K-1 Yokohama: Bonjasky beats Overeem, Maeda wins 100kg belt

 

Remy Bonjasky took a three round unanimous decision with a third round knockdown to defeat MMA star Alistair Overeem in the main event super fight at the annual K-1 event in Yokohama last night. The Yokohama event usually sees the first action from the major Heavyweight stars since the previous years Grand Prix and this years event didn’t dissapoint with six of last years quarter finalists in action. Overeem seemed the busier fighter for the majority of the fight but was unable to clearly dominate Bonjasky to score a lead on the scorecards. Both judges scored the opening two rounds 10-10 (I gave Overeem the 2nd round) and he was in firm control of the first two minutes of the third round. With roughly 30 seconds remaining, Bonjasky landed a knee to Overeem’s chin followed by an overhand right that dropped the former PRIDE star to the canvas. Overeem beat the count but the 10-8 round was enough to give Bonjasky a unanimous decision win over three rounds.
A lot of MMA fans don’t get the K-1 scoring system. Basically, you have to win the round clearly to get a 10-9 round. K-1 scores a lot of 10-10 rounds for the reason that it’s a three round stand-up battle so in order for the fighter to get a win he needs to show dominance with either a knockdown or a sustained beating to win on points in that time which leads to more action. The extra rounds makes up for this and while some fights end up with dodgey decisions, a lot more fights are decided by the fighters rather then the judges. I thought Bonjasky fought like shit compared to his performance in the last Grand Prix. He didn’t look comfortable under fire leading me to believe he didn’t train as hard as he normally does and I thought without the knockdown that Overeem would have surely won a decision. However, the only real dominating part of the fight was the knockdown which was a clean knockdown in which Overeem was hurt so the right man got the decision (although I wouldn’t have minded seeing a 4th round).

The co feature of this event saw a four man tournament for the vacant K-1 Heavyweight belt which was stripped from Badr Hari after his disgraceful showing in the K-1 WGP Final last year. With Gokhan Saki, Tyrone Spong and Melvin Manhoef making up three of the four, it was last years runner-up at Fukuoka Keijiro Maeda who upset both Manhoef and Saki to win the title. Maeda shocked the heavily favoured Manhoef in the first fight with a short right hand that left Manhoef unable to beat the count in the very first round. The 22 year old who lost his chance at competing in the Grand Prix last year against Ewerton Teixera, frustrated Manhoef with movement and leg kicks before countering a wild attack with a right hand that ended Manhoefs night early.
In the other semi final, nothing could seperate Gokhan Saki and Tyrone Spong for the first three rounds of their fight as they traded evenly with neither getting even the slightest edge. The fight was scored 30-30 and an overtime round decided the fight. In what was another close round, Saki left no doubt as he polaxed Spong with a right hand. The knockout was sudden and completely unexpected. Saki and Maeda battled out another close battle in the final, but Maeda was simply too sharp for last years Grand Prix semi finalist and took the title after an extra round. Whether this means that Maeda gets Hari’s spot in the Final 16 or not I don’t know, but it seems to be the best way to sort that situation out.

Also on the card, three time K-1 champion Peter Aerts made his comeback from his knockout loss to Badr Hari a successful one with a unanimous decision after an extra round against 2008 semi finalist Errol Zimmerman. Aerts successfully attacked the body throughout the fight, landing two and three punch combinations to the body as well as hard body kicks. Zimmerman was game though and answered with some heavy leg kicks and fast punching combinations that looked to have ‘the Dutch Lumberjack’ in trouble briefly in the 2nd round. After three rounds in which Aerts appeared to win comfortably, the judges scored a draw. Aerts again took control with his body attacks and grinded out a four round unanimous decision. Aerts looked much sharper in this fight then against Hari although the Hari that fought in December was a completely different animal to Zimmerman.

In other action, Ewerton Teixera upset Jerome Le Banner with a five round split decision victory. Le Banner fought in spurts and it hurt him on the judges cards in the end. After a slow first two rounds in which Teixera was doing all the work (although not landing with much), Le Banner seemed to outwork him in the 3rd round and then in the first extra round (one judge scored the extra round to Le Banner). In the fifth, Le Banner again fought in spurts and it was enough for Teixera to edge him out. Le Banner seems to think that if the other guy can’t hurt him, then he shouldn’t beat him and often fights to his opponents level. Had he turned the heat on Teixera from the start he would have won that fight easily. Also both Semmy Schilt and Glaube Feitosa scored easy wins over Hesdy Gerges and Junichi Sawayashiki respectively. Schilt controlled ever second of his fight, but despite a 2nd round knockdown couldn’t finish his game opponent. Feitosa repeatedly bounced Sawayashiki off the canvas before the referee intervened in the 2nd round.

K-1 GP 2009 in Yokohama Predictions

First of all I’m sorry for the lack of updates over the recent weeks. I’ve been extremely fucking busy and haven’t even been able to check out news sites let alone update anything. That and there wasn’t all that much worth talking about. That all changes this weekend with the first big K-1 event of the year. Featured is the current K-1 champion Remy Bonjasky against the man who destroyed Badr Hari, Alistair Overeem. Also on the card is a four man tournament to crown the 100kg champion (Hari was stripped of this title for his behaviour in last years GP) featuring Melvin Manhoef, Gokhan Saki, Chalid Die Faust and Tyrone Spong. Plus Peter Aerts, Jerome Le Banner and Errol Zimmerman in action.

Remy Bonjasky vs Alistair Overeem
Prediction- Bonjasky on points
I gotta go with Bonjasky under K-1 rules. Overeem definately has a strong chance in this fight but I think Bonjasky’s defence will be too tight and he’ll make Overeem look amatuerish in certain parts of this fight. Overeems sheer size and strength will pose anyone problems but there’s a few factors in this fight that are different from when Overeem KO’d Badr Hari in the 1st round on New Years Eve and they all favour Bonjasky.
First of all, Hari was three weeks removed from suffering two knockdowns and fighting three times in one night. Surely he didn’t train that much during those three weeks if at all. Second, little was known of how dangerous Overeem’s stand-up actually is. Out-striking an MMA fighter is one thing but against someone as good as Hari not many expected Overeem to last. Hari didn’t know exactly how dangerous he was, Bonjasky now does. The element of surprise that Overeem had over Hari he doesn’t have over Overeem. Last, Bonjasky is a much bigger man then Hari with a more proven chin and despite giving away some size to Overeem, he’s a fully fledged heavyweight (well super heavyweight by K-1 standards) and will be better equipped to deal with Overeem’s physical attributes.
Overeem will likely start fast, but Bonjasky should ride out the storm and pick him apart en route to a decision win (possibly in an extra round, but the longer the fight goes the mroe I favour Bonjasky) or a late stoppage.

K-1 Heavyweight title tournament
Chalid Die Faust vs Melvin Manhoef
Prediction- Manhoef by first round KO
Die Faust is as dangerous as they come when in form and has a bit of size over Manhoef, but Manhoef’s power and explosiveness should prove too much for the hot and cold Chalid. Manhoef I think will catch him heavily during an exchange and end matters with one punch midway through the first round.

Gokhan Saki vs Tyrone Spong
Prediction- Spong on points
I’m going purely off hype here but Spong has plenty of it. He’s won world titles in different organisations from 70kg up to his current weight (90-95kg). Whether he has the power to dent the chins of some of the best Heavyweights in the world or not remains to be seen and Saki may prove too experienced on the big stage, but should Spong live up to his hype Saki could be in trouble.

Either way, I don’t envy whoever wins this fight as Manhoef should prove too dangerous for either man. My overall pick is for Manhoef to win the entire thing and to do it in less then 10 total minutes of fighting. For the competition he’s up against, and I’m not saying it’s bad, I think he brings too much for all three guys right now. Saki has the best chance of upsetting him as he has solid technique with some size behind it, but I think Manhoef would find his chin eventually and end matters.

Peter Aerts vs Errol Zimmerman
Prediction- Aerts by 3rd round KO
Old timer vs young gun and it’s one that’s hard to pick. I’m going with Aerts to outlast Zimmerman and stop him late but it’s hard to know what he has left. Did he use the last ace in his hand against Schilt in September or does he have more up his sleeve? Zimmerman has speed and power and could make things ugly for Aerts if he doesn’t show up or if he’s indeed past his use by date, but he’s shown a lack of stamina in the later rounds in previous fights and if Aerts gets the sniff that I think he’ll get with his years of experience, I think he’ll turn the screws on Zimmerman and force a stoppage.

Jerome Le Banner vs Ewerton Teixera
Prediction- Teixera on points
I’m going for an upset here. I think Le Banner is used goods and Teixera’s style will give him fits if he isn’t in peak condition which I don’t think he will be. Teixera looked good against Zimmerman and while Le Banner is a different kettle of fish, I think he’ll be able to pick Le Banner’s assaults off and land clean counter shots of his own while frustrating the human refrigerator.

Glaube Feitosa vs Junichi Sawayashiki
Prediction- Feitosa by 2nd round KO
Interesting fight between two guys both in need of a win if they want to be in this years Final 16. I’m not at all sold on Sawayashiki and I think Feitosa has too much power for him. At some stage he’ll land and then we’ll see if Sawayashiki has what it takes to make it in K-1.

K-1/DREAM Update: Bonjasky vs Overeem March 28

With the endless supply of boxing and MMA so far this year, I’ve neglected the K-1 season which started two weeks ago on the 23rd of February. Now I still don’t fully understand how everything works and this is the first full season I’ll be watching, but at the MAX event there was an eight man tournament and I’m pretty sure the winner gets a spot in the final 16 for the MAX Grand Prix. Taishin Kohiruumaki won the tournament with a decision win over Yuya Yamamoto in the final after stopping Yahuhiro Kido and decisioning Andy Ologun earlier in the night. Also on the card, last years MAX semi finalist Yoshihiro Sato knocked out Sergey Golyaev and K-1 MAX 2002 Champion Albert Kraus won a decision over Su Hwan Lee.

The next K-1 event takes place March 28th and it’s a big one. There’s a tournament to determine the K-1 100kg champion after Hari was stripped of his title for his actions in the Grand Prix final last year against Remy Bonjasky. The four man tournament features Melvin Manhoef against Chalid Die Faust with the winner to meet the winner of the Gokhan Saki vs Ruslan Karaev rematch from last years GP Quarter Finals that saw Saki win via decision. This tournament should be explosive as the Karaev-Saki fight last year was superb and both Manhoef and Die Faust have serious power. I’d like to see Manhoef win and be a contestant in this years K-1 Grand Prix.

The main event sees K-1 Grand Prix champion Remy Bonjasky take on the man who destroyed Badr Hari at Dynamite, former PRIDE star Alistair Overeem. This matchup has major significance in the K-1 strikers vs MMA strikers debate as it pits arguably the best MMA Heavyweight striker against the K-1 champion and unlike the Badr Hari match, Bonjasky has had significant time to prepare for Overeem. A win for Overeem would make him a big money draw for the UFC should they look to sign him (Overeem was posing for photographs with Dana White at UFC 93) or it could set up a run for the K-1 title at the end of this year.

Also on the card is the rematch between Badr Hari and Errol Zimmerman (who I’m in complete shock about not being in the Heavyweight title tournament) which was an excellent fight last year with both guys being knocked down before Hari won with a third round knockout. Last years quarter finalists Jerome Le Banner and Ewerton Teixera face off as well as Final 16 contestants Glaube Feitosa and Junichi Sawayashiki, two guys who will have to go through qualifying (or get voted in by the fans) in order to make it back this year.

This weekend however is the first DREAM event of the year. DREAM.7 features 6 of the first 7 fights of the 2009 DREAM Featherweight Grand Prix with the other fight to take place at DREAM.8 (plus Kid Yamamoto receiving a bye to make up the final 8). The other fights see Tatsuya Kawajiri and Mitsuhiro Ishida in seperate bouts and Shinya Aoki fighting at Welterweight against Ross Gardner (Aoki is the current favourite for the Welterweight Grand Prix starting at DREAM.8). My picks for the Grand Prix matches are as follows:

Masakatsu Imanari vs Astushi Yamamoto (Imanari by submission 0-10 mins)
Hiroyuki Takaya vs Jong Won Kim (Takaya by KO 0-10 mins)
Yoshiro Maeda vs Micah Miller (Maeda by KO 10-15 mins)
Chase Beebe vs Joe Warren (Beebe by submission 0-10 mins)
Takafumi Otsuka vs Bibiano Fernandes (Fernandes on points)
Akiyo Nishiura vs Abel Callum (Callum by submission 0-10 mins)

Enjoy the action this weekend! The DREAM card caps off a quality weekend with UFC 96 and a decent HBO card on.