There have been alot of additions and one major change to the upcoming K-1 HERO'S 2007 Middleweight World Championship Tournament Final. One of the new Super Fights announced features Japanese MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba going up against former pro wrestler Katsuyori Shibata.
Both fighters are coming off of losses against members of the Gracie family. Sakuraba had a controversial loss to Royce Gracie at K-1 Dynamite!! USA in June of this year. Royce test positive for steroids after the match, yet the win still stands.
Shibata fought a much less experienced member of the legendary family when he took on Ralek Gracie at the last K-1 HERO'S event in July. Ralek was making his MMA debut in that match. It didn't take long for his Gracie Jui Jitsu to set in though. He easily submitted Shibata in the 1st round. Shibata is looking to make a name for himself now against Sakuraba.
In another Super Fight on the card, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto will make his return to the K-1 HERO'S ring to battle Bibiano Ferdnandes.
"Kid" has been training for the 2008 Olympics lately. He will be fighting this match at 67 kg(138 lbs), which is a first for him in K-1. Normally he takes on the 154lbers. Fernandes shouldn't be much of a test for the much more experienced and proven Yamamoto, but these days in MMA, you never know. I see "Kid" taking this one by KO/TKO sometime in the 1st round though.
"Kid" has been training for the 2008 Olympics lately. He will be fighting this match at 67 kg(138 lbs), which is a first for him in K-1. Normally he takes on the 154lbers. Fernandes shouldn't be much of a test for the much more experienced and proven Yamamoto, but these days in MMA, you never know. I see "Kid" taking this one by KO/TKO sometime in the 1st round though.
Also on the card we will see two former PRIDE fighters battle it out in Zelg Galesic and Dong Sik Yoon.
Galesic is coming in off of a loss to Makato Takimoto at PRIDE 34. He happened to just sign with PRIDE right before they were sold to the UFC. He's been waiting to fight since then. Now he gets his chance to feature his abilities in K-1 HERO'S.
Yoon on the other hand is coming in off of the first win of his career, which was a shocking upset over Melvin Manhoef at K-1 Dynamite!! USA. Yoon has had it rough throughout his career, facing fighters that are considered much better competition. He looks to make it two upsets in a row when he faces the very dangerous Croatian fighter.
And finally, the major change I spoke of earlier is that the previously mentioned Ralek Gracie will now not be fighting Ikuhisa Minowa on the card. He has been replaced by Rickson Gracie trained fighter Kevin Casey. It will be an open weight match, and Casey's MMA debut.
Full Card:
9/17/07-Yokohama Arena, Kanagawa, Japan
Tournament Matches
-Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti vs. Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro
-Caol Uno vs. Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill
Super Fights
-Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Katsuyori Shibata
-Dong Sik Yoon vs. Zelg Galesic
-Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto vs. Bibiano Fernandes
-Ikuhisa "MINOWAMAN" Minowa vs. Kevin Casey
Team Sakurabatake vs. U-File
-Takenori Sato vs. Kenji Nagai
-Wataru Takahashi vs. Tashiro Nishiuchi
