Head Kick Legend Feel Good Fighter of the Year: Peter Aerts

Deciding the comeback fighter of the year was a pretty obvious choice. In a year where Badr Hari was unable to compete due to extenuating circumstances (Jail/Soccer Kicking Hedsy Gorges and thus being suspended by It's Showtime) and Remy Bojansky's future is unknown due to a potentially career ending eye injury, the K1 Heavyweight division was full of change in 2010. 2010 saw young fighters in Tyrone Spong and Ghokan Saki finally make the jump to elite fighters that everyone has been waiting for, while the old guard is finally moving on towards retirement. 

2010 saw K1 crown a new Heavyweight champion in Kyotaro, a fighter that some hope will fill the void left by the retirement of Masato, who scored a fantastic highlight reel victory over the Dutch Lumberjack at the K1 Grand Prix in Yokahama. This, along with a lackluster 2009, caused many to question if Peter Aerts had still got "it". Aerts is a legend of the sport and had nothing left to prove, but the loss to Kyotaro definitely opened up some questions about his ability compete at the elite level. Rumors began to swirl that he would soon retire as he approached the wrong side of 40 and was unable to keep up with the new breed or faster, stronger, and more powerful fighters. 

His fight against Kyotaro was lackluster. While Kyotaro is a skilled fighter with a powerful hook, he isn't an elite heavyweight kickboxer. Peter Aerts had slowed down and allowed a fighter who was not in his league to handily defeat him. You can see the fight below, it's a depressing look at a fighter who could not keep up with a younger fighter. 

Fortunately, Aerts was able to secure a wild card slot for the K1 World Grand Prix Final 16 in Seoul. He drew Ewerton Teixeira, a fighter who also suffered a horrifying defeat at the hands of Alistair Overeem in 2009. The fight was fairly even through the first three rounds with the judges scoring the bout 30-30 x2 and 30-29 for a Majority Draw. In the extra round, Aerts put on the pressure and was able to unanimously defeat the Karate expert with all three judges scoring the round 10-9. To be honest, I felt like a Chicago Cubs fan, I was angry that Aerts had won as he was starting to get my hopes up that he could still compete at the highest level.

When the fighters drew their match-ups for the finals, the brackets were set up in a way to create a road for Semmy Schilt and Alistair Overeem to meet in the finals. While Aerts would face Mighty Mo and Schilt would face Kyotaro, it was pretty much assumed that Schilt would be making it to the finals. On the other side of the bracket, Daniel Ghita was set to face Ghokan Saki in an absolute war and Alistair Overeem would meet Ernesto Hoost protegee Tyrone Spong.

Aerts showed up for the Finals in tremendous shape, looking rock solid and comparable to the time when he earned his nickname "Mr. K1" during the 90s when he was K1 champion. In contrast, Mighty Mo was in noticeably awful shape and that was the difference. Aerts was one step ahead of Mo the entire bout and finished the fight with a beautiful headkick. Aerts was moving onto the semi finals to face Semmy Schilt in a fight that everyone expect him to lose. 

His bout with Semmy Schilt is an all time classic. Coming into the fight, no one in the arena, including the commentary team of Mike Kogan, Michael Schiavello, and King Mo, had any expectation for the fight to be competitive. Schilt was the King of K1 and Aerts was a man who was fighting outside of his physical prime. It was a good story but the reality is that Aerts was fodder for Schilt to have another dominant run in the K1 tournament. 'The Dutch Lumberjack" didn't get the memo and worked Schilt over for three straight rounds, the third of which Semmy was sluggish and clinched up to avoid Aerts' hooks to the body and head. Aerts won the Majority Decision and would move onto the Finals to take on the Juggernaut known as Alistair Overeem.

The K1 World Grand Prix Finals were set and the feel good story ran its course. Overeem came out hard early and decimated Peter Aerts in under a minute. No one really expected much different but the crowd was definitely in Peter Aerts' corner. There were rumors swirling that this would be Peter's last Grand Prix and if it is true, he went out in spectacular fashion. He's the greatest K1 fighter of all time and defied the odds in 2010 to make it to the finals of the World Grand Prix.