K-1 World Grand-Prix in Seoul 2009 - Final 16 Preview

On September 26th, K-1 is returning to Seoul for it's World GP Final 16. This is going to bring the tourney down to 8 finalists, then eventually to the final four to determine the 2009 K-1 Heavyweight Grand Prix Champ. I know that none of my friends really follow fighting as closely as I do (probably an understatement) so I'm writing this up to fill everyone in so hopefully everyone will get as excited as me. So what does this mean for us? It means we get to see the absolute best kickboxers in the world slugging it out live in Seoul. I went to four fights last year and this is by far gonna be the best one I'll get to see live during my time in Seoul.

First up, here's the promo website for this event. Promo Website . Pretty cool site, check it out if you care enough. Little tidbits about the fighters and some weird facts.

Here is the fight card, but it's not in the fight order just yet.

[FINAL16] Peter Aerts vs. Alistair Overeem

[FINAL16] Remy Bonjasky vs. Melvin Manhoef

[FINAL16] Semmy Schilt vs. Daniel Ghita

[FINAL16] Badr Hari vs. Zabit Samedov
[FINAL16] Ruslan Karaev vs. KYOTARO
[FINAL16] Ewerton Teixeira vs. Singh "Heart" Jaideep
[FINAL16] Errol Zimmerman vs. Glaube Feitosa
[FINAL16] Jerome LeBanner vs. Musashi
[Super Fight] Taiei Kin vs Catalin Morosanu
[Special Fight] Su Jeong Lim vs Tahir Menxhiqi
[Special Fight] Chi Bin Lim vs Chen Qing

We get to see 11 fights that night, It's gonna be nuts.

I'm gonna start the breakdown with the match I'm most excited for, Alistair Overeem vs. Peter Aerts.

Alistair Overeem is a Mixed Martial Arts fighter (think UFC) that has dabbled in kickboxing in the past, gaining recent notoriety in K-1. Overeem used to be a middling Light-Heavyweight fighter that showed flashes of brilliance but remained extremely inconsistent. He'd be a man on fire for the first few minutes and then gas out and get murdered. Recently, Overeem has undergone a renaissance of sorts, moving up in weight to Heavyweight with much success.

And by renaissance I mean roided the fuck up.

So after eating a bowl of horse steroids (and likely the horse as well) every morning for three years, he's at his current MASSIVE size. The guy is absolutely huge. But whatever he's still a pretty cool dude and I like watching him fight, but the blatant steroid bulk up makes me laugh.

Anyways, why is this guy a big deal? Well last New Year's Eve, he participated in an event that pitted MMA guys vs. K-1 fighters in K-1 rules. The MMA guys all absolutely slaughtered their opponents which was hilarious, but the biggest shock was Overeem starching the K-1 Heavyweight champ at the time, Badr Hari.

Hari got flattened. K-1 wasn't too thrilled with some guy coming from out of their sport and thumping the champ, so in the next match they put him against Remy Bonjasky, 3 time GP champ. Overeem barely lost the fight (click) , and taking someone as good as Bonjasky to a close decision is nothing to be ashamed of. Overeem is the real deal and I'm excited to see him fight another great fighter, Peter Aerts.

Peter Aerts is a K-1 Legend, boasting a massive 95-27 record and at 38 years old it's pretty amazing that he's still as good as he is. Also apparently a notorious lumberjack. He's fought pretty much everyone ever in K-1 multiple times. Here's a few fights and such.

Awesome KO

This Fight is funny, Peter Aerts vs. Ernesto Hoost. Why is it funny? It was never supposed to happen. It was supposed to be Bob Sapp vs. Ernesto Hoost, but Sapp bolted. Aerts was actually announcing that night but he stepped out of the booth, borrowed a pair of shorts and stepped into the ring. And this was after a night of heavy drinking. How badass is that?

And finally a highlight with silly music.

Next up, Melvin Manhoef vs. Remy Bonjasky.

Melvin Manhoef is pretty much amazing. He's a natural middleweight, frequently fighting at 185 lbs and he's out there fighting men that outweigh him by 50 lbs or more. He wins, too. He's fast and hits probably harder than anyone on the planet. He's a wild fighter, almost too unrestrained sometimes and he tends to get caught or gas too quickly. His last fight he looked a bit more disciplined, but no matter what he's always exciting as hell. Also, he looks like Balrog from Street Fighter 2 and that's awesome. Manhoef has a kickboxing record of 37 wins with TWENTY SEVEN of them by way of KO. In MMA he's 23-7 with TWENTY TWO KOs. With Manhoef you're pretty much guaranteed a big KO. It's really a shame that there isn't a weightclass for him because he's an awesome fighter, and it's really unfair that he has to constantly fight guys that are so much bigger than him.

Highlight

One of my favorite Manhoef KOs here, Melvin Manhoef vs. Paul Slowinski

Melvin Manhoef vs. Ruslan Karaev , maybe this one is my favorite. I can't choose, they're all so great.

One last highlight. Can you tell i'm a huge fan?

Remy Bonjasky, nicknamed "The Flying Gentleman" for his flying knees and kicks. Also cause he helps old ladies across the street and holds doors open for people I guess. Bonjasky is a fantastic fighter, and a three time Grand Prix Champ.

If you can ignore the horrible music, here's a decent collection of his KOs. You can get a good idea where he gets his name from. The video is here.

Also, here's Remy Bonjasky vs. Vernon White. White isn't a great fighter by any means, but this sure is a sweet KO.

Anyways, I'm 2 fights in and this is takin forever so Im gonna post this and continue later. gonna post some youtube vids for my own benefit later

Badr Hari
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7nk44_k1-wgp-2008-final-badr-hari-vs-erro_sport
http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/rusa/video/x38o0y_k1-badr-hari-vs-ruslan-karaev-2007_extreme


Jerome le Banner
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io07WcVxR_k
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3gdzf_jerome-lebanner-vs-ernesto-hoost-19_extreme