K-1 Koshien 2008! Road To The Finals

Here are almost all tournament fights of the four finalists on their road to a spot on Dynamite!!

Ryuya Kusakabe (16), the kid with the little sister:

1/16 Final: vs. Ryuma Kobe
Quarterfinal: vs. Daizo Sasaki
His little sister (13) in J-GIRLS U15 title match

HIROYA (16), the genius:

1/16 Final: vs. Kengo Sonoda
Quarterfinal: vs. Taishi Hiratsuka

Shota Shimada (17), the kid who is trained by his father who carries around a baseball bat during training:

1/16 Final: vs. Hirohito Yamaguchi
Quarterfinal: vs. Ryo Murakoshi

Koya Urabe (18), something with big brother:

No videos of his fights.

Final Preparations! DYNAMITE!!

#16: Enjoy

Hopefully nothing bad happens before the event tomorrow. Enjoy the event whenever you’re watching. See y’all next year.

#15: Mark Hunt Vs. Melvin Manhoef!!

The perfect replacement. It was just announced that Mark Hunt and Melvin Manhoef will fight tomorrow in a DREAM Open-Weight division fight.

#14: Weigh-In Results

The weigh-in results are available at Japan-MMA.com.

#13: Hari Vs. Overeem II Will Be…?

Alistair said something about the second fight between him and Hari being MMA at the press conference. However, FEG president Tanigawa said that in the contract it doesn’t say that the second fight will be fought under MMA rules.

Minowaman Vs. Zimmerman! Fight Order Announced

Minowaman X Zimmerman. - DreamOfficial.com

Minowaman vs. K-1 WGP 2008 Semifinalist Errol Zimmerman was added today to the huge Dynamite!! card. It will be fought under MMA rules and is in the DREAM open-weight division.

If nothing else is stated, DREAM rules are R1 1×10, R2 1×5 with a 90 second interval. K-1 and K-1 Koshien rules are 3×3 with a 60 second interval.

1×3 min. ext. for example means that in case of a draw, an extra round that is 3 minutes long decides the fight.

0. K-1 Koshien 62kg Reserve Fight: Daizo Sasaki vs. Taishi Hiratsuka

—Opening Ceremony—

1. DREAM Open-Weight: Minowaman vs. Errol Zimmerman
2. K-1 Koshien 62kg Semifinal: Ryuya Kusakabe vs. Koya Urabe
3. K-1 Koshien 62kg Semifinal: HIROYA vs. Shota Shimada
4. K-1 Middleweight 71kg (1×3 min. ext.): Yoshihiro Sato vs. Artur Kyshenko
5. DREAM Lightweight 68kg: Daisuke Nakamura vs. Hideo Tokoro
6. DREAM Welterweight 75kg: Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Andy Ologun
7. K-1 Koshien 62kg Final (1×2 min. ext.): Kusakabe/Urabe vs. HIROYA/Shimada

—Intermission—

8. DREAM Heavyweight +93.1kg: Kinniku Mantaro vs. Bob Sapp
9. DREAM Heavyweight +93.1kg: Semmy Schilt vs. Mighty Mo
10. DREAM Welterweight 80kg: Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Katsuyori Shibata
11. K-1 Middleweight 70kg: Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Takeda Kozo
12. K-1 Open-Weight (1×3 min. ext.): Badr Hari vs. Alistair Overeem

—Intermission—

13. DREAM Heavyweight +93.1kg: Mirko CroCop vs. Choi Hong Man
14. K-1 Open-Weight: Musashi vs. Gegard Mousasi
15. DREAM Heavyweight +93.1kg (3×5 / 60s int.): Jerome Le Banner vs. Mark Hunt
16. DREAM Lightweight 70kg: Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez
17. DREAM Lightweight 70kg: Joachim Hansen vs. J.Z. Calvan
18. DREAM Middleweight 84kg: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura

Fighting Mask Unveiled! Sharp Takedowns

Kinniku Mantaro unveils fighting mask. - Sportsnavi.com

The fighting mask of Kinniku Mantaro was unveiled today in a public training session at the Laughter 7 gym. In the short 2 minute spar, Kinniku Mantaro showed some impressive takedowns and armbars. He left the ring after the sparring session without saying a word (he didn’t speak during the fight announcement press conference either).

Sharp takedowns by Kinniku Mantaro. - GBRing.com

Legendary Lowkick! Takeda Kozo

Takeda Kozo belonged to the rugby club in his school days and got into Kokushikan University through rugby recommendation. While attending the university, he saw a fight with Branko Cikatic in K-1 and immediately dropped out of the university to start Kickboxing.

He joined Jiseikan Gym and made his New Japan Kickboxing Federation debut on March 19th, 1995.

On January 21st in 2001, he became the fourth foreign fighter to become stadium champion as he defeated Charamdam to win the Rajadamnern Welterweight title. However, he lost the title on September 16th in that same year against a fourth ranked Thai.

SENGOKU NO RAN 2009! Public Workouts

There have been a lot of FEG news these last days, but SENGOKU hasn’t been forgotten as there have been many public training sessions in the last week.

First, it has been announced that on January 18th, SENGOKUG! will get an extra 30 minutes of airtime on TV Tokyo in a special SENGOKU NO RAN 2009 episode.

Kitaoka: This fight is not striker vs. grappler. - GBRing.com

Yoshihiro Nakao is very serious about his upcoming fight against Antonio Silva. Nakao was in a traffic accident on October 26th and had to stay in the hospital for 2 days. He is good now but he says that some damage still remains. He also says that while Fedor is called the worlds strongest, he thinks that Silva is stronger.

Nakao in good shape for Silva fight. - GBRing.com

It Just Keeps Growing And Growing! Hari Vs. Overeem Announced

An additional fight was announced for Dynamite!! today. The all but official fight between Badr Hari and Alistair Overeem was announced and it will be fought under K-1 Rules.

It is also worth noting that on December 30th, an open press conference will be held at Shinjuku Station Square in Tokyo. All participants will attend this press conference.

Interview! Mirko’s Sparring Partner Talks

Mirko preparing for Choi. - sportal.hr

Interview with Cro Cop’s New Sparing Partner and Dynamite Odds Released

Two time Olympic silver medalist Franjo Arapovic has been recruited by Mirko Cro Cop his number sparing partner in preparation for his showdown with Korean Hong Man Choi.

“I’m really getting old. And we’ve only done an hour of training and some stretching.” Said the former member of Parliament

The former Croatian bask tell star has served as the ideal sparing partner closely resembling Choi’s height and weight.

“I’ve been friends with Mirko and his team for a long time. I’ve told him should he ever need me that I’d always be available for him. So the time finally came, he gave me a phone call and told me that he needed a sparing partner of my dimensions. The first question he asked me was if I was scared. I said I wasn’t, so here we are sparring together” said Arapovic.

The Battle Between Two Celebrities Brothers! Sakaguchi Vs. Ologun

Two new fights were announced for Dynamite!! today. As rumored, Yukio Sakaguchi will take on Andy Ologun in an MMA rules fight which should be entertaining. This is a battle between Kenji Sakaguchi’s older brother and Bobby Ologun’s younger brother. In the second announced fight, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai will take on Katsuyori Shibata (who was actually the second guy I thought of when I read 10th dan in faints).

Update: Neither fight has a contracted weight set right now. However, the Sakurai vs. Shibata fight is said to be fought around 81 kg, which is almost exactly in between DREAM’s Welterweight and Middleweight divisions.

Overeem Confirms! First Fight Will Be K-1 Rules

The rumored Alistair Overeem vs. Badr Hari fight has been confirmed for NYE on Alistair’s website:

The discussion was who would fight under whos rules first and Alistair stepped up first! Alistair will fight Badr Hari at K1 Dynamite 31 december under K1 rules! Since Badr Hari challenged Alistair he sees no other option than cause another demolition and knock Badr Hari out! Both fighters agreed to fight in MMA rules early 2009!

Don’t be surprised if this fight plus Minowaman vs. Errol Zimmerman, Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Andy Ologun, and Hayato Sakurai vs. TBA (Melvin Manhoef? Someone who is a 10th dan in faints according to a Japanese blog) are announced tomorrow to complete the card.