K-1 WORLD GP 2008 IN TAIPEI, Sunday 13 July

[Martin H]

K-1 WORLD GP 2008 IN TAIPEI, Sunday 13 July
Winner of the tournament go on to the final elimination.

Tournament fights
Ruslan Karaev (Russia - kickboxing) vs Tatsufumi Tomihira (Japan - seidokaikan karate, ex shin-kyokushin )
Young Hyun Kim (Korea - Ssirum) vs Saiseelek Nor-Seepun (Thailand - Muay Thai)
Aleksandr Pichkunov (Russia - Kyokushin karate) vs Nobu Hayashi (Japan - kickboxing, but k-1 has him listed as karate??)
Qing Jun Zhang (China - sanda) vs Yong Soo Park (Korea - TKD)

Reserve fight
Makoto Uehara (Japan - shidokan) vs Song Bingnan (China - Sanda)

Superfights
Ray Sefo (New zealand - kickboxing) vs Zabit Samedov (Belarus - Thaiboxing, kickboxing)
Junichi Sawayashiki (Japan - shin karate) vs Catalin Morosanu (Rumania - Rugby?)
Remy Bonjasky (Holland - Dutch thaiboxing) vs Bazigit "Volk" Atajev (Russia - Sanda/MMA/Sambo)

Comments:
Looks like a decent event.
War Pitch!!
Nice to see a shidokan guy enter the tournament. I wish him good second place after Pitch (or maybe 3rd after Tomihira) :-)
Nice to see two Sanda guys enter the tournament.
Why allow Young Hyun Kim into a tournament?? There must be better Korean names to attract the Korean audience?
Nobu Hayashi comes from Japanese Chakuriki, but K-1 list his style as karate? OK, chakuriki started out as kyokushin, but that was long ago and in Holland. Anyway, it is Hayashi´s first k-1 fight in 3 years and he is 12-15-1 in k-1. Why give him i tournament slot now?

[Sonik]

I think Alexander can win this tournament. He's the favourite here.

As for Sefo, i think he can win this fight. Samedov is a good fighter but not as hard as Schilt or Hari.


Ps: Catalin is a Kickboxer. I've seen him in action against Kemayo. He may have been a rugby player before though.

[Martin]

Great fights indeed, but I wonder, anyone knows where Is Everton Texeira and Glaube Feitosa :S?

[Steffen]

Karaev is a dark horse,but I think his style of fighting is to wild to reach the finale. Haven`t seen Tomihira for a while..Pichkunov must be the favourite.
Sefo vs Samedov can be a crowd pleaser =O)
Remy Bonjasky vs Bazigit "Volk" Atajev. This fight I dont know what "Volk" can bring. He has a good MMA record but...
From Sherdog Fight Finder - Bazigit "Volk" Atajev's Mixed Martial Arts Statistics

[Steffen]

Originally Posted by Martin

Great fights indeed, but I wonder, anyone knows where Is Everton Texeira and Glaube Feitosa :S?

They will fight in K-1 WORLD GP 2008 in Fukuoka -Japan GP. June 29.
You can find it on the forum here: http://www.kyokushin4life.com/forums...june-29-a.html

[Martin H]

Originally Posted by Martin

Great fights indeed, but I wonder, anyone knows where Is Everton Texeira and Glaube Feitosa :S?

They are both fighting at K-1 Fukuoka, june 29. 2 weeks before the Taipei event july 13.
Teixeira in the tournament for a slot at the final elimination, and Glaube in a heavyweight title fight vs Badr Hari (Glaube already has a slot at the final elimination since he was in last years finals).

[Martin H]

there are a lot of unknown qualities in the tournament.
I have NO idea of the skill of the two chinese Sanda guys, or the thai thaiboxer.
They are wildcards. Noone, including the other fighters, will know how skilled they are or how they fight or what their weakness are.
Good fighter? Poor fighters? kickass "eats k-1 champions for breakfast" fighters? -We will see then and there.

[kyokushin4life]

It looks like k-1 is testing if Ray can really survive in the business right now. Can't wait for the glaube vs hari fight. Osu!

[alan]

Originally Posted by kyokushin4life

It looks like k-1 is testing if Ray can really survive in the business right now. Can't wait for the glaube vs hari fight. Osu!

I totaly agree!

[Martin]

Thank you very much for the information Steffen san and Martin H san!