Bas Boon of Golden Glory on Overeem, Fedor, K-1, M-1 and More!

Fedor with Bas Boon (C) Golden Glory

I had a chance to talk with one of Golden Glory’s fearless leaders, Bas Boon recently. Bas is a guy who has been around in the fight industry and managed some of the big names. Currently Golden Glory is on a roll and looks forward to an anniversary show as well as the K-1 World Grand Prix where Ruslan Karaev, Errol Zimmerman, Alistair Overeem and Semmy Schilt will compete.

There is some juicy stuff pertaining to Boon and Golden Glory’s former relations with M-1 Global figureheads Vadim Finkelstein and Apy Echteld. Some of it just sounds outlandish, but can be pieced together. If anything, this interview adds more texture to some of the tales of M-1 Global that have been circulating, although Bas says he would not prevent his fighters from working with them in the future.

K-1 LEGEND: You guys have been doing a great job and the success of Golden Glory shows that, as you’ve become one of the top, if not top, camp around for kickboxing, completely dominating the K-1 scene and making a serious impression the world of MMA. The K-1 World Grand Prix this year is half Golden Glory, what are you attributing this success to?

Bas Boon: The success comes from a great team spirit and the same management and trainers for ten years now, we will celebrate this anniversary with a huge event – Glory 12 on the 17th of October in Amsterdam (http://www.unitedglory.nl/). We went through a lot of difficulties this year, injuries, changing the location of Golden Glory Breda gym. We had to work really hard to get everything in place again. The team spirit in Korea was the best I have seen in my ten years with Golden Glory, we couldn’t loose!

Bas Boon: Gokhan Saki Will Be in a Reserve Fight Dec. 5

I recently spoke at length with Bas Boon on all things Golden Glory, from their K-1 domination to their involvement in MMA. The full interview will be up soon (and trust me, you do not want to miss some of it), but in the meantime I thought I’d share some information on Gokhan Saki. There has been talk in the past few months of Saki “squandering” his potential and that he simply couldn’t live up to his hype. The tough loss to KYOTARO put doubt in people’s minds, then his injury and loss in Korea made people just assume that he was “done.” Saki lost his spot in the Final 16 due to injury, but will be back in action on December 5th as he’ll fight in a reserve fight. This puts an astonishing 5 Golden Glory competitors in the possible mix for the K-1 World Grand Prix!

It’ll be great to see Saki back in action, hopefully completely healed up from his injury. Saki has always been one of the most promising younger stars, and with fighters like Zimmerman and Teixeira having issues at this point, comparatively speaking, Saki still looks strong. No further word on the Reserve fight, but who wouldn’t love a Daniel Ghita vs. Gokhan Saki all out war?

UPDATE: Dutch press is reporting that Saki’s opponent will be Peter Aerts. This should come as no surprise since K-1 would love to keep Aerts’ streak of participating in every GP alive. Now, Aerts finds himself in the same spot he did 3 years ago, where a reserve win and an injury in the main draw will put him right back in contention.

Catalin Morosanu Confirms He is an Idiot

Look, I don’t like to be overly rough on fighters, especially younger fighters without a lot of experience, but Morsanu’s claim of ignorance at the 10-second warning is pathetic. Anybody who has followed combat sports knows there is a ten-second warning, then the bell to end the round, as well as the ref will be the one to stop the round. Morosanu stopped and Kin tagged him, not the most sportsmanlike thing to do, sure, but after getting slaughtered by leg kicks, I’m sure Kin was frustrated. It was legal as the fight was still ongoing. Morosanu admits in the press conference after the show that he was pissed, so he tagged Kin to teach him a lesson. If Badr Hari was stripped of his title and purse last year, what will this mean for the youngster Morsanu?

K-1 Final 16 Videos

First up, Overeem/Aerts

For those looking for High Quality vids, Fight Hym has them all up.

K-1 Final 16 Results!

So I set my alarm and actually ended up throwing my phone across the room. After waking up, piecing my phone back together, we are here with K-1 Final 16 results! These broadcasts tend to be a bit lengthy, so only 3 fights have been missed so far.

UPDATE: Filling in PBP for the fights I missed.

K-1 LEGEND Previews the Final 16

Fraser Coffeen and Dave Walsh take a look at Saturday’s big upcoming K-1 card in Korea, breaking down each fight and making predictions.

Final 16 – 3R Ext. 2R Badr Hari vs. Zabit Samedov

FC: Samedov is an underrated fighter, but this is a gimme for Hari. Zabit likes to sit back and win a points game, but against the bigger, stronger, more aggressive Hari, he won’t get that option. Look for Hari to make a statement here. HARI, KO
DW: This card is really stacked, and then there is this fight. While there is nothing wrong with Samedov, against Badr Hari I don’t see him doing any real damage. HARI, Crazy KO

Final 16 – 3R Ext. 2R Ruslan Karaev vs. KYOTARO

FC: Speaking of underrated, here are two greatly overlooked fighters.  KYOTARO is not the fluke champion that some have claimed, but this is a tough test for him, as he has not yet faced a fighter that puts together size and power the way Karaev does.  While KYOTARO’s counter punching may meet Karaev’s suspect chin to earn the win, I suspect this is where KYOTARO’s small size catches up to him.  KARAEV, KO
DW: Ruslan is a great, underrated fighter, but this is where KYOTARO proves himself. I can see him reverting to the “Old Kyotaro” and counterstriking and keeping the fight technical and outpointing Karaev. KYOTARO, DEC

Overeem: Death to All (Bikes First)

Alistair Overeem vs. Peter Aerts gets a different kind of hype, as Alistair Overeem proclaims that all will die. While Overeem uses a giant mallet to destroy bikes, Peter Aerts takes a more traditional approach to training for their upcoming bout. I’ll say this, Overeem knows how to sell a fight.

HDNet Fight Week Schedule

This is a big week for Japanese shows that will air live on HDNet. Unlike over the summer where shows would air on tape delay of upwards of a week, HDNet will present the next installment of World Victory Road SENGOKU as well as K-1 WORLD GRAND Prix in Seoul live as they unfold.

 

LIVE! Wed. Sep. 23

3:00 AM ET

HDNet Fights Presents World Victory Road: Sengoku 10 HDNet Fights returns to Saitama, Japan for Sengoku 10 as heavyweight Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva takes on “Big” Jim York and Nick Thompson battles Dan Hornbuckle in a welterweight bout.

LIVE! Sat. Sep. 26

3:30 AM ET

HDNet Fights Presents FieLDS K-1 World GP 2009 Final 16 K-1’s most distinguished title is on the line as fighters from around the world begin their road to World Grand Prix Championship. Fighters include Badr Hari, Peter Aerts, Alistair Overeem, Remy Bonjasky and Jerome LeBanner.

K-1’s FINAL 16 Website

We are just five short days away from the next installment of the 2009 K-1 World Grand Prix, so it is time to get pumped. K-1 has launched a special website in a plethora of languages for fans with links to videos, giant wallpapers and more in depth bios on each fighter including a videogame-esque chart showing statistically each fighter’s strengths and weaknesses.

Check it out here.

Come Home, Mirko

There are times as a professional fight fan where you get frustrated, very frustrated with a talented fighter. Right now I’m thinking about last night and Mirko Cro Cop. As everybody should already know, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic was defeated by the less-than-stellar Junior Dos Santos in UFC last night after a tight clinch and a few knees to the face and Cro Cop told the referee he was having trouble with his vision. The ref absolutely made the right call, and it was heartbreaking to those that have been following Mirko’s career since his K-1 days.

Mirko made the switch from K-1 to PRIDE because there was more money and prestige involved with MMA at the time. The media was focused on MMA during the golden days of Kazushi Sakuraba and K-1 was in their dark days where Bob Sapp and the like were becoming the norm and the Grand Prix wasn’t what it used to be.

In K-1 he would never realize his full potential and win the grandest tournament in combat sports; the K-1 World Grand Prix. But in PRIDE he was brought in as the dangerous striker with a deadly high kick and saw immediate and overwhelming success. That all changed when PRIDE was bought by the UFC and he made his UFC debut. Something seemed different. There was talk of performance enhancers and drug testing in the United States hampering former PRIDE fighters as well as talk of drive and desire. A big part of the difference between Japan and the United States is the style. In Japan putting on a show for the fans is always in the back of a fighter’s mind, and there is less emphasis on what seems traditional here in the United States such as boxing and wrestling. That, of course, and fighting inside of a cage as opposed to a 4-cornered ring. It sounds superficial, but talk to fighters with experience in both and you’ll hear how your strategy is completely different in a cage than in a ring.

As seen in a recent fanpoll, K-1 fans still fondly remember Mirko and would love to see him once again in the K-1 World Grand Prix, and with some of his last kickboxing performances being wins over Peter Aerts, Mark Hunt and Remy Bonjasky, it is safe to say he’d immediately find his place in K-1 of today.