It's Showtime Lyon Fight Card: Badr Hari vs. Stefan Leko, Version 1.0

Fans have waited almost a year for the return of Badr Hari and in just 7 days we'll see him take on Gregory Tony at It's Showtime 2011 Lyon. Everyone is excited for this so for the next few days, we'll be covering all things Badr Hari, from his best and worst fights to his best and worst moments outside of the ring. Today we're going to go back to the beginning of his career, where he was humbled by one of the best in the game.  This setback ignited a fire in Badr, a fire that eventually led him to be one of the very best in the world.  After a pair of other setbacks.  And a ridiculous Australian kick in the face.

We're all here to celebrate the career of the one and only Badr Hari. The Golden Boy is a giant among men, and the reason I became a kickboxing fan in the first place. Way back in the day, long before I really understood the enormity of the kickboxing world, a singular image sucked me in. It was a man named Badr, and he was throwing the craziest kick I'd ever seen.  And it landed.  His opponent hit the canvas, the fight was over, and everyone basked in the joy of one of the greatest KO's in combat sports history. The man on the floor was Stefan Leko.

But I'm not here to talk about that.  I'm here to talk the preamble, the fight before the fight.  The time that Leko left Badr laying the corner, clutching his tummy and asking for his mummy.  The rhyme might be lame, but that effin kick was the epitome of the game.  Let's roll.

In mid-2005, the words Badr and Hari weren't exactly striking fear in the hearts of men.  In the kickboxing world, other names were on the lips of fans.  Names like Remy, Mo, and Feitosa had relevance.  Hari?  Nyet.  The Crying Gentleman Remy Bonjasky was the two-time reigning K-1 World Grand Prix champion, but his 11-month winning streak had recently been halted by one of the toughest men alive, "Mighty" Mo Siliga, at a K-1qualifying event in Las Vegas. An event for the ages.

MMA fans would drool over the event if they knew what they were witnessing that night - unknowns Dan Evensen and Steve Steinbeiss faced each other in one qualifying bout.  In the other?  Current Strikeforce fighter Scott Lighty faced some dude named Patrick Parry.  Yes, Hype or Die himself.  And Evensen lost!  So did Barry! And those were just the reserve bouts!  You know what the "undercard" superfight was that night?  Musashi vs. the real Milwaukee's Best, Duke Roufus. How sick is that?  If I had a time machine, the first thing I'd do is go back to 4/30/05 and set that bitch to drop me in the middle of the effin Bellagio.

Anyway I think one tangent is good enough for tonight, so let's get back to Badr.  And his matchup with one of the toughest men I've ever seen, Stefan Leko.  You've got to understand something if we're gonna talk about this - Blitz is the man.  I sat up last night and watched him break his foot in a fight against Melvin Manhoef from 2009.  He was winning the fight, but his luck clock struck gonzo and he was forced to quit.  Instead of getting carried off into the sunset, he limped over to Manhoef on a broken limb and congratulated him.  Then propped himself up on that same broken limb, next to the ref while Melvin got his hand raised.  Then spent more time standing on that broken foot and listened to Melvin's post-fight speech, never once asking for help from his corner or anyone else.  Make no mistake folks, Stefan Leko is the definition of a warrior.  And this leads us to our matchup for today.

Badr Hari vs. Stefan Leko by sukkel1

First off, it's amusing that the genius filmmakers spelled Hari wrong.  And that they decided to use cardboard cutouts to show off the matchup.  Seriously, those are real people?  I thought I was playing a Neo Geo game for a second there.  It doesn't get much better when we see actual footage of the respective fighters.  It's safe to say that Badr "Inspector Gadget" Hari wasn't blocking anyone's sunset views with his massive physique.  Seriously, what was he back then?  A buck forty five?  No wonder Blitz whooped his ass (spoiler alert!!).

As far as fights go, this one certainly ain't gonna put you to sleep.  Both fighters jumped out to a quick start and decided it was booty-kickin' time.  Leko worked from range well, and managed to land the better shots from in close early by utilizing a thai clinch that seemingly had the taller Hari baffled.  Hari lands a pretty dope head kick at the 2:26 mark of the video, but c'mon son.  You don't wanna make Stefan Leko mad!  Some sloppy exchanges and a sloppier spinning back fist on Leko's part have us on the edge of comedy by the 3:00 mark, but fear not young padawans.  Finish soon, we will have!

Badr's jumping attack fails miserably at the 3:05 mark, and he's forced to be all Badr-like and throw his opponent to the ground like an unwanted bouncer shortly thereafter. Hari throws a few fancy spinning moves at Leko in the next few seconds, but again - this is Stefan Leko we're talking about.  A 2005 Leko to boot.  You really think he's going to fall for these petty, inexperienced games?  Like Barack Obama says - Aw Hell Naw!   And if you tune into the 3:16 mark, you'll see one of the deadliest spinning back kicks this side of David Loiseau's house.  Hero Hari folds like a pup tent and stays down for a long time.  And Blitz gets his hand raised like six pointless minutes later.  Honestly, why is the video 11 minutes long if the fight only goes 1:44?

The funny part to me is that this didn't even lead to Badr's reign of terror.  His rematch against Leko offered up, quite possibly, the greatest K-1 moment ever (for about 4 months, until Peter Graham introduced the world and Mr. Hari to Rolling Thunder...our authors will get to that soon enough), but people seem to forget Badr never really started to be an elite force until the 2006 K-1 WGP, 18 months later.  The sky was the limit after that, but back in 2005...Stefan "Blitz" Leko was putting him on blast.  And as much as I love Badr...it was awesome.