Monday 12 November 2012

UFC 154: Grit and the Expectations of a Fighter





In the aftermath of UFC 143, fans of the sport of mixed martial arts were left disappointed with the performance of Carlos Condit, a fighter nicknamed the Natural Born Killer. The fight had been against Nick Diaz for the promotions Welterweight title, albeit the interim version, following a serious injury to the champion Georges St-Pierre. While many voiced the opinion that it was Diaz who won the fight, it was Condit who clearly out struck and out manoeuvred his predictable opponent to take a clearly earn a decision on the judges scorecards.

Condit had been the underdog going into the fight, and in winning he had upset not just the odds against him but a chance of a ‘super fight’ between Diaz and St-Pierre. Many were quick to criticise Condit’s approach to the fight, saying he ‘ran’ from Diaz during many of the exchanges. Condit had fought a smart fight but not a fight that was deemed courageous or dignified.

Many past fighters had been drawn into Diaz’s brawling style and relentless cardio, all to be eventually overwhelmed. Condit’s tactic to stick and move has long been a staple of boxing and in fact follows the legendary trainer Cus D’amato’s adage, ‘‘you’ve got to be clever, you’ve got to be smart and not get hit, and when your able to do this you’re a fighter’’. Yet Condit wasn’t deemed a fighter, quickly being given the name ‘The Natural Born Runner’.

Carlos Condit is no coward. The same man who survived repeated overhand rights from power punching brute Jake Ellenberger, rebounding from the verge of unconsciousness to win a close decision. The same man who flew to England to take on Dan Hardy in what would be a pure kickboxing match, winning by first round knockout when Hardy’s last opponent, champion St-Pierre, had done everything in his power to keep him on the floor. The same man who came back from two rounds down on the scorecards to destroy the ridiculously talented Rory Macdonald cant be classed as a coward. In fact out of 33 professional fights this was only the 4th time Condit had gone to a decision. Condit has repeatedly shown grit and tenacity in fights where many others would have wilted under the pressure. Yet people were quick to overlook this and criticise Condit the same way many criticise the champion St-Pierre, for playing it safe.

Georges St-Pierre was 13-1 when he won the UFC Welterweight title from Matt Hughes, winning by technical knockout after landing a head kick. He was an ideal champion for the UFC at the time, he was dynamic, good looking, finished fights and even pulled off being French to a certain degree. His first title fight would be a squash match against a natural lightweight in Matt Serra, who had been awarded his title shot after winning a series of the Ultimate Fighter, where lower and mid-tier fighters were given a ‘Rocky-like’ chance at glory should they win the season. Matt Serra wasn’t really expected to win, not against the mighty St-Pierre, yet sure enough and given the unpredictability of kickboxing (read the other blog entries for further details) Serra managed to repeatedly rock GSP  with power shots leading to a shocking first round upset win.

This loss would have a devastating effect on that incarnation of Georges St-Pierre, from that day he would never be the same fighter. This isn’t to say he faded away into shadows to Marlon Brando himself toward obesity. St-Pierre would prove his class, as he would come back from this defeat better than ever. How was he able to manage this? From the realisation that kickboxing only ever provides a 90% chance of winning, you will always be open to a knockout blow if you stand and trade with your opponents long enough. GSP was always a well rounded fighter, but now he was to change his entire approach towards fighting to that of a pure grappler. Developing a devastating takedown game, St-Pierre could minimise the chances of being knocked out and instead use his natural athleticism and expert submission defence to stay out of trouble on the floor.

GSP would win his next two fights to gain the opportunity to fight for ‘his’ Welterweight title in a rematch against Matt Serra, who had tellingly not fought since defeating St-Pierre a year before. This time GSP would use his grappling to neutralise the chance of a repeat occurrence and destroyed Serra in less than two rounds. St-Pierre would go on to defend his title six times to this date.

However as Georges St-Pierre grew in popularity, becoming one of the UFC’s biggest pay-per-view stars, there was also growing criticism for his cautious fighting style. Winning one-sided decisions against fighters like Dan Hardy, Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch and Jake Shields showed St-Pierre’s dominance at the top of the division. Yet all these opponents have been knocked out in one round by lesser opposition, some in there very next fight after taking on GSP.

There isn’t a critic in the world that’s doubts St-Pierre’s talents as fighter, the criticism towards him is more focused on the fact GSP doesn’t seem to ‘try’ to win fights by finishing his opponents, always seeming content to coast to a decision. People feel that St-Pierre fights ‘too pretty’, that he avoids the need to display the grit that is synonymous with great champions and legendary fights. This is similar to how many fans felt hoodwinked by the game plan of Condit against Diaz, a fight which on paper seemed to be and back and forth barnburner, with Condit’s own pre-fight admission ‘It’s gonna be a dog-fight’ played during the pay-per-view advertisements.

An interesting question is, are either of these men wrong to have fought this way? The answer is of course ‘no’. Condit was not the favourite against Diaz for a reason, had the fight of occurred like many believed it was going to he would have put up a good show, maybe had some early success, but inevitably the chances are he would have been overwhelmed by Diaz. Could he have knocked out Diaz if had he planted his feet and traded from the start, possibly, but even feared knockout artist Paul Daley had Diaz down twice with his best punch, the left hook, only for Diaz to recover and finish him in very first round.

Similarly, St-Pierre was considered a laughing stock following his surprise defeat to Matt Serra, and now he is a huge star in his home country of Canada and has millions in the bank. Likewise Carlos Condit can now command a lot bigger pay checks having been UFC interim champion regardless of how his fight with GSP goes down, although St-Pierre probably wrestles his way to a decision should his knee be fully rehabilitated.

Another fighter who can no doubt make a similar claim to Condit as possessing, or even adding ‘grit’ to his fighting style is Martin Kampmann. The Dane finds himself one fight removed from a possible title shot should he beat Johnny Hendricks in the co-main event of UFC 154. Through out his 15 fight UFC career Kampmann has seen many ups and downs, originally experiencing success as a middleweight until he was blown out the frame by Nate Marquardt at UFC 87. Kampmann had previously shown the ability to take punishment and come back to win in his fight against Drew McFedries, where he was repeatedly rocked on the feet before securing a takedown and then an arm triangle choke. However in the fight with Marquardt he was badly rocked with a head kick and the finished by TKO against the cage, despite having a knock out loss on his record Kampmann had never lost consciousness.


He would drop to welterweight and successfully spoil Carlos Condit’s UFC debut by split decision. He would then by stopped in his next fight by hard hitting Brit Paul Daley and be once again be shuffled back into the division and under card obscurity. Once again one thing that stands out in both Kampmann’s knock out losses was at no stage was he knocked out cold, taking hard blows that would normally flatten most fighters. However it’s the ability to comeback from these moments that make the characteristics of true champion and Kampmann was yet to show the steel needed to fight back from the bring of defeat.

After going 2-2 in his next four fights, including being robbed of a decision against a more determined but less skilled Diego Sanchez, Kampmann would find himself taking on rugged wrestler Rick Story.
The fight began similar to how many of Kampmann’s previous fights had started, with him getting clobbered with hard hooks to the face, and within a minute of action he was bleeding from a cut above his eye. Yet this proved a minor insignificance to the Dane, who would recover to expertly control the rest of the fight to get a decision victory.

His next fight would be against Brazilian kickboxer, in what would be a closely fought contest Kampmann would find himself losing heading into the last minute of the fight. A poor decision by Alves to take the fight to the floor would see the Dane, always as confident in submission as he was on the feet, secure a guillotine choke for a submission victory.

Kampmann would then be given a chance to solidify his position in the welterweight division against heavy handed wrestler Jake Ellenberger. Surely this would be another stumbling block for Kampmann, while he began his career as a kickboxer he had always lacked the power to be a serous threat on the feet which had left him looking a bit like a sitting duck in fights against big punchers. Ellenberger contains brutal power in both hands and given his wrestling base making him hard to take down it was obvious that at some point he would connect a big punch, then it would become a question of whether Kampmann’s chin would hold up.

Sure enough, 50 seconds into the fight Ellenberger landed a huge left hook which dropped Kampmann to floor. However this time the Dane wouldn’t be overwhelmed and expertly held out the rest of the round controlling Ellenberger in his guard. The second round would begin like the first with Ellenberger throwing hard shots on the feet, however Kampmann had already survived the worst his opponent had to offer. Given Ellenberger hook-centric attack, Kampmann was able to time a counter right hand which clipped Ellenberger and put him on wobbly legs. Kampmann, who had been losing the fight up to this point, pounced expertly with a flurry of knees in the clinch dropping his opponent to the ground for the referee stoppage. Kampmann would finish the fight with his face covered in blood, battered but victorious.

His opponent Johnny Hendricks, possesses what could be argued as the antithesis to grit and determination, one punch knockout power. Why bother exchanging for three gruelling 5 minute rounds, taking damage and taking a fight into the trenches when you can end a fight and the drop of a hat (or opponent). This fight maybe a bridge to far for Kampmann and he may once again succumb to the big power of his opponent.

Hendricks had announced himself as a top contender in his fight against Jon Fitch at UFC 141. Fitch is regarded as once of the toughest fighters in the division due to his near impossible ability to resist submission and the brutal 5 round beating he managed to survive in his title shot to St-Pierre. The fight would last a mere twelve seconds with an overhand left from Hendricks removing Fitch from his senses, by the time the referee had stopped the fight Fitch had recovered slightly, but only to the point where he was trying to wrestle the referee. This fight shows the possible conclusion to the match up with Kampmann, what will be interesting is if Kampmann can once again display the necessary grit to come back from these moments.

Tuesday 31 January 2012

Its Showtime 55 Leeuwarden - Post Fight Review


While the UFC was making its return to Fox with a disappointing main card filled with decisions the best combat sport event of the evening had taken place hours beforehand in the northern town of Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. I had made the trip from London with a friend for a chance to see the last kickboxing fight of former K1 superstar Badr Hari as well as a card packed with top names in several weight divisions. The event bizarrely contained two It’s Showtime fight cards (54 and 55), presumably this was done so that they can sell the two cards separately to TV stations while not having to worry about filling two arenas.

The first card of fights, essentially just an undercard, was a bit tame at times. With a few fighters content to lose decisions after failing to get the better of the first round. The one fighter who stood out the most in terms of excitement was Andy Ristie who absolutely devastated the more favoured Japanese fighter Hinata Watanabe in the first round. From the opening bell where Ristie landed a hard teep that sent Watanabe staggering back to his corner, you could see the Ristie’s intentions to finish the contest early. Which is what happened when referee called a stop to the fight after three quick knockdowns.

This would be the only knockout of the undercard as the remaining four fights all went to decision including a title clash between the Frenchman Yohan Lidon and the Moroccan L’houcine Ouzgni. It was strange that ‘It’s Showtime’ put its 73kg title fight so early in the event, which shows that ‘It’s Showtime’ don’t really value their belts that highly. Perhaps they value their belts higher than Lidon who put up a poor effort in retaining his title and was easily defeated by a decision. The heavy Moroccon contingent in the crowd were really supportive of Ouzgni, for obvious reasons. However they cheered loudly for him before and after the fight but not during, possibly from lack of clear action in the bout.

The biggest fight on the undercard was between Tyrone Spong and Melvin Manhoef, a match up which many people viewed as guaranteed to produce a knockout. Manhoef was clearly the more popular amongst the crowd and even enjoyed two entrance songs (‘Por Una Cabeza’ hilariously followed by ‘Niggas in Paris’). However when the fight began he was clearly overmatched against disciplined Spong, while not finishing in a knockout the fight was still far more entertaining than the 5 round title fight that preceded it.

The action picked up considerably, as did the crowd, for the first fight of the main card between Anderson Silva and Michael Duut. The fight got a bit feisty at the end of the first round with Duut throwing a few deliberate shots after the bell, which the crowd loved because it was one of the first times we had seen real emotion from the fighters. Silva made the Dutchman pay in the second round, battering him and dropping him for an 8 count on his way to a clear decision win.

The next fight was between It’s Showtime 70 Max champion Chris Ngimbi against the Armenian Marut Grigorian. Nigimbi’s belt wasn’t on the line as this was perhaps a stroke of good fortune for the Congolese fighter as he was absolutely picked apart by the faster Armenian. Grigorian’s constant forward movement and technical combinations offset Ngimbi’s usual game that mostly revolves around repeated flying knees. The fight was stopped in second round due to cuts and saved Ngimbi from further punishment.

Another fight that took place in the 70kg division was a thriller between Robin Van Roosmalen and Murat Direkci. The fight was quiet even throughout but I felt the decision was awarded to the right man in Roosmalen. Robin seemed able to generate ridiculous snap in his leg kicks from very close range and landed several clean punches to the solid jaw of Direkci, who announced his retirement from kickboxing after the fight. It’s Showtime announced that their next event would take place on the 30th of June and would feature a fight between Grigorian and Roosmalen, this will no doubt be a very exciting match up.

A heavyweight fight between Errol Zimmerman and Rico Verhoeven produced the first clean knockout of the night, with Verhoeven being flattened by a Zimmerman left hook. I said in my pre-fight preview that Verhoeven’s lack of knockout power could prove costly against the powerful Zimmerman, especially since heavyweight kickboxing is essentially ‘Kill or Be Killed’. Rico seemed content to stand directly in front of Zimmerman which proved a huge mistake, and possibly an equal mistake by organisation who seemed to want to push Verhoeven as a potential star. A possibly reason for this is that Rico had a huge vocal support from the women in the audience (who had kept quiet until he appeared) as well as him being purely Dutch which makes him a more marketable in the Netherlands, as this is quiet rare among top kickboxers. I doubt that Verheoven has the power to be the next Peter Aerts as he is touted as, despite weighing in at over 117kg. However he is still young as could gain some success should he be matched more carefully by the promotion until he’s ready to take on such a hard hitting heavyweight. A match up with the resurgent Zimmerman was always a huge risk for any opponent, who now extends his streak of knockout victories to five fights.

The ‘It’s Showtime’ Heavyweight Title was on the line in a much anticipated rematch between the champion Hesdy Gerges and the challenger Romanian Daniel Ghita. In a similar vein to the Shogun-Machida sequel, Daniel Ghita removed all possible controversy out of the rematch by knocking the champion clean out in the first round with a sharp left hook. Ghita showed crisp boxing in this fight and didn’t rely on his usual bombardment of leg kicks which probably caught Gerges off guard. With this win Daniel Ghita emerges as one of the top heavyweights in the world, now with a complete arsenal of strikes to go with his iron chin. A fight with Badr Hari would be great if Badr wasn’t leaving the sport.

The main event was somewhat anti-climatic yet at the same time a suiting tribute the best of Badr Hari, his ferocious knockout power. His opponent Gokhan Saki had been sat at ringside for most of the event and seemed very relaxed going into the bout. This attitude proved costly as he was caught with a huge uppercut in the first round, which he bravely got up from but never recovered, two more knockdowns and the fight was stopped. While Saki is a great fighter, the size difference between the two meant it was also going to be hard for him to get anything going without being caught by the power shots of Hari.

For what its worth Hari’s boxing looked very good on the night, finding nice angles to penetrate Saki’s guard. The Moroccan fans in attendance where going wild during the fight with chants of ‘Hari Boombaye’, which really added to the atmosphere of the fight. Hari’s star power was evident the entire night with huge cheers from the crowd every time he was shown backstage on the big screen. After the fight Hari gave a long speech in Dutch which I didn’t understand, but the speech did appear to show Hari in a more noble light as he thanked not only his trainers but also his opponents throughout his career, he also made a light hearted joke about Manhoef which everyone seemed to enjoy.

There were lots of Kickboxing legends in the crowd such as Ernesto Hoost, Peter Aerts and Remy Bonjasky. Aerts at one point received a larger ovation while leaving the Arena than Marut Gregorian did while he was making his ring entrance at the same time.

Overall, the event proved to be a hugely exciting and far eclipsing the supposedly stacked card that the UFC, which leads to question; why is kickboxing dying when it can put of great fights like these? No doubt political pressures in the Netherlands have a huge effect on its growth there. Where as the continued failure of Japanese fighters to break into the top of the sport slowly but surely cost K1 its existence in Japan, similar to Pride. However, the audience for these events does exist, I have no doubt that if you put this card on instead of the recent UFC 138 I attended in Birmingham (which was still a fun card) the entire crowd would have enjoyed this more regardless of their familiarity with any of the fighters, the same would apply in America or Canada for other events. I’m not saying the Kickboxing is better than Mixed Martial Arts as it is essentially a less complete sport, however it does guarantee action in a way that UFC’s second show on Fox didn’t. There is room for growth in the sport which constantly creates such good entertainment yet at the moment no promotion has been successful in getting the product to a western audience which would surely enjoy the stand up action. With this event being the last ‘It’s Showtime’ will hold in the Netherlands for the foreseeable future it seems unlikely they will be able to get the audience their product deserves.

Saturday 21 January 2012

It’s Showtime 55 - Leeuwarden


At the end of this month I have the good fortune of attending the biggest kickboxing event since the demise of the Japanese promotion K1. The event is being held by the Dutch promotion ‘It’s Showtime’ who are undoubtedly looking to take other the helm as the premier organisation for the sport. The event is bizarrely taking place in the northern Dutch town of Leeuwarden due to political pressures inside the Netherlands as well as the promoters hoping to steer clear from the Dutch equivalent to the Hell’s Angels whom have links to many fighters in the sport.

The event features 7 of the top ten heavyweight in the sport as well as good selection of fighters at lighter weights. The most prominent name on the card is the always controversial Badr Hari, whose talent and knockout power is often overshadowed by moments of madness both in and outside the ring. Having been twice disqualified from fights for illegally kicking downed opponents, most notably in his fight against Remy Bonjasky in the 2008 K1 Grand Prix final. Hari has also spent time in Jail for assault and was once spotted wearing a t-shirt in support of a recently incarcerated drug lord. However, Badr Hari remains the most potent attacking talents in the sport with an extensive list of knockout wins over a who’s who of kickboxing (Peter Aerts, Ray Sefo, Alistair Overeem, Glaube Feitosa, Semmy Schilt, Stefan Leko, Errol Zimmerman, Ruslan Kareav…). Despite this Hari has announced the fight on the 28th of January will be his last as he will attempt to transfer is talents to the sport of boxing. The decision for Hari’s departure from Kickboxing is no doubt due to the collapse of K1 and lack of sizeable paydays in a sport that appears to be dying.

His opponent will be fellow top Heavyweight Gokhan Saki. While Saki possesses perhaps the most technical stand up in the division he seems to suffer from the lack of a proper crusierweight division in kickboxing. At 5’11 and 15 stone he is often a lot smaller than his opponents, despite this he still has garnered success in the division. Saki qualified for the 2010 K1 Grand Prix after knocking out Freddy Kemayo, and progressing to the semi-finals after a gruelling battle with Daniel Ghita. In the semi final Saki would take on the eventual winner Alistair Overeem, Saki went into the fight with a broken arm and gave a tremendous effort even knocking down Overeem with a spinning kick (which was wrongly not counted by the referee), before Alistair landed a kick to the broken arm of Saki which forced him to stop fighting.

Saki’s biggest strength are his lightening fast combinations which he usually punctuates with kicks, for these to be truly effective he will need to get on the inside of Hari’s long reach, which wont be easy. At 6 foot 6 Badr Hari uses his reach to fire devastating straights down the pipe, always getting the better of opponents who try to match him blow for blow. The fights which Hari has lost in recent years are were all against opponents who were patient enough to counter his aggresivness and land shots on his Achilles heel, his weak chin.

Despite his 63 knockout wins, Hari has been on the receiving end of 7 KO’s perhaps suffering due to his early start in the sport that saw him fight men much older than him while he was still a teenager. While kickboxing is generally a volatile sport where even the very best are prone to brutal knockout defeats (Ernesto Hoost, Peter Aerts, Andy Hug…), Hari’s chin is far more susceptible to giving out on him due to the damage its already taken in his career, such as his 2006 loss to Australlian Peter Graham’s spectacular trademark kick ‘Rolling Thunder’. However given the disparity in reach and size I would expect Hari’s jaw to be mute issue as he remains one of the most destructive fighters on the planet and will probably be able to stop Saki within the first three rounds.

Ironically, Saki perhaps has the better boxing skills than Hari and would probably benefit more from a move to boxing provide he fought as a cruiserweight. The Golden Glory fighter will also be leaving the sport of Kickboxing to become a mixed martial artist, a career move that has the potential to go either way.

The co-main event of the evening is a rematch of Hesdy Gerges and Daniel Ghita for the ‘It’s Showtime’ Heavyweight title. The original fight took place in march 2011 and while it only lasted 9 minutes it was filled with exciting back and forth action, especially the second round where Ghita dropped his gloves and let Gerges fire countless punches to his exposed jaw. The fight was not without controversy as a low blow to Ghita was counted as a knockdown by the referee, and while Ghita came back in the third round the ruling definitely affected the judges decision.

Hesdy Gerges famously won the title by disqualification after getting illegally kicked in the face by Badr Hari in 2010. While it would be somewhat harsh to describe that as good fortune, Gerges needs a big win here to cement himself as one of the best in the world after failing to qualify for the 2010 K1 GP losing to Semmy Schilt and recently losing a shock upset loss to up and comer Rico Verhoeven in a close but controversial decision. Similarly, Ghita has alos lost some of the momentum he built on the back of his clinical knockout win over Errol Zimmerman in 2010 and his devastating barrage of leg kicks that stopped the tough Russian Sergei Kharitanov back in 2009.

Both men have similar styles and statures (Gerges 6’6, Ghita 6’5), with both being reliant on leg kicks. Their first fight showed Gerges to have the speed advantage in the earlier rounds, where as Ghita began to find success going to the body of the Egyptian. The rematch is now scheduled to go 5 rounds, probably an attempt to avoid the controversy a 3 round title fight can generate. The extra rounds should give the advantage to Ghita should he come on stronger in the later rounds given Gerges tendency to noticeably tire after the first round.

Another Important Heavyweight fight that takes place on the card is the resurgent Errol Zimmerman taking on 22 year old Dutch prospect Rico Verhoeven. After a devastating 2010 that saw him drop three out of four fights, including a brutal knockout defeat to Daniel Ghita, Zimmerman has rebounded with a 6 fight win streak culminating with the ‘SuperKombat’ tournament title (winning all three fights by KO). Now it remains to be seen just how well he does against a current top ten fighter, filling that role is Rico Verhoeven, having just snuck past Hesdy Gerges in a close fight.

Verhoeven is being billed by some as being the next Peter Aerts. While that might be hyperbole, Rico certainly has the physical qualities to excel in the world of kickboxing at 6’5 and 18 stone already. However the biggest criticism of Verhoeven’s game is his inability to finish (wikipedia claims he has 8 ko’s in 36 wins but only lists four of them). This might be a crucial flaw in his fight with Zimmerman, who has the power to end a contest at any moment.

Perhaps the most exciting fight of the night takes place on the undercard, which is bizarre as it features two of the biggest names on the bill, Tyrone Spong and Melvin Manhoef. It’s highly unlikely this fight goes to a decision given Manhoef’s wild concussive power and propensity for getting knocked out himself. Tyrone Spong is the more polished fighter of the two and should be able to find Manhoef’s jaw if he can avoid the powerful hooks of Melvin which will be fired at him in return. Spong put on a valiant showing in the 2010 K1 GP against Overeem, rocking the eventual champion early before losing a decision.

Spong is also looking to start a career in MMA and has been helping former UFC champion Rashad Evans in training his stand up in return for some lessons in wrestling and stopping takedowns. Manhoef has already had lengthy career in MMA and is known for his stints in Cage Rage, Dream and Strikeforce. Spong will no doubt be looking at this fight as a stepping stone towards launching his MMA career, in a favourable contest where he wont have to worry about being taken down.

However it would be a mistake to write off Manhoef’s chances in any fight as he still remains the only man to ever KO legendarily iron chinned Mark Hunt, a feat he managed in less than 19 seconds. This fight has the makings to be the most exciting on the card, although it may not last long.

Further strange scheduling means Yohan Lidon will defend his 73kg ‘It’s Showtime’ belt on the undercard against Moroccan l’houcine Ouzgni. While late replacement Chris Ngimbi will not be defending his 70kg title against Harut Grigorian on the maincard. It will still be good to see the high flying African fight as he provides a lot of excitement, with 2 wins by flying knee knockout in his last four fights. The card will also feature an appearance of the unfortunately named Brazilian striker Anderson Silva, whom has furthered the links between himself with the UFC Legend by recently helping Lyoto Machida train for his fight with Jon Jones. Also on the main card is a fight between Robin Van Roosmalen and Murat Direcki. Roosmalen will be looking to continue his success after winning the ‘It’s Showtime Fast and Furious 70MAX’ Grand Prix in September of 2011 which included a decision win over Chris Ngimbi.

While there are some questionable decisions made by ‘It’s Showtime’ in the organising of this event (such as location, decision to have certain fights on the maincard…), its good to see an event that puts top fighters against each other. For example the upcoming ‘Yokkao Extreme 2012’ being held in Italy features the two top 170 pound kickboxers on the planet, Giorgio Petrosyan and Buakaw Por. Pramuk, but has given them both easy opponents instead of delivering the much anticipated dream fight. Similar scenes could be seen in 2011’s ‘Its Showtime Lyon’ event which had Hari, Ghita and Spong easily defeat overmatched opponents instead of putting on fights that have relevancy to the heavyweight division. This is no doubt due to demise of K1’s brutal GP format which took the best 8 fighters from a weight class and made them fight an elimination tournament until one was crowned the best in the world. While this wreaked havoc on fighters records, with seven of the men guaranteed losses, it provided great entertainment which is what ‘It’s Showtime’ must start to do if they want to revive the sport of kickboxing.