Gokhan Saki and the History of Accomplished Strikers in MMA

As this blog and others have noted, Gokhan Saki has recently talked a fair amount about his desire to compete in mixed martial arts. The K-1 standout certainly possesses the sort of striking that could be a nightmare for opponents and a catalyst for excellent fight film. As we all know though, Saki would not be the first accomplished striker to venture into MMA - certainly not the first to highlight the divisions in the fan base's beliefs on what martial arts provide the best base and certainly not the first to spark another mind numbing argument about what a real striker could do with those tiny gloves.

In fact, I would like to take a look at some examples, past and present, of accomplished kickboxers who have also plied their trade in MMA. While I suppose there is an inherent emphasis on those who first made a name for themselves outside of MMA, we can't help but include some names that may have established themselves in MMA earlier or perhaps even in both sports concurrently.

As I'm sure most of you are aware, high level strikers have had mixed results in MMA. Many of these examples are going to speak directly to that. The reason would seem two-fold: the evolution of mixed martial arts (itself, a separate though intersecting issue) has often left strikers at a seeming disadvantage, and even as MMA has progressed into what many are referring to as its third wave, stand up artists have often remained one dimensional.

I would like to believe that Gokhan Saki, if he is honestly committed to the notion of giving MMA a try, could offer some results that would highlight the evolution of the sport. There have been rumors out there about how he may be engaged in some varied training - that's definitely something any fan should be excited about.

P.S. This list is going to be far from exhaustive. Mostly because I can't bear to go through all that, and also because I'd be glad to hear you guys throw some names out there and offer some opinions.

Let's take a quick look at some examples after the jump.

Semmy Schilt: Hightower began fighting in Pancrase well before he made it to K-1. Regardless, Schilt has won the K-1 World Grand Prix four times and his list of victories is about as impressive as you could hope for. Whatever may be lacking in the way of technical refinement, Schilt has been more than able to use his physical characteristics to dominate a number of opponents. Not to mention, the man was a pretty solid full contact karate competitor back in the mid 1990's.

The crazy thing about Schilt? In his MMA career, he has submitted nearly as many opponents as he's knocked out. Sure, he always came up short against top competition, got submitted a number of times, and was knocked out by Sergei Kharitonov and Gilbert Yvel. Even so, you have to give Schilt some respect as a former King of Pancrase.

Mirko Filipovic: Croatia had Branko Cikatic, then they had Mirko CroCop. In his first K-1 bout, CroCop defeated Jerome Le Banner to qualify for the 1996 K-1 World Grand Prix. He was summarily defeated in the tournament by Ernesto Hoost. In 1999, the Croatian stopped Mike Bernardo to again qualify for the WGP, and stopped both Musashi and Sam Greco before Ernesto Hoost hit him with that nasty body shot in the finals. At the 2000 WGP in Fukuoka, Mike Bernardo got his revenge on Filipovic by stopping him in the first round.

After a number of other solid wins in K-1, Filipovic turned his focus to Pride. As we all know, he left a path of destruction amongst heavyweight competitors who just could not match him standing. His four losses while fighting under the Pride banner were the submission loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria, the upset against Kevin Randleman, the Ali-Frazier-esque bout against Fedor Emelianenko, and a split decision dropped to Mark Hunt. In Pride, Mirko stayed standing and dominated. Following the Overeem debacle, CroCop made his way to the UFC and the rest is history.

Melvin Manhoef: The Surinamese-Dutch fighter, who has been with Mike's Gym for more than half a decade at this point, began both his kickboxing (well, Muay Thai early on) and MMA careers back in the mid 1990's. In kickboxing, Manhoef has often been at a distinct size disadvantage and has certainly taken his share of defeats. Even so, his powerful striking has allowed him to maintain a record that includes some impressive victories. Manhoef is currently the It's Showtime 85kg. champion, and I don't think any of us would be surprised to see him in there for the promotion's vacant 95kg. title as some point in the near future. While that weight class may seem more a stepping stone for heavyweight fighters than a fleshed out division, I believe it would be interesting to see Manhoef operate at that weight.

Manhoef's MMA career has certainly been an interesting one, and speaks to many of the challengers facing strikers that we all know are out there. 23 of Manhoef's 24 wins have been on stoppages. He had an epic brawl against Evangelista Santos while defending his light-heavyweight Cage Rage title. He knocked Mark Hunt out while backing up. Yet, he has five submission losses on his record. His three other losses are all stoppages, the first two coming early in his career against Bob Schrjiber and Rodney Faverus, while the third is that infamous knockout loss against Robbie Lawler.

Ray Sefo: Sefo was a finalist at the 2000 K-1 World Grand Prix, finished third in 2002, and made the final eight 2003-2005. While his K-1 career may have fallen off after that period, there is no denying the New Zealand native's ability to compromise the guard of opponents with uppercuts and nullify it with wide right hands. At times, Sefo's mixture of right hands followed by leg kicks were truly wonderful to watch and highlighted the very sort of techniques that perhaps remain underutilized by MMA fighters.

While Ray Sefo has held a position as a trainer at Xtreme Couture, on paper there just isn't much to his 2-0 MMA career. The first bout was in 2005 against Min Soo Kim, the resident punching bag for K-1 fighters competing in MMA (hint: he's been knocked out by three, submitted by one). In that bout, Sefo showed an awareness of the need to keep things standing. He managed to mostly do just that and, in fact, offered a momentary bit of offensive grappling before flattening Kim in the second round. Against former NFL player Kevin Jordan, Sefo had some moments on the ground that were solid and others which were not. Jordan held dominant position for a fair amount of time in the first round, then was injured as Sefo sprawled early in the second round. It seems that we'll get to see at least a little more of Sefo in MMA, as he is set to take on Valentijn Overeem in an alternate bout for the upcoming Strikeforce heavyweight tournament.

Mark Hunt: In 2001, Mark Hunt became the K-1 World Grand Prix champion despite barely managing to qualify for the tournament that year. After dropping a bout to Ernesto Hoost in Melbourne, Hunt also lost to Peter Graham at the New Zealand Grand Prix. At the Grand Prix in Fukuoka, Hunt was again topped by Ray Sefo. Only after Sefo couldn't continue did Hunt move on and defeat Adam Watt to qualify for the WGP. There, a knockout over Jerome Le Banner, decision over Stefan Leko, and extra round decision over Francisco Filho put Mark Hunt atop the K-1 world.

In his 5-7 MMA career, Mark Hunt has unfortunately become an emblematic case of a striker unable to manage the grappling prowess of many of his opponents. His successful five fight run from late 2004 to mid 2006 in Pride, which included victories over Wanderlei Silva and Mirko CroCop, is bookmarked by submission losses to Hidehiko Yoshida and Josh Barnett. Since then, it has been a string of kimuras, keylocks, and straight armbars, as Hunt has now dropped a total of six in a row, being submitted in five of those bouts. The only of Hunt's seven losses in which he wasn't submitted came as Melvin Manhoef dramatically knocked him out at Dynamite!! 2008.

What's next for Mark Hunt in MMA? Well, a bout against Chris Tuchscherer at UFC 127 in Sydney, Australia. Tuchscherer is a two-time All-American collegiate wrestler.

Cung Le: It's no secret that Le was an accomplished Sanshou fighter well before he came into the Strikeforce middleweight division. Le's background is an interesting one, as his Sanshou experience certainly provided more than just a solid striking base and he was also a wrestler in high school and college.

Currently, Le's mixed martial arts record stands at 7-1, with all eight bouts being stoppages. His only loss came against Scott Smith in a 2009 bout that he was commanding early on. Le avenged that loss last June, as he took Smith out with a kick to the body. I'll defer to Joe Rogan a little bit here, because frankly I enjoyed this video when I first saw it. Anyway, attribute it to what you will - Le's opposition, his varied background, or the unorthodox techniques he may be able to work - but Cung Le definitely hasn't done too bad for himself in MMA.

Rambaa Somdet: An accomplished Muay Thai fighter and kickboxer out of Pattaya, Thailand, Somdet is now the Shooto flyweight kingpin. Which is to say that he's the strawweight kingpin. Which is to say he's the man in a division few people know about. In light of his background, I hhave to give him credit for being rather active from the bottom if fights go to the ground. Obligatory kickboxing video. Obligatory MMA video.

Peter Graham: Let's just get it out of the way: rolling thunder. Graham has had K-1 victories over Badr Hari, Alexey Ignashov, Paul Slowinski, and Mark Hunt.

The Australian's MMA career has been emblematic of the problems faced by other high level strikers bringing their game to MMA. Graham is 4-5 with four stoppage victories and five submission losses. There have been highlights, such as his recent victory over Aleksander Emelianenko, as well as lowlights, see getting submitted by Jim York.

Bob Sapp: Yes, Bob Sapp holds two K-1 victories over Ernesto Hoost. Bob Sapp also hasn't won a kickboxing match since the 2005 K-1 World Grand Prix in Hiroshima. His most recent loss came against Sweden's Jorgen Kruth in November 2010.

As with his K-1 career, Sapp's success in MMA has depended heavily upon his size and power. He has gotten stoppage wins over a number of opponents and even managed a couple of submissions, but he has proven vulnerable to both opponents with the ability to submit him and those with the ability to send some power back in his direction. Oh, and there was that bout against Jerome Le Banner.

Jerome Le Banner: Speaking of Le Banner, the two-time K-1 World Grand Prix third place finisher has competed in a few more MMA bouts. The summary is pretty quick: a few knockout wins, including one over Yoshihiro Akiyama, a submission loss to Tadao Yasuda, and that recent unimpressive decision loss against Satoshi Ishii.

Badr Hari: Surely you've heard of the Hari vs. Overeem MMA bout that never was. Well, for the time being, Hari's MMA career consists of getting taken down by Latvian fighter Edmunds Kirsis and getting submitted shortly thereafter. Kirsis has been disqualified nearly as many times as he's won, and he hasn't quite won as many times as he's lost. The end. Oh, well, let's mention the moments against Hesdy Gerges and Remy Bonjasky as well.

Michael McDonald: The Canadian kickboxer basically made a career out of the K-1 in Las Vegas events for a period of about five years there starting around 2001. He beat Mirko CroCop, Glaube Feitosa, and Rick Roufus in K-1 bouts. In MMA? Well, he got submitted by Lyoto Machida in 2004 and then beat Rick Roufus again, with smaller gloves on this time.