K-1 World MAX 2010 Japan Tournament 3/27/2010 Re-Cap

K-1 World MAX 2010 Japan Tournament
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama, Japan
March 27, 2010
HDNet (aired 4/2/2010)

"The Voice" Michael Schiavello is joined by Mike Kogan as the announce crew. Tonight we will see a mini-tournament with the winner advancing to the MAX Final 16. I have not seen much K-1 so I will probably be learning a lot as I watch this show. I think this will be the 2nd full K-1 show I've seen. Schiavello tells us that these Japan Tournaments have seen a lot of knockouts in the past so we could be in for the same here tonight. K-1 International Rules are 3 minute rounds x 3 rounds with 1 extra round in case of a draw. 2 knockdowns in 1 round under tournament rules constitutes a TKO. A win is decided by KO, TKO or Judges Decision. The gloves worn are 6 ozs to 10 ozs depending on who is fighting (only flyweights wear the 6ozs, heavyweights wear the 10ozs).

70 kg Japan Tournament Quarterfinal Fight #1- Ryuji vs. Yasuhiro Kido

Kido is a former K-1 MAX Japan Champion.

R1- Ryuji hit Kido with a short right hand in the corner early and Kido took a standing count from the ref. Kido opened up and landed some nice strikes. Both guys landing good shots. Kido's nose has been busted open. Kido swept Ryuji's feet out from under him at the end of the round. Really strong opening round.

R2- Good action in the second round. Looked pretty even. Kogan says Kido needs a knockout in the third round to win.

R3- Ryuji hit a nice right hand and Kido responded by kneeing him in the balls. Both guys throwing some good strikes in the final round. This one goes to the judges score cards. First judge went to Ryuji, second judge called it a draw and third judge went to Ryuji. Schiavello calls this a "major" upset. Ryuji advances to the semi-finals.

Winner: Ryuji by Decision (Majority)

70 kg Japan Tournament Quarterfinal Fight #2- Yuji Nashiro vs. Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima (14-5)

Schiavello says Nagashima is a "controversial cross-dresser". This should be interesting. The winner of this fight will face Ryuji in the semi-finals. Nagashima is 1-3 in K-1 with 1 knockout. Nagashima has a 77% KO ratio. Nagashima is coming into this fight on a three fight losing streak all lost by knockout.

R1- Nagashima dropped Nashiro very quickly with a big left hand and Nashiro got a standing 8 count. These guys are really going after each other. Nashiro nailed another left hand and this one is over in under a minute. Kogan points out that he's not a cross-dresser he just likes to dress up in character. Schiavello says that in Austrailia they call that a cross-dresser and Kogan agrees that in the US we do to.

Winner: Yuichiro Nagashima by TKO R1 0:39

70 kg Japan Tournament Quarterfinal Fight #3- Hiroki Nakajima vs. Tatsuji

Tatsuji is a 2-time Japan Tournament runner-up.

R1- Really even round with some good action.

R2- Tatsuji got knocked down early in the round and got a standing 8 count and then immediately got knocked down again. Both knock downs looked somewhat questionable. On the second knock down it looked like he just fell moving backward without being struck.

Winner: Hiroki Nakajima by TKO R2

70 kg Japan Tournament Quarterfinal Fight #4- Hinata vs. Yuya Yamamoto

Yamamoto is 5-2 in his last 7 and is considered among the favorites to take this tournament. Schiavello calls him the "sponge" because he can take a lot of damage.

R1- Hinata is landing some good strikes early but Yamamoto keeps coming forward. Hinata 10-9 in the first round.

R2- Hinata continues to land strikes on Yamamoto. Looks like Yamamoto is going to need to finish in order to win this fight.

R3- Yamamoto taking lots of shots to the head. Hinata is getting tired and Yamamoto is starting to land some more strikes but there is only one minute left in the fight. Yamamoto is going to take this one and two of the favorites in this tournament are already gone after the first round. Yamamoto will advance to take on Nakajima in the semi-finals.

Winner: Yuya Yamamoto by Decision (Unanimous)

Super Fight- DJ Taiki vs. Kazuhisa Watanabe

Watanabe is a former boxing champion and Taiki has been fighting MMA recently. Watanabe has a pro boxing record of 15-3 with 8 knockouts. This is Taiki's K-1 debut. Taiki's MMA record is 11-6-3.

R1- Watanabe is short but explosive. He's putting a lot of power behind his punches and tried a spinning back fist but whiffed and ended up on the ground. Pretty even round. Watanabe is throwing bombs but hasn't really hit anything yet.

R2- Taiki is hitting a lot of leg kicks. Watanabe still throwing bombs but really not landing anything.

R3- Taiki continues to inflict damage on Watanabe's legs. Watanabe is really limping at this point. Give this fight to Taiki.

Winner: DJ Taiki by Decision (Unanimous)

70 kg Japan Tournament Semi-Final Fight #1- Ryuji vs. Yuchiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima

R1- Nagashima lands some good strikes and got Ryuji on the ropes and floored him with punches. Nagashima cornered Ryuji again and just landed punches until Ryuji couldn't stand up anymore. Really strong showing by Nagashima and he's had 2 short fights so far so he's no doubt the favorite to win the final.

Winner: Yuchiro Nagashima by TKO R1 1:44

70 kg Japan Tournament Semi-Final Fight #2- Hiroki Nakajima vs. Hinata

R1- Hinata is throwing lots of leg kicks early but he got destroyed by a right hand and took a face plant into the mat and could not answer the 10 count.

Winner: Hiroki Nakajima by KO R1 0:58

Yuuki vs. Shintaro Matsukura

This is from earlier in the show while the fans were still filling into the event. Yuuki has a sweet mullet.

R1-Shintaro looks good early and is landing some nice strikes. Pretty good first round and Shintaro looks good so far. Both of these kids are under 20.

R2- Both guys just threw down about half way through the round and Shintaro dropped Yuuki and he got the standing 8 count. Shintaro knocked him down again about 10 seconds after he got up. Really good showing by Shintaro.

Winner: Shintaro Matsukura by TKO R2

Yojiro Uchimura vs. Hiroyuki Owatari

This is another under-card fight. Yojiro is wearing some sweet purple tights.

R1- Owatari really started to land good strikes towards the end of the round and the ref gave Uchimura a standing 8 count. Owatari caught him again and knocked him down.

R2- Owatari continued his onslaught at the beginning of this round. Owatari landed a good counter punch that floored Uchimura and that was all she wrote.

Winner: Hiroyuki Owatari by TKO R2

Luis Kubozono vs. Yukihiro Komiya

This is another pre-show fight. Schiavello and Kogan admire Kubozono's hairy chest before the fight.

R1- Komiya hit a big right hand and got a knock down with about 50 seconds left in the round.

R2- Komiya has bloodied up Kubozono. Komiya really pulling ahead in this fight.

R3- The doctor stopped this fight with 1:18 left in the fight due to the damage inflicted by Komiya.

Winner: Yukihiro Komiya by TKO (Doctor Stoppage) R3

Super Fight- Kosuke Komiyama vs. Takehero Murahama

Back to the regular show now. I'm pretty sure this is the same Murahama that wrestled (or could still be wrestling for) Osaka Pro in Japan. If you are a pro wrestling fan run, don't walk, to your nearest google search bar and find a video of the Takehiro Murahama/Jushin Thunder Liger versus Naomichi Marufuji/KENTA tag-team match from June of 2003. That was an awesome match that was part of an epic series of tag-team matches for KENTA and Marufuji.

R1- Komiyama has a big height advantage in this fight. Komiyama definitely getting the better of Murahama in the early going as he looks a little lost. Komiyama hit a rolling heel kick that landed. First round definitely in favor of Komiyama.

R2- Komiyama hit a good knee mid-way through the round and quickly followed with another one that floored Murahama and he got a standing 8 count. Komiyama landed a fantastic front kick to the face and the ref stepped in and did a standing 8 count and then stopped the fight.

Winner: Kosuke Komiyama by TKO (Ref Stoppage) R2

Super Fight- Yoshihiro Sato vs. Danilo Zanolini

This was supposed to be Sato versus Giorgio Petrosyan (who is the current K-1 World MAX champion) but Petrosyan dropped out about a week or two ago and said he was having surgery. Schiavello says they don't know a lot about Zanolini. Sato is 15-9 in K-1 MAX and 40-11 overall. This is Zanolini's K-1 debut.

R1- Zanolini is showing a lot of fight early and throwing lots of different kicks. Sato has a big height advantage but isn't using it yet. Sato is landing a lot of leg kicks in the later half of this round. Tough first round to call. Kogan says Sato is a slow starter so it will be interesting to see how much he can turn it up.

R2- Sato is really peppering Zanolini's legs. Sato hit a big knee to the body that floored Zanolini and it looked like he broke a rib and this one is over.

Winner: Yoshihiro Sato by TKO (Ref Stoppage) R2

70kg Japan Tournament Final: Hiroki Nakajima vs. Yuchiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima

This should be a good fight. Nakajima won his first fight in the second round and then dispatched of his second opponent in less than a minute. Nagashima has won both of his fights in the first round. Nakajima is only 21 years old. I feel sorry for Schiavello and Kogan in this one as it's Nakajima versus Nagashima. Gonna be some tongue twisters in this one. Nagashima has lots of dancing Japanese girls in crazy dresses and he comes out in full dress with a broom. Crazy stuff. Apparently the ref in this fight won the Japanese version of Dancing with the Stars!

R1- Nagashima is starting to land some good strikes in he middle of the round. Nagashima landed a round kick to the head but didn't have anything behind it. This is the third fight for both of these guys and they are definitely tired. Lots of wild strikes thrown in the last 10 seconds of the round.

R2- Nagashima went for a flying knee but instead got dropped by a good combo by Nakajima and got a standing 8 count. Nakajima is landing some good strikes. Both guys landing good shots. Really good round. Kogan says he sees it as a 10-9 first round for Nagashima and a 10-8 second round for Nakajima.

R3- The first part of this round was very scrappy with lots of tie-ups. Nagashima landed a big right dropped Nakajima and he could not answer the bell. Good fight.

With this win Nagashima advances to the K-1 World MAX Final 16. Post-fight Nagashima give an emotional tear-filled speech.

Winner: Yuchiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima by KO R3