A fairly lackluster year if you ask me… I feel bad, I feel conflicted. We get so little Muay Thai/Kickboxing I feel compelled to support it. Like most of you guys I don’t like the direction K-1 is going. I came across this article about a week ago. It asks why K-1 isn’t the biggest sport going? I think it’s safe to say, that anyone who watched these fights (experienced or noob) found them wholly unremarkable.
That being said, I think Badr vs Remy was pretty good. I’d love to see more fighters like them in K-1…
I don’t remember a final tournament that was as uneventful as this one. It doesn’t help that I’m not a fan of its champion either. I just don’t like him as a fighter; I find his fighting awkward and unrefined. It’s not a dig on Kyokushin at all; it’s more to do with his gargantuan size.
Did you see how happy he was that Aerts was injured? I would have thought a champion would have disappointed that he didn’t get to chance to battle it out.
I read in a post fight interview that Schilt is expressing interest in fighting Fedor. Give me an effing break…
I took a look at our official poll from way back when. From what I can tell Semmy was favored to win with 30% of the vote. From my records the only people who correctly predicted the outcome were:
Hannes
Krumuay
Reverend John
Stack
I’m including 2 more matches I forgot to upload.
Mighty Mo vs. Paul Slowinsky
[stage6 1936968]
Musashi vs. David Decrade
[stage6 1931590]
December 11, 2007 at 12:53 am
Fear not brother. Muay Thai is growing. It’s grass roots but the growth is there. K-1 is more for casual fans on the periphery internationally. Muay Thai delivers and always shall.
People like you and I are not the wild voices in the wilderness any longer. Fans that appreciate full rules and competitive fights will come and the others can watch K-1. Odd because of all the Muay Thai and kickboxing in Japan available K-1 imo is the worst of them.
December 11, 2007 at 4:17 am
I agree and disagree wtih Stack. I picked up MT back in May and have stuck with it out of sheer enjoyment and the awesome level of fitness it provides me. I have seen my gym gain a lot of new faces since then. The gym has had to move to a bigger facility. They also teach JKD and BJJ, and have fight teams for MMA and MT.
I think that MT may gain popularity as a fitness tool, but am not so sure that the marketing minds are in place yet for mass appeal. Fight Girls was a good start, but to me that was a bit boring, and I don’t like the drama – I just want to see fights. There are very, very few MT fights here in the Midwest.
K-1 is K-1, and that is that. K-1 is theater, and a big show. It is not MT, it is K-1 and that is what you have to keep in mind while watching. That Badr/Remy fight was clearly the best one and the one with the best techniques imho. I absolutely loved Hadr’s leg sweep in the beginning of the fight, executed perfectly. An MT move if I ever saw one.
Time will tell if MT will ever be mainstream or have popularity like UFC. I doubt it. On local levels though, I can see many more people getting into MT for fitness.
December 11, 2007 at 10:27 am
I hadn’t been following K1 much this year at all, so when I saw you had the videos uploaded, I was beyond excited. Too bad the final was so…blah! Remy and Badr definitely had the best fight, with the most energy too. The rest seemed to move around like they were in slow motion.
I miss the Ernesto Hoost days, hahah
December 11, 2007 at 11:45 am
I’m not too much into the K-1 HWs, but I agree that Remy pretty much had the more exciting fights. Aerts also, could have taken it, but damn his injury! I feel that he really could take that monster Schilt.
December 11, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Semmy Schilt makes me sick, he makes me hate tall people even more than Tim Sylvia and Choi Hong Man, but at least the latter two seem to desire atheltic competition and a challenge. Semmy was smiling from cheek to cheek after winning….i hope someone out there will break him next year.
December 11, 2007 at 3:18 pm
so many semmy haters. i’m not a huge fan of his but yall gotta admit he has mad skills for his size. compared to choi semmy looks like quite a technician in the ring. and btw. i think semmy does stand a chance against fedor. just check out their first fight.
December 11, 2007 at 10:36 pm
fedor already beat semmy
December 12, 2007 at 3:35 am
“yall gotta admit he has mad skills for his size.” Semmy has very few skills, that’s why nobody likes him. He’s advantage is only his size, if he was normal you would never heard of him.
Choi… I’m not even going there.
December 12, 2007 at 9:31 am
good to see musashi win one this year.
nice middle kick.
December 12, 2007 at 2:53 pm
If it wasn’t for Peter Aerts I wouldn’t bother watching the ‘big boys’ of K1. It’s a freak show. That being said, I think K1-Max is pretty good.
December 12, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I’m actually a little tired of Aerts’ and his knee shin guards too.
December 12, 2007 at 4:08 pm
i know fedor won but it wasn’t an easy fight for him.
December 12, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Heavyweight MT and K-1 has never interested me very much. With a few exceptions, they’re slow with sloppy technique. Having the giants in there is a joke to the sport.
However, that was a nice toe hack into the liver by Mushashi.