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K-1 4/3 Yokohama Arena
By Zach Arnold | April 3, 2010
Event results from today’s show (claimed attendance of 10,153):
- Tsutomu Takahagi defeated Makoto Uehara after 3R by a 2-0 JD.
- Prince Ali (Iran) defeated Mitsugu Noda after 3R by a 3-0 JD.
- Sergii Lashchenko defeated Takumi Sato after 3R by a 3-0 JD.
- Gokhan Saki defeated Jaideep Singh after 3R by a 3-0 JD.
- Jerome Le Banner defeated Tyrone Spong after 3R by a 3-0 JD.
- Alistair Overeem defeated Dzevad Poturak in R1 in 2’40 by TKO (right knee).
Intermission.
- South Korean actor Kim Bum greeted the audience.
- Musashi had his retirement ceremony.
Start of main card.
- K-1 Heavyweight Title match: Kyotaro defeated Peter Aerts in R2 in 1’56 by KO.
- K-1 Super Heavyweight Title match: Semmy Schilt defeated Errol Zimmerman after 3R by a 3-0 JD (30-27 twice, 30-28).
- Badr Hari defeated Alexey Ignashov after 3R by a 3-0 JD (30-26 scores).
Topics: Japan, K-1, Media, Zach Arnold | 41 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
The return of Ignashov is cool, but he’ll get destroyed by Badr.
This card is just fantastic.
No more clinching or something like that, right?
Actually, they’ve given a bit of a “grace period” before that rule goes into effect I think. On this card, they can still clinch and throw one strike like usual.
K1 hw division hasn’t been relevant in like 8 years. Once Tom Erikson beat Bernardo and Rampage beat Abidi, it was hard to take K1 seriously. Heavyweight kickboxing has a talent pool of about 20 people. Peter Aerts is 75 years old and still a top 20 fighter. Embarrassing.
Way to not actually pay attention to the fact that the last 2 World GPs have been among the most entertaining in history, and rehash an invalid talking point from 3 years ago. Bernardo was washed up from like 2000 on, Abidi never was anywhere near elite. And those fights happened like 8 years ago or more.
The emergence of Badr Hari, Errol Zimmerman, Kyotaro, and Daniel Ghita, and Bonjasky’s resurgence have definitely brought new life to the division. Hating on K-1 because is Aerts still being involved (although he has decisively lost to Hari) in the main event picture is like saying the UFC sucks because Couture, Liddell, Tito, Hughes, et. al are still around.
But hey, who wants to actually research the current state of the promotion and make an informed insight as opposed to just spouting irrelevant rhetoric?
Seconded. Last year’s GP in particular was epic.
Anyone know the HW limit for K1?
If there is anything bad I can say about K-1 (compared to say boxing), it’s that K-1 heavyweight fighters appear to have poor striking defense in general. Obviously not all of them do (Remy Bonjasky doesn’t have poor defense for one). But it amazes me that a guy as sloppy as Badr Hari can go so far in K-1. This is a guy that got stopped by Overeem, who had only a 2-2 professional kickboxing record at the time, in 2:07 in their first encounter. Hari avenged his loss in explosive fashion but the fact that he even lost to Overeem once is quite sad. Overeem trained in Muay Thai and kickboxing for a long time and he has a great camp but still. A guy with his inexperience in pro kickboxing shouldn’t be beating top flight guys in K-1. Especially when he has a glass jaw.
FEG is in part responsible for the poor defense, all-out offensive approach though. That’s exactly what they want and what the fans want. Admittedly, boxing in general does tend to seem more boring because most top-flight boxers seem content with point fighting and defense rather than taking a chance to go in for the kill like you see in K-1 and MMA. Given the choice between Gatti-Ward and a Mayweather fight, most people would rather watch Gatti-Ward. Because Gatti and Ward are willing to sacrifice defensive focus in order to kill the other guy, making for more exciting action.
In general, I’d agree that many K-1 regulars don’t have a great boxing guard, but like you said, Bonjasky is a notable exception, as is Daniel Ghita. There is definitely an opportunity there for skilled punchers who can put the pressure on, Overeem and Mousasi being the most obvious examples. Manhoef also has some good scalps like Karaev and Slowinski, and we’ve all seen how wide open he gets.
In K-1 MAX, things are typically a lot better. Giorgio Petrosyan is an incredible figher, he doesn’t seem to have any weaknesses.
Dude, they have to block kicks. Boxers with long arms can effectively guard from their chin to their liver. In Kickboxing you have to contend w/ head kicks and leg kicks. Go watch the Ray Mercer/Musashi fight for an example of the differences between an effective boxing stance and a kickboxing stance.
Clearly Tom Erikson’s kickboxing stance was too much for Mike Bernardo’s.
It’s not good when the best example you can come up with is Musashi beating a 40-something year old just looking for a paycheck who had no fucking idea what he was doing. The fact that Musashi was able to beat him (almost surprisingly, in fact) doesn’t negate the fact that K1 has a ridiculously small talent pool and that all the best HW fighters in the world are in mma or boxing.
I am no expert of boxing or K-1…. But I’ve always viewed the typical high level boxer to be a few notches above a K-1 fighter in terms of being technical. Some of that has to do with the length of the fights. 3×3 rounds for K-1 almost guarantees a brawling element. Put any of the K-1 guys in there with a Klitschko…. Even under K-1 rules (just with more rounds), and I think the K-1 guys would get wrecked. Might be different for the lighter guys….
Remy is on record as saying his hardest ever match was against washed-up boxer Francois Botha.
In re: Klitschkos, Vitali was a world kickboxing champion before he moved over to the adult pool. Wladimir allegedly was a kickboxer as well but I have never seen any evidence of it.
Don’t they have PHDs as well?
Zhereon: While I am happy that there are a few new faces in K1, that doesn’t change my OPINION (omg imagine someone giving an opinion on a message board!) that the sport is irrelevant. Junior Dos Santos would be K1 champion tomorrow. I saw Badr Hari get finished by a Semmy Schilt jab. If these guys were good strikers they would be in HW boxing where they could get paid a lot more.
Further, you can try to act like Abidi wasn’t “elite” but the fact is that he beat Aerts, the best kickboxer in K1 history, twice, when Aerts was still under 60.
Bernardo losing to Tom Erikson in kickboxing is one of the most disgraceful things imaginable. Erikson was a 40-something year old wrestler, and he beat a guy who was in the upper crust of K1. Those are not “invalid talking points”. I used to be a huge K1 fan but then was appalled at how low the level of skill is compared to boxing, and that the best kickboxers in the world were losing to mma strikers who weren’t even known for striking. Rampage literally killed Abidi twice with an amateurish (at the time) striking level; he was just a lot tougher. I think that is what it comes down to for me when I watch K1 hw division–they just aren’t as tough as high-level boxers or high-level mma fighters. I’m incredibly happy for you that you enjoyed K1 GP last year; that must mean the talent pool is large and the fighters are world-class..
Dos Santos is a hooker who has never had to defend himself against a K-1 level kickboxer. He’d get destroyed by Ghita, who has never won anything on the world stage.
LOL, what is a K1 level kickboxer, someone with no chin who couldn’t make it in boxing, or is it an mma striker like Alistair Overeem who realized he could make money fighting guys in a sport with a talent pool of 12 people? Dos Santos would beat Badr Hari tomorrow in any fight of any kind.
A basic understanding of the difference between punching and kickboxing would make you look like less of a blatant troll. Kharitonov is a better boxer than Dos Santos, and he couldn’t do anything to Ghita. Dos Santos might be able to bumrush an offense-first fighter like Hari, but he could never win a GP with his current style.
smoogy: It won’t let me reply to your post, only to mine.
In re: trolling, perhaps you didn’t read my post where I said he would beat Badr Hari tomorrow. You kind of agreed with me, and then called me a troll. If you are calling me a troll for suggesting he could be a K1 champion, perhaps you should look back at footage on Marko Hunto and explain what his skills were besides heavy hands, an iron jaw, and an ability to withstand low kicks.
Further, I am quite aware of the difference between punching and kickboxing; my question to you is do you think J2S doesn’t train kickboxing all the time? Do you think he doesn’t train kicks constantly or knees (although of course now muay Thai is outlawed in K1, lol)? I am sure in a kickboxing match he would be much more inclined to let his legs go than in a mma match where he wants to avoid getting taken down.
In re: Ghita, as I said before I haven’t watched K1 in a long time but I will check out his fight from yesterday and see what I think about him.
David M:
I would have to agree with you on many talking points. There have just been too many times where Mixed martial artists came in and Knocked out supposedly high level K1 fighters. It’s been stemmed a bit with “Ubereem” getting stopped last year by Hari. And I would give Dos antos absolutely no shot at beating Schilt.
edub:
Schilt got outstruck by Yvel (granted a prime Yvel)…he is fighting guys in K1 who aren’t particularly good punchers, which J2S definitely is. Especially now that they are eliminating clinch knees, Schilt basically only has the push kick. If he gets into a punching match with J2S he would lose IMO. I agree with the rest of your post.
Very true that Schilt has had trouble with punchers, with the Yvel loss(although it was like a million years ago), and most recently his loss to Hari last year.
I just think hes corrected that problem pretty well and his demolition of last years field in the grand prix made him look pretty unbeatable to me. His body kicks are unreal.
So a green, unexperienced Schilt, (who barely resembles his current fighting form, skillset, etc.) losing to a prime-time Gilbert Yvel in a Pancrase bout ELEVEN YEARS AGO is further proof of your K-1 HW talent is a joke claims and that Dos Santos would beat Schilt in a “punching match”?!?
Thanks…
When and why are they getting rid of the clinch knees? They might as well ban Thai fighters all together.
Way to be ignorant idiot. Go watch your mma where a WWE guy holds the HW Championship belt of the biggest organisation. Relevant as it can be.
Dos Santos being a K-1 champion? How stupid can you be?
There was nothing ignorant in my post. Go watch Tom Erikson beat Mike Bernardo, go watch Rampage beat Abidi 2x, go watch Badr Hari get KO’d with a jab, go watch Overeem crush Badr, go watch Bob Sapp crush Hoost, go watch Mark Hunt get laid out by Manhoef, go watch Botha (with no kickboxing experience and at about age 40) beat Aerts and LeBanner, and then tell me how good these guys are. K1 has the shallowest talent pool on Earth. I agree that in Max there is more talent, but amongst the heavyweights, it’s a joke. Sorry to hurt your feelings.
Brock Lesnar was a national champion in folkstyle wrestling, which just happens to be the best martial art to transition to MMA.
Tom Erikson won a pure striking battle in something he wasn’t even good at when he fought in MMA.
Big difference.
I believe clinch knees are abolished when both MAX and HW divisions reach their respective FINAL16 stages.
The best part of this argument about K-1 being irrelevant is the misquoting of fights from 8 years ago.
Tom Erikson never beat Mike Bernardo.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x125x6_tom-erikson-vs-mike-bernardo_sport
Christ. Then Cyril Abidi? He was pretty much shot by 2000.
Then quoting Sapp/Hoost? Christ. Seriously. We all know those were the lowest times kickboxing ever saw where Sapp was hammering on the back of people’s heads and there has been talk ever since of paid dives.
* SORRY FOLKS, MY KEYBOARD’S STILL SHOT!*
DAVE,
WHILE YOU’RE CORRECT REGARDING THE OUTCOME OF SAID MATCH BETWEEN BERNARDO & ERICKSON, DEFENDING THE STRIKING SKILL LEVEL OF K-I FIGHTERS WITH THAT PARTICULAR CLIP REALLY DOES NOTHING TOWARD FURTHERING YOUR ARGUMENT MY FRIEND.
Keyboards are cheap my friend.
Are the K-1 heavyweights generally the best heavyweight kickboxers in the world? If so, that doens’t reflect well on the kickboxing heavyweights. It amazes me that a guy like Badr Hari can get so far in K-1. Beating pretty much everybody except the technically superior Remy. It seems like the K-1 MAX guys are a lot more legit. They have been able to hang with Muay Thai Stadium Champions.
It’s horrible that they are getting rid of the knee strikes in the clinch. Muay Thai is a pretty fundamental strike art (along with boxing and karate). And multiple knee strikes in the clinch KOs are one of my favorite things to watch(see Wanderlei Silva-Rampage II). Taking away the last remnants of Muay Thai like that in kickboxing would make it hard to promote K-1 as the ultimate proving ground for kickboxers. How can that happen when Muay Thai is effectively barred from K-1?
YEAH, SERIOUSLY. I TOTALLY AGREE.
I MEAN, WHAT’S NEXT?
OVERSIZED “TOUGHMAN”-STYLE GLOVES & ONE MINUTE ROUNDS?!!!
The rules dictate the fight, I think. Instead of criticizing the fighters I think it is a lot easier to critique the company for their rules. The short rounds and the way that K-1 calls people back means that these guys know they have to go out there and put it all on the table.
I’m still not sure why there is a whole “K-1 fighters have shitty technique” meme going on here. Kickboxing is different than boxing and different than MMA. Your average, lower level kickboxer has better technique standing up than most “elite” MMA fighters, so what does that say?
To me it just says they have to be different, you can’t use a proper muay thai stance in MMA because it leaves you open for a takedown. You can’t do proper boxing footwork in K-1 because throwing and checking kicks would throw you completely off balance.
SPEAKING OF HEAVYWEIGHTS, ANYONE ELSE CATCH THE HAYE-RUIZ FGHT TONIGHT?
UGH.
OF COURSE ALL THE HAYE FANS OUT THERE WERE JUST CRAZY ABOUT IT. SOME EVEN CALLING IT THE MOST EXCITING HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE FIGHT IN YEARS!
SURE IT WAS, IF YOU CALL A ONE SIDED BOUT BETWEEN A YOUNGER QUICKER FIGHTER POT SHOTTING A SHOPWORN, SHOT, GLACIALLY SLOW OLDMAN FOR SIX ROUNDS ENTERTAINING…
RUIZ HAS ALWAYS BEEN PERPLEXED BY SPEED GOING BACK TO HIS PRIME & TONIGHT HE DIDN’T EVEN HAVE THE ABILITY OR FITNESS TO HIT THE LOTTERY WITH SOMETHING BY CHANCE. HE WAS JUST PUSHING HIS PUNCHES OUT THERE WITH NO SNAP OR POWER WHATSOEVER SO THAT EVEEN THE FEW THAT LANDED WERE FEEBLE AT BEST. IT WAS AN ATROCIOUS EFFORT.
NOT THAT HAYE’S WAS ANYTHING OUTSTANDING EITHER, CONTRARY TO WHAT HIS ACCOLYTES ARE SAYING…
WERE HE HALF THE FIGHTER THAT HIS FANS THINK HE IS HE’D HAVE NEVER ALLOWED RUIZ TO GET OUT OF THAT FIRST ROUND.
FOR A FIGHTER WITH HIS BIG KO RATIO, HE’S SURPRISINGLY LACKING IN REAL FINISHING ABILITY.
HE’S ALL ABOUT WINGING ONE BOMB AT A TIME. A “SKILL” THAT’S ONLY GOING TO GET HIM ABSOLUTELY MURDERED BY EITHER OF THE KLITSCHKOS.
NOT THAT THEY’RE HIS ONLY IMMEDIATE THREATS.
I SEE POVETKIN, ADAMEK, CHAMBERS & EVEN AN OLD GUARD BANGER LIKE TUA (AMONG OTHERS) AS SERIOUS DANGERS TO HAYE.
JUST MY TAKE ON WHAT I SAW.
This was like the day of blah: Haye beat up John Ruiz in large part because he landed a ton of shots to the back of the head. Bernard Hopkins did some wonderful playacting after being lovetapped back there against Roy Jones. Its like Golden Boy Promotions was theming along to the Easter Bunny.
Oh, and K-1 was immemorable aside from a much smaller Peter Aerts getting blown out in short order by Kyotaro.
He landed a a few shots to the back of the head, but none of them changed the tide of the fight. Haye is just on another level than Ruiz and he proved it.
Fun card. Nice to see JLB look good again, but it’s real hard to watch Aerts decline. Badr Hari is easily one of the most exciting people to watch in combat sports.
Nice to see some good and legit K-1 talk going on here.
If not only mildly legit and more based on “guys K-1 fighters aren’t that good, let me argue false facts and you’ll just agree because you don’t know any better.”
really happy Overeem won, quality guy