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 Dragon Gate Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival 2019 It's the biggest Dragon Gate show of the year! Live on the Dragon Gate Network! Dragon Gate have ran their annual show from the World Memorial Hall in promotion's home city of Kobe every July since 2005. And to top it all off, this is the 20th anniversary year of the Dragon System (to be accurate, the first Toryumon Japan show was from Korakuen Hall, 31st January 1999), making it an extra special moment occasion with some names from their past appearing. Like Ultimo Dragon, their former trainer. We'll get into that but first let's look at the card. Open the Dream Gate Championship PAC (c) vs Ben-K The Dream Gate is the big singles belt in Dragon Gate and The Bastard PAC has been an absolutely dominant heel champion since winning the title from Masato Yoshino back in December at night 1 of the Fantastic Gate 2018 tour. Since then he's taken on and pushed aside challenges from Kzy, Shun Skywalker & Dragon Kid, and every match has been a banger you should go out of your way to watch. PAC is on a hell of a run. PAC is a member of the faction R.E.D., the current heel group. His opponent is Ben-K and Ben-K is on the verge of becoming the new ace of Dragon Gate. He was a member of R.E.D. until May this year, at Dead or Alive. He teamed with R.E.D. leader Eita against MaxiMuM in a match where they squabbled trying to prove themselves, because the main event of the show was a bonds cage match where 1 representative of each faction had to grab a flag from on top of the steel cage, and the losing team had to kick out a member. R.E.D.'s entrant Big R Shimizu, Ben-K's tag team partner, was the loser, he teased kicking out Eita only to turn on Ben-K who got beaten up to boot. From there, he went straight into King of Gate, the DG version of G1 or Champion's Carnival, winning all 5 of his block matches, then beating Kzy in the semi finals (a must watch match). In the other semi-final none other than Eita beat KAI, leading to the almost inevitable final. Ben-K wins, almost immediately challenged for the Dream Gate title and here we are. Will the promotion put their faith in Ben-K and pull the trigger on him at what feels like the absolute perfect time to do so? Will PAC have another absolute standout title match in Dragon Gate? I'm assuming yes & yes and this match is a big part of why you should be watching this show. Open the Twin Gate Championship Tribe Vanguard (YAMATO and KAI) (c) vs R.E.D. (Big R Shimizu and Eita) vs MaxiMuM (Naruki Doi and Kaito Ishida) YAMATO and KAI winning the Twin Gate title from Big R & Ben-K (Big Ben) in April was a huge component in the expulsion of Ben-K from R.E.D. after Dead or Alive. Their first title defence was during the King of Gate tour against Doi and Ishida and ended in a no contest after interference from Shimizu & Eita. Kaito Ishida finished in 2nd place in the Rookie Ranking single elimination tournament, losing to Shun Skywalker in the final. And Ishida losing in big matches has been brought up enough to make you think it's been brought up for a reason. He's been on the losing side of 2 Triangle Gate title matches this year as well. It just makes too much sense for MaxiMuM to not end up winning this one in my opinion. Dragon Gate 20th Anniversary Celebration Series Premium Match Ultimo Dragon, Dragon Kid and Masato Yoshino vs Masaaki Mochizuki, Shuji Kondo, and Takuya Sugawara You'll want to read this article on Voices of Wrestling by Mike Spears. It really captures why this is an amazing match to be happening. It won't be a great match, Ultimo Dragon is 52 now, he's pretty broken down but it's an amazing thing to be happening and if the crowd gets behind it it could be very emotional. Dragon Kid is the protege of UD, Yoshino tagged with UD in the Toryumon days, but he trained so many of the older guys on the roster. Open the Brave Gate Championship Susumu Yokosuka (c) vs Flamita Susumu Yokosuka is a veteran who goes back to the Toryumon Mexico days, one of the first class of Ultimo Dragon Gym, and as Brave Gate champion he has had a couple of really good matches with younger guys on the roster. He won it in March from Dragon Kid and then beat U-T at Dead Or Alive in a very exciting technical kind of match, and then beat Jason Lee during King of Gate tour. Meanwhile Flamita is 24, has been appearing in Dragon Gate since 2013 and made his debut in 2009 because lucha is crazy. He held this belt in 2014, defended it 8 times and then relinquished it after he won by DQ against Punch Tominaga after having his mask removed. During that reign he beat the current champion, then known as Jimmy Susumu. 5 years on, time for Susumu to get his revenge and successfully defend the belt. But more importantly, they've good chemistry together and Susumu has done an excellent job elevating the people he's faced this year and is having a really under-rated year so this is one to watch. Open the Triangle Gate Championship R.E.D. (Kazma Sakamoto, Takashi Yoshida and Yasushi Kanda) (c) vs Strong Machine Army (Strong Machine F, Strong Machine G, Strong Machine J) Strong Machine J is probably the rookie of the year so far. Strong Machine J is the son of New Japan stalwart Super Strong Machine, and he debuted in April. He's not amazing, Strong Machine Army trios matches have quickly become formulaic, but the guy is months into his career. And probably he's about to win his first title here, beating a team of gnarled veteran brawlers. It's going to be a test to see how J does in a match which by virtue of their opponents will be quite different to what he's been used to so don't expect anything amazing here, but it should be a fun enough trios match, especially if you're new to DG and haven't seen Strong Machine Army before. Weird random singles match which I'm not complaining about Kzy vs Shun Skywalker It was a bit weird because both guys are quite prominent in Dragon Gate, Kzy is having a career year in ring and neither were announced for the card until quite late. The assumption was they'd be on a throwaway undercard multiman but instead we get this very exciting match. They've both had great Dream Gate matches with PAC, both were standouts in the Dead Or Alive Deeds Steel Cage Match (where Shun chose to kick himself out of Mochizuki Dojo because he wanted to go off on his own path. Since then he has stood in the corner of Ben-K). This will be a huge chance for Shun to make his mark with an barnburner against one of the best in the world this year. Choi Hong-Man vs Ryo Saito and Stalker Ichikawa Choi is a really tall South Korean kickboxer & MMAist who holds a win over Jose Canseco. Stalker Ichikawa is a 1st gen UD Dojo guy who does comedy stuff, and Ryo Saito is also veteran in a comedy role. So this will be extremely silly and short and the really big man will presumably beat the two normally sized men but the destination doesn't matter, the goofy hijinks along the way is what's important here. BxB Hulk Comeback Match Tribe Vanguard (BxB Hulk, Yosuke♥Santa Maria and Kagetora) vs Natural Vibes (Genki Horiguchi, "brother" YASSHI and Punch Tominaga) vs Mochizuki Dojo (Yuki Yoshioka, Hyou Watanabe and Kota Minoura) BxB Hulk is a Dragon Gate original, one of the very first trainees to come through after the Toryumon split, he's held the Triangle Gate 8 times, the Twin Gate 5 times, he was the inaugural Freedom Gate champion in Dragon Gate USA and he was Dream Gate champion between July 2014 & June 2015. He's charismatic as hell, very attractive and has been a very good to great wrestler since 2009 at least, but he's also 39 now and his body is broken down. It sucks. He's basically been out for 7 months with a broken neck. He's back now, don't expect miracles but it's the 2nd match on the card, a lot of this will be on the shoulders of the young team of Mochizuki Dojo to carry it in ring. Opener Super Shisa, K-ness, Shachihoko Machine, Mondai Ryu and Draztik Boy vs. Kenichiro Arai, Jason Lee, Keisuke Okuda, Dragon Dia and Jimmy I'll be honest, I'm the wrong person to talk you through this one. A couple of veterans on each team and some hungry younger wrestlers looking to make an impression. If I was to say keep an eye on one guy, Jason Lee is probably it. Okay, that sounds great but how do I watch this? Well, unfortunately unlike DDT's Peter Pan last weekend this show isn't free. You are going to want to go here with your credit card or Paypal, it's going to cost ¥1,500 for the month (that's £11.11, $13.92 or €12.40. And yes, like New Japan World you will be charged again on the 1st August. It sucks, that's how subscription billing works in Japan though apparently. It's worth it, cancel WWE Network or Netflix or Amazon Prime for the month. Just what is Dragon Gate anyway? Other than the obvious answer of "a wrestling promotion", I'd say it's lucha influenced with high flying and technical grappling, and overwhelmingly a Junior Heavyweight roster as far as size goes. It all grew out of Ultimo Dragon's gym, and while there is some use of outsiders the roster is mostly made up of people trained either by Ultimo Dragon or in the Dragon Gate Dojo, the Dragon System. The first trueborn Dragon Gate Dojo graduate was Shingo Takagi, now a star in New Japan's G1 Climax tournament. Other Dragon Gate alumni you might recognise? Current 205 Live Superstar Akira Tozawa is the 3rd DG Dojo graduate. Watch AEW? Then you've seen CIMA, one of the founders of Dragon Gate & an UD Dojo original, along with his Stronghearts partners T-Hawk & El Lindaman who are Dragon Gate Dojo lads. Current NJPW colour commentator Milano Collection AT was a Dragon Gate founder. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter Match of the Year 2006 was a Dragon Gate 6 man tag match from ROH's Supercard of Honor, Do FIXER (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito) vs Blood Generation (CIMA, Masato Yoshino and Naruki Doi). And that's not even touching upon the gaijin who have toured with Dragon Gate: Jack Evans, Roderick Strong, Matt Sydal, Kevin Steen, Jimmy Rave, Austin Aries, PAC, El Generico, The Young Bucks, Mark Haskins, Ricochet, Juventud Guerrera did a tour in 2010, Brodie Lee appeared for them regularly in 2011 until signing with the WWE, Rich Swann, AR Fox, Uhaa Nation, Johnny Gargano, Tony Nese. Dragon Gate have a really good eye for US indie talent, though a lot of that was on the shoulders of CIMA. Anything else I need to know Probably lots. Uhhhh, do you know that factions are a big thing in Dragon Gate and always have been in the Dragon System going back to Crazy Max & M2K in Toryumon (& before then even). The current factions are R.E.D., the big heel group (it stands for Real Extreme Diffusion) which is lead by Eita & consists of PAC, Takeshi Yoshida, Yasushi Kanda, Big R Shimizu, Kazma Sakamoto & Daga. MaxiMuM formed in 2017 after Naruki Doi was kicked out of heel faction VerserK, Doi & Masato Yoshino are co-leaders, Dragon Kid, Jason Lee and Kaito Ishida are the other members. Natural Vibes do a boy band style dance sometimes and are lead by Kzy. Alongside him are Susumu Yokosuka, "brother" YASSHI, Genki Horiguchi and Punch Tominaga. Tribe Vanguard are currently the oldest group, formed in 2016 and lead by YAMATO, with BxB Hulk, Flamita, U-T, Kagetora, KAI and Yosuke♥Santa Maria. Strong Machine Army are 3 guys in Strong Machine masks, Strong Machine J is a rookie & son of the original Super Strong Machine, Machine's F & G are DG veterans. Mochizuki Dojo was formed by a group of young wrestlers looking to the veteran Masaaki Mochizuki for guidance (he's 49 and has been wrestling since 1994 so is a natural choice) so Mochizuki is leader, and he's leading Hyou Watanabe, Yuki Yoshioka, Kota Minoura and Keisuke Okuda. Oh yeah, and this is the first Dragon Gate Network broadcast with English commentary! Nearly forgot that, quite important for helping introduce someone really. I hope you give it a look, it should be a good fun. But if you're on the fence and want to see some Dragon Gate matches, here's a couple of recommendations to whet your appetite: PAC vs Kzy from 02/10/19 Ben-K vs Kzy from 06/06/19 Ben-K & Big R Shimizu vs BxB Hulk & YAMATO from 7/22/18 Susumu Yokosuka vs U-T from 05/06/19 Tried not to go too far back into history and stick with guys who you will actually see on this show. I put it up a bit early a) so people will see it and consider giving it a watch and b) because there is no way I was going to write a half-way informative opening post if I woke up at 6am and did it.
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Jul 20, 2019 22:12
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Haven't seen Dragon Gate regularly since roughly 2009, but I can't miss the Ultimo Dragon match Should also be the match to put over DG's ace, and free up PAC for AEW so that'll be important too
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Jul 21, 2019 02:34
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Dragon Gate is good and this show will be good.
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Jul 21, 2019 04:25
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Pre-show is live and the first 2 matches of the show are free on Youtube! So that's ■Tag Team Match Super Shisa, K-ness., Shachihoko Machine, Problem Dragon, Draztick Boy vs. Kenichiro Arai, Jason Lee, Keisuke Okuda, Dragon Dia, Jimmy ■BxB Hulk Comeback Match - 3 Way 6 Man Tag Team Match BxB Hulk, Kagetora, Yosuke♡Santa Maria vs. Genki Horiguchi, “brother” YASSHI, Punch Tominaga vs. Hyo Watanabe, Yuki Yoshioka, Kota Minoura
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Jul 21, 2019 07:04
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Killer armbar from Okuda. He's real cool.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:14
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Really quick, short opener, K-Ness pins Dragon Dia with a rolling cradle. Good fun, some fun spots, you should watch it. Don't want to judge the commentary this early but they mentioned they'll have some translations of promos and stuff so already I'm happy.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:16
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I'm here for BxB Hulk
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Jul 21, 2019 07:17
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God Hulk got fat :o
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Jul 21, 2019 07:17
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Lid posted:God Hulk got fat :o You think every wrestler is fat though. The armbar spot Dimebag's Brain mentioned https://twitter.com/MrLARIATO/status/1152824083689738240
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Jul 21, 2019 07:18
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forkboy84 posted:You think every wrestler is fat though. My base is the obese ZSJ.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:19
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Can't wait for Hulk to become Chris Hero levels of fat
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Jul 21, 2019 07:21
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forkboy84 posted:You think every wrestler is fat though. (The reality is I havent seen Hulk in a decade and back then he looked straight out of an idol band, seeing him older Nd looking disarmingly like Chono is a trip.) Also getting used to Genki Horiguchi's hair...
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Jul 21, 2019 07:23
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Lid posted:Also getting used to Genki Horiguchi's hair... It must kill him having to team with YASSHI and his full head of dreads
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Jul 21, 2019 07:25
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so what's up with this Santa Maria? Is this like Asuka or is it like Golddust?
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Jul 21, 2019 07:26
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I hope all tghe people watching DG for the first time enjoyed this long segment of ball grabbing.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:26
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Santa Maria's drop kick was real good
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Jul 21, 2019 07:27
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TTBF posted:so what's up with this Santa Maria? Is this like Asuka or is it like Golddust? Maria's an exotico and mostly a comedy wrestler, but when they put her in real matches she becomes one of the best pure babyfaces in wrestling. From what I gather, she "lives the gimmick" and presents as female in her regular life.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:29
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TTBF posted:so what's up with this Santa Maria? Is this like Asuka or is it like Golddust? Basically a Japanese exotico, like Cassandro or Maximo Sexy. I'm never really sure how much "this is good and bold in the macho world of wrestling" and how much is "this is cheap homophobic gags" but I guess I choose to take it in the more positive sense.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:29
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BxB looked significantly slower than everyone else in the match, dont know if that was the neck injury or age or both.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:32
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Big win for the youngsters in the second match. Makes sense on a show where the theme looks going in like, if not changing of the guard then certainly an elevation of the newer generation. Thought Hulk looked a little rusty but hopefully that's all it is.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:33
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Lid posted:BxB looked significantly slower than everyone else in the match, dont know if that was the neck injury or age or both. Hulk has been slow and hurting since he injured his shoulder against Shingo at Final Gate 2014.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:35
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If this is your first time seeing Stalker Ichikawa, settle down. This will be an experience.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:36
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He's still My Boi.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:36
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Dimebags Brain posted:Hulk has been slow and hurting since he injured his shoulder against Shingo at Final Gate 2014.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:38
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Dimebags Brain posted:Hulk has been slow and hurting since he injured his shoulder against Shingo at Final Gate 2014. That sucks to hear I remember him mostly from a multi man way back when that had also Matt Sydal and Kevin Steen and he was such a fast beast.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:39
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Outraged the commentators haven't mentioned Choi's win over Jose Canseco. That's literally all someone needs to know.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:39
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This man is very tall.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:39
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Lid posted:That sucks to hear I remember him mostly from a multi man way back when that had also Matt Sydal and Kevin Steen and he was such a fast beast. He did have the best match of last year's Kobe World in the Twin Gate match.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:40
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forkboy84 posted:Outraged the commentators haven't mentioned Choi's win over Jose Canseco. That's literally all someone needs to know. Wrong! Matt Riddle > DaMarques Johnson DaMarques Johnson > Mike Guymon Mike Guymon > Yoshiyuki Yoshida Yoshiyuki Yoshida > Phil Baroni Phil Baroni > Ikuhisa Minowa Ikuhisa Minowa > Hong Man Choi
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Jul 21, 2019 07:41
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Dimebags Brain posted:This man is very tall.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:42
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This match is a glorious mess.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:42
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 This is a lot safer than his old job. Also that ending was weirder than the rest of the match.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:44
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AUDIO MUTED FOR COPYRIGHT REASONS DURING A DANCE OFF
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Jul 21, 2019 07:45
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[post muted for copyright reasons]
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Jul 21, 2019 07:45
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A giant dancing to the sounds of someone opening and drinking from a bottle of water is slightly tragic. Or melancholy is a better word.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:45
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That guy dances better than i do
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Jul 21, 2019 07:48
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I just looked it up and this dude is 7'3. He looks like he has gigantism for sure but he wasn't that much taller than the guys he was up against 
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Jul 21, 2019 07:48
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I'm pretty sure I'm not on drugs, but this entrance says otherwise
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Jul 21, 2019 07:50
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RealFoxy posted:I just looked it up and this dude is 7'3. He looks like he has gigantism for sure but he wasn't that much taller than the guys he was up against Hang-man Choi is very well known in MMA circles and yeah the guy is legit a giant but was a terrible fighter. He was booked as a spectacle, most famously against Fedor Emelianenko. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QzX1ZadJM
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Jul 21, 2019 07:50
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I like how Natural Vibes are meant to be reggae influenced and this is their theme song which is absolutely not Bob Marley or Peter Tosh. This match is going to rock. Lid posted:Hang-man Choi is very well known in MMA circles and yeah the guy is legit a giant but was a terrible fighter. He was booked as a spectacle, most famously against Fedor Emelianenko. I'll never forget that he was meant to be Brock Lesnar's first MMA opponent on that K1 Heroes show but he pulled out and was replaced by another Korean instead.
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Jul 21, 2019 07:50
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