Oli Thompson Trounces Fernando Rodrigues Jr. to Win Inoki Genome Federation GP

Oli Thompson evidently had other things to do.

Thompson made quick work of Team Nogueira’s Fernando Rodrigues Jr., as he disposed of the Brazilian with first-round punches to win the Inoki Genome Federation heavyweight grand prix in the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2015 headliner on Thursday at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. The end came 2:08 into round two.

The 35-year-old Thompson (17-8-2) follows Satoshii Ishii and Mirko Filipovic into the still-exclusive pantheon of IGF champions, having passed through Rodrigues, Chris Barnett and Ikuhisa Minowa in the eight-man tournament. A winner of the 2006 British Strongest Man competition who made two unsuccessful appearances in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Thompson has rattled off five straight victories.

The loss halted a three-fighting winning streak for Rodrigues (9-2).

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Barnett (14-2) bounced back from his Aug. 29 decision defeat to Thompson by stopping Shinichi Suzukawa on punches in the first round of their brief heavyweight rematch. Suzukawa (2-4) succumbed to blows 1:44 into round one. Barnett, 29, has won nine of his last 10 fights -- a run of sustained success dating back to 2010 that includes wins over Travis Wiuff and Walt Harris.

Finally, journeyman Yuki Yamamoto snapped a four-fight winless streak and barely broke a sweat and doing so, as he took care of Keisuke Okuda (0-1) with a first-round knee strike and follow-up punches. Yamamoto (7-8-4) brought it to a close 26 seconds into round one.