Triumphant returns and sour goodbyes during ASTRA in Japan

MMA legend Enson Inoue made his first return to the sport in six years a good one, Hidehiko Yoshida left the game on a sour note, and Ryo Chonan was forced to go back to the drawing board during the inaugural ASTRA event that took place from the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.

The forty three year old Inoue – a veteran of PRIDE, SHOOTO and the UFC – wasted no time in his bout with Antz Nansen, submitting his foe via armbar at the 2:10 mark of the very first round. The submission was the ninth in twelve career victories for Inoue, who has also finished UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture via armbar way back in October of 1998.

Yoshida vowed to step away from the game following his ASTRA bout with Kazuhiro Nakamura, and will be doing so on the heels of a unanimous decision defeat, while UFC and PRIDE veteran Chonan suffered a severe setback in his career in the form of a first round knockout at the hands of the South Korean Jung Hwan Cha, who picked up his first career KO and improved his record to 7-5-1.

A full list of results from the event are below:

Kazuhiro Nakamura def. Yodehiko Yoshida via unanimous decision (30-28, 30-28, 30-28)

Michihiro Omigawa def. Micah Miller via unanimous decision (30-28, 30-29, 20-28)

Enson Inoue def. Antz Nansen via submission (armbar) - Round 1

Jung Hwan Cha def. Ryo Chonan via KO - Round 2

Jorge Masvidal def. Naoyuki Kotani via split decision (30-29, 29-30, 30-30); 30-30 judge ruled “must” decision in favor of Masvidal

Daisuke Nakamura def. Ganjo Tentsuku via unanimous decision (30-28, 30-26, 30-25)

Yuya Shirai def. Che Mills via submission (armbar) -Round 1

Akihiko Mori def. Tatsuno Nagakura via TKO - Round 1

Baru Harn def. Seigo Mizuguchi via unanimous decision (20-17, 20-19, 20-18)

Yusuke Sakashita def. Kenji Nagai via TKO - Round 1

Takumi Murata def. Ryosuke Komori via unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18)