K-1 Premium 2007 Dynamite!! Results
by Robert Sargent
K-1's year-end MMA and kickboxing event saw legendary Masakatsu Funaki return from a seven-year absence to take on another legend, Kazushi Sakuraba, and featherweight phenom Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto destroyed Rani Yahya.
Unfortunately for Funaki, his return to competition did not go as he would have liked, as Sakuraba submitted him with a Kimura in the middle of round one.
"The Gracie Hunter" Kazushi Sakuraba vs Masakatsu Funaki
Although the aging veterans - Sakuraba a PRIDE legend and Funaki a legend in Pancrase - are not the fighters they once were, they still put on solid performances in their battle, which ended quite quickly after it went to the ground.Much of the first five minutes of round one saw the fighters circling each other and landing occasional strikes as they attempted to establish a game plan. Sakuraba landed a series of low kicks and jabs, while Funaki countered with low kicks of his own. Sakuraba eventually caught Funaki's leg as he kicked, which led to a takedown by Sakuraba. Funaki immediately went for a Pancrase-famous kneebar, but Sakuraba escaped and the fight returned to the feet.
The fight quickly went back to the ground, with Sakuraba standing above Funaki as Funaki tried to land an upkick. Funaki did land one upkick, but took numerous kicks to his legs in the process. Sakuraba dropped to the ground and went straight into side-control, working for a Kimura. Funaki was unable to defend, and Sakuraba wrenched Funaki's arm and forced a tapout. Sakuraba wins by Submission (Kimura) at 6:25 of round one.
Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto vs Rani Yahya
In a rare instance of Zuffa co-operation with other MMA promotions, Yahya, a contracted fighter in the Zuffa-owned WEC, met Yamamoto, the most dominant featherweight in the world.Yahya went for an early takedown, which was harshly stopped by Yamamoto as he unleashed a left hook that sent Yahya down. Yahya recovered, however, but would only attempt one other takedown in the entire fight. The rest of the first round was spent on the feet, with Yamamoto outclassing Yahya at every turn. Yamamoto's crisp striking was too much for Yahya's wild punching attempts.
The second round was more of the same, with Yamamoto again dominating the stand-up exchanges. Yahya could never find a rhythm against the talented striker, and Yamamoto eventually put Yahya down with a hook and an uppercut. Yahya gamely tried to get back to his feet, but Yamamoto knocked him out with a series of soccer kicks in the corner. Yamamoto wins by KO (soccer kicks) at 3:11 of round two.
Bob "The Beast" Sapp vs Bobby Ologun
Ologun, a comedian and part-time fighter, was completely dominated by Sapp, a legendary kickboxing competitor in K-1 who has also made a name for himself in MMA over the past few years.Sapp had a massive edge in size in this battle, and used it to his advantage. After a period of striking, Sapp went for a fairly sloppy takedown and got Ologun to the ground. Sapp quickly moved into side-control and then mount, where he rained down strikes until the referee was forced to stop the fight. Sapp wins by TKO (strikes) at 4:10 of round one. He is the type of fighter whom one must see to fully believe and appreciate, but it remains to be seen how far his submission defence has come since a loss in PRIDE to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Kiyoshi Tamura vs Hideo Tokoro
Tokoro came in weighing over 50 pounds less than Tamura, but his anger disguised his smaller size, as he hit Tamura with a sucker punch during the stare down. This earned him a stern warning, but no disqualification.When the fight officially got started, the styles of the fighters were clearly different, with Tamura flat-footed and Tokoro bouncing around and using the more modern striking style. The first and second rounds were close, with both fighters landing strikes on the feet but neither able to do much damage. Tamura scored with a few takedowns, but Tokoro defended well with numerous submission attempts, including some which seemed to be close to ending the fight.
Round three was much of the same until the middle of the round, when Tamura landed a series of kicks to the body and got a takedown, where he quickly trapped Tokoro in an armbar and forced a tapout. Tamura wins by Submission (armbar) at 3:08 of round three.
Wagner da Conceicao Martins "Zuluzinho" vs Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa
In a traditionally bizarre fight for a K-1 card on New Year's Eve, this fight saw Minowa give up well over 200 pounds to the 400-pound behemoth Zuluzinho.The fight itself was as strange as the weight difference, with Minowa literally running circles around Zuluzinho for much of the duration. Every once in a while, Minowa stopped running and landed a leg kick, before continuing his jog. With one minute remaining in the first round, Zuluzinho managed to corner Minowa and got him down. To the shock of the audience, Minowa managed to stand up with Zuluzinho on his back - a ridiculous feat of strength - and spun him around to reverse position.
In the second round, however, Zuluzinho began to jog after Minowa and again cornered him. Zuluzinho slammed Minowa to the mat and his massive size was too much for Minowa to escape. Zuluzinho attempted a Kimura at one point, and almost got it, but was unable to finish Minowa off.
Minowa was visibly tired in the third round, both from two rounds of jogging and from Zuluzinho's massive weight on top of him, and Zuluzinho took Minowa down once again. After moving to side-control, Zuluzinho rained down a series of unanswered punches and forced a corner stoppage. Zuluzinho wins by TKO (corner stoppage) at 2:13 of round three.
"Marvellous" Melvin Manhoef vs Yosuke "Yosukezan" Nishijima
By record alone (0-4 entering this fight), many would question why Nishijima was facing one of the absolute best strikers and kickboxers in all of MMA. However, few fighters have ever been thrown to the wolves as Nishijima has, with his four losses all to well-known top fighters (Phil Baroni, Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos, Hidehiko Yoshida and Mark Hunt) in a variety of divisions.That said, Nishijima suffered loss number five in this battle, with Manhoef doing what he does best by knocking out Nishijima early in the first round. However, rather than doing it on the feet, as he typically does, Manhoef took Nishijima down early on and quickly worked to mount. He rained down punishing strikes from the top and knocked Nishijima out. Manhoef wins by KO (strikes from mount) at 1:49 of round one. He improves to 19-4-1, with an incredible 18 wins by (T)KO.
Joachim "Hellboy" Hansen vs Kazuyuki Miyata
Miyata scored an early takedown and controlled most of the first round as he landed effective ground and pound strikes from the top. Hansen defended well and eventually reversed position after Miyata attempted a submission. Back on the feet, Hansen landed a brutal right hook that sent Miyata crashing to the canvas with mere seconds left in round one, but Miyata was saved by the bell.In round two, Miyata worked to side-control, but Hansen quickly reversed, then took Miyata's back and sunk in a rear naked choke. Hansen wins by Submission (rear naked choke) at 1:32 of round two to get back on the winning track after his recent upset loss in Shooto.
Bizarre fights aside, Premium 2007 Dynamite!! was an exciting card with zero fights making it to the judges.
