MMA in Japan

The fight card for December 31st 2009 looks like this. . .Main Event:
18. K-1 (5×3 minutes, 1×3 ext.):Masato vs. Andy Souwer
17. Dream (3×5min): Gegard Mousasi vs. 23-19-1 Gary Goodridge

16. DREAM vs. SRC: Shinya Aoki 22-4-0 vs. 12-3-1 Mizuto Hirota
15. DREAM vs. SRC: Alistair Overeem 31-11-0 vs. 15-8-0 Kazuyuki Fujita

14. Sengoku: Satoshi Ishii vs. Hidehiko Yoshida

13. DREAM vs. SRC: Norifumi “KID” Yamamoto 17-2-0 vs. 15-7-5 Masanori Kanehara
12. DREAM vs. SRC: Tatsuya Kawajiri 25-5-2 vs. 11-2-3 Kazunori Yokota
11. DREAM vs. SRC: Hideo Tokoro 25-21-1 vs. 21-10-3 Jong Man Kim
10. DREAM vs. SRC: Melvin Manhoef 23-6-1 vs. 22-9-2 Kazuo Misaki
9. DREAM vs. SRC: Hayato “Mach” Sakurai 35-9-2 vs. 30-15-7 Akihihiro Gono
8. DREAM vs. SRC: Hiroyuki Takaya 12-7-1 vs. 8-8-1 Michihiro Omigawa
7. DREAM vs. SRC: Katsuyori Shibata 4-6-1 vs. 0-1-0 Hiroshi Izumi

K-1 Koshien (Highschool) Tournament Final:
6. Final: Winner of SF 1 vs. Winner of SF 2

5. K-1: Ray Sefo vs. Yosuke Nishijima
4. Super Hulk Tournament Final: Minowaman vs. Sokoudjou

K-1 Koshien (Highschool) Tournament Semi-Finals:
3. SF 2: Katsuki Ishida vs. Shota Shimada
2. SF 1:Hiroya vs. Masaaki Noiri
1. Reserve: Ryuya Kusakabe vs. Tsukasa Fujii

Mostly MMA-rule fights with a few K-1-rule fights.

Satoshi Ishii has been quite publicly vocal about his confidence in general, and ease of victory over his Judo senior, Hidehiko Yoshida. I think there’s a good chance Ishii will get schooled but I do know he’ll be giving it 100%. Yoshida has never been a push over, his fight record boasts experience. Oh, and there’s the 17-year age difference to add an extra zing to it.

Minowa-man is big with fans and never gives less than his best so this Super Hulk Tournament final is highly anticipated. A rather entertaining video clip of him training for this fight can be seen here.

Masato, his retirement fight and with his incredible popularity, is sure to give the people his heart in the ring on New Year’s Eve!

**UPDATE**

Kazuo Misaki admitted being very nervous and unsure how to approach this fight. That coupled with Melvin Manhoef’s ferocious speed and power could make an interesting battle.