From beginning to end, the show was by far the worst MMA production in a very, very long time. To start off the ring announcers voice had you wondering if this was MMA or a night at the carnival. If his voice didn’t get you laughing, then his sayings like “the guy in the red corner with the thick cross tattoo on his left shoulder” to ” fighting out of Minnesota the land of 10,000 lakes, lets catch a snook” and ” drink a cold one for Ricco” was sure to have you rolling with laughter. The actual appearance of the show looked out dated, from the words on the screen (stats, fighters,etc.) to the camera panning away from the fights and into the crowd. Last but not least, one of the commentators made comments as if it were his first MMA event ever, like after a fighter threw a superman punch or a flying knee he said “I don’t like that jumping stuff” and “is his nose broke? No it can’t be broke because they would stop the fight, you can’t continue with a broken nose” I think you get my point. It just seems a little unprofessional to jump on the the MMA scene with such a minimal attempt to give the fans not only their moneys worth, but also an amped-up night of fights.

The new Yamma Pit Fighting cage was created to have fast action in the center of the mat and less holding and clinching against the fence. Ironically there was hardly any action and the new cage seemed to slow the fighters down. A lack luster night of fights to say the least. Though the cage did keep the fighters off the fence, the 3 foot incline at 3 feet away from the fence, seemed to also confuse the fighters as well.

The tournament fights were made up of 8 fighters, with the most recognized being the out of shape Ricco Rodriquez. All of the fighters to put simply are low-caliber fighters. Obviously leading to very boring fights. None of these fighters would last a second in the UFC, Strikeforce, EliteXC,etc. I just can’t believe this was Yamma’s big night of fights to etch their spot into MMA. The best fighter of the night was Travis Wiuff(52-11), who won the tournament fighting 3 times throughout the night, gaining the new Yamma heavyweight belt. What this belt stands for in the big picture of MMA? I’m still not sure.

The highlight “super fights” were made up of 2 matches Oleg Taktarov, Pat Smith, Mark Kerr, and Eric Esch (Butterbean). If you don’t recognize the names it’s because most of their best fights were about 10 years ago. Oleg VS. Mark Kerr was the better of the two, which actually showed a little ageing power and technique. Oleg pulled off a kneebar to win. Pat smith VS. Butterbean was pretty ridiculous, though Pat smith showed he still had some power, Butterbean fell to the mat (all 417 pounds of him) and was unable to get back up. Literally he is so big he could not get back up to his feet, leaving Pat Smith pounding him till the ref stopped the fight.

There is really not much more to add except to say I survived Yamma. Hopefully they made enough money from the pay-per-view revenues to actually get some real talent. If there is a next time!

The controversy from this card stems from the main event, which also happened to be one of the most anticipated fights of the last few months. “JZ” Calvancanti took on Shinya Aoki in what was expected to be the eventual coronation of a new King of Lightweights. Most people, myself included, gave the winner of this bout, along with Tatsuya Kawajiri, the most likely chance of taking the whole event. I was incredibly excited when they rolled the pre-fight promos for both men, which definitely helps set the mood for the coming bout. What I least expected in my wild dream actually came true in what has to be one of the most disappointing moments I have experienced in recent MMA memory.

The bout started and both men seemed like neither wanted to take the 1st move. They seemed to try and want to wait till the other faulted to finally move in. Aoki would fall to his back kind of baiting Calvancanti to try and enter his guard, while JZ went ahead and tried to form an offensive but did so in very lackluster fashion. During the bout, I kept my eye on the clock to see if Aoki would outlast Vitor “Shaolin” Ribiero, which he did but what happened was so unpredictable it took all feeling out of me. 3 downward elbows to the back of Aoki’s head would see the dreams of many MMA come to a realistic and sad halt. The blows looked like they hit Aoki in the Trapezius muscles rather than the back of the head but either way a bizarre and confused audience could just sit and wait. In true soap opera fashion, the television broadcast actually cut away to commercial as the climax of this whole ordeal was happening. The ringside doctor proceeded to announce the situation followed by Yuji Shimada and the fight was ruled a No Contest. Seriously, A NO CONTEST! The only thing more annoying than this, was those 20+ Lupin the 3rd commercials they played every single commercial break. I could only sit there staring at the screen dumbfounded, confused and appalled at what just happened. Life goes on though. At least FEG now has a good case to secure this bout as a Quarterfinal bout rather than pick someone like Caol Uno or Vitor Ribeiro.

Moving onto less depressing matters, the other Grand Prix bouts were good, at least the one’s they aired. Joachim “Hellboy” Hansen strings his 2nd win together after a Unanimous Decision win over Krazy Bee’s Koutetsu Boku. Hellboy seemed willing to engage like usual from the feet and had little to no real trouble with Boku during the duration of the bout. He managed to secure many takedowns from the Greco Clinch and also being able to take his back. One scary moment for Boku came at the end of the 1 round, where Hellboy managed to almost secure an armbar but luckily for Boku was unable to capitlize in that position. He would later cruise on to steal the 2nd in a not so close fight.

EliteXC Lightweight Eddie Alvarez managed to secure an incredibly impressive TKO victory over UDL’s Andre “Dida” Amade. Alvarez, as most of us know, has incredible striking and has in past times seemed to fully and solely rely on that aspect of this game. In this bout he uncharacteristically shot for a takedown before actually trying to stand in the pocket and exchange with the Brazilian. His wrestling seem to work incredibly effectively against Dida, who seemed ineffective from his back. Alvarez seemed to try and get takedowns at will, which is a theme we witnessed all night long, just not in this fight. Alvarez’s ground and pound seemed to leave Dida a bit dazed. Dida’s striking definitely looked less than crisp after the pounding. Alvarez did manage to pass to side mount very easily and did manage to mount and just decimate Dida from the dominant positions. In typical Yuji Shimada fashion, Dida would have to wait longer than expected for the referee to come and pull Alvarez off him. Alvarez in my opinion, looked the best out of all the GP participants.

Tatsuya “Crusher” Kawajiri also continues his winning ways over Kultar “Black Mamba” Gill in what turned out to be one long, drawn out wrestling clinic. Kawajiri just ran over him. Passed from full guard to half to mount with absolute ease. He got singles and doubles whenever he wanted to. Kawajiri was close to finishing the bout in the 1st round when he secured a side choke that Mamba would eventually find a way to spin out of. Overall, nothing really stand out. Gill’s size definitely posed a bigger challenge for Kawajiri but he handled it with relative ease. Kawajiri, along with Alvarez, definitely stood out to me by far. Both their wrestling techniques were effective and their ability to pass guard and secure dominant positions were incredible. Kawajiri would cruise to a Unanimous Decision.

The other 3 Grand Prix bouts where shown in 1 Minute highlight form each, sadly. Luis “Buscape” Firmino makes his successful comeback after being out of action for over a year and a half. He choked out Olympian Kazuyuki Miyata in the 1st round. Wrestling Silver Medalist, Katsuhiko Nagata, also won a unanimous decision over Artur Oumakhanov. Oumakhanov is now 0 and 2 in his last 2 bouts, losing previously to Shoji, the 1st Lightweight King of Pancrase. Mitsuhiro Ishida followed up the biggest win of his career with a Unanimous Decision victory of Judoka Jung Bu-Kyung. Let’s hope that Jung Bu-Kyung stays around. His record is 0-2 but against top level opponents. Similar what happened to Dong Sik-Yoon and hopefully like Yoon, he can stick this out and come back stronger and determined.

In the 3 remaining superfights, Ikuhisa Minowa saw quick action tonight against his 1 day notice opponent, Bum Chan Kang. In typical, Minowaman style he used his patented forward rolls and eventually managed to get the Korean giant on his back. He looked like he wanted to secure a Kimura, but settled for the open leg and got the Kneebar victory. Hayato “Mach” Sakurai got his 5th straight victory after stopping Hidetaka Monma. Sakurai looked good but this could be due to the fact that Monma isn’t necessarily at his level. He did manage to get a good Thai Clinch. He caught Monma, with what looked like a forearm and dropped him and proceeded to pound his head like 30 times consecutively until the fight was called. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic also got a much needed boost in self esteem after he finished Tatsuya Mizuno in less than 1 minute. Nothing really much to get out this fight.

Overall, a decent night of fights. The 2nd round of the GP is scheduled for May 11th and should prove for better matches and match making (hopefully). The 1st round of the Welterweight Grand Prix is scheduled for April 29th. April will be INSANELY busy for FEG. The have 3 major events that month that include, K-1 World MAX GP Round of 16, K-1 World GP in Yokohama and DREAM.2. All incredibly loaded cards by the way.

Quick Results from DREAM.1:

1. Minowaman def. Bum Chan Kang by Kneebar in 1:25 of the 1st round
2. Hayato Sakurai def. Hidetaka Monma by Ref. Stoppage in 4:12 of the 1st round
3. Joachim Hansen def. Koutetsu Boku by Unanimous Decision
4. Luis Firmino def. Kazuyuki Miyata by Rear Nake Choke in 7:37 of the 1st round
5. Katsuhiko Nagata def. Artur Oumakhanov by Unanimous Decision
6. Mitsuhiro Ishida def. Jung Bu-Kyung by Unanimous Decision
7. Mirko Filipovic def. Tatsuya Mizuno by Ref. Stoppage in 0:56 of the 1st round
8. Eddie Alvarez def. Andre Amade by Ref. Stoppage in 6:27 of the 1st round
9. Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Kultar Gill by Unanimous Decision
10. Shinya Aoki and Gesias Calvancanti was ruled a No Contest

Some of the fighters were local guys who were still only a few fights past their MMA debuts, but looking to prove themselves on live television. One of these local guys was none other the 145 pound bandtamweight grappler in the first fight, Zach “Skindog” Skinner. Even with his questionable nickname, Skinner did a nice job of eating a lot of shots to the face and the body in his attempts to submit another local fighter, Scott Shaffer. Skinner went on to win a very good back and forth fight that had a few slow points. This would be a great fight to show aspiring grapplers how important the ground game really is as Skinner was able to stop Shaffer from doing much damage for most of the bout. Both fighters were very one dimensional, unfortunately, and they both paid for it. Shaffer walked away with the loss even though he completely destroyed Skinner during the second round while Skinner did nothing by go for takedowns.

The second fight took two big heavyweights who wasted no time throwing a lot of leather for the entire 15 minutes. Another bout with two local fights with a a combined record of 1-0, the fight went the distance with both men doing a great job for their hometown crowd. Mike Hayes made his debut and came away with a decision win over his opponent, Matt Kovacs. Not only were they both local, they were both wearing the same shorts which caused a little bit of confusion while watching the fight. I wasn’t a big fan of this fight, but nothing bad could be said of these two guys who really put it all out there for the fans.

Lyle Beerbohm and Ray Pareles put on a show as Beerbohm wore some very bright early 90’s style fight shorts. These must have been lucky fight shorts as he began his domination over Pareles early in the first round and ended it in the 3rd round with a guillotine choke. Pareles came into the fight with a 9-13 record and although you should never judge a fighter by his record, Pareles clearly showed that his gameplan needs improvement. Beerbohm showed his well-rounded fighting style through some nice punches, kicks, and effective takedowns and mounts before ending the fight on the ground. These welterweights did a nice job of keeping things moving through most of the 11+ minutes.

More heavyweights, Josh Bennett (no, not Barnett) and Mychal Clark, are up next. Bennett is much wider, coming in 35 pounds heavier than Clark, at a whopping 259 pounds. While headlining fighter Bob Sapp can make 300+ pounds look good, other guys can’t quite pull it off. Clark rocked Bennett early, but couldn’t finish him off. The first round was filled with Clark unloading punches and the occasional kick. Round two showed some more swinging action that actually resulted in a doctor stoppage due to a nasty cut and bruise over Bennett’s left eye before the final round. Not everyone’s favorite finishing move, but Bennett was asking for it. Clark, however, didn’t look like he was hit once by the end of the fight.

Two young and talented fighters, Ryan Healy and Jorge Masvidal, took their combined record of 21-4-1 to give the crowd a great fight. Masvidal took the win via decision.

Steve Berger and Eddy Ellis also took the fight through the entire three rounds as Ellis took the win via decision. Yep, another decision. Not many exciting outcomes for the crowd so far tonight.

The kickboxing came next as Rick Roofus squared off against Maurice Smith in what we all expected to be a great fight filled with many high kicks. Nope, Smith won via armbar within two minutes. I wonder if Roofus even thought that Smith would want to take this fight to the ground instead of dueling it out the traditional kickboxing way.

Cory Devala and Joe Riggs were up next in a short and painful middleweight battle. Devala tossed Riggs which immediately hurt the experienced fighter and sent him tapping. He was taken away on a stretcher. Ouch.

Finally, the big guys in a super heavyweight showdown. Bob “backpedal” Sapp couldn’t take Jan Nortje’s size and power as he was knocked out before the first minute ended.

The fights didn’t have the same action as the EliteXC card we saw last week, but the cheerleaders, rappers, and annoying commentating was minimal. I felt bad for the people watching live as they had to suffer through decision after decision after doctor stoppage after decision only to watch the kickboxers go to the ground while Joe Riggs and Bob Sapp got beat less than three minutes combined. Unfortunately you cant predict fights and Strikeforce did a good job of integrating local talent with bigger names in MMA to provide a diverse card in hopes of some good cage action.

To change for the better, Strikeforce needs to get a couple more bigger names on the card. I wasn’t listening to the commentating this time around so I can’t comment, but with no Goldberg, I can safely assume that it was better than the EliteXC event. I can’t complain, but I wasn’t really impresed by anything in particular and I think it just had to do with the action inside the cage. The event gets a 6/10 from me.

After some very entertaining preliminary fights of prospects giving everything they had, the arena started to fill up and fast. I noticed many “Team Kimbo” shirts and lots of gold grills. After inspecting the t-shirt stand I bought myself a classic Kimbo shirt complete with a shiny gold grill to fit in. What amazed me beyond the Kimbo fashion was the crowd that was milling about for the fights. These were not your average mma fans. These were Kimbo fans. There is a difference. Many of these people had never seen a true MMA fight before or really seemed to care about it. The minute any fight was without action or went to the ground for longer than thirty seconds they booed. They were bloodthirsty, they wanted action and they wanted it now.

A fantastic night of under card fights provided awesome knockouts by both Scott Smith and Yves Edwards and a tactical battle that proved to be good match making between Ricco Rodriguez and Antonio Silva . Then it was time for Kimbo Vs Tank. I am sure many people have talked about the noise and atmosphere of the arena before the fight began. It was deafening and quite frankly shocking. When Kimbo stepped
out on the platform to do his long walk to the cage the audience blew up. I have been to a few fights in my day but nothing was like the response that Kimbo got. Grown men were screaming their lungs out like young girls at a Justin Timberlake concert. I know this is in his hometown but let me tell you it doesn’t matter where he is or where he goes, this is how he will be treated everywhere. The man is a super star.

The fight lasted about as long as everybody thought. Heavy leather was thrown and Tank hit the mat. It was not the out come of the fight that surprised me it was the reaction of the crowd. They got to see their hero beat the hell out of someone for a minute and they loved, they screamed, yelled, chanted, cheered and smiled for their hero long after the fight was over. I felt like I was at a rock concert except this place served no booze, which made the insane reaction of sober people even more impressive.

With a fan base of bloodthirsty Youtube lovers and young men looking for violence and quick excitement Kimbo is not one to ignore. EliteXC better do anything and everything they can to keep Kimbo under their wing, for this is only the beginning. As a fan of the sport and circus side shows I am thrilled that there is someone out there that has the kind of charisma and excitement that I have not seen in the fight
game since Mike Tyson. I can only wonder if this blood thirst that drives us all to look at a fight like a train wreck will have its bad side, taking the sport lovers back a few steps as we flock to see this monster. Right or wrong I’ll be there every time watching Kimbo unleash his violence until he falls screaming like a little girl wearing my gold grilled t-shirt.

The televised production overall for a free production was seamless. The fights went on without the long UFC-like delay with the overdone trash talk between fighters and it was less than two hours from start to finish. The commentating, even with Bill Goldberg, was much better than I had expected, and there was even a short interesting clip of Goldberg attempting to train with Miami-native Slice. The judging was fair, the referees stopped the fights properly and there was much respect between everyone post-fight.

The fights themselves contained a lot of great action as three of the five televised bouts didn’t even make it out of the first round. One fight barely made it into the second round while the only other bout to make it through the full 15 minutes turned out to be a split decision. When it came to the action inside the cage, there wasn’t much more you could ask for. Brett Rogers and Scott Smith walked away with big bomb knockouts in the first and second round against James Thompson and Kyle Noke, respectively, while longtime fighter Yves Edwards took down Edson Berto with a sharp knee to the head as Berto attempted a single leg takedown. You couldn’t ask for more exciting finishes than those.

The co-main event between Ricco Rodriguez and Antonio Silva had some noticeably slow points and was almost stopped due to a cut over Rodriguez’s left eye, but the crowd eased on the boos once the fight was allowed to resume. Silva barely walked away with a 28-29,29-28,29-28 split decision win over the older, more experienced, heavier, but washed-up Rodriguez.

The main event was in a league of its own. Tank Abbott walked out to a barrage of boos while the hometown favorite, Slice, felt the Miami love from his fans as the crowd went crazy during his introduction. “Kickass Kimbo” signs were everywhere and one Abbott fan even got creative and modified his to create a “Kick Kimbo Ass” sign on his own. The fight itself was much quicker than the introductions as Slice showed that training with Bas Rutten can turn a street fighter into a lightning fast cage brawler. Abbott didn’t have much to work with and I even thought the fight had ended almost immediately, but Slice was warned for punching the back of Abbott’s head. The fight was stopped and Slice wasn’t happy to be pushed back into his corner repeated - he wanted to throw some punches. Slice landed a couple of nice hooks after trading for a few seconds and Abbott was face down and knocked out. The crowd went even crazier and Slice thanked EliteXC and Showtime for his bread.

If I could have changed three things about the EliteXC: Street Certified, it would have come down to how they ran their show. First, get rid of the cheerleaders between the rounds and the fights as the dance routines are bad and they draw too much attention away from the cage. Next, build some hype for your upcoming fights. And finally, don’t go up against a boxing pay per view. Even though your event is free, boxing fans will still pay for boxing even though it was a drawn out non-championship bout between two guys who already fought.

At least we still know that free MMA didn’t let us down. Props to EliteXC and Showtime for two hours well spent.

Andrei Arlovski vs. Jake O’Brien

I’ll be honest, I’m really excited to see Jake O’Brien get punched in the face. It’d be an understatement to say that I don’t like his attitude, but it’s not going to far to say that I’d rather watch a Josh Koscheck marathon than watch O’Brien’s vicious laynpray. Andrei Arlovski has a very underrated ground game, which he’s pulled out of his world class sambo background, and he’s great a controlling distance. In all likelihood, this fight will end in O’Brien getting pounded or submitted, and O’Brien really has no outs in this fight, but Arlovski is going to be hungry and angry, given that he acknowledges that his last fight was a poor performance. Andrei has something to prove, and I certainly hope he brings it.

Chris Leben vs. Alessio Sakara

It’s rare that we get a matchup between two guys who like to throw as hard as Sakara and Leben do. This fight could end like Cote vs. McFedries, with an exciting first round KO, or it could go longer and be far more brutal. Sakara is dropping down to 185 for this fight, so it will be interesting to see how he does and how well Leben handles a bigger opponent. Both are punch-based strikers, so I doubt we’ll see much technical kickboxing, but it will be interesting to see how the technical boxer Sakara deals with the hard headed brawler in Leben. Either way, I think somebody’s going to get knocked out.

Rich Franklin vs. Travis Lutter (UFC 83)

This is going to be an interesting fight, not because I think Rich Franklin is going to be dominant, but because I think that everybody underestimates the ferocity of Travis Lutter’s groundnpound. I rewatched the finale for TUF 4 recently, and it reminded me how solid a submission fighter and how great he is on the ground. I will not excuse his fight with Anderson Silva, but I think he did well in that fight especially when we take into account how stupidly he cut weight. If he cuts correctly for this fight, there’s no doubt in my mind that he will give Franklin some trouble. While many people think that Franklin is a forced to be reckoned with, and a dominant and powerful wrestler, Franklin has done little to prove that he has significantly recovered from his defeat against Anderson Silva, and I think being put on the bottom against a serious topside grappler will shake him up and cost him the match. Franklin could make this interesting, but I think that there’s a strong possibility of the former-UFC champ getting upset.

Samy Schiavo vs. Clay Guida (UFN 13)

Samy Schiavo is on fire, and that fire is to be respected. I’m the first to admit that there’s alot of hype surrounding Guida in this fight, but this is going to be a war, and I don’t think that (like with Lutter) people are giving Shiavo the respect he deserves. I had originally thought that Guida would take the no-name out in this fight and recover the way that I believe the UFC intends to, but I think that there’s alot to be said for the fact that Guida is only 1 of his last 4. When I looked at Schiavo’s record, I realized that this is the kind of guy who can present alot of problems for Guida. He’s won 6 in a row, he’s finished all of his opponents in the first round, and he’s done it with a combination of knock out power and solid submission skills. While Guida will continue to be a solid fighter in this division, I think that if Schiavo can overcome the octagon shock he’ll be a real force in this one, and not the underdog that most people see him as. Octagon shock is, as always, a factor, and it’s certainly possible for Guida to take this, but both are explosive enough to make this an exciting fight.

Those are just a few for now. I’ll continue to add more as fights grow near, because there are alot of undercards that look promising in the near future.

Sticking with FEG, they put on a great show in Japan for the 1st MAX (Middleweight Artistic eXtreme) tournament of the year. This weekend was filled with MMA action, but K-1 was definitely a must see for me. I didn’t have a chance to follow the full MAX circuit last year but this year I plan on it. There was a couple of attention grabbing fights that were a must for any combat sports fan. It was the 1st big K-1 show in 2008 and it definitely did not dissapoint.

I’ll quickly go over the bouts as they appear on the FEG fightcard and not the order in which they were broadcast.

The only aired preliminary bout was the one involving HIROYA and Robby Hageman. If your memory serves you well, than you can remember to New Years when K-1 put on an under 18 yrs. tournament in Japan to possibly find the next best Japanese Talent and star. HIROYA was one of those teenagers involved. He faired well and made it all the way to the finals were he lost a decision to YUDAI. Here was a chance to get back on the winning track against Robby Hageman, who was representing the Dutch contingency.

I expected HIROYA to basically steam roll the Dutch fighter considering the number of fights he had under his belt and his performance at the the Dynamite!! show but the Hageman proved alot tougher than appeared. Even though the fight was stopped, it was stopped a bit controversially (early). HIROYA looked rather liveless and very uncomfortable with Hageman’s height advantage. If anything I feel Hiroya was the bigger loser of the bout. Also reportedly, could partake in the K-1 World MAX 2008 Championship Round of 16, where hopefully his career doesn’t get ended by experienced MAX competitors. He didn’t look impressive but the boy is 16 and will definitely improve within the coming years.

The 1st bout televised fight of the night was the fight between Artur Kyshenko and the colorful Shingo Garyu. For those who haven’t seen Garyu, the man is something to behold. He’s really entertaining to watch. In one of the weirdest clips I’ve ever seen, Garyu is trying to blast away at this guy and he starts like touching gloves in the middle of the exchanges, kind of like he was playing patti-cake than continued to try and decapitate his opponent. He’s not the most serious individual but he’s always fight. Kyshenko on the other hand is pure business. He is definitely a favorite this year to take the World MAX title. His last 2 years are nearly flawless stumbling only against an ultra-inspired Masato at last year’s MAX Finals and an overtime loss to HAYATO. Personally, he’s my pick to be champion this year. Anyways, this fight definitely lived up to the hype from staredown to the end.

Both men came to receive instructions and Garyu just crossed his arms faced the his body towards the crowd and tilted his head sideways to look at Kyshenko. The bout started and Garyu proved a little more than advertised especially against somebody of the caliber of Kyshenko. Kyshenko did manage a couple of trips but to no luck really. He worked Garyu’s body in normal Kyshenko fasion and set him up for a big punch that saw Garyu go down. Garyu beats the count but is again met with a nice left hook that sends him down. He beats the count for a 2nd time but only to be met with another solid left that sent him crashing down. Kyshenko gets the KO win and is definitely on a good route to becoming a top MAX fighter.

The 1st GP bout of the night pitted Nigerian born Andy Ologun, younger brother of Bobby Ologun, against veteran Yuya Yamamoto. Both men had the exact same K-1 record of 2-3 and wanted to get some wins around their belt but most importantly win the GP. Ologun seemed incredibly calm, while his counterpart Yamamoto was constantly pressing forward and hitting Ologun with combinations. Yamamoto definitely threw alot more than Ologun but Ologun’s strikes were alot more powerful and damaging and his work from the clinch especially the knees were devastating. Ologun did manage to drop Yamamoto quickly in the 2nd round but more of the same followed thoughout the fight. The 3rd round was again the same except both men increased their punch rate, especially Ologun compared to previous rounds. Even though he did outwork Ologun, Yamamoto was not awarded the decision and Ologun would advance to the semifinals.

The 2nd GP bout pitted Keiji Ozaki and his always weird pants against Yasuhiro Kido. There wasn’t necessarily too much action in the 1st or 2nd round but all of that was out the window in the 3rd. Both men stood and began just unloading on each other. Ozaki trying his traditional spinning back fists and spinning back kicks, while Kido just stood and outboxed Ozaki’s wild attempts. At one point it was all Kido just going to work on Ozaki’s head but he managed to stay up and continued to take lots of damage to the point that the referee gave Ozaki a standing count with only 10 seconds left. The count basically sealed the win for Kido, whose height seemed to be a huge factor in the scheme of the fight. Kido would advance and face Ologun.

The 3rd GP fight saw MAX veteran TATSUJI take on Hiroyuki Maeda. Maeda came into this bouts with no K-1 wins and was a clear underdog but that didn’t stop him. He started at a very quick pace from the get go and it payed off for him as he saw TATSUJI quickly dropped. TATSUJI managed to beat the count but should’ve rather stayed down. He was visibly still shaken and was pounced upon by Maeda, who didn’t forgive. The referee had no choice but to end the fight standing, which resulted in a huge upset.

The 4th and final of the 1st round bouts was definitely the most even and one of the best of the night. The 2 men, HAYATO and RYUJI, were definitely there to fight. Both men seemed very intent on exchanging and not necessarily to keen on defending punches. At one point in the 1st round, the punishment that HAYATO was receiving seemed very unhuman as RYUJI just unloaded on his face but to no success. This would cost RYUJI, who clearly expended too much energy and was than almost finished by HAYATO as he hurried to try and finish strongly in the round. It was almost a mirror image in the second as RYUJI again began pouring it on. As he was tiring HAYATO threw a desperation blow to try and sedate RYUJI and lucky for him it caught RYUJI and sent him down. Visibly angry over this momentary lapse of judgement, he stood back up and continued the fight through the 2nd and an uneventful 3rd. Like the Ologun-Yamamoto fight, the man who scored the knockdown was victorious, even though they were less pressing and landed less strikes.

Now in the semifinal round the pairings were: Ologun vs. Kido and Maeda vs HAYATO and 1 win seperated these 4 men from the Finals. The 1st bout was Ologun vs. Kido. This was a pretty even match from the beginning. It was apparent that whatever Kido could do, Ologun could too. Also, Kido didn’t necessarily have the height advantage he sometimes enjoys. Both men were countering almost everything on par and it was kind of uneventful in the 1st. The closest thing to any different action was a trip later in the round by Ologun and Kido landing a couple nice shots to stagger Ologun but no real damage was done. Round 2 was almost an extension of the 1st. Both men were throwing a nice number of high kicks. Also, it should be noted 1 thing that I found strange and kind of almost useless was during the clinches Kido would throw heel strikes ala Royce Gracie to the back of Ologun’s Hamstrings. Not too much action as Kido gets a unanimous decision win over a visibly disgruntled Lil Ologun and advances to the finals.

The 2nd semifinal bout would prove entertaining, while it lasted. Maeda and HAYATO went to work for the 1st 3 minutes. It was eerily similar to HAYATO’s 1st round fight against RYUJI as HAYATO again would find himself recieving way to many shots and not going down. Of course, he is human so with about 20 seconds left he goes down. He’s very vulnerable at this point and you can tell that only 1 real good shot is needed to seal the deal. Thankfully for HAYATO the round comes to an end as he stumbles to his corner. Even more incredible is the fact that during the break Doctors deem Maeda not able to continue for some reason and HAYATO luckily advances to the Finals after a weird turn of events.

There were 2 super-fights that night, the 1st one being Kyshenko-Garyu and the 2nd being the much anticipated match-up between Yoshihiro Sato and Buakaw Por. Pramuk. Pramuk as we all know is a K-1 MAX legend, who along with Andy Souwer has won the MAX Title on 2 different occasions (2004 and 2006). Sato himself is no slouch with 2 consecutive MAX Japan Tournament Titles (2006 and 2007), but no of those really compare to Pramuk’s accomplishment. The odds were clearly against Sato, who had a bad showing at the MAX Finals last year. Sadly, the broadcast only showed the 3rd round of the bout for some unknown reason. Both men were clearly exhausted in what seemed to be a very even ordeal all the way through. The 3rd round was also close and it was left in the decisions of the judges, who all had the match as a draw. Luckily, the 1 round extension period was aired.

There are many things that separate pretenders from contenders and Buakaw symbolized the champions spirit in this extension. He looked like a man on fire. He went out and threw everything possible to try and win this fight. Though visibly tired he threw harder and harder to try and finish Sato. It was very obvious that Pramuk would not settle for a loss. When it mattered most he went stronger. Towards the end of the fight he did suffer a bit of a scare though when he got caught but only stumbled for 1 second. Time ran out and again it was up to the judges to place a verdict. Pramuk got the win but only by a split decision.

Finally, the moment that these men have endured punishment for. The Final: Yasuhiro Kido vs. HAYATO proved to be the best fight of the night and not necessarily because it was for the Title but mainly because of the action that went on. Sadly, this fight would end as fast as it would start. Both men obviously came in not so great shape due to the fact that both had gone to decisions earlier and also logically because it was their 3rd fight that night. HAYATO looked quick to press the action but was caught of gaurd and caught a punch that sent him crashing down. HAYATO would get up but again to only go back down. At this point all hope had basically dwindled until HAYATO again got up and managed to connect a nice blow to Kido, who now found himself knocked down. It was a bizarre turn of event. HAYATO was dancing around getting his step back. Quicker than you can say comeback, HAYATO was again caught and put down for good. 4 knockdowns in a span of 1 minutes. It was surreal. Yasuhiro Kido was now the K-1 World MAX Japan tournament champion after a long night and also earns himself a spot in the upcoming K-1 World MAX Championship Tournament Round of 16.

Great night of fights and hopefully the rest of the shows are as great as this.

Leading up with card was fight-legend, Kazushi Sakuraba against Pancrase veteran, Masakatsu Funaki. Funaki hadn’t battled in the ring since his loss to Rickson Gracie six years ago, but seemed calm and focused as things went underway on New Year’s Eve. A roaring crowd of over 47,000 people shouted support for both fighters, despite Saku’s overwhelming reputation.

The bout began slowly with both fighters testing the proverbial waters. Funaki peppered Saku with a punch/combination, but Saku utilized his jab and shot, scoring the take-down. The two scrambled on the mat where Fuanki attempted a knee-bar, but failed. Sakuraba returned to his feet (to the delight of the crowd) and leapt into one of his trademark stomps, but to no avail. Back on the ground, Sakuraba managed to control the side mount and succeeded in submitting Funaki with a kimura in the first round. Funaki was clearly outclassed, but it was no surprise considering his time spent away from the ring.

Japan’s bad boy, Yamamoto ‘Kid’ Norifumi, took on Jiu-Jitsu practitioner Rani Yahya. Yahya is known for his extremely effective ground-game, but Kid controlled the fight all the way through, and refused to let it go to the mat. In the first round Kid countered Yahya with a hook, and tried to go for a guillotine choke, but was thwarted. Yahya then tried for his own wild hook combination, but hit mostly air.

The second round saw more action, as Kid delivered a crushing knee to the body, causing Yahya to wince in pain. For what it’s worth, Yahya did a good job of keeping up with Kid’s punches, and even returned a few, but he was out-gunned with his hands, and in the second round, Kid finally dropped Yahya with a hook/uppercut combo, and then finished him with three wildly thrown soccer kicks. Kid was penalized a yellow card for blowing imaginary kisses to Yayha’s ring, causing some ruckus after the fight.

Bob Sapp vs Comedian, Bobby Ologun, was nothing short of sloppy, silly hoopla. The Nigerian born Ologun entered the ring in the usual fashion, smiling and posing for the cameras. After the bell, Ologun ran around, dodging some of Sapp’s punches, and landed a leg kick before Sapp took him to the ground and tried for an arm bar, but failed. Finally, Sapp started the ground and pound in full mount and got the knock-out in just under 3 minutes. Who cares? I didn’t. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, and clapped for their beloved Ologun who smiled and waved to the crowd after the fight.

Masato shocked the world after defeating Buakaw Por Pramuk in the 2007 K-1 World Max in July, but was stopped by Andy Souwer due to reoccurring leg injuries. At Dynamite, Masato came to please, and he did, by beating the hell from Korean boxer, Yong Soo Choi. Masato was slow to start, but after some aggressive, leaping punch combos from Choi, Masato tore into the fighter with a flurry of good punch/combinations and a high kick to Chois face, from which he received a standing eight-count. Masato proved too amazing for the former WBA champion, but Choi managed to take some devastating knocks until the third round where he was ultimately knocked out.

Nicholas Pettas fought the towering Kim Young Hyun. The gigantic Hyun started strong, using his height advantage with some strong knees, and a quick spinning back-fist. Pettas began utilizing leg kicks to “chop-down” the Korean giant and changed the pace of the fight. Pettas even managed to land a beautiful axe-kick to the face of Hyun. The fight ended with a flurry of haymakers resulting in a TKO.

K-1 Kickboxer Masashi, scored a defeat over Bernard Ackah with a KO in the third round, but not before Ackah managed a serious assault on Masashi in the opening seconds of round-one. Masashi took several uppercuts to the face, but quickly recovered and took control, knocking Ackah out in 1:26 in the third.

RINGS Submission fighter Kiyoshi Tamura, took advantage of Hideo Tokoro in an MMA rules match that resulted in a submisson. Tamura outweighed Tokoro by 50 pounds and it was evident that this played a factor, as Tamura lead the fight with classic heavy karate kicks to the mid-section. Tamura used his kicks to soften Tokoro and then lead to an eventual submission by arm-bar in the third round.

Melvin Manhoef exploded against perpetual loser Yousuke Nishijima, in the first round. It was clear that Nishijima was condemned to a quick death when Manhoef threw multiple haymakers and then took the Japanese boxer to the mat for a ground and pound that ended the match in under a minute.

For all the flash and fire of K-1 Dynamite, there’s got to be something completely retarded, so that Japanese fans can have a laugh. One was Ologun vs Bob Sapp, the other was Minowaman and Zuluzinho. Minowaman, deemed as Mr. Heaven, tried his best to avoid the swings of the 400 pound monster, but failed to move quickly enough and was squashed under the behemoth for most of the fight. Impressively, Minowaman did manage to lift the rotund warrior in the air and slam into the mat. Fans shouted for the for their beloved Japanese wreslter, but Zulu’s weight was just too much, and Minowaman lost the fight in the third from corner stoppage.
In one of the most exciting matches of the evening, Yudai shocked the dome when he defeated celebrated Hiroya in the under 18 kickboxing tournament, crowing him the first under 18 champion. The fight was extremely close, and had to be pushed into an extra round. 16 year old Yudai’s multiple thrust kicks proved to be too much for Hiroya, winning a unanimous decision in the extra round. Fans can expect big things from both fighters in the near future.

25: Season 1 - Chris “The Crippler” Leben decides he is going to get drunk enough to urinate all over another bed. He heartedly calls it a “spritz” and makes sure that it’s rubbed into the sheets before the victim returns to his bed.

24: Season 4 - Shonie Carter wants to train with the other team and jumps into their van uninvited. He proceeds to drop the F bomb about 27 times mostly in the phrase “I don’t give a fuck” for apparently no reason. Mr. International shows how us to be dumb on television.

23: Season 4 - Mikey Burnett thinks he is a football player and runs into a wall of the TUF house repeatedly. Awesome! Sorta. I guess…

22: Season 3 - The start of the Bisping/Hamill hate parade begins when Michael Bisping feels like Matt Hamill is getting more attention from coach Tito Ortiz. Bisping gets sloppy drunk and proceeds to act like a moron about the whole situation.

21: Season 3 - The countdown to UFC 75 begins although neither fighter knows it yet. Matt Hamill has to leave the TUF house due to an injury

20: Season 2 - The fight between Edwin DeWee and Gideon Ray is not for the faint of heart. Ray has opened up a nice cut on DeWee’s head and blood is pouring out. As the fight rages on, both fighters, the mat, and Ray’s mouth is covered in blood. Yummy!

19: Season 3: This episode proves that you don’t want to he best person to pass out in the TUF house or your eyebrows might be missing in the morning. A reminder of college living at it’s best.

18: Season 3: Ken Shamrock verbally battles with his team over his training techniques. The fighters are complaining that they are hurt and Shamrock is countering with the ole’ “if we don’t train hard enough, you guys will complain that we aren’t training enough” talk. It wasn’t very exciting.

17: Season 4 - Matt Serra is not a happy camper when opposing assistant jiu-jitsu coach Mark Laiman proceeds to ridicule Royce Gracie after the Brazilian lost to TUF coach Matt Hughes. Serra ripped Laiman apart and told him that he would never be a fighter. Ouch.

16: Season 5 - “Do you know who I am?” asks Karo Parisyan after he attempts to act like a moron (and I’m a Parisyan fan) while threatening Nate Diaz. I’m still not sure how this all happened, but it was a pretty foolish thing for everyone involved.

15: Season 2 - Joe Stevenson and Mike Whitehead perform 204 reps of the Scarecrow, a jiu-jitsu training exercise, in a challenge to pick the next two fighter to battle on the show. While Stevenson and Whitehead are slowly injuring themselves, Jorge Gurgel tries trashing talking Stevenson and gets mad when his coach, Rich Franklin, immediately forfeits. The clip ends with Whitehead and Stevenson being taken away due to massive muscle cramping. Nice!

14: Season 3 - With Matt Hamill out of the TUF competition due to injury, Dana looks for a replacement fighter. Both Tait Fletcher and Kristian Rothaermel decline for different reasons and Dana is stunned. Dumb fighters. Luckily Ross Pointon was up to the challenge of losing to Michael Bisping.

13: Season 5 - Ah yes, Gabe Ruediger - Mr. Drama himself. With his upcoming fight against Cory Hill only a day away, Ruediger decides he doesn’t want to cut weight and puts on a poorly acted show instead. Fainting, whining, and lying naked on the edge of a pool make this episode one of the worst in history. In the process, Gray Maynard calls him a “pain in the ass” and Manny Gamburyan says “he was just a douche bag.”

If you missed the show and you are interested enough to hear more about TUF, check back soon for the final 12 Top 25 TUFFEST Moments from Spike TV here on MMA Opinion.

I decided to experiment on this show with an adjusted scoring system. Though we’ve had problems with the ten point must system, I also never liked Pride’s scoring system, or many of the other suggestions. An adjusted 10 point must has been kicked around by many, at length by Bryan Alverez and Dave Meltzer during radio broadcasts, so I decided to tweak the idea for myself. it’s a more liberal usage, in which I decided close rounds were 10-10 (I agree Jordan Breen), but more dominant rounds would be 10-8 or 10-7, instead of the strict 10-9 most give. Also, a round that probably should have been stopped or one opponent had no offense would go 10-6, instead of 10-8. I won’t go 10-5 or lower, because it creates an unfair mathematical advantage.

Alan Belcher beat Kalib Starnes to open the PPV telecast. Belcher’s clinch and Muay Thai were to strong. Right away he blasted Starnes with knees and right forearms. Starnes looked asleep until late in the round. He fired back and would last into the second, but his heart is again in question. It’s like his big brother came in, slapped him around, he finally got mad enough to smack back, and then with one shot his older brother made him wilt. Belcher looked relaxed and dominant in a second round stoppage. For the record, first round was 10-9 Belcher, and 10-7 adjusted scoring.

Interesting observations were Starnes yelling at his corner after the stoppage, and the fans “ohhing” in horror over the cut in-between rounds, only to boo the stoppage. Savages! Also, Belcher should never be given a mic. Goofy frat boy.

Stephan Bonnar vs. Eric Shaeffer is next. Bonnar looked “on” coming down the aisle, while Shaeffer looked out for a good time. Also, Shaeffer claimed his fighting style was “a robot on a mission” in the video package preceding. Okay.

I’m surprised how bad Bonner looked on the ground in the first round. Standup was even, but his back was taken quickly on the ground and even on top, he looked confused. Bonnar avoided the choke and reversed at the end of the round, but he looked tight in there. 10-9 Schaeffer legit and adjusted.

Bonnar was more aggressive and comfortable on the ground in the second. This was what he wanted to do, and it was like night and day to the first. He looked on as he stopped Shaeffer with punches. We still don’t know where Bonner’s head is at, and he’d have had trouble tonight with someone a level up.

Bonnar continues to be an incredibly talented underachiever. In an ironic moment, Bonnar forgets where his afterparty is being held. Exactly.

Alvin Robinson vs. Jorge Gurgel

155 should always open the show, and I’ll say that every review or preview you read. I understand Gurgel was the hometown boy here and they didn’t wanna disrespect him, but maybe another light-heavy could have been slotted first. Gurgel gets a big welcome and the fight was an awesome jui-jitsu battle. Gurgel got the better of the first round, with little damage down but interesting technically. 10-9 Gurgel, but I went 10-8 adjusted.

The second round was the other side of the coin. Robinson was strong coming out and he got top position. Rogen had a great point about Jui-jitsu practitioners losing a belt ranking with every good punch landed on them. The last minute was brutal towards Gurgel, as Robinson reigned down on the guy with punches. 10-9 Robinson, and here again is where adjusted scoring would help. I had it 10-7 Robinson adjusted.

Robinson had deflated the crowd by the third. He dominated Gurgel again from the top. Robinson killed Gurgel, as his eyes welted shut. 10-8 Robinson round, but 10-6 adjusted.

Our first decision and a new scoring test. I’ve got it 29-27 Robinson. Two judges agreed. Now adjusted I had it 28-24 Robinson, which better depicts his dominance of Gurgel in rounds two and especially three, as opposed to Gurgel winning round one. Neither man is any closer in the mix at 155.

Brock Lesner is with Rogen. I can’t hear to much but he showed good personality and I’m excited he’s finally signed. He’s been training for almost 2 years now. I didn’t hear if Couture leaving was addressed, as I watched this from a sports bar as usual. Good deal and I’ll have more on this elsewhere on the site.

Tim Sylvia vs. Brandon Vera

Sylvia came in in the best shape I’ve seen him. Vera looks a bit intimidated. Right away we’ve got a typical Sylvia clinch fight. Dull. Vera gets some space and good left-handed punches. 10-10 round on regular and adjusted. Nothing happened. It’s Sylvia’s control to Vera’s few strikes.

Second round. Again, Vera clocks him with a left so Sylvia holds against fence. Finally, Vera gets him down to the ground. This is what I wanted to see in my preview of the show. Sylvia really does try to move down there, but he eventually finds a way to clinch on the ground too. Christ! Vera gets frustrated and bombs away at the end of the round. Thumbs up. 10-9 Vera. I struggled with 10-9 or 10-8 adjusted, but Vera deserved a 10-8.

Sylvia really came out strong in the third. He clinched during the middle of the round, but started and ended with heavy punches. I mean HEAVY. 10-8 Sylvia, and if I gave Vera the adjusted last time as 10-8, this was 10-7 Sylvia adjusted.

I have 29-28 Sylvia in an admittedly oddly scored match (10-10 in first and 10-8 in third). Sylvia wins in straight sets. Lets check our experiment. 28-27 Sylvia adjusted. So it works the same on this match. Also, Sylvia is not good with crowds. He seems insecure, and therefore overcompensates when the crowd gives him heat. Vera, even in the loss, was amazing with the crowd. UFC should hope he gets back in the picture quick. I really would be happy never seeing Sylvia again in my life, but he’d be a great pro wrestling heel. He’s built up and wins and wins until Couture clocks him in a huge made-for-TV-like event. Now he’ll build up again. They hate him, and when a babyface finally beats him, you get a huge moment again. Unfortunately, this probably doesn’t help Tim’s self esteem, or me, since I still have to watch him stall a fight.

Main event time. Franklin comes out to huge crowd reaction as hometown hero. Silva is so relaxed and cool. Calm is the best and most important word. Great stand up battle. Franklin was winning until the last 10 seconds, when he gets caught with a punch and folds. Saved by the bell. 10-9 Silva on both scoring systems.

Second round, Franklin dies. Think the first match. And think of it again. Lots of hugs and respect from the two. Silva is the dominant champ right now in a weak division, but he deserves respect.

So, what did we learn? I think adjusted scoring works and I’m gonna try it out again at the next event. I think Big Nog getting the shot is debatable (a lot of people want the Kongo match, but that pushes back a title match with Sylvia to April). Sylvia continues to bore crowds and find a way to win. He’s a survivor in that Octagon. Franklin just can’t beat Silva, and right now no one in the division can. Belcher won, but I don’t see him taking it to anyone a level up. Same with Bonnar and his fight. Actually, the same with Alvin Robinson. So while I loved and enjoyed the event, maybe the highlight was seeing Brock Lesnar, and getting ready for that great experiment to begin. One weak show down, one to go. I’ve got a bet that UFC survives these two shows and grabs some huge buyrates in 2008. Any takers?

E-mail John Philapavage at johnnyp@mmaopinion.com