RESULTS Fighting NEXUS Yokosuka: Hagishima submits Kitano with arm-triangle in round two

Hagishima and Kitano both came to Yokosuka looking for a way back from losses in the flyweight title tournament, and only one left with it. Hagishima finished the night's closing flyweight bout, part of a triple main event headlined by local fighters, with a second-round arm-triangle choke.

The fight turned on Hagishima's wrestling. He took Kitano down in the first round and moved to his back, and in the second he dropped him with an outside trip. As Kitano turned to his hands and knees, Hagishima landed in mount and tightened the choke for the tap. He celebrated in the cage with repeated cartwheels, though his microphone speech was drowned out by his supporters shouting that it was enough.

The result fit the styles. Kitano is the striker, with six of his wins by KO or TKO, while Hagishima is the grappler with four submission wins. Hagishima arrived with four wins in his last five, and he had just beaten Hiroto Nagai by twister on Sept. 5 at HEAT 59, about a month before this fight. Kitano had lost in June to Baki of Taiwan by no-arm guillotine in the tournament's second round.

Hagishima said he believed a win here would lift him a level and that he wants another strong opponent next.

The tournament itself moves on without either man. Taishin Nakamura beat Baki by decision after an extension round, and Akabane beat Kazuhiro Kakinuma, setting Nakamura vs. Akabane for the title. No date has been given for that final.

Elsewhere on the card, Joichi Yana won by TKO and earned a shot at STRIKE NEXUS featherweight champion SAIGO. Father and son Kenji and Shotaro Shimoda both won by TKO. Watch for dates for the flyweight final and the SAIGO title fight, and for who Hagishima gets next.