Peter Aerts v. Mike Bernardo III & IV Fight Video

Our week-long look at Peter Aerts v. Mike Bernardo continues today with fights 3 & 4.  Check out part 1 here and part 2 here.

As the 1996 K-1 Grand Prix came to a finish, one of the biggest stories was Mike Bernardo's quarter final defeat of two time defending champion Peter Aerts.  Aerts had seemed unstoppable, but Bernardo had pulled off the surprise win - a feat all the more impressive when you factor in Aerts's 40 second KO of Bernardo in their first meeting a few months prior.

With their series now tied up at 1-1, a rematch was needed to answer questions.  Had Bernardo cracked the code for defeating Aerts, or was this a one-time anomaly?  K-1 didn't make fans wait long, granting Aerts an immediate rematch.  The two men would square off just 4 months later on September 1, 1996 at an event appropriately titled "K-1 Revenge".  It was each man's first fight since the GP.  The show was built around two main events with this revenge theme (the other featured Musashi v. Sam Greco in another GP rematch).

Anticipation was high, but sadly, the fight was a Couture/Belfort 2 style anticlimax.  At just past the 1 minute mark, Aerts caught Bernardo with an inadvertent low blow.  When Bernardo was unable to continue, Aerts was disqualified.  Unfortunately, there is no footage of this fight available online (anyone have a link?), but there is not much to see in this footnote to the series.

Obviously, that fight settled nothing, so K-1 quickly booked the rematch to the rematch, this time for October 16 and K-1 Star Wars '96.  This would be Aerts's 3rd straight fight against Bernardo, and right from the beginning, you can tell that there is something special in the air here.  The crowd can sense it, and even watching at home 14 years later, you can sense it too.  Finally, the biggest K-1 feud of 1996 would be settled.

Once again, Bernardo had done it.  The great Peter Aerts had gone down, again knocked out cold by the power of Mike Bernardo.  For my money, this is one of the best fights in K-1 history, with both men bringing so much skill and heart.  Aerts starts off looking to use defense and counter striking to offset Bernardo's aggression, and it works, earning Aerts the round 1 knockdown.  But in round 2, the tide starts to turn, as Bernardo again uses his power and brawling inside to start hurting Aerts.  By the 3rd round, Aerts has started to take a beating, but he refuses to go down until he simply can not stand any longer, allowing his heavy handed opponent to put him away with less than 30 seconds left in the fight. 

Great, great fight, and with Bernardo now up 2-1 in the series (discounting the aborted September fight), it looked like we knew who was the better man. But in K-1 there's always another Grand Prix around the corner...