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Updated K-1 12/31 Osaka Dome card line-up
By Zach Arnold | December 11, 2007
- Yosuke Nishijima (ex-boxer) vs. Melvin Manhoef
- Zulu vs. Minowaman
- Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Joachim Hansen
- K-1 rules: Masato vs. Choi Yong-Soo
- Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Masakatsu Funaki
- Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Rani Yahya
- One-night U-18 tournament featuring HIROYA vs. Tsukasa Fuji and Kenji Kubo vs. Yudai
Topics: HERO's, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 19 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Sak vs Funaki is a blockbuster match….. in 1999. Still, by far the most compelling match on an interesting card.
Man that card looks weak… Kid vs Yahya is good but the rest looks just weak.
Zulu vs. Minowaman?!! this guy has rocks; he always fights way out of his weight class. I hope he wins by dropkick.
Nishijima vs Manhoef and the Kid and Hansen fights also look good to me
Typical entertainment fight in Zulu vs. Minowa, kind of interesting. The rest of the card isn’t terrible, but Manhoef will kill Nishijima.
The thing that got my eyes raised was “U-18”. Only in Japan could you run a huge show with that.
So much for Joachim fighting at Yarennoka!
“The thing that got my eyes raised was “U-18?. Only in Japan could you run a huge show with that.”
I’m pretty sure I read an article somewhere that this is based pretty much around some 16 year old phenom that they want to showcase. Not sure which of the 4 it is, but sounded like they’re trying to build up a “Koki Kameda”-of-mma or something like that (hopefully without the piss-poor decisions and other circus like issues).
I believe Hiroya is the phenom.
This card sure looks a lot more compellig than their last couple of NYE-ones. I like it – even the freak fight is somewhat unpredictable.
It’ll be interesting to see if Mighty Mo will have recovered sufficiently from the beating to his legs this past weekend to still take the rumored fight with Kharitonov.
Apart from the U-18 tourney, of which I know nothing about the competitors, there doesn’t seem to be a competitive match on the card to me.
Miyata-Hansen is interesting enough but that’s hardly compelling. I’ll still watch it though because, y’know, it’s got Manhoef brutalising someone on it but I’m far from thrilled overall. It’s by far the weakest of the three main December-end cards.
Pretty underwhelming card. Yahya’s got abysmal stand-up and I doubt he can take Kid to the ground. All the other fights are “meh”.
ahh, they couldn’t have sent Urijah instead of Rani? Thats like my dream fight right there.
Zach,
I want to hear your thoughts on this card as far as drawing TV ratings in Japan.
It seems to have the elements of being built for ratings. David vs. Goliath, two Japanese legends facing off, Manhoef’s big knockout power, “Kid” Yamamoto appearance, and a small tournament featuring a future star of the Japanese MMA scene.
What do you think? Can it outdraw Yarennoka purely based on entertainment factor? I’m not convinced that on NYE, people tuning in will care about quality fights so much, but then again, I’m not expert on the Japanese NYE concept.
“ahh, they couldn’t have sent Urijah instead of Rani? Thats like my dream fight right there.”
I think they were pretty pissed about what happened the last time an “ace” went over to Japan to fight for another org on NYE. They’re probably pretty wary of putting the guy who they’re hoping will be their poster boy for the future on a foreign continent where there known to be a bit more “fast and loose” with things. I imagine they’d want to have some type of interest (tv, $ or otherwise) in a champion vs. champion fight.
“What do you think? Can it outdraw Yarennoka purely based on entertainment factor?”
Seeing as how k1 is on networktv and yarennoka on skyperfect ppv that won’t happen.
I just bought my ticket for K-1 on NYE, so I’ll be trudging down to Osaka to sit in the Sakuraba section (there are separate Masa Funaki and Saku seating sections – for 18,000 yen per ticket. Should be interesting.)
A litter underwhelming.
Little I mean. Haha