My thoughts on this Grand Prix

[Jofeljoh!]

oke fuck it, I'm tired but also bored, so here some quick notes about the GP from my point of view;


MMA
Dave Dalglish vs Hakim Gouram (hakim wins first round submission, armbar)

Not much to say about this bout, MMA is not really my cup of tea but Gouran is not very known here so I would thought Dalglish would take it. But he was pretty much outscored on both areas... standup and the ground. Just a good armbar.

Fikri Tijarti vs Murat Direkci (Direcki wins, 3 round TKO)

Well, what can I say. I was pretty excited seeing Tijarti fight again after all that time. He's one of the most technical and smart fighters of his weightclass and that's why his nickname is 'the ring genius'.

Well, in this fight he showed the contrary: he was sloppy, reckless, predictable, out of shape. Just went in as a crazy idiot with no guard whatsoever. He looked so hasty, it was just weird watching him. This was not the usual Fikri. Direcki just stayed relaxed, sharp and scored his points with good counters. Scored some downs and took the win.

k1 1st reserve fight
Gohkan Saki vs Rani Berbachi (Gohkan w.o.p)

Rani was a bit passive in this fight and that's why he lost, basically. Both fighters couldn't hurt each other very much. Saki didn't use his lowkicks that much in this fight, allthough that's pretty much his main weapons. Took the fight on points keeping Rani at good distance with boxing combinations and good teeps, occasional lowkicks.

k1 2nd reserve fight
Rodny Faverus vs John Delgado (Rodny w.o.p)

First mismatch of the evening. Too big fighter against a small fighter. Boring match with Faverus only hugging Delgado. Delgado who came pretty short with his techniques. Too slow, couldn't take advantage with his height (over 2 metres).

5th fight
K1 regels
Ramon Dekkers vs Joeri Mes Jjoeri w.o.p)

Highly anticipated fight (for me anyway) with, too bad, no win for my hero Dekkers. Mes obviously was the agressor here, scoring some points but couldn't get Dekkers in real serious trouble. I got the feeling Dekkers was feeling out as if it were a muay thai fight over 3 rounds. He didn't get to work so I already feared the worst.

In the 2nd wasn't much different, but then suddenly he connected a hard left hook and Mes went down. Dekkers immediately pressured Mes again with some combo's but then casually backed off, guard down, as if were to say 'come on, I got it under control'. And here he gave the fight away IMO. Mes immediately drove him to the corner and started throwing combinations himself and finished him off with a knee. Knockdown.

After that there wasn't much to happen, Mes just scored his points with more activity than Dekkers. I really thought that Dekkers could have taken it if he just defended his knockdown and stayed out of trouble. Too bad. Also announced his retirement after this one. Mes said in the mic that he has a lot of respect for Dekkers and that it was his role model/hero when he started to fight.



kwart finales k1 grandprix

Alexey Ignashov vs Petr Vondracek (Alexey wint op ko in de 2e ronde)

Wow! Iggy was back and how! He looked awfully sharp here, and his jabs were amazing. Caught Vondracek every time. Finished him off greatly. Good fight, good to see Iggy was back.

Melvin Manhoef vs Tasufumi Tomihira (Melvin wint op ko in de 1e ronde)

Wow, simply wow. Manhoef was like dynamite! He's such an awfully strong striker for someone of his stature, and so fast in his combinations. Classic 1-2-3-lowkick combo's. Good stuff. Also always agressive, full of adrenaline. Iggy vs Manhoef was going to be a war!



Bjorn Breggy vs Freddy Kemayo (Bjorn wint op ko in de 3e ronde)

Already kind of saw the result coming before this... Kemayo is good and exciting, but Schilt already showed us in Paris that handling giants isn't his strongest points, especially when knees ARE allowed now. Still Kemayo got heart and a pretty good chin. Just caught badly with some combo's when he decided to just trade punches. KTFO (KO galore this tournament!)


Naoufal Benazzouz vs Attila Karacs (naoufal wint op ko in de 1e ronde)

Simply put, this was just a mad highkick KO. Very good timing. He already impressed me in Paris, and tonight he impressed me again and even more. Hope he gets some more fights and some more exposure in K-1 in the future, he could be a force if you ask me.

wedstrijd 10 Superbout
k1 regels
Semmy Schilt vs Loyd van Dams (Sem w.o.p)

Most of us already knew it, but this was a classic mismatch. David vs Goliath. You know that Schilt isn't going to get TKO-ed by lowkicks, especially not over 3 rounds. You know that Lloyd is too short to land a lucky KO-punch.

We also know that Lloyd is secretely an undercover Samoan and we all know that they cannot be KO-ed. So what do you get: an ultra boring match with Lloyd just trying to hang in there, hugging Schilt not to get hit. Simple UD for Semmy.

Saki got replaced, Manhoef broke his hand (the minute I saw him walking there with his hand, I already knew (posted it the day before, so the rumours were true)).

[Jofeljoh!]

Gokhan Saki vs Alexey Ignashov (Gohkan w.o.p)

Iggy was way too passive in this fight. I got the feeling Saki was really frustrating Ignashov here. Saki was just moving smart and scoring his points with fast lowkicks. They didn't seem to be that powerful, but I think they certainly had a sting and do their work as the fight proceeds.

During the fight I just had the feeling that the only way Iggy could win is by at least a knockdown. He didn't do enough, I thought he maybe was trying to land that big one when nobody was expecting it. But I don't think that is the right strategy for him... With the weight and length difference he just had to be dominant, get close and work inside. Now he just got outscored with lowkicks.

Well, Saki deserved it and I'm glad for Saki because I already know he was the real deal. Hopefully he won't go unnoticed in the future.

Naoufal Benazzouz vs Bjorn Breggy (Bjorn wint op TKO in de 2e ronde)

Really thought Iron Leg would take this, giving a Golden Glory final (lol, would K-1 be happy witht that?). Naoufal caught Bregy with a good highkick, but it wasn't fully connecting. Later on Bregy caught Naoufal with his knees on the body, causing two knockdowns. No idea what he hit, it wasn't the liver as far as I could see, maybe the plexus, or just hitting the ribs... Anyone else??



wedstrijd 13 Superbout
k1 regels
Jerome le Banner vs REmy Bonjasky (Remy w.o.p)

Awfully close fight, didn't want to be the judge of that. Will have to see it again to be certain. Could have gone either way, was my first feeling. But I really didn't know. Le Banner was the more complete fighter, fighting with more agression and full arsenal of weapons. Bonjasky mainly kicking... that could have been a difference and argument to give it to Le Banner. A big part of the crowd seemed to agree lol. So I think Le Banner stepped out of the ring as the moral winner.

Finale k1 grandprix

Bjorn Breggy vs Gohkan Saki (Bjorn wint op KO in de 2e ronde)

Saki was trying to keep the distance and again scoring with lowkicks. But teeping and trying to lowkick a giant like that and not being hit within range is not an easy task. Eventually got hit by a short left (?) which didn't look THAT powerfull at first, but was pretty much right on the spot.

Too bad, wouldn't have mind to give this one to Saki. Well deserved for Bregy though, winning the tournament with 3 KO's

wedstrijd 15

Ernesto Hoost vs Peter Aerts (Ernesto w.o.p)

Well, this was a weird one. Just had to pinch myself if it was really happening. Damn I was in the twilight zone lol! The ringspeaker announced that Sapp just had left the Arena and wouldn't want to fight Ernesto. Rutz and his team tried to talk Sapp out of it, but he wouldn't want to fight. They didn't say what the reason was. They only said that 'he left with fear'.... if that's the real reason... I don't know, but something isn't right.

So all kind of discussions with conspiracy theories all over the places... guess we'll maybe hear more later on.

But I have to say that IF this was a setup, than it's greatly done. Ernesto really sounded honest when he said he was disappointed, training for Sapp and then just leaving an hour before fighting. And he was glad that Peter just stepped in, but it's so different if you have to adjust your gameplan for someone like Aerts on that notice. For Aerts ofcourse it's no easy task to be a replacement on 20 minutes notice, not having trained seriously since his fight with Schilt (just began training 3 days ago).

They both apologised for 'the lousy fight', but that's only because of these weird circumstances. And Hoost offered Aerts a rematch if he wanted. The crowd went mad when Aerts came out on the catwalk. During the fight however it was a bit quiet, and later on even some booing, insinuating a work. Ignorant fucks! I wanted to beat some of those disrespectful freaks up! Two of K-1 legends just are fighting for you in your homecountry, just to try to make the best of it, and you are booing! jesus, I was ashamed being a Dutchman.

But oke, read the PBP, that said it all.

wedstrijd 16
k1 regels
Gago Drago vs Ray Staring (Ray w.o.p)

Last fight was a bit of disappointment too; Drago looked a bit sloppy and he was also not in his best shape, being tired in the last two rounds, missing a lot of shots.

Staring however deserved a lot of credit, being a very smart and underrated fighter; he's not being hyped as some of his collegues and is not in the spotlight that often, but it's a real good and technical fighter.

It was a sloppy fight so I didn't have a real clue of who was actually winning (still in shock what just happened with hoost/sapp/aerts lol!), so I just waited for the decision. The problem is that Drago always is agressive and looks like he's doing the most damage, but like I said, Staring is smart and technical, so he also scores a lot.

The UD went to Staring, which I can have peace with, but Drago thought he had won for sure. Oh well, shit happens.


Overall, great, great night. Lot of big names, good fights, great KOs, some drama and unexpecting turns, so, great event.

I really am curious about other opinions of this event. I think it's one of the better events of the last few years... Alltogether Rutz has done a great job.

[Jofeljoh!]

lol, had to split this topic in two replies. Didn;t know I was only allowed a 1000 characters in one post LOL

[Mago]

Jofeljoh - thanks a LOT for the detailed inside info. Just got back from work and got completely shocked by some of those results, and of course for knowing Aerts and Hoost fought again, it's every K1 fan's wet dream match up...

Ignashov again let the opportunities slip, he had more than enough quality to win it all tonight but seems things arent going to improve for his side. I was a bit suspicious about not reading anything about his kicks on the first fight, but I thought he was just saving them for later. But the description of his Saki fight just seemed like the Paris fight with Uchida - just hang in there, block eveything and wait for the end. I begin to fear his injury isn't healed, or he plain and simple isnt focused in his career. I sure as hell miss the fire he had when he got into K1 scene, look at him in 2001 GP final and look at him now, the differance... it's freaking huge. That Ignashov could dominate K1 for years and be the 4th real K1 Great (with Hug, Hoost and Aerts), but today's Ignashov just doesn't seem interested anymore. Sorry for the rant but Im a big Alexey fan, we have to accept the fighters are human and can't win them all, but timing is running out and loosing today might mean ANOTHER year without participating in the Final. A couple more years like this, and I dont know...

I like Breggy and I'm happy he won, since his loss with Bonjasky he has been ignored, and when finnally he got back agaisnt Carter, he also lost and then put aside for good. Now he had another chance and took it. He beat today some pretty good opposition, since he changed camp (I guess he was at Vos Gym before) he has shown some interesting improvements, and is consistently winning fights on the outside (kinda like Ustinov or Gur). Before I left to work I was praying for a Ignashov-Breggy III, but, like it's like everyone said - Damn it Ignashov!... He's also a very firiendly guy, I recommend sending him an email, he was kind enough to answer mine!

Schilt won as I expected, from the looks of it he could have hit one of those teeps from hell on Lloyd, and maybe that's why he had to hang on for dear life? I'll have to watch though... Unfortunetly, I'm noticing a rather visible decrease on Semmy's performance level, might have something to do with a tight fighting schedule (sp), but he's already far from that focused and fast thinking Shcilt that rocked everyone at Paris and then at the GP.

Bonjasky not only survived Jerome but also did enough to win on a lot of guys' eyes. Yes, surviving Jerome might seem like a logical fact when talking about a two time K1 champ, but ask Aerts or Hoost if it's as simple as it sounds. That alone is a great achievement, specially after everything he lived on his personnal life, I was afraid he could get brutally KOed in a moment of distraction, than things would really go down for his motivation issues, I guess. LeBanner lost but it seems he took, as always, the crowd's heart with him.

But knowing Aerts and Hoost fought yet again is what really made my night worthy, enough to even forget about Ignashov's frustating loss. I don't really care about them making it a friendly match, its only natural I guess, they have a good and long relation, and surely share so much respect for each other. Also hearing Hoost offered him the rematch is extremely exciting, because it means he'll be around long enough and hell actually get to see a non-improvised, full prepared match between these two titans.

A freaking packed event, I believe this is the kind of event K1 should aim at in the near future - it's been way too long since the elite packed tournements and GPs, I think we were all missing much the saturation and excess of quality united in a single night. This is what made K1 special, I guess.

[Kamatari]

Staring won? Awesome.

[kentaro]

Wow!! my first K-1 GP and superbouts!!!
It was a great expierence to see all those great name's fight
(although i hate it when the crowd starts booing if the fight is a littlebit less explosive)

some of my opinions on some fights:

Dekkers didn't do much against Mes but when he connected it was always hard!!!
And he still got the power!!
But when Mes went down Dekker didn't really went for the kill
He gave some punches but then stepped back to let Mes come back
But it was nice to hear from Mes afterward when he said in the mic that Dekker is still the greatest forever!!

Ignashov didn't do much in he semi's agains Saki who really impressed me
One for the future!!!!

I thought Lebanner won the fight against Remy it was a very close fight indeed

A shame Sapp left the Arena for unkown reasons, i really wanted to see this fight!
But to see Aerts vs. Hoost was great too!!!

Ray Staring was the more complete fighter imo he scored more with the combo's, Drago punches and kicks are always dangerous because of the KO power he has.
But Ray was the correct winner

[K1power]

I just (yes... JUST) got home from the event & late partying not having had any sleep the last 31 hours - 31 hours which were pretty much filled with crazyness - so I'll drop my comments on everything in a couple of hours after I get some sleep ;)...

[HolyRamenEmpire]

LeBanner vs Remy, to me, I saw JLB as a slight winner. A draw, plus extra rd would have been the fairest call. But if I were to call the winner, JLB. Remy mostly kicked JLB's arms. Hometown call. I wonder what the Japanese judge was arguing about on the side. Perhaps he was saying "Remy couldn't have won!"

[Jofeljoh!]

I really wonder if judges here would intentionally have a hometown call here, since the Dutch public usually has an opinion of its own. If they don't agree with a decision, they'll let you know. They just want to let the best fighter win (I've experienced it many times that the crowd booed because a foreign fighter lost the fight and they didn't agree with it).

So I wouldn't know what the advantage would be to intentionally give the edge to the hometown fighters...

[walker]

I thought it was a great event. It was awesome to be see Dekkers, Hoost, Aerts, Lebanner, etc. fight live. I was sceptical beforehand, but Props to Rutz for making it happen.

Mes-Dekkers went pretty much exactly as I expected it to. Mes set his usual high pace, and Dekkers just couldn't keep up. He knocked Mes down with a counter left hook in the second, but couldn't capitalize, and was knocked down himself shortly thereafter. Sad to see Dekkers go out on a loss, but I don't think it'll detract from his legacy.

Drago looked a bit off in his fight against Staring, although I think that was mostly due to Staring just fighting a very smart fight. From the first bell, he took control and pressed the action. Drago answered with wild punches, several of which seemed to hurt Staring, making it a very hard fight to score. But Staring fought a great fight and took a well deserved decision win.

It seems I'm in the minority, but I thought Bonjaski rightfully got the decision against Lebanner. I'll need to watch it again to be sure, though.

[HolyRamenEmpire]

Remy's kicks mostly landed on JLB's arms. A few middle and low kicks got through. Maybe 4. JLB may have landed the same amount of kicks, but also landed a bunch of punches, especially to the body. Maybe 10 of JLB's punches landed fine, while maybe 2 of Remy's landed. Overall, JLB kept pressuring. After the fight, Remy was limping his left leg? The match's pretty much a draw. But by a bit, JLB was ahead in decimal pts. He was also the more aggressive and slightly more damaging (on the body, and left leg). (All #s are approximate, and may be inaccurate.)

The crowd was largely supportive of Remy during the fight, but afterwards, many were cheering for JLB, and seemingly in agreement with a JLB win. Agh...

[Dado]

I watched the Lebanner vs Remy fight closely and these are my scores

Round 1

Remy 10-9 He threw many kicks while Lebanner didnt do too much.

Round 2

Draw 10-10 or POSSIBLY Remy 10-9 as he threw more kicks, but Lebanners agression stole it.

Round 3

10-10 Remy throwing down with the kicks and Lebanner throwing the punches and an odd kick, neither one did significantly more to outdo the other.

Result

Remy 30-29 Is the winner.

Conclusion: We need 5 round superfights.

[( o Y o )]

Remy's kicks mostly landed on JLB's arms. A few middle and low kicks got through. Maybe 4. JLB may have landed the same amount of kicks, but also landed a bunch of punches, especially to the body. Maybe 10 of JLB's punches landed fine, while maybe 2 of Remy's landed. Overall, JLB kept pressuring. After the fight, Remy was limping his left leg? The match's pretty much a draw. But by a bit, JLB was ahead in decimal pts. He was also the more aggressive and slightly more damaging (on the body, and left leg). (All #s are approximate, and may be inaccurate.)

The crowd was largely supportive of Remy during the fight, but afterwards, many were cheering for JLB, and seemingly in agreement with a JLB win. Agh...


^ My feelings exactly. Remy earnt huge respect from me in mixing it up a few times, but after watching it 3 times now I can say the fight was either an edge to JLB, or it should have gone an extra round.

I also feel it seems as though many people have only looked at lebanners punching and compared it with Remy's kicks....when the fact is lebanner actually landed more clean kicks in the latter half of the fight than I believe Remy did.

at the end of 3 JLB was fine, Remy looked like he could barely walk.

WTF was that first score too? I have listed to it 30 times and can only hear 21-30, 30-30, 29-28. I don`t remember the third learly, but the first sounds exactly like 21-30 to me.

[Jofeljoh!]

Bonjasky has an ankle injury... so it wasn't because he was hurt from the lowkicks or something (just to put that in perspective).

And I also heard that 21-30, but that's just because Ronald Wurstenberg is a LOUSY LOUSY ringspeaker (someone needs to tell him that people from France come from France, not from FRENCH (horrible, horrible))

[HolyRamenEmpire]

I think they said, 29-30 for the first score.

[Dado]

Oyo, youre right first was 21-30 (!) second was 30- 30 and last was 28-29.

And I also heard that 21-30, but that's just because Ronald Wurstenberg is a LOUSY LOUSY ringspeaker (someone needs to tell him that people from France come from France, not from FRENCH (horrible, horrible))

That would make more sense if it was 29.

[( o Y o )]

Bonjasky has an ankle injury... so it wasn't because he was hurt from the lowkicks or something (just to put that in perspective).

Cheers....certainly lucky for him it didn`t go another round then!!

BTW....I mentioned this in the PBP and it was not meant disrespectfully at all (props to Aerts for stepping up to help out Rutz and K-1 EITHER way), but did the final fight look like a exhibition to you? The first round it seriously looked like both were pulling everything. Towards the end of the third it looked like their competative spirits finally took over. It could well be that Aerts ws just not up to it after so long without training, but it really did look more like two vets putting on a nice realistic performance with no time to prepare for it. Did it look the same live??

[HolyRamenEmpire]

Jofel, thx about the input about Remy's ankle.

I don't give a big credit to Remy's kick on JLB's arms.
I consider most of those kicks, failed, blocked kicks.
The evaluation of his blocked kicks seem to divide the viewers judgement of the fight outcome.
I can see that kicks on the arms can tire, the arms, even break them at times... but Remy's kicks didn't seem that valuable... JLB's arms were tired more by his own fatigue than by Remy's kicks... And they sure didn't get broken.

Meanwhile, JLB's punches landed. And they both threw a similar number of low/middle kicks that landed.

I guess we'd need to judge Remy's kick-on-the-arms by its damage. I think they didn't do as much damage as JLB's punches, while the difference is indeed minute. A strike that lands is worth more than those that are blocked, generally speaking (and excluding those that break the bones even when blocked).

[Jofeljoh!]

Cheers....certainly lucky for him it didn`t go another round then!!

BTW....I mentioned this in the PBP and it was not meant disrespectfully at all (props to Aerts for stepping up to help out Rutz and K-1 EITHER way), but did the final fight look like a exhibition to you? The first round it seriously looked like both were pulling everything. Towards the end of the third it looked like their competative spirits finally took over. It could well be that Aerts ws just not up to it after so long without training, but it really did look more like two vets putting on a nice realistic performance with no time to prepare for it. Did it look the same live??


Yeah, pretty much. That's why some people (still they are ignorant disrespectful FUCKS) began to whistle and start booing ('it's a work!').

I share your thoughts on that, I think Hoost just thought 'wow, Peter just takes this fight on 20 minutes notice, while I trained and focused for weeks to fight here). It's just a matter of showing eachother respect, also they are very good friends ofcourse. Can't blame both of them.

That's why I also found it a class act of Hoost, offering a rematch so both could train for eachother with the proper preperation to show them a REAL fight (both sincerely apologized for putting up such a bad performance... so they admit it was a very bad fight, but they did say it's because, well, it's basically the circumstances. Hoost didn't prepare for Aerts but for Sapp, and Aerts well.. didn't prepare at all, LOL).

Nice detail to know is, that first they asked Leko who was also present there. But he didn't want to.

[HolyRamenEmpire]

Cheers....certainly lucky for him it didn`t go another round then!!

BTW....I mentioned this in the PBP and it was not meant disrespectfully at all (props to Aerts for stepping up to help out Rutz and K-1 EITHER way), but did the final fight look like a exhibition to you? The first round it seriously looked like both were pulling everything. Towards the end of the third it looked like their competative spirits finally took over. It could well be that Aerts ws just not up to it after so long without training, but it really did look more like two vets putting on a nice realistic performance with no time to prepare for it. Did it look the same live??

Hoost looked like he was holding back many of his strikes. Aerts looked less restrained but more out of shape. I think Aerts often threw hard while being unmotivated and out of shape. I'd see Hoost throwing softened strikes, and then Aerts would bang back, lol. Difference in personality. Hoost seemed like a gentle guy. But even with that thought, Hoost looked quite sloppy, sluggish.

I'd guess, Sapp vs Hoost 3 would have been a close one.

[K1power]

After having slept and re-watched every fight on video, here is my story of the event;

Me and four friends (including urdum, fellow kakutougian) made our way to Amsterdam. The distance from our city to Amsterdam is a little over 200 kilometers, making it a pretty tiring trip under the pretty hot sun that day.
When we were on about half of the trip we went to a gas station to fill up the tank and stretch our legs a little bit. When I went inside to pay I saw BAS BOON standing before my face. I was surprised and a bit shocked at the same time because it was pretty late already and Boon was pretty far away from the stadium at the time. I still managed to get my picture taken with
him and the guys though and we continued our trip. A large amount of time was consumed though by some trouble on the road including lost tickets, finding the Arena, parking space shortages and pretty thorough security checks. By the time we made our way to our places the Ramon Dekker fight had just ended and it was pissing me off in a major way (I didn't really care about the opening and reserve fights), but on the bright side the K-1 event was about to start which was awesome because to me that was the answer to all my prayers... at least at that moment, lol!

Alexey Ignashov vs Petr Vondracek

Alexey did great in the first, pressuring and knocking down a Vondracek whom had trouble finding the right fighting pace and looked pretty uncomfortable fighting Iggy. In the second this scenario continued untill Vondracek had a highlight moment where he scored with some hard connecting punches to Iggy's head. Iggy shook it off like it was a joke though and quickly found his way to knock Petr out. It was a spectacular fight and Iggy was back and trough to the semi's. I was the happiest guy in the Arena btw, lol.


Melvin Manhoef vs Tatsufumi Tomihira

Wow... Melvin Manhoef... Although lacking a bit in size he was nothing short of amazing. Due to him being even smaller than Tomihira I thought that he'd probably beat Tomi on points after a hard fight, but none of that came true. While Tomihira had some decent kicks he never even had a chance to get into the fight. Manhoef threw lightning quick and HARD-ASS combinations which put down Tomihira pretty quick. My first thought was like "Wow, Tomihira is much weaker than I gave him credit for!", but later I realised that it was much more Manhoefs fighting ability that made impact rather than Tomihira's weakness.


Bjorn Breggy vs Freddy Kemayo

Breggy, while having a pretty boring style to watch, was the fighter with superiour conditioning, power and defense. Props to Kemayo though for putting up a good fight and bringing Breggy in trouble with punch combinations here and there. Breggy really went for the kill though at the end of round 3 and when Kemayo tried to save himself by sidestepping he got hit by a devastating right which put him down for good. When he was lying on the ground not moving, but his eyes still open I seriously thought he was dead for a second, lol.


Naoufal Benazzouz vs Attila Karacs

Both fighters shined here with some good and hard combinations, but Naoufal clearly was the more experienced and effective one. Atilla was bothered by the hard lowkicks pretty early and when his attention slacked off for a moment, BANG! a perfectly timed highkick which ended in a quick ko win for Benazzouz. I was really impressed by Naoufal there.


Semmy Schilt vs Loyd van Dams

Van Dams started out pretty aggressive with some hard lowkicks and punches, but Sem wouldn't have any of it and started his usual breakdown routine, lol. By the end of the first and troughout the following rounds the match was a hugging contest which was understandable from 1 point of view; van Dams looked chubby even for his doing and when a Giant like Sem stands before you like that you don't have a choice but to grab on, BUT this was still a fight and I'm pretty sure that van Dams realised he had to use the ring better, preventing the ever repeating clinch/break situation and scoring some points rather than continuing like that until the end. Still, he chose to bearhug and give Sem an easy UD. Pretty lame fight, but to be honest; I didn't expect a lot out of this one.


Alexey Ignashov vs Gokhan Saki

Iggy looked to be in sleep mode once again and it was really frustrating to watch because he blocked and evaded EVERYTHING that Saki threw with ease, so even If he was injured with some punch combo's he could have taken Saki down quick. Everytime Iggy stretched out his arm or came in for a kick Saki was really intimidated and with the exception of having some flexible and fast legs which outscored a sleeping Iggy, I couldn't help but feel really unimpressed with Saki. He really seemed to lack power in terms that I wouldn't rate him higher in strength than the average Japanese fighter.
But well, Saki won and was trough to the finals.


Bjorn Breggy vs Naoufal Benazzouz

I was really cheering for Benazzouz on this one because I didn't wanna see Breggy fight a third time that night (except for producing a KO, he bored me to death with his style) and Benazzouz has an entertaining style to watch. Benazzouz did well and even scored a down on Breggy which was great, but after that Breggy came back hard and scored the 2 downs required for a TKO.


Remy Bonjasky vs Jerome LeBanner

This one's a bit of a long story;
Remy did way better than I expected him to while Jerome looked lame to me most of the fight.

The first round looked pretty even to me, with both fighters being aggressive and putting up a nice show. Remy scoring a bit more with the kicks and knees, while LeBanner had the punching thing going on. I would have scored this round 10-10.

The second round was pretty frustrating to me with Remy circling around a bit too much and Jerome not even once going for the kill and going all out with punch combinations. Jerome did score some more with the body punches than Remy did with the kicks in my opinion though. 10-9 for LeBanner.

The third started out pretty even, but Remy more and more became the aggressor with his kicks and slightly took this round to me. 10-9 for Remy.

this would make a score of 29-29 and me and many other people around me were expecting a draw/extra round. Remy got the 2-0 decision though and while most people (including Jerome,lol) looked a little surprise, LeBanner looked far from being a decisive winner as well. So anyway a bad decision. And I don't feel the "reversing the win" situation at all because apart from who deserved the decision more, this would seriously fuck up the original winners' confidence and be a bad move either way. Besides, I don't think Jerome deserved the win either.

Bjorn Breggy vs Gokhan Saki

Breggy took care of Saki even faster than I'd thought he would and while having a fighting style that I find unpleasant to watch. I give the man respect for knocking out 3 opponents and taking a pretty high-level tournament. He really deserves his spot at the final elimination.


Ernesto Hoost vs Peter Aerts

When it was announced that Sapp left the building I was hoping for it to be a joke but inside I had the feeling that it could be true after all. When Peter Aerts was announced I was happy and shocked, because it was great to have a chance and see the two greatest k-1 champions fight each other while at the same time I was mad that Sapp had FUCKING LEFT THE BUILDING... whichever reason he had not to fight, a huge amount of people bought a ticket with the main reason to see Sapp vs Hoost III. Even I really wanted to see Sapp myself and see that fight. Sapp lost a lot of my respect by this action, but untill we know everything I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I still want to see that man fight live. I can't wait to hear Sapps version of the story...

As for Aerts vs Hoost. It was great to see those 2 men being introduced, getting a standing ovation and then go at it. The fight itself was - naturally - pretty bad though, but that was besides the point. Aerts just came in as a LAST MINUTE substitute and was totally unprepared. It was Aerts' absolute right to say "fuck you, I won't do it!", but Aerts decided to give the fans their moneys worth and proved once again that he is a true warrior. I have great respect for that man and for all the unknowing drunken rednecks in the crowd that whistled and boo'ed during that fight, I hope that they get kicked in the head by CroCop, lol!


Ray Staring vs Gago Drago

I expected Drago to take care of the smaller looking Staring pretty quick, but I was pretty wrong. It turned out to be a pretty even fight with Staring slightly edging it. When I saw Fred Royers in Starings corner I wasn't surprised anymore. Good, entertaining final fight of the night.


Some last quick notes;
- Most fighters were HUGE, namely Schilt and Breggy.
- Roughly 50% of the crowd consisted of TOTAL FUCKING IDIOTS, especially the ones in the east section of the arena (throwing stuff like self-made airplanes, constant whistling/booing, starting fights with other people in the crowd).
- Next year I want to sit front row, lol.

[Shinbone]

K-1 power, so you're not the only guy who couldn't find the Arena. Read my reply in the general chat.

I wanted to submit an insurance claim against the city of Amsterdam. I missed 4 fights and spoiled a lot of extra petrol and my bloodpressure raised to values, Doctors didn't knew you could still live with it. lol. The city of Amsterdam should have taken care of proper road signs.

If you're with me, we could sent a letter to the city of Amsterdam.

[urdum]

K-1 power, so you're not the only guy who couldn't find the Arena. Read my reply in the general chat.

I wanted to submit an insurance claim against the city of Amsterdam. I missed 4 fights and spoiled a lot of extra petrol and my bloodpressure raised to values, Doctors didn't knew you could still live with it. lol. The city of Amsterdam should have taken care of proper road signs.

If you're with me, we could sent a letter to the city of Amsterdam.

He I would love to help you as well. Because the first time when we went there, We followed the sign to the Arena. But when we tought we were there, They just send us to another place of the Arena and that happened 2 or 3 times. So I would like to help very much if you need it off course

[Shinbone]

Thank you for your offer, I could write a letter or an e-mail and mention that there were other people who had problems finding the proper road to the arena.

We could demand 25 % of the price of the ticket. ( I missed 4 out of 16 fights), 18 cents per km I drove too much and some money for the emotional trauma I suffered. :)

Maybe I do send a letter, but I doubt I will get any reaction from the city of Amsterdam.

But fact is: the road signs and traffic people were inadequate. I drove more than 3 fucking hours and on my way back only 50 minutes.

[Razor Bump]

Nice break down. I had Iron Leg doing it myself, but Bregy's Back!!!!