What I would love to have hold up my jeans!! THE K-1 BELT!!!
K-1 started in 1993 by Mr Kazuyoshi Ishii. He had the best fighters from Kickboxing,Karate,Kenpo,Kungu even normal Boxing to battle it out in ONE ring,all fighting under ONE Rule to level the playing field. I read this somewhere not sure how far it's true but. Notice all the K's and how his name starts with K and how everyone who fights wants to be Number 1. Also because the concept of the tournament was very much like the racing grand prix,F-1. From there the name K-1 was born!!
The original K-1 was an OPEN weight category meaning there were no weight division. One of my first few trainers the Legendary MuayThai superstar, Nokweed Davy was the LIGHTEST fighter in K-1 in 1995 when he fought French fighter Jerome Le Banner. Nokweed lost the fight to Jerome Le Banner on points.....But hey Nokweed was 75kg and at the END of his career and Jerome weight 40KGS MORE than Nokweed!!! A decent effort for going 5 rounds with someone that much bigger than you!! =)
A very young Zig Zach =) with the Legend and one of the hardest kickers in the business,Nokweed Davy!!
Like the F-1 racing....K-1 did smiliar Grand Prix and qualifiers all over the world and then later all the winners from all the Grand Prix battling in the Tokyo Dome in Japan for the K-1 World Grand Prix Champion titl,a super slick belt + $400,000 USD Prize money!!!! K-1 was a huge hit in Japan and Europe. It made superstars out of the REAL fighters. K-1 was the equivalent to WWE and Boxing put together. It meant that Kickboxing tournaments practically had a facelift!!! The fireworks...the music and the grand entry.....the suits and the press conference. It made fighters realize they deserve just as much attention and glory as the guys in WWE jumping of the top rope!! K-1 fighters were the REAL DEAL. No fake story line...no fake titted girls with bad acting getting slapped around!! =) What alot of fighters make compared to what the more established guys in K-1 make is just UNBELIEVABLE!! Basically alot of us are making loose change!!
With every K-1 passing. Fighters were soon turned to SUPERSTARS!! Names like Branco Cikatic (1st ever K-1 winner 93), Peter Aerts(At age 39 has won 3 K-1 and was runner-up for the last two years!!!!),Ernesto Hoost, Ray Sefo,The late Andy Hug, Jerome Le Banner were made famous in the fighting circle. And now a new generation of fighters have come on the scene like The Flying dutchman Remy Bojavsky,Bad Boy Badhr Hari,Paul Slowinkski,Tyrone Spong,Semmy Schilt the list goes on.
Peter Aerts & the late Andy Hug in action.
K-1 fighters are the "A "List of standup fighters in the world!! And most fighters have a dream of making it ig there!! Who wouldn't!!??? What some fighters make out of fighting in smaller tournaments,compared to what some of the more established guys in K-1 make is just UNBELIEVABLE!! Basically Im making loose change compared to them!!
"K-1 Max" later was born in 2002. The weight set at 70.5kgs. Fight fans wanting to see leaner...fitter...faster yet hard hitting guys in the ring rather than some of the K-1 heavyweight "freakshows"....Akebono the Yokozuna from Sumo Wrestling, Bob Sapp "The Beast!" an Ex-NFL Pro Footballer,The Korean giant,Hong Mun Choi who is a towering 7ft 2Inches who is pretty much as tall as me even when he is sitting down!!!
Image Left:Hong Man Choi vs Kaoklai Image Right: Akebono vs Bob Sapp
K-1 Max has already established some superstars since it's first tournament in 2002
2002 K-1 Max Champ - Alber Kraus
2003,2008 K-1 Max Champ - Masato
2004,2006 K-1 Max Champ - Buakaw Por Pramuk
2005,2007 K-1 Max Champ - Andy Souwer.
Gago Drago, Taishin Kohiruimaki,Mike Zambidis,Sato,John Wayne Parr,Ole Baguio Laursen and last but not least one of my personal favourite fighters who has been making waves the hard hitting Ukranian, Artur Kyshenko.
Albert Kraus after 2002 Final. Andy Souwer winning in 2005.
Buakaw & Masato at a K-1 Press Conf then later bashing each other up in the final.
This years K-1 Max has a couple of new faces,one new fighter who Ive been following for awhile. And is really making a name for himself. He is currently at the top of his game winning everyone from Raffik Bakkouri to Andy Souwer! A name not to forget - Giorgio Pertrosyan. Another deadly southpaw who even managed a draw with Buakaw a couple of years back. Would love to see him and Yoddy go toe to toe!! Battle of the southpaws!!
Buakaw & Masato at a K-1 Press Conf then later bashing each other up in the final.
Also in this years line up,The Contender Asia's smallest,youngest but hardest hitter and my fellow teammate from the Tiger Kings.......... Dzhabar Askerov!! All of us in The Contender Asia knew that he would get the chance one day.
Ohhh and lastly the new show man to the K-1 Max,a worthy mention coz of his Cosplay outfits!!
- Yuichiro “Jienotsu” Nagashima of Japan. Wacko is good...Look where it got Zidov!! =) haha
Another event of the night worth mentioning is the Exhibition fight between K-1 Max 2004,2009 and a Legend in the K-1 circle and a Superstar in Japan, Masato!!!! sparring with The japanese wonder boy and K-1 Max champ hopefully next time,Hiroya!! Masato is on his way to retirement and this will be one of his last 3 fights before he leaves the ring for good.
Read More about the Final 16 K-1 Max 2009 Fighters here: http://www.k-1.co.jp/k-1gp/b09_0410.htm
Sadly in Singapore...We don't get much Fighting sports aired on TV. So if anyone from Mediacorp.......ESPN....Starworld...Super Sports.......if you're reading this.....GET WITH THE TIMES AND THERE IS MORE TO SPORTS THAN ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank god for the internet and this website where you can watch the latest K-1 fights,UFC and other fight shows!! Ahhhh you gotta love the internet!! So check out http://kimjudas.blogspot.com!!
Right and just as a special treat. I've got the latest fight from K-1 Max Final 16 which happened on 21st April. It's one fight that I wished happened in the final rather than the Eliminatin rounds! The fight is between Dzhabar Askerov and Giorgio Petrosyan. Im not gonna say what happens. Enjoy!!
LaterZ
Right and just as a special treat. I've got the latest fight from K-1 Max Final 16 which happened on 21st April. It's one fight that I wished happened in the final rather than the Eliminatin rounds! The fight is between Dzhabar Askerov and Giorgio Petrosyan. Im not gonna say what happens. Enjoy!!
LaterZ
1 comment:
great video - he didnt look too confident walking into the ring but he won in the end!
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