K-1 "Premium Dynamite! 2008" Results
by Robert Sargent
Twelve years in the making, the main event between Kazushi Sakuraba and Kiyoshi Tamura did not disappoint at K-1 "Premium Dynamite! 2008," but it was quick wins from Melvin Manhoef and Shinya Aoki that stole the show on New Year's Eve in Japan.
Also on the card, Alistair "Demolition Man" Overeem continued his monumental rise by knocking out world-renowned kickboxer Badr Hari in a heavyweight kickboxing bout.
Kiyoshi Tamura vs "The Gracie Hunter" Kazushi Sakuraba
In the words of Tamura, this fight was twelve years in the making, and the wait was more than worth it as the two Japanese legends did battle for 15 minutes before Tamura emerged with a hard-fought Unanimous Decision victory.Following a lengthy and hilarious introduction from Sakuraba, which concluded with him riding to the ring on a small bicycle, the action began and Tamura fired away with leg kicks. Sakuraba looked for a takedown, but Tamura evaded and forced Sakuraba to hold position on the ground for some time. Eventually, Sakuraba transitioned to Tamura's back, but Tamura reversed and moved to side-control. Sakuraba regained guard and looked for submissions, but Tamura easily escaped and landed strikes from the top. Tamura continued to blast Sakuraba with punches and hammerfists, while Sakuraba offered little resistance aside from a few punches from his back.
Eventually, Sakuraba kicked Tamura off and went for a leg submission as Tamura stood up. Tamura had none of it and punished Sakuraba, as Sakuraba continued to look for a submission. Sakuraba regained guard and the fight moved to the middle of the ring. Again, Sakuraba tried for a weak triangle choke, but Tamura unleashed more punches from top position. After another minute of landing hammerfists, Tamura looked to stand up to land harder punches, but could not find an opportunity. Sakuraba tried for an armbar shortly before the end of the round, but could not secure it and ate more weak punches from Tamura.
Round two began the same way as round one, with Tamura throwing leg kicks and Sakuraba trying unsuccessfully for a single-leg takedown. Once more, Tamura punished Sakuraba with punches from the top until Sakuraba regained guard. Tamura scored with more hard punches until the referee stopped the action to give both fighters Yellow Cards for inactivity, though Tamura did not deserve one. Tamura landed three hard leg kicks and scored a takedown, then escaped a loose guillotine choke attempt from Sakuraba. Tamura landed more hammerfists before the fight returned to the fight, where Sakuraba finally managed to score a takedown. Sakuraba moved to half-guard, but Tamura latched onto an arm and prevented Sakuraba from doing anything. A last-ditch barrage of punches from Sakuraba could not finish Tamura, and Tamura survived until the bell to take the win.
Winner: Kiyoshi Tamura by Unanimous Decision after two rounds. He improves to 33-13-2.
WAMMA Unified Lightweight Championship
Shinya "Tobikan Judan" Aoki vs Eddie Alvarez
Taking the fight to the ground to avoid the vicious knockout power of Alvarez, Aoki reversed an impressive hip toss from Alvarez and locked on a fight-ending heel hook seconds later to become the first WAMMA Unified Lightweight Champion.Alvarez pressed forward to close the distance in the opening seconds, but ate a kick to the body for his efforts. Aoki tried unsuccessfully for a takedown, then spent much of the next minute shooting around the ring on his backside while trying to kick the legs of Alvarez. The referee had Aoki stand back up, and Aoki caught a kick from Alvarez. Aoki looked for a takedown and briefly took Alvarez's back, but Alvarez used a very impressive hip toss to reverse and land in side-control. However, Aoki quickly squirmed to regain guard and then locked on a heel hook. Alvarez initially held on, but Aoki changed the position of the hold and enduced a quick tapout from Alvarez, who was in great pain. Aoki becomes the WAMMA Unified Lightweight Champion.
Winner: Shinya Aoki by Submission (Heel Hook) at 1:32 of round one. He improves to 19-3-0, 1 NC and becomes the first WAMMA Unified Lightweight Champion.
"Marvellous" Melvin Manhoef vs Mark Hunt
In one of the most stunning results of the past year, Manhoef overcame a 100-pound disadvantage and did what many thought was impossible, as he knocked out Hunt in just 18 seconds with a quick one-two combination.Hunt, widely regarded as having the best chin of any fighter in mixed martial arts history, and who had previously shook off Cro Cop head kicks as if they were nothing, pressed forward immediately in this bout, but was caught with a quick left-right combination from Manhoef. The punches dropped Hunt like a shot, and Manhoef landed three more hard punches before the referee stopped the fight. Manhoef, a natural middleweight, knocks out the most durable heavyweight mixed martial artist in the world. A stunning result.
Winner: Melvin Manhoef by KO (Punches) at 0:18 of round one. He improves to 23-5-1.
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović vs "The Techno Goliath" Hong Man Choi
Rebounding after a dreadful performance against Alistair Overeem in DREAM, Filipović fought a cautious fight but managed to land a hard kick to the leg of Choi, which caused a knee injury that ended the bout midway through round one.Choi stalked around the ring as Filipović backpedalled in typical fashion and landed leg kicks early in round one. Filipović narrowly missed with a head kick, then ate a solid punch as he looked to land strikes on the Korean giant. Choi threw Filipović to the ground after catching a kick, but Filipović got right back to his feet. A lengthy period of relative inactivity followed, with Filipović circling to evade the lumbering strikes from Choi as he landed occasional kicks to Choi's legs. Eventually, the referee gave both fighters a Yellow Card for passivity.
After the restart, Filipović continued to retreat as Choi looked to land big punches, but Filipović caught Choi coming in with a kick to the leg. The kick buckled Choi's leg and Choi fell to the mat in pain. The referee stopped the fight, giving Filipović the win, albeit a rather lacklustre one.
After the fight, Filipović announced that he would be taking time off from fighting to undergo knee surgery.
Winner: Mirko Filipović by TKO (Leg Kick) at 6:32 of round one. He improves to 24-6-2, 1 NC.
Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs Katsuyori Shibata
Though Shibata surprisingly came out extremely aggressively early on in this bout, Sakurai remained calm and took control of the fight before stopping Shibata with strikes in the latter half of round one.Shibata rushed forward to begin round one, and an off-guard Sakurai responded with a spinning back kick that narrowly missed. Sakurai tried for a takedown, but Shibata sprawled and tossed him backwards. Shibata unleashed a flurry of hard punches, landing a series of strikes as Sakurai clinched and looked for a takedown. Sakurai threw Shibata to the mat and worked from half-guard, where he looked for a Kimura. When Shibata did not submit, Sakurai opted for punches instead and moved to mount soon after. Sakurai continued to land big punches from the top, forcing Shibata to try to grab hold of one of Sakurai's legs to stop the onslaught.
Shibata eventually managed to push Sakurai off with punches that cut Sakurai beside the eye, but Sakurai moved to side-control and landed more punches. After landing punches and knees to the face of Shibata, Sakurai moved to partial mount and dropped even more strikes. Sakurai trapped Shibata's arm behind him and landed more punches and knees to the face, as Shibata had little recourse. Shibata eventually managed to squirm free and regain guard, only to be punished with big punches from Sakurai, who moved back to mount. After more unanswered strikes, the referee finally rescued Shibata from the punishment and called a stop to the fight.
Winner: Hayato Sakurai by TKO (Punches) at 7:01 of round one. He improves to 34-8-2.
Undercard Fights:
Semmy "High Tower" Schilt defeated Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga by Submission (Triangle Choke) at 5:31 of round one. Siliga landed many solid strikes in the bout, but the pace fatigued his giant body quickly and he could not escape the loose submission from Schilt. Schilt improves to 26-14-1 with the win.Bob "The Beast" Sapp defeated Akihito "Kinniku Mantaro" Tanaka by TKO (Punches) at 5:22 of round one. Tanaka did a surprisingly good job of nullifying offence from his behemoth opponent, but Sapp proved to be too much for him and finished Tanaka off with punches just over halfway through the round. Sapp improves to 10-3-1 with the win.
Andy Ologun defeated Yukio Sakaguchi by KO (Punches) at 3:52 of round one. Ologun rebounded from his recent submission loss in DREAM, and showed a lot of heart in escaping a tight triangle choke in this bout before knocking Sakaguchi out with punches. Ologun improves to 2-1-0 with the win.
Daisuke Nakamura defeated Hideo Tokoro by Technical Submission (Armbar) at 2:23 of round one. The fight was one of the most exciting ground battles in a very long time, with literally dozens of submission attempts, escapes and counters in less than two and a half minutes. Nakamura improves to 19-9-0 with the win.
Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa defeated Errol "The Bone Crusher" Zimmerman by Submission (Toe Hold) at 1:01 of round one. Zimmerman, a rising K-1 star who was making his MMA debut, was in great pain following the hold from the submission master, Minowa. Minowa improves to 41-29-8 with the win.
Kickboxing Bouts
Alistair "Demolition Man" Overeem defeated Badr Hari by KO (Punch) at 2:07 of round one. Overeem, arguably the fastest-rising star in MMA's heavyweight division, completely dominated Hari, who is widely regarded as one of the top three kickboxers in the world today and placed second in the 2008 K-1 World Grand Prix. Overeem's performance was extremely impressive.Gegard "Young Vagabond" Mousasi defeated Musashi by TKO (Punches) at 2:32 of round one. Mousasi, the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix Champion who is better known for his submissions than his striking power, bombarded the veteran Musashi with dozens and dozens of vicious punches throughout the round, dropping his opponent multiple times before the referee finally called a stop to the beating.
Tatsuya "Crusher" Kawajiri defeated Kozo Takeda by TKO (Punch) at 2:37 of round one. Kawajiri dropped Takeda four times in the bout, including once from a picture-perfect flying knee, and completely dominated the action. After a left hook dropped Takeda for the fourth time, the referee took mercy on him and stopped the fight.
Koshien Under-18 Kickboxing Tournament Bouts
Hiroya defeated Koya Urabe by Unanimous Decision (10-9 in overtime round) after four rounds in the tournament final to become the Koshien Under-18 Tournament Champion.Hiroya defeated Shota Shimada by Unanimous Decision (30-29, 30-29, 30-29) after three rounds in the tournament semi-final to advance to the finals.
Koya Urabe defeated Tatsuya Kusakabe by TKO (Doctor Stoppage) at 2:21 of round three in the other tournament semi-final to advance to the finals.
Artur Kyshenko defeated Yoshihiro Sato by Majority Decision (30-29, 29-28, 29-29) after three rounds in the tournament alternate bout, though none of the other winners suffered injuries and Kyshenko did not compete in the final.
Proving that MMA fighters could more than hold their own against their K-1 counterparts, "Premium Dynamite! 2008" featured shocking knockouts and a battle between Japanese legends, and ended the year of 2008 in style.
