Things changed earlier this year when K-1 announced their newfound relationship with former UWF star, and RINGS founder Akira Maeda, a new MMA promotion entitled Hero’s as part of their new strategy to dominate stand-up fighting, MMA and pro wrestling.  The ill-conceived W-1 promotion that forms the last part of this master plan was delayed twice in April, yet again on June 26th and is now supposed to appear in August.  The first Hero’s drew a poor live crowd and disappointing ratings for an unfocused but fairly entertaining show, undoubtedly highlighted by a stunning Caol Uno-Joachim Hansen fight.  Given the success DSE have been having with their Grand Prix (Middleweight in 2003 and 2005 and the heavies in 2004) tournaments recently, their own reliance on tournaments for K-1 and MAX events, and their relationship with Maeda its unsurprising K-1 have gone for this format as the basis if their second Hero’s event.  Maeda’s sadly departed RINGS promotion used to run major year-end tournaments and now he has the chance to revive the format with K-1’s cash, with 16, well, no, then it was 14, and now it’s 10 lighter weight fighters in the 150ish to 160ish pound range competing.  The awkward situation kicked off with Genki Sudo pulling out through injury.  That reduced the first round to 7 fights with Sudo to be slotted into the second round as the 8th participant.  Then Caol Uno pulled out and was given the same deal.  Since both are clearly so valuable to the promotion this was understandable, if a little unfair.  Norifumi ‘KID’ Yamamoto though, is a bigger name and a bigger TV ratings puller than either of them so, its even more unsurprising K-1 have cut him a similar deal and shifted his intriguing match with underrated Australian Ian Schaffa to the non-tournament ‘Superfight’ portion of the show.  That leaves 5 tournament fights, all contested over 2 rounds, to go along with 7 non-tournament matches that feature some of the biggest names K-1 could throw out there.  Let’s face it, as odd as some of these fights are, a show with Yamamoto, Sapp, Aerts, Sefo, Akiyama and a couple of Gracies should pull in a pretty healthy TV rating.  And it might spring one or two surprises as well.

Line-up:

Tournament First Round (all fights 2 x 5 minute rounds):

Kazayuki Miyata vs. Arslan Magomedov
Royler Gracie vs. Koji Yoshida
Hideo Tokoro vs. Alexandre ‘Pequeno’ Franca Noguiera
Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Jani Lax
Remigijus Morkevicius vs. Takehiro Murahama

Superfights (all fights 3 x 5 minute rounds):

Norifumi ‘KID’ Yamamoto vs. Ian Schaffa
Bob Sapp vs. Alan Karaev
Peter Aerts vs. Wakashoyo
Ray Sefo vs. Min Soo Kim
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Carl Toomey
Akira Kikuchi vs. Katsuya Inoue
Rodrigo Gracie vs. Kiuma Kunioku

Tournament:

Kazuyki Miyata vs. Arslan Magomedov

Finally, K-1 is giving Miyata a real chance to win a fight.  With an MMA record of 0-2 and an ill-advised, last minute foray into the K-1 MAX World Japan tournament in February of this year predictably ending in a painful defeat the former Olympic wrestler finally has a good chance of pulling off a win.  Rather than give the Olympian an easy couple of fights to start him off, K-1, as they so often do, simply threw him into the deep end to see if he could swim.  Well, Miyata eventually sunk, but he went down fighting.  Showing some surprisingly good striking skills in his debut against Royler Gracie, he was also able to take him down, scored with some takedowns and escaped some tricky positions with eye-catching slams before eventually being trapped with a triangle choke. 

Four months later, in March of this year, Miyata faced the little known, but crucially, much more experienced and well-rounded Ian Schaffa at the first ‘Hero’s’ event, dropping a split decision.  Schaffa survived numerous takedowns and some of Miyata’s heavy ground n’ pound style, landed some shots of his own and came close with a Kimura to earn a close, unpopular win.  Just a few weeks earlier, in MAX, Miyata was taken apart by Takeda Kozo’s vicious leg kicks, eventually being stopped in the third round of a spirited, but very one-sided fight. 

Miyata is undoubtedly an excellent wrestler, strong, skilled and aggressive and his striking can only improve from here so for those who had him earmarked as the next Japanese superstar, its good that he is facing Arslan Magomedov here.  A skilled, fringe contender in MAX the Russian owns a decision win over John Wayne Parr, a fight he was expected to lose but where he looked very good, particularly with his punches.  Magomedov does have some MMA experience, winning his one and only fight back in 2000.  However, none of that will likely be enough for him to win this one.  Look for Miyata to rush Magomedov early, taking a few strikes on the way but then take the kickboxer down heavily and batter him on the mat for his first professional victory.

PREDICTION: Miyata by first round TKO.

Koji Yoshida vs. Royler Gracie

K-1 hasn’t exactly done 30-year-old boxer Koji Yoshida (10-4-2 in the ‘noble art’) any favours as he makes his MMA debut.  The 140-pound southpaw faces 40-year-old BJJ legend Royler Gracie (4-2-1).  While Gracie has competed infrequently in MMA, he’s still been in there with some legends and has been practicing his family’s martial art, under the tutelage of Helio and Rickson Gracie since before Yoshida was born.  His most notable MMA fights include choking out submissions legend Noboru Asahi (back in 1996), armbarring hopeless former pro wrestler Yuhi Sano (1998), being dominated, toyed with and nearly having his arm pulled off by the incomparable Kazushi Sakuraba (1999) and going to a draw with the always-underrated Takehiro Murahama (2001).  Yoshida’s biggest fight was a 3rd round KO battering from world ranked Japanese Light Welterweight champion Norio Kimura in August 2004.  For much of his boxing career, Yoshida was an unexceptional fighter who was KO’ed or TKO’ed three times. 

Yoshida is apparently an accomplished Aikido competitor so there’s a chance he’ll actually last longer than most would expect but I still doubt he’ll be fully prepared for this.  And it’s not as if he’s a real puncher either.  Just 3 of his boxing wins came inside the distance and while Gracie’s KO loss to Genki Sudo in May 2004 proves he can be KO’ed, that was from strikes on the ground, something Yoshida won’t be used to. 

Gracie, who in his last fight caught Kazuyuki Miyata with a triangle choke for the 2nd round submission in a mini-classic at Rumble on the Rock 6, will simply have far too much experience for Yoshida.  Gracie may struggle with Yoshida’s stand-up skills early if the debutant can avoid being taken down but sooner or later this one is going to the mat and Gracie will get the submission win.

PREDICTION: Gracie by submission late in the first.

Hideo Tokoro vs. Alexandre ‘Pequeno’ Franca Noguiera

Does a ‘real’ fight (as opposed to the bizarre freakshow matches K-1 sometimes favour) get much more predictable than this?  Noguiera (12-2-2) is widely regarded as one of the very best fighters in the business.  Tokoro (10-8) is, well, he isn’t.  Tokoro is certainly a good, experienced fighter, but the ZST regular just isn’t in the same class as ‘Pequeno’.  Tokoro does hold wins over barking mad ‘Oriental Mystery’ Takumi Yano and ultra-dangerous Lithuanian striker Remigijus Morkevicius but generally he struggles against decent opposition, with KO or TKO losses to Morkevicius, J-Taro Takita, Tomomi ‘TAISHO’ Iwama and a pair of losses (one by decision, one via heelhook) to ZST golden boy and new Pride signing Naoyuki Kotani.  Tokoro and Noguiera also have a common opponent in Masahiro Oishi.  Tokoro dropped a split decision while Noguiera won by first round submission. 

Given all that, and the obvious gap in ability, ‘Pequeno’ should be the overwhelming favourite in this one.  Shooto standout Noguiera (no relation to Pride’s superstar twins) has lost just twice, a shocking KO defeat to Hiroyuki Abe where his stand-up skills were exposed as less than stellar, and a close decision loss to Tetsuo Katsuta.  Noguiera avenged each loss within 4 months by submission.  Speaking of submissions, Noguiera is one of the few MMA fighters who compete at a high level to actually have a genuine finishing move, a simple guillotine choke.  ‘Pequeno’ has finished off Noburo Asahi (twice), Uchu Tatsumi, Stephen Palling, Tetsuo Katsuta, the near-legendary Rumina Sato and Hideki Kadowaki with his simple finisher.  Most recently, Noguiera made the sixth defence of his Shooto Lightweight title, scoring a clear, unanimous decision over Joao Roque. 

Noguiera has worked hard on his striking since the Abe shocker, training with Anderson Silva in preparation for the Roque fight and will just be far too good for Tokoro. 

PREDICTION: Noguiera by guillotine choke (what else?) late in the first round.

Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Jani Lax

Shooto regular Hiroyuki Takaya (4-1-1) makes his first appearance outside the promotion as he takes on Team Scandinavia’s highly dangerous Jani Lax (7-4).  Takaya is one of Shooto’s brightest young stars and was moved along unusually quickly in the usually conservative company, facing Nova Uniao’s Joao Roque in only his fourth fight, earning a very creditable draw with the Brazilian veteran who challenged Alexandre ‘Pequeno’ Franca Noguiera for Shooto’s Lightweight belt in his next match.  Takaya, a very good striker by the way, followed that up with a first round win over the highly regarded Stephen Palling and most recently, went the distance before losing a decision to unbeaten Cesar Gracie student Gilbert Melendez in December 2004.  Clearly, Shooto are more than pleased with his progress but he faces a very difficult task against the bigger man from Sweden. 

Lax, the regular training partner of Joachim Hansen is, like Takaya, coming off a loss at Shooto’s 2004 year-end event.  In that one Lax was outworked, outwrestled and pounded on by the impressive Tatsuya Kawajiri late in the first round.  A well-rounded fighter who actually holds a win over Hansen (in each man’s second pro fight), Lax was an accomplished amateur boxer in Sweden yet 5 of his 7 wins have been via submission and he competed at this year’s ADCC, losing on points in the first round. 

This could well be the best fight of the tournament and by far, the hardest to predict.  Lax though probably has the edge in striking (he dropped Akira Kikuchi heavily in the opening seconds before going on to lose by submission) and that, along with his weight advantage, should see him win a close one.

PREDICTION: Lax by decision.

Remigijus Morkevicius vs. Takehiro Murahama

It’s unlikely this one will be anything like as competitive as Takaya and Lax but while it lasts, it will almost certainly be exciting.  Wild Lithuanian striker Morkevicius (13-3) lacks some of the polished all-round skills to make him a truly high-level fighter, but he more than makes up for it in sheer excitement.  With a record littered with KO wins in 105 seconds, 41 seconds, 20 seconds, 108 seconds, a stunning 5 seconds and 48 seconds, its fair to say the ZST and RINGS/Shooto (Lithuanian versions) regular is, well, explosive.  He’s never won by decision and all 3 of his losses came by first round submission to quality fighters like Marcus Aurelio, Hideo Tokoro and Naoyuki Kotani. 

His opponent Murahama (3-3-1 in MMA) is a part-time fighter, part-time pro wrestler who clearly understands the value of getting out there and putting on a show, win or lose.  By the way, Murahama is a damn good pro wrestler if you’re interested.  It’s unlikely the diminutive Japanese tough guy will actually beat Morkevicius but he’ll certainly push him all the way and, as he’s shown in his MAX performances, where he usually loses valiantly after a brutal struggle, he’s not easy to finish off.  Murahama has consistently fought well against bigger, stronger, more highly skilled opponents and although he hasn’t fought under MMA rules in almost 3 years, has been in there with some very good fighters.  He’s drawn with Royler Gracie, lost to Joao Roque and lost a close decision to Jens Pulver.  And oddly enough, tapped out former WBC Bantamweight World Champion Victor Rabanales in 40 seconds in December 2001. 

But Morkevicius is no Rabanales; he does work on his submission game and even has a couple of wins by tapout.  He’s also bigger than Murahama, has been more active in MMA and of course, has some deadly hands and knees.  Look for Morkevicius to score another KO win in his first outing on the truly big stage.

PREDICTION: Morkevicius by KO early in the second round.

Superfights:

Norifumi ‘KID’ Yamamoto vs. Ian Schaffa

Controversial Purebred Omiya superstar and TV ratings magnet Norifumi ‘KID’ Yamamoto (9-1 in MMA/mixed rules and 2-2 in MAX) faces Australian Ian Schaffa (7-2-1 in MMA) in one of the most intriguing fights of the night.  At the first Hero’s show, Schaffa squeaked past Kazayuki Miyata in a fight where he was repeatedly taken down, but managed to defend well enough to avoid any real damage,  scored with enough strikes, and came close with enough submission attempts to sneak the win.  Schaffa, who lost his MMA debut back in May 1998 to Caol Uno and has competed infrequently since, remains something of a mystery.  He’s fought 3 times for Shooto in Japan, had a K-1 style ‘Mixed Rules’ fight where he picked up a draw despite dominating his opponent throughout the match and a few MMA fights on the small, but growing, Australian scene. 

‘KID’ couldn’t be more different.  Currently one of the most hyped fighters on the planet, Enson Inoue’s protégé has some good, high profile wins on his record.  He’s KO’ed Hideki Kadowaki and Caleb Mitchell, earned a clear decision win over the slippery Jeff Curran and looked impressive battering overmatched opposition since moving to K-1 and competing under both MMA and mixed rules on MAX shows.  Yamamoto notably pasted Mongolian fighter Jadamba Narantungalag, even scoring a stunning one punch KO of a fighter known for taking serious shots and shrugging them off.  Best of all, he seems to have stayed out of the kind of trouble he seemed to enjoy getting himself in as a Shooto fighter.  No groin kicks (Josh Thomson), no real pounding away at unconscious opponents (Tetsuo Katsuta), just excitement and entertainment.  His MAX rules fight with superstar Masato, which he lost by a majority decision, was undoubtedly the highlight of K-1’s NYE show and demonstrated just how far ‘KID’ has come from the raw aggression machine who was KO’ed in 30 seconds by Stephen Palling.  And Yamamoto’s utter destruction of Takehiro Murahama was among the most impressive MAX debuts ever. 

‘KID’ was recently KO’ed by the far more experienced Mike Zambidis under MAX rules though, and if he takes Schaffa too lightly, he could drop his second fight in two months.  It would be a real shocker if that happened though as ‘KID’ has all the tools, from his strong wrestling base and ever improving strikes, particularly his knees and kicks, to win this one in typical crowd pleasing style.

PREDICTION: Yamamoto by TKO early in the second round.

Bop Sapp vs. Alan Karaev

Get ready for some good old-fashioned slugging, mauling, brawling and the sight of two great, big, oversized human beings whaling away on each other in this one.  Sapp (6-2-1) and Russian sumo/arm wrestler/strongman Karaev (0-1) aren’t exactly the most technical fighters out there.  Karaev looked a little, to be polite, raw in his MMA debut against Gary Goodridge, blundering away and seemingly making up a strategy and offensive attempts as he went along before tapping out to a crude and easily avoided forearm choke.  It’s unlikely he’ll worry Sapp, who for all his faults (and they are legion) is big, strong, more experienced, more skilled (yes really) and if his recent K-1 tournament win is anything to go by, at least now has the stamina to go past 2 minutes without gasping and wheezing like an asthmatic farm animal. 

Expect Sapp to eventually put Karaev down and pull off the victory after some typically hilarious fumbling.  You never know, ‘the Beast’ may even claim the second armbar win of his career!

PREDICTION: Sapp by submission late in the first round.

Peter Aerts vs. Wakashoyo

K-1 legend Aerts finally, finally, finally makes his much talked about, much rumoured MMA debut and something would have to go disastrously wrong for him not to beat aged Sumo mid-carder Wakashoyo.  Aerts is a 3-time K-1 World Grand Prix winner, holder of numerous kickboxing/Muay Thai titles and despite age and, most notably, injuries taking their toll on him, holds recent wins in K-1 over Carter Williams and Michael McDonald.  Some see Aerts as being on the slide but other than one, all of his losses since 2001 have been injury related rather than a result of his opponent’s efforts so if anything’ it’s his tendency to suffer freakish fight injuries that his hurt his career recently. 

Wakashoyo on the other hand appears to have been originally drafted into K-1 just to give Choi Hong-man a victory in his first fight in May.  And the former Sumo wrestler, looking clueless with the gloves on, duly obliged.  Now he’s set to do the same for Aerts.  You could argue that at least Sumo is a grappling sport so Wakashoyo has the edge there, but Aerts has been learning the ground game for years and Sumo wrestlers have traditionally fared badly in MMA. 

Realistically, there can only be one winner.  And perhaps Aerts will even give his fans one of his classic high kick KO’s to mark a quick and brutal MMA debut.

PREDICTION: Aerts by KO early in the first round.

Ray Sefo vs. Min Soo Kim

New Zealander Sefo, making a surprising MMA debut with little build-up faces accomplished Korean Judoka Min Soo Kim (1-1) in a fight that looks a truly extreme clash of styles.  While Sefo is possibly the best puncher in K-1 and arguably the best fighter never to have won the Grand Prix, Kim showed no stand-up skills whatsoever in his 72-second fight with Bob Sapp at the first Hero’s show.  Kim mauled, clinched, and looked to be taking early control of the fight before walking straight into a big, uncultured punch that dropped him for the KO loss.  Kim did go considerably longer than that in his MMA debut in November 2004, going into the third round with the anonymous Jin Woo Yang before scoring a KO, so he at least appears to have some stamina. 

Scarily for Kim though, Sefo won’t be throwing wild punches with his eyes closed as Sapp does on occasion.  Instead, he’ll be throwing hard, fast and accurate shots, the kind he used to memorably lay waste to Sapp last summer.  Indeed, if Sefo’s last couple of fights in K-1 are any indication of what could happen here, Kim may be lucky to last the first minute.  Sefo whacked out Russian kickboxer Ruslan Karaev and MMA/K-1 veteran Gary Goodridge in a combined time of just over a minute.  And with some ground training behind him, Sefo won’t be entirely clueless on the mat. 

Kim may give him a scare or two if he can rush in and score some takedowns but as soon as Sefo connects with a punch, and he very likely will, then he’ll simply start blitzing Kim for what could be a brutally exciting knockout.

PREDICTION: Sefo by KO late in the first round.

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Carl Toomey

Clashes of styles seems to be the order of the day as Akiyama (1-1) and a former World Champion in Judo, faces little known Australian Thai boxer Carl Toomey (2-0).  This is Akiyama’s third fight against a striker, after impressively armbarring Frans Botha (who appeared to have no idea what to do in MMA) on New Year’s Eve, and being laid flat out by Jerome LeBanner’s knees at the first Hero’s show.  Akiyama looked good against Botha but the ridiculous weight difference, his opponent’s aggressive, well-rounded striking and his own inexperience were just too much for the stylish grappler. 

Toomey, while little known internationally is a dangerous striker, who can brawl and has a couple of quick wins in Australian MMA shows.  But Toomey has never faced anyone with the grappling skills of Akiyama.  And remember, Akiyama will be facing someone of roughly his own weight for the first time and has now had a few months more training to work on his striking and on developing a gameplan other than a simple ‘rush, clinch, takedown, go for submission, pray you don’t get punched’ approach. 

Expect Akiyama to score a submission win sometime in the second round.

PREDICTION: Akiyama by submission late in the second round.

Akira Kikuchi vs. Katsuya Inoue

If some of the other ‘Superfights’ look a little less than ‘super’ to some fans because of the way they’ve clearly been put together for TV ratings, well, this one should at least please them.  Former K’z Factory fighter, now a teammate of ‘KID’ Yamamoto and the current Shooto Middleweight champion, Akira Kikuchi (11-1) is a quality fighter.  His only loss, by decision to the talented Jake Shields, came in August 2003 and in December of last year, Kikuchi avenged it, picking up a decision win of his own.  Kikucha has finished off 6 of his opponents by submission, including a Kimura that forced Jani Lax to tap out back in 2002.  He’s also decisioned tricky veteran Jutaro Nakao and armbarred the little known but very dangerous (anyone who can KO Duane Ludwig and tap out Aaron Riley is dangerous) Sam Morgan.  This looks like a tough fight for his opponent. 

Katsuya Inoue, a former GCM fighter and now Welterweight King of Pancrase (10-2) is riding a 7-fight winning streak that includes conclusive TKO wins over former Olympian and Team Quest fighter Heath Sims and Kenji Arai.  However, his only other stoppage win came against the entertaining but fairly mediocre, Hiakaru Sato.  Essentially, Inoue is one of those well-rounded but not terribly exciting Pancrase decision artists, with 8 of his wins coming by decision.  And aside from an inauspicious debut where he was DQ’ed after just 69 seconds, his only loss was, you guessed it, by decision, to Eiji Ishikawa. 

Despite the difference in the way Shooto and Pancrase label their weight classes, these two are around the same weight and this is probably the closest we’re likely to come to a Shooto vs. Pancrase title unification fight.  And given Kikuchi’s higher quality training partners, the fact he’s more skilled on the mat and has faced better quality opposition, Shooto’s man should come out on top in this one.  Inoue will be tough though and may well last until the final bell.

PREDICTION: Kikuchi by decision.

Rodrigo Gracie vs. Kiuma Kunioku

The ‘other’ Gracie on this card, Rodrigo (5-1) is faced with a tough fighter against former Pancrase star Kunioku (30-18-7).  One of the few fighters to actually beat Takada Dojo survivor Daijiro Matsui inside the distance, Rodrigo has looked a little less dynamic in recent fights.  True he won 3 in a row, but all were by decision, against Pancrase regular Yuki Sasaki (one of the few people in Pancrase Kunioku has not fought), the highly talented but dreary and one-dimensional Daiju Takase (who Kunioku has also beaten by decision) and Hayato Sakurai (riddled with injuries and no longer the electrifying fighter he once was).  All are excellent names to have on your record though and Gracie looked to be building up for something big.  Unfortunately his big fight came against BJ Penn in Hawaii last November, and the baby-faced Hawaiian made Gracie look like a beginner, winning the clearest of decisions.  Well-rounded with particularly strong mat skills, Gracie is certainly a good fighter, if a little unexciting.
 
Former Welterweight and Middleweight King of Pancrase Kunioku has been a professional fighter since January 1996.  Yet this will be his first fight outside the confines of the organisation he trained with and fought for, straight out of high school.  One of the few remaining fighters from the open-handed strikes, no weight class era of Pancrase, Kunioku has shared a ring with Pete Williams, Guy Mezger, Bas Rutten and Evan Tanner.  And he’s beaten legends like Frank Shamrock, Masakatsu Funaki and Yuki Kondo.  Not to mention victories over Genki Sudo and Nathan Marquardt.  However, Kunioku lost 3 of his last 4 fights with Pancrase (dropping a decision to Crosley Gracie, losing on a cut to Kazuo Misaki and, in his last fight, losing a surprising decision to Izuru Takeuchi) and has not fought in around 15 months. 

It’s possible his recent inactivity and removal from his former training partners could be a problem for Kunioku in this fight.  But on the other hand, perhaps Kunioku, who’s still a young fighter, has benefited from his break away from the punishing and never-ending Pancrase cycle of train-fight-train-fight.  Look at the numbers.  In 1996 he fought 11 times, in 1997 it was 9, the following year it was 8, in 1999 (when Pancrase went to full MMA rules) it was 6, in 2000 it was 5, in 2001 it was just 4, followed by 5 in 2002, 4 more in 2003 and just 2 in 2004.  If anyone deserves a bit of a rest it’s Kunioku.  So, even though Gracie is a formidable fighter, with the ability to shut his opponents down and eke out a decision win, I’m going for a refreshed Kunioku to pull off the upset and prove his big gamble was worth the risk.

PREDICTION: Kunioku by a very close decision.

Predictions Re-cap:

Kazayuki Miyata TKO1 Arslan Magomedov
Royler Gracie SUB1 Koji Yoshida
Alexandre ‘Pequeno’ Franca Noguiera SUB1 Hideo Tokoro
Jani Lax DEC2 Hiroyuki Takaya
Remigijus Morkevicius KO2 Takehiro Murahama
Norifumi ‘KID’ Yamamoto TKO2 Ian Schaffa
Bob Sapp SUB1 Alan Karaev
Peter Aerts KO1 Wakashoyo
Ray Sefo KO1 Min Soo Kim
Yoshihiro Akiyama SUB2 Carl Toomey
Akira Kikuchi DEC3 Katsuya Inoue
Kiuma Kunioku DEC3 Rodrigo Gracie