Yarennoka Picks & Breakdown

Well the card didn't turn out quite as expected with Hidehiko Yoshida, Aleksander Emelianenko, and Ricardo Arona not making appearences on the card, and Gesias "JZ" Calvancante getting injured and pulling out of the event. Still, its a nice farewell to Pride FC from a combined effort from the K-1 and M-1 Global staff to put it all together.

YARENNOKA December 31, 2007

“The Last Emperor” FEDOR EMELIANENKO 26-1 vs “The Techno Goliath” HONG MAN CHOI 1-0 Hong man is the Japanese sensation, is getting the fight of his life after a kickboxing decision loss only two weeks ago in K-1. He is an enormous 7'2 352 lbs. Kickboxer, who has power in his striking, but is slow, and is basically a baby to MMA and with his long limbs is an easy takedown for Fedor who will submit the giant in the beloved Japanese freak fight. Fedor doesn’t do much but tune up here for future opponents (Pedro Rizzo, Jeff Monson, Josh Barnett, don’t hold your breath for Randy Couture) in 2008. Still, we get to see “the man” return to MMA action after an 8 month hiatus.
WINNER-Fedor The Great by submission

Strikeforce Lightweight Champion GILBERT “El Nino” MELENDEZ 13-0 VS MITSUHIRO ISHIDA 15-3-1 The MMAFO #2 Ranked Lightweight is coming in off a sluggish win in October at the Playboy mansion which could distract anyone. Ishida was a Top 10 Lightweight until he was destroyed in his last fight with Takanori Gomi. Mitsuhiro was overpowered by Gomi, and Melendez is known for overpowering his opponents in non-stop action. This should go the same unless Mitsu can hold down Gilbert which I just don’t see happening. Gilbert makes all fights exciting and Ishida has only lost to the very best (Ribeiro, Gomi, and his 1st fight back in 2001) so expect to be entertained until Gil’s hand is raised.
WINNER-Gilbert Melendez by TKO

TATSUYA “Crusher” KAWAJIRI 19-4-2 vs LUIZ AZEREDO 11-6 Kawajiri fell out of the Lightweight Top 10 only because he didn’t fight at all in 2007 and his last fight was a loss to aforementioned Melendez. Make no mistake Tatsuya is a high caliber fighter who can hang with any in the world with a well rounded game and powerful TKOing hands. Luiz is a submission fighter who left Chute Boxe and likes to think he can stand and bang with fighters and has also been out of action for a year. Luiz is crazy to think he can hang with the “Crusher” and will be dismantled as Kawajiri climbs back into the Top 10.
WINNER-Tatsuya Kawajiri by TKO

KAZUO “Grabaka Hitman” MISAKI 18-8-2 vs YOSHIHIRO AKIYAMA 10-1 Kazuo rose to prominence in 2oo6 winning the Pride Middleweight Grand Prix though he lost his opening fight but went to the finals because others got injured and defeated an unmotivated Dan Henderson by decision. I’ve always found Misaki overrated and his weak loss to Frank Trigg in his last outing (February 2007) helped confirm it. Akiyama is the guy who “greased up” and was DQ’d against Sakuraba but came back to just KO the crap outta Denis Kang in October to prove he is a Middleweight contender! The Judo practioner has beaten some heavy competition and easily at that. Expect Akiyama to continue to roll here though Misaki will do his best to slow the bout to a boring crawl.
WINNER-Akiyama by decision

MURILO BUSTAMANTE 14-6-1 VS MAKOTO TAKIMOTO 3-3 The ever inconsistent and yet former UFC Middleweight Champion Murilo can be one of the best in the world (like against Matt Lindland & Dave Menne) or just look lousy (like against Amar Suloev & Kazuhiro Nakamura). He has faced competition like Chuck Liddell, Quinton Jackson, Minowa, Jerry Bohlander, and the aforementioned names (I’ve used that word twice now) so he has seen it all! Makoto has seen very little, including success, though he is a Judo champ and did upset Zelg Galesic in his last fight by kimura. Makoto has a lot of heart, but if the BTT trained Murilo shows up around 75%, he should take this one by submission or at the very least, decision.
WINNER-Bustamante

SHINYA “Tobikan Judan” AOKI 11-2 vs BUKYUNG JUNG I can't find out jack about this replacement Jung guy except that he does judo. Big help. Either way he gets submitted by triangle, everyone does.
WINNER-Aoki

ROMAN ZENTSOV 16-11 vs MICHAEL RUSSOW 6-1 Mike is a big fella coming in against the Red Devil on short notice. Roman was on a roll recently until he got laid upon by Brandon Lee Hinkle and lost a decision over at Bodog. Look for a rebound here as Zentsov gets a KO and keeps things off the floor where Russow excels at submissions.
WINNER-Zentsov

HIDEHIKO HASEGAWA 14-8-4 vs. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai 30-7-2 Hidehiko was the DEEP Middleweight Champion but is coming off a loss followed by a draw. Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Mach sign with the UFC and was shown at one of their PPV's? Surprised they allowed this fight but Mach is going to win against the bigger bully with his hands and speed.
WINNER-Sakurai