TOKYO, March 15 — Despite two big last-minute fighter cancellations, the K-1 organization was able to hold the ship together and stage the fourth incarnation of its MMA series, HERO’s, at the Nippon Budokan in Central Tokyo.
Generally when you go to a fight show as part of the press, the officials at the sign-in desk give you a bunch of photocopied pages stapled together called “the press kit.” This handout contains the press rules, match order and fighter’s information.
But the press kit at this event had a curious addition at the bottom of the fight line-up, a box entitled “Regarding to the 8th Match Special Rules,” which basically stated that the fighters were permitted to wear a “fight costume” during the match so long as it didn’t give either an unfair advantage.
Fight costume? Did Halloween come early this year? Bewildered, I looked at the fight order and found that the Genki Sudo (Pictures)-Ole Laursen bout was scheduled as the eighth match. All the pieces were starting to come together now. Sudo has had some pretty elaborate ring entrances in the past, but to the best of my knowledge he has never actually worn a costume during a fight. At this point I could only imagine what the “Neo Samurai” had in mind.
Sudo’s ring entrance didn’t disappoint. Coming out dressed an old “Drunken Kung-fu” master, accompanied by several of his disciples, a dance routine worthy of Jamiroqui followed. Then the whole entourage made its way down to the ringside. Upon entering the ring, the crowd was quite surprised and amused when Sudo left his outfit on.
Laursen, a Muay Thai stylist in his first pro mixed martial arts bout, wasn’t given much of a chance against his unorthodox Japanese opponent. As the bell rang to start the first, Sudo came out of his corner with his usual theatrics of a low, sideways stance and waving arms. These gestures didn’t faze Laursen, who charged when Sudo turned his back to him after throwing a technique and put the Japanese fighter to the ground, taking half guard.
The wily Sudo went for an ankle lock, but Laursen knew enough to roll with the technique and escape. After another exchange, the Neo Samurai jumped up onto a standing Laursen’s back, then attempted to transition to what appeared to be another leg submission, only to fall into the guard. Both fighters got to their feet and Laursen hammered knees into Sudo’s legs from the clinch to finish the round.
Coming out for the second, Sudo decided to take off the top of his costume, but left on the pants. The Japanese fighter scored several takedowns and transitioned between positions well. But Laursen really pushed the action, inflicting damage by effectively punching from the top, at one point almost looking like he was seconds away from a punch-out victory.
The fight went the full two, five-minute scheduled rounds and the judges ruled the bout a draw and called for an extra round.
Sudo sealed the victory in the final round, once again using his impressive wrestling technique to score takedowns, often getting side-control. In the final minute, the Japanese fighter applied a step-over triangle from the top, pinning Laursen to the mat. Sudo sat up on the technique and rained down punches to the Danish fighter’s body. Laursen held on until the final bell, but Sudo walked away with the unanimous decision.
Sudo seemed to have hurt his knee on the final triangle; he limped from the ring and was later seen with a large tensor bandage wrapped around it.
American fighter Rich Clementi (Pictures), coming in three and a half pounds above the contracted weight limit of 154 pounds, was deducted one point at the start of his match against Japanese MMA veteran Caol Uno (Pictures). This was Uno’s first fight back since his disappointing loss due to a cut at HERO’s 3.
After some clinch work in the corner, Clementi scored the takedown and eventually took Uno’s back, only to have the Japanese fighter twist back into his guard. From here the former SHOOTO champion rained down punches for the rest of the round.
The second round saw much of the same, with Uno firing down punches from the top. Falling to the mat with his opponent behind him, the Japanese fighter had a decent Kimura attempt. Later Clementi pulled off a strong reversal to get back to his feet and into a clinch.
As this one ended after the allotted two rounds, I remember thinking that it was a shame that this fight was so short. Uno looked the busier of the two, but this really should have been at least three rounds. The fight went to the judges and the decision justifiably went to Uno.
ZST veteran Hideo Tokoro (Pictures), coming off a nasty knockout at the hands of Erikas Petraitis (Pictures) last month at ZST 9, need only 49 seconds to dispose of Kyokushin Karate fighter Yoshinori Ikeda. While being highly regarded in Karate circles, this was only Ikeda’s second MMA fight.
Tokoro came flying out after the bell and immediately went for a takedown. From here he got the mount, walked a leg up past Ikeda’s shoulder and rolled back for a triangle. The Karate fighter held on for a bit, but the triangle was too tight and the referee stopped the fight when it was clear that Ikeda couldn’t escape.
So now, just as PRIDE has its four aces of Bushido — Takanori Gomi (Pictures), Hayato Sakurai (Pictures), Ryo Chonan (Pictures), and Ikuhisa Minowa (Pictures) — K-1 has four aces of HERO’s: Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures), Genki Sudo (Pictures), Caol Uno (Pictures) and Hideo Tokoro (Pictures). The promotion has obviously decided to have these four fighters carry the cross of HERO’s, using them to counter DSE’s promotional move and market this event to the public.