I just felt like posting this poster. Damn cool. * Satoshi Ishii vs. Hidehiko Yoshida * Gary Goodridge vs. Gegard Mousasi * Melvin Manhoef vs. Kazuo Misaki * Shinya Aoki vs. Mizuto Hirota * Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazunori Yokota * Masanori Kanehara vs. Norofumi "Kid" Yamamoto * Akihiro Gono vs. Hayato "Mach" Sakurai * Hiroshi Izumi vs. Katsuyori Shibata * Marlon Sandro vs. Hideo Tokoro * Michihiro Omigawa vs. Hiroyuki Takaya * Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Alistair Overeem * Yosuke Nishijima vs. Ray Sefo (K-1 rules) * Masato vs. Andy Souwer (K-1 rules; Masato's retirement match) * Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (Super Hulk Tournament Final) * Hiroya vs. Japan Masaaki Noiri (K-1 rules; U-18 Semi-Final) * Katsuki Ishida vs. Shota Shimada (K-1 rules; U-18 Semi-Final) * Hiroya/Noiri winner vs. Ishida/Shimada winner (K-1 rules; U-18 Final) * Tsukasa Fuji vs. Ryuya Kusakabe (K-1 rules; U-18 Semi-Final Reserve) -- So yeah, want to expand the range of what we talk about here. The New Year's Eve shows aren't quite the massive deal they have been, it's still a big show. -- Ishii vs. Yoshida is a matchup of 1992 and 2008 Olympic Judo Gold Medalists. I'm not alone in hoping someone gets dropped on their head, right? -- Andy Souwer is a bad, bad man. Masato might not get to go out on a high note. -- This will be live on HDNet, for those of you with that. -- Any interest in discussing K-1 on here?
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou (Super Hulk Tournament Final) How did Sokoudjou qualify for the finals???? I think Minowa will win it. He jj is off the hook. Ask Bob Sapp, who probably thought he was going to win his fight w/ Minowa after gaining the mount position. Then Minowa used a kimura to escape & put on a knee lock to end that fight
Sokoudjo beat Jan Nortje in the first round, he was suppossed to meet Mousasi after that, but he pulled out and was replaced by............. Bob Sapp and thats how Sokoudjo made it to the final!
I remember when the Pride fights on New Years were huge. Dream can't quite carry on that luster. I haven't watched K-1 in a minute. I did go see Bob Sapp a few years back in Vegas(Belaggio). Not too bad a show, but the Pride event there was much better. Of course I'm biased towards MMA lol.
Is this Ishii v Yoshida fight official? I know Ishii-san was confirmed to fight on New Years but Yoshida wasn't officially his opponent anymore.
Updated with the entire card. Yep, all those fights on one show. There's a 6-hour block on HDNet for this. -- Fujita's got an abnormally thick skull and can thus take a frightening amount of punishment. And he's fighting Alistair Overeem. That could be ugly.
Did ya see the fight when he was one the ground and took a cleeeeean kick on the side of the head from Silva? And he was still able to get on his feet shortly after. His fight on this card will be ugly.
-- So yeah, when Shinya Aoki locks you in submission, tapping out might be a good idea. -- I'm kind of expecting Alistair Overeem to be the last boss in the next Tekken game or something. Good Lord. -- The Masato/Souwer fight was awesome, especially the end.
Aoki's antics Sorry, but as a martial artist, you are suppose to show respect to your opponents. Not act like a schoolboy. Totally not impressed w/ Aoki's antics after his win. Takes away from the good technique that he displayed during the fight.
Re: Aoki's antics Oh, I'm not condoning his crap after the fight - he was an ass. I was just commenting on the submission.
Shinya and all his buddies always have something they do after a win that gets people talking. Kinda sick of their antics.
Aoki does not want any parts of BJ. BJ would bust him up. Be happy that we will have BJ & Gomi going at it in 2010
aoki v bj is would be an intriguing affair . Just saw the video of Aoki's last fight and it made me cringe to be honest. I think him and Bj would make a good fight as long as it's on the ground ,aoki's stand up is suspect to say the least.