Wild finish gives Remy Bonjasky K-1 World GP championship

Written by Jim Murphy   |   Saturday, December 06 2008

Remy Bonjasky was ahead on points against Badr Hari when his opponent became unglued, giving the Dutchman the 2008 World GP title in a bizarre DQ finish (Photo: Susumu Nagao)

Remy Bonjasky won his third K-1 World GP championship on Saturday in Yokohama, Japan in a bizarre culmination to a highly entertaining fight card.  Bonjasky defeated reigning K-1 heavyweight champ Badr Hari by disqualification in the final after the Moroccan seemed to become unglued in the 2nd round, perhaps in response to suffering a knockout in the opening frame.  It was a strange in-ring "meltdown" for one of K-1's young superstars and stood in contrast to what had been a dominant run to the finals by Hari.

The final started with both men tentatively "feeling out" the other, with Hari taking early advantage with his superior jab and technical punching skills.  Despite being the "busier" fighter in the first round, he was having trouble finding his way through Bonjasky's superior defense.  Near the end of an otherwise close opening round, Bonjasky scored a flash knockdown with a short left hand inside.  Initially, it appeared that a roundhouse kick by "The Flying Gentleman" had sent Hari to the canvas but the replay revealed that it was the initial punch that did the damage with the subsequent kick missing the mark entirely.  Hari stayed down for the full eight count, and both men closed the round with a flurry of punches
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The drama began in the second round with Hari knowing he was down 10-8 on all three judges' scorecards thanks to the "open scoring" employed by K-1 for the event.  Hari came out aggressively, and was scoring well with a combination of kicks and punches.  At that point, an awkward sequence resulted in Bonjasky stumbling to the mat--from the replay it appeared that Hari slipped and tried to catch himself on his opponent.  Hari was able to keep his balance, while Bonjasky ended up on his back.  Instead of waiting for Bonjasky to get to his feet and continue the fight, however, Hari seemed to lose his senses at this point.  He landed several punches on his downed opponent--a nice "ground and pound" technique in MMA parlance but illegal in K-1.  He punctuated his illegal assault with a downward footstomp a la Wanderlei Silva--a technique that is illegal in most MMA promotions around the world. 

At this point he had to be restrained by the referee, whom he attempted to manhandle in an effort to get back at the now dazed Bonjasky, and his opponent's coach and Muay Thai legend Ivan Hippolyte.  Up to now, the referee was giving Hari considerable leeway--he presented him with a yellow card when he clearly had grounds for a disqualification.  Had Hari calmed down at this juncture, the fight may have been allowed to continue.  His behavior would deteriorate even further, however, as Bonjasky was allowed a five minute recovery period.  While his opponent attempted to regain his bearings on a stool, Hari stood in the opposite corner sneering and yelling taunts calling Bonjasky--among other things--a "sissy".  Hari then had to be restrained from heading over to his opponent's corner, presumably to attack him as he sit dazed from the earlier illegal barrage. Hari retreated, only to resume his glaring and sneering at Bonjasky and beginning a trash talking contest with essentially everyone he could find at ringside including the announcers, judges and his own corner. 

The referee had now seen enough--he addressed the crowd in Japanese stating that Hari had attacked Bonjasky while on the ground.  Bonjasky was now seeing double as a result of the illegal attack and, the referee continued, this behavior was not only completely unsportsmanlike but an affront to the high standards of competition for which K-1 stands.  Then, with a flourish reminiscent of Chairman Kaga unveiling the theme ingredient on the TV show "Iron Chef", the referee brandished a red card toward Hari and dramatically announced "Disqualified".

Hari wasn't finished with his thuggish behavior, however, and as the K-1 officials tried to start the awards ceremony he remained in the ring with his entourage glaring menacingly toward Bonjasky.  After a tense moment where Hari and his team wouldn't leave when asked by K-1 officials--and to which the announcer suggested somewhat seriously that Kimbo Slice (who was in attendance as a commentator and to sign autographs) be enlisted to help defuse the situation--the defeated and disgraced fighter sulked toward the locker room talking trash to fans along the way. 

It was a shocking meltdown for a fighter who entered the night K-1's top young superstar.  While his illegal "ground and pound" attack was certainly an egregious offense, it was also one that could have been chalked up to a combination of being in the "heat of battle" and from the fatigue of fighting three fights in one night.  What is far less conscionable was his behavior *after* the initial yellow card--at that point it was almost as if he wanted to behave in as unsporting a manner as possible.  It'll be interesting to see how--or even "if"--Hari and his handlers try to rationalize and hopefully apologize for his punk-like behavior that resulted in a climax unfitting of what had been until that point an excellent night of fighting.

In contrast to the ignominious way in which it would end, Badr Hari’s night began with surprising ease as he totally dominated legendary Peter Aerts.  Aerts, known as “Mr. K-1” was knocked down early in both the first and second rounds and never really got any sort of offense going against the reigning K-1 heavyweight champ.  He demonstrated a lot of courage in continuing to come forward at Hari, but was no match for his younger quicker opponent.  Though the referee waved off the fight seemingly out of nowhere late in the 2nd round, it was clearly the right decision and drew no protest from the defeated Dutchman.

Bonjasky’s road to the finals began with a quarterfinal victory over veteran Jerome LeBanner.  Bonjasky was winning on all three scorecards going into the third round when he landed a kick to LeBanner’s surgically repaired left arm.  While the kick didn’t appear to break the arm again, it did raise a visible lump on LeBanner’s elbow that looked like a tennis ball under his skin.  The double tough Frenchman wanted to continue the battle, but the ringside doctor felt otherwise and waved off the contest.

Also advancing to the semifinals was Errol Zimmerman, who turned back a tough challenge from former karate champion Ewerton Teixeria.  Teixeria was expected to be an “easy out” for Zimmerman, but was anything but as he demonstrated an impressive counterpunching game to go along with his wicked array of kicks.  Zimmerman would eventually prevail by decision in a fight that was much tougher than anyone anticipated.  In the other semifinal, Turkish fighter Gokhan Saki turned back the challenge of a game Ruslan Karaev to win by unanimous decision.

Hari had a surprisingly difficult time with Zimmerman in their semifinal matchup, and the crowd at Yokohama Arena was brought to their feet in the 2nd round when he put the Moroccan monster on the mat with a huge right hand.  Both fighters then unleashed everything in their arsenal before Hari scored a knockdown on his own right before the bell with a hard left hand.  Round three began with Hari establishing a jab that gave Zimmerman fits before ending the contest with a big right hook that put his opponent down for good.  Despite the decisive outcome for Hari, the bout was competitive throughout and easily the “fight of the night”. 

Remy Bonjasky fought a closely contested first round against Gokhan Saki, with two of three judges at ringside scoring it a 10-10 even frame.  Despite the even outcome of round one, Bonjasky had already started to give Saki trouble with his leg kicks and in the 2nd round ended the fight with a jumping round kick to the ribs that appeared to hurt the Turkish fighter.  The referee counted momentarily but waved the fight off with Saki rolling on the canvas doubled up in pain.

The two reserve fights on the card yielded perhaps the biggest surprise of the night and easily the most spectacular knockout.  Ray Sefo, who entered tonight having lost five straight fights and six of his last seven contests, put on a tactical clinic as he frustrated 7’2” behemoth Hong Man Choi.  Sefo, who trains in Las Vegas at Xtreme Couture, used a perfect fight plan and improved conditioning to pepper the Korean with strikes from all sorts of strange angles and his movement kept him out of harm’s way from retaliation.  Sefo was in complete control throughout en route to a unanimous decision victory.   In the other reserve contest, Melvin Manhoef destroyed an overmatched Paul Slowinski that culminated in one of the most spectacular and devastating knockouts of the year in any fight sport.  Manhoef was having no trouble with his opponent, and late in the first round caught Slowinski in the corner where he nailed a perfect combination of looping lefts and rights.  Slowinski was out cold after this combination, and he slid down the turnbuckles as the referee stepped in to wave off the contest.

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