1. Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Harvey Harra in a tournament reserve bout.
Harra is absolutely doomed. He's inexperienced and has positively nothing on the ground, which is not good against an experienced guy like Miyata who is a fantastic wrestler. Harra comes out throwing immediatley, and is then taken down in hilariously easy fashion. Miyata lands in side control and then goes to the half guard. Miyata basically then just stands up out of the half guard and grabs Harra's arm on the way and locks in an armbar for the win at 1:13 of the first round. Harra had no business being here. So, now, if someone is injured, Miyata will be who they turn to.
2. Caol Uno vs. Andre Dida in a tournament semifinal bout.
This was surely booked with the idea of Uno winning. Uno has an enormous amount of experience and has fought guys like B.J. Penn (taking him to a draw) and Din Thomas (beating him twice). Dida, on the other hand, has 7 professional fights, but I think Uno may be taking him lightly. Uno has become something of a national celebrity in Japan, designing his own wildly popular fashion line and becoming a Nike poster boy, and was very lackluster in the opening round of the tournament vs. Katsuhiko Nagata. Dida is something of an unknown commodity, so it will be hard to properly scout him, especially on short notice since Kultar Gill was set to be Uno's opponent and pulled out about 2 weeks prior to this show. Dida trains with Chute Boxe, so you know he's going to be aggressive. All of this may add up to an upset.
Both guys are tenative in the opening moments as they circle, with neither man throwing a strike for at least a full minute. Dida strikes first and drops Uno with a right hand, but he recovers. Dida then NAILS him with a knee and Uno is in big trouble early. Uno tries for a takedown but Dida continues the onslaught. The ref should really think about stopping this soon, but inexplicably sends Uno over to the corner to be checked by the doctors. This was bullshit as Dida was in a VERY dominant position. Ref restarts it and Dida is looking for the kill. He throws some punches with bad intent and then totally stuffs an Uno takedown. It's not looking good for young Caol. Dida holds him and is in the perfect position for knees to the head, but they aren't allowed. They finally stand up and Dida has Uno backing up. Uno tries a kick but it's blocked. Dida is staying out of Uno's range and has really not been hit for this entire round. Round winds down and neither guy is doing much. Bell rings. Easy round for Dida. Time for round 2.
Uno has to do some work here to pull this out. Dida rushes forward and tries a knee to the body but Uno avoids it. Dida really has Uno backing up, even on his fakes. Uno tries a takedown and Dida defends it well. Uno goes for the trip but Dida stands up immediatley. Uno attempts another takedown and Dida nearly lands in the mount (TAKAYAMA TAKEDOWN~!), but Uno sweeps him and lands in the half guard. He tries to pass into mount but Dida bucks him off and he's back into the half guard. 2 minutes to go. Uno really needs to work. Uno finally gets the mount and briefly takes Dida's back but ends up in half guard again and the ref restarts them with a minute left. Uno is really working hard for position but Dida just looks too strong. Ref stops them and they're back on the feet. Dida is tagging Uno with shots and his right eye is a mess. Uno finally gets a clean takedown but time runs out before he can do anything with it. Dida clearly won this fight and the judges agree. he will face the winner of Calvancanti/Ribeiro, which is next.
3. Gesias "J.Z." Calvancanti vs. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro in a tournament semifinal bout.
This is a HUGE fight with the winner possibly becoming the #1 lightweight in the world. I think J.Z.'s striking will be too much for Shaolin, but Shaolin has a great chance of submitting J.Z. if he gets it to the ground. Should be a great fight. J.Z. has an awesome BREATHE RIGHT STRIP on. J.Z. clinches with Shaolin and works some knees, then out of NOWHERE hits an inside leg trip that drops Shaolin on his head All Japan 1993 style. J.Z. pounces and just UNLOADS all over Shaolin's face until it's finally stopped at the :35 second mark in the first round. J.Z. looks like an absolute wrecking machine. Andre Dida is in trouble later tonight.
4. Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Kevin Casey.
This is Minowa's debut in K-1, and there really is no better place for him. The WHACKIEST guy in PRIDE is now with the company that staged Akebono vs. Giant Silva. PERFECT. First round starts and my god is it boring. It is funny to still see men strike in that manner that Casey (who is a huge, ripped black fellow) does. You know, the classic Gracie leg kicks, and the fists high up in the air. This, combined with Minowa's always sweet mullet, equals buys. They do next to nothing in the first round, which was an ungodly 10 minutes long. I predicted a Minowa knockout since Casey had never been hit (this was his first MMA) fight, and in the second round, I got it. Minowa pounded him out for the win. Rickson Gracie is in heavy talks with K-1 about fighting at Dynamite, and Minowa seems like a natural opponent after he just beat the shit out of his student. RICKSON BY ARMBAR~!
(Note: The first round of this was so shitty that I decided not to watch it again for a live recap. Trust me, I saved you and myself time.)
5. Dong-Sik Yoon vs. Zelg Galesic .
Galesic is called "Mini Crocop" which is hardly a compliment these days. I feel he's a bit overhyped, and he has no ground game whatsoever. Kind of like Big Crocop. Fight starts and Yoon immediatley clinches and lands one of the easiest takedowns EVER. Galesic tries to get Yoon out of side control, until Yoon passes into the mount. Yoon then transitions in an absolutely textbook armbar that was obvious to probably everyone in the arena but Galesic. Mini Mirko taps and the DONGER~! wins yet again, at 1:09 of the first round. Galesic has a really long way to go.
6. Melvin Manhoef vs. Fabio Silva.
This should be a major slugfest. Manhoef has one of the most impressive physiques in MMA. Fabio Silva, on the other hand, does not. He's flabby this evening. Silva did his Wanderlei impersonation (rolling wrists, the whole nine), which has to spell doom for him. Manhoef, like usual, comes out ready to throw. He throws his strikes with more vicious intent than I think anyone in MMA. Not much going on early until Manhoef catches a knee to the balls in the corner and it's restarted in the center. Manhoef throws a nice leg kick and Silva backs away. Silva makes the mistake of immediatley moving forward, a la Luiz Azeredo vs. Takanori Gomi I, and Melvin then BLASTS him with a right left combination and throws him to the ground and starts pounding his head in a terrifying manner for the stoppage at 1:00 of the first round. afterwards, Silva has no idea what happened.
7. Sergei Kharitonov vs. Alistair Overeem.
Alistair is now bald and looks JACKED. Kharitonov is flabby and so white that he's almost starting to rival Joachim Hansen. Solid kickboxing from Alistair at the beginning as he lands some nice leg kicks. Sergei starts to throw some leather but Alistair avoids all the shots and stuffs a takedown attempt. Alistair tries a clinch and gets thrown by Sergei. Alistair gets up quickly and clinches with Sergei again and tries to work some high knees but Sergei gets out quick. Sergei gets a clinch of his own, and botches a throw, but he doesn't let go of Alistair's arm, hoping to catch him in a kimura. Sergei lets go of the arm and eats another low kick from Alistair and answers back with one of his own. Sergei hits a knee and starts to throw with Alistair in close. Alistair tries some more knees in close and has Sergei moving back. Sergei lands some big shots on Alistair and he is out of it. Alistair eats another big punch and BEGINS TO RUN BACKWARDS. As he runs, Sergei catches him with one last punch and Alistair crumples, almost falling through the ropes. ref stops the fight at 4:41 of the first round and Kharitonov is your winner. a very Alistair-like performance- good early until he gets hit, and then he loses in spectacular fashion. Kharitonov can thank the POWER OF VOLK HAN~! for his victory.
8. Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Katsuyori Shibata.
This should be a fun one. Shibata has no clue when it comes to MMA and Sakuraba is the very definition of a wily veteran. Sakuraba has some AWESOME bedhead going here and is wearing traditional board shorts for the first time ever. Rickson Gracie handed them both flowers before the fight, and Shibata THREW HIS INTO THE CROWD. What a dick. Bell rings and Sakuraba right away starts to pick Shibata apart on the feet, landing a nice right and a good kick to the leg. Sakuraba goes for the leg pick and gets it with no resistance whatsoever. Shibata throws a ton of punches from his guard that look good but do little damage. Sakuraba passes into side control but Shibata works free and then immediatley gives it up again. Hell of a fighter, this Shibata. Sakuraba starts to work and lays in some nice strikes to Shibata's face, including several SLAPS. Saku then starts to throw some REALLY hard punches (with an audible thud) and Shibata won't be lasting much longer. This is like a Matt Hughes beatdown, with Sakuraba just beating the holy hell out of the guy on the ground. Sakuraba easily passes into full mount and then transitions to an armbar, which Shibata tries to fight off by scissoring Sakuraba's head, but Sakuraba pops out and eventually fully extends the arm forcing a tap out. Shibata just got WRECKED by this old man. Afterwards, Sakuraba officially challenged Masakatsu Funaki, and Funaki accepted. That one will go down on New Year's Eve.
9. Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto vs. Bibiano Fernandes.
This was the big draw of this card: the return of KID Yamamoto. Yamamoto had taken time off to perhaps make the Japanese Olympic wrestling team, and was on track to do so before suffering an injury. Yamamoto has not fought since New Year's Eve, against an extremely overmatched Istvan Majoros. He decided to return to K-1 at his natural weight (140 lbs) and was figured to be a killer since he was dominant at 154. Bibiano Fernandes, a highly decorated BJJ player, was selected to be his opponent since he was a guy with a cool look and a lackluster record that KID could run through quickly. OOPS.
Fernandes had a really good first round, and probably took it. But the story of this fight is the OFFICIATING. At one point, KID was in his guard, and they ended up underneath the ropes. Of course, in Japan, this means a restart in the center of the ring. But for some reason, this became IMPOSSIBLE. It took a full three minutes as they tried to figure out how to reset them, with the ref repeatedly trying to put KID in a better position than he was in before. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL. This really, really looked bad and gave everyone the impression that K-1 was trying to screw Fernandes. Even the legendarily respectful Japanese audience booed this bullshit. The fight collapsed after that, as KID looked clearly like a man who hasn't fought in almost a year. His striking wasn't crisp at all, and Fernandes for the last two rounds basically dove at KID trying to hook stuff in, and KID fell on top of him. KID got the decision. Hideous, anger inducing fight that I can't be bothered to watch again for a live recap.
10. Gesias "J.Z." Calvancanti vs. Andre Dida in the tournament finals.
Manhoef is there in J.Z.'s corner. These guys are both VERY young: J.Z. is 24 and Dida is 23. Tense staredown with Dida looking PISSED and J.Z. looking positively amused. Thankfully J.Z. is still wearing the BREATHE RIGHT strip. Round begins and Dida is the first guy to strike. He hits J.Z. with a nice right and then tries some combinations but they miss. J.Z . lands a big takedown, which was telegraphed, but still successful. Dida tries to stand up but J.Z. pushes him back down. J.Z. gets half guard, then stands up and reigns down some big punches before going back into the guard. Dida nearly sweeps him, but J.Z. maintains position. J.Z. passes and nearly gets a arm triangle choke, but Dida gets out and J.Z. is in the mount. Dida tries to sweep but goes right into an armbar, and J.Z. takes the win at 4:48 of round 1. J.Z. becomes the first HERO*s Middleweight champion. One hell of a performance for Calvancanti- on par with the night Mirko Crocop had in the Openweight Grand Prix. Hopefully, Takanori Gomi (heavily rumored to be signed with K-1) vs. J.Z. will happen at Dynamite. That would be AWESOME. {plug}
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