''Yarennoka!'' () was a

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

(MMA) event that took place on December 31, 2007 at the

Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Chūō-ku, Saitama (city), Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum capa ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The event was promoted by the Yarennoka! Executive Committee, composed of former

Pride Fighting Championships PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...

executives, and held in association with Fighting and Entertainment Group,

DEEP Deep or The Deep may refer to: Places United States * Deep Creek (Appomattox River tributary), Virginia * Deep Creek (Great Salt Lake), Idaho and Utah * Deep Creek (Mahantango Creek tributary), Pennsylvania * Deep Creek (Mojave River tributary ...

, and

M-1 Global M-1 Global (Mixfight-1) or MMA-1 (Mixed martial arts-1) is a mixed martial arts promotion based in St. Petersburg, Russia which organizes between 10 and 20 competitions per year. It hosted its first major show (rather than co-promoting with oth ...

. The event aired on

HDNet AXS TV () is an American specialty television, cable television channel majority-owned by Canadian broadcaster Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It is devoted primarily to Music television, music-related programming (such as concert films, Document ...

and was billed as "Fedor Returns" in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

; while it was shown on SKY Perfect, a Japanese

pay per view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

network. It was headlined by a fight between former Pride heavyweight champion and 2004 heavyweight Grand Prix champion

Fedor Emelianenko Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko; (born 28 September 1976) is a Russian former professional mixed martial artist (MMA), sambist, judoka and politician. Emelianenko was the PRIDE Heavyweight Champion from 2003 to th ...

and K-1 2007 World Grand Prix Finalist Hong-man Choi. The undercard showcased many top lightweight fighters and was also marked by a marquee matchup of the Pride 2006 Welterweight Grand Prix Champion

Kazuo Misaki Kazuo Misaki (, born April 25, 1976) is a retired Japanese professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2001 until 2013, he was the 2006 PRIDE Welterweight (183 lbs) Grand Prix Champion, and also competed in Sengoku, Pancr ...

and the

Hero's Hero's was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion operated by Fighting and Entertainment Group, the parent entity behind kickboxing organization K-1. Grown from and branched off of K-1's earlier experiments in MMA, including the ''K-1 Romanex'' ...

2006 Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion Yoshihiro Akiyama. The event was a farewell show to Pride fans after their acquisition by the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...

in early 2007. It is also credited for inspiring the former Pride executives and the Fighting and Entertainment Group to create the new fight series,

Dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

Results

Notes

* A match between

Shinya Aoki is a Japanese mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and grappler competing in ONE Championship's Welterweight division. He also competes in DDT Pro-Wrestling where he is a former three-time DDT Extreme Champion. A professional competit ...

and

Gesias Calvancante Gesias Cavalcante (born July 6, 1983) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Lightweight division. He was the 2006 and 2007 K-1 HERO Middleweight Champion, and has also fought for Strikeforce, DREAM, Shooto, W ...

was postponed after Calvancante tore a ligament in his elbow while training with Brazilian Top Team. Bu-kyung Jung, a judo silver-medalist from

Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

who made his MMA debut in this event, was confirmed to be the new opponent of Aoki. * Former Pride lightweight Joachim Hansen was originally slated to fight at Yarennoka! but was moved to the K-1 PREMIUM 2007 Dynamite!! show against Kazuyuki Miyata in return for the fighters K-1 sent over for Yarennoka. * The knockout in the Misaki-Akiyama match was the result of a controversial head kick delivered as Akiyama was standing up from the mat after being previously knocked down by Misaki. Akiyama's camp later indicated that they believed the kick was an illegal soccer kick, since they claimed Akiyama was in the four points position at the time of the kick. The event's head referee Yuji Shimada indicated the timing was close but after a video review, the result was overturned and declared No contest *Before the last fight between Aoki and Jung, M-1 President and CEO Monte Cox thanked the crowd and praised the Japanese fans. He announced that M-1 Global would be back in Japan during 2008. Also, all of the fighters appeared in the ring after the final match to count down to the New Year and give fans their best wishes.

References

External links

Official Yarennoka! website
{{2007 K-1 Events Mixed martial arts events 2007 in mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts in Japan Sport in Saitama (city) 2007 in Japanese sport M-1 Global events

Results

Notes

See also

References

External links