high ring was tall enough that our Japanese superstars may as well have been fighting in a cage.

Despite being the most popular arena to fight, little is often made of ring size. We often hear fans talking about the weight of fighters gloves, and how that can impact a fight but we rarely here fans complaining about a ring being too big or too small. This is puzzling, as the type of arena greatly affects the outcome of a fight.

The larger and more open an arena, the more it will favour the out-fighter. Fighters like Raymond Daniels, Floyd Mayweather and Anderson Silva would be at their best fighting in an open field, with no ropes or cage to run onto while retreating. Cages are the most forgiving arena for an outside fighter, with corners being very obtuse and easy to escape. Four sided rings on the other hand, force creativity in footwork for an outside fighter to prevent them from being trapped against the ropes – and as you would expect – a small four sided ring will benefit an aggressive pressure fighter.

 

Part Two: How Could a Smaller Ring Have Affected the Outcome

In order to properly assess how the ring affected this fight, we need to look at the specific strategies that Tenshin and Kyoji came in with especially. For Tenshin Nasukawa the gameplan was simple, just be himself. The kickboxing savant has proved terrifying, he has quick and powerful kicks, fast hands and all around stellar kickboxing technique that has led him to victories against  IBF Boxing World champion Amnat Ruenroeng and Lumpinee Champion Wanchalong, both while under 20 years of age, no less.

Kyoji Horiguchi as the underdog with no professional kickboxing experience, needed a specific game plan. He needed to close distance and pressure. Pressure is always the way to defeat a counter puncher. Give a great counter fighter too much to think about, it’s easier to hit them with something they didn’t see coming. Either by overloading them with feints, or turning the fight into a scrappy affair, it’s best to get a counter puncher off of their game.

Horiguchi is ordinarily a fighter who likes distance, and the great distance provided by the comically oversized ring certainly seemed to work on his favour on the defence. Not only that but he was far more effective at getting across the gap than his opponent. Kyoji was able to get in, attack and get out, without risking too many exchanges. In this regard the great open space worked, however this also meant that Kyoji was not able to get Tenshin against the ropes, a situation which would have certainly benefited him against the young kickboxer, who has been known to have difficulty defending himself off them.

 

Part Three: So what’s the fuss?

In the fight we saw Tenshin typically get the better of a kickboxing exchange when one occurred, but Kyoji’s blitzes, and the tendency to keep his glove in Tenshin’s face to prevent Tenshin from throwing back his dangerous counter left made for some interesting moments. There were great moments of back and forth action, yet it was hard not to think that the size of the ring meant that these two fairly small men had to cross a massive gulf to get to each other at any given time. When we see large heavyweights in a ring like this, it events out, the ring is about right for their size.

A smaller ring would have likely kept these the dynamic of this fight, but sped up the pace. Kyoji Horiguchi would have still been able to work from a distance without running onto the ropes, and Tenshin would have been able to close the gap a little easier. Unfortunately the massive ring and a fair few groin shots left this fight feeling almost unfinished. It was an entertaining affair with some moments of brilliance, yet I was left wondering if I had truly seen what these two could do when matched up against each other.

In spite of all of this however… it still made for a highly entertaining bout:

  • Tweet
Tagged under: Karate, Kickboxing, Kyoji Horiguchi, MMA, Rizin, Rizin 13, Tenshin Nasukawa, UFC

What you can read next

Shevchenko vs Jędrzejczyk: More Than We Expected
Fighting Southpaw vs Orthodox: Three Key Weapons
The secrets to power punching, hitting hard and getting wins!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

SEARCH

RECENT POSTS

  • Miyamoto Musashi: Ancient Concepts for Modern Fighting

    It is commonly known in MMA circles that ancien...
  • Alexander Gustafsson: The Other Guy

    Alexander Gustafsson is in one of the worst pos...
  • The secrets to power punching, hitting hard and getting wins!

    Every fighter, be them a boxer, kick fighter or...
  • Shevchenko vs Jędrzejczyk: More Than We Expected

    Saturday 8th December saw a battle of wills bet...
  • Fighting Southpaw vs Orthodox: Footwork and Angles

    In our last piece we discussed the three key te...

ARCHIVES

  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • April 2013

CATEGORIES

  • Diesel Breakdown
  • News

TODAYS CLASSES

No upcoming events for today

LATEST NEWS

  • Miyamoto Musashi: Ancient Concepts for Modern Fighting

    It is commonly known in MMA circles that ancien...
  • Alexander Gustafsson: The Other Guy

    Alexander Gustafsson is in one of the worst pos...
  • The secrets to power punching, hitting hard and getting wins!

    Every fighter, be them a boxer, kick fighter or...

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK

SEARCH

QUICK LINKS

  • Classes
  • Timetables & Prices
  • Location
  • Media
  • Contact
  • Newham Council Employees
  • GET SOCIAL
Diesel Gym

Diesel Gym London is a non-profit organisation (Community Interest Company - 11947994). All profits raised from membership subscriptions are invested back in to community programmes run within the gym. Diesel Gym CIC is also a member of the Pan London Referral Programme designed to offer holistic and integrated violence prevention services to young people. Training at Diesel not only helps you but the local community too.

TOP
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok