Keijiro Maeda wins K-1 heavyweight title

Written by Jim Murphy   |   Saturday, March 28 2009

Keijiro Maeda sends Melvin Manhoef crashing to the canvas in the seminfinals of the K-1 heavyweight championship tournament.  Maeda would go on to defeat Gokhan Saki in the finals to fill the title vacancy in a shocking upset. (Photo: FEG)

The K-1 heavyweight title has been involved in more ‘storylines’ than the WWE championship of late, and that trend shows no sign of abating following the shocking ascension of Keijiro Maeda to the throne.  Maeda stunned the live crowd at the Yokohama Arena by violently dispatching Melvin Manhoef in the semifinals and then outlasting Gokhan Saki to win a one night tournament to fill the vacant K-1 heavyweight title.  Maeda became the first Japanese fighter to hold the K-1 heavyweight crown, but that’s the least improbable thing about his victory.

Maeda wasn’t really even supposed to be involved in the tournament, but took the opportunity to participate on short notice when scheduled semi finalist Chalid De Faust was unable to make the trip to Japan.  At only 22 years of age, and with less than two years of professional experience most expected Maeda to be in over his head despite a solid 14-1 record and victories over top names like Mighty Mo and ‘Musashi’.  Maeda didn’t do much to change this line of thinking heading into the tournament, as he told the press on several occasions that he was ‘scared’ of semifinal opponent Manhoef. 

His uniquely Japanese ring entrance didn’t exactly give the impression of an upset threat either.  While he wasn’t wearing a gingham dress ala Yuichiro Nagashima at the K-1 event in February, he did enter with an entourage dressed in furry teddy bear suits accompanied by some saccharine “J-pop” music.  In other words, he didn’t exactly rank high on the ‘intimidating entrance’ hit parade along with Fedor Emelianenko entering to the chilling ‘oy, to ne vecher’.

And then there’s Maeda’s hair.  There are plenty of bad haircuts in MMA, and typically we wouldn’t give more than a passing mention to another dude’s ‘lettuce’ but Maeda’s coif was in a class by itself.  He simultaneously combined what might be best described as a bizarre hybrid of a pompadour and a Mohawk—dyed green, of course—with several long ‘rat tails’ hanging down his back which were dyed red for a nice contrast.  It was as if he was attempting to pay homage to every bad ‘new wave’ hair cut from the 1980’s simultaneously. 

Once the bell rung, however, there was nothing vaguely comical about Maeda’s performance.  If he had any fear of his opponent as he’d suggested to the press he quickly sublimated it in the ring as he stood toe to toe with the compact, powerfully built Manhoef and traded power shots.  Maeda clearly had the height and reach advantage, but found himself backed up by Manhoef’s solid work to the body and a bruising left hook.  Manhoef then wobbled the Japanese fighter with a big right hand, but as he went ‘for the kill’ and started to pursue Maeda he was caught off balance and leaning in to a perfectly place short uppercut.  Manhoef crashed to the canvas facefirst, and while he barely managed to beat the count the referee saw that he was in no shape to continue and quickly waved off the fight.

While Maeda returned to the dressing room after just over two minutes of work, the second semifinal match was contested between Gokhan Saki and Tyrone Spong.  After three highly tactical, evenly contested rounds Saki broke through in the K-1 mandated ‘extra round’ to earn a TKO victory and a spot in the final against the wild haired Japanese upstart. 

Although Maeda was clearly the ‘fresher’ fighter heading into the final, few in the arena thought he had a chance against the tough Dutchman by way of Turkey he was to face for the heavyweight crown.  There was something of a conventional wisdom that Maeda had a weak chin (despite having never been stopped in his K-1 career) and that Saki would ‘expose’ him.  After an evenly contested first round, Maeda began to take over as he stood toe to toe trading with Saki—and getting the best of his foe with a busier workrate and stinging combinations.  This pattern would continue in the third round, with Maeda trading punches with Saki and getting the better of these exchanges.  Although Maeda won both the 2nd and 3rd rounds on the SAVSCI scorecards, the always inexplicable K-1 judges had the fight scored a 30-30 draw across the board after three rounds.   The ‘extra round’ saw more of the same, with Maeda peppering Saki with more multipunch combinations.  Although his workrate had slowed from earlier in the fight, his ‘extra round’ performance was sufficient to convince two of the three judges to award him the round and the majority decision victory.

The heavyweight title storyline didn’t end there.  An odd presence in the arena all night was former champion Badr Hari.  Hari, who had been stripped of the title following his unsportsmanlike behavior in the 2008 World Cup final, had clearly ‘paid his debt’ to Japanese fight sport society in the eyes of the K-1 promotion.  He was far from the ‘monster heel’ that was booed mercilessly (which is very rare for a Japanese fight crowd) as he faced Alistair Overeem at ‘Fields Dynamite’ on New Years’ Eve.  Instead, he was more of a ‘prodigal son’ who had learned the error of his ways.  Clearly, K-1 would like to see the heavyweight belt back around the Moroccan superstar’s waist, but Maeda will clearly have something to say about that.

Another odd component of the Badr Hari ‘redemption’ was the vilification of the man that dominated him to the cheers of the fans several months earlier—Alistair Overeem.  Overeem faced Remy Bonjasky in the main event of the evening, and no longer was Overeem the ‘champion of fair play’ that he was against Hari.  Instead, the announcers—both English and Japanese—repeatedly emphasized the storyline that Bonjasky was ‘defending the honor of K-1’ against a ‘dilettante’ who was fighting to prove the ‘superiority’ of mixed martial arts. 

The live audience in Yokohama swallowed the bait like a freshly caught carp, as there was even a smattering of boos for Overeem as he entered the ring.  Bonjasky, meanwhile, was giving a rapturous ovation.  Bonjasky would prevail by unanimous decision, though he looked very listless in the process.  Overeem was controlling the fight before Bonjasky caught him with a flash knockdown late in the final round.  It wouldn’t be K-1 without some sketchy officiating, and this fight was no exception as it had appeared that Overeem had knocked Bonjasky down in the second round with an overhand right.  Without explanation, the referee called this a ‘slip’ and the announcers didn’t question the interpretation although replays from several angles confirmed that Bonjasky had ‘slipped’ when his head came into contact with Overeem’s fist.  Japanese fight sport expert Lyman Hoyt will be providing an in depth analysis of the Overeem/Bonjasky in a forthcoming article.

In other action, Hesdy Gerges impressed with his toughness as he was pummeled for three rounds by monstrous Semmy Schilt.  Gerges looked to have broken his nose late in the first round, but kept coming forward throughout the fight despite absorbing a tremendous beating.  Schilt won the unanimous decision victory, but Gerges will very likely be back based on his demonstration of heart and fortitude.  Ewerton Teixeria won a split decision victory over Jerome LeBanner following two ‘added rounds’.  Glaube Feitosa knocked out Junichi Sawayashiki, and in another highly anticipated battle K-1 legend Peter Aerts manhandled Errol Zimmerman, though the judges saw the first three rounds even and required an extra three minutes before awarding ‘Mr. K-1’ the unanimous decision victory.

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