Former UFC fighter Richie Vaculik’s return to the cage proved unsuccessful with the 34-year-old being submitted in his Pancrase debut Sunday night.
Competing at the Differ Ariake venue in Tokyo, Japan as part of Pancrase 289, Vaculik was submitted in the first round by Japanese fighter Nobuki Fujii. The bout was his first since November 2015.
Vaculik had moved up to bantamweight for the contest after a disappointing run in the UFC where he won only one of his four fights.
Australia’s Mitch O’Dowd was scheduled to compete on the card but according to Tapology was forced to withdraw due to illness.
Full Results:
- Yuki Ota def. Makoto Fukaya via Decision (Split)
- Yoshinori Horie def. Kazunari Kimura via KO (Knee), Rd 2, 1:12
- Tetsuya Yamamoto def. Mitsuhiro Taki via Decision (Unanimous)
- Senzo Ikeda def. Mamoru Yamaguchi via Decision (Unanimous)
- Shinya Murofushi def. Seiji Ozuka via Decision (Split)
- Koyomi Matsushima def. Yusuke Kasuya via Decision (Unanimous)
- Takashi Sato def. Kenta Takagi via TKO (Punches), Rd 1, 3:57
- Kota Kawabata def. Tatsuya Watanabe via Decision (Unanimous)
- Yoshiya Takashima def. Kei Matsumura via Decision (Unanimous)
- Kyle Aguon def. Isao Kobayashi via Decision (Split)
- Ryuta Sakurai def. Hikaru Sato via TKO (Punches), Rd 2, 0:23
- Kenta Takizawa def. Toshiaki Kitada via TKO (Punches), Rd 2, 0:46
- Yuya Shibata def. Yuki Yasunaga via Decision (Unanimous)
- Juri Ohara vs Kyosuke Yokoyama – No contest
- Yusuke Ogikubo def. Tomohiro Adaniya via Decision (Unanimous)
- Nobuki Fujii def. Richie Vaculik (Australia) via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 3:42
- Masatatsu Ueda def. Toru Ogawa via Decision (Split)
- Hiroaki Ijima def. Ryo Hatta via Decision (Unanimous)
- Kota Kondo def. Takashi Matsuoka via Decision (Split)
