Fuji Chalmsak versus Arslan Magomedov

This match looks like it's a K-1 match but I've never seen it until now. I've heard of the fighters but other than that don't know anything else about them. Devastating right hook counter against a knee by Fuji. The way Magomedov's legs were shaking when he was KOed was disturbing!

Den Muangsurin vs Ceasar

Wow, what a comeback by the Thai fighter, Den Muangsurin. The composure and toughness to keep a level head against the pressure and fight on was amazing.

Kungfu king 2009 - SALIKOV(RUS) vs YuJin(CHN)

Salikov became well known in Chinese Sanda by beating three top Sanda fighters and claiming the Sanda King title two years ago. I've never heard or seen Yu Jin before. I am actually surprised by this Kungfu King event. It seems very similar to the now defunct Sanda Wang promotion. The rules seem to be the same sanda rules, ie. punches, kicks, throws and knees to the body allowed. Despite knees being allowed, I didn't see any knees at all even though there were a number of good opportunities to use in this match. I thought both fighters were quite sloppy in this match. Salikov seems hesitant to engage, choosing to wrestle everytime Yu Jin comes in striking. Yu Jin's striking is really sloppy. I guess it'll still be a while before a top Chinese fighter can make an impact in K-1. *sighs*

Part 1

Part 2

K-1 Max Final 16 - Nieky Holtzken vs Chahid

Another big name Dutch fighter, Nieky Holtzken who has fought in K-1 Max against Souwer and Buakaw, who he both lost to in a decision. He's vastly improved in this match up against the Moroccan powerhouse Chahid who regularly fights in It's Showtime promotions in Europe. Chahid has a nice low left kick and strong punches. He's your go straight forward kind of fighter though he will surprise people with his head movement and quick replies. Though strong and explsove, imho he's abit too one dimensional to make much success in K-1 Max.

Part 1

Part 2

K-1 Max Final 16 - Andy Souwer vs Leroy Kaestner

Andy Souwer needs no introduction. Leroy Kaestner is a protege of Peter Aerts and you'll see Peter in his corner. I have never actually seen Kaestner in any Dutch events so far so I think he must be pretty fresh in the kickboxing scene. Sometimes when your senior/ coach is an established named fighter in K-1, that will be the ticket in. Kaestner shows some good typical Dutch style kickboxing but still too inexperienced. He's tough though! I think when he gets more matches under his belt and beefed up abit he'll be a force. Atm his bodybuild remind me of when Souwer first burst on the Japanese kickboxing scene.

Part 1

Part 2

K-1 Final 16 - Albert Kraus vs Yuichiro Nagashima

Nagashima was one of the well known names to come out of this year's K-1 Max Japan tournament. He lost in the second round of the Japan tournament due to a cut but was doing extremely well knocking out people with his extremely unorthodox brawling style. However his style is extremely open and I think very vulnerable to a more tight power orthodox fighting style such as that of Albert Kraus. Nagashima is in the Final 16 due to an online fan vote iirc. He's really made a name for himself with his weird anime/ manga inspired girl outfits. Look on youtube for his entrances. It's just...wow...only in Japan :).

ttt

K-1 Max Final 16 - Artur Kyshenko vs Alviar Lima

Kyshenko really has got everything going for him. Looks, skills and power all rolled into the perfect packaged as per K-1 Max specifications. Lima is a well established Dutch fighter but making his K-1 Max debut here. He's known for his stamina and toughness.

ttt

K-1 Max Final 16 - Giorgio Petrosyan vs Dzhabar Askerov

Two established name fighters making their K-1 Max debuts. Petrosyan just won his last match against Souwer last month in Its Showtime promotion. He puts on a clinic against Dzhabar, showing why he's called the Doctor. Dzhabar for those not familiar gained fame through the Muay Thai Contender series. He is a heavy hard power hitter but that seemed to be all he has going by his recent fights which aside from his KO win over Bruce McFie has been all losses. He is too straight forward and one dimensional in attacks and defence. And boy did he really pay for it. Beautiful kicks, punches and step up knees from the Doctor.

Part 1

Part2

Sambo throws

I like these two sambo throws. They're not too complicated imho. The grip is from a whiizer or overhook on top of the arm which is do-able with gloves on. Plus since it doesn't involve any over the hip movements it will be legal a muay thai match.

Fedor seminar in Korea

Seminar held by Fedor and I think his brother showing Combat Sambo. I found it curious that some of the Judo blackbelts in the video seems unfamiliar with the arm shrug technique Fedor showed against the collar grip. I guess this is not used much in Judo?

Miku Matsumoto VS REINA (Lena) - SHOOT BOXING

Shootboxing match with Reina who just fought in K-1 Korea. So cute. The other girl is pretty cute too. Watch out at 5:52, the coach slaps Reina pretty hard imo. I feel like smacking him if I was her bf!

Su Jeong Lim; Korean Women Bantamweight Champion at Fairtex

Interview of Su Jeong Lim training at Fairtex. Her techniques are quite good! What a hottie.

K-1 MAX Korea: Lim Su Jeong vs Riena

Looks like K-1 is experimenting with women's matches now. While I believe in equal rights for women, I really don't enjoy seeing women beat each other up, especially when they're as cute as these two girls here. Riena is the Japanese fighter one in the shootboxing pants and outfit. The other fighter is Korean and who is originally a Olympian in Taekwondo iirc. She's been training in Sinbi gym in Thailand. I thought that Reina should have won it after three rounds. Oh well, hometown decisions...what can you do.

Part 1

Part 2

Lamsongkram Chuwattana (THA) vs Goto Ryuji (JPN)

This is a match that I think is typical of biased Japanese judging which in honesty tend to occur more in K-1 than any other organisations in Japan. How can Lamsongkram not win? He controlled the match really welll, scoring with front kicks, body kicks and knees. Besides the occasional combos here and there I didn't think Goto really did anything other than keep coming forward to show aggressiveness. I like Goto too, I think he's one of the more colourful characters in Japanese kickboxing but the the judging here was bad.

Petrosyan vs Souwer

I didn't even know this match was going to take place! It's Showtime need to do more marketing. Anyway you guys should all know Souwer. Petrosyan may be an unknown to some of you guys since he's never fought in K-1 Max...yet. He's from Italy and is a fast rising star in the middleweight division. He has fought alot of big names. Two years ago he drew with Buakaw. He has wins over Naruepol, Marco Pique & Warren Stevelmans. I don't want to spoil the fight for you guys but my opinion is it could have gone either way.

Crazy RAMBA vs Yamaguchi Genki

Ramba at his classic Ramba fighting style. Vicious strikes and total offence. The Japanese fighter had no chance at all. I'm not sure why the video has the Japanese fighter is named Pionek in the video. At the end when the name is shown in Kanji, I read it as Yamaguchi Genki. If I'm wrong please correct me, thanks.

Saenchai Sor Khamsing VS Khem Sor Pleonjit

Great fight. I don't know anything about Khem Sor Leonjit but Saenchai is a Muay Thai superstar, known for his crazy technical skills, especially his cartwheel kick. Anyway check out the sweep throw at the end. Awesome...what a master!

Rambaa M-16

Ramba is probably one the most un-Thai Thai fighter you'll ever see in your life. By that I mean the Thais are usually conservative and humble in their emotional displays but Ramba is otally the opposite. He is like an energizer bunny! From his ring entrance, his antics in the ring, his fighting style and even post match displays. I've seen Ramba got KOed before, by another Thai fighter named Rambang iirc. It seems that they really hated each other from the way they fight, could it be because of the similarities in their first names?

Anyway this HL clip shows the Ramba at his crazy best. He has a wild wicked energetic fighting style. Each strike he throws seems ready to knock your head off or smash your legs in. He has the best low left roundhouse kick I've seen of any fighters so far! I've never seen anyone KO someone with leg kicks to the rear leg. Enjoy!

Sambo Biography

Great historical footage of sambo training, matches and matches against Japan. There is even footage of the reknown sambo coach David Rudman! It's all in Russian but worth a watch, especially for you grappling fans.

Sambo: How to Do a Georgia Combo in Sambo Martial Arts

I thought this is a really nice knee to throw combo. This will be useful in sanda. Hip throws are illegal in Muay Thai so its applications there is limited.

THE SMASH by Razor Ruddock

The Smash is the nickname given to a special punch developed by Donovan "Razor" Ruddock, Canadian Heavyweight boxing champion. Ruddock fought Tyson twice. He was controvesially stopped in Round 7 and took a decision lost in the second match. In the first match, the two fighters praised each other after the fight with Tyson saying "He Punches like a fucking kick from a mule", stating it was the hardest he'd ever been hit, something he still says to this day. The second match resulted in Ruddock received a broken jaw midway through the fight and tyson suffered a perforated eardrum. Tyson praised Ruddock as a great heavyweight saying 'Man this guy is tough, he'll be champion of the world one day if he stays dedicated and doesn't slip up'.

The smash is a punch that is a a mixture of both a hook and an uppercut. It starts out low and from the outside and tries to penetrate through and under the guard. The angle and motion must have been really hard for opponents to pick up. The extreme motion and whole body motion made it a devastatingly heavy punch that even Tyson praised.

Training Team Mr. Perfect - Three man drills

My coach calls this three man drills. This is when you're doing padwork with two students at the same time. Useful when you have a limited time and need to give two students some quality time of padwork. Obviously not as good as one on one padwork but it still has its place. I only ever see this in Holland and here in Aus so far with my coach. I never ever see this in Thailand which is not as surprise as they are full time gyms over there having the whole day to train. Unlike here and probably the same as in Holland where classes usually take place in the evening and nights, ie. limited number of coaches and time available. That;s Ernesto Hoost by the way holding the pads. What I wouldn't give to train once there...or anywhere in Holland.

Bad match-up!

My first ever kickboxing match was a total mismatch. I had 1 mma match (which was a total mismatch as well) up against a guy who was a pro shooto fighter who's fought in Japan. This was in shootboxing rules. To top it off I was self trained. When you're young you think you can do anything huh? The reason for this little trip down memory lane was the match below.

The match is from a HK promotion pitting a Ducth fighter against what looks like an established HK fighter. The Ducth fighter commented on the video that he only had 3 matches on his record and his opponent 20 fights already! In addition I don't think his three matches would have been in full muay thai rules. What a crazy match-up! I respect his guts for getting in there but that is one very bad match-up. What was his coach thinking? What was the promoter thinking? He could have been seriously hurt in there. I think he was lucky to came away with what he did.

So for you guys who are going to compete or already fighting, please when you want to get a match...don't get in way over your head. Consider your skills and experience objectively and your opponent's properly. It's not worth getting smashed for nothing. Most important thing is having a proper coach who will take care of matters like these for you. Don't be like me when I was young and think I can take on anyone.

Part 1

Part 2

Nagashima in action

A video of Nagashima, recent K-1 Max Japan semi-finalist, in action in NJKF (Nihon Japan Kickboxing Federation). What a wild striker. He looks really awkward and exposed to me but his style works! Well so far anyway. I am really curious to see him up against the more accomplished K-1 Max stars like Souwer, Masato, Kyshenko to see how he fares.

Really stupid boxer can't get in the ring.

Never had a funny video posted before but if there should be a first one, this is it! Oh this really had me in tears!

Dekkers amature boxing

This is a rare clip! I didn't even know Ramon Dekkers fought amateur boxing. Abit strange he'd be doing amateu boxing in what seems Thailand? Anyone with more info please let me know.

K-1 Max Japan: Hayato vs Nagajima

One of the first matches in the K-1 Max Japan tournament. Hayato is a K-1 Max veteran who has always been just outside of the top 8 of the top K-1 Max fighters. Nagashima is making his K-1 Max debut. He is a champion from NJKF as mentioned in my previous post on the upcoming K-1 Max Japan. He's a big fan of anime/ manga and cosplay. Did you guys see his intros? Wow...only in Japan huh? :) What a wild brawling fighter! Very unorthodox. He is always moving and despite his awkward punches they do connect and they seemed hard. I later found out from a forum that his weird style is because his background is from Nihon Kenpo. Nihon means Japanese, Kenpo is Fist Technique. I'd like to see how his style fare against the more established fighters in K-1 Max. Very entertaining fighter that adds more spice and colour to K-1 Max.

K-1 Max Japan Final: Yuya Yamamoto vs Taishin Kohiruimaki

Final match of the K-1 Max Japan Final. Kohiruimakai Taishin used to be known as Kohiruimaki Takayuki iirc. I don't know why the name change. This could be a different pronunciation of the Kanji characters in his name. Japanese have several different pronunciations for Kanji characters that they use. I really detest this guy. His personality hasn't changed after all the smashing defeats he has. He seems to have improved his punching somewhat. He is still irritating and dirty in the way he fights, watch when he clinch especially. Masato was said to comment that he is still the same weak minded fighter that will stuff everything up when he should have easily win it...or something to that effect.

Yamamoto Yuya was supposed to be the next Masato afew years ago but have always performed well below of expectations in his K-1 matches. He really gave it his all in this event. He was in two gruelling matches before this final match and came in with alot of damage. I loved his never say die spirit though, inspiring.

Part 1

Part 2

Sanda vs Muay Thai: Qin Wei Zhi vs Joseph Geri

Last match of the 2001 Sanda vs Muay Thai series that took place in Beijing. Alot of very underhanded favouritism by the Chinese officials. Near the end of Round 3 the ref even gave the Chinese fighter a rest!! LOL. I also thought a lot of the clinch break-ups were too early or unnecessary as they weren't really clinches. But the Chinese fighter was at a disadvantage so lucky the ref was Chinese too huh? :P I'm Chinese (who loves muay thai!) but I am very embarassed to see the conduct of China in this event. Open the youtube vid in a separate tab/ window and click on the username Yuxian09. There are more vids of the event available. Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Hong Hao v Wanluotala

This is a match from the very first Sanda vs Muay Thai match that took place in 2001. Surprisingly in this first encounter knees were allowed and were scored 2 points, which is the same for a side kick. Other scoring techniques are equal one point each. Elbows not allowed. I got these info from http://www.angelfire.com/sd2/kingofsanda/sandathai.html.

I don't know anything about both fighters so if anyone knows anything, please let me know. According to the website above, all the fighters must at least be state or provincial champions in their respective weight classes. The Thai fighter is really good with throws! That must have really surprised the Chinese team.

Btw for you guys that didn't know, Yuxian09 is my youtube user name. I have other fight video clips that you might find interesting to watch so check it out.

Iron Hands of Siam - Anuwat Kaewsamrit HL

Anuwat is a top Thai fighter known for his devastating heavy punches. This HL clip shows why. What an awesome HL clip thanks to EriveProductions. Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

Sanshou training in China

Interesting clip of sanshou training in China. The facilities shown is very well equipped and spacious! It also looks like from the brief focus mitt punch work that they are training to improve their punching skills. The Chinese sanshou fighters are normally known for having bad boxing skills. I wouldn't mind training in one if I'm in China.

Farid Khider - 12 Rounds Feat Tunisiano

Farid Khider is a savate fighter who also fights in Muay Thai. He's ought one time in K-1 Max for a victory iirc. I remembered he was qite impressive in his K-1 Max. Totally dominating the fighter with a very unique style of fighting.

Savate is a French kickboxing style where they wear hard pointed shoes to fight. In Savate you are only allowed to kick with the instep/ shoes. Kicking or shin checking is illegal. There are no thai style clinch allowed, no knees, no elbows and no catching kicks. Due to the limitations, savateurs as savate stylist are called tend to have good movement, footwork and combinations.

Quite afew savateurs have crossed over to Muay Thai with good success like Fraid Khider here,. You can always tell them by their movement and striking. I enjoyed watching his K-1 match. It's surprising he hasn't fought again in K-1 knowing the fact he has the skills and the looks (very important in K-1 Max!).

K-1 Max Japan 2009

Ok enough with the recent MMA action lately. I'm starved for some K-1 action! On the 23rd Feb will be the K-1 Max Japan tournament. Check ut the poster and lineup below. Quite a few new names in addition to the more established names from Japan. Watch out for the new guys Hinata and Yuichiro Nagashima. Hinata is the first welterweight champion of a new Japanese kickboxing promotioon called R.I.S.E which ave been said to be like a feeder show to a K-1 career. Nagashima is the champion from another kickboxing organisation the New Japan Kickboxing Federation (NJKF).

Kido is the K-1 Max Japan 2008 champion who had a brilliant K-1 Max run before he was stopped in the quaterfinals last year. Hope he continues to improve and shine again this year. Kohiruimaki is back yet again. Note his given name is now Taishin instead of Takayuki. I don't know why the name change. Maybe he wants to give his career a new fresh start. I hate this guy. The way he carries himself is very tryhardish...watch the way he walks. I also disliked the way he carries himself in the ring, being quite unsportmanslike on a number of occasions, eg. against Buakaw he caught Buakaw's kicking leg and kicked Buakaw's supporting leg on the front around the knee area. As some of you would know that seemed to pissed Buakaw off and he promptly got manhandled to a humiliating defeat. He was originally a very Thai style fighter relying on kicks and clinching & knees. Ironically because of the arsekicking Buakaw gave him, the rules were changed to prohibit the clinch and knees which though were mainly to disadvantage Buakaw also greatly afected him. He has horrible punching skills and never seemed to be able to improve his hands resulting in a string of bad losses so far. The African fighter is Andy Ologun, who lives and work in Japan thus his inclusion in the tournament. He is quite a promising fighter but I think haven't shown his true potential yet.

If they show the opening matches, guys watch out for Garyu. This guy is a retard. He likes to pose in Japanese gangster stare down style when the referee callsthe fighter to the centre of the ring for the rules. Does he even train? His physique doesn't look like that of a trained pro fighter. I've seen him get smashed in three K-1 matches so far.

Hard to tell who'll take this year's Japan Max. I haven't seen the new faces fight yet. Based on what I know, Kido will take it. Hope he wasn't a one hit wonder.

UFC 94 - GSP vs BJ 2

It was really hard finding a video of this match. UFC is really uptight about their matches being shown on the internet. But at last I've found one uploaded on youtube. It comes in four parts. Hope it doesn't get taken down anytime soon. Enjoy!

"Smoking" JOE FRAZIER- Monumental Left Hook

Time for a boxing clip while I wait for a vid clip of the GSP vs BJ match to be available to post. Joe Frazier is one of my all time favourite boxing champion. Here's an excellent highlight clip of him showing his superb left hook mainly from his match against Muhammad Ali. He's one of my favourite not only because I love his left hook and bobbing & weaving style but because he was one of the smaller heavyweights out there. I'm usually the smaller guy in the ring as well :)

Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andrei Arlovski video

Here is the video of the Fedor vs Arlovski match. What a match! Arlovski showed really good striking skills here. But Fedor showed his patience and experience. I won't say anymore for the guys that haven't watched the fight yet. Enjoy!

UFC 94 - Georges St-Pierre vs BJ Penn

Another MMA match that I'll be expecting to see eagerly. It's Georges St-Pierre (GSP) vs BJ Penn on UFC 94, happening on the 01.02.2008. That's about 16 hours from now. GSP is ranked as the best pound for pound fighter in the world. BJ's is known as being a prodigy in Brazillian Jiujitsu, having attained his blackbelt in under 3 years iirc.

These two have met once already in UFC 58, where GSP won in a split points decision. GSP is known for his excellent striking and wrestling skills. BJ is obviously known for his BJJ skills. Very hard to pick this one. Both are masters of their art. GSP have shown to be a very humble and likeable guy in the past. I tend to always favour the more striking orientated fighter being from a Muay Thai background so I'll be cheering on for GSP.

Muay Thai(Htun Htaung) vs. Myanmar Lethwei(Lone Chaw)

This is a Lethwei vs Muay Thai match. Usually these matches happen at a festival near the Burma & Thai border once a year commemorating when the Thais were at various wars with Burma. Lethwei for those who doesn't know is Burmese Boxing, like Muay Thai is Thai Boxing. Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia all have their own traditional kickboxing styles. The old rules for these styles were no gloves, punching, kicking, elbows, headbutts and throws allowed. I think in the past even kicks to the groin and limited groundfighting were allowed. Burma still follow a version of these old rules but they've modernised by using the ring, weight divisions and thankfully taken out the groin shots.

I've seen various clips of Lone Chaw about on youtube. He is TOUGH! I think all the various Burmese fighters I've seen always seem to be tough beyond words, taking shots to the head that I think would have dropped fighters from other styles. I don't know much about Htun Htaung though. He is described here as a Muay Thai champion but I've never heard of him before. If someone have more details about him please let me know.

Eli Maddigan vs Jason Scherri

Two top Aus fighters in yet another match on Evo 15. I must have been asleep last year when Evo 15 was on because I don't remember it having all these great match-ups!

Eli Madigan has beaten two fighters from the Contender show, Soren and Zidov and in great convincing fashion as well. Scerri is more lower profile but has been trying to move up in the rankings. He fought and lost to JWP iirc last year.

Eli's knee was awesome. Watch for it!

Sanshou Europeans Final 80kg: Salihov vs Chiofalo

Good sanshou match. The guy in black is Muslim Salihov from Russia. He defeated three Chinese Sanda Wang fighters in China about two or three years ago iirc. I'm not sure if that means he is the champion of Sanda Wang though. If anyone knows let me know. He is very impressive in this match.

John Wayne Parr Vs Sean Wright

Again from Evolution 15 and both fighters veterans of season one of Contender Muay Thai. Sean Wright has beaten Bruce McFie on a previous Evolution show so he is not to be underestimated. I read somewhere that this show is to be a qualifier event for Contender Muay Thai season two so that probably explains why there are some many match-ups between fighters who have been on the show before. Great display of body punching from JWP. Excellent match to watch!

Dhzabar Azkerov Versus Bruce 'Preacher' MacFie

This took place in Evolution 15, a big Muay Thai promotion in Queensland, Australia. Both fighters were in season one of the Contender Muay Thai so they should be pretty well known. Dhzabar is known for having really heavy hands for someone his size. Bruce McFie is known for his boxing work and I've read that he will be fighting in boxing as well as in Muay Thai in the future.

K-1 Dynamite 2008: Mark Hunt vs Melvin Manhoef

Another K-1 vs MMA match BUT this time in MMA rules. Well Mark Hunt used to be K-1 fighter, infact he was the champion back in 2001. Then he turned to MMA and have had mixed success imo. Mark Hunt has never been knocked out and is known for his iron head. He took one of Crocop's head kick flush and stood back up!! Manhoef has primarly competed in MMA in the past but has taken the odd K-1 fights here and there. He is the training partner for Badr Hari. He's know for his ferocious strking skills but has almost zero ground skills which is abit strange considering he's known more in MMA.

My pick is one of these guys must get KOed! No way this is going to the judges. Enjoy!

Hunt vs Manhoef

K-1 Dynamite 2008:Tatsuya Kawajiri vs Kozo Takeda

Kawajiri is a top MMA middleweight fighter. He was number one in Shooto prior to moving to Pride and now K-1. Takeda used to be the Rajamaden stadium champion (one of two top stadiums in Thailand). For you guys who don't know this is like being the world champion in boxing. But this was a long time ago and he is really past his prime, having been KOed in his last number of matches against the top K-1 Max fighters such as of Zambidis & Kohi. Forgot who else KOed him. He's known for his low kicks which while is powerful and has inturn KOed alot of figters in his rise to being champion, is really all he has. He is extremely one dimensional!

Again I and I'm sure most people will think this match will be in Takeda's favour. He was afterall a Muay Thai stadium champion and Kawajiri is a MMA fighter. Again folks, if the embedded clip doesn't work please use the link below.

Kawajiri vs Takeda

K-1 Dynamite 2008:Badr Hari vs Alistair Overeem

I don't know why but the end of the year show of K-1 Dynamite this year is choc full of K-1 fighters against MMA fighters in K-1 rules. This is one of them. Badr Hari is the K-1 bad boy heavyweight finalist this year whow as disqualified for his fouls against Bonjasky. Alistair Overeem is one of the top MMA heavyweights in Japan is more known for his standup skills rather than grappling. Despite saying that though, Overeem submitted each of his four opponents in the European ADCC qualifiers to reach first place back in 2005. This surprised alot of people.

However despite him being known for his standup skills I think most people including myself do not expect him to give Badr Hari much trouble. I had trouble playing this video clip when I embedded it. Incase you guys are having the same problem, just click on the link below.

Hari vs Overeem