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HERO’s 10/9 Yokohama event results
By Zach Arnold | October 9, 2006
The promotion claimed 10,631 paid for the event. A night of surprises. Results can be viewed in full-post mode.
Strong ratings for HERO’s
Report of Japanese ratings revised by source report. Video Research Ltd. Co. Japan (via Sports Navigator) reports that the HERO’s 10/9 Yokohama Arena show on TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) drew an 14.6% average rating, with the highest peak rating being a 20.6% for the Hideo Tokoro vs. Ken Kaneko fight (the fight drawing an overall 18.3%).
These are significantly better numbers than the August 5th show that featured Kazushi Sakuraba.
Quick results from the event:
- Antonio Silva defeated Georgy Kaysinov in R1 in 1 minute, 8 seconds by KO from a left hook.
- Hideo Tokoro defeated Ken Kaneko in R1 in 1 minute, 50 seconds with a cross-arm scissors hold for the submission.
- Middleweight Tournament: JZ Calvan defeated Rani Yahya in R1 in 39 seconds with a front choke hold for the submission.
- Middleweight Tournament: Kaoru Uno defeated Ivan Menjivar after 2R by a 3-0 judges’ decision.
- Light Heavyweight Tournament: Yoshihiro Akiyama defeated Kestutis Smirnovas in R1 in 3 minutes, 1 second by KO.
- Light Heavyweight Tournament: Melvin Manhoef defeated Shungo Oyama in R1 in 1 minute, 4 seconds by KO.
- Middleweight Tournament Reserve Fight: Kazuyuki Miyata defeated Ian Schaffa in R1 in 49 seconds by KO from doctor stoppage (eye injury?).
- Light Heavyweight Tournament Reserve Fight: Carlos Newton defeated Tokimitsu Ishizawa (Kendo Ka Shin) in R1 in 22 seconds by TKO from referee stoppage.
- Don Frye defeated Kim Min-Soo in R2 in 2 minutes, 47 seconds by KO.
- Middleweight Tournament Finals: JZ Calvan defeated Kaoru Uno after 2R by a 3-0 judges’ decision.
- Light Heavyweight Tournament Finals: Yoshihiro Akiyama defeated Melvin Manhoef in R1 in 1 minute, 58 seconds with a cross-arm scissors hold.
Topics: All Topics, HERO's, Japan, MMA, Zach Arnold | 11 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I watched the delayed Korean feed. Here are my general (and brief) thoughts.
1. Antonio Silva defeated Georgy Kaysinov in R1 in 1 minute, 8 seconds by KO from a left hook.
– I remember absolutely NOTHING about this fight.
2. Hideo Tokoro defeated Ken Kaneko in R1 in 1 minute, 50 seconds with a cross-arm scissors hold for the submission.
– The big angle here was that Akira Maeda was angry at HERO’S for booking this match, insisting that Ken Kaneko needed to prove himself as a fighter before fighting in HERO’S. He was right. Tokoro schooled him once the fight went to the ground, and he got the easy submission. However, I think the referee stopped it, rather than Kaneko tapping out.
3. Middleweight Tournament: JZ Calvan defeated Rani Yahya in R1 in 39 seconds with a front choke hold for the submission.
– Calvan is a tough, tough man.
4. Middleweight Tournament: Kaoru Uno defeated Ivan Menjivar after 2R by a 3-0 judges’ decision.
– A decent fight once it got going. Uno had a weird habit of swinging, and then back-peddling while covering his face.
5. Light Heavyweight Tournament: Yoshihiro Akiyama defeated Kestutis Smirnovas in R1 in 3 minutes, 1 second by KO.
– STRONG performance for Akiyama, who fought without the gi.
6. Light Heavyweight Tournament: Melvin Manhoef defeated Shungo Oyama in R1 in 1 minute, 4 seconds by KO.
– Melvin is frightening. He caught Oyama with three strong punches to knock him out. And when I say out, I mean OUT.
7. Middleweight Tournament Reserve Fight: Kazuyuki Miyata defeated Ian Schaffa in R1 in 49 seconds by KO from doctor stoppage (eye injury?).
– I think it was a cut above the eye.
8. Light Heavyweight Tournament Reserve Fight: Carlos Newton defeated Tokimitsu Ishizawa (Kendo Ka Shin) in R1 in 22 seconds by TKO from referee stoppage.
– Ishizawa was out after a barrage of shots from Newton. Ishizawa went limp, but came to once he hit the ground, and instinctively shot for a single-leg takedown. But by that time, the referee had stopped it. It should be noted that Newton came out wearing his IFL team colors, while KaShin came out wearing a Tokyo Sabres jersey.
9. Don Frye defeated Kim Min-Soo in R2 in 2 minutes, 47 seconds by KO.
– I say this out of deep respect for Don, but he needs to retire. He looked so bad in this fight. He looked about 15 years older since I’ve last seen him, and he was sucking wind by the end of the first round. He got so tired at one point, that he was “fighting” with his hands on his hips. Kim would have finished him had the first round not ended. All I can say, was Frye landed the luckiest shot in his career. It was a CRUSHING hook to the side of Min Soo Kim’s head. Just an absolutely sick punch.
10. Middleweight Tournament Finals: JZ Calvan defeated Kaoru Uno after 2R by a 3-0 judges’ decision.
– This was an exciting fight, but it was clear that unless Uno finished him with a submission, Calvan was winning. Uno stuck to his “I throw a punch and run away with my face covered” strategy. It didn’t work. It was actually a 2-0 decision, because (And I have no clue how), one of the judges called the fight a draw. The crowd was really behind Uno during the fight, hoping he’d pull out a miracle.
11. Light Heavyweight Tournament Finals: Yoshihiro Akiyama defeated Melvin Manhoef in R1 in 1 minute, 58 seconds with a cross-arm scissors hold.
– This was… hmm… Melvin came out swinging for the finishes, and nearly finished Akiyama with a flurry very early on. The first thirty-seconds of the fight was simply Akiyama RUNNING AWAY from Manhoef. After evading some shots, Akiyama managed to get a body clinch and take Melvin to the ground. However, Melvin managed to stand back up to one knee. They struggled for position, before tumbling to the floor. Both fighters scrambled, and Akiyama managed to get the armbar. Gigantic reaction for Akiyama’s win.
Decent show, but it simply went on far too long. (Entrances were stretched out to where each fighter got about five minutes to walk to the ring.)
One notable thing was the extremely short matches. They have to start booking more competitive matches
i thought the was Akiyama got Armbar was brilliant. not sure if he meant what he was doing but it looked real cool.
Kaneko Ken tapped as soon as the armbar was on. You could see it on Japanese TV. Both arms were trapped however so he was just pawing with his fingers.
The ref couldn’t see it so Tokoro cranked it until he did.
Was a pretty good show… Melvin is the strongest one dimensional fighter I’ve ever seen. And how could you not mention the crushing suplex Manhoef did, only to be immediately swept into mount by Akiyama? Fantastic.
Rani Yahara, prodigy of Rickson Gracie, must be gutted that he got choked out so quick. Ha!
the biggest surprise of the night was as steve cash mentioned. how could someone score uno x cavalcanti a draw? but that was judge toyonaga, who came to hero’s with sakuraba. he was a good judge at pride, what happened? is he a “bought” person too? because it is impossible to see uno x cavalcanti as even.
manhoef x akiyama fight was thrilling. but manhoef had some very strange tactics. usually someone experienced like him will not do such things.
anyway, it is proud day for many korean japanese, not just akiyama and his family but many of the ones who haven’t done coming out yet!
wait…Akiyama came out that he’s korean?
“Was a pretty good show… Melvin is the strongest one dimensional fighter I’ve ever seen. And how could you not mention the crushing suplex Manhoef did, only to be immediately swept into mount by Akiyama? Fantastic.”
I had forgotten all about this. Honestly, by the time this fight came around, it was almost 8:00AM (The show began at 3:00AM’ish) my time. But yeah, that was a pretty dramatic moment there.
Akiyama gets a lot of flack about being protected by Hero’s, and even though he had no desire to try and stand with Melvin, he still played to his strengths and got the submission.
How does the strong ratings compare to what PRIDE has been doing in their prime?
I thought it was common knowledge that he’s zainichi korean (like Maeda)? He even sports the korean flag on his Gi.
PRIDE was able to pop a 20% or higher if Yoshida worked a big match. All things considered, the rating is a good news item for HERO’s — which really needed it.
Just finished watching the show. It was a strong show, but it definitely needed a few more evenly matched fights. Some of the fights were just too short to be considered good fights. I was hoping Akiyama or Uno could win at least one of the tournaments. I like both fighters. Akiyama looked like he would be overwhelmed by Manhoef, but managed to catch him in an arm-bar. I enjoyed the show, but it did have its flaws.