K-1 / K-1 Hero's News - Page 1

Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem is scheduled to fight a K-1 kickboxing match against Dzevad Poturak on April 3, just six weeks before he is supposed to defend his title against Brett Rogers at the May 15 Strikeforce show. The scheduling calls into question whether Overeem, who hasn't defended the Strikeforce belt since he won it on November 16, 2007, will really be ready to go against Rogers. Overeem will be favored to beat Poturak, a Bosnian who's on a two-fight losing streak. But it's certainly possible that Poturak could knock Overeem out, or that Overeem could suffer an injury in victory, and that Overeem won't be healthy enough to fight Rogers. It's also possible that Overeem will back out of the fight with Rogers for scheduling reasons: Overeem has typically not needed much time off between fights, but Rogers will give him a tough test, and Overeem might decide that he wants a longer training camp to get ready for his heavyweight title defense. And, finally, although Overeem has insisted that he's going to prioritize MMA over kickboxing in 2010, it's possible that Overeem will put on a spectacular show in beating Poturak, and that K-1 will pay him enough money to continue focusing on kickboxing and turn his back on Strikeforce. The bottom line, then, is that the May 15 Overeem vs. Rogers fight should be considered tentative at best until after April 3. Note: The April 3 K-1 show will be a very good one. In addition to Overeem vs. Poturak, the fights on the card include Semmy Schilt vs. Errol Zimmerman, Badr Hari vs. Alexey Ignashov, Jerome Le Banner vs. Ruslan Karaev and Kyotaro vs. Peter Aerts.

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And here's why....

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Remember that one time when Ubereem got directly in your line of vision at a breakfast buffet to call you out but then you got right back in his face and challenged him to a fight? If you remember that, I really want to meet you. You probably trying to pull an Artie Lange. Check out this account of some beef between Ray Sefo and Ubereem held entirely at a breakfast buffet in Tokyo.

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WVR director, Sumio Inamura condemned Aoki's flipping of the bird at the severely injured (Mizuto) Hirota as an "erratic, unforgivable conduct" and fumed that there is not an ounce of sincerity or contrition in his apology. Inamura also demanded accountability from "those who are suspected to have incited Aoki to behave the way he did."

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For starters, there's the production value you hear so much about. In Japan, they don't just introduce a guy and play whatever Tupac song he's chosen for his entrance music; they make a true multimedia presentation out of it. Perhaps no one made better use of this than Akihiro Gono, who, as we already know, loves to make an entrance. His walk-out this time was like a mini-concert, which is fitting since Dynamite's main ratings competition on Japanese TV is something called "The Red White Song Battle," -- essentially a free concert featuring famous musicians, couched as a competition between an all-male and all-female team of singers.

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Sorry if someone else posted it. Aoki taught Hirota why pride comes before the fall. “When I had his arm behind his back, I could feel it popping,” Aoki said. “I thought, 'Well, this guy's pride just won't let him tap, will it?' So without hesitation, I broke it. I heard it break, and I thought, 'Ah, there, I just broke it.' I was stopped afterward, but even if I hadn't been, continuing to break it more would have been fine by me.” Overeem says Fedor is next! “I want to fight Fedor in May or June, so he's my primary target from now on. I'll be training for him only,” proclaimed Overeem, who cited the prospect of a May-June date as one he is currently negotiating with Strikeforce. There is some other good stuff in this article. Aoki's has a weird way of apologizing. It happens but dang, that guy has some amazing skills on the ground.

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In a battle of lightweight champions, Dream’s Shinya Aoki immediately put Sengoku’s Mizuto Hirota on the mat and took mount with Hirota’s arm wrapped up and behind his own back. Aoki then proceeded to, quite literally, break Hirota’s arm in an odd sort of twisting armbar. The maneuver popped Hirota’s elbow out of place, leaving his forearm flaccid.

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A recently rumored contest between Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi (27-2-1) and UFC and PRIDE veteran Gary Goodridge (23-19-1) is apparently on.While DREAM, World Victory Road and K-1 officials have yet to make an official announcement, MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today spoke with Mousasi's manager and M-1 Global executive Apy Echteld who confirmed "The Dreamcatcher" is currently en route to Japan for the matchup.Goodridge was not immediately available for comment.

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Andrei Arlovski is now looking to fight next sometime in the first quarter of 2010 after an offer to fight Alistair Overeem at Dynamite!! 2009 on New Year's Eve was pulled for a reason unknown to Arlovski's camp. Arlovski was under the impression that he would be the opponent for the Strikeforce heavyweight champion in Japan, but DREAM announced Tuesday that Overeem would fight Kazuyuki Fujita.

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During the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 post-fight press conference held on Sunday, Dec. 6, K-1 event producer, Sadaharu Tanigawa, hinted at the continuation of the "K-1 vs. MMA" clash that began in earnest with the Dynamite!! 2008.In the annual K-1/MMA hybrid fight card on New Year's Eve last year, MMA fighters accomplished a clean sweep of the K-1 squad in a series of matches contested under MMA and K-1 rules.In the MMA matches, Mirko Cro Cop chopped down the "Techno Goliath," Hong Man Choi, with leg kicks and Minowaman submitted the K-1 fighter and MMA debutant, Errol Zimmerman, in 61 seconds. Then, the MMA trio of Alistair Overeem, Gegard Mousasi, and Tatsuya Kawajiri stepped up to the K-1 turf to hand dispiriting losses to the proud K-1 vets, Badr Hari, Musashi and Kozo Takeda.

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"Though they look similar, they are totally different sports. There is no fighter who holds the top title in both [K-1 and MMA]. If the other top eight K-1 fighters fought me in MMA, I would beat them in two or three minutes. It's a different arena. Anyway, K-1 isn't my ultimate goal. It's a side road. A checkpoint. I just want to have fun. If it's not, I'll just go back to MMA. MMA is a tough sport. There are five, five-minute rounds, and you have stand-up and ground techniques. You have not only punches, but you get kneed in the face repeatedly. Then K-1 is three, three-minute rounds. PRIDE had 10 minutes per round, right? Even with conditions like that, I am one of the top fighters. Compared to that, K-1 is easy."

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Earlier this week, Golden Glory released the autopsy result and other details regarding the death of Vitali Mitu.Mitu, a 22 year-old native of Soldanesti, Moldova, collapsed following a sparring session last Thursday with three-time K-1 World Grand Prix champion, Semmy Schilt (pictured), at Golden Glory's gym in Bucharest, Romania.According to the statement signed by trainers Ciprian Sora and Horia Radulescu, Mitu "fainted without being hit" and after a brief first aid effort proved fruitless, an ambulance arrived a few minutes later. At the hospital, Mitu was pronounced dead due to cardiorespiratory arrest, "without signs of violence except normal ones caused by resuscitation maneuvers."

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"My passion is in MMA," said Overeem, the Strikeforce heavyweight champion. "That's what I like to do. But now that I beat Peter Aerts (to get to) the Final 8, I feel like the title is within reach, so I'm going to get it." K-1 seems to like playing up the MMA vs. K-1 angle when promoting Overeem, and no matter how he does in the Grand Prix Final, K-1 is hoping to have Overeem fight in its sister MMA promotion, Dream, next year. Overeem says he wants to fight Fedor Emelianenko next year, either in Dream or Strikeforce.

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Takanori Gomi joined training practice with the fight team at American Kickboxing Academy on Tuesday in San Jose, Calif., Sherdog.com has learned. Bob Cook, one of AKA’s head trainers, said the Japanese striker “mostly grappled” with UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch, Strikeforce champion Josh Thomson, Justin Wilcox, as well as with middleweight Trevor Prangley and UFC heavyweight Cain Velasquez. The former Pride lightweight champion is in the U.S. reportedly to take meetings with both the UFC and Strikeforce. Cook is a consultant for Strikeforce. Gomi also attended the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto boxing match last Saturday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. One of Japan’s biggest attractions during the Pride era, Gomi dropped back-to back losses against Sergey Golyaev and Satoru Kitaoka in Sengoku, but rebounded in the last half of 2009 with victories over Takashi Nakakura in Shooto and Tony Hervey in Vale Tudo Japan 2009 in late October. Gomi carries a third-round submission loss to UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn from October 2003.

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With a rich and extensive tradition of putting together spectacular New Years Eve mixed martial arts events, 2009 is looking like another years end celebration that will fail to disappoint in the land of the rising sun. “Dynamite!! 2009” will be taking place on December 31 from the Saitama Arena in Saitama, Japan, airing live in the United States on HDNet.

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At an Oct 14 press conference hosted by Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), president Sadaharu Tanigawa and DREAM event producer Keiichi Sasahara unveiled the synopsis of this year’s annual “Dynamite!!” show on New Year’s Eve. The event will be held at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, on a similar scale as the last year’s event, with the maximum stadium capacity of more than 40,000 people. Regarding the much-anticipated fight card, Tanigawa told the media that FEG will start releasing the fight cards once DREAM 12 and K-1 MAX 2009 World Championship Tournament, scheduled for Oct. 25 and 26, respectively, are in the books.

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At age 21, Singh “Heart” Jaideep became the youngest fighter to qualify for the K-1 World Grand Prix (WGP). He unfortunately did not endear himself to the fans with the lackluster, five-round snoozefest against Ewerton Teixeira at Olympic Park in Seoul, Korea. Unless he can stage an impressive comeback, he will not linger in the collective memory of the K-1 world for too long. Nevertheless, his participation in the WGP bears the mark of an important milestone — given his ethnicity/nationality.

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Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem continued to look impressive during his recent expedition into the Olympics of kickboxing as he edged out 3X K-1 World Grand Prix champion Peter Aerts in a hard fought unanimous decision. The two faced off during the K-1 World Grand Pix 2009 Final 16 in Seoul, Korea.

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With four words in the above video, Melvin Manhoef explains why he's such a popular K-1 and MMA fighter -- and why he's also a fairly limited fighter who wins plenty of fights by exciting knockout but also loses plenty of fights to more tactical opponents. The four words: "F**k the game plan."

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The K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final 16 will take place on September 26th at 3:30 AM EST live on HDNet from Seoul Olympic Park in Seoul, Korea. If you haven't been a fan of K-1 in the past because you've seen a few events that just didn't "click" with you, this is an event that could potentially sway you to the dark side with a fan like myself. Are you one of those casual fans that boos at UFC events because people are "hugging" and "humping"? Fall off the face of the earth, but first... watch the K-1 WGP 2009 Final 16. Do you love knockouts? That's probably a dumb question among fight fans, but K-1 will feed your hunger. Is Melvin Manhoef a god? Obviously this is a rhetorical question.

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