K-1 HERO'S is really making an effort to pick up where PRIDE left off. In an effort to make a big splash in the Korean market, they have really loaded up the fight card for the upcoming event that will take place at the Jangchung Gymnasium in Seoul, Korea.
The main event of the card pits two of Korea's top MMA fighters head to head, as PRIDE vet and current SpiritMC heavyweight champion Denis Kang goes up against 2006 HERO'S lightheavyweight champion Yoshihiro Akiyama.
Kang will be making his K-1 HERO'S debut in this fight. He was with PRIDE before they were bought out by Zuffa. He had been negotiating with a few different organizations, but ended up with K-1.
Kang hasn't fought since February, where he claimed the SpiritMC heavyweight title against Junggyu Choi, but also broke his hand. This will be a very tough fight for him to shake off the rust. Luckily for him, his opponent has been out of action event longer.
Akiyama, who has been sidelined since his well publicized "slicking" no contest against Kazushi Sakuraba at K-1 Dynamite!! 2006. Now that the smoke has finally cleared, it's time for Akiyma to get back in the ring and take on one of his toughest tests to date.
In other action, we'll see another Korean favorite in Yoon Dong Sik go up against an explosive striker in Chute Boxe's Fabio Silva.
Sik comes in to the fight after back-to-back impressive wins over Melvin Manhoef and Zelg Galesic. He will look to use his judo and his submission skills to defeat another very tough striker. Silva will pose more of a threat on the ground than Manhoef or Galesic though.
Silva is coming into the fight off of a brutal TKO loss to Melvin Manhoef at the last K-1 HERO'S event. If he can keep the fight standing, I like his chances. If it goes to the ground, I'd have to favor Sik in this one.
Also on the card will be grappling wizard Marcelo Garcia, who is making his MMA debut. He will face Bushido and DEEP vet Dae Won Kim.
Garcia has been training extensively in his striking to get ready for his MMA debut. We already know he has thr ground game to win. He probably won't get to test his striking much against Kim, who has a background in judo and also likes to take it to the ground. I look for Marcelo to take this one by submission.
One fighter on the card that is looking to get back into the winning swing of things is Zelg Galesic. He has had back to back losses against some very tough grapplers. This time he won't have to worry about the ground game as much as he faces a very tough K-1 kickboxer in Taiei Kin.
Kin has had MMA experience as well, but is more known for his kickboxing. He will pose a tough test for Zelg, who was once touted as "the next big thing" by many on the internet. Zelg really needs a win bad here, but he might not want to mix it up too much with Kin.
Finally, we have the return of Carlos Newton to the K-1 HERO'S ring, where he will face Shungo Oyama. This looks to be an easy match for Newton, and should take it by TKO. Oyama just doesn't have it.
Olympia HERO'S Korea 2007
October 28, 2007
Jangchung Gymnasium, Seoul, Korea
-Denis Kang vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama
-Marcelo Garcia vs. Dae Won Kim
-Dong Sik Yoon vs. Fabio Silva-Taiei Kin vs. Zelg Galesic
-Lee Tae Hyun vs. Yoshihisa Yamamoto
-Kim Min Soo vs. Ikuhisa "MINOWAMAN" Minowa
-Shungo Oyama vs. Carlos Newton
-Bernard Ackah vs. Poai Suganuma-Min Suk Heo vs. Katsuyori Shibata
-A Sol Kwon vs. Daisuke Nakamura
-Magomed Sultanakhmadov vs. Eun Soo Lee
-Masanori Tonooka vs. RYO
