First off, watching two guys with the same exact Warrior Wear half-camo, half black fight shorts made me want to stand and scream “hey guys, same team!”, but then I realized that I wasn’t watching a normal sport - this was fighting. Not that I couldn’t already tell by the second fight of the night. The first fight took the classic striker vs. grappler to the next level with some of the most nonchalant guard passes and mounts since Sean Sherk danced around Hermes Franca during UFC 73. Too bad the grappler was nearly dead from being rocked nearly a dozen times during the second and third rounds. But a lot more happened tonight. Let’s break down Strikeforce at the Dome! But wait, Bob Sapp is back on the screen laughing. He did this about 10 times randomly throughout the broadcast before his cage debut. Ok, now let’s take a quick look at the bouts.

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.

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Osaka Dome- There are few things that can compare with the spectacle that is K-1 Dynamite. It’s absurdly entertaining and just ridiculous enough, so that it’s still worthy of true fight fans. This year’s event held nothing back, and the Japanese public lapped it up. With hearty helpings of good match-ups and silly novelties, Fields 2007 K-1 Dynamite ended the year with a bang.

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 Funaki 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.

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