MMA News: Akiyama Defeats Kang at K-1 Hero's

Denis Kang lost to Yoshihiro Akiyama by knockout in Korea. (MMAweekly.com Photo)

Top-ranked middleweight Denis Kang (27-9-1) is a national hero in Korea, but on Saturday, Oct. 27 in Seoul, not even the cheers of thousands of fans could save him from the hard punches of Yoshihiro Akiyama (10-1-0).

Facing Akiyama in the main event of K-1 Hero's Korea 2007, it was clear from the beginning that Kang was happy to stand and trade strikes with the Judo competitor. However, Akiyama had some strikes of his own and by mid-way through the first round, Kang was the one with the bloody nose.

Despite landing hard leg kicks, Kang seemed to have problems landing punches on his opponent and, nearing the end of the first round, backed himself into a corner - perhaps to draw his opponent in. The strategy backfired, though, when Akiyama landed a crushing punch that floored the half-Korean fighter, sending him slumping to the canvas. Landing another punch to his downed opponent, Akiyama backed away and allowed the referee to step in and stop the fight.

In the undercard, Korean fighter Dae Won Kim (3-2-0) landed a hard knee to the face of Marcelo Garcia (1-0-0) to open a deep cut and hand the jiu-jitsu wizard a loss in his first MMA fight.

Official Results for K-1 Hero's Korea 2007
Sat. Oct 27, Seoul, Korea

Choi Young def. Masanori Tonowoka – TKO at 1:30 R1
Magomed Sultanakhmadov def. Eun Soo - TKO at 3:33 R1
Poai Suganuma def. Bernard Ackah - TKO at 3:05 R1
Daisuke Nakamura def. Kwon Ah-sol - Armbar at 3:09 R3
Min Suk Heo def. Katsuyori Shibata TKO at 1:31 R2
Shungo Oyama def. Carlos Newton - Tapout at 2:40 R3
Dae Won Kim def. Marcelo Garcia - TKO at 0:20 R2
Tae Hyun Lee def. Yoshihisa Yamamoto – TKO at 1:03 R1
Min Soo Kim def. Ikuhisa Minowa - TKO at 3:46 R1
Zelg Galesic def. Taiei Kin - TKO at 0:36 R1
Dong Sik Yoon def. Fabio Silva - Armbar at 6:12 R1
Yoshihiro Akiyama def. Denis Kang - KO at 4:45 R1

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