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« | Home | »

Musashi: I’ll retire, but give me one more K-1 GP tournament shot

By Zach Arnold | August 26, 2009

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There was a press conference held today in Tokyo where Musashi asked for fans to encourage K-1 management to help get him a spot in an upcoming K-1 GP tournament, with an eye on the 9/26 Seoul, South Korea event.

Musashi said that with his debut in K-1 in 1995 and over 80 bouts during that timespan that it was time to wind his career down. However, he wants on more shot to fight and Musashi says that he is healthy for the first time in a long time. He noted that he is healed from left groin & dislocated left shoulder injuries that were suffered in the fight against Gegard Mousasi on NYE 2008.

Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, Zach Arnold | 16 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

16 Responses to “Musashi: I’ll retire, but give me one more K-1 GP tournament shot”

  1. […] Give Me One More Shot Jump to Comments K-1 Japanese troubled legend Musashi made his plea to the K-1 brass today, saying he’ll retire after this, but is truly healthy for the first […]

  2. ttt says:

    so he’ll have to win the South Korea tournament?

  3. Dave says:

    Nope, qualifying tournaments are over. He is begging for a Wildcard spot right now. The next event in Korea is the final 16, so basically the semi-finals.

    There is a rumor being kicked around right now he’ll have another fight with Ewerton Teixeira, but nothing official yet. I think as long as Gokhan Saki pulling out is true, we’ll see Musashi get his spot.

  4. Chuck says:

    I would say it’s about time for Musashi to retire. Out of those 80-some fights, doesn’t he have, like, 20 losses? And he has been knocked out quite a few times, so it’s time for him to wind down his career. Even though he has been the most successful Japanese heavyweight in K-1, the overall best Japanese heavyweight is probably Taiei Kin (Korean-Japanese, but still), especially in the nineties before his long leave of absence. And Masaaki Satake is up there too.

  5. 45 Huddle says:

    According to Wikipedia:

    Fights: 84
    Wins: 49
    Loses: 29
    Draws: 5
    Loses By KO: 10

    Taking the abuse on your brain over 84 fights is bad enough. Getting KO’d 10 times is horrible.

  6. Wolverine says:

    rumoured fights for final elimination

    Remy Bonjasky vs Melvin Manhoef
    Peter Aerts vs Alistair Overeem
    Semmy Schilt vs Daniel Ghita
    Errol Zimmerman vs Ruslan Karaev
    Badr Hari vs Zabit Samedov
    Keijiro Maeda vs Singh Jaideep
    Hong Man Choi vs Jerome Le Banner
    Ewerton Teixeira vs Musashi

  7. Zheroen says:

    I think Keiji Maeda will eventually establish himself as the best Japanese K-1 fighter. His win in last year’s World Grand Prix in Fukuoka was more impressive to me than anything Musashi ever accomplished, in my eyes.

  8. Dave says:

    I’m with you on Maeda. He thinks so, too, as he has taken the mysterious one name route like Musashi and Masato and now is simply his first name; Kyotaro.

    His record is also a lot more impressive than Musashi’s at the time and he shows more promise than early Musashi did.

  9. Alan Conceicao says:

    Let’s break down that rumored card:

    Remy Bonjasky vs Melvin Manhoef

    Poor Melvin.

    Peter Aerts vs Alistair Overeem

    Hmmm….Aerts should dominate but who knows anymore.

    Semmy Schilt vs Daniel Ghita

    Ghita looked like a monster when he won his tourney. Really interested to see this.

    Errol Zimmerman vs Ruslan Karaev

    Want.

    Badr Hari vs Zabit Samedov

    Hari’s gonna get outboxed.

    Keijiro Maeda vs Singh Jaideep

    LOL Maeda is getting the softest touch possible. Oh well. I think Hari and Schilt are going out first round, which means that he has a real shot of not having to fight any monsters.

    Hong Man Choi vs Jerome Le Banner

    LeBanner should mow him down. Blah.

    Ewerton Teixeira vs Musashi

    RIP Musashi.

  10. Actually Musashi was referred to as Mr. Decision not only because of his controversial decision wins but also because he hasn’t been knocked out in years when Feitosa finally did it with a flying knee in 2005.

    One of the most brutal KOs in K-1 history. After that Musashi never beat a notable opponent again and got KOed several times.

    Besides the legendary Peter Aerts who holds most of K-1’s records Musashi is the fighter with the most K-1 fights. He is past his prime for quiet some time now and the worst thing K-1 could do is give him the spot for the final elimination because after the final in december it’s the biggest tournament of the year!

    Of course he can call his fans up to vote for him as every other fighter can but he should not get a spot just because he wants to have it. There are much better fighters who would deserve the spot and with Maeda being the most promising Japanese K-1 heavyweight ever they don’t need Musashi anymore…

  11. Remy Bonjasky vs Melvin Manhoef
    No chance for Mahoef though I’d love to see Bonjasky out of the competition this early ๐Ÿ˜‰

    Peter Aerts vs Alistair Overeem
    Never count out Peter Aerts! He will keep the distance and destroy Overeem with his kicks. Most interesting matchup anyway.

    Semmy Schilt vs Daniel Ghita
    Nobody knows how good Ghita really is. Here is his chance to prove himself but Schilt should easily win this.

    Errol Zimmerman vs Ruslan Karaev
    Hopefully Ruslan won’t get brutally knocked out again ๐Ÿ˜‰ If it goes to the scorecards Zimmermann should lose.

    Badr Hari vs Zabit Samedov
    Tough fight but Hari should win this. The only way Zamedov could win is by KO.

    Keijiro Maeda vs Singh Jaideep
    Maeda by KO.

    Hong Man Choi vs Jerome Le Banner
    Boring match once again for JLB. They want to make sure that he stays with the final 8.

    Ewerton Teixeira vs Musashi
    If Musashi is really back he should win this fight but since nobody believes that Teixeira wins this fight by decision.

  12. Fightlinker says:

    I don’t get it. Is this like a little pro wrestling style song and dance to drum up excitement for Musashi’s retirement run? I was under the impression that wildcard spots aren’t exactly hard to get, and it would seem to make sense to my admittedly uninformed brain that giving Musashi his retirement run would be win/win. No? I don’t know anything.

  13. Chuck says:

    [italics]I was under the impression that wildcard spots arenโ€™t exactly hard to get, and it would seem to make sense to my admittedly uninformed brain that giving Musashi his retirement run would be win/win. No?[/italics]

    Hell no! He’s not a good fighter anymore, he was only ever PRETTY good, and I doubt he’s that popular. As others mentioned here, K-1 now has Keiji Maeda as a Japanese stud, they don’t need Musashi anymore. They should have just thrown him in the K-1 Japan Grand Prix (if they haven’t done it yet this year) and be done with it. If he were to WIN the Japan Grand Prix (doubt it at this point) THEN throw him into the final 16.

  14. Dave2 says:

    Huddle, that’s 10 losses by KO/TKO. If you count KOs alone, it’s 5. But after 84 fights, 29 of which are losses (10 by KO/TKO), it’s obvious that Mori received way too much punishment throughout his career. Not to mention that there are probably many cases in K-1 where a fighter is allowed to recover after being knocked unconscious. Especially if that fighter is Japanese.

    Wouldn’t be surprised if he has brain damage. If the reports are true that a number of retired NFL players have brains that resemble 80 year old dementia patients, I would think that Mori’s brain would be in the same shape. I hope that the Japanese at least have their fighters do MRI tests but I doubt it. They don’t give a crap.

  15. urbanraida says:

    K-1 shouldn’t really give Musashi that kind of platform IMO. No way should he have a chance to climb in through the back door again. He was an undeserving wildcard last year, lost to Teixiera then went and got brutalised by the smaller Gegard Mousasi. And a heavy beatdown too.

    Musashi’s days have been numbered ever since K-1 introduced their clampdown on holding rules in 2006. The heavy losses began piling up. He has served K-1 well, but was lucky to be the Japanese “ace” at a time when K-1 as a whole went to crap circa 2003-2005, and even then got some truly obscene decision victories on his way to WGP Finals.

    I recall one terrible beating at the hands and feet of Ray Sefo around 2000 time were he crawled back to the corner it seemed and still came out for the next round…..I hope he retires sooner rather than later, he has fought virtually everyone from Branko to Maeda and has nothing left to prove.

    I’m hoping that the rumoured card for Final 16 really is a rumour and will be TOTALLY different to the one floating around right now.

  16. matthew says:

    Hari will kill Zabit. Zabit has no K.O. power at heavyweight. He is fast and very technical, but so is Hari. Plus Hari can K.O. Zabit with his hands, feet or knees. Plus there is an obvious size and reach advantage for Hari. I love Melvin but I think he has no chance against Remy. And Musashi sould get a retirement match but not a spot in the GP. The GP is for the elite of K-1, and people who worked for there spots. Musashi is not good enough for a spot.

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