HERO’S Return: Sakuraba Takes Easy Win

HERO'S, K-1's mixed martial arts offshoot, has had a bit of a rocky road as of late. Between the absence of star fighters Norifumi Yamamoto (Pictures), who's off pursuing his Olympic wrestling dreams, and Genki Sudo (Pictures), retired to adopt a music and television career, it's fair to say that the promotion has seen better times.

But despite the shuffling of its ranks during the past months, K-1 HERO'S still had its proverbial ace up the sleeve, namely MMA demigod Kazushi Sakuraba (Pictures).

Sakuraba's short tenure in K-1 since his defection from PRIDE has certainly been interesting. First came the Japanese fighter's nearly disastrous debut against a largely underestimated Kestutis Smirnovas (Pictures), which brought K-1's officiating into serious question. Then only a few short months later, controversy struck again as K-1 HERO'S middleweight grand prix champion Yoshihiro Akiyama (Pictures) was reprimanded for applying skin lotion prior to his fight with "The Gracie Hunter" on New Year's Eve.

Sakuraba vehemently protested both during and after the bout that Akiyama was slippery, and despite K-1's later declaration of a No Contest and an indefinite suspension for Akiyama, one had to wonder if the Japanese legend would turn his back on his new company for good.

But that was then and this is now. It seems that the two sides have made up and Sakuraba is back in the K-1 fold. Perhaps as a welcome back gift, the HERO'S brass decided to match their star fighter against Juri Kiselov, a fighter with only two official matches on his record, both of which were losses.

To just about no one's surprise Monday night on Nagoya, Japan, this fight did not last long. Just seconds after the opening bell Sakuraba got a single-leg takedown at the ropes. After taking a few shots to the top of the head in the guard, the Japanese legend passed to the side and threw on an armbar attempt. Kiselov managed to roll with the technique and get to his feet, but Sakuraba held on to his right arm and triangled his legs, preventing the Ukrainian from escaping.

Sakuraba manipulated the arm until Kiselov eventually fell back into the armbar that he had worked to avoid. With the technique fully extended, the referee came in and stopped the fight.

After succumbing to Gesias Calvancanti (Pictures) in the finals of last year's HERO'S lightweight championship, popular K-1 fighter and UFC veteran Caol Uno (Pictures) squared off against MMA newcomer Ali Ibrahim, a cousin of Egyptian Olympic Freestyle Wrestling gold medalist Karam Ibrahim (Pictures).

Ibrahim looked good early on, getting a takedown and raining down some strong punches from the half-guard. But the experienced Uno weathered the storm and eventually made his move, swinging his legs around and catching the Egyptian in an armbar from the bottom.

Ibrahim struggled to escape, but eventually fell back to the mat, where Uno secured the technique and fully extend his opponents arm to forcing a referee stoppage.

Following back-to-back losses to Kultar Gill (Pictures) and Ivan Menjivar (Pictures), Hideo Tokoro (Pictures) managed to rally back and score two victories to close out 2006. For his first match of this year, the popular MMA fighter was supposed to face Katsuhiko Nagata, but those plans were derailed when the Japanese wrestler sustained an injury. As a replacement, K-1 put him up against Seido Kaikan Karate fighter Kazuya Yasuhiro (Pictures).

Yasuhiro, a regular in the K-1 MAX kickboxing show, seems to unfortunately always be thrown in against top-notch wrestlers and grapplers whenever he competes in MMA. His opponents know to stay away from his hands and take advantage of his underdeveloped ground game.

The same happened tonight as, after a bit of initial jousting, Tokoro landed a single-leg takedown and quickly took the mount. Yasuhiro tried to bridge out, but fell into a triangle for his efforts. After struggling to escape he eventually fell to his back, allowing Tokoro to secure an armbar for the tapout victory.

Cage Rage lightweight champion Vitor Ribeiro (Pictures) made his long awaited jump to the major leagues as he squared off against U-File Camp's Ryuki Ueyama (Pictures).

"Shaolin" looked very good, basically putting on a grappling clinic for the audience. The Nova Uniao fight put Ueyama down with a single-leg takedown and quickly passed guard, climbing to the back of his turtled opponent and finally transitioning for an armbar. Ueyama managed to roll to avoid the technique, but Ribeiro followed and eventually sunk it in, getting the tapout victory early in the first.

Slugfest of the night award goes to K-1 Hero's veteran Hiroyuki Takaya (Pictures) and Chute Boxe's Andre Dida. These guys really went at it tooth and nail. About halfway into their war, Takaya ate a hard uppercut to the face, causing blood to stream from his nose. After a quick doctor's check the pair were pounding it out again.

After a brief time on the mat, the lightweights were back trading leather. Both fighters landed good shots, but it seemed like Takaya was the one who received the most damage. With his eyes puffy and blood streaming from his nose again, the former Shooto fighter was directed by the referee to the corner for a doctor's check were it was determined he could no longer continue, giving Dida his first win on Japanese soil.

Former Japanese Olympic wrestler Kazuyuki Miyata (Pictures) has continued on since getting his jaw broken by a flying knee against "Kid" Yamamoto last year. This time around he was in against Canadian Kultar Gill (Pictures), known for his sharp knees as well.

After playing a patient game, perhaps weary of the big knee that Gill used to knock out Hideo Tokoro (Pictures) when he came rushing in at him last year, Miyata scored a takedown at the ropes. From here Gill worked a nice armbar from his back, which Miyata had to slam his way out of, but eventually worked his way to side.

Gill did a good job of rolling with Miyata to escape submission attempts, but as he bucked to escape a Kimura, he fell into a side choke from which he couldn't get away from, forcing a tap.

K-1 HERO'S Middleweight Grand Prix finalist Melvin Manhoef (Pictures) basically beat up on Yoshiki Takahashi (Pictures). The tough Pancrase veteran kept going for takedowns and though sometimes close, he just couldn't seem to get "Marvelous" Melvin to the mat.

After the takedown attempts, Manhoef opened up with charging flurries of punches and kicks, eventually scoring a beauty of a body punch that sent Takahashi to the mat. Manhoef began to rain punches from behind his turtled opponent until the referee stepped in to stop the fight.

K-1 kickboxer Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga showed Min Soo Kim (Pictures) what his right hand was all about in the Samoan-American's debut MMA match. After a bit of jostling in the clinch, "Mighty Mo" connected with a hellacious right hand that sent Kim stumbling to the ropes. More wild haymakers follow until the heavyweight bomber finally put his opponent to sleep with another big right hand in the corner.

Jan Nortje (Pictures) pounded on his buddy Gary Goodridge (Pictures) in the corner for a good portion of their match-up. However, Goodridge eventually worked his way out of the corner and scored a takedown from the clinch. On the mat, he worked Norte over from the side until the referee called an end to the fight.

Former pro wrestler Yoshihisa Yamamoto (Pictures) may really need to consider a career change after his loss against fellow Katsuyori Shibata. Shibata connected with a right-hand counter after a kick, knocking Yamamoto down to all fours. Shibata followed up with punches until the referee stopped the fight. The whole affair lasted little more than 10 seconds. With this loss, the 37-year-old's record drops to a dismal 6-16.