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Hero’s Leaves Much to be Desired

TOKYO, March. 26 – Japan has so many things to offer foreigners looking to experiment life in Asia. Besides being one of the most popular countries on this hemisphere, with always something to do for every lifestyle—good food, friendly people, cute girls, video games, magical culture and anime—this island is a dream come true for any explorer.

But nothing is more important to any good MMA fan than the events and TV coverage fight promotions get here. This week I watched the latest SHOOTO event, and tonight I expected to catch the first show from Hero’s, a new promotion under former RINGS’ boss Akira Maeda.

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Now for a little retro feeling. Being a big RINGS fan myself and with high expectations to see what Maeda could do under the new promotion “BIG MOUTH” and K-1, I sat in front of my TV with a big bag of nachos and some “refreshments” ready to witness the revival of the RINGS magic. To my surprise after the first couple of matches, I found myself in disbelief and disappointment.

I can’t offer an opinion of the B.J. Penn-Lyoto Machida fight since this match was not broadcast on Japanese TV. The only thing we can take from this is not to believe all the hype we read on forums and Web sites. Lyoto and Penn are not popular in Japan since both got scratched from the TV broadcast; in this case it’s the second time in a row for Penn because his fight with Duane Ludwig in K-1: Romanex was also left off television.

While North American fans fixated on B.J. Penn's fight at heavyweight against Lyoto Machida, the card’s “main event” featured K-1 veteran Jerome Le Banner facing Judo prodigy Yoshihiro Akiyama.

Now we have Akiyama, with only one MMA fight, facing a K-1 warhorse like Le Banner, who on top of that had fought MMA bouts in the past. At the start Akiyama showed us he still thinks like a judoka, beginning the fight by trying to clinch Le Banner for the takedown. Don’t get me wrong, there is no other way to fight Le Banner when you are a judo champion with zero striking.

Akiyama did score the takedown but was stuck in Le Banner’s closed guard. The only good chance from Akiyama came during a scramble when he caught Le Banner with an armbar. But the lock wasn’t there. After a few minutes Le Banner cracked Akiyama’s game plan and basically caught the Japanese fighter Akiyama with back-to-back knees to the head for the knockout.

What did this fight show us? Nothing. Le Banner was bigger and heavier than Akiyama and it was really clear that after missing the clinch Akiyama had no other game plan at all. And it was just a matter of time for Le Banner to score the KO.

Bob Sapp rushed and pushed Min Soo Kim all over the ring without doing much damage to begin their fight. Kim defended by punching, and was effective, mauling Sapp’s nose in spite of having a reputation as a judo guy with no stand-up game whatsoever.

Following a brief doctor check to take care of Sapp’s bloody nose, Kim was caught by a straight punch on his exposed chin for the knockout. The referee jumped in but Sapp continued his antics, as he tried to punch Kim while pushing away the referee, corners and staff after the bout was clearly over.

A good match up on paper, Sam Greco versus Heath Herring turned into a boring contest, finished by a Herring’ injury. Despite changing teams from Golden Glory to Las Vegas Combat Club, Herring still showed many holes in his techniques, from kicks to how to score takedowns.

Basically, Herring threw a wacky kick, injured a muscle and fell down in pain. The referee stopped the fight and Greco celebrated like he just destroyed “Cro Cop” and Fedor at the same time with both hands tied behind his back.

Alan Karaev probably came to fight Gary Goodridge with only one month’s worth of training, this against a fighter with a ton of MMA experience. It showed when Karaev, after taking down Goodridge, tried to set an arm lock in such a horrible way that basically every proud jiu-jitsu white belt with one month’s training would know how to do.

As one might expect, Goodridge finished him with a forearm choke straight out of the street fights I used to witness outside clubs in Yokohama after a hard drinking night.

In another mismatch that makes you wonder what reason Maeda or K-1 booked this in the first place, MMA veteran Genki Sudo faced legendary Muay Thai fighter Roman Dekker, who’d gone over four years without participating in any sort of martial arts competition. Sudo has been far more active inside MMA, with fights in K-1: Romanex and UFC.

A grappler before trying his hand in K-1 bouts, Sudo got the takedowns and started working from inside Dekker’s guard before sitting back for an ankle lock. To Dekker’s credit he fought back and survived the attack by standing up and punching Sudo’s face and body. From here, Sudo switched to heel hook to send Dekker down and tapping.

Once again this match shows us nothing. In case the fight was under K-1 rules and Sudo manage to get the decision or the knockout over Dekker then I will raise my “refreshment” and nachos to honor the victorious warrior. But to tapout a 35-year-old kickboxing legend with no previous experience in MMA rules should be a crime.

Joachim Hansen scored a stunning victory over Caol Uno in hands down the best fight of the night. Somehow I’m mad because this match belongs inside SHOOTO and not events like Hero’s, but still I’m glad these two fought each other.

Hansen started with kicks but Uno grabbed him to land a takedown. From there, the three-round fight stayed relatively the same, with Uno working hard from the top with punches and kicks and Hansen working hard from the guard with armbar attempts, sweeps and bicycle kicks.

After a sweet grappling exchange between both fighters and with only a few seconds left in the fight, both Uno and Hansen separated. Uno made a mistake by looking at the timer next to the corner while Hansen came in with a powerful knee, which put the Japanese champion to sleep.

The win gives Hansen victories over the most popular fighters in SHOOTO history: Rumina Sato, Takanori Gomi and now Caol Uno. There is not much to say about this fight besides it being one of the best so far in 2005. I’m sure—and I’m thinking way ahead of time— this match will be one of the Top 10 bouts of 2005.

Kazuyuki Miyata faced Ian Schaffa in a good fight, but not one worthy of big events. Miyata has to be the biggest waste of talent so far in MMA—a fighter with such a background in wrestling who can’t execute a good plan or use his wrestling skills in better fashion.

Schaffa was smart to keep attacking even while Miyata scored takedowns. But in today’s game, takedowns are not the only weapon you need to win. I just wonder how Miyata, with such connections inside K-1, is not training with Kid Yamamoto, who is a wrestler with solid MMA skills and actually can teach him a few tips in how to use wrestling for MMA.

Miyata took Schaffa down at will, but was rocked by the Australian a few times standing and didn’t do more damage once he got the fight on the ground. So the judges awarded Schaffa a split decision.

Two “B” class fighters facing each other sometimes equals a very good “B” class fight, but this wasn’t the case when Valentijn Overeem faced Shungo Oyama.

To start Overeem is not the same machine from the his glorious days in the RINGS organization, where he tapped out Randy Couture, Renato Sobral and Brad Kholer. The last four times Overeem fought in Japan he notched an amazing 0-4 record, with three loses by heel hook.

On the other side Shungo Oyama, a former SHOOTO amateur champion with a background in Judo and Sambo, hasn’t scored a win since 2002, when he beat Renzo Gracie in PRIDE 21.

Oyama and Overeem started by feeling each other out with kicks and uppercuts. The judoka scrambled and got the takedown and after a few seconds of struggle, he sunk the heel hook to send Overeem screaming in pain.

Now what this match shows us? Nada. Nulla. Rien. Nothing. Oyama won against a fighter who is not focused on the game anymore and doesn’t deserve to be in the big shows. Big deal.

Was this a great show? In my opinion: no. Was this show good? In my opinion: no. What this the worst idea ever? Once again, in my opinion: no.

Hero’s has the potential and the money to become something good, but I don’t see this happening with K-1 and the Tokyo Broadcasting TV network on top of Maeda, telling him to book mismatches or fighters with no business in the ring.

Hero’s next project is to use RINGS famous format, “World Mega Battle Tournament,” with separate one-night eight-man tournaments, tentatively schedule for June.

To close, I expect to see more of these shows with maybe two or three good matches, like K-1 Romanex. In the future, if Maeda and Co. want to keep using the same format from tonight’s first show, I don’t foresee Takada and Sakakibara along with all the boys working at DSE losing any sleep in fear of serious competition in the Japanese MMA market.

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