Article by Daniel Herbertson. Photos by Stephen Martinez.

SAITAMA, Japan -- World Victory Road hosted its third Sengoku event Sunday before a half-filled Saitama Super Arena.

Advertising and hype surrounding the event seemed to be extremely low, which was reflected by the attendance. The young promotion's fights went off largely without a hitch, though, and its lightweight and heavyweight divisions are gaining strength with every show.

Headliner Hidehiko Yoshida (Pictures) is clearly not a master of the Internet. He could find no video footage of former UFC heavyweight champ Maurice Smith (Pictures), but that did not prevent him from ending Smith's comeback win streak. 

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Article by Josh Gross. Photos by Daniel Herbertson

SAITAMA, May. 12 -- Assuming Shinya Aoki gets past Katsuhiko Nagata (the general consensus) at Dream 4, three of Japan's top lightweights -- including two who are considered among the best in the world -- will have a chance to walk away with the Dream crown on July 21.

No offense to Nagata, but let's map out the semis as if Aoki did what he's expected to do: Aoki meets Philadelphia's Eddie Alvarez, and Caol Uno faces sudden rival Tatsuya Kawajiri. Because the tournament champion must win twice in the same night, Alvarez is an interesting case as the American could conceivably defeat a twin bill of Aoki and Kawajiri. Along with his exciting decision over Joachim Hansen late Saturday at Dream 3, Alvarez would extend his record to 16-1 and his ranking from unmentioned to middle of the top 10.

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OSAKA, Japan, Dec. 31 -- K-1 wrapped up the year with a card featuring a would-be classic battle between two of the biggest legends in MMA, a few comedians, Bob Sapp and some of the top names in Japanese MMA.

Inside a packed Osaka Dome, Pancrase legend Masakatsu Funaki, who had not fought since his "retirement" bout against Rickson Gracie more than six and a half years ago, and the quickly aging Kazushi Sakuraba fought in the headlining bout.

Splitting the crowd in terms of support, the two men had a feeling-out period in the first five minutes of the opening round. Sakuraba threw sporadic low kicks and pawed with his jab before he managed an ankle pick off a Funaki low kick.

Soon after it hit the mat, Funaki, in classic Pancrase style, rolled for the kneebar. However, Sakuraba stuffed it with little trouble and returned to his feet.

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It's been said many times, but K-1 Dynamite!! events are not for hardcore fans. They're for the general Japanese populace, your Mom and Pop who don't fancy watching celebrities have a singing competition on New Year's Eve. They'd rather see a really little guy fight a really big guy, or those old guys fight who used to be great.

FEG hasn't completely forgotten us, though.

Although K-1 is supporting the Yarennoka! event with some of its top talent, the promotion managed to keep some compelling matches for its own card in Osaka's Kyocera Dome.

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