This content is protected In less then a month from now, on December 5, the eagerly anticipated K-1 Finals 2009 will take place to determine the strongest K-1 fighter of 2009. The entire card looks very intriguing this year with the comeback of a very motivated and focussed Semmy Schilt who is determined to capture his fourth K-1 belt. He will square off with the last representative of the older generation, bad boy and decorated veteran Jerome Le Banner. On the same side of the tournament table triple K-1 champion Remy Bonjasky will face the strong and talented Errol “The bonecrusher” Zimmerman in what promises to be a very action packed and hard fight for both gentlemen. Remy usually fights in a very calculated way, but he will have to fight back hard when he steps in the ring with the wild and fearless Zimmerman. On the other side of the tournament table Badr Hari, determined to erase the debacle of last year ( Hari was disqualified in the Final match), will face Ruslan Karaev for a third time to settle the score. Karaev and Hari fought twice before with each fighter scoring a win by KO. While Hari usually has a huge speed advantage over his opponents, in this fight it will be different as he will face a fighter who is equally fast and mobile. Both guys have suspect jaws and KO power … so one thing is for sure; this one will end with a big KO! This content is protected One of the big names in the mma world and upcoming star Alistair Overeem will compete in the Finals as well. After a short, but successful, campaign in K-1 with a win over Badr Hari in 2008 and a close loss to Remy Bonjasky earlier this year, Overeem did quite a number on Peter Aerts and proved many experts wrong. He beat Aerts handily and this way he secured his ticket to the Finals. With his monstrous built, brutal power and in his physical prime at the age of 29 Overeem surely is hard matchup for anyone out there. Brazilian Kyokushinkai Karate champion Ewerton Teixeira has the honour to take on Overeem in the quarter final match. This content is protected What makes these finals so intriguing is the fact that earlier this year Badr Hari and Semmy Schilt fought in Amsterdam. Hari humiliated the triple K-1 champion in front of his home crowd by knocking him out in no time in the first round. Schilt is still very annoyed by this fight and if both guys are able to win their matches they will meet again … in the Final. So there is a potential rematch between these two guys in the making. Will it be repeat of revenge? Also interesting is the presence of Alistair Overeem and what he will be capable of. He already stated that he would go back to mma after this K-1 tournament, so he surely is gonna give his all - for him it’s a chance of a lifetime. Not only the main tournament looks great, but also the reserve bouts and undercard promise fireworks. Don’t entirely rule out Peter Aerts as he might have chance to enter the main board if a tournament fighter would not be able to continue due to injury. He has to make it past the technical Turkish fighter Gohkan Saki first though as these to two warriors will fight each other in the first reserve bout of the evening. The second reserve bout will be between Romanian Daniel Ghita and Chalid “Die faust” Arrab. Tyrone Spong, who is now trained by the master Ernesto Hoost himself, will make his return to the ring after a lay off and will take on the new Japanese hope Kyotaro. In opening action Jan Soukup will face Tsutomu Takahagi and Keiichi Samukawa will take on Ryuji Kajiwara. Who will be crowned the K-1 2009 champion? Find out on December 5. This event will be broadcasted on Hdnet. Fight card: http://www.k-1.co.jp/en/event/2009/1205_wgp/index.html Special site: http://www.k-1.co.jp/en/wgp2009/final/index.html
He will win if Hari doesn't make it to the final. If he does, Hari will knock him out in exactly the same fashion as he did last time. When you take away his huge height and reach advantage, Schilt is a very ordinary fighter; his boxing skills and defensive instincts are really not very good. This is ok when you have a foot of height advantage, but when you fight someone tall who can bang, like Hari, youre in trouble. I also think Overeem could make it to the final, knock out Schilt and make a bit of a mockery of K-1, being a full time MMA fighter.
Regardless , i think he'll beat Hari in the rematch if it ever happens. Maybe i'm wrong , but that's my opinion at the moment. And i don't see Schilt losing to either LeBanner or Overeem. But i'll tell you something , IF...Overeem does that... I personally won't see it as a total humiliation for 2 reasons. 1 - Schilt himself. (let's not forget that Semmy schilt stayed +4 years in Pancrase competitions...he stayed in mma longer than K1 anyway) So Overeem wouldn't be the first nor an exception. 2 - Most people also forget that Overeem regularly trains muay thai....always did , (before K1)...So K1 is nothing new to him. He's just an opportunist. It's not like we're talking about a pure grappler who only had mma/striking type of experience in his career. Like Schilt , (and Crocop) , he's used to kickboxing. But i'd still be a bit surprised though. Because he's always been rather inconsistant. He can be very dangerous , but also make terrible mistakes. And he starts to panic as soon as he gets winded or sees that his striking has no effect. (see his fight vs Kharitonov...and their rematch) Also , (slightly off topic) let's not forget , that for all the **** Kickboxers get by both mma & boxing critics... The likes of Crocop (ex-kickboxer) , Vitali Klitchko (ex-kickboxer) , Aleksander Povetkin (ex-kickboxer)...all did amazing transitions in different combat sports. If Overeem wins it all..i don't see it as a huge embarrassment for K1.
Well K-1 is a mixture of different fightsports and that's what makes it interesting. Overeem is not "just an mma fighter" as he happens to be Dutch and he happens to train at Golden Glory, the most successful kickboxing gym at the moment. He can spar with many K-1 fighters over there an can use their experience to built a gameplan that suits him. But regardless ... Overeem won't win it, I'd be surprised if he won't be gassed by the second match.
With only more week to go till the event, some new pre fight clips are aired on the official youtube channel; General trailer: http://www.youtube.com/user/k1?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/0/-qbOermfcvE Bonjasky vs Zimmerman: http://www.youtube.com/user/k1?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/16/A6acPkuIA9w Le Banner vs Schilt: http://www.youtube.com/user/k1?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/4/rU4ZVGN3o7k Overeem vs Teixeira: http://www.youtube.com/user/k1?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/3/9ulMdXae4nA Hari vs Karaev: http://www.youtube.com/user/k1?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/17/w4ktqLvL2b0 Another interesting feature is the picks of other fighters – here’s an example of Andy Souwer making his picks; [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f9hCqDlj9Q&feature=channel[/ame]
it is quite exciting to be honest with you. i like it despite having reservations with some of the k1 rules.
i miss the days of prime hug,aerts,hoost,le banner etc just been doing some research on branko cikatic,what a fighter! his record at pro and amateur is unreal,he won the 93 GP aged 38! knocked all 3 of his opponents out! not the prettiest fighter but ****ing brutal!