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K-1 Dynamite
by Hody Jae Huh, Team IronLife.com Staff Writer & Mod @ www.IronLife.com
K-1 Dynamite was just that – DYNAMITE! The card was stacked and the fighters were ready to go. Please take a look at my article on the K-1 press conference, held the day before the event, for the line up with fighter pictures. K-1 Press Conference Link
The event was held at the Osaka Dome. According to K-1’s own homepage, there were 52.918 tickets sold for this event. SportsNavi is reporting that K-1 won the war of the ratings against Pride 20.1% to 18.3%. Sports Navi Link The International PPV war is still yet to come, or perhaps over by the time you have read this. For official fight results, please check out K-1’s homepage. . K-1 Results
Osaka Dome (Pic taken from their official site)
Japan is pretty cold now, but not as cold as the last couple of years. It was sunny but cold the day of the press conference but I awoke to find it snowing on the day of the event. By the time my crew and I headed out to the Osaka Dome, the snow had turned to light rain, but it was still freezing outside. BUT I was excited to attend this event for the first time with a Press Pass.
My Press Pass
At the station we saw a Japanese girl who was holding up a sign that begged for a K-1 ticket. Too bad she wasn’t cute; otherwise I might have tried to hook her up with a ticket. Just kidding. As we were walking to the Osaka Dome, we saw a line of guys who were spaced out every 5 feet. As we walked past we found out they were scalpers – either asking if you wanted to sell your ticket or buy one of theirs. I should have run back to the girl at the station and told her, but I wanted to get inside the Dome.
We picked up our Press Passes and press kit at the entrance. I was happy to find out that they had information both in Japanese and in English. In fact, one of their staff was a bilingual foreigner. Props to K-1.
I could see the envy in the eyes of the fans waiting in line to get into the Osaka Dome. Not only because we had Press Passes but also because it had to be warmer inside than it was outside.
We read the press kit that they gave us, which included a list of rules. Standard stuff really. IE…no press in the fighter’s locker rooms or warm up areas, VIP rooms, production areas, and only approved official photographers with ID armbands are allowed ringside. We were free to use the press room and take pics during the fighter post fight interviews. I also got a nice large book that has a bunch of photos and info about the event and fighters…in Japanese, of course.
The book
We decided to scope out the place and get the lay of the land before things got busy. We still had two hours until fight time. We were able to check in at 14:00 and I think they started letting people in around 15:00.
The Osaka Dome is huge. It took some time to figure out where things were. We decided to just focus on the places that we needed to be, like the interview room and main floor where the ring was.
Here are some pics that we took before they let the general public in.
VIP seating section. I believe the woman on the right is Big John’s wife.
Taken behind the end of the expensive seats. There were still seats behind these, which extended to the back of the Dome on the main floor. Right behind one section of these seats was the blue corner dug out. This was a special section for some of the friends and family of the fighters. Some of the guest fighters would hang out here too. Some of the fans spent more time taking pictures of the fighters and celebrities than they did watching the fights in the ring.
Behind all the production equipment
K-1 also provided us with general admission seating tickets, which were on the upper level. The view was nice but it was too far from the ring and off the main floor, so we opted to either stay on the main floor or hang out in the other areas we had access to, but the general public didn’t.
Unfortunately for us, we quickly discovered that it was difficult to take good pictures on the main floor. As you can see in the pictures above, they sectioned off seating areas. Even after making our way as close to the ring and entrance ramp as possible, we saw many other people (fans with general admission tickets) standing in the way, they also wanted to take pictures. I figured I already had a better overall deal than they did, so I didn’t bother to fight for a spot to take pictures. In addition, I would be in the way of those that were seated near by. Being a fan myself, I could understand how upset I would be if someone did that to me. Most likely no one would have said anything, because Japanese are really polite. I can’t even imagine what might happen at one of the Shows State side.
However, here are some of the pics we took.
Bobby Ologun being congratulated by another foreign celebrity in Japan, following his victory over Cyril Abidi.
Kristof Midoux following his loss to The Predator.
Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Nakao
Don Frye following his lose to Nakao
Karam Ibrahim following a brutal KO at the hands of Fujita. His eyes still looked glossed
Should read: Bob Sapp leaving the ring following his DRAW with Jerome LeBanner under special K-1 and MMA rules. (L-R) Sam Greco, Bob Sapp, and Maurice Smith.
It was really cool to see all the fighters walking around backstage. We were also able to see some fighters that were not fighting that night and were either guests or working someone’s corner. Some of them you can see in my previous article that covered the Press Conference, and a few more, later on in this article as well.
I was on the main floor for The Predator vs. Kristof Midoux. However, I wasn’t able to get very good pics though, but I’ll post them anyways.
The Predator makes his way to the ring.
In the ring with The Predator and Kristof Midoux
As you can see, it gets pretty hectic and competitive backstage. This is Cyril Abidi heading to this locker room following his lose to MMA newbie Bobby Ologun.
I decided to split our team up. One of use would be on the floor taking any pics that we could get, the other would be a floater, and I would stay backstage where the fighter’s do their post fight interviews. I was able to camp out and get a nice spot. I figured it would get more crowded as the fight card progressed – boy was I right about that.
They had a CCTV so we could still see the event. It was kind of surreal because we could still hear the audio over the speaker system inside the Osaka Dome even when we turned down the TV volume during interviews. It was also kind of funny to see some of the interviewers messing around with their microphones and wardrobe on the CCTV feed. Even though the event was live, the PPV audience probably didn’t see this since they most likely cut to another camera angle and scene.
There was a lot of waiting time as we anxiously waited for the fighters to do their post fight interviews. Again, not all the fighters said anything interesting or unique, but I will share the comments that I felt made some kind of impression. The following are bits and pieces of their comments, not in their entirety. The translated comments from the Japanese fighters, Jerome LeBanner, and Cyril Abidi are also high lights of their comments, not in their entirety.
*I was absent for the Predator vs. Kristof Midoux post fight interview. I was on the main floor watching Cyril Abidi V. Bobby Ologun.*
Bobby Ologun: I didn’t feel scared of Abidi but I felt really scared to meet Royce Gracie.*
*He’s not clear about what he means by this. I’m assuming he meant his exhibition match with Royce on a popular Japanese TV show.*
Abidi is a really nice guy but I felt scared of his eyebrow because half of his eyebrow is missing. Bobby was making a joke with this statement.
I didn’t know any MMA until I started training, so if you ask me who I want to fight next – I have no idea. I might not fight again.
Bobby Ologun and friend.
Cyril Abidi: I didn’t have enough time to prepare for this fight, but I think I did do a good job for my first time. It was really good that my opponent is not so strong…..If he was a really strong fighter, I would have had had a hell of a time.
Why I am smiling a lot? Even though I lost this fight, I don’t have any feelings that I really lost a realistic fight. Maybe this was as expected.*
*It’s not clear what he meant here. I got the impression that he either meant; he didn’t consider Bobby a real fighter so he didn’t feel this fight was real. Or he is implying that this fight was fixed -- a kind of pro wrestling match with a determined winner – Bobby.*
Many times I was on the bottom but Bobby didn’t hurt me from that position. Actually I don’t have any damage to my body. I could feel some of his punches but none of them hurt. My son hits me harder than Bobby does.
Cyril Abidi
Yoshihiro Akiyama: I’m really happy that I won my debut fight. I got a lot of support from many people, without them I couldn’t do this.
Tonight I want to have a victory drink with everyone.
I knew my opponent was a strong striker, so I tried to avoid his punches. I felt that my opponent did some training on the ground but when you compare my experience with him on the ground, I felt that I could win.
Yoshihiro Akiyama
Francois Botha: I’m very disappointed. You know uh…I’m a warrior. If I lose, I go down swinging. This time I did not even throw one punch. I’m disappointed really.
I didn’t know I was doing MMA for this show, I thought I was doing pro wrestling. A week ago they told me MMA. So…I had little training. I had like 2 free days of training for MMA. I thought that I did pretty decent. I would love to have more time.
Even a small man with technique will beat a big man easy.
Like I always say “Money talks and bullshit walks.” So when they called me, I said you know, “Show me the money.” And they did show me the money and uh…that’s what it’s all about. You know, to me it’s more about the money and uh …listen, you can give me King Kong and I’ll fight him.
In response to a question about why he didn’t use a rope escape. Ah damn, I forgot about the rope escape. Can you believe it? I had it. I could have done it. I forgot.*
*Special rope escape rules for this fight.
Francois Botha
Caol Uno: I was very nervous the first round and my body wasn’t warmed up properly, so I couldn’t move very well. My corner was really upset that I didn’t even break a sweat. After I was warmed up, everything was ok.
Yesterday we came up with the idea to go for the choke – and I was able to use it.
Hopefully I can return to the UFC someday. But in order to do that, I need more experience. Maybe I won’t have a chance to fight BJ Penn again, so I would like to become good friends with him.
Caol Uno
Chandet Sorpantrey: I’m really disappointed that this fight ended so quickly. I got only 3 days to train and prepare for this fight. If I had more time to prepare, I could beat Uno very easily.
I will train hard and fight under MMA rules again. Today my 5 year old son is also fighting in Thailand.
*Chandet Sorpantrey makes no mention of the natural disaster in Thailand.*
Chandet Sorpantrey
Don Frye: I feel terrible, I feel like I let the whole world down. I’m sorry. My condition was good; I was just having a bad night. Things just weren’t firing from the brain to the body. Those things just happen. Sorry, I’ll do better next time.
Don Frye
Yoshihiro Nakao: I’m sad that I couldn’t KO Don but I was happy that I was able to beat him. It was a tough fight because he has a lot of experience. I think that I have a pretty strong punch but my arm hurts because Don has a strong head and can take a good punch.
Yoshihiro Nakao and Marco Cavalcante to his left.
Ray Sefo: Like I said during the interview earlier, it’s going to be an explosive knock out fight. I knew that fight wasn’t going to go…wasn’t going to see the last bout because Gary is a warrior and an explosive fighter. I knew he was going to come and he knew I was going to come as well.
Ray Sefo
Gary Goodridge: Ray Sefo is a really good fighter. And it’s a shitty way to end uh…to begin the New Year and a great way for him to begin the New Year. I look forward to better things. Thank you.
My focus is everything, I’m just a fighter. And uh…where ever the fights are, wherever the wars are – that’s where I go to fight. I enjoy fighting, regardless of what it is K-1 MMA. MMA K-1. Street fighting. It doesn’t matter.
Gary Goodridge
Musashi: I didn’t originally expect this fight. That’s why I wasn’t motivated for this fight. It’s also why I was really tight the first round. That’s why I wasn’t aggressive.
I wanted to feel his punches and see his technique. I was hoping that he would get tired and lose his punching power. I wanted to see what my opponent could do the first round. Then in the second round I felt I could be more offensive since I knew what my opponent could do. From the second round, I could see my opponent was breathing heavy and I felt I had a good chance to KO him.
Musashi
Sean O’ Haire: Musashi is a great fighter. I felt like I had the first round. It’s just experience. It was my first kickboxing match; I’m by no means making excuses for anything. I had a couple of good punches in there and I thought I had him and got a little excited and wore myself out. Caught a kick to the head when I dropped my hands when I was tired that was pretty much….To be honest the stomach hurt worst than anything. It was like “Oh man, you took my wind away.” In a month it would be a totally different fight. I just need a little bit more experience under my belt and I plan on coming back and the next time it should be a whole different turn around.
I plan on this being an experience, I’m glad I got to fight here in front of what…50,000 -70,000 people. It isn’t like an experience, fine. BUT I take where I can get it and I just look at it as being the greatest thing in the world. You know, like I said again…I just plan on… There’s nothing I could have done or nothing my trainers could have done to make this fight have been any better, because of experience. Everybody who knows anything and apparently you do, about the fighting game. You can’t teach experience. One thing I know is, I know how to throw a punch and I know how to throw a kick. It’s just getting experienced fights under my belt. This was the first ok? There’s going to be many more and you’re going to see me - Sean O’ Haire grows to be the champion. In a year from now you’re going to be sitting here, “Sean how did you kick so many people’s assess constantly?” And I’m going to go “Man, I told you this a year ago you should’ve listened.” But you know…I’m sorry you guys probably don’t know what I’m talking about.*
*Sean said that entire paragraph before the official K-1 rep could translate to the predominately Japanese press. This explains his comments in the last sentence.
Sean O’ Haire
Masato: I feel really, really, sorry that I kicked Kid in the groin.
I never felt that I would lose to Kid. I felt confident for this fight.
Masato
Side view of Masato’s Elvis like warm up suit.
Kid Yamamoto: After I got kicked to the groin, the way I fought changed. It was an accidental kick but…I also think that was part of his strategy.
I still feel a lot of pain but my wife is in Hawaii now, but I guess I don’t have to worry about using “it”, because if I did – she would kill me.
When Kid was accidentally kicked in the groin, he had the option to quit. In response to this he said the following. I would never do that.*
*Meaning, he would never quit or stop the fight.
The kick was really painful and made my legs shake.
I felt that if I had one more round, I could have won. I need to practice more; I don’t have enough experience under K-1 rules.
Kid Yamamoto
Kazuyuki Fujita: I was able to the fight as my coach instructed me. I am satisfied. My opponent will be a great fighter. He has everything as a fighter -- physical, speed, and he had a strong mind. He had a lot of potential for improvement in the future.
But this time he said '' I’m 95% sure I will win, the last 5%, if I lose the fight, it would be just bad luck. In his mind he already lost 5 %. In reference to Karam Ibrahim.
So that’s why he lost to me. As a fighter, he should have never felt he might lose. In my mind, I always believe 100% that I will win.
Marco Ruas: Fujita is in my opinion the best heavyweight and best representative of Japan.
He followed my strategy of the fight. I’m very happy. I love him.
For this fight, I trained him more of striking more of stand up. And escape for the pummel the grappling, the stand up, pushing the opponent, more punch, the right punch, the right hook, and more ground.
(L-R) Marco Ruas and Kazuyuki Fujita.
Jerome LeBanner: I’m very happy about my fight tonight. I show great fight. I show great heart. My heart is back. I no longer have any problems in my head. Jerome says this part in English.
Tonight it was my come back fight, I am satisfied about it. I fought for my daughter and wife, because privately, we have not had good relations. That’s why I tried my best for them. I think the result was good.*
I want to thank my trainers, they helped me train for the ground for two weeks.*
He mentioned about 6 trainers but I couldn’t catch the names of the first three (perhaps the people who normally train him), but the last three were Jan "The Giant" Nortje, Gary Goodridge, and Fedor.
*These parts he spoke in French and was later translated by the official K-1 translator in to Japanese, and then by my “official translator” in to English.
Jerome LeBanner
Bob Sapp: It’s been about 6 months since I last fought. Ummm..Today’s fight, one thing we obviously wanted to do was dedicate it to Miyamoto’s father, our trainer. My trainer who uh… recently passed away so we decided to try this with the best spirit, heart and technique that we could possibly do.
I got a really big, deep, uh…finger poke in the eye, which kind of left me a little bit blinded out for a little bit. I wasn’t quite sure whether or not I should continue.
In regards to the special rules for this fight. It definitely made it a little more difficult, because you can take a lot of damage at the beginning during the K-1 side, then when you’re on the MMA side of things you know. He of course took some damage when he was on the ground. Uh…that did make it a little more difficult. Uh…especially because I think if it went to MMA first, I think I would have had a little more energy to do some different things. But the rules are what they are and uh…we made the best that we could.
(Front L-R and standing) Sam Greco, Bob Sapp, and Maurice Smith.
Note the big lump over Bob’s left eye and his swollen lip.
Bob Sapp as he finishes answering questions.
Akebono: My strategy was to avoid going to and fighting on the ground. I don’t know why, but I ended up going to the ground, even though I wanted to avoid that.
It was a really short fight so I still don’t understand what happened. Royce is a great technician.
I want to win at least one fight because I have fought six times and lost all of them. I want to continue fighting until I at least win one fight.
Akebono
This is to give you an idea of how BIG Akebono is. The 2 JPN journalist are probably around 5’ 7”and 150 pounds.
Royce Gracie: Before answering any questions Royce says a few words. Hold on, hold on, hold on. First, a lot of people said it was going to be an easy fight. But there were a lot of people saying that it was going to be a very hard fight. I don’t believe in an easy fight. I prepared myself. Only my sparring partners and coaches know that. How I prepared myself. About hard fight – it’s always a hard fight. People talk about it being impossible. If you look at the odds of a small guy at 85kg beating somebody at 205kg, it sounds impossible, it looks impossible. So what I did, people would say it’s impossible too. It’s not impossible, because I did it.
So what I’m doing is I’m giving a chance to the smaller person. I’m trying to show that there is a hope out there. A small person can win someone much bigger with technique. Yeah, I throw a couple of hits but it was a technical fight.
At this point Royce’s phone rings and he immediately says to the press Sumimasen Chotto Matte Kudasai (Excuse me, please wait a moment). Everyone starts laughing when Royce announces it’s his wife. He has a short conversation and resumes the press conference.
That was a strategy, now I can tell you guys about it. The one that was deep in the ocean, now I can tell you guys about it. It was a strategy to bring him to the ground and I felt the only way to bring him to the ground is if I were to lay down and let him come to play my game.
My…Royler, Rolker, and my father they all…when I mention to them they kinda “OK”. I set up the plan and gave it to them; they came back to me with some questions of course, but then we all got on the same page. I talked to my father about that. He totally agreed right off the bat. I trained for that in Los Angeles. I practiced that sliding kick to bringing the fight to the ground with my stand up coach. He couldn’t make it for here for this fight.
Thanks to my strength James, my heart rate didn’t even get to 100; I didn’t even break a sweat.
(Front L-R front row and standing) Royler, Royce, Pedro, Rolker, and Rodrigo.
Royce gets a phone call from his wife, shortly after the press conference begins.
There were some interesting things that happened during the post fight interviews:
1) Karam Ibrahim did not participate in the post fight interviews. Actually when we were told he was coming out, he and his training partner walked quickly past the interview area and headed out. There was a bit of confusion and the K-1 rep tried to get him back but he left.
She later told us he was going to the hospital and would be back later. However, at the time, I had the feeling that he just wanted to leave and not comment on his loss. If you read my article covering the press conference the day before the event, he stated that he hated losing.
2) Some of the fighters slipped up during the interview and began talking about future events and fights that K-1 hasn’t even officially announced yet. This was pretty funny because the K-1 rep asked all of us to ignore this information. She actually looked embarrassed and nervous that we heard something that we shouldn’t of. I was waiting for her to zap us with some kind of memory eraser like they had in the movie Men in Black. “Please look directly at the light.”
K-1 same day delayed broadcast on pubic Japanese TV:
I spoke to some of my friends who watched K-1 on delayed same day, free public Japanese TV. Who by the way, were extremely jealous of the fact that I was able to be there live. Anyways….they informed me that they didn’t see the following matches or even highlights Carol Uno V. Chandet Sorpantrey, Don Frye V. Yoshihiro Nakao, and The Predator V. Kristof Midoux.
It should be noted that The Predator V. Kristof Midoux fight was held before the opening ceremony. I’m not sure the reasoning for this. Perhaps K-1 used this fight to test the waters -- the fighters’ abilities and marketability as well. In regards to the other two fights, I’m only speculating here, but it could be contract restrictions with other organizations that prevented them from showing their fights on delayed public TV, here in Japan. Whether or not those same restrictions will apply to the delayed PPV broadcast outside of Japan, I guess you guys can tell me. I don’t recall K-1 saying anything formally about this at the press conference and I never bothered to ask since I didn’t know, and it didn’t cross my mind, until I was told by friends who saw it on TV. Again, the reasoning's are pure speculation on my part.
Hody’s after thoughts and general impressions:
Overall, I have to admit, I really enjoyed this event. K-1 spared no expense; literally, they shelled out some serious money to secure the fighters on this card. While many non-Japanese MMA fans might not understand why K-1 would bother getting Akebono, the Japanese fans do. Akebono is huge here – huge as in popularity and not just size. Win or lose they want to see Akebono (a former Sumo Yokozuna). Reaching the top rank of Yokozuna is no easy feat, especially for a foreigner.
I was impressed with how Sean O’ Haire conducted himself before and after the fight, always giving props to Musashi and his fighting ability. I could sense some vocal flair and excitement when he spoke, perhaps attributed to his WWE days, minus the showmanship. He never brought up his pro wrestling days, which is to his credit, considering that Japanese love pro wrestling. I really believe that he will try to make a solid name for himself in the world of MMA. Whether he reaches the top or the goals that he sets for himself – only time, and as he says “experience”, will tell. I wish him all the best.
I was never a big fan of Musashi before today. However, after meeting him and seeing how professional and polite he is, I’ve become a fan. I will watch his future fights with great interest. If memory serves me correctly, his gym is not too far from my house. If I can find some more free time, I’m considering cross training there to improve my striking – to compliment my Shooto and BJJ training.
Yoshihiro Akiyama is another fighter to keep your eyes on. This man is awesome – a monster. I predict he will have a bright future in MMA. Take a look at his Judo accomplishment on K-1’s site. Yoshihro's Judo Profile
It’s too early to say that he’s going to the next champ in the world of MMA, but I’m sure he’s going to be making his way to the top at a fast pace.
The comments made by Cyril Abidi made me question if his fight was real or entertainment. Also the comments made by Francois Botha, “I didn’t know I was doing MMA for this show, I thought I was doing pro wrestling. A week ago they told me MMA.” I hope K-1 continues to stack their events with top quality fights, minus any “entertainment fights”. I believe 100% that Francois Botha’s fight was real. He simply didn’t have enough time to prepare for MMA rules and was over matched by Akiyama’s skills.
Hody’s final words:
K-1 put on one hell of a show. The whole experience of being there live and having a press pass was simply – Awesome! I look forward to future K-1 shows and look forward to them going head to head with Pride again on New Year’s Eve 2005.
I'll be giving away a few things that I got at the K-1 event. Rules and conditions for the give away will be posted in the MMA forum. You will have to be a member to access the forum and be eligible. Membership is free.
Hody Jae Huh
*Translation by Toshiko Masago
*Photos by David Moskowitz and Hody Jae Huh
Other articles and interviews written by Hody Jae Huh. Please click on the below underlined hyperlinks to read the full article.
Interviews
Nakao, Jutaro Interview
Nakakura, Takahashi Interview
Mishima, Dokonjonosuke Interview
Ryan Bow Interview
Bas Rutten Interview
MA Question of the Month (Guest Writer)
Training
Training MMA in Japan (Part 1)
Training MMA in Japan (Part 2)
Training MMA in Japan (Part 3)
Inside Look: PRIDE Audio Broadcast Team
* Article by Hody Jae Huh, Team IronLife.com Staff Writer & Mod @ www.IronLife.com.
* Back to This Issue's Frontpage
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