Even though i knew who was going to be on the cards I still kept telling myself it wouldnt hapen. surely k-1 had gotten over the freakshow. Well, I was wrong. K-1 is as of this moment no longer a respectable martial arts tournament but is a mere sideshow. as someone else mentioned, its going to end up like ice skating- you just watch it for giggles not because you care who wins. I think this whole tournament was a big "up yours" to the REAL fighters out there like Hoost, Aerts, Sefo, Lebanner... its not for want of talented fighters. I can only hope that Super league gets big enough and takes over from K-1 which is never going to break out of the japanese market at this rate. At least in Super league they have real fighters, not washed up football players and sumos. anyway. (taken from al3xweb.com) as you can see the only fighter here is Kaoklai. we have 3 cans in the form of whoever the hell those korean dudes are (homecrowd heroes to draw people in) two sumos, some giant wrestling freak (choi is 7'2) and kakuda, a 45 year old REFEREE. AND, as if that wasnt bad enough, they had Semmy Schilt vs that giant can Silva (the one who illegally beat the everlasting crap out of musashi in what should have gotten him banned from any sport, ever- and then lost to him in the rematch) and Remy Bonjasky vs Ray "im a 45 year old boxer with no money" Mercer. that one lasted until remy hit him with a head kick and mercer GAVE UP. heres some disgusting photos of this travesty of combat sports. R.I.P K-1
HOLY CRAP in the 2nd pic, what is taht guy like 4'2!!!!! and he LANDED A GOOD PUNCH!!!!!! and this human garbage pile vs human statue. man this is truly a sad day indeed. here, i'll just save us the trouble and execute K-1. :woo: :woo: :woo: :cry:
Kaoklai is actually 180cm- about 6 foot. thats taller than me. he also landed a flying high kick to the side of his face (something of a kaoklai special) but it didnt have enough sauce behind it to do much, shame I couldnt find a pic of it.
Yeah. And how the hell are we meant to take it seriously when they deliberately start stupid rumours e.g. the Mike Tyson debacle ?
Rumour has it that Akebono faked his shin injury in the 2nd fight, so he wouldnt take too much punishment and not attend WWE's Wrestlemania 21 Sumo match against Big Show.
That fight between kaoklai and Choi was total BS, the guy was like 2 fee ttaller then him, not to mention so much bigger too. Man, whats happening, we're getting freaks in all these fighting organizations.
I'm by no means a fan favourite of the likes of Bob Sapp and Akebono but I have to say I'm not entirely against them being pitted up against the 'smaller' opponents like Kaoklai for three reasons: Firstly, these sorts of fights are bound to happen when there are only two weight divisions, its a fact and anyone who follows K 1 should know its likely to happen. Excluding fighters because they are too big doesn't seem like a decent solution to me especially when they are winning (I include in this bracket Choi and not Akebono ). Maybe its a good argument for the creation of a Super Heavy Weight league but I don't think all of the big guys are just talentless fools (although in fairness some of them are). If Kaoklai had won this fight people would be cheering over how this proves skill is more important than size so I think its a bit of sour grapes to take the huff when someone like Choi uses their size to their advantage. Secondly, these ridiculous competitors such as the sumo's put paid to some of the irritating and ridiculous hypothetical A 'versus' B discussions. We've seen that smaller people with a weight advantage can knock out bigger opponents with skill (Kaoklai vs. Might Mo), we've seen that having tonnes of weight does not necessarily guarantee you a win- Akebono vs. most everyone and we've seen that size isn't all that important on the ground (Sudo vs. Butterbean). Sumo vs. Ex- Footballer, Big Brawling Boxer vs. Quirky MMA, Thai Boxing vs. Giant Wrestler... they are all just potential threads on MAP that don't need to be started now! Thirdly and lastly, I really enjoy watching for example Buakaw's fights in the MAX tournaments but to be honest if I want to see just a pure kickboxing-esque fight then I'd prefer to watch pure MT fights. K-1 is what it is and it has some excellent fighters amongst its card- I think its a bit of a sad day when people of around my age (21) start looking back to the good old days...
Just waiting for the next K1 card then: Bruce Lee vs Royce Gracie Tyson vs Akebono Ninja vs Shaolin Monk WonderWoman vs Batwoman My dad vs your dad
I've got no problem with them paying large guys to fight; providing the fighter has skill and is well trained... rather than just signing them up because they're big.
I get what Ckava's saying but I only agree to a small extent. I acknowledge that K1 isn't supposed to be just about kickboxing but it is still supposed to be about skilled martial artists. It does make it interesting to have the odd huge powerhouse who has no skill in the ring with an actual fighter EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE to spice things up a bit, but do it too much and the novelty wears off. I agree with Ikken, it's annoying when you're looking forward to a supposedly world class martial arts tournament and all they can offer is a freak show. I think they should either make some king of super heavyweight league for the really big fighters like Ckava suggested (but have actual trained fighters in it), or simply reduce how often they play the freak show card.
I'm gonna get uberFlamed for this. uts on flame retardant jacket and prepares to burn in hell : I have no problem with K-1 putting big beasts in to fight trained fighters. What does everyone find so ridiculous? If the big guy wins we get "he just used his size". If the big guy loses we get "He wasn't trained". If we let the brutes in and they win, then we have to look at the fighters. The problem is not the fighters, it's the weight categories (or lack of). Obviously, if the big beast is gonna bend the rules, hit on the ground etc, then he shouldn't be allowed. If, however, he is following the rules then what is the problem? Providing everyone has some sort of "qualifiers" to get on, then I'm cool with that. The problem with K-1 is the politics of it all. We do not need chair hitting and other similar WWE antics so that Master Iishi can gain more money. We do not need an open weight league, and we certainly do not need the crap judging, refereeing and rule disobeyance that we so commonly see. The best article about K-1 was on the ikf website about the appauling judging witnessed at K-1 events. I'll try and find it later. EDIT: We also don't need to see novice fighters (let's say 2 wins 3 losses etc.) fighting Ignashov or Sefo. Fighters need to establish themselves first. If some beast man is taken off the streets into a main event (SAPP) then we have problems. This would stop the unskilled (AKEBONO) ones headlining against other unskilled (SUMO wrestlers and football players) fighters headlining. Furthermore, steroid (SAPP again) induced fighters should not be allowed to compete. One other problem is boxers coming in because they aren't good enough in their own sport. I will now alert you to THE most ridiculous thing ever in K-1's history... Ray "Merciful " Mercer was allowed to wear shoes providing he didnt kick. Umm Ray, this is a variant of kickboxing. If you don't like kicking, then disappear matey
I guess it's just started a recent downfall because (although I don't follow K1) I have an old video of K1's greatest fights and there were some really amazing fights. The weight classes were good (I think? were Mike Bernardo and Andy Hug the same weight? because it doesn't look it) and they showed some really great fighters like Peter Aerts, Hoost, Bernardo (love his punching power), Hug (who I just found out was dead), and Lebanner, the best knockouts ever. They were some of the best fights I've seen, but when I watch more recent stuff, it's kinda stupid. For example, Bob Sapp sucks so bad (in comparison to other fighters) and somebody mentioned how people always say "he just uses his size", well it's true in Sapp's case, he has no punching skill and on occasion he'll use a lazy, slow, roundhouse kick. The crowds over there can't seem to get enough of him though.
I just saw these fights last night on Eurosport. I thought I might have a nice evening with good sport entertaiment and this crap was all I got. I don't ever want to see fighters like Choi or Akebono again. When Akebono came to compete in K1 I thought it was fun to see him in the ring but this Choi guy was just too much. Some of the worst fights I have seen. I agree that K1 is turning into some weird freakshow. It felt awful to see a decent fighter like Kaoklai in such silly event.
yeah I felt sorry for kaoklai, he was the only actual fighter in the whole line up. the rest were either freakshows, referees, or cans. still, at least theres k-1 max- the line up this year looks awesome, and there are no freakshows in max- all quality fighters.
Just watched it last night too. If that last fight was held in Thailand Kaoklai Kaennorsing might have won the whole thing.
that was the first time i turned k1 off last night. painfull to watch. and they had muay thai on men and motors for some reason... then the ultimate fighter and ufc on bravo. monday night tv rocks.
I watched it, too. Hell, Akebono won a match. What does that say about his opponent? Choi was so obviously gonna win. Look at his size. 7 foot 2 (or similar) against anyone of a normal size is a mismatch. Very bad event.
actually I thought kaoklai DID win. he landed more shots and was way busier. but how does it look for k-1 when this little guy with actual skill comes along and beats all their freakshows?
