The Xtreme Fighting Association (XFA) recently announced the signing of Xtreme Couture trainer Shawn Tompkins to a three-fight deal in their K-1 style organization, and while there was initially no word on an opponent we all assumed it would be someone xtreme, like maybe one of those skateboarders from the Mountain Dew commercials. Now MMATraining.com is reporting that Tompkins’ first opponent may be none other than Ken Shamrock:
“I just signed a 3 fight deal with XFA, which is a K-1 kickboxing promotion in Las Vegas. I’ll be doing my first fight September 26th. Between September, December and February. They are looking at my first fight being Ken Shamrock”.
As much as those who train under him love to talk about Tompkins as some kind of Yoda of the fight game, his brief foray into MMA was, shall we say, unsuccessful. Perhaps returning to his roots as a kickboxer is a good idea.
Of course, embarking on a new career as a kickboxer is probably not a good idea for Shamrock, but that never stopped him before. Perhaps Tompkins will have to make an xample out of him. See what I’ve done there? I’m going to go cry now.
MMA Scraps has a great video compilation of the top ten K-1 fights (in their humble opinion) that I highly recommend you check out, especially if you’re the type of MMA fan who never watched much K-1. The above example, which topped the list, ought to be reason enough to check it out.
And if, like me, you watched the Mark Hunt-Ray Sefo fight and it only made you hungry for more Mark Hunt action, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered after the jump, complete with some of his MMA exploits. It’s worth the extra click just to see the look on Cro Cop’s face when Hunt takes his best head kick and keeps on coming.
Teixeira takes K-1 Japan GP; Schilt and Hari Also Win in Fukuoka
Written by Monty DiPietro.
FUKUOKA, June 29, 2008 — Twenty-six-year-old kyokushin fighter Ewerton Teixeira of Brazil won the K-1 Japan Grand Prix 2008; while Semmy Schilt and Badr Hari defended their Championship Belts tonight at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Fukuoka.
Held on the [...]
(Kazuo Misaki cracks Logan Clark a good one. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)
Far less publicized or attended than their first two cards, Sengoku held its third event yesterday at a half-full Saitama Super Arena, marked by former PRIDE star Kazuyuki Fujita’s upset by YAMMA heavyweight champ Travis Wiuff (who is now riding a nine-fight win streak), as well as Kazuo Misaki and Nick “The Goat” Thompson coming away with victories, and MMA elder statesman Maurice Smith’s comeback bid hitting a painful speed bump at the hands of Hidehiko Yoshida. Full recap is at Japan MMA; quick results are below.
Hidehiko Yoshida def. Maurice Smith via submission (neck crank), 2:23 of round 1
Travis Wiuff def. Kazuyuki Fujita via KO, 1:24 of round 1
Kazuo Misaki def. Logan Clark via unanimous decision
Nick Thompson def. Michael Costa via submission (kimura), 4:13 of round 2
Sanae Kikuta def. Chris Rice via submission (armbar), 3:54 of round 1
Marcio Cruz def. Choi Mu Bae via submission (triangle choke), 4:37 of round 1
Rodrigo Damm def. Jorge Masvidal via TKO, 4:38 of round 2
Fabio Silva def. Kazuo Takahashi via KO, 0:24 of round 2
At the event, it was announced that Sengoku IV (August 24th) will mark the beginning of a lightweight GP, with the winner to face Takanori Gomi. Satoru Kitaoka, Eiji Mitsuoka, Kazunori Yokota, Duane Ludwig, and Rodrigo Damm have already been booked for the tourney.
A couple of weeks ago, we lamented the fact that Hong Man Choi’s mandatory army service would take him out of the fight game for three years. The good news is, he failed a physical and will be sent back home. According to the report (which is translated here):
Choi submitted medical records indicating that his pituitary adenoma may compress his optic nerve and cause visual problems. His condition was deemed problematic for basic training and was discharged. It is likely that he was determined to be unfit for the next three months.
Choi will likely get a re-examination in which case he will “re-start” his duties, get an exemption, or be sent home for yet another physical at a later date, depending on the results…
As of now, it is quite likely that Choi may get an exemption since he has a clear reason and has all the necessary documents. Also, it has been reported that his vision has been deteriorating since last year. In an interview with My Daily, Choi was quoted as saying “I couldn’t see the right hook when I fought Mighty Mo.”
Choi’s pituitary adenoma was revealed to the media in June of last year through the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) right before Dynamite! USA. The CSAC deemed Choi unfit to compete and refused to issue him a fighter’s license.
Hong Man Choi was quoted as saying “It has been a fun two days and everyone was nice to me. I’m sorry that this happened.”
Man, we thought stapling papers for three years in an Army office would be bad; this optic nerve thing might end HMC’s fight career for good. Besides the fact that he was rejected in California, K-1 may not allow him to continue to fight anywhere for their organization with his visual handicap now public knowledge. Thank God he has his rap career to fall back on. And hey, if Yao Ming ever needs a stunt double…
(Ray Sefo [left] does his best to stay upright against Badr Hari. Photo courtesy of k-1.co.jp.)
His chin might be made of titanium, but Mark Hunt’s torso proved to be merely flesh and bone last night at the K-1 World Grand Prix in Yokohama, as Semmy Schilt defended his K-1 super-heavyweight title against Hunt with a fight-ending spinning back kick to the body. Schilt — who at 6′11″ had a 13-inch height advantage over the New Zealander — controlled much of the first round with leg kicks. In the final seconds of the round, he threw the reverse kick that sent Hunt to the canvas in visible agony. “I felt like I’d been kicked by a horse,” Hunt said later. “I only started getting my air back when I heard the ring announcer call the number ‘eight’.” It was Hunt’s first K-1 appearance since his decision win over Gary Goodridge at the 2003 K-1 World GP in Las Vegas (5/2/03), after which he transitioned to MMA and built a 5-3 record in PRIDE.
In the night’s other highly anticipated matchup, defending heavyweight champion Badr Hari dispatched Ray Sefo in even more dominant fashion, knocking down Sugarfoot twice in the first round before a final barrage against the ropes forced the ref to step in and stop the fight. Videos of the Schilt/Hunt and Hari/Sefo fights are below (props: BloodyElbow), and full results of the evening’s action are after the jump.
(Semmy Schilt vs. Mark Hunt; fight starts at the 1:41 mark)
(Badr Hari vs. Ray Sefo; fight starts at the 1:25 mark)
Fightlinker reminds us that the K-1 World Grand Prix is this Sunday night in Yokohama, Japan, featuring a double-stacked card of kickboxing action. Semmy Schilt and Mark Hunt will be fighting for the super-heavyweight title, and the main card includes Ray Sefo, Badr Hari, Glaube Feitosa, and Mighty Mo. Since we’ve already featured Sugarfoot and Mo on F.o.t.D., here’s Hari’s legendary reverse head-kick K.O. of Stefan Leko at 2005’s K-1 World Grand Prix, followed by his quick demolition of Yusuke Fujimoto at last year’s WGP in Hawaii (fight starts at the 2:13 mark). Highlights of Sunday’s GP will be posted next week, as soon as we can find them.
Besides his astounding fighting ability, Gesias “JZ” Calvancante has another advantage going into DREAM’s all-star lightweight tournament that kicks off Saturday night in Saitama, Japan — he’s already faced three of the guys in the bracket. JZ scored a first-round TKO of Hidetaka Monma at K-1 Hero’s 5 in May 2006, knocked off Andre “Dida” Amade last September to win the K-1 Hero’s 2007 middleweight tournament, and ate his only loss via a decision to Joachim Hansen at a Shooto match in 2004. Here’s his meeting with Dida, which went from wild slugfest to JZ’s usual assault-from above, ending with a brutal armbar. Below that is Calvancante’s opening-round match against Vitor Ribeiro from the same night, in which Shaolin was utterly dominated in 35 seconds.
Good God, this guy has the best haymaker we’ve seen since Clubber Lang. Who knows if the Cro Cop fight will actually come together, but we’d love to see it. Check out Mo throwing bombs during his K-1 kickboxing career. Could his power-punches trump Mirko’s head-kick? We say: Maybe!
So Gary Goodridge will be taking on Butterbean in April, and tomorrow’s Strikeforce event will feature Bob Sapp against 1-5 Euro-can Jan Nortje. If you’re curious about Goodridge and Nortje’s current skill level, just watch this sad match from K-1 HERO’s 8 (3/12/07), where Goodridge takes piles of abuse in one of the roughest, stupidest rope-a-dopes ever, then pounds back when Nortje is completely gassed. Again, Sapp is a -600 favorite in tomorrow’s match, even though his usual game plan (slug away all your energy then fall over) is exactly the same as Nortje’s. Anyway.
And because commenter “fightfan” asked for it, here’s Goodridge’s November 2005 loss against Glaube Feitosa in a K-1 kickboxing championship match. Watch as Feitosa knocks out Gary’s front teeth at 3:44, and recoil in horror during the slo-mo replay at 5:08.
