K-1 Dynamite! - Fight Added!!

Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto will fight Rani Yahaya. Yahaya is the this years ADCC under 70Kg champion and is ranked WEC #1.

"KID" promised in his last fight that he would win the next fight by KO. This remains to be seen.

Confirmed fights:

HEROs Rules
Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto vs. Rani Yahaya
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Masakatsu Funaki

K-1 Rules
Masato vs. Yong Soo Choi

K-1 Rules Under 18 tournament
HIROYA vs. Tsukasa Fuji
Kenji Kubo vs. Yudai
Winners of these fights will face off in a final

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11/28 Pancrase - RESULTS

After yesterday`s fights in Korakuen Hall, we have a new Middleweight King of Pancrase. Takeuchi got his revenge over Nakaishi and reclaimed his title. In the other fight of interest Marlon Sandro remained unbeaten after taking home a victory by decision.


Izuru Takeuchi Def. Yuichi Nakanishi by decision
Marlon Sandro Def. Daiki Hata “DJ.taiki” by decision
Tatsuya Mizuno Def. Masayuki Kono by TKO, Round 1, 3:28
Michihisa Asano Def. Murayama Tomoki by decision
Takuya Wada Def. Seiki Ryo by decision
Shinsuke Shoji Def. Wataru Takahashi by decision
Yo Saito Def. Tomoaki Honda by submission (rear naked choke), round 1, 3:51
Masamitsu Sato Def. Ryota Sasaki by decision
Ono Akihiro Def. Moujun Tarou by TKO, Round 1, 3:13
Suzuki Taketoshi Def. Tsuchia Akimitsu by TKO, Round 1, 0:26
Obata Kimifumi Def. Ogura Kenichi by sumission (Triangle choke), Round 1, 2:23

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12/01 Cage Force 05 - Tournament Finals

After the dissapointement of not being able to use Kitaoka in this event, they have found an opponent for Mizuto Hirota.

This will be a very good event!

The hightlights:
-Urushitani: 3 Career losses, not lost in 3 years.
-Kenji Osawa: Rightfully ranked amoung the best Bantamweight fighters inthe world. BUT is currently on a 2 fight losing streak. Needs to redeemhimself here!

Welterweight final:
-Dan Hardy: A very talented British fighter, on a 5 fight winningstreak. His semi-final win was very impressive.
-Boku: Not lost in more than 4 years, in that period he has 10 fightswith a record of 9 wins and 1 Draw. Beaten fighters like Hermes Francaand DEEP standout Ryan Bow.

Lightweight Final:
-Yoshida: On a 7 fight winning streak (over 2 years), none of them havegone the distance. Very impressive semi-final against Akira Kikuchi.
-Oumakhanov: Has a 6-1 record, only loss to Andre "Dida" Amade. In myopinion had the weakest semi-final, more luck than skill that he won.Was very impressive before his loss to "Dida".

You can watch the Semi-Finals here

Main events:
Welter weight tournament final :
Yoshiyuki Yoshida 8-2-0 vs 16-5-0 Dan Hardy
Light weight tournament final:
Koutetsu Boku* 13-3-1 vs 6-1-0 Artur Oumakhanov
*Boku was ranked #10 on Sherdog’s latest Lightweight ranking.

Yasuhiro Urushitani* 14-3-4 vs 2-1-0 Jesse Taitano
*Urushitani was ranked #2 on Sherdog’s latest Flyweight ranking
Mizuto Hirota 6-2-0 vs Sin Do Gi
Kenji Osawa* 12-7-1 vs 3-1-0 Nobuhiro “Punch” Yamauchi
*Osawa was ranked #7 on Sherdog’s latest Bantamweight ranking
Takeya Mizugaki 7-2-2 vs. 7-7-3 Seiji Ozuka* (Otsuka on Sherdog)
*Only one of his fights has not gone the distance
Toshikazu Iseno “ISE” 5-3-1 vs 10-8-1 Takahito Iida
Yukiya Naito 12-4-2 vs. 2-3-3 Takenori Sato

Preliminary fights
Hiroshi Arakawa 1-1-0 vs 2-0-0 Seiya Kawahara
Junichi Ota 0-1-1 vs 1-0-0 Hiroshi Takita
Taiyoku Endo 1-0-0 vs. 0-1-0 Hiroyuki Kuwabara

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Yarennoka Fights Announced!!

At a press conference in Tokyo today, the first fights have been announced for the Yarennoka event on NYE. This event promises not to disappoint!!

The biggest fight announced today was JZ Calvan vs. Shinya Aoki. The HERO’s Middleweight tournament champion called on Aoki after winning the tournament earlier this year. Now that dream has been realized. This will be fight of the year so far, and something tells me its not even going to be the main event.

Also announced today was Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Hidehiko Hasegawa. Hasegawa the current DEEP champion will fight the Pride Ledgend Hayato “Mach” Sakurai with a record of 30-7-2.

From the looks of this will be event of the year!!

Also participating:
Emelianenko Fedor
Mitsuhiro Ishida
Tatsuya Kawajiri
Kazuo Misaki
Joachim Hansen
Luiz Azeredo
Ricardo Arona (?)
Gilbert Melendez

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11/28 Pancrase Rising Tour

Tomorrow, Pancrase will hold their 9th Rising Tour event. The main event is the Middle weight King of Pancrase title fight. The title holder, Nakanishi, will take on veteran Takeuchi. This is a rematch of their fight a year ago, where Nakanichi surpricingly pulled out a victory by split decision.

There has been some changes, so here is the latest card.

Main event: Middle weight King of Pancrase
Yuichi Nakanishi 6-6-3 vs 22-9-6 Izuru Takeuchi　

Daiki Hata “DJ.taiki” 7-4-2 vs 9-0-0 Marlon Sandro
Tatsuya Mizuno 2-2-0 vs 3-2-0 Masayuki Kono
Murayama Tomoki 1-3-0 vs 4-4-2 Michihisa Asano
Takuya Wada 15-8-8 vs 3-7-2 Seiki RyoShinsuke Shoji 3-3-1 vs 5-9-2 Wataru TakahashiYo Saito vs Tomoaki HondaRyota Sasaki vs Masamitsu Sato
Ono Akihiro vs. Moujun Tarou
Suzuki Taketoshi vs. Tsuchia Akimitsu
Ogura Kenichi vs. Obata Kimifumi

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12/01 Cage Force 05 - Kitaoka not fighting

A huge setback for this weekend`s Cage Force event, Satoru Kitaoka will not be fighting. Reason given is that the organisers were unable to find a suitable opponent. Very disappointing given the time they have had.

They are offering refunds is anyone should want that. Needless to say, there are still lots of great fights on the card.

I saw Kitaoka fight Fabricio Monteiro in April, and was really looking forward to this event. But given the fights still on the card, a refund is no option for me.

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11/30 Shoot Boxing

There will be a Shoot Boxing event this Friday in Korakuen Hall. Shoot Boxing markets itself as standing Vale Tudo fighting, which means something like K-1 rules where throws and standing submissions are allowed.

The card for this Friday:

Kanei Kenji vs. Yamaguchi Taiga
Enari Noriyuki vs. Sakimura Akito
Uematsu Tatsuya vs. Masahiro
Nakamori Yasutaka vs. Kawakami Daiki
Umeno Takaaki vs. Miura Shinya
Fukuchi Shouta vs. Ikegami Kouji
Okuwa Hiroaki vs. Minato Masanori
Kubochun Rena M15 (クボチューン･レーナ) vs. TBA
Tsukamoto Takuo vs. Kashiwakura Shinya

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World Victory Road announces first event - SENGOKU!!‏

World Victory Road has today announced the name of their first event. The new organization is called "Sengoku".

The event will be held in the National Yoyogi Gymnasium March 3. This will be a huge event. World Victory Road has stated that their goal is to replace Pride, not an easy task and they will surely not be the only ones trying to do that.

The confirmed fighters so far are:
Hidehiko Yoshida (Pride veteran)
Sanae Kikuta (Former Pancrase and Pride fighter)
Makoto Takimoto (Pride veteran)
Ryo Kawamura (Pancrase fighter)

Sources:
http://www.sengoku-official.com/

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11/25 HEAT 5 - Nagoya - RESULTS

The biggest event this weekend was without a doubt HEAT in Nagoya. The best known fighter here was Hatsu Hioki, ranked as on the of the best featherweights in the world, he came in with a 2 loss losing streak.

Otherwise, the main event held Alex Roberts vs. Tatsufumi Tomihira.

Alex Roberts Def. Tatsufumi Tomihira　by decision 3-0
Hatsu Hioki　Def. Brian Geraghty by decision 3-0
Beck Andrew Def. Ryuta Noji by decision 3-0
Gil Freitas Def. Osami Shibuya by decision 3-0
Hiroshi Umemura　Def. Matheus Foruchi (マテウス・フォルチ) by ankle lock, Round 2, 2:54.
Jyunichi Maruyama Def. Atsuhiro Tsuboi by decision 3-0
Kazuhisa Tazawa Def. Cristiano Kaminishi by split decision 2-0
Danilo Zanolini　Def. Syunsuke Ohishi by decision 3-0
MAX Fernandes Def. Yoshitomo Watanabe by armbar Round 1, 1:12

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Yarennoka - UPDATE Yoshida Fighting??

Sportsnavi (kakutogi) and Fight Opinion has, in an article from 11/23, launched Hidehiko Yoshida as a possible opponent for Fedor. I would not get too "excited" about this news yet. The article merely states that Yoshida would not turn down a fight with Fedor.

There was another article yesterday (11/24) where Yoshida`s management stated that Yoshida would rather fight in Yarennoka than K-1 Dynamite. K-1 has apparently suggested that Yoshida fight Akiyama on NYE. Yoshida`s management has dismissed this suggestion based on the fact that Yoshida (currently 105 kg) is 20 kg heavier than Akiyama.

In my opinion, Yoshida`s career has been on a downward trend since 2005. Since his win against Mark Hunt, he is has a 3-4 record and his wins have not been impressive. From what I have seen on TV, he has also put on a bit of weight (some of which I am sure accounts for him being 20 kg heavier than Akiyama). He is 38 years old, and if he fights on NYE, he has not been in the ring for a year. This is not the kind of fight the fans want to see.

Keep in mind though that, M-1 is lending out Fedor for this event. I very much doubt we will see him fight a top opponent, like Randy Couture, this time.

http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/headlines/etc/20071124-00000014-spnavi_ot-fight.html
http://sportsnavi.yahoo.co.jp/fight/other/column/200711/at00015416.html

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