As Expected, Fedor Finishes Choi Quickly
Tony Loiseleur Dec 31, 2007
TOKYO, Dec. 31 -- The year came to a close Monday, topped off by
former PRIDE staffers working in cooperation with Fight
Entertainment Group and M-1 Global for the Yarennoka! show at the
Saitama Super Arena.
The main event saw the long-awaited return of the last of the PRIDE champions -- as well as the world's top heavyweight fighter -- Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), who quickly submitted K-1's Hong Man Choi (Pictures) in the first round.
Bowled onto the canvas in the opening moments, Emelianenko looked
to be having trouble with a 14-inch, 129-pound size disadvantage.
As soon as the Korean postured up in the Russian's guard to drop
punches, Emelianenko immediately moved into action, shifting his
hips for the armbar attempt.
With Choi, who had just one MMA fight to Emelianenko's 27, punching his way out of the armbar, the 31-year-old heavyweight champion was forced to relinquish the arm and pop back up to standing.
This time, as Choi postured up to deliver more punches, he made the mistake of leaving his right arm exposed chest. Fluidly trapping the arm and shifting his legs up, Emelianenko absorbed minimal punishment before locking on the second armbar attempt, which had Choi tapping at the 1:54 mark in the first round.
"I am happy to have fought in Japan once again, as tonight's fight was for all the fans," Emelianenko told the Japanese crowd afterward. "If I am able to, I will return to Japan to fight. Tonight my win was everyone's win. Thank you."
Serving as the evening's de facto main event, Shinya Aoki (Pictures)'s bout against MMA newcomer Jung Bu-Kyung proved a harder fight for the Shooto middleweight champ than was expected. After circling the 2000 Olympic silver medalist judoka at 60 kilos and missing a flicking front kick, Aoki shot in for the takedown, landing into Bu-Kyung's guard. That wasn't all he landed into, however. The "Baka Survivor" soon found himself fighting off a close armbar.
Taking a moment to escape, Aoki immediately went to work, attacking Bu-Kyung's feet with leg- and foot-locks, through which the South Korean endured multiple attempts. Perhaps uncharacteristically, Aoki eventually resorted to the tactic of sitting in Jung's guard, where he dropped multiple hard punches between occasional leg lock attempts, racking up the damage points as the MMA neophyte did little else but cover up under the barrages.
Bu-Kyung had a second go at the armbar late in the first. He locked up Aoki's right arm and once again put the Japanese fighter back on the defensive. After several tense moments in which the armbar appeared guaranteed, Aoki miraculously escaped and resumed pounding from inside Bu-Kyung's guard.
After another failed Aoki foot lock, Bu-Kyung brought the fight back to standing, where he swung with a wild right hook that apparently dropped the Japanese fighter. Going on instinct, Aoki immediately transitioned for a leg submission but instead settled for pounding from guard until Bu-Kyung escaped.
Entering the second period with his left eye swollen shut, Bu-Kyung could not put up much more of a fight against his vastly experienced opponent. Round two saw more Aoki domination from top position with the fine difference of Aoki doing it from mount rather than guard. Bellying down while locking the Korean's legs by triangling his own under Bu-Kyung's knees, Aoki dropped a barrage of small shots before scooting up into a proper mount to drop heavier strikes.
Bu-Kyung covered up and eventually gave his back, offering little to no resistance as the Japanese fighter poured on the punishment until the final bell. In the end, Aoki walked away with the unanimous decision.
"Mach" Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) defeated DEEP middleweight champion Hidehiko Hasegawa (Pictures) by playing the counter game and bullying him to the mat, where he would drop small shots from half guard before standing back up and repeating the process.
Hasegawa, to his credit, put on spirited attempts to knock Sakurai out. He charged in with wild flurries, often finding his mark by the sheer probability of his endless barrages rather than any kind of specific striking technique.
Unfortunately for Hasegawa, his headlong rushes were in vain. Not only did they fail to faze the longtime Shootor when he connected, they allowed Sakurai to counter with harder and more accurate hook combinations and knees. Looking like a bully in stuffing Hasegawa's takedowns and whipping him to the mat, Sakurai peppered Hasegawa from top position in half-guard when he wasn't outmaneuvering and countering him in the standup.
Controlling both rounds despite Hasegawa's most valiant attempts, "Mach" ended up pitching the shutout, taking the bout on all three judges' scorecards.
In what was arguably the evening's most significant fight in terms of ranking implications, PRIDE Bushido grand prix winner Kazuo Misaki (Pictures) put a stop to Yoshihiro Akiyama (Pictures)'s rising stock with a nearly illegal soccer kick-like knockout in the first round. Spending most of the fight circling his prey, Misaki kept Akiyama guessing with repeated jump kick feints before launching hard low kicks that the judoka showed little ability to defend.
Akiyama, with legs slowly wearing away under the low kick barrage, returned with hard punches of his own, most of which grazed his opponent at best. However, Akiyama's break appeared to come when one of the punches, a hard right, stunned Misaki, opening up the opportunity for Akiyama to follow him to the mat and pound on him from side-mount.
Recovering under fire, Misaki reestablished guard before both men stood and continued to bang each other out on the feet. A final exchange saw Misaki connect with a left hook that stunned Akiyama into stumbling onto the canvas, only to pop back up into a savage Misaki soccer kick that put the judoka out for good.
Though Misaki snuck in several more punches on the ground, the referee jumped in to save Akiyama at the 7:48 mark in the first round. After receiving some stern encouragement from Yarennoka! frontman Nobuhiko Takada (Pictures) immediately after his win, Misaki had some words of his own for Akiyama.
"You betrayed the trust of many fans and children [that look up to you], and it is something that I cannot overlook," said Misaki, referencing Akiyama's moisturizer scandal when he fought Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) in K-1 HERO'S. "But you fought well tonight and you showed heart. From this point forth, I want to see you put your sincerity and a feeling of apology into fighting for the fans and the children."
Akiyama, who walked in this evening to a chorus of boos, elicited cheers for the first time in months with his response.
"Judo is the best, and the Japanese are strong," he said. "So many fighters have come out this evening, but what I really want to say is, to all the fans who have supported PRIDE for the past 10 years, thank you. I love you all."
According to Yarennoka! staff, Akiyama was taken to the hospital shortly thereafter, where he was treated for a broken nose and an injury sustained to ligaments on his left side.
In what was arguably the fight of the night, Gilbert Melendez (Pictures)'s 14-fight undefeated streak came to an end at the hands of Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures). The Japanese fighter at once avenged T-Blood teammate Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) as well as proved again why he is dubbed "The Endless Fighter."
Where other fighters essentially give up in despair at Melendez's relentlessness, Ishida doggedly pressed in for takedown after takedown at a breakneck pace. Though Melendez was able to pop up after the repeated single-leg attempts, scoring the occasional hard counterpunch or knee, Ishida was ever there, taking his back in the clinch or sticking on his leg like a bulldog, ready to try again.
Executing two patented "hula hoops" into Ishida's guard, it wasn't until the second trademark reversal midway through the second that Melendez was able to stay in Ishida's guard and deliver consistent offense. Despite locking a tight straight armbar from the bottom, Ishida could not deny Melendez for the final moments of the round.
The American rained punches from top position as Ishida hung on. Be that as it may, the last-minute turn of the tides did little to convince the judges, who awarded Ishida the unanimous decision for controlling the majority of the fight.
Olympic gold medalist judoka Makoto Takimoto (Pictures) took a hard-fought decision over Murilo Bustamante (Pictures).
Receiving a yellow card for inactivity early in the first, Bustamante turned up the heat when he began countering with hard punches followed by two armbar attempts and one kneebar attempt on the mat.
Takimoto, who lunged at Bustamante, a former UFC middleweight champion, with body-wrenching punches, did more to trip himself up than to significantly land on the Brazilian in the first round. The judoka's break came in the second frame, as a hard shot that put Bustamante down on the canvas allowed Takimoto to close in and drop hard punches from the top, nearly forcing referee intervention before Bustamante regained his senses and began to defend.
Despite being the technically better striker and superior on the ground, Bustamante's performance did not seem to endear him to the judges as much as Takimoto's second-round knockdown. The Japanese fighter took a split decision.
Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) lived up to his namesake and reputation as "The Crusher" by pounding out a dominant decision against high-flying Chute Boxer Luiz Azeredo (Pictures).
Azeredo spent the majority of the fight grounded, attempting to throw on futile armbar attempts as Kawajiri dispensed with passing the guard in favor of raining down heavy leather and hammerfists.
Kawajiri occasionally stood up out of guard to drop bigger blows, and these were the only moments that Azeredo appeared to have any meaningful offense. He threw a few dangerous up-kicks, but they were not nearly enough and Kawajiri was deemed the victor via unanimous decision after 15 minutes of ground-and-pound dominance.
If at first you don't succeed -- but have your opponent gasping for air on the first attempt -- try, try again. America's Mike Russow took out "Russian Power" Roman Zentsov (Pictures) in such a fashion after getting side-mount off of an early single-leg takedown. He locked on his second attempt at a north-south choke, eliciting the tap at 2:58 into the first round.
The main event saw the long-awaited return of the last of the PRIDE champions -- as well as the world's top heavyweight fighter -- Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), who quickly submitted K-1's Hong Man Choi (Pictures) in the first round.
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With Choi, who had just one MMA fight to Emelianenko's 27, punching his way out of the armbar, the 31-year-old heavyweight champion was forced to relinquish the arm and pop back up to standing.
Looking a little worse for wear with his face visibly marked up,
Emelianenko barreled into the Korean for a bodylock. He was again
unable to get the takedown, and ricocheted Choi, 27, off of the
ring ropes before falling under him, again landing on the bottom in
guard.
This time, as Choi postured up to deliver more punches, he made the mistake of leaving his right arm exposed chest. Fluidly trapping the arm and shifting his legs up, Emelianenko absorbed minimal punishment before locking on the second armbar attempt, which had Choi tapping at the 1:54 mark in the first round.
"I am happy to have fought in Japan once again, as tonight's fight was for all the fans," Emelianenko told the Japanese crowd afterward. "If I am able to, I will return to Japan to fight. Tonight my win was everyone's win. Thank you."
Serving as the evening's de facto main event, Shinya Aoki (Pictures)'s bout against MMA newcomer Jung Bu-Kyung proved a harder fight for the Shooto middleweight champ than was expected. After circling the 2000 Olympic silver medalist judoka at 60 kilos and missing a flicking front kick, Aoki shot in for the takedown, landing into Bu-Kyung's guard. That wasn't all he landed into, however. The "Baka Survivor" soon found himself fighting off a close armbar.
Taking a moment to escape, Aoki immediately went to work, attacking Bu-Kyung's feet with leg- and foot-locks, through which the South Korean endured multiple attempts. Perhaps uncharacteristically, Aoki eventually resorted to the tactic of sitting in Jung's guard, where he dropped multiple hard punches between occasional leg lock attempts, racking up the damage points as the MMA neophyte did little else but cover up under the barrages.
Bu-Kyung had a second go at the armbar late in the first. He locked up Aoki's right arm and once again put the Japanese fighter back on the defensive. After several tense moments in which the armbar appeared guaranteed, Aoki miraculously escaped and resumed pounding from inside Bu-Kyung's guard.
After another failed Aoki foot lock, Bu-Kyung brought the fight back to standing, where he swung with a wild right hook that apparently dropped the Japanese fighter. Going on instinct, Aoki immediately transitioned for a leg submission but instead settled for pounding from guard until Bu-Kyung escaped.
Entering the second period with his left eye swollen shut, Bu-Kyung could not put up much more of a fight against his vastly experienced opponent. Round two saw more Aoki domination from top position with the fine difference of Aoki doing it from mount rather than guard. Bellying down while locking the Korean's legs by triangling his own under Bu-Kyung's knees, Aoki dropped a barrage of small shots before scooting up into a proper mount to drop heavier strikes.
Bu-Kyung covered up and eventually gave his back, offering little to no resistance as the Japanese fighter poured on the punishment until the final bell. In the end, Aoki walked away with the unanimous decision.
"Mach" Hayato Sakurai (Pictures) defeated DEEP middleweight champion Hidehiko Hasegawa (Pictures) by playing the counter game and bullying him to the mat, where he would drop small shots from half guard before standing back up and repeating the process.
Hasegawa, to his credit, put on spirited attempts to knock Sakurai out. He charged in with wild flurries, often finding his mark by the sheer probability of his endless barrages rather than any kind of specific striking technique.
Unfortunately for Hasegawa, his headlong rushes were in vain. Not only did they fail to faze the longtime Shootor when he connected, they allowed Sakurai to counter with harder and more accurate hook combinations and knees. Looking like a bully in stuffing Hasegawa's takedowns and whipping him to the mat, Sakurai peppered Hasegawa from top position in half-guard when he wasn't outmaneuvering and countering him in the standup.
Controlling both rounds despite Hasegawa's most valiant attempts, "Mach" ended up pitching the shutout, taking the bout on all three judges' scorecards.
In what was arguably the evening's most significant fight in terms of ranking implications, PRIDE Bushido grand prix winner Kazuo Misaki (Pictures) put a stop to Yoshihiro Akiyama (Pictures)'s rising stock with a nearly illegal soccer kick-like knockout in the first round. Spending most of the fight circling his prey, Misaki kept Akiyama guessing with repeated jump kick feints before launching hard low kicks that the judoka showed little ability to defend.
Akiyama, with legs slowly wearing away under the low kick barrage, returned with hard punches of his own, most of which grazed his opponent at best. However, Akiyama's break appeared to come when one of the punches, a hard right, stunned Misaki, opening up the opportunity for Akiyama to follow him to the mat and pound on him from side-mount.
Recovering under fire, Misaki reestablished guard before both men stood and continued to bang each other out on the feet. A final exchange saw Misaki connect with a left hook that stunned Akiyama into stumbling onto the canvas, only to pop back up into a savage Misaki soccer kick that put the judoka out for good.
Though Misaki snuck in several more punches on the ground, the referee jumped in to save Akiyama at the 7:48 mark in the first round. After receiving some stern encouragement from Yarennoka! frontman Nobuhiko Takada (Pictures) immediately after his win, Misaki had some words of his own for Akiyama.
"You betrayed the trust of many fans and children [that look up to you], and it is something that I cannot overlook," said Misaki, referencing Akiyama's moisturizer scandal when he fought Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures) in K-1 HERO'S. "But you fought well tonight and you showed heart. From this point forth, I want to see you put your sincerity and a feeling of apology into fighting for the fans and the children."
Akiyama, who walked in this evening to a chorus of boos, elicited cheers for the first time in months with his response.
"Judo is the best, and the Japanese are strong," he said. "So many fighters have come out this evening, but what I really want to say is, to all the fans who have supported PRIDE for the past 10 years, thank you. I love you all."
According to Yarennoka! staff, Akiyama was taken to the hospital shortly thereafter, where he was treated for a broken nose and an injury sustained to ligaments on his left side.
In what was arguably the fight of the night, Gilbert Melendez (Pictures)'s 14-fight undefeated streak came to an end at the hands of Mitsuhiro Ishida (Pictures). The Japanese fighter at once avenged T-Blood teammate Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) as well as proved again why he is dubbed "The Endless Fighter."
Where other fighters essentially give up in despair at Melendez's relentlessness, Ishida doggedly pressed in for takedown after takedown at a breakneck pace. Though Melendez was able to pop up after the repeated single-leg attempts, scoring the occasional hard counterpunch or knee, Ishida was ever there, taking his back in the clinch or sticking on his leg like a bulldog, ready to try again.
Executing two patented "hula hoops" into Ishida's guard, it wasn't until the second trademark reversal midway through the second that Melendez was able to stay in Ishida's guard and deliver consistent offense. Despite locking a tight straight armbar from the bottom, Ishida could not deny Melendez for the final moments of the round.
The American rained punches from top position as Ishida hung on. Be that as it may, the last-minute turn of the tides did little to convince the judges, who awarded Ishida the unanimous decision for controlling the majority of the fight.
Olympic gold medalist judoka Makoto Takimoto (Pictures) took a hard-fought decision over Murilo Bustamante (Pictures).
Receiving a yellow card for inactivity early in the first, Bustamante turned up the heat when he began countering with hard punches followed by two armbar attempts and one kneebar attempt on the mat.
Takimoto, who lunged at Bustamante, a former UFC middleweight champion, with body-wrenching punches, did more to trip himself up than to significantly land on the Brazilian in the first round. The judoka's break came in the second frame, as a hard shot that put Bustamante down on the canvas allowed Takimoto to close in and drop hard punches from the top, nearly forcing referee intervention before Bustamante regained his senses and began to defend.
Despite being the technically better striker and superior on the ground, Bustamante's performance did not seem to endear him to the judges as much as Takimoto's second-round knockdown. The Japanese fighter took a split decision.
Tatsuya Kawajiri (Pictures) lived up to his namesake and reputation as "The Crusher" by pounding out a dominant decision against high-flying Chute Boxer Luiz Azeredo (Pictures).
Azeredo spent the majority of the fight grounded, attempting to throw on futile armbar attempts as Kawajiri dispensed with passing the guard in favor of raining down heavy leather and hammerfists.
Kawajiri occasionally stood up out of guard to drop bigger blows, and these were the only moments that Azeredo appeared to have any meaningful offense. He threw a few dangerous up-kicks, but they were not nearly enough and Kawajiri was deemed the victor via unanimous decision after 15 minutes of ground-and-pound dominance.
If at first you don't succeed -- but have your opponent gasping for air on the first attempt -- try, try again. America's Mike Russow took out "Russian Power" Roman Zentsov (Pictures) in such a fashion after getting side-mount off of an early single-leg takedown. He locked on his second attempt at a north-south choke, eliciting the tap at 2:58 into the first round.
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