the punches and kicks nicely and had their chances in the first. Yudai put a good high kick up in the second, and connected well with straight punches and an uppercut. Kubo was aggressive in the third, but Yudai's positioning was near-perfect, as the 16 year-old met his opponent's advances confidently and scored points with precisely-delivered counters. A unanimous decision, putting Yudai into the final against Hiroya.

The U-18 Final between Hiroya, 15; and Yudai, 16, started with a tentative first round, the boys light on their feet, looking for openings, only testing with the jab and low kicks. Minimal fisticuffs again in the second, Hiroya landing a right straight, Yudai getting his licks in but neither sustaining pressure. After being admonished by K-1 legend and bout referee Nobuaki Kakuda, the boys took it up a notch in the third, Hiroya getting in with a right straight and a couple of body blows; Yudai planting a front kick on his opponent's face. It went to the scorecards, where one judge liked Yudai but the others saw a draw, prompting a tiebreaker round.

Fast -paced action here, Hiroya good with a right straight punch but Yudai's positioning and evasions sparing him any other damage. Yudai was more assertive, threading through another high front kick and scoring with low kicks and combinations to earn the win by split decision and become the first fighter to win the K-1 U-18 belt.

"Ever since I saw the belt, I knew that I wanted it," said Yudai in his post-tournament interview. "I was calm coming in, I was even less nervous than my amateur fights! I did what I wanted to do, I said that I would win and I did it! Next year, I want to get stronger and fight even stronger opponents!"

In the U-18 Reserve Fight, Ryo Murakoshi used a knee to KO Arata Fujimoto.


While all this was happening in Osaka, there was also an affiliated fightsport event taking place at the Saitama Super Arena just outside Tokyo. In the YARENNOKA! 2007 marquee fights, Russian MMA master Emelianenko Fedor took a few punches to the face before submitting South Korean fighter Hong-Man Choi by armbar in the first round; while Kazuo Misaki escaped from an early scare to score an upset KO win over Yoshihiro Akiyama in a battle of Japanese judoka.

Dynamite!! 2007 attracted a sellout crowd of 47,918 to the Kyocera Dome Osaka and was broadcast live across Japan on the TBS Network. For scheduling information in other regions contact local broadcasters. For complete coverage of this and all HERO'S and K-1 events visit the K-1 Official Website (www.k-1.co.jp/k-1gp).