As I drove home last Friday, I tuned into WSCR 670 AM in Chicago for a pleasurable mix of today's sports scores and talk. On Fridays, the network has a segment called “Friday Fun” with Bors and Bernstein. The premise of the segment is to ask a question and have listeners answer the questions with fun stories. Some of the questions range from “Dumbest thing you've ever done?” to “Which sports figure would most likely have sex with your girlfriend?”. Last Friday, the question of the day happened to be... “Who is your man love as a sports fan?”. Some fans would interpret this as homosexual innuendo, but the point of the question was to let men shout out respect to those sports figures they admire with some funny twist in the middle.

So... today, for the sake of having some fun with some of the readership... I want you to profess your MMA man love. Who is a fighter you absolutely respect due to whatever reason you want? Fighting style, aggressiveness, creativity, or do you have a story pertaining to a certain fighter that made you love to watch him fight regardless of how terrible he is in the cage.

I profess that Melvin Manhoef has been a “man love” of mine for quite some time. He only solidified my belief in him this last weekend by absolutely crushing Kazushi Sakuraba at DREAM 4. Here's a rundown of reasons why Melvin Manhoef tops my “man love” list:

1.He can draw in hardcore and casual fans

2.He finishes fights in stunning fashion in nearly every win, and he can take a whooping as we saw against Remy Bonjasky

3.You could cast Melvin Manhoef in any Hollywood horror movie, and he'd probably need no makeup or menacing CGI to help him out

4.He'd probably give the Hulk a run for his money

5.His size, power, and skills in the striking game make him a formidable opponent to nearly anyone in his weight class

6.Melvin Manhoef would be the perfect wingman... I.e. he'd scare other dudes away from the prey

While Manhoef is beatable, who really cares? He's entertaining and downright hateful in the ring. In tribute to Melvin, here's his fight against Sakuraba below (Smoogy will probably hate this...):

Get ready for some fireworks. According to DREAM’s official website, the Middleweight Grand Prix matchups for round 2 have been announced, and they won’t disappoint the hardcore fanbase in the least bit. Although I believe some of these fights could be flipped around to benefit other fighters, these matchups are definitely tailor made for the future. Here are the matchups:

• Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Melvin Manhoef
• Ronaldo Jacare vs. Jason “Mayhem” Miller
• Dong Sik Yoon vs. Gegard Mousasi
• Zelg Galesic vs. Kin Taiei

Obviously, one of my favorite MMA fighters in Melvin Manhoef will be looking to destroy the Japanese legend that is Sakuraba. I’ve hyped up Manhoef enough in the past to make him seem like a MMA god, but the fact of the matter is that I love the guy for being a straight up monster when it comes to the striking game. It’s all or nothing for Manhoef… comparative to some MLB baseball players like Ryan Howard or Adam Dunn… damn you Howard for screwing my fantasy team.

Unfortunately for Manhoef, Sakuraba is pretty able on the ground. DREAM may have seen this matchup as an easy win for Sakuraba to advance, but one Manhoef fist could end it. It should be an interesting style matchup.

Ronaldo Jacare vs. Jason Miller is going to be a tough matchup for “Mayhem”. While he has some slick jiu-jitsu and decent striking, Jacare is one of the best grapplers in the world. The ground game won’t be such a luxury for Miller in that matchup.

The “Dongbar” will be out in full force when he takes on Gegard Mousasi. Yoon has some solid judo skills and a good submission game, but I think Mousasi’s power in the standup along with some good submission abilities of his own will make this one of the more intriguing battles on the evening.

The Croatian striking Zelg Galesic will take on Kin Taiei for the second time in his career. In their first matchup, he stopped the fight via TKO in a little over :30 seconds. I don’t see how this will go too much different a second time around. Galesic will have a significant striking advantage.

June 15th should provide the hardcore fanbase with some great fights from Japan. For all the early morning fanatics, set your alarms and write DREAM 4 into your calendars.

Melvin "Marvelous" Manhoef, one of my favorite fighters, crushing Dae Won Kim. It could have been more spectacular, but hey, we can't always have ridiculously exciting.

The battle for the Japanese ratings crown on New Year's Eve is in full force, and the mixed martial arts promotions in the nation are looking to soak up a majority of the viewership by providing an entertainment and spectacle show for the Japanese casual viewer. Many fans have been critical of the Japanese promotion's concept, but those fans have clearly been oblivious to how the television market and MMA model works during the New Year's Eve holiday. With that said, K-1 will hold their Dynamite Premium event at the Osaka Dome on New Year's Eve, and it will be featured on the Tokyo Broadcasting System or TBS network in Japan. The event will also include Fedor vs. Choi and Akiyama vs. Misaki during the televised event. With a huge lineup of popular fighters and a plethora of spectacle fights, look for K-1 to make a splash in the Japanese ratings war.

For the many MMA fans however, let's focus on the actual matchups on the card that seem to be interesting to at least the casual fan. We'll also look at some of the matchups that actually have some quality to them.

Main Event Card
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Masakatsu Funaki

The battle of Japanese legends. Kazushi Sakuraba is probably most well-known for his epic battle with Royce Gracie at the 2000 PRIDE Grand Prix Finals. He's been coined the Gracie Hunter for defeating many of the Gracie family members and has made a career from it. He's a huge draw in Japan, but when up against stiff competition, hasn't been able to walk past some of the better fighters. He's been trounced by Wanderlei Silva three times, but did manage to defeat Rampage Jackson back in 2001. He has some good wins over some mid to upper level competition, but age is beginning to become a factor for Sakuraba.

Funaki, on the other hand, has some legendary wins in his career over very tough competition. The only problem is that he stopped fighting in 2000. We're talking about nearly 8 years on ring rust. His last bout was a loss to the undefeated Rickson Gracie, and toward the end of his career, lost 4 out of his last 9 fights, mostly in Pancrase. Funaki is a very, very good submission grappler, but his defense can be questionable at times. Sakuraba also has a bit more power in his hands, and he will have experience in the modern era on his side as well. Look for Sakuraba to pull this one out.

“Kid” Yamamoto vs. Rani Yahya

Yamamoto is one of the most popular fighters in Japan, wooing young Japanese women with his looks. He produces ratings, and it's no mystery as to why Yamamoto is one of the featured bouts on this card. He's also a very good mixed martial arts fighter who exhibits incredible power in his hands and has the ability to avoid the submission attempts of his opponents. He has a solid wrestling background, even going as far as trying out for the Japanese Olympic team. Yamamoto may have some trouble with Yahya though.

This is by far one of the more quality fights on the card, but Yahya does have his work cut out for him. Yamamoto has beaten champion BJJ practitioners in the past. Curran and Fernandes were both very tough BJJ fighters. Curran had some striking skills, but nobody wants to stand with Yamamoto's power. Yahya has excellent ground skills, but noone has been able to get Yamamoto in a submission. I think we'll see more of the same. Yamamoto by decision.

Bob Sapp vs. Bobby Ologun

The “Beast” vs. the comedian. Ologun has pulled big ratings for some of his fights because he is a celebrity comedian in Japan. This is another attempt to tap into that demographic that will be interested in seeing the spectacle in Sapp fight the comedian.

Ologun isn't a terrible fighter, but he will have problems with Sapp's size and power. Sapp should win this in the first round if he actually doesn't get caught up in trying to run down Ologun.

It has been fairly evident in some of the recent UFC events that the American fanbase in the sport has different sides. There are the fans that remain knowledgable and enjoy seeing the great ground wars, the ju-jitsu techniques, the judo, the submissions. There are also many fans who just want to see two guys go toe-to-toe and see someone get their block knocked off. In some areas of the country, it is much more obvious which side of the fanbase exists there. If you are that guy who sits at a bar and wants to see someone get straight slobberknocked into next week, I suggest a strong campaign contribution to the Melvin Manhoef fund.

Why the interest?

Before I go into detail as to why I'm a fan of this Dutch kickboxer's brutal style, let me give you a little background on the interest in Melvin Manhoef. Imagine a dutch kickboxer with wicked striking ability who has the power of a gorilla. That's Melvin. He's unbelievably powerful, has great striking ability, awesome leg power, and produces time and time again highlight reel knockouts. He may not be the best, he may not be the most skilled on the ground, but he absolutely crushes standup competition. Why am I making a case for him? Because who doesn't love explosive knockouts? The UFC sure as hell does. This guy would sell eventually if you matched him up with standup competition and that's the business model that K-1 is using him for. I believe a smaller U.S. organization could definitely capitalize on him.

With that said, let me refer you to a fight that happened at Cage Rage 15. He took on Chute Box fighter Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos in one of the most unbelievable standup wars I've seen in quite some time. You've all seen Rocky II. Creed and Rocky knock each other down at the end of the battle after being exhausted to the brink of falling down. That was Manhoef vs. Santos. Both guys decimated each other to the point of exhaustion. Somehow, Manhoef even throws in a head kick that lands and Santos remains standing. Eventually, Manhoef mustered enough power to put Santos to the floor and won. The fight stands out in my mind because of the heart that both guys had toward the end, regardless of their poor cardio.

That was the start of my interest in Manhoef's career. He went on to knockout Ian Freeman in :17 seconds, beatdown Shungo Oyama, and straight crush Bernard Ackah and one-two Fabio Silva into Candy Land. Although he has significant problems with good submission fighters, he's purely been made to brawl. An exciting fighter to watch and always good for a crushing knockout. Without further adeu, some video links for your viewing pleasure:

Melvin Manhoef vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos @ Cage Rage -- Awesome standup war, a crowd pleaser
Melvin Manhoef vs. Ruslan Karaev @ K-1 Amsterdam -- One of Manhoef's most brutal knockouts, Karaev lays unconscious on the mat for quite some time
Melvin Manhoef vs. Tomihira @ K-1 -- Good demonstration of combinations setting up striking
Melvin Manhoef vs. Ian Freeman @ Cage Rage -- Taking on the British veteran, wins in quick fashion
Melvin Manhoef vs. Bernard Ackah @ K-1 HERO's -- Also known as the guy who knocked out Johnnie Morton, Ackah gets dominated

Can this guy even contend?

To be perfectly honest, he wouldn't be a guy who could contend unless he made an effort to try to improve his ground game. What he can provide is tough standup competition and he can basically cause people to fear trading with him at all. Manhoef has obviously weaknesses. His most obvious is his takedown defense and ground game, which is fairly non-existent. There are some big name fights he has lost. Dong Sik Yoon dominated him as well as did Akiyama, two solid judokas. There is even a fight where a old fat Bob Schrieber defeated Manhoef after being absolutely pummeled by him. Problem was, Schrieber was much bigger and seemed to outweigh Manhoef significantly. He has weaknesses, and there isn't an assumption here that Manhoef could dominate a division

He is, however, a guy who can entertain a crowd. Imagine the Santos vs. Manhoef battle on a UFC Fight Night card in the States for free. Imagine if it was on a card like that in the past. It would have been a huge hit. The fight literally plays out like Rocky, entertains the crowd to exhaustion. Two gladiators duking it out to the end, a dream fight for any promotion. So why have I outlined his career in this post? To expose him to the casual fans out there that may not know him.

Possible landing zones

Manhoef is currently fighting for K-1 HERO's and also fights in the regular K-1 events from time to time. His height is a problem in the regular kickboxing matches at times, but he can be a force in the middleweight to light heavyweight divisions in any U.S. organization. Some of the names that myself and Joe batted around as possible U.S. matchups were interesting. The one name that was suggested was Robbie Lawler. Both of their styles match up pretty well. They both have similar reach and knockout power. The x-factor is Melvin's kicking power and combinations. He seems to be very unique in that he never strays from a combination strategy. It'd be a hell of a fight, at least on paper.

Let's face it, Manhoef isn't going to defeat the big name grapplers in the UFC or other U.S. organizations, but he can present problems if he can get the first punch landed. Even in divisions like the UFC's Light Heavyweight division that has a lot of standup fighters in the low to mid tier, he could make an impact. I hope we see this guy in a major U.S. organization soon, but their are sources on the horizon that suggest a return of K-1 Dynamite to the States. He has been scheduled to fight on the New Year's Eve K-1 Premium Dynamite card, and the possible opponents lined up look to be Kang, Newton, Galesic, and Minowa. This fight has the potential to be a highlight reel knockout. What's not to like, Manhoef even has a tattoo (pictured to the right) that notches his knockouts! Come on, tacky as hell, but who cares... ride the bandwagon to a brutal finish.

Luke Thomas also has a comment regarding Manhoef over at BloodyElbow.com as well.