K-1 Max: Fights, KOs, New Champions and Cute Girls
Stephen Martinez Mar 8, 2005
TOKYO, Feb. 23 – Wednesday. Late afternoon. Another cold day in
beautiful Tokyo and I found myself trying to get on my way to the
amazing Ariake coliseum to catch the first K-1 MAX show of the
year.
To my surprise it was around 5:00 p.m., with almost an hour until the first fight started, and I was telling myself, “better hurry up,” so I can get a nice spot to check the show. But in this particular situation I got caught in the craziness of the Japanese rail system—or as the locals like to call it, “JR.”
Finally, after spending valuable time riding in circles and
doubling back to the same station, it was time to use plan B. Or in
other words throw away the useless map I made at home and start
using my best “I’m lost in Japan” Face to the station employees,
who finally felt sorry enough for this baka gaijin to let me know
the right way to get to Kokusai Tenjijo station, home of Ariake
Coliseum.
I was expecting Ariake to be half empty since this show was in the middle of the Japanese working week and local Japan TV station TBS was going to air this show at 9:00 p.m. to thousands and thousands of hard workers coming back home. But to my surprise the Coliseum was already full with over 10,000 screaming fans, waiting for the beginning of the Japanese tournament.
My Sherdog.com partner Masa Fukui and I noticed that among the 10,000 fans it seemed like more than 9,000 were young and attractive Japanese girls roaming around between the hall and seats.
For a while it was hard to concentrate on the first bout of the Japanese tournament between Takayuki Kohiruimaki and Yasushiro Kazuya with so many cute girls walking around, but at Sherdog we know the fans are more important than hundreds of girls walking around. So we cleared our minds and started to pay attention to Kohi and Kazuya, who went head to head for four rounds.
Kohi, as he’s know in K-1 and fan circles, was clearly the favorite here, but Kazuya came determined to derail the bandwagon with low and front kicks to keep the former K-1 MAX champion at bay. Kohi did his part, coming from behind with counter punches and knees to lead the fight after thee rounds into a judge draw.
At this point the crowd started to get behind Kazuya and somehow the booing against Kohi started to get louder and louder. The extra round was close with Kazuya looking a little bit ahead thanks to flashy moves, including two spinning kick attempts. But only the last one connected clean over Kohi’s face to close the round.
The judges awarded a split decision and the crowd awarded Kohi a big booing on his way to the second round.
The second fight of the night brought us a lackluster bout between Musashi’s little brother, Tomo, against Muay Thai specialist Kojiro, who took the unanimous decision after three full rounds with little effort to finish the fight. More than likely, it was his strategy to avoid risking too much since Kohi was waiting in the second round.
Next fight was one I was looking forward to see, but sadly I got disappointed like everyone else on the room because K-1 MAX bad boy Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto was scheduled to fight former Rajadamnern Stadium welterweight champion and crowd favorite Kozo Takeda. But Kid suffered a shoulder injury days before the event and K-1 quickly found a substitute in former Olympic wrestler turned MMA junkie Kazuyuki Miyata.
K-1 played fortuneteller when they showed clips from Takeda fights and gym training session knocking down opponents like trees with low lethal kicks. The video also showed a little cut over Takeda shin, more likely from previous sparring or making that hole over the kicking bag as everyone saw on the video.
Miyata is very athletic and somehow unpredictable fighter coming forward with flying knees and spinning kicks. But Takeda remained stone cold trough two rounds, only watching and studying his opponent like a shark does before attack.
Miyata continued with flashy moves but could not mount any effective offense as he was eating Takeda lethal low kicks without the ability to block. After two rounds of watching and waiting the “shark” Takeda decided to finish Miyata debut in K-1 MAX with two devastating low kicks to send Miyata crouching in pain to the canvas.
Next bout in the tournament matched former pro-wrestler and the smallest fighter in the K-1 roster, Takehiro Murahama, against the U.F.K. super welterweight champion Hayato. Murahama worked hard trough three rounds to highlight the end with a high kick to send Hayato down and hard. Hayato barely beat the 10-count from the official but after his leg start dancing the twist the referee stopped the bout.
The first bout of the semi-finals between Kohiruimaki and Kojiro ended in good fashion with Kojiro taking the early lead following several left straights to take advantage in the first round. Kojiro kept the aggressive strategy but Kohi changed the waves with a left hook to send Kojiro down stunned. After the stand up Kohi followed with a right punch to get the TKO and the finals pass.
What was destined to be another great bout between Takeda and Murahama turned into an injury nightmare as the cameras and big screen in Ariake showed a fully covered Takeda in the locker room with the old gash on his shin open and bleeding. This forced Takeda out and left Murahama without opponent for a few seconds.
But like in any K-1 tournament there is always a reserve match and the popular Akeomi Nitta, who previously knocked out ASH-RA in the opening bout, got a free ticket to the semi-final.
Nitta didn’t play crazy with this opportunity and switched his strategy to a semi-boring low- and body-kick strategy to earn the unanimous decision and a great chance to get the title in the finals against Kohi.
Before jump to the finals, K-1 gave the fans two fights under K-1 rules and one match under MMA rules. The first super fights of the night saw French Muay Thai sensation Farid Villaume taking in another Muay Thai specialist Kinami from Japan.
Both fighters were making K-1 debuts but both have tons of experience from the Muay Thai circuit, especially Villaume, who was a finalist in the King’s Birthday Cup 2003 in Bangkok.
Villaume got an early lead by throwing punches, but Kinami got a knockdown on the second round with a high left kick. This didn’t impress the judges and the fight went to extra round. From here Villaune worked his way to the unanimous decision with punches and knees that left Kinami’s face looking like he was in a fight with 10 kickboxers at the same time.
SHOOTO and UFC veteran turned kickboxing hunter Caol Uno fought a very one-sided match against flamboyant Turkish fighter Serkan Yilmaz, who more likely forgot to read the rules before the match because he didn’t display a single clue about ground fighting. Uno quickly worked his way into transition from takedown to side-mount to armbar to get the win.
Now taking a break until the next super fight and talking with Masa while checking the pictures, worried that he was paying more attention to the girls instead of the fights, we began to wonder if Uno was doing the right thing fighting kickboxers with zero ground knowledge in K-1 instead of face top opposition like he is supposed to do.
But we didn’t have the time to answer our question as the music started to pound from the speakers and lights flashed along with fireworks, announcing the entrance of top Dutch fighter Albert Kraus, who was facing the current K-1 MAX champion Buakaw Por Pramuk from Thailand.
Around this time the females started to get crazy and camera flashes start to blink all over the place as Kraus walked to the ring dressed in full armor. He was followed by hip-hop music with Thai remixes as a very focused Por Pramuk danced to the ring.
This match was like a chess game with both fighters showing respect to each other but also trying to score with the judges. Por Pramuk was leading the offense early with a good mix between low and high kicks followed with knees. Kraus was very smart not to rush inside the Thai champion’s zone and blocked from outside with his guard up while stepping in to connect punches. Kraus’ tactics to avoid Por Pramuk’s main weapons flourished went he scored a knockdown with a right hook.
Por Pramuk came back strong in the final round to score and keep Kraus out with rapid-fire kicks. The Dutch fighter had no other solution but to defend and throw some left punches.
The fight went to the judge decision and it was ruled a draw after three round. The final and decisive overtime round started with Por Pramuk throwing kicks to Kraus’ mid-section. Kraus, on the other side, countered Por Pramuk’s offensive with a right punch that scored with the judges.
The fight went once again to a judge’s decision. At this point the over-excited crowd was dead silent and focused on the announcer. As the first judge give the fight to Kraus and the second followed with the round to Por Pramuk the Coliseum atmosphere started to feel heavy for few seconds until the last judge give the nod to Kraus, taking the big win of the night and proving that the Thai machine is not invincible.
Finally the last bout of the night to determinate which fighter would earn a pass to the K-1 MAX World Finals was here. The crowd heavily cheered for the underdog Nitta, who came all the way from reserve to face K-1 MAX top fighter Kohi for the title, 6 million yen and a ticket to represent Japan in the World tournament.
Sadly Nitta’s overwhelming support and underdog appeal from the crowd came short—or more precisely lasted 0:36 of the first round—as Nitta`s chin met Kohi’s frontal kick that left the reserve fighter knocked out while Kohi was celebrating another K-1 MAX Japan title.
To my surprise it was around 5:00 p.m., with almost an hour until the first fight started, and I was telling myself, “better hurry up,” so I can get a nice spot to check the show. But in this particular situation I got caught in the craziness of the Japanese rail system—or as the locals like to call it, “JR.”
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I was expecting Ariake to be half empty since this show was in the middle of the Japanese working week and local Japan TV station TBS was going to air this show at 9:00 p.m. to thousands and thousands of hard workers coming back home. But to my surprise the Coliseum was already full with over 10,000 screaming fans, waiting for the beginning of the Japanese tournament.
A couple of things that struck me are the power draw of big
promotions like K-1 or PRIDE to sell their shows to full capacity,
and the kind of crowd they seem to bring from all over to sit and
watch a fight card.
My Sherdog.com partner Masa Fukui and I noticed that among the 10,000 fans it seemed like more than 9,000 were young and attractive Japanese girls roaming around between the hall and seats.
For a while it was hard to concentrate on the first bout of the Japanese tournament between Takayuki Kohiruimaki and Yasushiro Kazuya with so many cute girls walking around, but at Sherdog we know the fans are more important than hundreds of girls walking around. So we cleared our minds and started to pay attention to Kohi and Kazuya, who went head to head for four rounds.
Kohi, as he’s know in K-1 and fan circles, was clearly the favorite here, but Kazuya came determined to derail the bandwagon with low and front kicks to keep the former K-1 MAX champion at bay. Kohi did his part, coming from behind with counter punches and knees to lead the fight after thee rounds into a judge draw.
At this point the crowd started to get behind Kazuya and somehow the booing against Kohi started to get louder and louder. The extra round was close with Kazuya looking a little bit ahead thanks to flashy moves, including two spinning kick attempts. But only the last one connected clean over Kohi’s face to close the round.
The judges awarded a split decision and the crowd awarded Kohi a big booing on his way to the second round.
The second fight of the night brought us a lackluster bout between Musashi’s little brother, Tomo, against Muay Thai specialist Kojiro, who took the unanimous decision after three full rounds with little effort to finish the fight. More than likely, it was his strategy to avoid risking too much since Kohi was waiting in the second round.
Next fight was one I was looking forward to see, but sadly I got disappointed like everyone else on the room because K-1 MAX bad boy Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto was scheduled to fight former Rajadamnern Stadium welterweight champion and crowd favorite Kozo Takeda. But Kid suffered a shoulder injury days before the event and K-1 quickly found a substitute in former Olympic wrestler turned MMA junkie Kazuyuki Miyata.
K-1 played fortuneteller when they showed clips from Takeda fights and gym training session knocking down opponents like trees with low lethal kicks. The video also showed a little cut over Takeda shin, more likely from previous sparring or making that hole over the kicking bag as everyone saw on the video.
Miyata is very athletic and somehow unpredictable fighter coming forward with flying knees and spinning kicks. But Takeda remained stone cold trough two rounds, only watching and studying his opponent like a shark does before attack.
Miyata continued with flashy moves but could not mount any effective offense as he was eating Takeda lethal low kicks without the ability to block. After two rounds of watching and waiting the “shark” Takeda decided to finish Miyata debut in K-1 MAX with two devastating low kicks to send Miyata crouching in pain to the canvas.
Next bout in the tournament matched former pro-wrestler and the smallest fighter in the K-1 roster, Takehiro Murahama, against the U.F.K. super welterweight champion Hayato. Murahama worked hard trough three rounds to highlight the end with a high kick to send Hayato down and hard. Hayato barely beat the 10-count from the official but after his leg start dancing the twist the referee stopped the bout.
The first bout of the semi-finals between Kohiruimaki and Kojiro ended in good fashion with Kojiro taking the early lead following several left straights to take advantage in the first round. Kojiro kept the aggressive strategy but Kohi changed the waves with a left hook to send Kojiro down stunned. After the stand up Kohi followed with a right punch to get the TKO and the finals pass.
What was destined to be another great bout between Takeda and Murahama turned into an injury nightmare as the cameras and big screen in Ariake showed a fully covered Takeda in the locker room with the old gash on his shin open and bleeding. This forced Takeda out and left Murahama without opponent for a few seconds.
But like in any K-1 tournament there is always a reserve match and the popular Akeomi Nitta, who previously knocked out ASH-RA in the opening bout, got a free ticket to the semi-final.
Nitta didn’t play crazy with this opportunity and switched his strategy to a semi-boring low- and body-kick strategy to earn the unanimous decision and a great chance to get the title in the finals against Kohi.
Before jump to the finals, K-1 gave the fans two fights under K-1 rules and one match under MMA rules. The first super fights of the night saw French Muay Thai sensation Farid Villaume taking in another Muay Thai specialist Kinami from Japan.
Both fighters were making K-1 debuts but both have tons of experience from the Muay Thai circuit, especially Villaume, who was a finalist in the King’s Birthday Cup 2003 in Bangkok.
Villaume got an early lead by throwing punches, but Kinami got a knockdown on the second round with a high left kick. This didn’t impress the judges and the fight went to extra round. From here Villaune worked his way to the unanimous decision with punches and knees that left Kinami’s face looking like he was in a fight with 10 kickboxers at the same time.
SHOOTO and UFC veteran turned kickboxing hunter Caol Uno fought a very one-sided match against flamboyant Turkish fighter Serkan Yilmaz, who more likely forgot to read the rules before the match because he didn’t display a single clue about ground fighting. Uno quickly worked his way into transition from takedown to side-mount to armbar to get the win.
Now taking a break until the next super fight and talking with Masa while checking the pictures, worried that he was paying more attention to the girls instead of the fights, we began to wonder if Uno was doing the right thing fighting kickboxers with zero ground knowledge in K-1 instead of face top opposition like he is supposed to do.
But we didn’t have the time to answer our question as the music started to pound from the speakers and lights flashed along with fireworks, announcing the entrance of top Dutch fighter Albert Kraus, who was facing the current K-1 MAX champion Buakaw Por Pramuk from Thailand.
Around this time the females started to get crazy and camera flashes start to blink all over the place as Kraus walked to the ring dressed in full armor. He was followed by hip-hop music with Thai remixes as a very focused Por Pramuk danced to the ring.
This match was like a chess game with both fighters showing respect to each other but also trying to score with the judges. Por Pramuk was leading the offense early with a good mix between low and high kicks followed with knees. Kraus was very smart not to rush inside the Thai champion’s zone and blocked from outside with his guard up while stepping in to connect punches. Kraus’ tactics to avoid Por Pramuk’s main weapons flourished went he scored a knockdown with a right hook.
Por Pramuk came back strong in the final round to score and keep Kraus out with rapid-fire kicks. The Dutch fighter had no other solution but to defend and throw some left punches.
The fight went to the judge decision and it was ruled a draw after three round. The final and decisive overtime round started with Por Pramuk throwing kicks to Kraus’ mid-section. Kraus, on the other side, countered Por Pramuk’s offensive with a right punch that scored with the judges.
The fight went once again to a judge’s decision. At this point the over-excited crowd was dead silent and focused on the announcer. As the first judge give the fight to Kraus and the second followed with the round to Por Pramuk the Coliseum atmosphere started to feel heavy for few seconds until the last judge give the nod to Kraus, taking the big win of the night and proving that the Thai machine is not invincible.
Finally the last bout of the night to determinate which fighter would earn a pass to the K-1 MAX World Finals was here. The crowd heavily cheered for the underdog Nitta, who came all the way from reserve to face K-1 MAX top fighter Kohi for the title, 6 million yen and a ticket to represent Japan in the World tournament.
Sadly Nitta’s overwhelming support and underdog appeal from the crowd came short—or more precisely lasted 0:36 of the first round—as Nitta`s chin met Kohi’s frontal kick that left the reserve fighter knocked out while Kohi was celebrating another K-1 MAX Japan title.
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