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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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.

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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!

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.

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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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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!

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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.