K-1 Dynamite!! 2008 - What Went On

What way could be better to send off 2008 if not with a K-1 event? With eleven MMA bouts (and four kickboxing bouts), it was certainly action-packed. And it was also stunningly aggressive, with only two of the fights going past the first round. But why bother with superlatives? Here's a summary of how exactly things wrapped down:
(Note: the fight between Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante and Joachim Hansen was called off because Hansen did not pass the pre-fight medical tests)



Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Errol Zimmerman
When Zimmerman walked into the ring against the wrestler Minowa, the clock has already been set against him, whether he realized it or not. He had only one second above a full minute to last in the ring; I don't think he even managed to land a blow before he was well secured on the mat, tapping himself out of this. Bo-ring.

Hideo Tokoro vs. Daisuke Nakamura
As soon as they've had a chance, these guys took it to the ground. Tokoro started it out with the first takedown, but Nakamura has managed to roll out of it; then it was a who's-on-top struggle for the rest of the fight. Both of them had almost identical fight tactics; Nakamura's armbar would be retaliated with an armbar from Tokoro, et cetera. Pretty soon, however, Tokoro would find himself in an awkward situation, locked under Nakamura's legs. The referee asked him if he wants to stop. He said no. But it was stopped anyway.

Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Andy Ologun
Finally, a bit of striking! These guys originally started out circling each other, trying to reach each other with their arms, a jab here, a jab there; once Ologun reached in too deep, though, Sakaguchi jumped on the chance to try a takedown. Within seconds Ologun was wrapped up in a clinch, but not one brutal enough to stop him from striking, and eventually his relentless punching had him free from the grab. Once the game was stand-up once again, Ologun executed a three-punch combo that just slammed Sakaguchi out of reality for a little while.

Bob Sapp vs. Akihito "Kinniku Mantaro" Tanaka
Sapp certainly isn't your gentle giant; after a bizzare ring entry routine (Tanaka wearing masks that I assume are from some children's show and Sapp entering to Also Sprach Zarathustra. I understand the guy's the size of a space station just by looking at him. You don't need to remind me), the sheer entertainment value of this fight began; watching how anyone approached taking down someone this big.
Sapp started aggressive, which proved as a mistake that cost him more than one hammerfist eaten, even if that didn't seem to affect him this much. This is what was amazing; for most of the round, Tanaka was just slamming Sapp without Sapp being able to defend himself but without caring too much, either. Then, all of a sudden, as if remembering that he is allowed to fight back, Sapp blasts a knee into Tanaka's head, then it's all punches from him that has Tanaka being thrown around like a ragdoll before the ref calls it quits.

Semmy Schilt vs. Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga
We've had a good mix of striking and grappling. Schilt assaults, then finds himself clinching with Mo, which was just a wild flay of punches and kicks without anyone gaining clear dominance (maybe Mo, with that nice combo he executed at the end). Schilt kept concentrating on gaining wrist control, while Siliga was focused on landing a punch. It seems that Schilt's tactics in this case had the upper hand; pretty soon he had Mighty Mo submitted and landing fists on him. Even though Siliga did manage to get in a few hits before losing out to a triangle... well, long story short, he ended up in a triangle and couldn't bear it anymore.

Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Shibata was a bit careless in this fight, instantly running in for the blows. While Mach tried to retaliate with a takedown, it didn't work, and then, once it's Mach trying to force a clinch, the roles are reversed and Shibata is the one striking hard. The next thing you know, they're on the ground, then they're on their legs again; once they're standing up, Mach is being dominant for a short while, but eventually (with another quick drop to the ground in-between), Mach gets cut around his right eye, which doesn't really helps his case. Apparently it had somehow clouded his vision because from this point on, he was rather disoriented. However, that didn't interrupt him from locking Shibata's arm.
For there onwards it was just a pummeling. Fists and kicks were flying everywhere, and they were all (almost) landing on Shibata. At 7:01, Sakura is awarded the victory by TKO.

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic vs. Hong Man Choi
CroCop! CroCop! Okay, sorry for that, but really, I love watching CroCop fight and having Mirko out there again was great fun. He didn't disappoint, either, with all of his classic fight trademarks appearing out there. Although the two were constantly warned about inactivity at the ring, I found that their circling actually added tension to the fight.
Anyway, the Croatian started out with low kicks to Choi's legs; while Hong Man Choi managed to land in a nice that's-gotta-hurt punch into Mirko's face right at the beginning, Mirko took it nice and easy, scouted out for openings in Choi's defense and landed a kick when he could. Choi decided to turn up things a little bit when he forced Filipovic into a corner, but there after a bit of striking and grappling, the ref broke them apart for inactivity. A bit of a strange decision, I think, which ended up playing out to Mirko's favor. Capitalizing even more on a that's-gotta-hurt moment, Mirko lands an accidental kick to Choi's nether regions; Choi is given a bit to recover, then they're at it again, but Mirko lands a classic high left kick to Choi, which leads to a knee injury for him, and CroCop takes the fight, finally looking good again after a while off.

In a post-fight interview, Mirko announced that he is about to undergo surgery and other medical treatment to treat his injured knee, which probably means we won't be seeing him fight for a few months now. With fights like this, this is certainly a shame.

Mark Hunt vs. Melvin Manhoef
18 seconds. Two punches. Hunt is on the floor. Are you guys kidding me?

Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez
Although Alvarez is considered to be the #3 lightweight in the world (after Gomi and BJ Penn ), this certainly wasn't his night. Most of the time, Alvarez spent his time escaping and avoiding Aoki, who had noticed this, and definitely gave Eddie something to be scared of. Although both have started out mostly with missed shots, it was an Alvarez kick that was caught by Aoki that had started his quick downfall; soon enough Aoki has Alvarez in a leglock, dragged down to the ground, and eventually he's subbed out of the fight, surviving barely above a minute and a half.

Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
After an entrance routine so confusing I won't even bother to describe it (masks. scarfs. a bicycle. What?!), this fight was pretty even for the most part. Sakurabas started out by evading two low kicks before dropping for the single leg. Tamura tried to defend the takedown, but from there it was all about who is dominant on the ground. They rolled around, being tangled up in each other's limbs quite a bit, but Tamura had the general control of things most of the time. While Sakuraba did land in a punch here, a punch there, it was mostly from down below while most Tamura's shots hit home quite well. Sakuraba attempted wrist control, which failed; then a leg lock, which succeeded, but all that had him coming was a brutal punch in the face from Tamura.
Sakuraba got a signal from the corner that there were only three minutes left. It was probably a relief for him; at this point he already looked tired, and when the game took surprisingly up to the ground, Tamura got desperate about it quite soon, after noticing that he can't seem to get an opening to strike.
In Round 2, Tamura continued his dominance. Sakuraba held his ground a bit better this time around, thinking defense most of the time, which didn't settle with his attitude because it was rather clear that Sakuraba is getting desperate about this fight. Kazushi tried to go on and force a guillotine, but it was rather loose and Tamura popped out, landing more blows. Tamura was again, clearly better, and Sakuraba lost all aggression towards the end of the fight, but still didn't lose by KO or submission. As expected, the decision was unanimously in Tamura's favor.