Monday Morning Head Kicks February 28th to March 6th

Banner image provided by Anton Tabuena

We told you March was going to be a crazy month, didn't we? Well, it began with a truly awesome week. We had the UFC in action on Thursday, Bellator and Strikeforce coming through on Saturday, and of course we just capped it off Sunday afternoon with It's Showtime: Sporthallen Zuid Amsterdam live from the Netherlands. Yes. A big kickboxing card. Finally.

I'm keeping the lead-in brief....

Pretty big week in MMA, the UFC delivered a really great card with a horrible decision in the main event. Strikeforce brought another solid card that raised some further questions about their light heavyweight division, and Bellator did what Bellator does. News related Strikeforce and Shooto included in this week's edition. Read more below.

Kickboxing? It's Showtime. It's that simple. The card on Sunday was great. Videos will be posted as they come in. More on the event below and around the site. Focus shifts to Fight Code: Oktagon 2011 next week, and we'll be looking toward Krush the week after. Good things. Keep up.

In the world of Muay Thai, things continued over in Thailand for both the Isuzu Thai Fight 2011 Thailand Qualifier and the Fuktien Group Tournament. Here in America, Joe Schilling nabbed a national WBC Muay Thai title.

Here we go.

It's Showtime Sporthallen Zuid: What a great event. The main event absolutely delivered, as Hesdy Gerges took a beating in the third round after taking the first two against Daniel Ghita. Badr Hari should probably be next for Hesdy Gerges, and Daniel Ghita should be taking on whoever It's Showtime can bring in that's on that some elite level. Andy Souwer affirmed his spot in the kickboxing world with a victory over L'houcine Ouzgni. Artur Kyshenko looked great against Gago Drago. Danyo Ilunga is a name you're probably not familiar with. Well, he's the new It's Showtime 95kg. MAX champion, so get familiar! Seriously though, this man came out of nowhere and picked apart Wendell Roche, that's a big deal. The rest of my thoughts after the event can be found here.

UFC Live on Versus 3: The main event was great, the decision horrible. Mark Munoz looked excellent in his bout against C.B. Dollaway. Middleweight prospect Chris Weidman came through, he's in definite need of getting some more experience under his belt but he did a great job. The coverage is everywhere, I don't need to say much else about it.

Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson: Let me begin by saying I am utterly horrendous at picking winners when I know that my picks are going to be published. Jorge Masvidal came through with a dominating performance against the previously undefeated Billy Evangelista. Marloes Coenen survived a beating and scored a third round submission over Liz Carmouche. Melvin Manhoef looked like he learned to wrestle and then Tim Kennedy got him on the ground. Dan Henderson unloaded on Rafael Cavalcante in the third round of their bout. Matt Roth brought you the play-by-play here.

The big story here was, of course, Dan Henderson. Our own Derek Suboticki offered his thoughts on Henderson's win. Over at Bloody Elbow, Mike Fagan wrote about the shallow nature of Strikeforce's light heavyweight division, while Kid Nate considered the potential for a bout pitting Henderson against Fedor Emelianenko.

Kraus, Zambidis in Action Next Weekend: Consider this a quick reminder. We're all going to be focusing on Fight Code: Oktagon 2011 in the kickboxing world and the million things that will be going on in MMA, but two K-1 MAX greats are going to be taking fights at small events on March 12th.

Albert Kraus will be traveling to Russia to face Batu Khasikov. I posted about that fight a while back, quick refresher here. Meanwhile, Mike Zambidis will be in his native Greece taking on the Ali Gunyar. Gunyar is Turkish and this fight is happening at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Athens. There is something interesting in there.

Mo Medhar vs. Ahmed Zragua, April 9th: Medhar lost against Warren Stevelmans on Sunday on the preliminary card of It's Showtime: Sporthallen Zuid Amsterdam. They'll fight at an event which I'm pretty sure is being presented in affiliation with the aforementioned Ali Gunyar.

Katsunori Kikuno & Nippon Top Team: Nightmare of Battle reports that Kikuno has returned to training with Nippon Top Team in hopes of furthering his game and making a run in the lightweight division.

Isuzu Thai Fight - Denchonlek vs. Diesellek Fight Video: We told you about the trouble surrounding the Thai Fight qualifier, as Sudsakorn and Thanongdet were removed from the tournament for fighting in Europe. Well, Diesellek was called in as a one-bout replacement to face the young standout Denchonlek. Denchonlek stopped his veteran opponent in the third round. Check it out. In the other final group stage bout involving a replacement, Noparrat topped Antuan Siangboxing by decision on Saturday. Hope that fight video comes along soon as well.

More Monday Morning Head Kick type goodness after the jump.

Fuktien Group - Samranchai vs. Petchsanguan Fight Video: The "other" big Muay Thai tourney going on right now. Samranchai and Petchsanguan fought to a decision, Samranchai leaving with the win. More great Muay Thai action, give it a look.

Satoshii Ishi vs. Scott Lighty at Strikeforce Challengers 15: Well, it's official now. Ishii and Lighty will be meeting in the light heavyweight division on April 1st. Nick Thomas posted the news that the bout was official over at Bloody Elbow on Sunday.

You already know about Ishii, let me remind you about what Lighty brings to the table here. Lighty is 6-1 in MMA, his biggest win being over Mike Cook. His sole loss? Against Antwain Britt. Many may remember that Lighty is a K-1 veteran. He didn't amass the most impressive record in the organization, but the general gist of his time under the K-1 banner goes like this. Losing to Might Mo, Ruslan Karaev, and Gary Goodridge. Winning against Chahid Araab, Dewey Cooper, and Pat Barry. Take what you will from it.

Rambaa Somdet Injured, Bout Delayed: Rambaa Somdet was scheduled to defend his title against Junji Ito at Shootor's Legacy 2 next weekend. The bout has been canceled and the card will be headlined by the flyweight contest between Noboru Tahara and Yuki Shojo. Somdet and Ito are now scheduled to meet April 29th. Have to give credit to the gentlemen over at LiverKick on that one.

Krush Triple Final Event Poster: After teasing Twitter followers with a glimpse at the poster last week, the Japanese promotion released it this week. Guess what? It looks the same as all other Krush posters, only the faces change. Whatever, maybe you'll like it. Look here. Even if I'm not blown away by their event posters, Krush will offer an amazing event on March 19th. Look forward to more coverage of that.

Random Urabe Brothers T-shirts: I'm posting this simply because it caught me by surprise. Krush posted up photos.. drawings... interpretations? of some Koya and Hirotara Urabe t-shirts that Team Dragon is peddling. I don't know. Buy one if you're into it?

Joe Schilling Wins a Title: Remember that interview I linked to last week, the one with American Muay Thai fighter Joe Schilling? Well, he won the national WBC Muay Thai title at super middleweight this weekend. Fight video.

MMA Results

UFC Live on Versus 3 - Thursday, March 3rd, in Louisville, Kentucky

• Diego Sanchez UD Martin Kampmann
• Mark Munoz KO-1 C.B. Dollaway
• Chris Weidman UD Alessio Sakara
• Other results: Brian Bowles SUB-1 Damacio Page, Cyrille Diabate UD Steve Cantwell, Danny Castillo UD Joe Stevenson, Shane Roller KO-2 Thiago Tavares, Takeya Mizugaki SD Reuben Duran, Dongi Yang TKO-2 Rob Kimmons, Rousimar Palhares SUB-2 Dave Branch, Igor Pokrajac TKO-1 Todd Brown

Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson - Saturday, March 5th, in Columbus, Ohio

• Dan Henderson TKO-3 Rafael Cavalcante
• Marloes Coenen SUB-4 Liz Carmouche
• Tim Kennedy SUB-1 Melvin Manhoef
• Jorge Masvidal UD Billy Evangelista
• Other results: Roger Bowling UD Josh Thornburg, Jorge Gurgel SUB-1 Billy Vaughan, Jay Freeman SUB-1 Jason Riley, Brian Rogers TKO-1 Ian Rammel, Mitch Whitesel SUB-1 Marc Cofer, John Kuhner SUB-2 John Felty

Bellator Fighting Championships 35 - Saturday, March 5th, in Lemoore, California

• Lyman Good UD Chris Lozano
• Jay Hieron SUB-1 Anthony Lapsley
• Rick Hawn UD Jim Wallhead
• Brent Weedman UD Dan Hornbuckle
• Other results: Waachim Spiritwolf SD Jaime Jara, Brandon Bender SUB-1 Josh Herrick, Zoila Gurgel UD Karina Hallinan, Paul Ruiz TKO-1 Jesus Castro

Kickboxing Results

It's Showtime: Sporthallen Zuid Amsterdam - Sunday, March 6th, in Amsterdam, Netherlands

• Hesdy Gerges DEC Daniel Ghita
• Andy Souwer DEC L'houcine Ouzgni
• Artur Kyshenko DEC Gago Drago
• Danyo Ilunga DEC Wendell Roche
• Other results: William Diender DEC Rachid Belaini, Robin van Roosmalen DEC Chahid Oulad el Hadj, Warren Stevelmans TKO-3 Mohammed Medhar, Raymon Bonte KO-1 Ricardo van den Bos, Leroy Kaestner DEC Ramzi Tamaditi, Mo Ben Nasser KO-1 Romano Morjoner, Jamal Ben Saddik TKO-1 Rico Verhoeven, Marc de Bonte DEC Morad Salhi

Muay Thai Results

Stand Up Promotions: Schilling vs. Green - Saturday, March 5th, in Los Angeles, California

• Joe Schilling TKO-1 Chase Green

Journey Fight Series 140lb. Tournament: Opening Round - Saturday, March 5th, in Calgary, Canada

• Josh Palmer DEC Mark DeLuca
• Justin Greskiewicz DEC Nate Smandych
  
• Matt Embree DEC Rami Ibrahim
• Phanuwat  Chunhawat TKO-3 Parwez Ghulam
• Ben Case DEC Sean McKinnon