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Brad's Friday Fight Bodega - Nakamura vs Kotani
Written by Brad Taschuk   
Friday, 19 February 2010 07:17
A very interesting couple of days coming up all around the world for MMA heads this weekend.  Of course the weekend is headlined by UFC 110, marking the promotion's debut from down under.  However, this is truly a global weekend in the sport, with solid cards emanating from Japan (ZST! 23) and in a move upstaging the UFC, Xtreme Kombat League will be staging a card in the United Arab Emirates.  Rumour has it that the card will be headlined by Christopher Lambert and Linden Ashby, and the promotion will be changing their name to the Mortal Kombat League.

Most joking aside, the XKL is putting on a solid card, featuring both Jeff Monson and Ricco Rodriguez, two names those in Abu Dhabi are familiar with, from when the ADCC competition was actually held in it's namesake city.

Moving from the Middle East to the East Coast, and one of the top regional promotions in North America, Ring of Combat, is putting on their 28th card, featuring former UFC fighter Andre Gusmao, extremely former UFC fighter (circa UFC 45) Chris Liguori, and a host of prospects, the brightest of which is former D1 Wrestler and Football player Gian Villante, who sports a career spanning almost exactly one year and a 5-0 record over that time.



The final event on our radar this weekend takes us to a different type of East, the Far East for ZST 23.  This event features a ZST Bantamweight title bout, however, unlike most ZST title bouts, it's unlikely that the winner of this one will get a chance in one of the major organizations, since both champion Keisuke Fujiwara and challenger Shunichi Shimizu had unsuccessful forays into DREAM and DEEP respectively in 2009.  Also on the ZST card is Naoyuki Kotani, of PRIDE and UFC fame.  Kotani will never be more than a mid-level lightweight, but the man brings the fun in all of his fights.  His last performance is the fight featured on this week's Bodega, as he took on Daisuke Nakamura, a perpetual fun machine in his own right.  As one might expect with these two involved in a fight, there was a spectacular submission finish to be had, which if more people saw likely would have garnered some consideration for runner-up as the submission of the year (since nothing was beating Toby Imada).

If you've never watched a ZST event before, be warned that what you are about to watch is in fact not 1980's professional wrestling, as much as the production may seem similar.  It's one of the charms regional events (specifically those in the ring) often carry with them.  Anyways, without further ado, Daisuke Nakamura and Naoyuki Kotani from ZST 22.