SPLADDLE.COM!

UPDATE: “Last minute changes to the Dynamite card! Jerome is out due to the flu and FEG has been working hard to find a replacement, it is announced now that Melvin Manhoef steps in!!”

UPDATE#2: Hansen vs. GC fight called of because of an injury to Hansen!

Source

Wednesday 31st (1 a.m. EST/10 p.m. PST on Tuesday in the U.S.) K-1, and Dream promoter Fighting and Entertainment Group will kick off it’s New Year’s Eve show at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan featuring 19 bouts! Until the show kicks off enjoy previous K-1 results, GIFs and vids in the list of categories to your left along with UFC, Boxing, Training, and other categories. Also don’t be shy and check out our troll-free forum today! K-1′s official website on this event!

Main Event
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kiyoshi Tamura wins by decision!
Joachim Hansen (19-7-1) vs. Gesias Cavalcante (14-2-1)

Main Card
Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez wins by Heelhook in RD1!
Melvin Manhoef vs. Mark Hunt wins by KO in RD1!!!!!!
Mirko Filipovic vs. Hong Man Choi wins by Leg Kick in RD1!

Undercard Bouts
Hayato Sakurai vs. Katsuyori Shibata wins by TKO in RD1!
Semmy Schilt vs. Siala Silig wins by Triangle Choke in RD1!
Bob Sapp vs. Akihito Tanaka wins by TKO in RD1!
Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Andy Ologun wins by KO in RD1!
Hideo Tokoro vs. Daisuke Nakamura wins by Armbar in RD1!
Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Errol Zimmerman wins by Toe Hold in RD1!

Kickboxing Bouts
Gegard Mousasi vs. Musashi wins by TKO in RD1!
Alistair Overeem vs. Badr Hari wins by TKO in RD1!
Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kozo Takeda wins by TKO in RD1!
Koya Urabe vs. Tatsuya Kusakabe wins by TKO in RD3!
Hiroya vs. Shota Shimada wins by UD!
Artur Kyshenko vs. Yoshihiro Sato wins by UD!
Hiroya vs. Koya Urabe wins by Decision!

Spladdle Summary: Main Event and Card!
The 6th installment of K-1′s NYE show will be headlined by the return of fan favorite Kazushi Sakuraba who, as some of you may recall, was brutally KOed by Melvin Manhoef at Dream 4 this summer. Sak will be taking on Kiyoshi Tamura, another salty dog who has fought most of his career in Rings starting as far back as 1996! As a huge fan of Sak, I don’t want to see him get banged out any more and wish he would retire. This is a battle of the MMA veterans and the first person to fight off his ring age should prove victorious. This is the obligatory “keep the Japanese fans happy by placing two Japanese fighters in the main event” bout, as neither guy factors into the overall MMA picture. I am 100% picking this fight by my heart alone and am in complete denial: Sakuraba.

The co-main event is the “real” main event and is a barn-burner in Joachim Hansen vs. Gesias Cavalcante. This is a fight of epic proportions and somebody is going to get hurt. GC has lost some of his luster dropping a fight to Shinya Aoki (who is also on the card) and almost getting caught in a Carni near the end of the fight. Joachim then went on to KO Aoki in the first round making Joachim and Aoki 1-1 and Hansen the reigning Dream tournament winner and lightweight champion. Hansen already has a win over GC, in his only other loss, but that was over 4 years ago and they are two different fighters now. The X factor in this fight is GC’s torn knee ligament in May and subsequent lay off to recuperate. I am picking Hellboy to win this one in what could easily become FOTY.

In the Shinya Aoki vs. Eddie Alvarez bout, we have an absolute terror in Eddie Alvarez and someone that could easily become a dominant force at 155# or 170#s. His super aggressive style insures that every fight he is in is an exciting one and you had better not blink! Everyone knows Aoki is the Judo and Rubber Guard wizard and can quite simply catch anyone on earth with his trickery. Eddie’s stand up, wrestling and clinch skills are certainly good enough to make Aoki respect him and not do anything foolish. This fight comes down to Eddie keeping it standing and Aoki getting it to the ground. I simply want to see a good fight and love both fighters. I think Alvarez takes this one, but will not bat an eye if Aoki pulls of a ninja submission out of nowhere.

Jerome LeBanner will be taking on Mark Hunt which should be a fight where “Shock and Awe” is demonstrated. They have already fought 4 times, with Jerome taking 3 off them. Hunt’s concrete block for a head, means anyone who fights him will have to be in shape and have no injuries. LeBanner is big and strong enough to win this one, and I think he wins a decision, though he will probably be the worse for wear by the end of the bout.

In the final Main Card bout Cro Cop will be fighting Hong Man Choi, and this bout will answer a lot of questions we have for both fighters. Is Cro Cop shot? Can he snap his string of crappy luck? Can he produce a big KO on the monster Hong Man Choi? Can Hong defeat what seems to be a faltering Cro Cop? If the Cro Cop of old showed up, this would be a no-brainer, but recent performances leave a lot of doubt.

Should be a decent show and come back for vid links and animated GIFs!

Check out the pre-fight pics on Sherdog! Also check out previous DREAM events, results, GIFs and videos in the category to your left! Go to MMA-Share to watch the stream.

The DREAM 6 Middleweight GP Final Round takes place Tuesday, Sept. 23 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

Non-Tournament Bouts
- Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Alistair Overeem is ruled a no contest!*
- Hayato “Mach” Sakurai vs. Kuniyoshi Hironaka by unanimous decision!
- Ikuhisa Minowa vs. Masakatsu Funaki by inverted heelhook in RD1!
- Keita Nakamura vs. Adriano Martins by split decision!
- Sergei Kharitonov vs. Jimmy Ambriz by TKO in RD1!
- Hideo Tokoro vs. Atsushi Yamamoto by unanimous decision!
- Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Masanori Tonooka by Armbar in RD1!
- Shinya Aoki vs. Todd Moore by neck crank in RD1!

Tournament Bouts
- Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. Zelg Galesic by Armbar in RD1!
- Melvin Manhoef vs. Gegard Mousasi by triangle choke in RD1!
- Dong Sik Yoon vs. Andrews Nakahara (Reserve Bout) wins by TKO in RD1!

Middleweight Grand Prix Final Bout
Gegard Mousasi def. Ronaldo “Jacare” de Souza via KO (Upkick) at 2:15 of Round 1

Gegard Mousasi wins the 2008 DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix and becomes the first ever DREAM Middleweight Champion!

* Filipovic was unable to continue following two unintentional illegal knees to the groin in the first round. Both fighters received yellow cards during the bout: Overeem for the second knee, and Filipovic for stalling on the ground from his back.

See what everyone is saying about DREAM.6 on our forum!

DREAM.6 matchup between Cro Cop and Overeem!
It looks like a great way to get a fight you want is to harass and harangue the fighter, and it’s a strategy that apparently didn’t hurt Alistair Overeem get the fight he wanted with Cro Cop. In Alistair’s own words:

“My desire to fight Cro Cop began when I read his interview stating nobody wanted to fight him and that’s why he fought some walking-punching bag-guy (Tatsuya Mizuno) at Dream 3. My management offered me a fight with him at that event and he declined. Then at the K-1 Amsterdam event my opponent got injured and the promoter attempted to arrange for Mirko to fight, again he declined… …This really pissed me off because now my fight was canceled because this douche-bag didn’t want to fight me while he was saying nobody wants to fight him. That’s crap, and that’s why I grabbed the microphone, and I’ll keep doing so until I get this fight. I will get him.”

The words must have struck a nerve with Mirko, because he wants the fight and both are in negotiations to make it official. Cro Cop’s words:

“Today I am going to Amsterdam where I will be preparing with Remy Bonjasky and Ivan Hyppolite. I trained in Zagreb with Dean Lister who is one of the best grapplers. It wasn’t just preparation for this fight, its always good to have that kind of sparing partner.”

“He is good fighter, excellent puncher, and also good in parter. He had 93 kg and he jumped to 108 kilos and with his 196 centimeters he really looks impressive. But weight is always a two-edged sword.”

“>
Where does this fight stand amongst the heavyweight picture? I am not sure it’s immensely important. Using the “You’re only as good as your last fight(s)” maxim as a gauge, ‘The Demolition Man’ has wins over Mark Hunt (TWL/Americana) and Paul Buentello (TKO w/ a knee to the body) in 2008. While you could make the case that Overeem has made the necessary adjustments and is improving as a fighter, I am not so sure you can erase the string of losses he has had through 2006-7. Since 2006 he has lost almost half of his fights, and losing the ones that really matter…the “Big Fight” curse. He’s dropped fights against Ninja, Werdum, Nog, Arona, and Kharitonov and arguably his biggest wins in that time period is against Sergei and Hunt.

Having said that, I am not so sure Cro Cop’s resume as of late is any more impressive. It seems he was destined for greatness up until his fight w/ Fedor, and after losing that fight he just simply lost his direction and focus. Before the Fedor fight he was beginning to get the “Tyson” aura, and it dimmed a bit though he has had some impressive wins since beating Barnett 2x, KO over Wanderlei, TKOing Eddie Sanchez who was undefeated at the time, and Yoshida by leg kicks. While those are serious and legit wins, his loss to Cheick Kongo, and dramatic KO at the hands of Gabriel Gonzaga stand out as serious disappointments.

In 2008 he has only fought once, against Tatsuya Mizuno at DREAM.1 (TKO in the 1st), which is not a huge win by any means. The big question here is does Mirko have what it takes to get that aura back and remind everyone why he was so feared in the heavyweight division? Can he bring back the highlight reel KOs from kicks? Is he still motivated and passionate? If that Cro Cop shows up at DREAM.6, he should tear right through Alistair EASILY. IMO, the only real threat Alistair has is that dangerous Guillotine that is becoming trademark with him. I just don’t see him getting Cro Cop to the ground in this one.

I think Cro Cop takes this one. Why? Because I live in the yesterday of MMA and still believe.

Discuss DREAM.6, this fight, MMA, Boxing, and much more on our forum!

Cro Cop OUT of DREAM.5!
In what is now a recurring theme, and another blow to his career getting back on track, Cro Cop is OUT of DREAM.5. Mirko stated on his blog:

“Unfortunately I have some bad news– I won’t be fighting at DREAM 5 at all. I was about to face Jerome LeBanner but he decided to fight in K1 against [Semmy] Schilt. Mighty Mo was the alternative and I accepted this challenge, but unfortunately Mighty Mo pulled off from the fight. I was ready to face Mo, but maybe this scenario wasn’t that bad for me at all…”

I’ve been having problems with my right elbow for years and the injury got even worse over last 6 months. I’m already receiving a proper treatment but the recovery won’t happen over night. The second problem is a knee injury, something that troubles me for quite a while. I had difficulties using my kicks and over last few weeks I focused more on boxing and grappling. I really wanted to fight on July 21 and I was even ignoring doctor’s suggestions, but now I’ve reached the point from which I can’t continue with my normal training regiment due to my injuries.

Cro Cop will be undergoing Arthroscopy this morning (Monday) which will put him out of training for 2-3 weeks. He is motivated to get back to training and set up a fight against Alistair Overeem in September, because Overeem has stated that he believes Cro Cop to be ducking him.

Rampage’s Coach Ibarra to challenge Decision!The Scorecards!
Juanito Ibarra who is one of Rampage’s coaches plans to challenge Saturday night’s decision loss to Forrest Griffin with the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

“We got robbed. We won the majority of the fight…You have to beat the champion.”

Has there ever been a successful overturning of a decision in MMA? Boxing? Anyone recall? Not sure it is worth the time and effort. I say, get back in the Gym, take this fight seriously, and LEARN to defend leg kicks. Jackson who is notorious for not training or not training hard made no exception in this fight. He needs to get motivated and take it serious, otherwise don’t wast time challenging the decision.

Scorecards:
Adalaide Byrd scored the fight 48-46. He gave 4 and 5 to Jackson and Griffin 1, 2, and 3.
Nelson Hamilton had it 48-46, with 1 and 4 for Jackson, and Griffin getting 2 10-8.
Roy Silbert had it 49-46 with only round 4 for Jackson

There is growing criticism being directed at Roy Silbert and Adalaide Byrd.

Dana White (BLAF) rejects new weight classes! Hates McCarthy!
Dana White completely rejects the new weight classes established by the ABC (Association of Boxing Commissions), stating that he has no plans to change ANY of the UFC’s 5 weight classes:

“There’s going to be a fight and you know I don’t roll over easily. No, we’re not following that.

About Big john McCarthy, his new enemy who helped push the new rule changes and weight classes, he states:

“I have a new enemy. It’s John McCarthy. He doesn’t want to be a referee anymore. Now he wants to change the rules. And he’s announcing for Affliction.”

The International MMA Hall Of Fame And International MMA Museum!
IMMAE announced a partnership with the American Sports University and Ringleader, Inc to launch the International MMA Hall Of Fame and MMA Museum. Read the entire article written by IMMAE Media here

Frank Trigg signs with WVR/Sengoku!
Frank Trigg has signed a 3 fight deal with World Victory Road’s Sengoku promotion and is scheduled to fight at Sengoku 4 on August 24th against a yet to be determined opponent. There are still rumors that Trigg is still amidst negotiations with Strikeforce and since WVR/Sengoku is not an exclusive organization, they may be true. Sengoku also has scheduled a Middleweight Tournament for next year.