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Welcome to From the Vault - a new series here at Head Kick Legend focused on classic fights from kickboxing's past. With more and more fans discovering kickboxing every day, this series aims to revisit some of the sport's greatest fights.

BADR HARI v. STEFAN "BLITZ" LEKO
November 19, 2005
K-1 World Grand Prix 2005

For our inaugural fight in this series, we could think of nothing better than K-1's most popular fighter earning his place in K-1 history.

Although this fight is only 4 years old, the landscape of K-1 here is vastly different. The old guard of K-1 was still at the top, though for some of these older fighters, it was clear that their time was starting to wind down. The company needed new names, but since the newer breed of fighters that have characterized the past few years had not yet emerged, K-1 was in a tough position. They turned to the giants to save the day. In 2005, they were at the end of their much reviled "freak show" stage of development, focusing heavily on the trio of Sapp, Choi, and Akebono as the leading figures. At the same time, another giant had effectively taken over K-1, as 2005 marked the rise of Semmy Schilt as a regular K-1 competitor, winning his first of three straight Grand Prix titles. Between fan dislike of Schilt, and growing weariness with the freak show stigma, this period is generally considered a low point by many fans.

Enter Badr Hari.

At only 20 years old, the young Moroccan fighter was a relative unknown to casual fans, having competed solely in Europe for the past 5 years (since he was 15 you ask? Yep, since he was 15). He did take part in a K-1 event earlier in 2005 in Italy, defeating Vitali Akhramenko by unanimous decision in a non-tournament fight, and earning himself a shot in this GP reserve fight.

Hari's opponent is Stefan "Blitz" Leko, a popular K-1 veteran who had been with the company since 1997. Well-loved for his aggressive style, Leko had been on the shelf for two years prior to this fight, returning to kickboxing in non-K-1 cards earlier in 2005 to score wins over Florian Ogunade and... Badr Hari.

The first fight between these two took place in It's Showtime on June 12, 2005. The fight was characterized by bad blood, with Hari (already known for his bad boy image) trash talking Leko prior to the fight. Inside the ring, the action was quick and intense:

Videos and more after the jump

As anyone who has followed Hari can tell you, he is a fighter with a lot of emotion, who does not take a loss like this lightly. There is no doubt that on November 19, Hari came dead-set on revenge. As the two men entered you could feel that this was an important fight for both, more so for personal reasons than for a potential shot in the Grand Prix. Leko was out to permanently shut his opponent up, while Hari was out to gain vengeance and show that he was the new K-1 prototype. From the opening bell, the fight is marked by strong action, with both men looking good in round 1. As for round 2...

At this point, it's probably best to watch the fight if you have never seen it before:

And with one brutal knockout, Badr Hari had arrived. It's been featured on highlight reels for quite some time, but watching the fight as a whole, one of the things you notice is how well Hari sets up the KO blow. Just before, he throws a spinning back kick to the body (the exact same weapon used by Leko to win the first fight). This does not connect, but it serves two purposes. First, it gives Hari his range. Second, it gets Leko thinking about defending the body. Moments later, Hari throws a second spinning back kick. Leko perfectly takes the bait, dropping his right arm to protect the body. But of course, the strike doesn't go to the body. It goes to the head. And with the range set, and the head unprotected, the end result is one of the cleanest one shot knockouts in K-1 history.

It's easy in hindsight to look at this as a turning point in K-1 history, but that's exactly what it is. The man who would eventually become the poster child for the new generation of K-1 fighters steps in and knocks one of the veterans out cold. And he does it with the kind of highlight reel KO that made stars of men like Peter Aerts and Mirko CroCop before him. For a fighter, it's the kind of performance that careers are made of, and for K-1, it was the birth of their latest legend.