Its going to be a damn busy few days here in the ole MMA world so I thought I'd get some of the picks out of the way nice and early like I did my X-Mas shopping. The world of K-1 loves its storylines almost more than their fights so this is going to be a bit of an odd card even for Japanese standards. One thing you cannot deny, is while these are not the most competitive matches they could have come up with, they will be entertaining for various odd ball reasons. K-1 Hero's MMA Matches
Kazushi Sakuraba 22-9*-1 vs. Masakatsu Funaki 38-11-1 Welcome to the "Who Can Cheat Death And Live Through This Match" Match. This fight is also interesting not just because one man may die, but because the winner supposedly gets a shot at the legendary 300-0 Rickson Gracie in 2008!! Funaki's last fight was against said Gracie in 2000 (my god who booked this?)! Sakuraba is held together by tape and wire since his wars with Wanderlei Silva, Smirnovas, Nogueira, Cro Cop, and a lifetime of fighting men much much larger than himself. I understand these are two Japanese legends but seriously both need to retire before something bad and permanent happens. The battle of the 38 year olds is on and I've got to believe Sakuraba submits the ultra-rusty Funaki in this seniors match. *(we do not score his last fight with Royce Gracie as a loss because he was on freaking steroids. Someone tell me why that hasn't been overturned in the record books yet?)
WINNER-Sakuraba by submission or Funaki heart attack
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto 16-1 vs. Rani Yahya 11-3 Hey good luck Rani. You are a really good submission fighter who is about to get the crap knocked out of him by the "Kid" who has dominated the Featherweight division for only his entire career. You won't stop him either but hey, its a check right? I mean Yan is a really good fighter but nobody seems to be able to hang with the "Kid" whenever he decides to turn it on.
WINNER-Yamamoto by however he feels like
Sergei Kharitonov 15-3 vs. Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga 3-0 Kharitonov seemed to slide in his career a bit in 2006, but won twice in 2007 including against now Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem. Sergei can give and take a punch and has fought some of the best in the world with his well rounded though sometimes cardio lacking skills. Siala is a Champion K-1 Kickboxer with some wicked power in his hands, a build like Mark Hunt, absolutely zero ground game and won't be testing anyone's cardio unless its at the buffet. Kharitonov would be an idiot not to take this fight to the floor where he could win, rather than stand with a guy who undoubtedly has much more power than him. Can he take the thick Samoan down is the question. I think he does.
WINNER-Kharitonov by submission
Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen 15-6-1 vs. Kazuyuki Miyata 5-5 Hansen is coming off a poor showing/loss in Shooto and looking to rebound with his deadly knee's and Norwegian grit. Ha Norway, Vikings and such. Oh hi Miyata the car guy, didn't notice you there. Neither will anyone else as you are dispatched quickly and with prejudice for sucking. Kaz is in over his head by a mile here folks.
WINNER-Hellboy by destruction
Hideo Tokoro 19-12-1 vs. Kiyoshi Tamura 16-10 Tokoro only stops opponents by submission and his career high upset from hell win over Royler Gracie and "claim to fame" draw with Royce Gracie. Quick little bugger I give him that. Tamura has about 50 lbs. over lil' Hideo and I'm not sure why this match was made in the 1st place. Tammy isn't the best fighter in any category but I'm not sure Tokoro can hurt or submit him. Who knows really? Odd pairing that is supposed to show Toko can fight anyone of any size and become the next Minowa/Sakuraba for Japan. I'm not yet a believer.
WINNER-Tammy????
Bob "The Beast" Sapp 8-2-1 vs. Bobby "Here For A Paycheck" Ologun 2-1 The "Bobs" go to war with Ologun being absent from competition for two years and Sapp inactive in MMA almost 3 years though he has done some movies, kickboxing, and pro wrestling, so, ya know, active I guess. Ologun likes to fight the monsters (he lost to Hong Man Choi but beat Akebono who everyone beats) and is a foreign TV star who thinks he can fight. Sapp may run out of gas in 1 round but he'll need less than that to "hulk smash" Ologun through the mat for the win.
WINNER-Bob (heh heh)
Melvin Manhoef 18-4-1 vs. Yosuke Nishijima 0-4 Melvin is one of the most deadly strikers of our day who is a super-active fighter with bad cardio (seems counter productive but he makes it work). Yosuke is a former Professional boxer who has obviously translated well into MMA. Hey, Melvin doesn't have a ground game either and they are going to slug it out like the fans want so who lands first, or most, wins. Odds are in Melvins favor though you'd think Nish would win sometime, just probably not here.
WINNER-Manho by flying armbar (just kidding KO)
Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa 38-26-8 vs. Zuluzinho 3-3 Minowa is a glutton for punishment and loves to fight the giants for his countrymen. Zulu is a massive near 400 lb. man can pummel people. I love Minowa and his dropkicks and cartwheel kicks but he is going to be devoured here., possibly literally.
WINNER-Zulu by TKO and above .500 for the 1st time in his career
K-1 Kickboxing Rules:
-Masato vs. Yong Soo Chi
-Musashi vs. Bernard Ackah
-Kenji Kubo vs. Yudai
-HIROYA vs. Tsukasa Fuji
We don't do Kickboxing here but these guys are on the card too.
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