Black Tiger MMA Review: K-1 ROMANEX - 5.22.04

Posted by Mike Campbell on 11.17.2009

Have you ever wondered what would happen if pro wrestlers did MMA? Stay tuned to find out.



K-1 ROMANEX
May 22, 2004

This is my first foray into the realm of MMA reviewing. I’ve always been more of an analysis guy than a play by play guy. Obviously my wrestling analysis won’t fly for covering MMA, so this is going to be more a synopsis than a full fledged recap.

This isn’t your average K-1 MMA show, quite a few of the fights feature professional wrestlers and MMA fighters who’ve been involved with pro wrestling. Antonio Inoki has the idea that pro wrestlers are the best fighters in the world. To prove this, he had several (worked) fights against various fighters like Gerard Gordeau and Muhammad Ali. Inoki retired in 1998 but his vision lived on with several pro wrestlers trying their hands at legit MMA and mostly getting their clocks cleaned, with only a few exceptions like Tokimitzu Ishizawa defeating Ryan Gracie at Pride XV.

CLAUDINENEY KOZAN vs. ANTONI HARDONK
For some reason, this is only two five-minute rounds, while the rest of the fights were three. The first round is all Kozan, he pins Hardonk in the corner (the fights take place in your standard boxing/wrestling ring) and then takes him to the ground. Hardonk tries to close the gap by actually doing a pro wrestling collar and elbow tie up, but Kozan breaks free and they both start throwing punches. Hardonk shows some nice defense by moving his head at the last second to avoid punches, but Kozan gets some good hits. Kozan tries to finish the fight by getting side control and then attempting a guillotine choke, but Hardonk escapes. They go back to throwing fists and the round ends.

The second round is more of the same. Hardonk shows some good defenses to avoid getting pounded, but he’s unable to mount any offense. Kozan takes him down and gets the mount, but can’t finish him off. At one point Kozan gets to his feet while Hardonk is still down and they trade leg kicks, but Kozan does a sort of falling spin kick and winds up in the mount again. Hardonk is saved by the bell a second time, and to no surprise, Kozan wins by decision.

TOM HOWARD vs. DOLGORSUREN SERJBUDEE
Both of these guys have pro wrestling backgrounds, Dolgorsuren wrestles for NJPW as Blue Wolf and Howard wrestles and trains wrestlers (including John Cena) for UPW in California, and also wrestled in Mexico as KGB. Howard gets busted open seconds into the fight by an accidental headbutt, and Wolf spends the whole first round going after the head. He gets a mount and throws fists and he switches to a front neck lock position and throws several knees into Howard’s head. The only offense that Howard gets in are a few punches, and a nice sprawl to counter Wolf’s shoot-in, but as soon as they were on the ground, Wolf took easy control of the fight.

Wolf goes right back to going after the cut as soon as the second round starts. Howard gets in a single kick, and he throws some punches to try to counter Wolf’s front neck lock with knees, but to no avail. Howard breaks the front neck lock, but Wolf gets it right back and continues throwing knees until the ref finally calls it off.

SAM GRECO vs. LYOTO MACHIDA
Machida was one of Antonio Inoki’s golden boys at the time (along with Kazuyuki Fujita), so I’m sure Inoki wanted to get him into NJPW, but aside from one MMA exhibition he never did make the leap into pro wrestling. Greco spent a little time in WCW during their dying days. This the first fight to really feel competitive. Machida tries to take Greco down, and Greco shows some good takedown defense before Machida succeeds. Once they’re on the ground, Greco shows more good defense and prevents Machida from trying to finish him off, and the ref stands them back up. Machida knows he doesn’t want to get into a striking contest with a top kickboxer, so he goes for the clinch and winds up getting Greco down. Once again, Greco prevents him from doing anything and the round ends.

The second round starts the same way the first did, Machida taking Greco down, but being unable to do too much when he gets him there. Greco keeps the gap closed by doing the clinch, and Machida finds a couple of ways out of it and reigns down punches, but Greco quickly clinches again. Machida tries a couple of times to end the fight via armbar, but isn’t able to apply the hold. The first time Greco gets free and Machida goes for a head kick and misses Greco by a hair. The second attempt ends with Greco going with the momentum and mounting Machida and trying to ground and pound, but this only allows Machida to show off his own ground defenses. Greco gets to his feet and starts to throw kicks at Machida’s legs and ankles, but Machida keeps his cool and lets the time run out.

Greco tries to keep the fight on their feet for the third round, and has some early success, Machida shoots in and Greco counters to a front neck lock, and takes down Machida, but doesn’t sink in the choke. Machida escapes, and it’s the same story of the fight, Greco showing good defense against Machida’s strikes and keeping him from trying to finish the fight, but ultimately not being able to do much else. Greco does wind up getting his own mount and winds up getting up again, and going for the leg kicks, and the round ends the same as the last round did, with Machida keeping his cool. To no surprise (at lest to me) Machida wins the decision.

GARY GOODRIDGE vs. SYLVESTER TERKAY
Terkay had a cup of coffee in the WWE as Elijah Burke’s "Man Bear." Goodridge made a name for himself in the early days of the UFC and later PRIDE, and also had a few matches in New Japan. This is over before it really even starts, they circle each other throwing a few strikes, just to feel each other out and Goodridge rocks Terkay with a shot to the jaw and comes flying in with punches and the ref quickly calls it.

JOSH BARNETT vs. RENE ROOZE
Barnett was a former UFC Heavyweight Champion who was stripped of the title for failing a drug test for steroids, and wound up joining New Japan. Barnett tries to take Rooze down, so he stands in the corner to prevent it, Barnett literally picks him up and carries him out of the corner, and Rooze looks pissed. The ref separates them and tells Rooze to go to his corner, which he apparently doesn’t want to do right away. They start fighting again, and Barnett takes Rooze down and ground and pounds him, and the ref stops the fight.

GENKI SUDO vs. ROYLER GRACIE
Sudo extends his arm for a show of respect, but Gracie doesn’t return the gesture. It goes right to the ground and both fighters show their skills and the momentum constantly swings back and fourth. Gracie locks up Sudo’s leg for a legbar, but Sudo quickly escapes. Sudo hits a knee to the head, mounts Gracie ,and starts letting the fists fly. Gracie loses his mouth guard and it’s a first round KO.

DUANE LUDWIG vs. B.J. PENN
Don’t blink or you’ll miss Penn take Ludwig right to the ground and get the mount. Ludwig tries to clinch, but Penn breaks it and throws punches. Ludwig and Penn trade punches and Ludwig realizes that he’s not going to win that way. Penn segues into an arm triangle choke and Ludwig quickly taps out.

DON FRYE vs. YOSHIHIRO NAKAO
These two get nose to nose and start talking trash and pushing each other before the fight even starts. Nakao shoots in and they bump heads, Frye gets the neck lock and tries to get the quick tap out. Frye’s eye is pouring blood and it drips all over Nakao’s back, it’s actually pretty sick. Nakao escapes the hold and the ref separates them so Frye can get checked out. After a long delay the ref stops the fight and calls it a no contest since Frye’s injury was an accidental headbutt. Needless to say, nobody is happy about that one.

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs. ALEXEY IGNASHOV
Nakamura is a New Japan wrestler, everyone had hopes that he would be a MMA success and would bring back the wrestling fans who had stopped watching wrestling to become MMA fans. This is actually a bit of a grudge match. These two fought on 12/31/03 and Ignashov messed up Nakamura pretty badly with knees to the face, he fractured both of his eye sockets and it wound up being a no contest. So needless to say, Nakamura wants revenge and Ignashov wants to get an actual win over the pro wrestler. The first round is all Nakamura, he takes Ignashov right down and keeps him there. Ignashov can’t do anything other than block Nakamura’s punches and try to throw some of his own, but it’s futile, Nakamura got Ignashov where he wanted him and kept him there the whole round.

Nakamura takes him right back down to start the second round, and keeps Ignashov in the guard to prevent him from even attempting to throw a knee strike. Nakamura hits a few punches, and then switches to the side mount and gets armbar for the quick tap out. I’ll give Nakamura credit for working a smart fight, but it wasn’t nearly as exciting as Greco/Machida, although Nakamura and Machida’s strategies were very similar.

BOB SAPP vs. KAZUYUKI FUJITA
Sapp was a pro wrestler who trained at the WCW Power Plant and then jumped to MMA. Sapp’s size and charisma had made him very popular in Japan, so he was also doing occasional pro wrestling shots, he was the IWGP Heavyweight Champion at this time. Fujita was a New Japan wrestler who also jumped to MMA and his success made him Antonio Inoki’s golden boy, which led to him doing some shots in New Japan, and holding the IWGP Title himself at one point. Fujita takes Sapp to the ground and Sapp tries to get Fujita’s leg and do an ankle lock, but Fujita spins right out of it and starts pelting Sapp with kicks to the head. Sapp covers up and Fujita keeps throwing kicks until Sapp taps out.

The 411: This wound up being a pretty fun show overall. As far as pure technique, the Machida fight was the best by a mile, but this has plenty of things to like about it, I'd recommend picking it up.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]