Tag: K1

(pictured Alistair Overeem vs. Tyrone Spong via K-1.co.jp)

The pairings for the Dec. 11th K-1 World Grand Prix Finals were announced on Monday. Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem will meet Tyrone Spong, while Semmy Schilt steps into the ring to face Keijiro “Kyotaro” Maeda.

A quick look at the K-1 event matchups appears as follows:

Peter Aerts vs. Mighty Mo
Semmy Schilt vs. Keijiro “Kyotaro” Maeda
Gokhan Saki vs. Daniel Ghita
Alistair Overeem vs. Tyrone Spong

Here is the full K-1 Press Release:
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October 4, 2010 – Seoul, South Korea – Once again, the atmosphere among the fighters after the Final 16 was light and friendly. They were quick to smile, and even quicker with a joke. All of them seemed both relieved at having qualified for the Final 8, and nervously excited to participate in the draw that would influence who they would face in the first round of the FieLDS 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix.

The opening match ups are decided via a combination of luck and strategy. Firstly, each fighter gets to select a ball that has a covered number on it. The fighter with the fastest finish in their Final 16 fight goes first, and the slowest is of course last. Once they have their ball, they can check the number written on it by removing the cover. This number represents the number in which they can choose a position from one of two brackets. The first is made up of positions A to D, and the second E to H.

As Alistair Overeem had the fastest win of the night after knockout out Bed Edwards in just 2:08, he had the first selection of the balls. He was followed by Gohkan Saki, Daniel Ghita, Tyrone Spong, Might Mo, Semmy Schilt, Kyotaro, and finally, Peter Aerts who went to an extra round decision against Teixeira Ewerton.

As always, the order they drew their ball was far from that in which they took their place in the tournament. The man with the first ball was Gohkan Saki. Not having any opponents to choose from, he went to position E in the second bracket. The Romanian fight Daniel Ghita had the next one, and, without hesitation, walked up beside Gohkan and took spot F. This set up the first match up of the WGP. Daniel said, “I think I have a good opponent, and he is very technical. I wanted to fight Saki.” Gohkan said of the bout, “I got the first ball so I had no choice. I am happy to fight ghita as he is a good technical fighter. After him I will face Alistair or Tyrone so it will be good.”

Peter Aerts had the third ball and he decided to fight in the blue corner of the first bracket, taking position B. Last minute replacement for Andrei Arlovski, Mighty Mo had the right to step up next, and surprisingly he decided to stand next to Mr. K-1. The two hugged and laughed, then Mo said, “I took this spot because peter is old now,” which cause Peter to laugh even more. Mo went on with, “It is a rematch from the last time when I hurt my knee. I don’t think it was fair. You don’t tap a cut during a fight. It is a nice opportunity to end his career with a loss. I want to rematch and regain my glory.” In response Peter said, “I didn’t have a choice, but I am happy (with the match up). He talked about my age, but before I go into a retirement home, I will try to hit his head off.”

Reigning champion, Semmy Schilt was next up, and he decided to put himself in a position to get the maximum amount of rest between fights by standing in position C. Tryone Spong then stood up with a huge smile on his face. He could either face Semmy, or move to the final matchup of the second bracket as it was still open. Keeping his smile, he chose H.

This sent a wave of murmurs through the crowd, as only Alistair Overeem and Kyotaro were left. For more than a year the fans have been asking for a Semmy vs. “The Reem” battle, and it was being dangled right in front of their eyes.

Overeem stood. As the crowd was hoping, he had the 7th ball. He walked to the stage, moved towards Semmy, then turned and took the position next to Tyrone. The crowd seemed disappointed, but only momentarily. After all, the match up was a good one, and this final move left us with a very interesting looking line up. That is, for everyone but Kyotaro. The Japanese hopefully had trouble closing his mouth once he understood who he was fighting. He eventually regained his composure though and said, “I was dreaming about this draw last night and really didn’t want ball 8. Anyway, this fight is decided and I will do my best. I will win.”

Alistair said of his choice, “I am happy to face Tyrone. We have trained together for 7 years, so I think it will be like the old days sparring.” Spong showed a very mature outlook stating, “Yeah, this is good. I am happy. I have a good opponent, and this is good for K-1 so I will just enjoy it.”

And there we have the lineup. I’m quite sure there isn’t a fan alive that could have predicted it would look like this just a week ago. Tyrone, Ghita and Kyotaro will be making their first appearance. Peter Aerts, Mighty Mo and Gohkan Saki have all fought their way back after not being there last year. And, Golden Glory fighters Semmy Schilt and Alistair Overeem are back, and in opposite blocks yet again. Will we get to see them in the finals this year? Will Kyotaro shock the world with a win over yet another fighter the odds makers don’t believe he will be able to beat? Can Saki or Ghita keep their form and step up as part of the new generation? You will need to wait until December 11 to find out. Until then, keep checking back for updates on, and interviews with your favorites for the event.

Press Release

October 2, 2010 – Seoul, South Korea – Finally, the time was upon us for the first half of the much awaited Double Impact F16 event. Tonight was the K-1 fighters, and there wasn’t a single one of them on the card not breaking their neck trying to qualify for the Final 8. As the card played out, we saw amazing knockouts, some dominating performances and some very close back-and-forth battles.

The first of the Final 16 fights was between veteran fan favorite, Ray Sefo and Ernest Hoost prot?g?, Tyrone Spong. Sefo stepped into the ring against Spong with just 5 days’ notice as a late minute replacement for Ruslan Karaev after the Russian fell ill. He wasn’t quite as explosive as we are used to seeing him, and spent a lot of the first round blocking low kicks and taking shots on his guard. He was far from inactive though, and his boxing combinations looked solid. He came back to pressure Tyrone in the second with a pair of solid spinning-back kicks to the midsection, and some snappy boxing. In the third round the extra gas did Tyrone well, and he threw absolutely everything he had at Sefo. The veteran never went close to going down though, and still had the odd trick up his sleeve though. The match went the distances and all 3 judges agreed that new generation fighter, Tyrone Spong took the bout.

Gohkan Saki was supremely confident in facing Frenchmen Freddy Kemayo. He proved why in this bout as it was almost one single combination from the start until Kemayo took his third down of the first round. The power and speed of which his combinations were thrown would have made even the great Ernest Hoost envious. He hurt Kemayo with a solid shot early on and just didn’t give him room to breath until the the referee stepped in to save Freddy from taking any unnecessary damage.

Fellow Golden Glory fighter, Errol Zimmermann was next to the ring. He was there to face the Romanian, Daniel Ghita. Daniel managed to keep Errol’s rhythm off for most of the first round, and he was diligent at keeping his guard high. Errol was throwing, but not finding his mark while it seemed like he got drilled every time a low kick landed. And they were plentiful. Zimmermann started the second round looking aggressive and came out of the corner quickly. He threw a jumping knee, but it seemed like Daniel timed it well, and his left hand found the temple of Zimmermann. Errol wobbled for a second, but it was enough to give Daniel a taste of the blood he wants. He closed the distance and landed another left, followed by a right that totally turned his lights off. Equilibrium shot he began to fall, and coped one more right on the way down to ensure he wouldn’t be beating the count. He didn’t. Daniel quick went to check on his opponent, and after some minutes Errol managed to get to his feet and return backstage.

Jerome LeBanner was up next, and I can’t remember ever seeing him so pumped up for a fight. He entered the ring and walked straight up to his opponent, Kyotaro, and gave him the death stare. The bout began and Kyotaro seemed to start his warm up then and there, but running laps around the ring for several minutes. Finally, they started to fight and mixed it up very well. Both landed some nice shots. In the second round a fired up Jerome really took it to the heavyweight champion, and while Kyotaro did land a couple of his counter punches, they were less in number and didn’t seem to rock LeBanner. The Frenchman’s shots were making kyotaro stumble, but it was impressive that his chin could absorb them! It surprisingly went to the final round, and both fighters caused the other to stumble more than once here. Cosmetically, Jerome was bleeding, and Kyotaro seemed to feel the pressure that he needed to take this round convincingly. LeBanner never once stopped pushing the fight during the round, and threw his hands in the air at the end of the fight to a roar of approval from the fans. One of the judges agreed with him, yet 2 others called a draw. An extra round was called for, and in apparent protest, LeBanner walked out of the ring and did not return. By default, Kyotaro was announced the winner.

Mr. K-1 then made his way to the ring to face Mr. Kyokushin. Peter Aerts was the favorite against Ewertom Teixeira, as he has some 18+ years of kickboxing experience under his belt. Ewerton trained hard for this fight though, and it showed. They both went into the first looking to stop the other, and ewerton showed much improved hands and overall combinations. He went to work on Aerts’ front leg with both inside and outside low kicks. Neither moved backwards, and a hook at the end of the first round put a slight wobble into Aerts’ step. The second opened with Aerts having some trouble getting through the constant combinations of the kyokushin ka. He started using his own low kicks to close the distance before using his punches and they both let fly. The final round was also a very aggressive one, and neither was willing to give the other an inch, and both landed some solid shots. Towards the end of the round Aerts again stumbled after a big right hand, but he came back hard. The bell rang and the judges handed out the second draw of the night. This time both fighters fought the extension round. It was a near repeat of the earlier rounds with the acceptation that Ewerton was cut towards the end. While there must have been little more than a hair in it, this time the judges awarded the fight to Peter Aerts.

Raul Catinas trained to face ex-UFC champion Andrei Arlovski but wound up facing slugger, Might Mo, after Andrei pulled out. Raul went into the first round with a good gameplan: take out the power-punchers legs. It was working well too, until he ate a left hook that led to him taking a closer look at the canvas than he would have hoped. He came back from the 8 count, and went back to throwing bombs of his own and low kicks. The second round was a messy slugfest, where both delivered and received more punches that the surgeon general would deem advisable. Both were gassing bad and shoot from the hip. The third and final round was much of the same, until Mo landed a right hook that rocked Raul and had him doing some sort of rap dance move until the end of the round. On just a day or two notice, Might Mo managed to qualify for the Final 8 for the second time.

Hesdy Gerges has fought, and lost to, Semmy Schilt once before. He came here tonight looking for revenge. This time he had much more than 24 hours’ notice for the fight, and he was sure that would be the deciding factor. When the opening bell rang, he immediately had Semmy moving backwards, and kept the pressure up. Semmy really tested his guard with the jab, and his midsection with his beloved step up knee. Be that as it may, Hesdy kept coming forward. In the second it was much of the same. The fight ebbed and flowed in each fighter’s direction at times, until Hesdy landed a beautiful overhand right causing Semmy to to be cautious for the remainder of the round. The final was upon us, and Hesdy managed to make Semmy look human. Hesdy mixed up his low kicks with his shots rather than just go headhunting, and it helped him score some more points. Semmy did keep up his offense too, but it was clear that Hesdy was earning the respect of the fans. The bout ended, and the judges awarded a relieved looking Semmy with the win. The crowd gave a standing ovation to Hesdy as he left the right though.

Oceania GP Champion, Ben Edwards had his dream come true by making it to this F16 event. His opponent was “The Reem.” Edwards finished his tournament in record time, all with first round knockouts, so the excitement for this fight among the crowd was electric. Alistair came into the bout without his usual knees, but the clear improvement in his hands was enough. In fact, within the first round he managed to drop Ben with his hands not once, not twice, but a total of 3 times. Not replying on only his power this time, he used some great technique as well. At one stage he even pushed Ben’s guard away with his left hand to power in a right hook, for one of the downs. His improved defense also makes him so much harder to catch than last year. The domination of such an opponent shows he is not just a MMA fighter dabbling in K-1 anymore, but a true contender.

In other fights on the card, Dzevad Poturak defeated Chalid after the towel was thrown at the start of round 3. Dzevad pushed the action with leg kicks from the start, and it being Chalid’s first fight back in 2 years really showed. He tried his best, but had trouble finding a home for his punches. Additionally Sergey Kharitonov beat Takumi Sato by referee stoppage in the first round after catching him with a flurry that the Kyokushin fighter just couldn’t recover from.

Tyrone Spong, Gohkan Saki, Daniel Ghita, Kyotaro, Peter Aerts, Mighty Mo, Semmy Schilt and Alistair Overeem all earned their spot in the Final 8. It is made up of veterans, and new generation fighters. The relatively small, and the massive giants. Punching specialists, kickers, aggressive brawlers and counter technicians. It looks like it will be one hell of an exciting World Grand Prix. Events Producer Mr. Tanikawa also mentioned he wants to give Badr Hari a reserve spot if he is available, making things potentially even more interesting. Make sure to keep your checking back for more news about the WGP, information on the official draw, and for the second half of Double Impact, World MAX!