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Dynamite 12/31 Saitama Super Arena
By Zach Arnold | December 24, 2009
DREAM vs. Sengoku
- Kazuo Misaki vs. Melvin Manhoef
- Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto vs. Masanori Kanehara
- Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Akihiro Gono
- Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroshi Izumi
- Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Michihiro Omigawa
- Hideo Tokoro vs. Marlon Sandro
- Alistair Overeem vs. Kazuyuki Fujita
- Shin’ya Aoki vs. Mizuto Hirota
- Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazunori Yokota
K-1 matches
- Ray Sefo vs. Yosuke Nishijima
- Final match: Masato vs. Andy Souwer
MMA matches
- Hidehiko Yoshida vs. Satoshi Ishii
- Super Hulk Tournament finals: Minowaman vs. Sokoudjou
Topics: DREAM, Japan, K-1, Media, MMA, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Is there any word on if Dan Hornbuckle or Marius Zaromskis will appear on this show? I’d really love to see those two guys face, both have been insanely impressive this past year.
Good news on Gono/Sakurai, that’s a fight I immediately thought about when the DREAM vs. Sengoku talk began.
1. I guess this is a step up for Overeem in terms of mma opponents.(?)
2. We’ll see just how done Ray Sefo is against a guy like Nishijima. Sefo has looked positively terrible for the last while and Nishijima is an over the hill cruiserweight boxer with 0 wins in mma or K-1.
3. Super Hulk has turned into a total meh…not that it was anything to write home about to begin with.
Disagree on Sefo, he appeared to be washed up, but that is because he was fat and out of shape. Now he’s in great shape, and I expect a war with Nishijima. Did you not see his fight with HMC last year? He looked to be in old form again.
Tanigawa says 5 or 6 more fights to be announced. Possible fighters he said were, Sakuraba, Aoki, Kawajiri, Tamura, Manhoef, and Mousasi.
Yokota, Hirota, and Misaki are on the SRC website as potential opponents.
The Overeem hype is a great example of people not being able to think for themselves and just following what other people are trying to push. Overeem’s MMA resume continues to become more and more of a joke with every can he fights. Fujita hasn’t been relevent in MMA for years.
For a “co-prommotion” card, there are no real fights that make me jump for joy. Overall, there are some very solid fights that should make for some fun watching, but for a 12/31 Japanese card that is combining two companies talent, it is extremely underwhelming.
Overeem didn’t pick the fight, they offered Fujita Overeem or JLB and he chose Overeem.
Hornbuckle signed with Bellator, so no dice.
The good thing about Overeem is that he’s a litmus test. You can immediately discount anyone or any list that puts him in in the Top 10 Heavyweights.
Consider Overeem’s schedule and who is available for this show. Who’s he supposed to fight?
@45/Mr. R – I guess my tongue in cheek sarcasm didn’t carry too well across the screen (understandable enough).
While Fujita is “a step up” in a relative sense (Thompson, Sylvester, Goodridge), it’s still a stupid borderline can-fight for a supposed top-10 fighter against a pretty past his prime fighter. Problem with Fujita is that his #1 weapon was his ability to absorb a beating…after getting steamrolled by Wanderlei in ’06 his “iron-head” has declined significantly.
Mind you, I have a scintilla of understanding that this is pretty close on the heels of a tko loss in his K-1 fight with Hari and doesn’t want to take a dangerous fight but wants a paycheck. But the excuse that “Fujita was given the choice of x and y” is pretty hollow, because Overeem could say no, couldn’t he?
There’s no depth left in the Heavyweight division. With Couture at 205 and Barnett suspended, it’s no surprise that Overeem makes Top 7 or 8 on lists.
1. Fedor Emelianenko
2. Brock Lesnar
3. Frank Mir
4. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
5. Shane Carwin
6. Junior Dos Santos
7. Cain Velasquez
8. Brett Rogers
9. Alistair Overeem
10. Andrei Arlovski/Fabricio Werdum (tie).
How’d I do?
I’m with Roadblock.
Now that Barnett has been discarded from the majority of Top 10 lists, Overeem has taken his place as “most pathetically over-ranked fighter in MMA”.
Gaijin,
You did a great job of regurgitating Zuffa propaganda. Fedor at No. 1, all the UFC HWs that could be plausibly rated, and then some other obvious candidates.
I don’t think anyone is saying that Overeem has to be rated highly from a rankings perspective, but in terms of fighting ability, he’s a pretty clear top-5 guy, maybe as high as No. 2 or even No. 1.
Gaijin certainly isn’t a UFC shill. He just doesn’t want him ranked that high, lots of people don’t like his rankings regardless of their Zuffa fandom or lack their of. Overeem just is not popular and it is a bi-partisan issue. But really, did you want Sylvia instead? No major HWs want to go to Japan right now. Why is that a surprise?
“Who’s he supposed to fight?”
Fedor.
🙂
Barnett is not suspended, he never had a license in the first place, that is what he was applying for, and got denied. But he is not suspended.
If he’s not a shill, it’s a pretty amazing coincidence that every credible UFC-promoted HW is better than every other HW other than Fedor. I mean, come on, Velasquez and Carwin have combined to beat 0 top-10 opponents.
LOL Isaiah, I’ve been called a lot of things in my time, but Zuffa shill is not one of them.
Honestly, how do you rate him any higher? (Recent) MMA performance? (Pretty underwhelming) K-1 performance? (Best argument but lots of potholes there) Predictions of future performance? (Next best argument – see previous)
You can’t rank solely based on how much you like someone, how well you *think* they might do or how *skilled* you *think* they are. Overeem’s last notable mma win was over Paul Buentello, someone that got handled by Stefan Struve – not exactly someone who’s one of the top HW’s in the UFC.
I could try to make projections about what Overeem could do and where he’d fit in, but full disclosure – I basically have done that to put him where he is right now. EVERYBODY on that list above him has faced and BEATEN top 10 guys and done so in recent memory. The last guy on that list Overeem faced was Werdum and he got subbed.
Again, this is just MY opinion and you’re entitled to yours and you can rank him #1 if you like but I’m not sure too many people are going to agree with you.
Well – I should step back from one comment…Carwin and Velasquez have probably not fought top 10 opponents.
Gonzaga was probably borderline top 10 or a bit lower when he fought Carwin. Velasquez has had an impressive run, especially for a guy with as little experience as he, taking out Rothwell and Kongo – showing some impressive skill, heart and mettle. Both of these guys are looking to fight some very top-end guys in the near future…something I should point out, Overeem is not.
Fedor is out injured with his hand still, and he’d more than likely want to hold the fight in Strikeforce anyway for the SF belt.
His K-1 fights should not affect his MMA ranking. I firmly believe in this, but I also believe he is a legitimate top 10 fighter, but realize there are some holes to it. The problem right now is any heavyweight worth anything is in the UFC, and then there is Fedor, Arlovski, Sylvia, Barnett who aren’t.. Andrei is a head case, Sylvia killed his career looking for money fights, Barnett is afraid to get licensed in the US.
I honestly think Fujita is one of the best they have to offer Overeem right now, and that is kind of sad, but it is also true. Strikeforce announced a CBS show for the spring and I expect Fedor/Overeem to happen then so then everybody can shut up.
If you go purely by wins over ranked opponents, here’s how it looks.
1. F. Emilianenko
2. Lesnar
3. Mir
4. Nogueira
5. Couture
6. Sylvia
7. Rogers
8. Dos Santos
9. Arlovski
10. Werdum
11. Carwin
12. Gonzaga
13. Velasquez
14. Herring
15. Kongo
16. CroCop
17. Barnett
18. A. Emilianenko
19. Rizzo
20. Monson
21. Kharitanov
22. Overeem
It’s not so much about Overeem. I can understand not ranking him very highly even though he is obviously one of the best fighters in the division. It’s just the pattern of “Fedor first, then all the relevant UFC HWs, and then everyone else” in the rankings that makes me suspect a shill.
Klown your list is very good. I think Sylvia is too high on it though.
Overeems best work is at 205lbs. He has fought nobody at HW. His K-1 fights have no bearing on MMA. If they did you’d have to put Schilt and Hari up there. Sounds stupid, doesn’t it?
Imagining how guys would do in fantasy fights is not supposed to factor in ratings. But I’m pretty sure that’s the only way people rank Overeem as high as they do. If you want to play fantasyland I don’t think Overeem would have much different results from Kongo if givn the same schedule. They even have one common opponent Cro Cop and those fights went similarly. Except for Cop getting himslef DQd against Overeem.
The reason UFC guys dominate the rankings now is that they’re constantly fighting and fighting solid competition. For guys not in UFC they’re fighting here and there and he quality of opponents varies greatly. This is why PRIDEs top guys were ranked so high back in the day. I think it is fair now to ask if Fedor, Nog and Cop helped make each other overvalued but they did it by fighting often.
“It’s not so much about Overeem. I can understand not ranking him very highly even though he is obviously one of the best fighters in the division. It’s just the pattern of “Fedor first, then all the relevant UFC HWs, and then everyone else” in the rankings that makes me suspect a shill.”
Where’s your top ten?
Sylvia claim to a spot in the rankings is going 2-1 against Arlovski.
As for his losses, they are against the very best athletes in the division: Fedor (#1), Mir (#3), Nogueira (#4) and Couture (#5). Are you kidding me? Those are 4 of the most fearsome fighters in MMA. Sylvia deserves an award just for stepping in the cage with those guys…
The elephant in the room is Sylvia’s loss to Mercer. I think there’s too much weirdness surrounding that fight for me to count it as a legit MMA contest. There’s no doubt it exposed Sylvia’s chin. Until he starts being leapfrogged by other fighters, I’m keeping him where is.
The leapfrogging could commence soon. If Carwin beats Mir, Velasquez beats Nogueira, and Yvel beats JDS, Sylvia drops 3 spots right there.
I have no idea what it means to say “if you go by wins over ranked opponents” and then have a guy with exactly one win over a top-10 opponent ranked second.
I’d say:
1. Fedor
2. Nog
3. Barnett
4. Brock
5. JDS
6. Rogers
7. Werdum
8. Arlovski
9. Mir
10.Velasquez
Since coming to the UFC, Nog has beaten Herring, Sylvia, and Couture and lost to Mir. Brock has beaten Herring, Couture, and Mir, and lost to Mir. Nog was ranked much higher before those respective runs began. I don’t see the argument for ranking Brock over Nog, though I’d probably pick him to win at this point.
I gotta admit so far Dynamite is doing nothing for me personally.
I just hope these much talked about other fights can “save” the show. Then again with such short notice, it’s difficult to take these fights seriously.
I can’t see how Barnett can be on anyone’s lists at the moment. Someone earlier said that he was “afraid” to get licenced in the US. That’s not quite accurate – he was REFUSED a licence in California because he tested positive for steroids. Again. If he can’t be licenced somewhere, I don’t think he should be eligible to be on any lists.
Does Satoshi Ishii have to win? Sakuraba will get added to the card wont he?
Lets hope Shibata wins!!
Saku is claiming he hasn’t felt up to training, that is why Misaki vs. Manhoef is happening.