K-1 GP Arena 23 June 2007
Four out of four!!!!!
For one year Simon Rutz worked promoting the K-1 GP in Holland and did a good job. With now SBS6 broadcasting the show live and magazines as Veronica, Panorama, Actueel and many Dutch news papers giving the sport attention, K-1 is finally becoming popular in Holland.
After a busy month it was time for four other Golden Glory fighters to shine.
The Arena was nicely filled with about 20.000 spectators but not everything turned out the way it was expected.
Vincent Latoul of Golden Glory was the first fight of the night, with 16 mma fights with 9 wins he was fight Sahin Yakut Kaas (winner of the it’s Showtime trophy 2006).
It became a classic game between a ground fighter and kick boxer, were Vincent surprised Kaas with a nice straight overhand right in the beginning of the fight and dropped Kaas. In the ground game that followed Vincent applied ground and pound and completely dominated the first round. In round two again some take downs by Vincent and Kaas who just did not have a take down defence against the smart fighting Latou. Kaas had good defence techniques on the ground for a kick boxer but not enough to win the fight.
Winner by decision Vincent Latoul Golden Glory
The second fight that night for Golden Glory was Alistair Overeem Golden Glory against Michael ” The Hammer” Knaap.
Alistair is fighting heavyweight now and felt great at 100 kilo. He prepared in Breda his standing work sparring with Leko, Chalid, Zimmerman, Benji, Aziz and master trainer Cor hemmers and many more Golden Glory fighters, his ground work was trained as always by Martijn de Jong.
Knaap has a reputation of being a hard hitter (Knaap who knocked out Roman Zentsov in 2h 2h4 in Holland) and Alistair was warned.
The fights start with Overeem immediately landing some strong punches and a good kick. Then Alistair lands a huge right hand and Knaap is down, the fight continues on the ground were Alistair gets the site mount. The punch from Alistair caused a nasty gap in the face of Knaap and the fights become bloody. Alistair lands some hard punches on the ground to finally sub Knaap in round one.
Alistair Overeem showed why he is still considered the best MMA fighter from Holland, dominating this fight from the first second till the last. Alistair showing that he is ready to take on the big boys again.
Winner by Sub in round 1 Alistair Overeem Golden Glory
Then Gokhan Saki who comes after a 8 fight winning streak, knocking out his last four opponents by ko everybody was looking out for this fight against Murad Bourzidi from Team Aerts/ Kamakura.
In the Dutch MMA scene many speculation were rumoured in the martial arts magazines and gyms, Murad was the best new young talent and to good for Saki ……
Saki was ready he trained very hard and it was good he did, he was going to need this against Murad.
The fights start with both men landing strong combinations were Murad tries to take the center of the ring even nicely connecting with a jumping flying knee, A pretty even round with maybe light advantage for Murad.
The second round we can see Saki putting up the pressure and taking the lead, with nice combinations, uppercuts and high kicks. Saki is more aggressive and takes the round.
In round three pretty much the same as round two, Saki is landing good low kicks and a spinning back kick then followed again with a nice high kick. The tempo is very high and Murad has the fight backwards. Great fight from both young fighters were Saki wins the decision.
Winner by decision Gokhan Saki Golden Glory
Before the main event the return of the Beast against Dutch Lumberjack Peter Aerts
Sapp who was supposed to fight Hoost in the 2006 Arena event he left 30 minutes before the fight and was now back in that same arena after a year being in a dispute with K-1.
All problems were solved and he actually appeared in the ring this night. It has to be described as appeared as after a take down defence and receiving one knee Sapp was down and stayed there.
The audience went mad and Sapp got a taste of Dutch junk food and fruits which was thrown by many of the spectators who were ring site. When Sapp left the ring he even got big plates of salad’s thrown at him covering his back with Dutch food listening to angry visitors who paid top dollar to see the spectacle.
It was Peter who grabbed the microphone and calmed the Arena.
No winner here, not K-1, not promoter Rutz and disappointed Aerts, angry crowd and a richer Beast Sapp (at least he knows now that running away does not pay the bills).
The main event is the fight between Might Mo and reigning title holder Semmy Schilt from Golden Glory
Mighty Mo knocked out 8 of his last opponents many in the first round, ko victory in round 1 in Las Vegas over the white Buffalo, ko’d Hong Men Choi in round 1 in Japan, won the K-1 Hawaii GP with three ko’s, debuted in MMA in Korea by winning by ko and fought in LA were he knocked out another Korean opponent in round 1.
Semmy was warned Might Mo is a hard hitter – a super hard hitter, with one weapon a huge over hand right knocking out everything in its path.
Semmy was prepared and did not have any plans to give his title in his home town to ko specialist Mighty Mo, the assignment was quiet simple, stay away from that right hand and make a lot of kicks.
Schilt started the fight where Mo produced one of his only attacks in the entire fight actually landing a left hook. After that attack from Might Mo it became a one dimensional fight, were Schilt completely dominated the whole fight. Hard low kicks with high kicks and front kicks were painfully received by Mo.
In round two Semmy even lands a spinning back kick at the end of the fight and Mighty Mo is saved by the Bell as a painfully big foot left an in print of Semmy Schilt’s foot on the Samoan body of Mo.
Round three is survival for Mighty Mo who gets a warning for stalling, twice Mighty was in serious problems but Semmy did not finish the fight as he listened to the assignment of his corner not to take any risk at the end of the fight.
Winner and remaining heavyweight Title holder of K-1 Semmy Schilt Golden Glory
A great night for Golden Glory winning all four fights. Simon Rutz promoted the event the right way but the tournament was filled with unknown names for the Dutch fighting fans and did not bring the excitement the audience hoped for. Next time Aswhin Balrak and Errol Zimmerman in the tournament and Saki and for sure success is guaranteed. Why Amada in the tournament? Amada who five weeks ago was defeated by Saki who almost amputated his legs by low kicks in his fight with Amada on March 4th 2007 in Yokohama Japan. Anyway congrats to Paul Slowinsky winning the tournament and SBS6 for broadcasting the fights live in Holland.
Now it is time to leave to Japan where Nicky Holtzken Golden Glory – is going to fight against two time K-1 max winner Bukaw. It’s just another day at the office
Story by Bas Boon and Lindsay Muro photo’s by Bas Boon (C) and Ben Pontier
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