Jan Plas, Founder of Mejiro Gym, Passes Away
by Dave Walsh on Sep 2, 2010 10:33 PM EDT
in Fighters
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It has been reported today that Jan Plas, the founder of the Mejiro Gym in the Netherlands has passed away in his jail cell at the age of 65. Jan Plas is best known for being the trainer of Peter Aerts, who went on to be one of the most successful kickboxers on an international level. Plas founded the Mejiro Gym in 1978 after numerous trips to Japan to study kickboxing with Kenji Kurosaki. In many ways, Plas is seen as one of the godfathers of kickboxing for the Dutch.
The first way is, obviously, that the Mejiro Gym is one of the most famous and accomplished kickboxing gyms in the world. Plas founded the Mejiro Gym to bring Japanese Kyokushin style kickboxing mixed with Muay Thai to the Netherlands. Plas was also instrumental in the formation of the NKBB, The Dutch Kickboxing Association.
Plas found himself in prison after being tied in with the Netherlands' notorious underworld, which came at a high price. He was involved in drug trafficking as well as money laundering, which turned into a family business of sorts, with his two children, who served as Dutch police officers, helping him. Plas found himself in a sticky situation, where he would have to betray his family or hardened criminals to save himself, and either one could end in pain. His death was reported as a suicide without any real details yet.
Regardless of his criminal connections, the kickboxing world has lost a true legend.
Nightmareofbattle.com reports that FEG will host a press conference on Sunday for DREAM.16
There are reports that they will announce opponents for Japanese stars, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto and Caol Uno. Bloodymayhem.com claims "Kid" will fight current Tachi Palace Fights bantamweight champion, Michael McDonald.
(Pictured: DREAM Event Producer, Keiichi Sasahara & FEG President, Sadaharu Tanikawa)
More Rumored K-1 World Grand Prix Final 16 Matches; Badr Hari vs. Hesdy Gerges Rematch Rumored
by Dave Walsh on Sep 2, 2010 12:46 PM EDT
in K-1
6 comments
Hot on the heels of getting word of the first bout for the K-1 World Grand Prix Final 16 there are some strong rumorscirculating about some of the other Final 16 bouts for October 2nd in Seoul, South Korea. Ben Edwards vs. Alistair Overeem is the bout we have heard through somewhat official channels and is quite the blockbuster of a fight, and in that vein so are the other fights that are rumored.
Badr Hari vs. Hesdy Gerges
Kyotaro vs. Gokhan Saki
Peter Aerts vs. Ewerton Teixeira
Errol Zimmerman vs. Jerome Le Banner
The other rumored participants (some not exactly rumored but confirmed) are Sem Schilt, Ruslan Karaev, Freddy Kemayo, Singh Jaideep and the other two fighters have yet to be chosen.
Also rumored is that the remainder of the K-1 MAX Final 16 will take place in Seoul, with the rumored matches for this event laying out as follows;
Vitaly Hurkou vs. Giorgio Petrosyan
Mootje Khamal vs. Arthur Kyshenko
Mike Zambidis vs. Chahid Oulad El Hadj
Also featured will be Gago Drago, Su Hwan Lee and two others (possibly Buakaw Por. Pramuk).
There are some absolutely huge fights here, including a Gokhan Saki vs. Kyotaro rematch, Errol Zimmerman vs. Jerome Le Banner, the Badr Hari vs. Hesdy Gerges rematch and the inclusion of Peter Aerts into this year's World Grand Prix against Ewerton Teixeira.
Of course nothing is final in these regards until we hear from official sources, but if this is indeed how the Final 16 is shaping up it should be an incredible show.
K-1 World Grand Prix Final 16 First Matchup Leaked: Ben Edwards vs. Alistair Overeem
by Dave Walsh on Sep 2, 2010 12:19 PM EDT
in K-1
1 comment
Imagine your first K-1 Grand Prix, your first time on the big stage where you can prove your mettle to the world. Then, imagine winning it, never mind that, imagine dominating that, and then to top it off, you make a new K-1 record for quickest Grand Prix victory. That is the life of Ben Edwards. Ben Edwards on October 2nd steps into his first K-1 World Grand Prix Final 16 and according to Edwards, his first challenge on the world stage is a huge one; Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem.
Overeem made the tough decision to continue on with his K-1 career while Strikeforce's next challenger, Fabricio Werdum is still on the shelf after having surgery on his elbow. Overeem put his foot down on defending his championship against another fighter coming off of a loss, Fedor Emelianenko, much like his last fight of Brett Rogers. The speculation as to who Overeem would face was running wild as always, and with Edwards announcing this fight the rumors can (once again) be put to rest.
This fight will be nothing short of an offensive war, with neither man known for letting a fight go the distance and leaving a trail of carnage behind them. Edwards is an aggressive brawler who has never seemed overly concerned with defending when he can be attacking, while Overeem likes to bully his opponents with muay thai sweeps and frustrate them into dropping their defenses for his brutal knees and precise hands.
The odds will be high as the winner goes on to the K-1 World Grand Prix Finals in December and gets their chance to be the 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix champion.
Artur Kyshenko v. Teerapong Dee Fight Video
by Fraser Coffeen on Sep 1, 2010 6:10 PM EDT
in Fight Videos
3 comments
Here's a fight I am glad to be able to share with you all because I honestly wasn't sure if it would be made available. This is Artur Kyshenko's fight last night at the SportAccord Combat Games 2010 in Beijing. It's a semi-final fight in the 71kg division in Muay Thai. Muay Thai rules, with 4 rounds and headgear. His opponent is Teerapong Dee from Thailand. Wish I could tell you more about Teerapong, but I am not familiar with him.
The video starts towards the end of round 2, and is complete from there.
Watching this fight, one of the things that most jumps out at me is how well Teerapong reads Kyshenko. He seems constantly one step ahead, so that even when Kyshenko is pushing forward, Teerapong is the one scoring first and defending whatever Kyshenko throws against him. As for Kyshenko, he looks somewhat tentative, not quite committing to his strikes fully or using enough movement. I'm not trying to take anything away from Teerapong, who looked great here, but this is not Kyshenko at his finest.
Which begs the question - is Kyshenko simply holding back a bit here because of the setting, or is this a problem we're going to see crop up again in Kyshenko's performances? The MAX Grand Prix will be a telling event for Kyshenko and will say a lot about where he stands.
Mike Kogan on FEG's Future: "We need investment money. That's the bottom line."
by Dave Walsh on Sep 1, 2010 2:24 PM EDT
in K-1
2 comments
Sometimes for the full truth to come out you have to poke and prod, stir the pot and put it all out there, and that has been how the financial situation with FEG has been in the past few months. Last week we reported (and were much maligned and misquoted for sensationalism's sake) that DREAM.16 was it for the DREAM series "for now" and that there was still nothing solid for K-1 MAX this year, with the clock ticking. Many took this to mean that DREAM.17, which was never formally announced, but only hinted at in a January 2010 "DREAM road map" by FEG, was canceled. Much like any other site who values sources, we did our best to deliver the information at hand and give our commentary on it. Much like things work, the commentary was misquoted as fact and the internet went wild with speculation, again.
This all comes when a giant, such as FEG, decides to sleep during a time of distress. Fighters are coming forward to discuss FEG's financial problems, and with just how quiet FEG has been, the speculation has ran rampant without a single hose to put out the fire. After having their hand forced to comment, at least in the states, FEG's Mike Kogan elaborated on what he told us last week to MMAJunkie. Instead of satiating the demand to know that everything will be aright with everyone's favorite Japanese promotion, the outlook Kogan gave was brutally honest, which we've come to know and respectfully expect from him. Mike Kogan told MMAJunkie that essentially what is happening is PUJI is auditing FEG's operations right now, to see if the business is viable.
I'm not trying to push a sole HKL agenda right now, but instead shed light that this is how investment banks work, and while many sighed a sigh of relief when the PUJI deal was announced, us who have been around the block with Japanese promotions and followed them, as well as understand some of the finer details on investment banking saw this for what it was;
My best guess is that after a year PUJI sees if FEG has a true future to make money for them, and if not they will continue on a scaled back course for the remainder of their promise and then dump FEG into the dust.
Mike Kogan, who is no fool speaks along the same lines in this interview, and speaks that they very badly need this investment money from PUJI to continue on into 2011.
"Are you asking me if we're going to be in business after Dynamite? I don't know," he said. "It's very difficult. Obviously, we're short on revenues, and we need to - besides restructuring - we need to be able to find new sources of revenue.
"You need money to make money, so to speak. I don't sit in on the financial meetings. But it's very challenging.
"We need investment money. That's the bottom line."
Kogan remains optimistic, but realistic for the future of FEG, which to me seems realistic. If you are a fan of Japanese MMA you might need to begin brushing up on your DEEP, SRC and SHOOTO soon, because the fight landscape in Japan seems like it could change at any moment. Maybe instead of worrying we should just enjoy what we can get for now?
DREAM In Financial Troubles: Is The End Near?
by Justin Faux on Sep 1, 2010 9:50 AM EDT
in DREAM
11 comments
The state of mixed martial arts in Japan has been questioned amongst keyboard warriors for several years since the fall of the revolutionary Pride FC organization.
Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG) are the leading provider of combat sports in the land of the rising sun—they are the parent company behind the largest kick boxing organization in the world, K-1, as well as DREAM.
It has been apparent for quite some time that financial difficulties have been a big problem for FEG.
Gary Goodridge, Andy Souwer, and current DREAM Bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes are just a few who have stepped up to the plate and told the fight media that they have not been paid for their past performances.
The signs continued to add up when FEG cancelled their DREAM 17 event that was scheduled to take place on October 25 in South Korea—also no dates have been announced for the K-1 MAX events rumoured for 2010.
At this point and time FEG only has two upcoming events—DREAM 16 on September 25 and their annual Dynamite event schedule for New Year's Eve.
Mike Kogan, the United States representative for FEG, conducted an interview with MMAJunkie.
After months of denial on the part of FEG management, Kogan is the first to step up and admit that the organization is in a large hole of financial problems and the future of the company rests on a deal with PUJI Capital.
According to Kogan, PUJI Capital are attempting to provide $230 million for the fight organization, which would allow them to pay back the hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to fighters and have them back in business for 2011.
For the investors to accumulate the cash total suggested it could take quite some time, and if the deal falls through, well I can let you figure out the outcome there.
As a fan of DREAM since its inception I would be incredibly disappointed to see it disappear, especially with organizations like World Victory Road who bring us Sengoku rumoured to be in a financial bind as well.
It seems the state of the sport in Japan is at its worst.
DREAM will close the year with only two titles remaining and pray that PUJI Capital are able to summon the large amount of money to pull them out of their current hole, but for now I suggest not holding your breath.
Rumored MAX Final 16 Fights and Date
by Fraser Coffeen on Sep 1, 2010 6:51 AM EDT
in K-1 MAX
0 comments
We don't have a date set just yet, but we know that the remaining 5 fights in the MAX Final 16 should be coming soon. And now, according to rumors, we may have 2 of those 5 fights set.
First up, mixfight.nl is reporting that it will be Artur Kyshenko v. Mootje Khamal. Their source is Khamal's management. Obviously this is a rumor, and even if that's the current plan it could change, but mixfight is typically pretty trustworthy. Even though Kyshenko has a pair of recent upsets on his record, he would have to be seen as the heavy favorite here. Kyshenko has the edge in experience, and will enjoy a significant size advantage over Khamal, who moved up from 60-65kg to take part in MAX. Kyshenko has used his size well in the past, and Hinata taking away that size advantage was definitely a factor in that win. Against a smaller, considerably less experienced opponent, I favor Kyshenko, but Khamal is a tough fighter who could push him.
Next, Mike Zambidis's website is reporting that it will be Zambidis v. Chahid Oulad El Hadj. This report also lists a date of October 3 in Seoul for the Final 16. This actually could make for a really excellent fight, as both men are cut from a similar all action, heavy striking mold. What's interesting is that they both have had some hard times in recent years. Chahid started 2009 as one of the can't miss prospects, but after losing his MAX debut, he fell into a rough spiral, going 1-5 in his next 6. He's since come back and won his last 3, making his way back up the ranks. Zambidis has had a number of high profile losses in the past 2 years including against Albert Kraus, John Wayne Parr, and Hinata. But he too is on a comeback, having won his last 2 against Dzhabar Askerov and Warren Stevelmans. With this fight, one of these two will score a big win to help reestablish themselves, while the other will fall back into their losing ways. It's a tough call between these two, as Zambidis has the punching power and a big experience advantage, but Chahid is a determined, powerful striker. Chahid also possesses good leg kicks, which have always been a real kryptonite to Zambidis. I'll pick Chahid, but it's razor thin.
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