K-1 “Dynamite: Power of Courage 2010”
Dec. 31, 2010 | Saitama, Japan
The typical MMA fan has seen some violence in his or her day, ranging from broken limbs and blown-out eye sockets to the vicious, gaping cuts we have discussed thus far. Even within that pantheon of gore, however, some things stand out as particularly gruesome.
When all-time great Sakuraba announced his intention to drop to 170 pounds, it felt like the end of an era. So, too, did the card itself, which would go down as the last great New Year’s Eve event in the long declining period of Japanese MMA. Sakuraba would face killer striker Zaromskis, an inconsistent but undeniably talented fighter on the upswing. Commentator Michael Schiavello put fans’ feelings into words: “It may be a miracle if Sakuraba just survives this fight.”
The result was even more disturbing than Schiavello anticipated. Zaromskis nailed Sakuraba’s cauliflower ear and split it open, releasing a stream of blood that required a doctor’s attention. The referee let the fight go on, until a glancing right hand popped the ear almost completely off Sakuraba’s skull.
There have been many other ear-related incidents in MMA -- Shigeyuchi Uchiyama had his ear torn off by the ring ropes, for example, with pieces left on the floor of the ring -- but none matches the sheer bloody horror of the legendary Sakuraba’s ear dangling from his head. It felt like the death knell of big-time Japanese MMA and the symbolic end of an era.
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