Mitsuhiro Ishida vs Justin Wilcox Strikeforce fight set for Playboy Mansion
Japanese mixed martial artist Mitsuhiro “Endless Fighter” Ishida (16-4-1) has been signed for a lightweight bout against American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) up-and-comer Justin “The Silverback” Wilcox (5-2) at “Strikeforce at the Mansion II” on September 20.
He competed five times under the Pride FC banner in 2006 mostly in the Bushido series. He managed a very impressive (4-0) record on the Bushido scene with wins over David Bielkheden and Marcus Auriello.
Ishida moved up to face the division kingpin Takanori Gomi at the 2006 Pride New Year’s Eve show, but was handled pretty easily by the champ with an early stoppage.
A year later he scored a huge win over then Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert “El Nino” Melendez, which opened a lot of eyes and earned himself a spot in the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix.
He lost in the quarter finals to Caol Uno by second round submission.
Ishida uses a strong wrestling attack to score takedowns and control his opponents. It’s an interesting strategy heading into this fight because his opponent isn’t too shabby in the wrestling department either.
Wilcox was a stand out wrestler at Edinboro University, the same school that Josh Koshcheck once called home. In fact, Wilcox credited Koshcheck with getting him interested in MMA and the two are now training partners at AKA.
Here’s a snip from “The Silverback:”
“I love the way they train. They have that grind that I’m used to from wrestling in college so I feel at home here. My college coach always said if you want to be a champ, you have to surround yourself with champs so I went out to AKA and haven’t lost since.”
His most recent win was a decision over “The Ultimate Fighter” reject Gabe Ruediger at a small event in Santa Monica, Calif., less than two weeks ago.
It’s clear he’ll be stepping up his competition level when he faces Ishida, who will be making his debut on U.S. soil. This should be a solid addition to a decent card that will be streamed live at Sherdog.com beginning at 7:30 p.m ET on September 20.
For the rest of the ‘Strikeforce at the Mansion II” fight card click here.
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