MMHK 6/6 to 6/12: Daniel Ghita and Danyo Ilunga Victorious at It's Showtime Warsaw

Banner image provided by Anton Tabuena

It's Showtime Warsaw was undoubtedly the big kickboxing event of the week, as Daniel Ghita and promotional 95 kg. champion Danyo Ilunga appeared. There were some other noteworthy fights around Europe over the weekend, as Jerome Le Banner and Stefan Leko headlined a card in Switzerland and Armen Petrosyan faced off against the veteran Warren Stevelmans in Italy.

As always, my focus here will be kickboxing and Muay Thai (MMA will surely pop up now and then). Those sports have a global presence but remain underreported, so if you have news related to fighters and events from your part of the world, chime in. Use the fanpost function on the front page; I'd like to feature some of our reader's thoughts here but they need to be shown first.

Since Twitter is what the kids are doing, here you go: @thedutchbaby.

It's Showtime Warsaw: Unfortunately, I was not able to put together a play-by-play for this event as usual. As great as the It's Showtime stream is when working properly, it just wasn't permitting a play-by-play this time around. Regardless, you can check out the results here.

Danyo Ilunga defended his title, albeit in an ugly bout that did little for him in my estimation. Daniel Ghita did what he does and put away Erhan Deniz early. Michal Glogowski and Rafal Dudek put on a good fight, definitely some dispute over the decision in that one. Murthel Groenhart, Hafid el Boustati, and Revanho Blokland also won on the card.

Jermome Le Banner Wins in Geneva: Pretty straight forward here. Le Banner took a decision over Stefan Leko to win an ISKA trinket. The word is that Leko subsequently retired. On the undercard, Chakuriki Gym fighter Frank Munoz dropped a decision to his French opponent, Nicolas Wamba.

Krush 70 kg. Semifinals Announced: The ongoing Krush 70 kg. tournament is set to wrap up in July, and the Japanese promotion announced the semifinal match ups over the weekend. Hiroki Nakajima will face Kenta in one bout, while Shintaro Matsukura will square off against Yutaro Yamauchi in the other. Signs would seem to point to a final between Nakajima and Matsukura. Either way, it should be interesting.

Zimmerman vs. Slowinski Now Set for Rotterdam, June 18th: The headlining bout for this card can't stay together. It was supposed to be Gokhan Saki vs. Sergei Lascenko, Saki pulled out. Errol Zimmerman stepped in, Sergei Lascenko is evidently injured. So there you have it - Errol Zimmerman vs. Paul Slowinski is what you get. Enjoy it. Regardless, the little eight-man tournament being put together and Nicky Hemmers fighting in an A-class bout is what the show is really about anyway.

Daniel Ghita vs. Erhan Deniz - It's Showtime Warsaw 2011, June 11th in Warsaw, Poland

Why you should watch: It's Daniel Ghita. He's fighting. He gets a knockout win with a body shot. There's blood too, if you enjoy that sort of thing more than the actual fighting.

Rafal Dudek vs. Michal Glogowski - It's Showtime Warsaw 2011, June 11th in Warsaw, Poland

Why you should watch: Top Polish 70 kg. fighters take it to an extra round. The decision is one that I know people are falling on either side of. Dudek is putting in a lot of work at Mike's Gym and the fact that Glogowski spent some time in Thailand definitely shows in this one.

Danyo Ilunga vs. Nenad Pagonis - It's Showtime Warsaw 2011, June 11th in Warsaw, Poland

Why you should watch: Danyo Ilunga defends his title and doesn't look his best while doing so. I would encourage watching Ilunga's March bout against Wendell Roche and his most recent loss, to Henriques Zowa, along with this one. Try to figure this fighter out.