With things winding down and New Years only a couple days away, FEG has finally secured a full card for their annual K-1 Dynamite!! show. As a bit of a surprise to anyone who reads the matches up, I think this isn’t necessarily good match making on FEG’s part, but really what did we expect? It was announced on FEG’s website that the 2 new matches for New Years are
K-1 Dynamite!! 2007
Akio Mori AKA Musashi vs. Bernard Ackah under K-1 Rules
Kiyoshi Tamura vs. Hideo Tokoro
If you read these match ups and are thinking I put down the wrong Tamura, than you’re wrong. Hideo Tokoro, one of the most exciting and young talents out of Japan and ZST, is taking on the very charismatic Kiyoshi Tamura. Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “Why?” and I agree. I have no idea why this match up is even happening. Tokoro, who can probably make 143 lbs. with a bit of effort, should be taking on the 143 lbs. SHOOTO World Champion, Akitoshi Tamura, not the 190+ lbs. Japanese wrestling icon, Kiyoshi Tamura. I know that a fight between Tokoro vs. Akitoshi Tamura would make absolutely no sense BUT a fight between Tokoro vs. Kiyoshi Tamura is just beyond illogical and unnecessary.
Tokoro, a ZST star, is a veteran of over 30 fights, and has made a name for himself when transitioning to the K-1 Hero’s circuit. He shot into the spotlight after a big upset over former SHOOTO 143 lbs. World Champion, Alexandre Franca Noguiera. It was a very back and forth fight with Noguiera actually securing his patented guillotine but was unable to finish Tokoro. The match was extended to a 3 round in which Tokoro threw a massive spinning back fist that caught “Pequeno” and saw Tokoro mount him and pound him out for a very big stoppage win. Strangely, Tokoro is not a stranger to calling out larger fighters. He recently decided to call out the ultra-charismatic, Ikushisa “Minowaman” Minowa, who is about the same size as Kiyoshi Tamura. His wishes to fight a heavier opponent did come true but manifest themselves as Kiyoshi Tamura.
Tamura, a RINGS veteran who was actually pushed to be a star by the organization during it’s pro-wrestling style days. When the transition to professional MMA came he did find himself with big wins over Pat Miletich, Maurice Smith, Dave Menne, Renzo Gracie and Jeremy Horn. He is also a PRIDE veteran fighting some very tough opposition in Wanderlei Silva, Hidehiko Yoshida, Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, and Bob Sapp, who isn’t necessarily the top of the food chain but the weight difference was apparent and obvious after 11 seconds, which is the time it took Sapp to finish the fight. Personally, I think it maybe a bit iffy that Tamura fought such difficult competition from the get-go considering that Sakuraba and Takada were big draws in PRIDE and did have some falling out with Tamura, when he defected to RINGS in their pro-wrestling days, which is one of the reasons that at PRIDE 34 Tamura vs. Sakuraba was announced to the public and such a big deal in Japan.
The other announced match-up was the very stylish Musashi (Check his hairstyle) against the Ivory Coast and Japanese TV Personality Bernard Ackah in a K-1 rules match. Musashi, a 4 Time K-1 Japan GP Champion, and Japanese fan favorite has taken a slide this year and hasn’t looked as good as past times. He has been relegated under Yusuke Fujimoto and Junichi Sawayashiki in terms of flavors of the moment. He was also part of one of the most bizarre moments in this years GP circuit in which he was basically given the Hong Kong GP finals bid but was unable to partake in it due to testicular bleeding he suffered during that chaotic GP.
Ackah, who is no stranger to the Japanese public, was born in the Ivory Coast but made his way to Japan where he is a comedian. His MMA career began this year at Hero’s 8, where he dismantled Hyun Pyo Shin with relative ease in both of their MMA debuts. The Cote d’Ivoire native later took on Jonnie Morton at the disastrous K-1 Dynamite!! USA show where he nearly decapitated Morton. His 2 last performances he has suffered 1 KO from the hands of Dutch Powerhouse, Melvin Manhoef, and a very controversial armbar loss to Hawaiian Pancrase stand-out, Poai Suganuma. I have no idea why Ackah would accept this fight considering that he has no K-1 experience and is coming off 2 very tough losses. I think this is a way for FEG to try and get people back on Musashi’s side, who did win his last fight over an unknown David Dancrade at the K-1 2007 World Grand Prix finals.
With this card nearly, if not fully booked, FEG does prove 2 things. 1.) That they do have the resources to scramble and find match ups to fill a card within 9 days and 2.) that Akira Maeda and Sadaharu Tanigawa, really need to try and think before they lend out fighters just like that especially huge draws and big names like Akiyama, Choi, and Calvancanti. Sure they want to help out the Yarennoka!! show but their show is the one that seriously needs help.
side note: K-1 Dynamite!! 2007 Preview will be up within the coming days.
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December 19th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Great rundown of K-1! I’m looking forward to your preview.