Daily Fights: Yuki v. Yuji Takeuchi

On Monday, K-1 will crown their first ever 63kg Grand Prix champion.  We'll be talking more about that card in the coming days, but to get things rolling, here's one of the fights from the opening round of the tournament: Yuki v. Yuji Takeuchi.  Both are very heavy handed fighters, and the end result is one of the only 2 KOs we saw in the opening round - a textbook high kick that sent Yuki onto the Final 8, and Takeuchi down to the reserves.  Take a look:

One of the things I love about this knockout is the way Yuki reads Takeuchi.  As the 2nd round goes on, you see Takeuchi begin to tire, particularly in his arms.  He begins dropping his arms just for a moment after each exchange to shake them out.  Yuki sees this and responds perfectly.  Starting at 6:00 in the video, there are 3 straight exchanges where both men come in, throw a few shots, and then step back to recover, with Takeuchi dropping his arms.  Getting into a pattern like that, especially one that leaves your defenses down, is deadly, and after the 4th exchange, Yuki again looks like he's stepping back so Takeuchi again drops his arms, leaving him open for the clean KO kick.  Just a beautiful example of reading your opponent, baiting him, and finding the opening needed to end his night.

Up next for Yuki is Tetsuya Yamato, in what is easily the toughest Final 8 fight of the tournament.  I've seen some people say the winner there will take the whole thing, and honestly that's not a bad assessment.  Meanwhile, Yuji Takeuchi will take part in the second reserve fight.  He'll face Koshien veteran Koya Urabe, and will be hoping to somehow work his way back into the main tournament.