Fields Dynamite! The Power Of Courage 2009 Preview

Promoted To Frontpage From Fanposts Section By Kelvin Hunt

It is to bad that the posters are better than the matchmaking for this show. And with that I will start my preview of Fields Dynamite 2009. If you read this post by me you know I am not happy with some of the match-ups on this card. I tried to vent all of my hate of this card onto that post but the bitterness still runs through my veins. Well Dream and Sengoku have joined forces for one night to put on a show that will draw ratings in Japan while appeasing hardcore American fans. This is a high quality show and I hope everyone watches the event. If you are a strictly MMA fan than this Dynamite card is a really good card in terms of depth. The fights will consist of Dream's roster vs Sengoku's roster with some K-1 bouts sprinkled in. The fights will be held at the famous Saitama Super Arena. It will be airing live on HD Net at 3am EST. The whole show wil last 7 hours! So grab plenty of snacks and drinks. 8 top 10 fighters plus 3 Olympic medalists equals a very quality show. So far I am 15-9 in my Preview picks. To defend myself Hoki should have won and I broke down how the fight would turn out. But I still made the wrong picks. Maybe I can start off the new year by going perfect?

Alistair Overeem vs. Kazuyuki Fujita

Overeem continues to upset the masses by fighting atrocious questionable opposition overseas, rather than defend his Strikeforce belt. Recent allegations have come out saying many of Golden Glory's fighters juice. While no proof has been provided, it certainly casts more doubt that Overeem will never fight in North America. Well Overeem is getting paid well to beat up on Fujita who is absolutely shot as a fighter. Overeem is coming off a knockout loss to Badr Hari! Fujita's once granite chin has turned to glass. While Overeem has recently been submitting inferior opposition, I see a knockout here. I want to see some kind of spectacular KO over Fujita. Overeem KO rd1

Hayato "Mach" Sakurai vs. Akihiro Gono

This is a good match between two Japanese legends. Both legends have experienced shins to their faces lately. Apperently after being KTFO by Dan Hornbuckle Dream dug up his body to fight Yoon Young Kim. Gono's corpse won, although the corpse looked very tentative and didn't finish Kim when he should have. This is a good fight for Gono's corpse, he can use he awkward striking to thwart leg kicks and possibly take a decision. Sakurai is coming off a TKO loss to rising face melting star Marius Zaromskis. "Mach" is a great fighter with really good offensive tools. Technicaly Sakurai is sound, he uses more power in his strikes to overwhelm his opponents. Aggressiveness is the key for Sakurai. He absolutely demolished Aoki and I see a similar ending in this fight. Sakurai TKO rd3

Shinya Aoki vs. Mizuto Hirota

I am more displeased with this fight then Dana is with Sherdog. Aoki is the current Dream lightweight champion and is defending the title against Hirota, a quality opponent. Aoki has kept busy this year, this fight will be his 5th fight in 2009. Aoki's chin and striking have been questioned. While his striking is an ongoing improvement, his chin will always be his Achilles heel. What hasn't been questioned is Aoki's ground game. Aoki has been racking up submission victory's lately yet most don't think he is good enough to compete in the UFC. Strikeforce will be the litmus test to weather Aoki will be effective in the states. Hirota is on a two fight winning streak capturing the Lightweight title. Hirota is a good striker with powerful hands. Hirota uses knees effectively and throws wild strikes. Hirota has decent takedown defence and could possible pull off the upset, but I don't see it happening. Aoki sub rd1 

Masato vs. Andy Souwer

Masato is one of the most highly regarded kickboxers of all-time. This is supposed to be Masato's last fight in the ring. Masato has been put on this card to do one thing. Draw ratings. And it will, Masato is slower now but should be able to win a decision victory over Andy Souwer... Maybe. The two have fought twice before, with Souwer wining both fights. In Masato's last K-1 fight he demolished MMA fighter Tatsuya Kawajiri. Souwer DEC

Gegard Mousasi vs. Gary Goodridge

Well this fight started out as a K-1 fight which is kind of ironic because Goodridge has destroyed his career and body by fighting in K-1. Now Goodridge can be killed in MMA. This will be Goodridge's first fight this year, and hopefully last ever. If Goodridge wants to compete than he can go back to his prestigious Arm-wrestling career. The likely scenario is for Mousasi to take Goodridge down and submit him (I hope). Well they had to stick a few freakshow fights in here. Mousasi rd1 sub

Satoshi Ishii vs. Hidehiko Yoshida

Ishii is a young Olympic gold medalist with a bright career ahead of him. Many MMA promotions courted him and Sengoku nabbed him just in time to go out of business. Ishii has been training state side where he can only continue to grow as a Mixed Martial Artist. Lots of questions will be answered in this fight. I am really excited to see what he will do to former Olympic Judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. The Japanese people love to watch Olympic athletes compete. Yoshida has done well in drawing ratings and my guess is Ishii will too. Good fight I'm excited. Ishii DEC

Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto vs. Masanori Kanehara

The Killer Bee product has not been fairing well this year. Suffering an embarssing KO loss to Jae Hee Cheonand an equaling embarrassing loss to Joe Warren. Also outside the ring "Kid" is being divorced by his wife Maria. The reason being he did not seriously help out with raising the kids. While Maria diligently fulfilled her duties as a parent, Yamamoto only played with the children and was unable to properly educate them. He also admitted that he hung out with his friends even when Maria was having a difficult time. Kid is leaving his "marijuana parties" behind in Japan and is coming to the states to train full time. Kid has got great wrestling and serious power, but is his head in the right place? Stylistically this is a great fight for Kid. Kanehara is not a powerful striker, not a great wrestler, not a submission wizard. If Kid losses this fight he will never revitalize his career. Kid KO rd2

Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kazunori Yokota

It breaks my heart to see Kawajiri jump across another obstacle to obtain what he has worked so hard for. Although this can only help his legacy by beating a really good fighter in Kazunori Yokota. In the press conference Kawajiri looked depressed and uninspired. That worries me. I have seen performances when Kawajiri has been uninspired. It's boring. Yokota is a really good grappler that has decent power in his hands. To me Yokota looks to have a weak chin. If Kawajiri can land a monstrous blow on Yokota's chin, Yokota will wake up in the hospital. If they do exchange blows on the feet it will be a terrific fight. But I don't see that happening. I see this fight lasting in the clinch for the majority of the fight with Kawajiri using his technical wrestling to get him a boring win. Kawajiri DEC

Hideo Tokoro vs. Kim Jong Man

Marlon Sandro was supposed to rearrange Tokoro's face but Sandro got injured and Dream picked up the mysterious Korean fighter Kim Jong Man. Let's be real Man is awful, the only reason he is on the card is because Sandro got injured and he is Korean. Tokoro is an exciting fighter that still has more gas in his tank to be competitive fighter. I like watching the guy. Tokoro wil handle Man on the feet and score a TKO. Tokoro TKO rd2 

Melvin Manhoef vs. Kazuo Misaki

Manhoef is a striker, Misaki is a grappler. That is about all you need to know. Well I'll break it down a little more, Manhoef is trying to learn some defensive wrestling, which is encouraging to his fans. He likes MMA and wants to be successful in the sport. Hopefully in the next year he can learn how to defensive grapple. Until then Manhoef will get taken down by fighters such as Misaki. Misaki has recently been cleared to fight after his run in with the law. It has been kind of a crappy year for Misaki. He can start off the new year with a submission victory over Manhoef.  Misaki sub rd1

Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Michihiro Omigawa

This is my favorite fight on the card. Omigawa shocked the world earlier this year by making the semi-finals in Sengoku's Featherweight tournament. Takayaimpressed people as well with his preformace in Dream's Featherweight tournament. This should be a fun high paced fight. Takaya's striking is obviously superior to Omigawa's. But Takaya's takedown defence is less than decent. I see Omigawa setting up takedowns and using some good ground and pound. Omigawa can obtain a wining record if he beats Takaya. Fun fight good match up. Omigawa DEC

Minowaman vs. Sokoudjou

Go back and watch all of Minowaman's Super Hulk's fights. OK now stop vomiting and tell me  those fights weren't worked. Did you see HMCon his knees throwing strikes with Minowman? Ridiculous! And for all you people that think these freak shows draw people, these freakshow fights have never peaked in the rating. So maybe major Japanese promotions can stop doing freakshow fights. I think this tournament is fixed so I am thinking Minowaman is going to win. But I am banking on Sokoujou beating the living crap out of Minowaman Jan Nortje style. Sokoudjou 187 rd1

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroshi Izumi

Shibata is a former pro wrestler and a half decent MMA fighter. Izumi is an Olympic Judo silver medalist. This fight is most likely going to be really boring. I do not care to breakdown this fight any further. Izumi DEC 

Ray Sefo vs. Yosuke Nishijima

Nishijima has only a single combat sports victory. While Sefo has 32 combat sports victory's. Sefo KO rd2

News & Notes

NOB on Rules for Dynamite:

Yuji Shimada announced the rules for the DREAM vs. SRC fights yesterday. The fights will be 3×5 minutes as announced previously. There will be a 60 second interval between rounds. Soccer kicks and stomps, which are legal in SRC, will not be allowed. There can be no draws.

Judges will prioritise trying to finish the fight and the fights will be scored round by round, adding them together in the end (don’t know if it’s one of the 10-point systems or if they just choose a winner each round).

Mousasi vs. Goodridge will be fought under DREAM rules but it will be 3×5 minutes. Yoshida vs. Ishii under SRC rules (meaning stomps, 10-point non-must, etc.)

Jason "Mayhem" Miller announced on his twitter that he will be calling the action in the booth with Michael Schiavello and Guy Mezger.