K-1 HERO's 2007 Middleweight Tournament Results
by Robert Sargent
K-1 HERO's crowned a Middleweight tournament champion tonight, in Gesias "JZ Calvan" Calvancante.
Early in the night, the semi-finalists competed, with Calvancante TKOing Top 5 Lightweight star, Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro, giving Shaolin only the second loss of his career. In the other semi-final, Andre "Dida" Amade won a Unanimous Decision over Caol Uno.
Other fights:
Tashiro Nishiuchi won a Unanimous Decision over Wataru Takahashi.
Takenori Sato defeated Kenji Nagai by Submission (armbar) at 2:46 of the first round.
Kazuyuki Miyata defeated Harvey Harra by Submission (armbar) at 1:13 of round one.
Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa rebounded after a lacklustre first round to defeat Kevin Casey by TKO (strikes) at 0:42 of the second round.
Dong Sik Yoon defeated Zelg "Benkei"/"Little Cro Cop" Galesic by Submission (armbar) at 1:29 of the first round, giving Galesic his second straight loss.
Melvin Manhoef defeated Chute Boxe fighter Fabio Silva by TKO (strikes) at 1:00 of the first round.
Sergei Kharitonov avenged his PRIDE 31 loss when he knocked out Alistair "Demolition Man" Overeem at 4:21 of the first round. Overeem dominated much of the initial goings in the fight before being knocked out of the ring, unconscious, by a vicious right hook from Kharitonov. Kharitonov avenges one of his mere three losses.
Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba defeated Katsuyori Shibata by Submission (armbar) at 6:20 of the first round to get back to his winning ways.
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto won a hard-fought Unanimous Decision over Bibiano Fernandes to improve to 16-1 with one No Contest. Like Heavyweight star, Fedor Emelianenko, Yamamoto's only credited loss came as a result of a cut very early in a fight. Yamamoto is one of the most exciting fighters in MMA.
The Tournament Final saw Gesias "JZ Calvan" Calvancante defeat Andre "Dida" Amade by Submission (armbar) at 4:48 of the first round to become 2007 Middleweight Tournament Champion.
Overall, an amazing night of fights.
