Nick Diaz survived a knockdown and a cut to comeback and knock DREAM Welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis out late in the first round of their scheduled five round title fight for the vacant Strikeforce Middleweight belt. Diaz pinned Marius against the cage early, landing repeated knees to Zaromski’s right thigh (when I say repeated, I mean continuous for probably thirty seconds) before Diaz scored a takedown. After losing top position, Diaz seemed to be in control of the stand-up, picking Zaromskis off from range with the variety of angles he often confuses his opponents with before the Lithuanian turned it around. Midway through the round Marius rocked Diaz with a two punch combination before dropping him with a right hook that looked to have ended the fight. Diaz took some shots from guard but recovered, transitioned to his knees where he took more shots before standing up. Once up Diaz re-took control of the fight, battering Zaromskis across the cage. Once again showing that he is undoubtably the best body puncher in MMA, Diaz softened up Marius with heavy rips to the midsection before finishing him off with a barrage of shots culminating with a right hook.
The win for Diaz clearly ranks him as the top non-UFC welterweight and surely as one of the top ten welterweights in the world. Sure he lost some fights when he was in the UFC, but he was in his early 20′s. He’s shown with his last few fights that he’s one of the better boxers in MMA and with an even better ground game he is a handful for anyone in the division. Jay Hieron (who defeated Joe Riggs by decision on the undercard) is probably next but I can’t see him handling Diaz’s versatility. With Hieron’s main weapon being his wrestling, he’ll basically pick his poison against the more polished fighter. As for Zaromskis, I think this proves that he isn’t the devastating striker that everyone thought he was. The run he had to win DREAM’s Grand Prix last year wasn’t that difficult and he needs to develop a more well-rounded game if he wants to compete with the top dogs at 170lbs.
On the undercard, Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos defended her Lightweight title over Marloes Coenen via third round stoppage in a competitive fight. The difference proved to be in strength as Cyborg powered out of submission attempts while delivering heavy ground and pound and punishing Coenen standing up. The end came in the third round when a fatigued and battered Coenen was finished off with punches from on top. Robbie Lawler withstood an assault of leg kicks and body kicks from feared striker Melvin Manhoef to score a one-punch come-from-behind knockout over the K-1 contender. Manhoef was sending Lawler’s right leg airborne with the force of his kicks and just as he seemed close to finishind the former EliteXC Middleweight champion, he was clocked with a right hook and finished with an overhand left that left him unconscious for a brief period of time. Lawler limped around the cage celebrating his victory.
Other results Bobby Lashley battered Wes Sims, scoring a first round stoppage via punches from the guard. Lashley got an easy takedown and worked his ground and pound to which Sims offered little resistance even though he wasn’t taking too many clean shots. NFL legend Herschel Walker scored a third round stoppage over Greg Nagy. Nagy was sort of in the fight in the first but Walker took over in the 2nd and closed the show in the third round with punches from the mount.
The first promotion by Strikeforce this year is a very solid card with two interesting title fights as well as a potential fight of the year candidate and fights by two of the biggest cross-over stars in the sport. In the main event, Middleweight giant killer Nick Diaz returns to his natural weight class of 170lbs after stopping both Frank Shamrock and Scott Smith last year to take on DREAM Welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis for the vacant Strikeforce Welterweight title. The Women’s lightweight championship is up for grabs as well with defending champion Cristiane ‘Cyborg’ Santos defending against Marloes Coenen. Probably the most eagerly awaited clash of the night is what should deliver either a fight of the year candidate or a knockout of the year candidate (or both) with big punching Robbie Lawler fighting K-1 star Melvin Manhoef.
Diaz vs Zaromskis
The title fight between Diaz and Zaromskis is going to be a good battle. Zaromskis has shown last year that he is one of the more powerful fighters in the 170lb division but there’s still a few unknowns about him. Very little is known of the Lithuanian’s ground game and it will also be interesting to see if his new found success will help him when he fights someone with decent stand-up skills. Enter Nick Diaz. Diaz is a great jiu jitsu player who prefers to use his good boxing skills to beat down his opponents often while talking trash to them. One way or another we’re going to get some answers about Marius in this fight.
Those of you who have followed MMA for a few years know about Diaz. He debuted in the UFC when he was only 20 and made a real name for himself when he knocked out Robbie Lawler in his 2nd fight for the organisation. His UFC career went up and down with his eventual mark ending at 6-4 when he was brought into PRIDE to battle their dominant lightweight Takanori Gomi in a non title affair. Diaz won the fight with the rare gogoplata submission from the guard after a stand-up war only for the decision to be overturned for marijuana use. Since then he lost to KJ Noons in EliteXC, had Noons leave MMA to avoid a rematch and then put in two memorable performances to defeat Shamrock and Smith last year.
I really think this fight is Diaz’s to lose. We know Zaromskis has power, especially with his kicks. Diaz has a habbit of standing up with guys he really should be taking to the ground, although it doesn’t hurt him very often, this time it could. His best bet lies in taking Marius to the ground and working his excellent ground game. Zaromskis has been winning most of his fights quickly lately while Diaz has proved in the past that he has good conditioning so I think Marius’ best chances lie early in the fight. Diaz also has a good chin so it’s going to take some big shots to take him out, but I think his boxing should allow him to survive Marius’ stand-up and eventually the fight will hit the ground and Diaz will end in there. Nick Diaz by 2nd round submission.
Cyborg vs Coenen I really don’t see any fighters in this division who will be able to survive Cyborg right now. Coenen has a solid ground game, but Cyborg’s aggression and pitbull-like tenacity is equivalent to when Wanderlei Silva was destroying the poor Japanese contenders back in 2001-2002 in PRIDE. I don’t think this fight will last very long, Cyborg by first round stoppage.
Lawler vs Manhoef The one thing Lawler has in this fight that could make it interesting is that he is a solid wrestler, having learnt his game from the famed Miletich camp who at one stage held three UFC champions out of it’s camp at one time, and now training with Matt Hughes. There’s no doubt that Manhoef is the bigger puncher and the better striker. Could you imagine Lawler being able to hang in there in a stand-up fight with Remy Bonjasky? I hope Lawler delivers and comes to strike with Manhoef because it’ll be entertaining while it lasts, but Manhoef should win. Melvin Manhoef by first round knockout.
The Rest Lashley and Walker by rape. Riggs-Hieron is an interesting fight, but I think Hieron will win on points.
Heavy underdog Marius Zaromskis claimed the vacant DREAM Welterweight championship yesterday with knockout wins over Hayato Sakurai and Jason High in the final round of the Grand Prix at DREAM.10. Zaromiskis’ striking was superb as be picked both men apart in their contests before ending each fight with a head kick. Sakurai was badly cut over the left eye midway through the opening ten minutes and a fired up Zaromskis finished the fight with a head kick and a barrage of punches shortly after. High barely got by his first round opponent Andre Galvao by split decision and was having early success with takedowns in the final. Zaromskis however escaped and ended the fight with a head kick set up by a three punch combo. The 26 year old Lithuanian improved his record to 11-2 with 9 knockouts and his only two losses coming to former Cage Rage champion and TUF9 competitor (sort of, he got eliminated by James Wilkes in the first episode) Che Mills.
In the evenings super fights, Shinya Aoki proved to me that he doesn’t indeed have worse stand up fighting then myself by outstriking returning contender Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro en route to a unanimous decision. In what turned out to be a 10 minute feeling out process, Aoki repeatedly scored with kicks for the duration of the opening stanza. Shaolin scored a takedown in the 2nd stanza, but was unable to do anything significant in Aoki’s guard and it proved too little too late as he lost the decision. Also on the card, Paulo Filho survived some scary moments against Melvin Manhoef before submitting the K-1 veteran with an armbar midway through the first round. TUF7 veteran Jesse ‘JT Money’ Taylor defeated Dong Sik Yoon by injury early in the 1st round.
With some of the recent DREAM cards, I’m a little let down by this one. The Grand Prix is by far the weakest one in the DREAM series thus far and the super fights aren’t on the level of say Kawajiry-JZ. Still, there’s a four man tournament to crown the Welterweight champion and we get to see three decent fights so I shouldn’t complain too much.
Welterweight Grand Prix This was really set up to crown either Sakurai or Aoki a champion and pairing them off early was a little stupid. I doubt Sakurai will have much trouble winning against any of the opponents and unless he has a really bad night (which being Sakurai is possible) I think he wins this without too much trouble, probably going the distance in both fights though. I’m picking Galvao to beat High and meet him in the Final.
Shinya Aoki vs Vitor Ribeiro Prediction- Aoki on points I’m glad to see Ribeiro back as he was a good opponent a few years ago and it would have been a shame for his career to end on an injury. Ribeiro was a solid fighter about 3-4 years ago defeating the likes of Tatsuya Kawajiri, Joachim Hansen and Ivan Menjivar. He is a world champion Jiu Jitsu player and against someone like Aoki who is a freak in terms of grappling, especially in MMA, it could be an excellent ground battle. Ribeiro has alright striking, but I think his absence will hurt him against a top tier opponent like Aoki. Aoki will probably take over towards the end of the first 10 minute period before dominating the final five minutes to win a unanimous decision.
Paulo Filho vs Melvin Manhoef Prediction- Filho by submission (0-10 minutes) I find it very hard to pick Manhoef against a grappler. If the fight hits the mat you can bet your left testicle on Filho finishing Manhoef. Then again, if Manhoef can keep the fight standing for an extended period of time he could knock Filho out. Then again (again), Filho hasn’t been knocked out, while Manhoef has been tapped out a number of times. Filho will be out to prove something in this fight and I expect him to win inside the first period by submission, probably a rear naked choke.
Dong Sik Yoon vs Jesse Taylor Prediction- Taylor by unanimous decision Strange to see the infamous JT Money on the card, but he’s not getting back in the UFC any time soon so its a good fight for him to take. I don’t think Dong has much of a chance here unless he can get Taylor on his back. Taylor will win in the fashion he won his way to the Final of TUF7 before his post house antics got him booted off; by taking Dong down and holding him there, then throwing up after he wins the decision.
2008 K-1 World Grand Prix Runner-up Badr Hari made his comeback a successful one, destroying three time K-1 Champion Semmy Schilt in 45 seconds at the annual “It’s Showtime” event in Holland. Hari jumped on Schilt at the opening bell and pushed the K-1 Super Heavyweight champion across the ring with hard blows. A barrage culminating with a left hand dropped Schilt onto the ropes and although he was up at one he was on clearly wobbly legs. Hari then showed his superb finishing skills reigning in combinations knocking Schilt out with a right hand.
This fight had been built up for a number of years and was probably the best thing Hari could have done for his career. I’m not sure if he’s allowed in K-1′s Grand Prix this year, but if he is it’s going to be difficult for anyone to beat him. I’d love to see a rematch between him and Overeem at the Final 16 to prove the first win was not over the prime Hari but rather an out of conditioned fighter who had just fought three hard fights on one night only three weeks prior. As much as I (and a lot of fans) don’t like Hari, on his night he’d probably beat anyone in a kick boxing match in the world.
As for Schilt, his career has really slipped. The loss to Aerts in the Final 16 was unfortunate for him but this one was only the 2nd time he has been knocked out in his kickboxing career (the other was five years ago). Yes Aerts and Hari are among the very best in the world, but Schilt in my opinion seems to have been worked out. He looks the best in the world when he can stand his ground and deliver unanswered blows on his opponents but when someone big like Aerts or Hari takes the fight to him the technical flaws that his size allows him to get away with become more obvious and easier to take advantage of.
In a bit of an upset, unheralded Mourad Bouzidi scored a first round TKO over K-1 semi finalist Errol Zimmerman. The fight was stopped due to a cut caused by a clean Bouzidi knee landing flush to the face. Bouzidi seemed to be in control of the fight, mixing up good movement with his aggression to keep Zimmerman off balance. The loss is the third in a row for Zimmerman who needs to get a few fights with some decent veterans in before he fights the likes or Hari and Aerts again. Also victorious on the card was Andy Souwer, Gago Drago, Tyrone Spong and Melvin Manhoef who scored a KO win over Stefan Leko. I actually forgot this card was even on and probably would have made an effort to watch it as it was on Setanta had I known.
Remy Bonjasky took a three round unanimous decision with a third round knockdown to defeat MMA star Alistair Overeem in the main event super fight at the annual K-1 event in Yokohama last night. The Yokohama event usually sees the first action from the major Heavyweight stars since the previous years Grand Prix and this years event didn’t dissapoint with six of last years quarter finalists in action. Overeem seemed the busier fighter for the majority of the fight but was unable to clearly dominate Bonjasky to score a lead on the scorecards. Both judges scored the opening two rounds 10-10 (I gave Overeem the 2nd round) and he was in firm control of the first two minutes of the third round. With roughly 30 seconds remaining, Bonjasky landed a knee to Overeem’s chin followed by an overhand right that dropped the former PRIDE star to the canvas. Overeem beat the count but the 10-8 round was enough to give Bonjasky a unanimous decision win over three rounds.
A lot of MMA fans don’t get the K-1 scoring system. Basically, you have to win the round clearly to get a 10-9 round. K-1 scores a lot of 10-10 rounds for the reason that it’s a three round stand-up battle so in order for the fighter to get a win he needs to show dominance with either a knockdown or a sustained beating to win on points in that time which leads to more action. The extra rounds makes up for this and while some fights end up with dodgey decisions, a lot more fights are decided by the fighters rather then the judges. I thought Bonjasky fought like shit compared to his performance in the last Grand Prix. He didn’t look comfortable under fire leading me to believe he didn’t train as hard as he normally does and I thought without the knockdown that Overeem would have surely won a decision. However, the only real dominating part of the fight was the knockdown which was a clean knockdown in which Overeem was hurt so the right man got the decision (although I wouldn’t have minded seeing a 4th round).
The co feature of this event saw a four man tournament for the vacant K-1 Heavyweight belt which was stripped from Badr Hari after his disgraceful showing in the K-1 WGP Final last year. With Gokhan Saki, Tyrone Spong and Melvin Manhoef making up three of the four, it was last years runner-up at Fukuoka Keijiro Maeda who upset both Manhoef and Saki to win the title. Maeda shocked the heavily favoured Manhoef in the first fight with a short right hand that left Manhoef unable to beat the count in the very first round. The 22 year old who lost his chance at competing in the Grand Prix last year against Ewerton Teixera, frustrated Manhoef with movement and leg kicks before countering a wild attack with a right hand that ended Manhoefs night early.
In the other semi final, nothing could seperate Gokhan Saki and Tyrone Spong for the first three rounds of their fight as they traded evenly with neither getting even the slightest edge. The fight was scored 30-30 and an overtime round decided the fight. In what was another close round, Saki left no doubt as he polaxed Spong with a right hand. The knockout was sudden and completely unexpected. Saki and Maeda battled out another close battle in the final, but Maeda was simply too sharp for last years Grand Prix semi finalist and took the title after an extra round. Whether this means that Maeda gets Hari’s spot in the Final 16 or not I don’t know, but it seems to be the best way to sort that situation out.
Also on the card, three time K-1 champion Peter Aerts made his comeback from his knockout loss to Badr Hari a successful one with a unanimous decision after an extra round against 2008 semi finalist Errol Zimmerman. Aerts successfully attacked the body throughout the fight, landing two and three punch combinations to the body as well as hard body kicks. Zimmerman was game though and answered with some heavy leg kicks and fast punching combinations that looked to have ‘the Dutch Lumberjack’ in trouble briefly in the 2nd round. After three rounds in which Aerts appeared to win comfortably, the judges scored a draw. Aerts again took control with his body attacks and grinded out a four round unanimous decision. Aerts looked much sharper in this fight then against Hari although the Hari that fought in December was a completely different animal to Zimmerman.
In other action, Ewerton Teixera upset Jerome Le Banner with a five round split decision victory. Le Banner fought in spurts and it hurt him on the judges cards in the end. After a slow first two rounds in which Teixera was doing all the work (although not landing with much), Le Banner seemed to outwork him in the 3rd round and then in the first extra round (one judge scored the extra round to Le Banner). In the fifth, Le Banner again fought in spurts and it was enough for Teixera to edge him out. Le Banner seems to think that if the other guy can’t hurt him, then he shouldn’t beat him and often fights to his opponents level. Had he turned the heat on Teixera from the start he would have won that fight easily. Also both Semmy Schilt and Glaube Feitosa scored easy wins over Hesdy Gerges and Junichi Sawayashiki respectively. Schilt controlled ever second of his fight, but despite a 2nd round knockdown couldn’t finish his game opponent. Feitosa repeatedly bounced Sawayashiki off the canvas before the referee intervened in the 2nd round.
First of all I’m sorry for the lack of updates over the recent weeks. I’ve been extremely fucking busy and haven’t even been able to check out news sites let alone update anything. That and there wasn’t all that much worth talking about. That all changes this weekend with the first big K-1 event of the year. Featured is the current K-1 champion Remy Bonjasky against the man who destroyed Badr Hari, Alistair Overeem. Also on the card is a four man tournament to crown the 100kg champion (Hari was stripped of this title for his behaviour in last years GP) featuring Melvin Manhoef, Gokhan Saki, Chalid Die Faust and Tyrone Spong. Plus Peter Aerts, Jerome Le Banner and Errol Zimmerman in action.
Remy Bonjasky vs Alistair Overeem Prediction- Bonjasky on points I gotta go with Bonjasky under K-1 rules. Overeem definately has a strong chance in this fight but I think Bonjasky’s defence will be too tight and he’ll make Overeem look amatuerish in certain parts of this fight. Overeems sheer size and strength will pose anyone problems but there’s a few factors in this fight that are different from when Overeem KO’d Badr Hari in the 1st round on New Years Eve and they all favour Bonjasky.
First of all, Hari was three weeks removed from suffering two knockdowns and fighting three times in one night. Surely he didn’t train that much during those three weeks if at all. Second, little was known of how dangerous Overeem’s stand-up actually is. Out-striking an MMA fighter is one thing but against someone as good as Hari not many expected Overeem to last. Hari didn’t know exactly how dangerous he was, Bonjasky now does. The element of surprise that Overeem had over Hari he doesn’t have over Overeem. Last, Bonjasky is a much bigger man then Hari with a more proven chin and despite giving away some size to Overeem, he’s a fully fledged heavyweight (well super heavyweight by K-1 standards) and will be better equipped to deal with Overeem’s physical attributes.
Overeem will likely start fast, but Bonjasky should ride out the storm and pick him apart en route to a decision win (possibly in an extra round, but the longer the fight goes the mroe I favour Bonjasky) or a late stoppage.
K-1 Heavyweight title tournament
Chalid Die Faust vs Melvin Manhoef Prediction- Manhoef by first round KO Die Faust is as dangerous as they come when in form and has a bit of size over Manhoef, but Manhoef’s power and explosiveness should prove too much for the hot and cold Chalid. Manhoef I think will catch him heavily during an exchange and end matters with one punch midway through the first round.
Gokhan Saki vs Tyrone Spong Prediction- Spong on points I’m going purely off hype here but Spong has plenty of it. He’s won world titles in different organisations from 70kg up to his current weight (90-95kg). Whether he has the power to dent the chins of some of the best Heavyweights in the world or not remains to be seen and Saki may prove too experienced on the big stage, but should Spong live up to his hype Saki could be in trouble.
Either way, I don’t envy whoever wins this fight as Manhoef should prove too dangerous for either man. My overall pick is for Manhoef to win the entire thing and to do it in less then 10 total minutes of fighting. For the competition he’s up against, and I’m not saying it’s bad, I think he brings too much for all three guys right now. Saki has the best chance of upsetting him as he has solid technique with some size behind it, but I think Manhoef would find his chin eventually and end matters.
Peter Aerts vs Errol Zimmerman Prediction- Aerts by 3rd round KO Old timer vs young gun and it’s one that’s hard to pick. I’m going with Aerts to outlast Zimmerman and stop him late but it’s hard to know what he has left. Did he use the last ace in his hand against Schilt in September or does he have more up his sleeve? Zimmerman has speed and power and could make things ugly for Aerts if he doesn’t show up or if he’s indeed past his use by date, but he’s shown a lack of stamina in the later rounds in previous fights and if Aerts gets the sniff that I think he’ll get with his years of experience, I think he’ll turn the screws on Zimmerman and force a stoppage.
Jerome Le Banner vs Ewerton Teixera Prediction- Teixera on points I’m going for an upset here. I think Le Banner is used goods and Teixera’s style will give him fits if he isn’t in peak condition which I don’t think he will be. Teixera looked good against Zimmerman and while Le Banner is a different kettle of fish, I think he’ll be able to pick Le Banner’s assaults off and land clean counter shots of his own while frustrating the human refrigerator.
Glaube Feitosa vs Junichi Sawayashiki Prediction- Feitosa by 2nd round KO Interesting fight between two guys both in need of a win if they want to be in this years Final 16. I’m not at all sold on Sawayashiki and I think Feitosa has too much power for him. At some stage he’ll land and then we’ll see if Sawayashiki has what it takes to make it in K-1.
With the endless supply of boxing and MMA so far this year, I’ve neglected the K-1 season which started two weeks ago on the 23rd of February. Now I still don’t fully understand how everything works and this is the first full season I’ll be watching, but at the MAX event there was an eight man tournament and I’m pretty sure the winner gets a spot in the final 16 for the MAX Grand Prix. Taishin Kohiruumaki won the tournament with a decision win over Yuya Yamamoto in the final after stopping Yahuhiro Kido and decisioning Andy Ologun earlier in the night. Also on the card, last years MAX semi finalist Yoshihiro Sato knocked out Sergey Golyaev and K-1 MAX 2002 Champion Albert Kraus won a decision over Su Hwan Lee.
The next K-1 event takes place March 28th and it’s a big one. There’s a tournament to determine the K-1 100kg champion after Hari was stripped of his title for his actions in the Grand Prix final last year against Remy Bonjasky. The four man tournament features Melvin Manhoef against Chalid Die Faust with the winner to meet the winner of the Gokhan Saki vs Ruslan Karaev rematch from last years GP Quarter Finals that saw Saki win via decision. This tournament should be explosive as the Karaev-Saki fight last year was superb and both Manhoef and Die Faust have serious power. I’d like to see Manhoef win and be a contestant in this years K-1 Grand Prix.
The main event sees K-1 Grand Prix champion Remy Bonjasky take on the man who destroyed Badr Hari at Dynamite, former PRIDE star Alistair Overeem. This matchup has major significance in the K-1 strikers vs MMA strikers debate as it pits arguably the best MMA Heavyweight striker against the K-1 champion and unlike the Badr Hari match, Bonjasky has had significant time to prepare for Overeem. A win for Overeem would make him a big money draw for the UFC should they look to sign him (Overeem was posing for photographs with Dana White at UFC 93) or it could set up a run for the K-1 title at the end of this year.
Also on the card is the rematch between Badr Hari and Errol Zimmerman (who I’m in complete shock about not being in the Heavyweight title tournament) which was an excellent fight last year with both guys being knocked down before Hari won with a third round knockout. Last years quarter finalists Jerome Le Banner and Ewerton Teixera face off as well as Final 16 contestants Glaube Feitosa and Junichi Sawayashiki, two guys who will have to go through qualifying (or get voted in by the fans) in order to make it back this year.
This weekend however is the first DREAM event of the year. DREAM.7 features 6 of the first 7 fights of the 2009 DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix with the other fight to take place at DREAM.8 (plus Kid Yamamoto receiving a bye to make up the final 8). The other fights see Tatsuya Kawajiri and Mitsuhiro Ishida in seperate bouts and Shinya Aoki fighting at Welterweight against Ross Gardner (Aoki is the current favourite for the Welterweight Grand Prix starting at DREAM.8). My picks for the Grand Prix matches are as follows:
Masakatsu Imanari vs Astushi Yamamoto (Imanari by submission 0-10 mins)
Hiroyuki Takaya vs Jong Won Kim (Takaya by KO 0-10 mins)
Yoshiro Maeda vs Micah Miller (Maeda by KO 10-15 mins)
Chase Beebe vs Joe Warren (Beebe by submission 0-10 mins)
Takafumi Otsuka vs Bibiano Fernandes (Fernandes on points)
Akiyo Nishiura vs Abel Callum (Callum by submission 0-10 mins)
Enjoy the action this weekend! The DREAM card caps off a quality weekend with UFC 96 and a decent HBO card on.
The K-1 website is reporting that dates of the first K-1 Events for the New Year. On the 23rd February the Japan MAX Qualifying Tournament will take place at Yoyogi Stadium. Usually on the card is an eight man tournament with the winner of the tournament earning a spot in the K-1 MAX Final 16 in April. Also there will be a handful of super fights between top K-1 MAX fighters. Rumoured to be on the card so far is last years semi finalists Yoshihiro Sato, as well as quarter finalists Buakaw, Drago and Yasuhiro Kido. None of these guys will be in the tournament as they have a direct pass to the Final 16 for making the Final 8 last year, however a few candidates to compete in the tournament are also rumoured to be on the card. Andy Ologun, Andre Dida, TATSUJI, Kozo Takeda, Taishin Kohiruimaki, HAYATO and Yuya Yamamoto are 7 of the likely candidates mentioned on the K-1 site so far.
The other event featured on the website looks to be pretty good. There’s no implications as far as the Grand Prix goes, but the Yokohama event (which will be held March 28th) usually features a good number of quality super fights and with the rumoured fighters so far this year should be no different. The return of Semmy Schilt, Badr Hari (could likely be fighting Kimbo Slice if last years rumours are anything to go off), Jerome Le Banner, Hong Man Choi, Ruslan Karaev, Gokhan Saki, Junichi Sawayashiki and Ewerton Teixera are mentioned (without opponents so far) as the combatants for the March event. Out of those eight fighters, only four of them (Karaev, Saki, Teixera and Le Banner) have a guaranteed spot in the Final 16, so the other four could be getting some ring time in before competing on one of the Qualifying Events later in the year.
Here’s how the K-1 Final 16 is shaping up for 2009:
1- Remy Bonjasky
2- Gokhan Saki
3- Ewerton Teixera
4- Errol Zimmerman
5- Peter Aerts
6- Ruslan Karaev
7- Jerome Le Banner
8- (Not sure how this spot will be filled, Badr Hari would normally fill it but as part of his punishment for stomping Bonjasky he won’t this year. Either they’ll add in a 5th Qualifier or let the fans pick five spots).
9- Amsterdam Qualifying Event Winner (apparently will be held May 16th)
10- Qualifying Event Winner #2
11- Qualifying Event Winner #2
12- Qualifying Event Winner #3
13- Fan Pick #1
14- Fan Pick #2
15- Fan Pick #3
16- Fan Pick #4
I find it very unlikely that Schilt will get voted in so I think we’ll see him in Qualifying action this year as I doubt he’ll want to risk his spot in the Final 16 on his popularity. Badr Hari I’m unsure of. The fans might still love him but then again they might hate him a lot for the disrespect he showed the sport in December. I think he’ll likely fight in a Qualifier just in case as well. With Alistair Overeem’s win over Hari at the New Years Eve show (sorry for lack of coverage on that, time was a big issue in that and it’s a bit pointless me doing anything on it anymore), maybe he’ll want to try his luck in the K-1 WGP this year? Melvin Manhoef is another man who might also enter this year and one who has a good chance at getting voted in after highlight reel KO wins over Mark Hunt (MMA rules) and Paul Slowinski (K-1 Rules) in December. Hong Man Choi though I’m sure will get voted into the Final 16, as will Ray Sefo.
These are also late, but even more then boxing these had to be left until the new year so all the events could be done and everything taken into consideration. As it turns out, a few of the last few events of the year won some awards.
Fight of the Year- Eddie Alvarez TKO 1 (7:35) Tatsuya Kawajiri (DREAM.5)
This fight took place in the semi finals of the DREAM Lightweight Grand Prix and a cut suffered by Alvarez in winning this fight left him unable to continue in the tournament marking the way for alternate Joachim Hansen, the man Alvarez beat in the Quarter Finals, to fight in and win the Final against Shinya Aoki. Both fighters traded heavy shots on their feet throughout the fight and both fighters were knocked down. Alvarez dropped Kawajiri with a left hook-right cross about three minutes in but he used good survival skills to get himself out of trouble. After the doctors ruled Alvarez’s cut was okay to continue, Kawajiri dropped him heavily with a right hand and then passed his guard and mounted him. Alvarez escaped the mount and got back to his feet where both guys traded heavy shots and hurt each other more then once. Alvarez then pinned Kawajiri against the ropes and dropped him again, took his back and finished him with heavy strikes to the head. I picked this fight over some of the other ones on the list because it was fast paced for the full distance of the fight unlike some of the other candidates this year and because the whole way through the fight you had no idea who was going to win. If you haven’t seen the fight, here it is:
Honourable Mentions- Miguel Torres TKO3 Yoshiro Maeda (WEC 34), Forrest Griffin UD5 Rampage Jackson (UFC 86), Eddie Alvarez UD (15 mins) Joachim Hansen (DREAM.3).
Fighter of the Year- Gegard Mousasi This might come as a strange pick to some people, but the big factor in this pick was that he went 6-0 this year (plus his victory under K-1 rules against MUSASHI) and four of those wins were against decent opposition in winning the DREAM Middleweight Tournament. After winning two fights early in the year (one over PRIDE veteran Evangelista Cyborg), Mousasi entered the Grand Prix as one of the dark horses. Matched up against PRIDE 2006 Welterweight Grand Prix Runner-up Denis Kang in the first round of the tournament, Mousasi’s triangle choke victory came as a big upset to most people. A workman-like decision win over Dong Sik Yoon in the Quarter Finals earned him his spot in the Final Event where he had to face Melvin Manhoef in the Semi Finals, and then fight again on the same night to win the title. Most were expecting a Manhoef-Ronaldo Jacare final, but Mousasi had other ideas, scoring a victory again via triangle choke in 88 seconds over the feared striker. Facing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu expert Jacare in the Final, Mousasi ended up on his back early, but at the 2:15 mark of the first round a dramatic upkick followed up by punches with Jacare in his guard left his Brazilian opponent unconscious and made Gegard Mousasi the new DREAM Middleweight Champion. Some of the other fighters (particularily in the UFC) scored bigger wins this year, but all of them fought only twice this year and you can question the level of some of their wins. While some of Mousasi’s opponents certainly wouldn’t make it in the UFC, going 6-0 against that sort of competition is very impressive stuff. I definately don’t think he’d beat Anderson Silva or anything like that so save your time from writing some idiotic comment saying Silva would crush him or whatever because that’s not what this is about. It’s about which fighter accomplished the most in the calendar year and it was in my opinion Gegard Mousasi. Honourable Mentions- Frank Mir, Rashad Evans, Georges St Pierre.
Knockout of the Year- Rampage Jackson KO1 (left hook) Wanderlei Silva (UFC 92) This knockout just edged out Rashad Evans knocking out Chuck Liddell. I almost made it a tie, but then I measured my closet and realised I wasn’t big enough to fit into it so I could come out of it after making it a tie and acted like a man and made the pick. I think the deciding factor was the importance of the knockout for Rampage in this fight after avenging two brutal KO losses to Silva from their PRIDE days with an equally if not more devastating KO win himself. I would put a clip of the KO up, but ZUFFA are pricks about this sort of thing and don’t allow any of their fights to be on youtube so I’ll have to describe it. Wanderlei attacked Rampage while he was near the fence and threw a left hook-right hook combo. Rampage countered the left hook with a tighter one of his own and caught Wanderlei square on the jaw with his own hook putting him out cold right away while he was in the middle of throwing his own shot. Rampage then followed it up with two or three shots while Wanderlei was out. Both Rampage and Rashad will likely fight for the belt later this year and hopefully we’ll see another KO of the year candidate (and hopefully it’s Rashad who is on the receiving end). Honourable Mentions- Rashad Evans KO2 (overhand right) Chuck Liddell (UFC 88), Wanderlei Silva KO1 (rape choke + right hands from mount) Keith Jardine (UFC 84), Anthony Johnson KO3 (left high kick) Kevin Burns (TUF8 Finale).
Submission of the Year- Shinya Aoki Sub1 (5:12)(Aokiplata/Gogoplata from mount) Katsuhiko Nagata (DREAM.4) I watched this about 50 times in a row after I saw it. It was so cool it has to be given it’s own name and I will from now on refer to this as the Aokiplata no matter how much my friend who has done Jiu Jitsu longer then me tells me that the gogoplata was originally done from the mount before the guard and that the one he did on Hansen should therefore be the Aokiplata because I think he’s wrong. Anyway, unlike KO of the year, I have a clip, so I’ll shut up and you can enjoy:
Honourable Mentions- Dustin Hazelett Sub2 (Flying Armbar from Whizzer) Josh Burkman (TUF7 Finale), Dustin Hazelett Sub1 (Cutting Armbar against his own leg) Tamdan McCrory, Demian Maia Sub2 (Triangle Choke from Mount + Punches) Ed Herman (UFC 83).
Event of the Year- UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 (December 27th)
The UFC stacked their last show and it proved to be the best event of the year. On the card we had two title fights between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir for the UFC interim Heavyweight title and Rashad Evans challenging Forrest Griffin for the UFC Light Heavyweight title in the main event. Also on the card was a fight featuring one of the best grudges in MMA between Rampage Jackson and Wanderlei Silva; one that has been around for more then five years since before their first bout at PRIDE Final Conflict 2003. Thw two other fights that filled up the main card saw an excellent knockout by Cheick Kongo over Mustafa Al Turk as well as a great Middleweight battle between CB Dollaway and Mike Massenzio. The UFC put six of it’s top starts against each other in fights that had plenty of impact on their respective divisions as well as plenty of impact in future fights that can be made. This card had great matchups that turned into great fights, upsets plus some great finishes and you really can’t ask for anything more (other then the odd submission). Honourable Mentions- Affliction: Banned, UFC 81: Breaking Point, UFC 84: Ill Will.
Performance of the Year- Fedor Emelianenko Sub1 (36 seconds) Tim Sylvia (Affliction: Banned) There was a lot of hype around Fedor’s return to US soil and him fighting his (apparent) first ‘real’ opponent in former Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia. Plenty of people thought that Fedor was all hype and no skill and the new promotion he represented, Affliction, depended on him to prove them wrong in order to succeed. That he did. After a brief feeling out process off about 10 seconds, Fedor dropped Sylvia with a series of big punches, battered him on the ground with even heavier punches, took his back and made him tap with a rear naked choke. It was easily the most you could dominate someone in just 36 seconds. Anyone who wasn’t impressed by Fedor in this fight is an idiot and I really don’t care what anyone has to say about it. Fact of the matter is he’s the best Heavyweight in the World until someone beats him. Guess what, I found a clip of it as well:
Honourable Mentions- Anderson Silva Sub2 Dan Henderson (UFC 81), Frank Mir TKO2 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 92), Georges St Pierre TKO2 Matt Serra (UFC 83).
Upset of the Year- Mike Brown TKO1 Urijah Faber (WEC 36) Faber was easily the top Featherweight in the World and was considered miles ahead of anyone else. He was a top pound for pound fighter as well and no one expected him to lose anytime soon. Mike Brown was a former UFC competitor (he had one fight and got tapped out by Genki Sudo) who had only lost to top fighters and usually fought at Lightweight. While a respectable fighter no one really thought he standed much of a chance with Faber. Two minutes 23 seconds later he had caught Faber with a big right hand as Faber attempted a spinning elbow and rained down punches until the referee pulled him off. I didn’t even bother watching this fight until I saw the result (plus I would have had a hard time finding it online because they broadcast fuckall down under in terms of MMA) because I thought this would be business as usual for Faber. None of the other upsets this year come close to that one.
Honourable Mentions- Junior dos Santos KO1 Fabricio Werdum (UFC 90), Rashad Evans KO2 (UFC 88), Frank Mir TKO2 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (UFC 92).
Before I get onto some of the lesser more comical awards, I’m going to explain my lack of a round of the year award. I prefer the Japanese 1 10 min/1-2 5 min rounds because I think MMA is a sport that doesn’t need rounds. It’s a proper fight and while I don’t care about having rounds as much as I care about say stand-ups and while I understand that they allow more fights to get sanctioned and make some fights more exciting, I still prefer the fighters to go for as long as they can for a round or two then a couple of shorter rounds at the end so I will not include a round of the year. If I did have one I’d give it to Alvarez-Kawajiri because it ended in the first round even though that round was 10 minutes long.
Now, seeing how MMA isn’t as old as boxing, these are all going to be completely new and made up awards named after whoever wins them as I go remembering some of the funnier moments of the year.
Shonie Carter Award for Best Referee Stoppage/- Shonie Carter (Tyler Bryan vs Shaun Parker)
Bryan/Parker Award for Double KO of the Year- Tyler Bryan vs Shaun Parker And here it is:
Just a prior warning, the next few awards go to EliteXC for their ‘Heat’ show, so make sure you have a bucket handy.
Shamrock/Kimbo Award for Most Entertaining Weigh-in of the Year- EliteXC: Heat This weigh-in had two big feuds that almost flared up as well as some nudity from someone not quite as ugly as Kimbo Slice. Undercard attraction and probably the most well known female MMA fighter Gina Carano failed to make weight for like the 4th time in her MMA career but instead of letting it go like what has happened in the past, EliteXC officials made her strip all the way to see if the limited clothing she was wearing accounted for extra weight that she was over. Somehow it did. About four towels covered Carano (and from what I read on a few message boards the wet dreams of many fight fans) that were being held up by her handlers and a very embarrassed Carano made the contracted weight for her fight with Kelly Kobald. After the Arlovski-Nelson weigh in went off without any problems, EliteEX Welterweight Championship competitors Paul Daley and Jake Shields had to be seperated after Shields blew Daley a kiss during the staredown. The main event for this fight was between UFC Hall of Famer Ken Shamrock and Youtube star Kimbo Slice (well at that stage it was) and going with his usual style, Shamrock decided to start some shit before the fight. While posing for the media in attention, Shamrock for absolutely no logical reason (Shamrock thinking he’s been disrespected isn’t a logical reason) pushed Slice in the back and caused the second near brawl of the weigh-in. This one took a lot longer to calm down though as both fighters had bigger entourages then Daley and Shields. Unfortunately, the actual card was no where near as entertaining as the weigh-in.
Jared Shaw Award for Worst Matchmaking of the Year- Kimbo Slice vs Seth Petruzelli (EliteXC: Heat)
Kimbo Slice Award for Most Pathetic Knockout of the Year- Seth Petruzelli KO1 (14 seconds) Kimbo Slice (EliteXC: Heat) Ken Shamrock somehow got himself cut warming-up for the fight and EliteXC needed someone to step in and fight Kimbo Slice in their main event. After an offer from commentator Frank Shamrock was turned down because Shamrock, despite being 50lbs lighter then Kimbo, has some serious skills and would likely have beaten Kimbo anywhere the fight went and EliteXC couldn’t risk their main drawcard getting beaten by a Middleweight. Instead Jared Shaw came up with former TUF2 competitor Seth Petruzelli who was fighting in a Light Heavyweight bout on the preliminary card. Petruzelli was an unorthodox but fairly handy striker who also had some wrestling ability and Shaw tried to make sure it was his striking skills that he would be using against their apparent ‘top 10 Heavyweight boxer in the World’ by asking that Petruzelli stand with Kimbo. What Shaw didn’t know is that there is a difference in levels of striking between your good street fighters and your trained fighters. It took only 14 seconds for him to be wishing that he picked Frank Shamrock. Kimbo rushed across the cage in his usual fashion and backed Petruzelli against the fence. Petruzelli flicked out a jab while off balance and to his and everyone else’s surprised it dropped Kimbo onto all fours. Petruzelli pounced and landed several shots while on Kimbos back, then rolled him over and landed a barrage from, side control that forced the referee to stop the fight at just 0:14 of the first round.
Bob Sapp Award for Biggest Mismatch of the Year- Jan Nortje vs Bob Sapp (Strikeforce: At the Dome) Some people might be surprised that I picked this fight over the Kinniku Mantaro fight against Sapp at the end of the year. Well the answer is obvious, that fight was competitive, this fight wasn’t. Jan Nortje was receiving a lot of hype for his 1-5 record that earned him a spot in the Strikeforce main event. They brought in monster of a man Bob Sapp to fight him because that wanted to see what happens when Nortje picks on someone his own size. The fight ended quickly after Nortje landed several hard blows that forced Sapp to run away, then chased him down and finished the job 55 seconds into the first round. It truly was a mismatch and the matchmakers at Strikeforce deserve an enquiry much more then EliteXC officials for bringing in someone as poor as Bob Sapp to fight a stud like Jan Nortje.
YAMMA Award for Worst MMA Show of the Year (maybe ever)- YAMMA Pit Fighting Seriously this was just horrendous. The creators of the UFC tried to bring back eight man-one night tournaments and make MMA ‘more exciting.’ The tournaments were impossible to do like they used to be done, so they had to compromise. Because fighters could only fight five rounds a night, the first and second rounds of the tournament would be one round of fighting each with the Final fight being three rounds. YAMMA also had a ‘revolutionary’ new fighting surface in which the area of the mat around the edge of the fence would go up on an angle so that the wrestlers couldn’t just pin you up against the cage and drop elbows on your head. Basically YAMMA wanted their organisation to be striker friendly. Instead, the wrestlers backed their opponents onto the ‘ramp’ then took them down with ease because they were off balance and because the fights were only one five minute round, the fight was over right there and then. The tournament consisted of every match being won by lay and prey (including the three round final). The only slightly entertaining part of this event was the super fights between Butterbean and Patrick Smith (mainly because Butterbean got royally fucked up) and Oleg Taktarov vs the man who ate Mark Kerr (Taktarov won by kneebar about one minute in). The event was bad from the fights to the Ring Announcer, who was so bad I’ve named an Award after him.
Scott Ferrall Award for Worst Ring Announcer of the Year- Scott Ferrall (YAMMA Pit Fighting) Scott Ferrall was funny but I wasn’t laughing with him. The guy was way too weird to be allowed to have his thoughts expressed on a microphone. He first announced referee Dan Miragliotta as “Big Dan Miragliotta STOMP YOU OUT!” and then “Big Dan the Man, How can I be the man if you’re the man, Dan Miragliotta (to which Dan shook his head in disgust). Pulled off a terribly lame call in “Travis ‘The Diesel’ Gimme a room with a Wiuff.” One fighter he said “hadn’t eaten in a week because he’s going to the electric chair.” Referred to the YAMMA Championship belt as ‘the strap-on’ and probably the weirdest call he made was “Kevin Mulhall will be the referee for this beautiful matchup of warriors and freaks ready to pound and dance…”
Gone but not Forgotten It’s sad that I have to do one of these for MMA. Boxing has been around for over 100 years and past champions are going to pass away each year and I feel it’s important to remember them. MMA on the other hand has been around for just 15 years and this year my favourite fighter, Evan Tanner, passed away way earlier then he should have.
Evan Tanner- Former UFC Middleweight Champion. Challenged Tito Ortiz for the UFC Light Heavyweight Title at UFC 30 but lost. Defeated Dave Terrell for the UFC Middleweight title at UFC 51 and won with strikes in the first round. Lost the title to Rich Franklin on a doctors stoppage in his first defence at UFC 53. None of this was why I liked Evan Tanner. He kept a blog on his website which I read for over a year about everything that went on in his life, including all his adventures and even his battle with alcohol which he beat in order to return to the UFC this year. I admired not so much the way the man led his life but the way he was completely honest with himself about who he was and who he wasn’t. He died in September of this year from heat exposure after his motorbike broke down in the desert and he ran out of water. He was 37.
