Badr Hari vs. Choi Hong Man

This is Badr Hari vs Hong Man Choi from the K-1 Final 16 that just took place in Seoul, Korea in the weekend. I'm not usually interested in the K-1 Heavyweights since I find the action generally slow and the skill level not very high. There are however a few heavyweights that are the exception like the great Andy Hug, Hoost, Aerts and Bonjasky but guys like these are rare in today's K-1 scene. That's why Badr Hari is being talked about alot these days. He is the trash talking loudmouth who can actually has the skills. He's considered the future of the K-1 heavyweights.

Badr Hari came into this match saying something to the effect that he will smash Hong Man Choi who has no skills other than being big and heavy. Hong Man Choi is a 7' Korean giant who was a former sireum wrestling champion. Sireum is a Korean wrestling style similar to sumo. Jerome Le Banner, another great K-1 fighter, have commented that kicking Choi's legs is like kicking a stone pillar.

Badr Hari fights the perfect style against a big man in this match. Low kicks and body shots to punish the legs and body. He wasn't afraid to get in and mix it up with the big man up close either. Watch and enjoy!

Muay Thai Inspirations

Great HL clip of various famous Muay Thai fighters. These are the fighters who really stand out in their era. As the clip title says, it really is inspirational to watch these guys do their stuff.

Work out in the park

Bunch of guys working out in a playground park. Great workout! Alot of variations on the pull ups and a variety of gymnastic type exercises. I think this type of training would be a good substitute to the standard strength & conditioning training.

It's free, out in the outdoors and best of all it looks like they're having a lot of fun doing it!

Rawee vs. Kenji Kurosaki

This is a gem of a clip! This clip shows Kenji Kurosaki in the famous 1963 Kyokushin Karate vs Muay Thai battle. Kenji Kurosaki was one of the three Kyokushin fighters who went to Thailand to fight in this event. After this, he went on to learn Muay Thai which he later combined with kyokushin to develop and become a pioneer of Japanese kickboxing.

I find it fascinating that in this clip, Kurosaki fights just like a sanda fighter. By that I mean he is contantly trying to throw and take Rawee down. I don't recall Kurosaki using any punching-kicking combinations. I wou;dn't be surprised if Kurosaki was also a judo blackbelt. I think it was a good tactic of him but he attempted way too many throwing attempts and was getting to be to one dimensional. Unless you're going to spike the opponent on his head with a throw for a KO (which is illegal), I generally think too many throws actually make the thrower more tired than the opponent. Eventually the Rawee adapted to the tactic and took advantage of Kurosaki's increasingly sloppy clinching attempts.

This clip was uploaded by youtube member GKfromMTA. He has a number of other excellent rare fight clips so check them out!

Dieselnoi vs. Shogo Shimazu

Dieselnoi is one of the most famous and dominating Thai fighter in the 1970s or any era for that matter. He is remarkably tall for a Thai and because of this he excelled at clinching and knees. Infact his clinching and knee techniques were said to revolutionise Muay Thai. Here he is up against a Japanese kickboxer, Shogo Shimazu. I don't know much about Shogo but I am curious that he is wearing the long pants more commonly seen in the American kickboxing rules yet he performs the Wai Kru at the beginning. Wai Kru is the traditional Muay Thai ritual dance. Anyway Dieselnoi shows his trademark devastating knees in this match. Enjoy!

Back Flip Wrestling Move

Amazing counter to a single leg! The wrestler does a back flip and straight into a takedown when landing. What crazy skills! And this looks like a high school wrestling match. Apparently this is not that uncommon in wrestling after seeing all the other backflip counters to the single leg on youtube. I am constantly amazed at the athleticism of wrestlers. Makes me wish there was a wrestling program in my school instead of Taekwondo or Karate.

Tribute to Takeda Kozo HL

This is Takeda Kozo, champion Muay Thai fighter from Japan. I came across this HL clip while checking out my favourite muay thai blog www.mymuaythai.com. Kozo is one of the few foreigners to win a stadium belt in Thailand. He's known for his punishing low kicks as you'll see in the HL clip. Unfortunately when K-1 Max was introduced, he was already past his peak and thus was never that successful. Despite that he really is a quality fighter beating alot of big names from Thailand such as Kaoklai and Bigben. He actually beat Bigben by TKO via low kicks. I found it abit suspicious but it looks legit.

Personally I find Kozo abit one dimensional. He tends to rely too much on his low kicks. You'll see near the end of the clip he had an injury to his right shin but he kept kicking the bag with it. In the last match where he came in with that injury, he still relied only on his right low kick, despite the fact his opponent was a former wrestler. Not surprisingly he pulled out of his next match in the night.

Despite this, his low kicks are still awesome and this HL clip should show you guys how devastating it can be.

K-1 World MAX ~ CALIBUR ~ by shunsuke

Latest K-1 Max HL clip from shunsuke. I love his clips. They are just awesome! This is in anticpation of the Max finals which will take place on 1st October.

The finals will put Masato vs Sato and Souwer vs Kyshenko. I think Souwer will take it again this year. I'm undecided who will win between Masato vs Sato but I'll be rooting for Sato. I feel Masato is too arrogant at times and the more honest but hard working Sato is just a fighter that I usually root for.

San Da VS Muay Thai

Sanda vs Muay Thai event that took place in 2006. I'm not sure if this is 56kg or 65kg. The info on the first clip says 65kg but the info on the second part of the match says 56kg.

Anyway, match weight aside the action were quite interesting. The Chinese fighter is very versatile, using combinations of punches, kicks and even knees! I didn't remember seeing any elbows but since elbow pads were worn I think it was allowed. Like past Sanda vs Muay Thai matches in the past, I find if the Thai fighters didn't score a KO, the Chinese will run rings around them accumulating points. I've heard that some Sanda gyms in China now employs Muay Thai coaches to help i,prove their fighters' techniques and from this match it seems to be working. The only thing I'd like to see more from Chinese fighters is the will and ability to stand toe to toe.