Raul Catinas v. Imani Lee Fight Video

From this past weekend's Local Kombat show, here is K-1 Final 16 participant Raul Catinas in action.  Catinas has had some big fights this year, defeating Carter Williams in Bucharest, and losing to Mighty Mo at the final 16.  He's definitely looking to make a name for himself at the K-1 level, and has made some good strides this year. 

His opponent is Imani Lee, most recently known as being one of Minowaman's Super Hulk style opponents at Dream.14.  Minowaman choked the 300+ pounder out under MMA rules there, but Lee also has an OK kickboxing career.  He was a regular in the K-1 Las Vegas GPs from 2005-2007, going 1-3 there with his K-1 highlight being a win over Jan Nortje. 

This fight is from Local Kombat Sibiu, the 10th anniversary event for Local Kombat, held this past Friday, November 19.  One quick note - in the video, the round they show after the 1st round is identified as "Round 3".  This is just a typo, as the round is indeed round 2, and this does contain the complete fight.

I've been watching Catinas closely since his strong showing at the K-1 European GP in 2009, and this is another example of his good progress.  He does a good job here of keeping the pressure up on Lee, eventually scoring the definitive knockdown in the 3rd.  Catinas has also taken a page from the Dzevad Poturak handbook of clowning during a fight, and as long as that clowning doesn't cause him to lose fights, I've got no complaints.

Also on this card - K-1 2010 East Europe GP runner-up Sebastian Ciobanu defeated Petar Valkov via decision; Catalin Slave TKO'd Alexandru Popescu in the 2nd in the main event, and Local Kombat's go-to MMA sideshow fighter Alexandru Lungu improved to 7-2 with a round 1 KO of Albert Sarkozi.  Catalin Morosanu did not compete on this event, as we previously reported.  Our sincere apologies for the confusion.  Complete results are in the full entry.

Special thanks to reader man'10 for pointing out this video in the FanPosts section.  In that post he asks a good question - does Raul Catinas have what it takes to make it into the top 10 in K-1?  I have my own take, but am interested to hear your thoughts.  What do you think about Catinas's future?

Via FansofK1:

1) Ionut Atodiresei (Romania) Def. Valdrin Vatnikaj (Albania) Decision

2) Bogdan Stoica (Romania) Def. Dzenan Poturak(Bosnia) 2R KO (right hook)

3) Adrian Mitu (Romania) Def. Veselin Veselinov (Bulgaria) 1R KO (left hook to the body)

4) Sebastian Ciobanu (Romania) Def. Petar Valkov (Bulgaria) Decision

5) MMA Fight Alexandru Lungu (Romania) Def. Albert Sarkozi (Slovakia) 1R KO (punches)

6) Raul Catinas (Romania) Def. Imani Lee (USA) Decision

7) Marius Tita (Romania) Def. Miodrag Olar (Romania) Decision

8) Andrei Stoica (Romania) Def. Timur Hapolat (Germany) Decision

9) Marian Iordan (Romania) Def. Adalbert Sule (Romania) Decision

10) Catalin Slave (Romania) Def. Alexandru Popescu (Romania) 2R TKO