Sombor, Serbia – In a bout that flew under the radar of most diehard MMA fans, rejuvenated Japanese heavyweight star Satoshi Ishii continued his recent run of success with a first round TKO in the main event of Saturday’s Serbian BC 20. Ishii (19-8-1, #41 World 265) advanced to 2-0 in the SBC promotion with an emphatic finish of Brazil’s Rodrigo Carlos (21-15) via first-round ground strikes.
The former Olympic judoka had no trouble squashing an early takedown attempt from Carlos. From there, Ishii nimbly maneuvered between side control and back mount. Carlos had no answers and eventually bowed out to a series of bludgeoning hammerfists that forced the referee to intervene just 1:42 into the contest.
Watch Ishii’s quick finish & check out the full fight + entire SBC 20 card below:
Satoshi Ishii demolished Rodrigo Carlos in 1R at Serbian Battle Championship pic.twitter.com/HXwIwP11j3
— Jolassanda (@Jolassanda) February 16, 2019
Although he’s been active for a decade, Satoshi Ishii is still just 32-years-old and looked better than ever in this fight and recent finishes over US regional legend Tony Lopez and Lithuanian pioneer Rokas Stambrauskas. Ishii’s recent resume also includes a notable grappling victory over former UFC champ Frank Mir at QUINTET 3.
It shouldn’t be long before Satoshi Ishii is back in action, assuming he came out of this quick bout injury-free. Ishii’s slated to face relatively untested HEAT heavyweight champ Cally Oliveira (3-0) at HEAT 44 in Nagoya on March 3.
DC Howard is a US & global MMA aficionado and curator of the weekly World MMA Geek Guide. DC enjoys long walks uphill in both directions, watching facepunching, his cats, and watching facepunching with his cats.