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.

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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.

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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 :).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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

Peter Aerts VS Badr Hari

The K-1 WGP 2008 finals just took place four days ago and what a night it was. I am not a fan of the heavyweights but Aerts vs Hari and Le Banner vs Bonjasky as the first round matches of the night really excited me. Hari was amazing up in the night. Here are Hari's matches for the night. What a natural talent and a dumbarse!!

Mirko Filipovic CroCop vs. Mike Bernardo - 3.10.1999

And old K-1 match between a young Crocop vs Mike Bernado. Mirko was really a devastating top fighter in K-1 and this match shows why. Great combination.

Ramon Dekkers Vs Joeri Mes

I'm browsing youtube as usual looking for martial arts related videos and I found this. My first thoughts were WTF?! Dekkers vs Joeri Mes? Joeri Mes must have still been in kindy when Dekkers was in his prime!

Seriously, why did Dekkers took this fight? What was the point? Dekkers is way past his prime. Joeri is a young up and comer. We recently saw him KOed Japanese fighter Kohi in K-1 Max finals. Did Dekkers need the money that much??

Albert Kraus vs Kaolan Kaovichit

Classic K-1 Max match. This is the K-1 Max 2002 final match between Albert Kraus vs Kaolan.

I posted this match because not many people what a good fighter Kraus is. He was very successful in the beginning as I don't think many people expect such a fighter in kickboxing to be so heavily reliant on boxing work such as him. Although this proved to be undoing as people see more of him. At least he seem to be improving his array of skills now. Though he's not one of my favourite fighters to watch, I admire his grit and toughness. Hope he keeps improving and make a a big comeback to the crack the top four of K-1 Max in 2009.

Did anyone notice his face and his entrance song? How appropriate don't you think? :)

K-1 Max 2008 Final Match!

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The final match of the K-1 Max series this year to determine the champion for 2008. All I can say is...bloody awesome!

Artur Kyshenko vs Andy Souwer - K-1 Max 2008 Semi Final 2

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Another great semi final match though not as nail biting as the Masato v Sato match. Enjoy!