Written by Lyman Hoyt
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Sunday, November 30 2008
Badr Hari is one of the favorites to win the K-1 2008 World GP Finals. THE SAVAGE SCIENCE provides an intro to Japan's top standup fighting promotion. (Photo: Susumu Nagao)
Though taped K-1 events have shown up on ESPN2 from time to time for years, US fans will now be able to enjoy live coverage of the promotion’s top events thanks to a new TV deal with MMA programming juggernaut HDNet. THE SAVAGE SCIENCE has also added K-1 to our ever expanding roster of live play by play coverage beginning with the big World GP 2008 Final from Yokohama, Japan on Saturday December 6th. With K-1 about to gain a lot more visibility both here at SAVSCI and in the US media we thought that it would be a good idea to take this opportunity to explain the basics of the sport including its history, rules, differences from other MMA promotions and which fighters to watch in the forthcoming World GP final event.
HISTORY: K-1 was founded in 1993 by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a former Kyokushin karate practitioner. Ishii started a full contact karate organization called Seidokaikan Karate in 1980. As he modified the Seidokaikan rule to include more kickboxing elements, it eventually became apparent that a promotional split was all but inevitable. The kickboxing promotion that grew out of Seidokaikan became K-1. The promotion is now under the umbrella of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) which is also the parent of the DREAM MMA promotion.
The sport is hugely popular in Japan, as well as in much of Europe. With the exception of Japan’s national sport of sumo, K-1 has been the consistently most popular fight sport among the mainstream sports public in the country. Boxing, MMA and pro wrestling (called puroresu in Japan) have all enjoyed their individual spikes in popularity over the past decade, but K-1 has been a consistent force in Japan’s fight scene. They’ve enjoyed great TV exposure on the Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) and Fuji TV networks.
K-1 has presented MMA style fights on their cards from time to time throughout their existence, and in 2005 started K-1 Hero’s as a dedicated MMA promotion. Hero’s was relatively successful during its brief lifespan, but existed in the shadow of PRIDE until that group’s demise. In early 2008, Hero’s was essentially folded into FEG’s new DREAM MMA promotion.
RULES: K-1 is essentially a kickboxing promotion so, not surprisingly, the rules are closer to those found in US boxing than in MMA. Kicks—particularly to the legs—are a large part of the offense in K-1 but clinching is not allowed in contrast to Muay Thai (where the clinch is an integral part of offense) or San Shou (where limited clinching is allowed). Much of K-1’s popularity worldwide can be attributed to the high percentage of fights that end by KO, and many of the rules are intended to more greatly facilitate decisive finishes.
As noted above, the specific rules governing the sport are very similar to boxing—either 3 or 5 rounds of 3 minutes in length judged on a 10 point “must” system. The three knockdown rule is in effect (except for some tournament fights which use a two knockdown rule), as are mandatory eight counts and standing eight counts. The fighter can only be saved by the bell in the final round. The referee and the attending physician have authority to stop the fight. Fights can be won by KO, TKO, decision, DQ and can also end in a draw or ‘no contest’.
In an effort to minimize draws, K-1 also has an “overtime” system. If a fight is a draw after three rounds, the scores to that point are disregarded and either one or two ‘overtime’ rounds are contested. The judges will then base the outcome of the fight on the scoring of these extra rounds alone. If the fight is still deadlocked after the extra rounds, the judges will pick a winner based on the fight as a whole. As a result, draws are rare in K-1 as they can only occur on simultaneous knockouts or situations where both fighters are physically unable to continue.
THE WORLD GP FINAL: The first event that we’ll be covering here at SAVSCI is the 2008 World GP Final, which is a heavyweight single elimination tournament. It is run throughout the year, with qualifying tournaments in four different regions of the world. The winners of those events, along with the final eight from the previous year and four “at large” fighters met in K-1 Final Elimination in Seoul, Korea in September. The winners in the matches held at Final Elimination now meet on December 6th in Yokohama where the final three rounds of the tournament will be contested.
Below are the quarterfinal matchup pairings along with a capsule profile of each fighter involved:
BADR HARI VS. PETER AERTS: Badr Hari is the reigning K-1 heavyweight champion and future superstar of the sport. He’s only 23 years old and is a native of Morocco currently fighting out of the Netherlands. In many ways this matchup is similar to the Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar fight as it pits the “old guard” versus a young upstart. Peter Aerts is considered a legend in the sport and has won countless championships in both K-1 and Muay Thai. Aerts is now 38 and has been competing in the sport the better part of 20 years, having won his first championship at the age of 18. This is definitely the most highly anticipated of the quarterfinal matchups.
ERROL ZIMMERMAN VS. EWERTON TEIXEIRA: 22 year old Errol Zimmerman advanced to the ‘Final Elimination’ event by virtue of his win at the K-1 World GP in Amsterdam tournament. He is a three time Dutch Muay Thai champion and is competing in his first World GP final. 26 year old Teixeira is a native of Brazil who now fights out of Tokyo. He advanced to the ‘Final Elimination’ by winning the K-1 World GP in Fukuoka.
GOKHAN SAKI VS. RUSLAN KARAEV: Saki got here by winning 2008 K-1 World GP 2008 in Hawaii and his elimination match in Korea. He’s 26 and with his win in Hawaii became the first fighter of Turkish ancestry to ever win a K-1 title. Karev won the K-1 World GP in Taipei championship. He’s had limited professional experience but boasts an extensive amateur record.
REMY BOJANSKY VS. JEROME LEBANNER: 32 year old Remy Bojansky is a superstar of the sport and won this event in 2003 and 2004. French southpaw Jerome LeBanner is another big name in K-1 who has also dabbled in boxing and MMA. He’s likely at the tail end of a legendary career, and though he’s been a frequent participant in this event he’s never won it.
Perhaps the biggest name in the sport is conspicuous by his absence.
Semmy Schilt, the monstrous 6’11 ½” Dutchman is arguably the most dominant fighter in K-1 and the only man to ever win the World GP three times in a row (2005,2006,2007). He lost a decision to Peter Aerts in the quarterfinals and as a result won’t be able to make it four in a row. Schilt has also competed extensively in MMA and there’s been considerable talk that he’ll be fighting on the New Years’ Eve Dynamite! show.
Two reserve matches feature fighters familiar to MMA fans:
MELVIN MANHOEF VS. PAUL SLOWINSKI: Manhoef has competed extensively in MMA, most recently in the DREAM middleweight GP where he defeated Japan legend Kazushi Sakuraba by devastating KO in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Gegard Mousasi in the semifinals. Slowinski is a walking United Nations, of Polish and Australian decent currently fighting like so many other K-1 competitors out of Amsterdam.
HONG MAN CHOI VS. RAY SEFO: Choi is most famous to MMA fans for his loss to Fedor Emelianenko on last year’s Yarrenoka! event. Though he was a MMA neophyte in that event, he’s an accomplished K-1 competitor and at 7’2” a physical mismatch against anyone. 37 year old Ray Sefo is a native of New Zealand now fighting out of Las Vegas.
Join us on Saturday, September 6th at 12 midnight Pacific/3 AM Eastern for the K-1 World GP Finals LIVE at THE SAVAGE SCIENCE.
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