Dynamite!! 2009 in the Books; Arms Were Broken, Careers Were Ended, Questions Answered

Now that your fearless blogger has had a chance to muster up four hours of sleep and make it up to his rambunctious heeler who had to deal with "OHHHHH THE BIG KABOSH!" all last night while trying to sleep, it is time to reflect on the spectacle that was Dynamite!! 2009. Yesterday we touched upon just how important this fight card was for Japan and how it was symbolic of MMA's resurgence and rebuilding. The pre-sale for Dynamite!! was upwards of 37,000 tickets, which was considered a sellout. Then around 7,000 more standing room only tickets were sold according to live estimates, placing around 45,000 fans in the Saitama Super Arena for Dynamite!! 2009. 

We won't have any solid attendance or ratings figures for a few more days, but by all accounts this event was a success at drawing attention from fans across the world. The most important part, though, is that this was an event sold on the strength of the fights alone without the usual freakshow appeal seen in so many Japanese cards. The big names leading up to this event were Masato, Andy Souwer, Satoshi Ishii, Hidehiko Yoshida, Shinya Aoki, Alistair Overeem, KID Yamamoto and Tatsuya Kawajiri. Each one of these fighters brings in their own fans and their own set of questions, all of which were answered in a way last night.

KID Yamamoto was soundly defeated by Masanori Kanehara, another Sengoku cindarella story of a fighter who never received much attention as he meddled around in the minor league ZST putting together an alright, if not entirely impressive record while KID was main eventing Japan's biggest fight cards. Last night Kanehara took the fight to KID and left many fans doubting the future of KID's career. Hidehiko Yoshida on the other hand, gave his career a bit of new life, while stopping any momentum Satoshi Ishii had from his 2008 Beijing win. Ishii proved that training with the best camps around the world means nothing if you don't stick with one camp and learn and grow from somebody. Tatsuya Kawajiri on the other hand, proved to many people that he is not just a product of FEG's hype and can indeed hang with a very skilled grappler, if not dominate him.

There are three big stories coming out of Dynamite!! 2009, the most minor being Alistair Overeem. What Overeem did to Kazuyuki Fujita last night was not a surprise, as Fujita's best years are behind him, and the man that rocked Fedor is simply too old to be a factor at this point and showed actual fear when facing down The Dutch Cyclone. The knee Overeem landed was right on the money, connecting on his temple and causing the once proud Fujita to be carried out on a stretcher in a scene nobody would predict given Fujita's history. Of course the talk with Overeem always falls back upon steroids; is Overeem on steroids, should his heavyweight run not count because it's clear he is on something, how did he get so big? Nobody except for Alistair Overeem and his team really know for sure, but people seem to neglect the fact that Bas Boon has stated Overeem was unable to weight train while fighting at Light Heavyweight as he was already a whopping 230 pounds and had to cut to 205. 

So, if you consider that now he weighs in the ballpark of 255 or 260, I'm not sure that 30 pounds of lean muscle over the course of half a decade is that far of a stretch. I find it odd that Overeem does this over the course of a few years and he is clearly shooting up every drug known to man he can get his hands on, while Frank Mir recently stated that he put on upwards of 20 pounds of lean muscle in just over 5 months and fans seem quick to just accept this fact and move on, as Frank Mir has been over 260 pounds in the past. Professional athletes sometimes have bodies that operate different than the average person's and they dedicate their lives to what makes them money; their bodies.

In Japan the big focus is and always was on the retirement of Masato at age 30. It is a very rare thing that a fighter still in his prime retires and actually goes out on top. In Japan the traditional send off for a fighter is to fight his heart out but eventually lose and pass the torch on to a younger fighter or put on one last classic battle with an old nemesis. This was the latter, and saw Masato avenge the two losses that haunted him to Andy Souwer. This fight will probably become and instant classic to many fans, as Masato clearly won the fight but Andy Souwer put up an incredible fight, one that if this went the traditional 3 rounds would've led to a draw and an extension round and could've changed the dynamics of the fight. Even in his loss Andy Souwer looked very strong and plead his case as well as the case for K-1 MAX to a set of fans who usually write off the lighter K-1 fighters.

In America it will be a different story, as the performance of Shinya Aoki will be what Dynamite!! 2009 is remembered for, not all of the great fights or the emotional retirement of Masato. Shinya Aoki had a chickenwing armlock applied to Mizuto Hirota who refused to tap, who then was rolled over onto his back while his arm was still tied up and Aoki's legs grapevined the other arm, sort of an inverted omoplata. The referee had to call the fight, and Aoki overcome with emotion jumped to his feet, hovered over Hirota and flipped the middle finger at him before turning it upon the crowd. There have been far worse fighter celebrations in bigger promotions and I'm sure most of you can think of them without me going into detail. What it comes down to is, in every case the fighter has apologized after and talks about simply being caught up in the moment. 

Sadly, in this case, as opposed to the complete domination and the message sent to the rest of the Lightweights in the world, the focus is on a middle finger and a snapped arm. Pundits aren't sure what to be offended by; Shinya Aoki intentionally breaking the arm of his opponent who wouldn't tap in a Mixed Martial Arts contest, or an emotional celebration including an in-your-face moment over the fallen foe. Mike Chiappetta's thoughts seems to sum up most of what I've seen online; this was disgusting, who would break an opponent's arm like that, who would disrespect an opponent, OK injuries happen but bad sportsmanship is never good and so on. When Matt Hughes broken Royce Gracie's arm it was a story of the Gracie pride and not that Matt Hughes is a dick (which is a point most agree with), but Shinya Aoki's breaking of Mizuto Hirota's arm is clearly unacceptable. Brock Lesnar's UFC 100 antics caused an uproar until the PPV numbers came in and he was deemed a brilliant showman and I'm wondering when the TBS ratings come in for Dynamite!! 2009 if our American counterparts will take note.