DREAM 8 was held last night, with Hayato Sakurai defeating Shinya Aoki with a huge KO in the first round. While this does not bode well for Aoki's placement among the top 3 lightweights, there is no denying that he fights the best in the world, event after event. Look at three of his last five fights: Sakurai, Alvarez, Hansen. Check out full results here.
Meanwhile, Martin Kampmann showed that he belongs in the UFC (as a top welterweight) with a convincing decision over former WEC champion Carlos Condit. Check out full results here.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Around The Horn: Dream 8, Fight Night Results
Monday, December 31, 2007
Yarennoka! Results
No big surprises here...Fedor and most of the lightweights rolled with the noted exception of Gilbert Melendez, who lost his decision.
* Shinya Aoki def. Jung Bu-Kyung via unanimous decision
* Hayato Sakurai def. Hidehiko Hasegawa via unanimous decision
* Fedor Emelianenko def. Hong Man Choi via submision (arm-bar) — Round 1, 1:54
* Kazuo Misaki def. Yoshihiro Akiyama via TKO (strikes) — Rond 1, 7:48
* Mitsuhiro Ishida def. Gilbert Melendez via unanimous decision
* Makoto Takimoto def. Murilo Bustamante via split decision
* Tatsuya Kawajiri def. Luiz Azeredo via unanimous decision
* Michael Russow def. Roman Zentsov via submission (choke) — Round 1, 2:58
Yarennoka! Preview
A bevy of former PRIDE fighters will meet tonight in a joint venture between M-1 and old PRIDE executives. In another twist of joint programming, the fights will be shown on Mark Cuban's HDNet.
Even though JZ Calvancante was forced to pull out of the event, top fighters Tatsuya Kawajiri, Gilbert Melendez, Shinya Aoki, and Hayato Sakurai (three of which are IWF ranked) will be at the event, although none facing one another. Wins on their parts should help their rankings, which have recently fallen due to inactivity.
Top HW Fedor Emelianenko will also be in attendance, facing Hong Man Choi in the night's main event.
(Heavyweight): Roman Zentsov vs. Mike Russow
(Lightweight): Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Luiz Azeredo
(Middleweight): Makoto Takimoto vs. Murilo Bustamante
(Lightweight): Gilbert Melendez vs. Mitsuhiro Ishida
(Middleweight): Kazuo Misaki vs Yoshihiro Akiyama
(Lightweight): Hayato Sakurai vs. Hidehiko Hasegawa
(Lightweight): Shinya Aoki vs. Bu-kyung Jung
(Heavyweight): Fedor Emelianenko vs. Hong-Man Choi
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Aoki-Calvancante Fight Taken Off M-1 Card
The highly anticipated match up between Shinya Aoki and JZ Calvancante, two IWF-ranked fighters, has been canceled, according to this Sherdog report. Don't fear, MMA fans! The card still features two IWF-ranked fighters in Gilbert Melendez (also #9 P4P) and Hayato Sakurai in separate fights.
It's still unclear as to why the fight has been taken off the card, although it's possible that recent surgery performed on JZ may be the case. As recently as December 5th, both fighters were still talking as though it was going to happen. Despite these conjectures, nothing has been confirmed.
The event still features, in addition to the Fedor-Choi laughstock, a collection of some of the brightest Lightweights and Welterweights in the world.
Gilbert Melendez and Hayato Sakurai will have more than their hands full when they meet Mitsuhiro Ishida and Hidehiko Hasegawa, respectively. In another interesting fight, formerly ranked Lightweight Tatsuya Kawajiri will look to rebound from a recent loss and gain his place back on our top ten.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Chuck Liddell Talks Keith Jardine
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell speaks out about his upcoming opponent, Keith Jardine, for UFC 76. Liddell explains to MMA fans out there that he "never hand-picks his opponents."
After numerous attempts of a dream match between Wanderlei Silva and Chuck Liddell fell through, Keith Jardine was chosen to be Chuck's opponent for UFC 76. Rumors then began to surface about Chuck ducking UFC newcomer Hayato Sakurai and hand-picking Keith Jardine for UFC 76.
Reports had also stated that Chuck was offered matchups against Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, Kazauhiro Nakamura, Lyoto Machida or Keith Jardine.
Liddell spoke to MMAWeekly.com denying all allegations about hand-picking Jardine and/or ducking opponents.
Liddell told MMAWeekly this:"I've never hand-picked an opponent. I'm not going to. There would be no reason to hand-pick Jardine. The only time I've ever asked for a guy is when I asked to fight Kevin Randleman because I wanted to fight a guy that had a name at the time because they kept giving me guys as little known as I was. I think that's the only time I've ever asked for someone specifically."
Sounds rather convincing to me. Chuck Liddell has never seemed the type to "choose" or duck opponents. Liddell has beaten a who's who of fighters and I find it hard to believe that he'd start backing out of fights now.
"They talked to me about fighting Wanderlei in September, and I said, 'Yeah, that's fine. Cool. Perfect.' Then I heard it fell out. I assumed they were going to put me with Shogun [Rua] because I knew he was on the same card. I figured they would put me with Shogun, but they came to me and said they wanted me to fight Keith. I'm not complaining. I don't argue with people about who I'm going to fight. I fight whoever they tell me to."
UFC 76: Knockout is scheduled for September 22, 2007 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. Other confirmed fights on the card include light heavyweight Mauricio "Shogun" Rua's debut against Forrest Griffin as well as a welterweight showdown between Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez and Jon Fitch.
The Lianger
Friday, June 8, 2007
Let the goodness seep in…
According to www.mmahq.com, Diego “The Nightmare” Sanchez will be going toe to toe with Pride FC fighter Hayato “Mach” Sakurai at UFC 74 in August.
Hayato Sakurai is an outstanding Japanese mixed marital artist with an impressive record of (30-7-2). Sakurai holds recent wins over: Joachim Hansen, Jens Pulver and Shinya Aoki, just to name a few. Sakurai did compete at UFC 36 against Matt Hughes, but couldn’t overcome Hughes’ overwhelming power and was stopped via TKO in the fourth round. Sakurai is well versed in his techniques and at one time considered pound for pound one of the greatest fighters.
I think Diego Sanchez needs no introduction, but what the hell. Sanchez gained much popularity on The Ultimate Fighter television series with his “unique” ways (i.e. Yoga, utilizing ‘Chi’ or energy from the earth). Sanchez is best known for this nearly flawless record, with the exception of his recent loss to Josh Koscheck. Horrendous fight by the way, nice display of immense improved striking from Koscheck’s part however. Hm, maybe Sanchez’s poor, to say the least, performance was due to him…I don’t know, TESTING POSITIVE FOR HEPATITIS C, I kid. That’s what they originally believed it to be. It was later confirmed by doctors that Diego had a severe staph infection and had a hole in his thigh the "size of a coffee cup.”Anyhow, this should be a SOLID matchup if it proves to be true. God, I hope it is. I will definitely be pulling for Sakurai. Sakurai is certainly no pushover and Diego should have his hands full with this one. I hope both fighters come focused, hepatitis and staph infection free and ready to bang. Let’s hope Sanchez doesn’t try to push Sakurai off the stage at the weigh-ins.
Stay classy fans,
The Lianger Read More...
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