One of the controversial problems with the K-1 Premium Dynamite card over the New Year's Eve round of events was that the rules between Yarennoka and K-1 were different, therefore causing confusion throughout the MMA community. A culmination of that very specific problem happened in one matchup at each event, the Akiyama vs. Misaki soccer kick and the Yamamoto vs. Yahya soccer kicks to end the fight. Both were debated as being illegal, and Misaki's win over Akiyama was deemed a no-contest later. Some interesting news surfaced Wednesday regarding the other matchup.

Fight Entertainment Group, K-1's Parent Company, decided to give Yamamoto the win even though he ended the fight by kicking Yahya with soccer kicks to end the fight. Rules for the event were still undetermined to many fans even after the event, but Yahya confirmed in an interview with Sherdog that in fact, soccer kicks were not allowed. It seems like this made a clear cut case for Yahya to have the judgement overturned, but he insisted that he lost fair and square. Apparently, the fight was still under review. Here's the reasoning behind their decision:

In judgement, HERO'S rules director Gen Isono explained that referee Minoru Toyonaga's choice to stop the fight was prompted by seeing Yahya's reaction following the left hook which dropped him to the mat. As the soccer kicks were therefore judged to be subsequent to the referee's choice to stop the fight, they were ruled to have no bearing on the outcome of the bout.

So, they were going to stop the fight after Yahya ate the big left hook, but Yamamoto managed to blast Yahya with soccer kicks before the referee could step in? In my opinion, I think this is incorrect. The referee did make a move to stop the battle, but Yahya was managing to regain position on the ground to begin ascending to his feet when he was struck with the kicks. Once he was struck, the referee then stopped the fight. If you look at the image above, the referee isn't breaking up the fight at the point where Yamamoto's soccer kick lands on Yahya's head. Clearly, he wasn't stopping the fight until after this moment. FEG must have blind mice watching the tapes.

It looks like Yahya got the short straw in this situation. He accepted his defeat already, so it isn't a huge deal for him as far as his record goes. It shows me some incompetence on the part of FEG though, and I don't need more controversy in the Japanese world of MMA, PRIDE brought us enough.

K-1 Premium Dynamite was by far the worst mixed martial arts event over the New Year's Eve extravaganza. It was mainly put together to produce huge ratings, but even failed to put up numbers that they have received in the past. One of the battles on that card, however, was interesting to even hardcore fans. Rani Yahya vs. “Kid” Yamamoto actually pitted two good MMA combatants against each other with K-1 benefiting in “Kid” Yamamoto's popularity in Japan. Young Japanese girls flocked to their TV screens.

Yahya put up a good fight even though he was heavily outmatched in the standup game. Yamamoto's wrestling skills are world renowned as being tough to deal with when trying to take him down. It proved to be Yahya's Achilles heel. Yahya was relegated to standing with Yamamoto and eventually took a flush punch that put him to the mat. This is where the controversy begins.

Yamamoto proceeded to soccer kick Yahya in the face, and won the match via a TKO/KO because of it. This was confusing because K-1 counterpart, Yarennoka, was not allowing soccer kicks to a downed opponent. K-1's rules were never mentioned and it was assumed that the kicks were legal. Yahya says differently to Martins Denis:

Denis: The outcome of that fight was controversial because fans weren't certain if soccer kicks were allowed. So are they or not?
Yahya: They weren't. He waited until the referee raised his arm, announcing he was the winner, and then he left the ring quickly to not be disqualified.

Denis: Just like that? Didn't your camp complain?
Yahya: My manager and my master, Ataide Jr., wrote a letter to contest the result. But to tell you the truth, I don't want them to overturn it. In my head this is simple: If I don't make it to the end of the fight, it's because I wasn't the winner. They can give the victory to the other guy because this is not going to change anything in my life. I fight in any type of rules.

Denis: Was the fight stopped by the soccer kicks or by punches?
Yahya: I dropped, a knockdown, and I was trying to grab his leg. So he landed the soccer kicks and the lights turned off.

It's interesting because situations like this have happened in the past, and those fighters have said the same things that Yahya states here. Most fighters won't admit that it altered the outcome of the fight, but in reality, a fighter may defend much differently when down on the ground.

The fact of the matter is that Yahya was cheated of a DQ win. If the rules were that soccer kicks were not allowed, Yamamoto won purely because he used illegal moves to defeat Yahya. Most likely, Yahya was behind on the cards and most likely would have lost via decision eventually, but that's not the point. As horrible as the event was for hardcore fans, this was a fight that had some interest and was marred by this incident. K-1, get your act together.

One of the many discussions I've had over the past few days with fellow hardcore mixed martials arts fans has been regarding the quality of the New Year's Eve cards in Japan. On one side of the debate, we have the concept of television ratings driving the matchups that are made on the cards. On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the idea that end of the year MMA cards should feature quality bouts that determine standing in a division. There is also some middle ground obviously. The MMA card that features the best of both worlds. Capturing the hardcore and casual fans in Japan and now with the addition of the Yarennoka card to the U.S. fanbase with HDNet, an appeal to the U.S. fanbase as well. The question that was asked by the end of this debate was: Is entertainment over quality the main driving force for New Year's Eve cards in Japan?

Yarennoka, Fedor, and the Lightweights

For Yarennoka, it seems to be the best of both worlds... to an extent. Tapping into the number of highly touted lightweight fighters that have either originated in Japan or have had successful runs in Japan seems to be on the list. With battles featuring Tatsuya Kawajiri, Mitsuhiro Ishida, Gilbert Melendez, Hidehiko Hasegawa, Hayato Sakurai, Shinya Aoki, and Gesias "JZ" Calvancanti, there is without a doubt a demand for upper-echelon matchups in Japan, according to the organizers of Yarennoka.

Another aspect of the card is the entertainment portion. With Hong Man Choi avoiding injury and being eliminated from the K-1 Grand Prix Final in the preliminary round, he is now surely close to making a deal to fight at the NYE event. What's the appeal here? Gigantic freakishly tall South Korean who weighs around 330+ taking on arguably the best pound for pound fighter in the world seems like a spectacle fight. Fact is, it is a spectacle fight looking to pull in the casual and hardcore alike to see Fedor perform against a man who looks to be a challenge when you take a glance at him.

In my opinion however, Fedor will decimate the Korean. Choi has a small amount of experience in MMA (1-0), and he also had one of the worst K-1 showings I've seen in quite some time at the Grand Prix Final on December 8th. Not only was he slow in his striking, but he was being beaten by Jerome Le Banner, a hard striker in his own right. Jerome still had considerable size disadvantage in a fight that didn't rely on ground tactics due to the K-1 rules, but striking. Although I thought Jerome would win, I thought a better showing from Choi was expected. A much better performance.

I'm not completely convinced that the lightweight fights won't garner some good ratings, but Fedor vs. Choi may spark some interest from the Japanese public. It's definitely a good fight for M-1 Global as well. Stylistically, Fedor matches up well against the Korean and it protects their investment barring Fedor somehow gets beaten. Entertainment over quality in this case keeps M-1 Global going and provides a potential ratings boost.

K-1 Osaka Dome

In an argument revolving around which card may produce better ratings, I may have to make a case for the Osaka Dome card. Melvin Manhoef's explosive knockout power, Zuluzinho's size vs. Minowa's small frame, but decent ground skills, Japanese legends Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Masakatsu Funaki, and another decent fight for "Kid" Yamamoto. Add in the appearance of Japanese MMA phenom Hiroya in a U-18 tournament, and we may see a solid ratings card throughout the evening.

In my mind, this card stands out as a bigger draw for ratings. It features the David vs. Goliath matchup that the Japanese seem to love. Manhoef seems to be generating a following as well with his big knockouts. Sakuraba will always draw a huge amount of fans and fighting Funaki will only add to that fuel. I suppose I could be wrong on the idea that the quality of the Yarennoka card may outweigh the entertainment value of this card.

Final debate

Which will prevail? Will entertainment prove that it is the king of the ratings war during the Japanese New Year? Will the Yarennoka card have enough star power and great matchups to lure the viewership their way? Fans in Japan may be able to get the best of both worlds as TV times aren't set in stone, but it'll be interesting to see if there is a dropoff. K-1 will apparently be on Network television and Yarennoka will be a PPV card, so neither event will be in direct competition, but will Yarennoka's buy get nullified by K-1's card on national TV? I would think so, what do you think?

Notable Links

Tim Leidecker - Politics of Promoting on New Year's Eve in Japan

"Because Japanese MMA originated in pro wrestling, entertainment comes first when booking fights, especially on Dec. 31. This is why hardcore fight fans don't always get the fight that has the most meaning from a sporting perspective. More often the battle that is made has the most appeal to the casual viewer."

Zach Arnold - FightOpinion.com

Zach has some years of experience covering the PRIDE scandals and other aspects of Japanese MMA. Head over there and browse the articles, he definitely has a unique perspective on the Japanese MMA business side.