''SoftBank presents Dynamite!! USA'' was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event co-promoted by

Fighting and Entertainment Group Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) was the leading Japanese combat sport promoter founded on September 3, 2003. Its last president was Sadaharu Tanikawa and it was the parent company behind the now-defunct mixed martial arts series Dream and f ...

(FEG), the promoters of

K-1 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993, well known worldwide mainly for its heavyweight division fights and Grand Prix tournaments. In January 2012, K-1 Global Holdings Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong, acquired ...

kickboxing events and

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 ...

MMA events, and

EliteXC Elite Xtreme Combat, also known as EliteXC, was a United States-based mixed martial arts (MMA) organization owned and operated by ProElite. It was founded as a partnership between Showtime Networks and ProElite and officially announced on Decemb ...

. The event was held on Saturday, June 2, 2007 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. Mauro Ranallo,

Bill Goldberg William Scott Goldberg (born December 27, 1966), often known mononymously as Goldberg, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler and former professional football player. He is best known for his tenures in WCW and WWE. One of the most po ...

, and

Jay Glazer Jason Charles "Jay" Glazer (born December 26, 1969) is a television personality and sports reporter. Since 2004, he has worked as an National Football League (NFL) insider for Fox Sports' NFL pregame studio show, ''FOX NFL Sunday'', on which he re ...

did commentary.

Background

The event featured the MMA debut of former professional wrestler

Brock Lesnar Brock Edward Lesnar ( ; born July 12, 1977) is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, former mixed martial artist (MMA), amateur wrestler, and professional American football player who holds both American and Canadian citizenship. He is ...

and the anticipated rematch between

Royce Gracie Royce Gracie (; born 12 December 1966) is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist, a UFC Hall of Famer, and a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. A member of the Gracie family, he is considered to be one of the most influential figures i ...

and

Kazushi Sakuraba is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and submission wrestler, currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation and Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was formerly one-half of the former GHC Tag Team Champions with Takashi Sugiura ...

. The show also featured the

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incor ...

debut of NFL wide receiver Johnnie Morton. The event was aired in two parts in the United States, with three preliminary bouts airing for free on Showtime and a main fight card shown on pay-per-view. In Japan, the card was aired as a two-hour edited broadcast on TBS on June 4, 2007. A condensed one-hour version of the entire event was broadcast on Showtime June 9, 2007. The Pay Per View cost viewers $29.95

Controversy

Pre-fight problems

The event encountered numerous problems and controversies even before it began. FEG had difficulties obtaining a promoter's license, and was only granted a temporary one by the California State Athletic Commission eight days before the event. Popular South Korean fighter

Hong-Man Choi Choi Hong-man (Korean: 최홍만, Hanja: 崔洪萬; born October 30, 1980), often anglicised to Hongman Choi, is a South Korean kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and former ssireum wrestler. In Asia, he is called "Che Man", "Techno Goliath", "K ...

, initially scheduled to fight

, was denied a license to fight in the state roughly a week and a half before the event due to medical reasons (later reported to be a tumor on his pituitary gland). K-1 continued to advertise a Lesnar vs. Choi bout up until the day of the fight, despite knowing that it would not occur. An originally announced women's bout featuring

Jan Finney Jan Finney (born April 18, 1980) is an American female mixed martial artist. She currently competes in the 135-pound bantamweight division. Early life Finney played softball at Kenton Ridge High School and Urbana University. Mixed martial art ...

vs.

Gina Carano Gina Joy Carano (born April 16, 1982) is an American actress and former mixed martial artist. She competed in EliteXC and Strikeforce from 2006 to 2009, where she compiled a 7–1 record. Her popularity led to her being called the "face of wom ...

was canceled on May 16, 2007, when Carano withdrew due to illness. Antônio Silva was also removed from the card due to an undisclosed medical condition, and was replaced by Tim Persey. An announced match between

Ray Sefo Ray Sefo (born 15 February 1971) is a New Zealand fight promoter and retired Kickboxing, kickboxer, boxing, boxer, and Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist of Samoans, Samoan descent. He was the K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 Runner Up, is a six ...

and

Marvin Eastman Marvin Lee Eastman (born June 8, 1971) is a retired American professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer. A professional MMA competitor from 2000 until 2013, he competed in K-1, the UFC, World Fighting Alliance, Maximum Fighting Champions ...

was dropped from the card with no explanation given.

Attendance and live gate

On June 7, 2007, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) announced that 42,757 tickets were distributed for the event – something promoters say validated the claim of having the largest attendance for a Mixed Martial Arts event in North America (a record previously held by

UFC 68 ''UFC 68: The Uprising'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on March 3, 2007, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Background ''UFC 68'' was the first UFC event held in the state of Ohio, and coincide ...

). The paid gate for the event was $2,545,590. However, the promoters of the event paid $2,342,500 of that to buy 39,083 tickets to its own event. The final verified paid attendance number for K-1 Dynamite stands at 3,674 which generated $203,090 in revenue.

Post-fight

Fighter Tim Percy tested positive for methamphetamines after his fight, and was suspended by the CSAC. In addition, Johnnie Morton tested positive for anabolic steroids and Royce Gracie tested positive for

Nandrolone Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) which is used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate (brand name Durabolin). Nandro ...

, a commonly used anabolic steroid.

Results

Purses

The overall disclosed fighter payroll for the event was $1,057,500.

References

External links

Dynamite!! USA Official WebsiteOfficial DiscussionK-1 Official WebsiteOfficial EliteXC Website
{{2007 K-1 Events Elite Xtreme Combat events K-1 events Hero's events 2007 in mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts in Los Angeles 2007 in sports in California