(Images and press release via FEG inc @ k-1.co.jp)
Press Release
December 11, 2010 ? Tokyo, Japan ? Finally, the date to which we have been counting down like children before Christmas has arrived. The FieLDS 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix surpassed all expectations! A sellout crowd of 11,835 screaming fans crammed into Ariake Colosseum to witness the spectacle.
It seems like all of the participants lifted their game to a new level. The new generation fighters really proved they belong firmly in the ranks, and the veterans participating gave them everything they could handle.
To open the WGP, the reserve bout was held between Ewerton Teixeira and Errol Zimmermann. Ewerton wasted little time in using his improved boxing to corner Zimmermann and unload on him. The Golden Glory fighter managed to use his knees to get him out of trouble and back into center ring, though it didn’t help him a whole lot as he could barely open his guard to throw strikes. He did sneak in a few solid mid kicks, but it wasn’t enough to stop Ewerton from earning a rare unanimous 10/9 first round. The second round saw much of the same, but while Ewerton was looking crisp with his shots Zimmermann looked more like he didn’t have the energy to put any power behind his own. Between rounds something his corner said to him must have fired him up, as the man that fought in the third round was the Zimmermann we know from pervious fights. He pushed the pace as much as he could, and started throwing his strikes with a bit more of an intent to cause serious damage. Ewerton was far from a motionless target though, and he moved and countered well to ultimately earn a clear unanimous decision. This victory set him up as the reserve fighter for the tournament.
The first of the WGP matches was a revenge match. Mighty Mo lost his first shot at the belt back in 2004 by knockout to the tiny Thai fighter Kaoklai Kaennorsing. The following year he tried to qualify, but was stopped again by Peter Aerts; his opponent tonight. He chose the 3-time champion as his opponent as he said they have a score to settle. The 17 time WGP participant accepted the challenge with a smile, and turned up in outstanding condition. When the gong rang, Mo immediately attacked with….a tackle. Once the referee separated them, Peter tried to avoid the Mo-verhand right while landing some counters, but it turned into a messy bout excessive clinching. During one break in the hugging, Aerts casually lifted his left leg and introduced his foot to Mo’s jaw. The big Samoan went sprawling down to the mat, but succeeded in beating the count. Being a tournament quarter-final, he has just one more chance to make it out of the round or the bout would be stopped. He took it to Aerts, but experience paid off and The Lumberjack bid his time until Mo’s back was to the ropes before unloading. The combination ended with another of Aerts’ tradition high kicks, and Mo hit the canvas for the second and final time within the opening round. This advanced a fresh Aerts to face the victor of the next bout.
Reining and 4-time champion Semmy Schilt followed, and he was facing a complete newcomer to the Best 8, Japanese hopeful Kyotaro. The fighter formerly known as Keijiro Maeda is known for getting on his bike early in fights, and he did just that this time. Semmy managed to corner him a few times, and slightly bent the rules with one or two knees. In the second round Kyotaro set the crowd alight when he actually landed two solid punches, but for the bulk of the round it looked like an abusive father overzealously disciplining his delinquent son. In the final round (yes, Kyotaro lasted longer than Jerome LeBanner, Remy Bonjasky and Badr Hari combined in the 2009 WGP) Kyotaro was cautioned for excessive holding, but threw caution to the wind and went for broke. Unfortunately for him the size difference meant leather was mainly flying through the air, and even when they clinched Semmy could still punch him with power. Seemy did more than enough to earn the decision, while Kyotaro finally earned himself some respect. This set up a semi-final match up we have seen 4 times in the past. Peter Aerts and Semmy Schilt are 2-2.
Turkish star Gokhan Saki was next in the ring, and he was facing the Romanian Daniel Ghita. This was every technical fighter fans’ wet dream, as there are very few heavyweight fighters on their level. They were both the stand out fighters of the F16 event, and both said they were determined to stop the other. And did this fight ever live up the hype! Saki came out with his combinations, working every strike-able target. Ghita laid back into some mid kicks the likes of which have never been seen in K-1. Two minutes into the fight, both were red raw, and they continued to beat the stuffing out of each other with some of the crispest punches and kicks witnessed in K-1 in close to a decade. The fight miraculously went the distance, with both fighters taking tremendous damage. One of the judges gave it to Ghita, however I was selfishly relieved when they announced the other two judges had it as a draw. I just wanted to see as many more rounds of this fight as I could. Unfortunately though, it looked as though Ghita had put everything he had in him into the regulation time, and his tank was empty. I suspect Saki was running on mere fumes too, but he was the more active of the two throughout the round, and he was awarded a very hard-fought victory by the judges. Ghita quashed the possible rumors that the injury he sustained a few weeks ago played a part in the fight. He also said he was pleased to have put on such a fight for the crowd, but that he felt he had the fight won inside of three rounds. He said he would happily go into the semi-finals now as he is feeling great.
The final fight in the WGP openers was finally here. Alistair “The Reem” Overeem was set to take on a fighter now trained by a who’s who of trainers and his own ex-stable-mate, Tyrone Spong. Overeem flew out at the start looking to land his knee. Spong was light on his feet, and avoided being hit while landing some very solid counters. One of them rocked Overeem hard, but the big man weathered the storm and came back in the second round a lot calmer, and returned the favor to Spong. In the final round Spong didn’t quite look himself. He was still bouncing and moving, but not with the same balance as earlier in the fight. After taking a few shots he slowed even more, and it didn’t take Overeem much to get him against the ropes and unload until the referee broke in to call a standing 8. Spong valiantly hung in until the final bell, but it at least looked as though a lot of the round he spent astral travelling. With a down under his belt, the judges all agreed that Overeem was the one to advance, and in turn face his training partner, Gokhan Saki in the next round.,
Mr. K-1, Peter Aerts made his way out to face the most dominant champion K-1 has ever had, Semmy Schilt. Unlike Aerts, Semmy has never once, in his entire career, entered a tournament he hasn’t won. Both of Aerts’ losses to him have been in tournaments, and each of his victories in single matches. Having said that, Aerts went into this fight like he did the times beat Semmy. He opened up hard and finally took a break after the third round. He just didn’t take a step back, and while Semmy gave him some trouble early in the fight, Peter wore him down over the course of the fight. Going into the final round the scores were pretty much even. Peter dug deeper still, and with the entire arena going crazy supporting him with cheers, he attacked even harder. For the first time I have seen, Semmy seemed to start gassing. He all but ate every one of the head shots Aerts threw, while protecting mainly his body. When it ended, Semmy looked defeated while Peter Aerts stood in the middle of the ring with both arms raised. Two of the three judges agreed with him, and Peter advanced to the Finals. With this victory he has stopped Semmy from breaking the record for the number of belts won, and he put himself in position to win four himself. This would put him on equal standing with Semmy, and perhaps more importantly for himself, old time rival Ernest Hoost.
If there was ever any doubt that team mates wouldn’t fight each other seriously, Alistair Overeem and Gokhan Saki put it to rest. Saki came out almost even more ferociously than when he was facing Daniel Ghita. He landed two stunning spinning kicks that even Badr Hari would be envious of, while Alistair drove in some massive knees and mid kicks. Once again, the combinations from Saki were a thing of beauty, and they really seemed to bother Alistair. The tide seemed to be starting to swing the Turks way when a mid-kick from The Reem buckled him momentarily. Saki tried to cover it with a flurry, but soon after he was hit again and his right arm dropped to his side forcing him to turn away. A down was called, and at the end of the count the lifeless arm was still by his side. He told the referee he couldn’t do anything, and a fresh Overeem advanced to the Finals. Saki later said he actually broke his right hand in the fight against Ghita, and took a lot of damage to his elbows. He didn’t want to continue, but his team convinced him to give it a try. After the second shot to his elbow from Overeem though, he was done.
In 2009 the MMA fighter, Alistair Overeem, took on Peter Aerts in the Eliminations. Everyone expected him to be taught a lesson, but he rag-dolled the legend and won with ease. That was the only WGP Aerts didn’t participate in. Now, these two kickboxers will once again meet. But this time, in the Finals.
As bell rang, Overeem closed the distance and swarmed the K-1 star. Knees, hooks, straights…he threw everything expected of a K-1 fighter, and he didn’t give Aerts the room to fight back. Perhaps exhausted from his victory over Semmy, Aerts was reduced to covering up and throwing the odd low kick until a flurry of punches left him crumpled on the canvas. As the count was being announced, Aerts was wincing in pain. He dragged himself to his feet on the ten count, but was wobbly and not in the fighting pose. Kakuda was the referee, and he had no choice but to wave off the fight, crowning Alistair “The Reem” Overeem as the 2010 WGP Champion. Post-fight Peter Aerts said, “The first fight was easy, but the second one was just too much. I couldn’t get up. I was pissing blood. I did everything I could, but Semmy killed me in that fight. Everyone calls him the best, so my goal was to beat him. I was satisfied with the win, but I was done after it. It was too tough to continue in the tournament after it. I am 40 years old. Maybe single matches are better for me.” Alistair Overeem came back with a huge smile on his face saying, “I’m very proud of myself. I defeated three of the strongest fighters in the world tonight. I have nothing but respect for Peter. He has been fighting for nineteen years! He is and always will be a champion.”
The Superfight on the card was between local fighter Singh Jaideep and Russian PRIDE veteran Sergey Kharitonov. As expected, the lanky Indian kept his distance from Sergey’s strong punches, and kept in his kicking distance. He landed several low kicks, and then caught Sergey off-guard when he was thinking about his legs. He fired in with punches, and landed an overhand right that had Sergey doing a drunken hula dance until the mat met his torso. As expected from this warrior, he got to his feet and called Jaideep on, but he was not seeing straight and Jaideep mauled him with punches until the referee came in to save Sergey from further damage.
To round off the card, long time K-1 battler Yusuke Fujimoto decided to retire this year, and K-1 offered him a retirement fight on this card. He jumped at the chance with very little time to prepare; only to find out his opponent was the only man in the last couple of years to seriously hurt Semmy Schilt, Chakuriki Dojo member Hesdy Gerges. Fujimoto hasn’t been in the ring since mid-2008, and hasn’t tasted victory in three years. In the same timeframe Hesdy has had 20 fights, winning almost all of them. The chance of an upset was small to start with, and when seeing the size difference of the two in the ring, it became almost zero. The match began with Hesdy throwing his low kicks from a distance, but as soon as Fujimoto moved into punching range those lows started to land hard. It only took several to knock down the Japanese fighter 3 times, ending his retirement fight in the first round.
Hesdy made a bigger scene later in the night too. After Events Producer Mr. “Tany” Tanikawa had finished addressing the press and media, he grabbed the microphone and said, “I beat Semmy Schilt in Korean and it should have been me in the Final 8! If I was in it, I would have won. So, I challenge Alistiar Overeem to a fight on the next card.”
Another year, and another outstanding K-1 World Grand Prix. Alistair Overeem makes history, being the eight champion crowned. If you haven’t seen the event yet, keep your eyes open for replays in your area. Additionally, keep checking back here for updates to the Dynamite!! card, and for future events.