Smaller Promotions Discussion (MFC, Dream, Sengoku, Invicta, ect)

[Ensane]

I'm going to use spoil tags juuuusssst in case.

Also, some people may see K1 and not Dream, or vice versa, so I'll err on the side of caution.

[SPOIL]
This Dream card really felt like an old school Pride card, where most of the fights were mismatches going in. I think in essence they just wanted to keep some of their mainstays (Sakuraba, Zaromskis, Alvarez) fresh in case they put them on the Dynamite!! card.

The last half of the card had some good finishes. I also echo the thoughts about Sakuraba's fight. I thought he was a goner. I kept thinking that he wasn't intelligently defending himself with those shots, and that if it were anyone else, the ref would have stepped in, but he pulled it off.

Zaromskis high kick KO was too perfect! His legend continues to mount.

I thought Alvarez was in trouble coming out of that neck crank lock, he never looked right, but like the gritty fighter he is, battled back and dominated like we expected.

Overeem/Thompson was blah. I expected a KO, but an easy with for Overeem nonetheless.
[/SPOIL]

 

[colonel_korn]

Kikuno's inverted full-nelson or whatever that was kicked ass, you could tell it really did mess Alvarez up for a while, as did some of his kicks to the body. That was probably my favourite fight of the event, good back and forth battle. Kikuno's hands-wide-open stance is weird as hell and looks like a recipe for disaster but it seems to work for him. Definitely a guy to keep an eye on despite the loss.

Zaromskis just got signed by Strikeforce on the back of that performance which is pretty awesome, I'd love to see him fight Diaz or Heiron, maybe Joe Riggs or a couple of the other guys they have kicking around as well. I think guys in North America will probably scout him out a bit better and be ready for the head kicks, but in his fight with High he showed decent defensive wrestling as well so he could still be successful.

Haven't gotten a chance to watch any of the K-1 MAX fights aside from Petrosyan's win over Yamamoto, damn that guy is slick. He's supposed to fight Masato at Dyanamite! now but apparently he busted up his hand so it's a bit up in the air whether it will happen.

Finally we are blessed with another great MMA weekend next week, in addition to the Fedor-Rogers card there's also a Sengoku card on the night before with some pretty good fights. It'll be live on HDNet starting at 3:00am ET on Saturday.

http://nightmareofbattle.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/sengoku-xi-fight-order-announced/

9. FW: Michihiro Omigawa vs. Hatsu Hioki
8. MW: Jorge Santiago vs. Mamed Khalidov
7. LW: Satoru Kitaoka vs. Jorge Masvidal
6. LW: Kazunori Yokota vs. Eiji Mitsuoka
5. LHW: Kevin Randleman vs. Stanislav Nedkov
4. WW: Akihiro Gono vs. Shin Ramen
3. FW: Marlon Sandro vs. Yuji Hoshino
2. HW: Dave Herman vs. Big Jim York
1. FW: Shigeki Osawa vs. Ronnie Ushiwaka

The last 3 fights are all pretty great, we get the featherweight final that should have happened, Santiago finally fighting again and a real great LW matchup as well. Khalidov has been making a bit of a name for himself recently, he's been tearing it up in Poland for a while now and it's cool to see him get to fight on a bigger stage. Here's a couple of his more recent fights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjrtdyTbUbg#t=1m55s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMl_fAyswW8 (lol EliteXC)

Santiago has been on such a tear lately though too, it's a tough fight to call. I think I'm going with Khalidov in a minor upset here given that Santiago's chin is still a bit of a question mark. And I'm excited to see how Kitaoka rebounds from losing his title, he got exposed a bit in his last fight but if he can get Masvidal to the ground he should win. If not then he'll probably get lit up again. Finally in the main event I like Hioki to take a decision, though he'd better be careful if he tries to strike much with Omigawa because I think he's at a disadvantage there.

I'm also glad to see Gono back after that brutal headkick loss, hopefully he can pick up a win. And Herman/York should be a hilarious HW slopfest to kick off the evening.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

That Sengoku card looks pretty damn good.

 

[colonel_korn]

That Sengoku card looks pretty damn good.

Didn't quite live up to potential -- aside from Herman/York, which was funnier than I could have hoped for.

[spoil]
Santiago and Kitaoka both really disappointed. Santiago must have The Worst Chin, he got more or less KO'd by a hammerfist from the bottom. Shame because he's definitely talented. And Kitaoka's one-trick-pony routine let him down for the second straight fight. Omigawa/Hioki was kind of mediocre as well.
[/spoil]

 

[Captain_Cunney]

[spoil] I thought Hioki was robbed! I dont' care how different the scoring is in Japan, he led that fight from start to finish and Omigawa didn't get close enough to a finish in the final frame to steal the fight.[/spoil]

 

[Ensane]

Buyer beware...this post encompasses the K1 Max Finals as well as this weekend's Sengoku:
[SPOIL]
c_k - So do you take your picks to the bookie next time?

Called the Santiago upset. Called the Kitaoka upset. Called the main event result. Called Petrosyan in the MAX GP.

Biggest surpise of the night, though, has to be Gono coming out to a normal entrance. Boy...what a let down!

Herman's KO was hilarious. Quite fitting considering how big of a goofball he is. Can't recall a guy ever getting knocked out in such a manner.

Randleman/Nedkov was god awful. I can't remember the last time that both fighters have been given cards for inactivity TWICE in one round! Those guys should switch careers to bodybuildling, since that seems to be what they're better at. Would have been content with a draw, but whatever.

No major qualms with Omigawa/Hioki decision going the way it did. It was fairly close from beginning to end. Omigawa finishing strong definitely made a lasting impression on two of the judges.

Thought the K1 max finals was much more exciting, but I suppose that was to be expected.

Giorgio Petrosyan. Write that name down. Amazing performance. Didn't really take any damage. I think he would have schooled Buakaw just the same. The Buakaw/Souwer fight was obviously controversial, but all of the rounds were fairly close, so I've got no problem with it going the extension round. I definitely don't think the outrage by the broadcast duo was warranted.

On that note, as a whole I thought that Kogan and Schiavello were pretty unprofessional in how often they kept bashing the refs. It got tired after a while.

Funny how often they showed Masato. He's defintiely got his hands full for New Year's against Petrosyan.

Sato/Kido was fight of the night.

Watanabe's antics were interesting to watch. I kind of wanted to see him get KO'd because of them though.

Drago/Kraus/Kyshenko all looked dominant in rolling over outclassed opponents.
[/SPOIL]

 

[Captain_Cunney]

[spoil]No major qualms with Omigawa/Hioki decision going the way it did. It was fairly close from beginning to end. Omigawa finishing strong definitely made a lasting impression on two of the judges.[/SPOIL]

Really?

[spoil] I'll have to watch the fight again, I thought the fight was fairly brutal, but Hioki really seemed to land the better shots and controlled the action. I could be missing something though, everytime I watch Omigawa fight I expect him to lose, lately i've been coming up empty.

Overall, the card really didn't live up to the hype, it certainly wasn't the best Sengoku card ever.[/spoil]

Did anyone get a count on how many times we heard "sexy beast #1"?

 

[Ensane]

[SPOIL]
C_C

I could have seen it going either way. If I had a say, I would have gone with Hioki.
[/SPOIL]

 

[kurt]

Kikuno's inverted full-nelson or whatever that was kicked ass, you could tell it really did mess Alvarez up for a while, as did some of his kicks to the body. That was probably my favourite fight of the event, good back and forth battle. Kikuno's hands-wide-open stance is weird as hell and looks like a recipe for disaster but it seems to work for him. Definitely a guy to keep an eye on despite the loss.

My favourite fight of the night as well. I love Kikuno. He was awesome in Dream 10 too.

 

[kurt]

Did anyone get a count on how many times we heard "sexy beast #1"?

Or "scrote". Yikes.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

Didn't quite live up to potential -- aside from Herman/York, which was funnier than I could have hoped for.

I agree. It was OK, but not what it looked to be.

 

[pox]

Fight of the Soul was probly the funniest fight I have watched in a long time

 

[Captain_Cunney]

Fight of the Soul was probly the funniest fight I have watched in a long time

It's right up there with the "super hulk" tourney.

Does anyone know the deal with that HUGE monster of a man that came into the ring and tore his shirt off? I heard them reference him being a wrestler, is he going to fight at some point?

 

[colonel_korn]

It's right up there with the "super hulk" tourney.

Does anyone know the deal with that HUGE monster of a man that came into the ring and tore his shirt off? I heard them reference him being a wrestler, is he going to fight at some point?

http://nightmareofbattle.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/sheathing-the-sword-sengoku-xi/

An exciting signing was announced at the event. Chinese Greco-Roman wrestler Liu Deli, who placed 9th at the 2008 Beijing Olympics 120 kg class, appealed for an MMA debut at SENGOKU XI. He is 208 cm tall (he is probably shorter) and weighs 125 kg.

Just 3 weeks ago he won the 11th Chinese National Games Greco-Roman 120 kg contest and the 27 year old (29 according to WVR) announced after the tournament that he’s getting married next year as well. Here is some footage from his National Games victory.

 

[Captain_Cunney]

Thanks C_K.

 

[colonel_korn]

http://twitter.com/Si_joshgross

Also, just got wind that Dream and Sengoku will likely join forces for one NYE card. So, no competing MMA cards Dec. 31 in Japan.

Interesting news if true, considering the two have been competing for almost two years now. DREAM has the much stronger stable of fighters, but Sengoku does have the Satoshi Ishii (2008 Judo gold medallist) vs Yoshida match on tap for New Year's, which I'm sure will draw huge in Japan. Not to mention a pretty big group of other Japanese fighters who I'm sure are popular over there.

Though given that Dynamite! is always a huge card just with their own fighters (especially since they have MMA and K-1 matches), I can't see how they'll fit in a bunch of Sengoku fighters as well unless the card is like 10 hours long. Not that I would put it past them.

 

[kurt]

http://twitter.com/Si_joshgross



Interesting news if true, considering the two have been competing for almost two years now. DREAM has the much stronger stable of fighters, but Sengoku does have the Satoshi Ishii (2008 Judo gold medallist) vs Yoshida match on tap for New Year's, which I'm sure will draw huge in Japan. Not to mention a pretty big group of other Japanese fighters who I'm sure are popular over there.

Though given that Dynamite! is always a huge card just with their own fighters (especially since they have MMA and K-1 matches), I can't see how they'll fit in a bunch of Sengoku fighters as well unless the card is like 10 hours long. Not that I would put it past them.

Sweet.

 

[pox]

with the posiable SENGOKU/Dream NYE show theres lots of rummors around of SENGOKU doing the way of EliteXC =(

 

[colonel_korn]

So it's official now, Sengoku and DREAM are doing one NYE event.

http://nightmareofbattle.wordpress.com/

No fights announced for sure yet though.

Satoshi Ishii wasn’t present since he is currently training in Las Vegas. The plan is 7 DREAM Vs. SRC fights. The fights will be announced one of these days. Yoshida said that he hasn’t heard who he’s fighting in this event yet, implying that his fight with Ishii isn’t officially announced yet. Tanigawa said consider what direction we’ll take at the press conference.

However, after the press conference Tanigawa said that they’ll do Yoshida vs. Ishii. That fight and Masato’s retirement fight will be a double main event.

“Mach†didn’t know about any of this since he hasn’t been on the Internet lately. In his comment he said that he’s hungry since he woke up at 12 PM and hasn’t had breakfast yet. The press confernce was moved back 20 minutes because he was late.

Shinya Aoki was a little cocky at today’s press conference. When asked about who he wants to fight he said: “Who’s the current champion of SENGOKU? I don’t know.â€

He also said that if the champion of SENGOKU says he’ll fight, he’ll think about it.

When asked to comment on the message Aoki just sent him, Hirota said: “My frank impression is that it made me feel sick (it can also mean feel irritated/offended).â€

Hirota once again said that he wants to KO Alvarez on NYE, he thinks that fight would be more exciting. He ended his comment with: “My impression of Aoki? He’s a fighter with long arms and legs.â€

WVR GM said that SENGOKU is planned continue from next year as well. Though I wouldn’t believe what most people say about this right now.

 

[Captain_Cunney]

I was coming in to post the same thing. I'm really glad they are doing a joint effort instead of 2 separate shows. Sengoku may still be in trouble but going head to head with Dream on New Years would've been a mistake of epic proporitons.

 

[colonel_korn]

Click here for a hilarious fight from Shooto: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_gO470MNVY#t=4m14s

Anyways, big event next weekend of course!



Preview videos for each fight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4ktqLvL2b0 Hari vs Karaev
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6acPkuIA9w Bonjasky vs Zimmerman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU4ZVGN3o7k LeBanner vs Schilt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ulMdXae4nA Overeem vs Teixeira

Misc. news:

• One of Schilt's training partners died after sparring with him a few days ago. Pretty awful.
• In other bad news, the gym where Hari and Manhoef train burned to the ground. Mike Passenier is the huge guy you can always see yelling in Melvin's face and getting him hyped up before fights.
• Sergei Kharitonov is stepping in to fight Ghita in one of the reserve fights. Man. Sergei has (had?) pretty good striking for MMA, but he's barely fought at all in the last few years, looked fat as hell in his last fight, and has never competed in actual kickboxing before. Ghita is going to wreck him.

Full card:

FieLDS K-1 World GP 2009 FINAL
Date: December 5th, 2009
Place: Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan

FINAL8 Fights (3×3, 1×3 ext.):
Ruslan Karaev vs. Badr Hari
Alistair Overeem vs. Ewerton Teixeira
Jerome Le Banner vs. Semmy Schilt
Errol Zimmerman vs. Remy Bonjasky

Reserve Fights (3×3, 1×3 ext.):
[1] Peter Aerts vs. Gohkan Saki
[2] Daniel Ghita vs. Sergei Kharitonov

Superfight (3×3, 1×3 ext.):
Kyotaro vs. Tyrone Spong

Opening Fights (3×3):
Singh “Heart†Jaideep vs. Makoto Uehara
Jan Soukup vs. Tsutomu Takahagi
60kg: Keiichi Samukawa vs. Ryuji Kajiwara

The final four is most likely to be Hari/Overeem and Schilt/Bonjasky, I think. It's hard to say what the most likely upset even is, maybe Karaev just because that fight's likely to be the most wild. From there it's anyone's guess. I might have favoured Schilt but who knows where his head is at given the recent tragedy at his camp.

 

[colonel_korn]

Reminder that this airs at 3amET/12amPT this evening!

Picks:

Ghita over Kharitonov (KO) -- Can't see Sergei winning this under any circumstances. If he'd been active in MMA recently then maybe, but he's fought twice in the last 26 months total.
Aerts over Saki (Decision) -- Saki's coming off a knee injury and he's lost his last two. I think Aerts still has enough left in the tank to take the decision here.

Tournament:

Hari over Karaev (KO) -- Karaev fought less than 2 months ago and apparently got obliterated, he's allegedly still not 100% for that so I think Hari will blitz him and get an early win.
Overeem over Teixeira (Dec) -- Teixeira's tough so I don't see a KO, but Overeem should be able to bully him around the ring and not let him unleash too many kicks.
Schilt over JLB (TKO) -- JLB looks done, sadly. Plus in three previous fights he's never beaten Schilt and I really don't see it happening here.
Bonjasky over Zimmerman (KO) -- Zimmerman shows a lot of promise (his fight with Hari last year was outstanding and is kind of what got me into K-1 in the first place) but he's been pretty inconsistent and I don't think he has much to offer Bonjasky. Look for him to get crumpled by some kind of body shot.

IF that all pans out, then

Hari over Overeem (KO) -- Hari got embarrassed last year but I really think he took Overeem too lightly, plus was fighting only 3 weeks or so after the disappointment of losing the GP. He looks like he's in phenomenal shape right now and I think he'll be fresher after the first round as well.
Schilt over Bonjasky (Decision) -- Bonjasky's another guy who's never managed to beat Schilt before, it just seems to be a bad matchup for him. I don't think he's aggressive enough to put Schilt on the defensive.

----------

Hari over Schilt (Decision) -- Hari annihilated Schilt earlier this year in pretty astonishing fashion. I don't think he'll have it as easy this time but I think he can push the pace to get the win.

 

[Ensane]

I think the first round is set up to be easy pick ems. Once you get to the semifinals, things get a little dicey. I agree with your picks, but I could see Overeem surprising since basically that's all he's done in the past two years, and I never count Remy out. But in the end, I'd take Hari winning the entire thing. To add to what you said about the Hari/Overeem fight last year, apparently Hari didn't even train between his GP loss and that fight on New Year's.

Anyways, good call by putting the event info in the title. I probably won't be able to watch until later in the weekend. Saturday morning I've got a little thing called the LSAT to take care of.

 

[colonel_korn]

Anyways, good call by putting the event info in the title. I probably won't be able to watch until later in the weekend. Saturday morning I've got a little thing called the LSAT to take care of.

Best of luck! I have a date tonight, but we'll see how it goes. Like if she asks me up to her place I might have to check if she gets HDNet first.

 

[yakitate304]

Time Warner Cable = failure

I need HDNet.