Tag: K-1

Bad News: The Spike TV/K-1 Partnership is Apparently Dead in the Water Already

(Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.)

First and foremost, we have to thank CP reader Walter Cardenas, who passed along the news (or lack thereof) regarding the much anticipated Spike TV/K-1 deal that was set to kick off in late 2012. And unfortunately, those of you who were looking forward to seeing the Japanese promotion both stateside and on a semi-major network in 2013 are in for some bad news, because according to multiple sources, the deal has already been killed. For starters, the promotion’s webpage on Spike.com is blank. And in less speculative news, Spike TV president Kevin Kay stated the following in an interview with MMAFighting:

We’re probably not going to move forward and continue with K-1. It was a little bit of an experiment. Those guys are great. We’re trying to figure out our kickboxing plans. It did okay. It was a digital play (K-1 aired on Spike.com late 2012). There are other things we can do in the kickboxing spectrum.

News of K-1’s demise (you know, their fourth or so in the past few years) started way back in July of 2012, when promotion insiders declared that the event they had targeted for the end of December at the Madison Square Garden would be “unfeasible.”


(Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.)

First and foremost, we have to thank CP reader Walter Cardenas, who passed along the news (or lack thereof) regarding the much anticipated Spike TV/K-1 deal that was set to kick off in late 2012. And unfortunately, those of you who were looking forward to seeing the Japanese promotion both stateside and on a semi-major network in 2013 are in for some bad news, because according to multiple sources, the deal has already been killed. For starters, the promotion’s webpage on Spike.com is blank. And in less speculative news, Spike TV president Kevin Kay stated the following in an interview with MMAFighting:

We’re probably not going to move forward and continue with K-1. It was a little bit of an experiment. Those guys are great. We’re trying to figure out our kickboxing plans. It did okay. It was a digital play (K-1 aired on Spike.com late 2012). There are other things we can do in the kickboxing spectrum.

News of K-1′s demise (you know, their fourth or so in the past few years) started way back in July of 2012, when promotion insiders declared that the event they had targeted for the end of December at the Madison Square Garden would be “unfeasible.” Although Kay mentioned the possibility of a similar deal with rival kickboxing promotion GLORY down the line, he made sure to emphasize that for the time being, Spike’s focus would be on that of Bellator:

[GLORY] was a great night of fights and we’re impressed by the organization and continuing discussions. There are serious discussions also as well as discussions with Bjorn (Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney) with any potential partners we get into kickboxing with. Right now we’re launching Bellator. We’re all about Bellator. If we do end up in the Glory business, that’s going to be a little later down the line. We don’t want anything to get in the way of our launch with Bellator. 

And conveniently enough, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney has also displayed some interest in a cross-promotion, even going as far as to say that he would loan out his fighters to the kickboxing promotion if they so desired:

We’ve got a different view on the fight business from the other guys (UFC). If we can find the right kind of guys, we’d like those (kickboxing) promoters to keep our guys busy if they’d like to fight as kickboxers. And we’d also like to bring guys in from other organizations. It just depends on the right guys. Kickboxing is wildly fun to watch and it’s exciting. Not all our guys can make a great transition from MMA to kickboxing, or from kickboxing to MMA. But for those who can, we’d like to bring that knockout excitement with them to our shows.

So there you have it, K-1 continues to die a slow, agonizing death that would make even Strikeforce cringe with disgust. But because I’m all about ending on a positive note, upon checking the GLORY website, I discovered that Tyrone Spong is set to face Remy Bojansky at GLORY 5 on March 13th, and let me tell you, that fight is going to be insane. I know, contain your excitement.

–J. Jones

[VIDEO] Mirko Cro Cop Invents, Plays Brutal New Sport of MMA-Basketball

MMA legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic is a man of many skills. Before he was a world class MMA fighter, he was a top kickboxer. Before that, he was a special forces officer in the military of his native Croatia. He also later became an elected member of his country’s parliament.

Filipovic is also no stranger to making ridiculous videos and posting them on the internet. He’s made videos of darkly humorous, (or sometimes just dark) pranks where he’s laughing like a hyena at the end of them. Case in point, the video after the break of him punking the very worthy subject of then Pride television broadcast commentator Mauro Ranallo. There’s also my favorite video with “Cro Cop” refereeing an impromptu boxing match between two aging, drunk men at a backyard cookout, that has unfortunately been taken down from youtube and may be lost to future generations.

Just as he insists is the case with his fight career, however, Filipovic isn’t done with goofy internet videos yet, nation. The above video reveals a basketball hoop installed in his home gym. What “Cro Cop” and his teammates do with that situation is nothing short of awesome.

May we present, Croation MMA-Basketball. There’s dribbling, shooting, pink singlet guy, arm bars, knees and lots of choking. And then “Cro Cop” speaking Croatian at the end in a high-pitched voice, perhaps mocking someone.

Enjoy.

MMA legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic is a man of many skills. Before he was a world class MMA fighter, he was a top kickboxer. Before that, he was a special forces officer in the military of his native Croatia. He also later became an elected member of his country’s parliament.

Filipovic is also no stranger to making ridiculous videos and posting them on the internet. He’s made videos of darkly humorous, (or sometimes just dark) pranks where he’s laughing like a hyena at the end of them. Case in point, the video after the break of him punking the very worthy subject of then Pride television broadcast commentator Mauro Ranallo. There’s also my favorite video with “Cro Cop” refereeing an impromptu boxing match between two aging, drunk men at a backyard cookout, that has unfortunately been taken down from youtube and may be lost to future generations.

Just as he insists is the case with his fight career, however, Filipovic isn’t done with goofy internet videos yet, nation. The above video reveals a basketball hoop installed in his home gym. What “Cro Cop” and his teammates do with that situation is nothing short of awesome.

May we present, Croation MMA-Basketball. There’s dribbling, shooting, pink singlet guy, arm bars, knees and lots of choking. And then “Cro Cop” speaking Croatian at the end in a high-pitched voice, perhaps mocking someone.

Enjoy.

Cro Cop Pranking Pride Interviewer:

– Elias Cepeda

Video: Mirko Cro Cop Gets Cheap-Shotted at K-1 World Grand Prix Final 16

(Props: OneStopMMASpot via BloodyElbow)

On Sunday at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 Final 16 event in Tokyo, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic learned the hard way that not everyone in the fight business is as sweet as Pat Barry. During the third round of his match against American kickboxer Randy Blake, Cro Cop threw a questionable uppercut at Blake, who was getting to his feet after slipping to the mat. This did not make Randy Blake very happy. The action was called back in, and when Cro Cop moved in to apologize, Blake fired a straight right that put the 38-year-old Croatian on his ass. For the last time: Protect yourself at all times, especially when you’ve just pissed off a former star of the World Combat League.

The moment was reminiscent of Floyd Mayweather‘s controversial stoppage of Victor Ortiz last September, but unlike Ortiz, Cro Cop was able to dust himself off and fight until the last bell, earning a majority decision victory. With the win, Cro Cop qualifies for a spot in the eight-man 2012 Grand Prix Finals bracket, December 26th at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where he hopefully won’t be trying any more of this nice-guy crap.


(Props: OneStopMMASpot via BloodyElbow)

On Sunday at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 Final 16 event in Tokyo, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic learned the hard way that not everyone in the fight business is as sweet as Pat Barry. During the third round of his match against American kickboxer Randy Blake, Cro Cop threw a questionable uppercut at Blake, who was getting to his feet after slipping to the mat. This did not make Randy Blake very happy. The action was called back in, and when Cro Cop moved in to apologize, Blake fired a straight right that put the 38-year-old Croatian on his ass. For the last time: Protect yourself at all times, especially when you’ve just pissed off a former star of the World Combat League.

The moment was reminiscent of Floyd Mayweather‘s controversial stoppage of Victor Ortiz last September, but unlike Ortiz, Cro Cop was able to dust himself off and fight until the last bell, earning a majority decision victory. With the win, Cro Cop qualifies for a spot in the eight-man 2012 Grand Prix Finals bracket, December 26th at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where he hopefully won’t be trying any more of this nice-guy crap.

And Now, A Knockout Even More Horrific Than The Demise of Tater Williams [VIDEO]


(From the guys who brought you Shockfights, Wheelchair MMA, and Ultimate Ball, comes the latest fighting craze to hit the UK: Narcoleptic Kickboxing.)  

Q: How do you know it’s a slow news day in the MMA world?

A: When CagePotato covers Jon Fitch interviewzzzz.

Now that we’ve all had time to digest that bit of heartbreaking news, I’ll be bringing you the sweetest knockouts from around the globe for the rest of the day, whether they be of the MMA variety, the kickboxing variety, or of the “two fat dudes throwing down for the right to the last spoonful of gravy” variety. Today’s next knockout comes to us from Los Angeles’ Memorial Sports Arena, which recently played host to the K-1 Rising 2012 US Grand Prix qualifying tournament and featured everyone from Kit Cope to Seth Petruzelli in action. With names like that, K-1 should at least be able to secure a better time slot than Manswers on the Spike TV lineup, right?

Anyways, the “Superfight” phase of the night began with a match pitting Japan’s Shuichi Wentz against American Romie Adanza. While saying that the fight ended in eerily similar fashion to the Tater Williams/Bond Laupua slugfest we witnessed this morning would be blasphemy, both fights did end in less than a minute and with one of the participants putting “five of these across the sneeze” of the other. And in both cases, those five things were toes rather than fingers, so do what you want with that.

But the big difference here was that we were not treated to a hilarious, dubstep(?) soundtracked “Dangler Alert” once one of the fighters was knocked out. Instead, we got to sit back and watch Adanza topple over like a fallen oak and then convulse like a caveman who had just been freed from an iceberg.

You tell us which is more entertaining.

Video after the jump.


(From the guys who brought you Shockfights, Wheelchair MMA, and Ultimate Ball, comes the latest fighting craze to hit the UK: Narcoleptic Kickboxing.)  

Q: How do you know it’s a slow news day in the MMA world?

A: When CagePotato covers Jon Fitch interviewzzzz.

Now that we’ve all had time to digest that bit of heartbreaking news, I’ll be bringing you the sweetest knockouts from around the globe for the rest of the day, whether they be of the MMA variety, the kickboxing variety, or of the “two fat dudes throwing down for the right to the last spoonful of gravy” variety. Today’s next knockout comes to us from Los Angeles’ Memorial Sports Arena, which recently played host to the K-1 Rising 2012 US Grand Prix qualifying tournament and featured everyone from Kit Cope to Seth Petruzelli in action. With names like that, K-1 should at least be able to secure a better time slot than Manswers on the Spike TV lineup, right?

Anyways, the “Superfight” phase of the night began with a match pitting Japan’s Shuichi Wentz against American Romie Adanza. While saying that the fight ended in eerily similar fashion to the Tater Williams/Bond Laupua slugfest we witnessed this morning would be blasphemy, both fights did end in less than a minute and with one of the participants putting “five of these across the sneeze” of the other. And in both cases, those five things were toes rather than fingers, so do what you want with that.

But the big difference here was that we were not treated to a hilarious, dubstep(?) soundtracked “Dangler Alert” once one of the fighters was knocked out. Instead, we got to sit back and watch Adanza topple over like a fallen oak and then convulse like a caveman who had just been freed from an iceberg.

Check the video out and just try to tell us that you found it more entertaining than the antics of the Tater. We dare you.


(The knockout comes at 5:30 and the disturbing replays come roughly a minute afterward.)

Good. Gravy.

We don’t mean to pull a Joe Rogan here, but we think this Houston Alexander Shuichi Wentz guy is for real.

–J. Jones

Spike TV and K-1 Announce Partnership to Broadcast Live Kickboxing Events in 2012-2013

(Oh yes. Oh God, yes. / Video via slafy)

In their continuing efforts to stick it to the UFC, Spike TV has inked a deal with world-reknowned kickboxing organization K-1 to broadcast four live events on Spike.com through the end of this year, and a series of live events on the cable channel in 2013. As K-1 CEO Doug Kaplan explained in a press release distributed yesterday afternoon, “Spike is the perfect television home and stage to introduce our K-1 warriors and the fast-paced, aggressive style of K-1 fighting to fight fans across America.” Spike’s K-1 broadcasts next year will complement their coverage of Bellator Fighting Championships, though air-dates and times for the 2013 shows have yet to be announced.

Rumors of K-1’s demise have plagued the promotion since last year, but an American showcase on a channel that reaches nearly 100 million viewers could resuscitate the brand. Could K-1 be a “gold mine” for Spike, as Joe Rogan once suggested? After the jump, the full text of the press release, including more details on this year’s Spike.com/K-1 broadcasts.


(Oh yes. Oh God, yes. / Video via slafy)

In their continuing efforts to stick it to the UFC, Spike TV has inked a deal with world-reknowned kickboxing organization K-1 to broadcast four live events on Spike.com through the end of this year, and a series of live events on the cable channel in 2013. As K-1 CEO Doug Kaplan explained in a press release distributed yesterday afternoon, “Spike is the perfect television home and stage to introduce our K-1 warriors and the fast-paced, aggressive style of K-1 fighting to fight fans across America.” Spike’s K-1 broadcasts next year will complement their coverage of Bellator Fighting Championships, though air-dates and times for the 2013 shows have yet to be announced.

Rumors of K-1′s demise have plagued the promotion since last year, but an American showcase on a channel that reaches nearly 100 million viewers could resuscitate the brand. Could K-1 be a “gold mine” for Spike, as Joe Rogan once suggested? After the jump, the full text of the press release, including more details on this year’s Spike.com/K-1 broadcasts.

SPIKE TV AND K-1, THE WORLD’S PREMIER KICKBOXING PROMOTION, AGREE TO MULTI-PLATFORM PARTNERSHIP FOR 2012 AND 2013

New York, NY, August 20, 2012 – Spike TV and K-1, the world’s premier kickboxing organization, have agreed to a strategic partnership that will begin this fall with live fights streamed on Spike.com beginning Saturday, September 8 at the U.S. World Grand Prix Championships in Los Angeles. There will be a total of four events that will be streamed live in 2012. In 2013, the K-1 events will move from Spike.com to Spike TV to coincide with the network’s extensive coverage of Bellator Fighting Championships.

“We are thrilled to be in business with the world’s preeminent kickboxing organization,” said Jon Slusser, Senior Vice President, Sports and Multiplatform Events, Spike TV. “Spike has the most passionate and knowledgeable fans of combat sports and we are confident that they will enjoy the high-action of K-1, which serves as the perfect complement to our Bellator coverage next year.”

“K-1 is excited to join forces with Spike TV, a powerful and highly experienced cable network known nationally for its combat sports programming, presenting our live K-1 events,” said Doug Kaplan, CEO, K-1. “Spike is the perfect television home and stage to introduce our K-1 warriors and the fast-paced, aggressive style of K-1 fighting to fight fans across America.”

Spike.com’s 2012 coverage will include unprecedented access to K-1 events, from live streaming of the weigh-ins the day before the bouts, to locker room interviews, to live coverage of every fight on the card, including all the prelims.

The four K-1 events in 2012 include:
September 8 – Los Angeles – U.S. Grand Prix Championship
October 14 – Tokyo, Japan – World Grand Prix Final
December 8 – Athens, Greece – MAX Final
December 26 – New York – World Grand Prix Final

The addition of K-1 to Spike TV’s lineup next year further establishes the network as the premier television destination for combat sports. Spike TV will debut Bellator Fighting Championships in January 2013 with a weekly live fight card featuring some of the best rising stars in the mixed martial arts world.

K-1 is the largest kickboxing promotion in history. Since 1993, K-1 has presented professional live martial arts events in 38 countries, featuring the best and most accomplished athletes in the sport.

World Grand Prix Champions of K-1 include Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt, Ernesto Hoost, Peter Aerts, Remy Bonjasky and Semmy Schilt. K-1 returned to the world stage on May 26, 2012 in Madrid, Spain, drawing a packed stadium and hundreds of thousands of views on the K-1 Live Stream.

Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic Still Wants to Fight MMA


(To prove he still has “it,” Cro Cop conducted the entire interview from this position)

Fighters have to fight, we suppose. Ultimately, that’s the reasoning kickboxing and MMA legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic gave when he recently told USA Today that he wants to return to MMA despite retiring from the UFC after his most recent loss to Roy Nelson at UFC 137 in 2011.

“If you ask me, when I look deep into my soul, of course I would like to fight MMA again,” Filipovic revealed. “People don’t get it. Martial arts is my life.”

Cro Cop has lost his last three MMA bouts, all in the UFC, by either KO or TKO, and was 4-6 in his ten total UFC bouts. Cro Cop also fought two dozen times in the now defunct Pride promotion out of Japan, where he took part in one or two fights that you may remember. Filipovic is still fighting for the kickboxing organization where he first made his name, K-1, and most recently picked up a second round knockout victory over Loren Javier Jorge at K-1 Rising, which we’ve added after the jump for your enjoyment.

(To prove he still has “it,” Cro Cop conducted the entire interview from this position)

Fighters have to fight, we suppose. Ultimately, that’s the reasoning kickboxing and MMA legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic gave when he recently told USA Today that he wants to return to MMA despite retiring from the UFC after his most recent loss to Roy Nelson at UFC 137 in 2011.

“If you ask me, when I look deep into my soul, of course I would like to fight MMA again,” Filipovic revealed. “People don’t get it. Martial arts is my life.”

Cro Cop has lost his last three MMA bouts, all in the UFC, by either KO or TKO, and was 4-6 in his ten total UFC bouts. Cro Cop also fought two dozen times in the now defunct Pride promotion out of Japan, where he took part in one or two fights that you may remember. Filipovic is still fighting for the kickboxing organization where he first made his name, K-1, and most recently picked up a second round knockout victory over Loren Javier Jorge at K-1 Rising, which we’ve added after the jump for your enjoyment.

Although he’s won two straight kickboxing fights since leaving the UFC and is scheduled to fight for K-1 in October, the Croatian fighter says that he still spends a lot of time grappling despite concentrating on kickboxing.

“K-1 was my first love, but even as recently as this week I was sparring kickboxing, and it was so difficult not to throw them on the ground and look to ground and pound,” he told USA Today. “Even while I’m preparing for the K-1 grand prix, I’m training on the ground with grappling several times each week.”

Filipovic says that though he’s done with the UFC, he would like to fight in other MMA promotions, just to get some action. What do you say, nation? We all love Cro Cop, but do you all still want to see him fight on in MMA at age 37, despite his struggles to get wins over the last five years or so?

Cro Cop’s motivation is clear, at least, and he doesn’t mind going out on his shield. “My motivation now is to prove to everyone that I’m still capable of being in the cage. I’m not old. I’m 37, but I can do things that fighters 10 years younger cannot,” he said.

“I will prove that, or I will die trying.”

– Elias Cepeda