Following the once great K-1 in 2011 has been a maddening experience. The company has long had issues delivering on their promises, but between the rumored shows, bankruptcy, and sale, 2011 has been an especially befuddling year. Now, the 2011 K-1 World Grand Prix has entered this same state of confusion. Where do things stand exactly with the event?

Let's see what we can figure out:

• All year, rumors of a 2011 K-1 Grand Prix were decidedly on-agan, off-again. Over the summer, the rights to K-1 were reported as being sold to an unrelated Japanese company, with some possible unnamed investors from the world of international kickboxing. After that sale, rumors continued to circulate, with fighters mentioning being approached to take part in a GP later this year.
• Earlier this month, K-1 officially announced the 2011 K-1 World Grand Prix, set to begin with the Final 16 on October 29 in China. Eleven of the 16 participants were officially announced:

Badr Hari (77-11) - 2008 & 2009 K-1 GP runner-up
Hesdy Gerges (39-9-1) - Current It's Showtime Heavyweight champion
Tyrone Spong (67-6-1-1) - 2010 Final 8
Ruslan Karaev (13-9) - 2008 K-1 Taipei champion; 2005 K-1 Las Vegas champion
Daniel Ghita (39-7) - 2010 Final 8; 2009 K-1 Tokyo GP champion
Ben Edwards (32-7-2) - 2010 K-1 Oceania GP champion
Melvin Manhoef (37-9) - 2009 Final 16
Dzevad Poturak (47-16-1-1) - K-1 Grand Prix debut
Sergei Lascenko (27-9) - 2011 SuperKombat GP champion; 2009 K-1 Tokyo GP runner-up
Rico Verhoeven (35-5-1) - K-1 Grand Prix debut
Anderson "Braddock" Silva (29-5-1) - K-1 Grand Prix debut

• Notable in this announcement was the news that It's Showtime would be co-promoting the show. It's Showtime has had a rocky relationship with K-1 in 2011, as they have very publicly spoken about their fighters not being paid, and had a falling out earlier in the year when K-1 pulled out of a planned co-promoted show in Amsterdam, forcing It's Showtime to cancel their yearly super show.
• Shortly after the announcement, 3 more names were rumored additions to the field. Ben Edwards stated that he would be fighting Errol Zimmerman in the Final 16, and both Rustemi Kreshnik and Xhavit Bajrami were also allegedly added, leaving just two remaining spots open.
• Last week, It's Showtime announced the retirement of Badr Hari, and in the midst of that announcement threw the entire Grand Prix into doubt, stating:

If K-1 will host a World Grand Prix this year, Badr will also participate to that. The Grand Prix Final is scheduled for December 10 in China. If this World Grand Prix will take place, depends if K-1 will be able to pay its debts to IT'S SHOWTIME and others. If not, the fight on January 28 will be Badr's only remaining fight as a kickboxer.

While it seemed K-1 and It's Showtime had worked out their financial issues, obviously that is not the case. To be clear, if It's Showtime pulls their fighters, the K-1 Grand Prix can not happen as it is currently planned. And as of right now, it seems It's Showtime thinks that is a definite possibility.

K-1 is trying desperately to hold on, and so are we as fans. Yes this line-up is greatly diminished from last year's, but it was still the Grand Prix, and I was still greatly looking forward to it. But at some point, we may need to accept the reality. K-1 may pull something together, may even crown a 2011 GP champion, but the truth is, it's over. And it has been ever since Alistair Overeem put Peter Aerts down one year ago. The only question left is, when will they pull the plug? 

K-1 will release information on the upcoming K-1 World Grand Prix 2011 Final 16 event at a press conference on Friday. The press conference is set to be aired live starting at 7:00pm JST (5:00am EST), and diligent fans will be able to check it out via the K-1 official website.

The promotion has indicated that Friday's press conference will reveal who is competing in the Final 16 event, what venue the event will be held at, and more. For the moment, it is clear that the event will indeed be held in Nanjing, China.

This announcement comes after a considerable period of silence from the one-time kickboxing monolith. It seemed as though we'd have information on the World Grand Prix over the summer, but those hopes faded as promoters and fans alike were left to speculate as to whether or not the tournament might happen at all.

Despite the silence, the tournament seemed all but confirmed recently when It's Showtime head Simon Rutz stated that fans would have to wait until January to see his promotion's anticipated return to the Netherlands. Prior to his announcement, Rutz offered that the event was likely to be held in December if K-1 would not be occupying the year-end period with their World Grand Prix.

Look for all the related news to come in following Friday morning's press conference.

The K-1 Koshien 2011 East Japan Tournament kicked off this year's K-1 Koshien events on Saturday, as top finishers Shuto Miyazaki and Minoru Kimura advanced to the November 3rd final.

The rest of the K-1 Koshien 2011 Final will be brought together with top qualifiers from the upcoming West Japan Tournament on September 10th and finalists from last year's K-1 Koshien final. The East Japan Tournament holds a certain distinction, as K-1 Koshien 2010 champion Shoei Hareyama came out of the East Japan bracket last year.

There were 41 fighters and 39 bouts to be had when the competitors took to the ring on Saturday. In the end, 2010 competitor Minoru Kimura and newcomer Shuto Miyazaki found themselves through to the final. Kimura, who improved upon his showing in the East Japan 2010 tournament, was eliminated in the opening round of the K-1 Koshien 2010 Final.

Look for related news on the K-1 Koshien tournament as things pick up through the rest of the year.

A full list of results from the evening, straight from K-1's official website, can be found after the jump.

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Another week has gone by without the major announcement that fans have expected from K-1, but It's Showtime head Simon Rutz has lent further support to the notion that we will see a K-1 World Grand Prix Final 16 event before the year is over.

Earlier today, Rutz stated on his Facebook page that he was in contact with K-1 representatives and they were almost certainly putting together both the Final 16 and tournament final proper before the end of 2011. Tying in with this statement, the It's Showtime head mentioned that Badr Hari's next bout would soon be announced.

Rutz also offered that fighter payment continues to be an issue, but that K-1 has promised money to those owed and no fighters managed by It's Showtime will be competing in the K-1 events until that is delivered upon.

In related news, the It's Showtime head reiterated that there is an It's Showtime heavyweight grand prix on the horizon. Rutz again stated that if K-1 does not deliver, then the tournament can be expected later this year. If K-1 is able to pay It's Showtime fighters and move forward with their own heavyweight tournament, however, it seems that It's Showtime will look to early 2012 for its planned heavyweight tournament. While this is mostly a reiteration of earlier statements, rather than any sort of new development, Rutz mentioned that January 28th would be when fans would see such an event, should it be put off until 2012.

Expect more news regarding the K-1 World Grand Prix in the near future, as well as any further developments regarding the potential It's Showtime heavyweight tournament that will follow.

As fighters continue to talk more about a potential K-1 World Grand Prix Final 16 event in October, it seems more and more likely that fans really will see the promotion return with its display of heavyweight grandeur.

The October rumor? Well, folks from Mike's Gym have talked about it, It's Showtime head Simon Rutz has indirectly supported the rumor, Tyrone Spong mentioned it in his recent interview with Ariel Helwani, and now Daniel Ghita is posting about it on Facebook.

Per the folks over at LiverKick, Ghita has stated that the primary reason a September bout with Badr Hari has been axed is because of this rumored K-1 event.

Ghita's assertion is sure to bring not only great excitement to fans, but also a number of questions regarding the potential field of competitors. Tyrone Spong, who would be a certain competitor if tradition holds, has indicated he won't be fighting unless K-1 is able to pay him what is owed for his last bouts with the organization. While Spong's assertion may be the strongest seen from any near-guaranteed competitors, it's known that K-1 owes a lot more fighters than just him.

Current debts and other factors considered, a potential K-1 World Grand Prix in 2011 would seem likely to offer as much a glimpse into divisional up-and-comers as a look at entrenched divisional stars.

Expect plenty more in the way of news regarding the resurgent efforts of K-1 in the coming weeks.

Well, the news has been making the rounds all day: K-1 is now officially in the hands of Japanese real estate company, Barbizon Co. Ltd. After a significant period of speculation, hints from Kazuyoshi Ishii, and the frustrated indifference from fans the world over, we now have some answers. Sort of.

Daniel Herbertson of MMAFighting.com offered a pretty concise description of the purchasing company:

Barbizon Co,.Ltd was formed in 1967, currently employs 35 employees and has 484,000,000 Japanese yen (approximately 6.2 million dollars) in capital. The company specializes in real estate and owns a number of hotels and apartment complexes in Southeast Asia and Japan.

There you have it, the folks who purchased the rights to K-1 (trademarks including K-1 World Grand Prix, Dynamite!!, etc.).

Noticeably absent from the purchase are K-1 MAX, K-1 Koshien, and the mixed martial promotion, DREAM. A lot is staying the same there, DREAM remaining with FEG and Real Entertainment and K-1 Koshien tied to FiELDS. As for K-1 MAX, the brand's ties to Tokyo Broadcasting System muddy the waters a bit; though the sole K-1 MAX event of 2011 was run without TBS involvement.

Beyond that, there is little in the way of substantive information at this time. As Dave Walsh of LiverKick.com mentioned earlier today, there are rumors abound regarding involving of groups outside of Japan, and the matter of whose hands are in this really is the major question going forward.

Given the nature of this story, keep up with us at Head Kick Legend and the gentlemen over at Bloody Elbow, where Fraser Coffeen laid out the news earlier today.

Expect plenty of further details in the coming weeks and months, as this dramatic shift in the K-1 brand unfolds.

While K-1 representatives remain adamant that the Japanese promotion will continue its push back into the kickboxing world, the promotion's transitional period continues to be plagued by the issue of fighter payment.

Two-time K-1 World Grand Prix runner-up Jerome Le Banner recently stated that he has no intention of competing for the organization in the future. The heavyweight great, who recently won an ISKA trinket in a victory over Stefan Leko, lodged his complaints in an interview with French website IKUSA.org.

Le Banner's distaste for Sadaharu Tanikawa comes through in particular in the aforementioned interview, a fact which should come as little surprise. Le Banner has had a rough departure with FEG, forfeiting his October 2010, K-1 World Grand Prix bout with Kyotaro and having reportedly not received compensation for his Dynamite!! 2010 mixed martial arts loss to Satoshi Ishii. Le Banner's distaste for the current K-1 structure is matched by a clear appreciation for Kazuyoshi Ishii, who is said to be eying some new opportunities in the promotion of kickboxing in 2012.

While Jerome Le Banner's statement, in itself, makes waves as a statement on the alienation of K-1's former top competitors, Ray Sefo has also discussed the troubles with domestic media in Japan. Suffice to say, Sefo, the K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 runner-up and current striking coach at Xtreme Couture, isn't happy with K-1 either.

Nightmare of Battle reports:

Sefo says that they still owe him a lot of money and that they owe Aerts, Le Banner, and Golden Glory as well. He also says that during Ishii’s time everything was done properly and that it became crap since Tanikawa took over.

Well, the story is consistent. A lot of people are owed a lot of money and fighters are continually pointing the finger in the same direction.

The issue of fighters going unpaid is very likely to trouble the attempted comeback of K-1. The promotion has only put on a single event this year, the K-1 World MAX 2011 63 kg. Japan Tournament Final, which was marred by dubious judging and unfortunate commentary alike. When considered alongside the promotion's increasingly curious methods of finding new talent, these developments offer a troubling outlook for the promotion that once stood as a monolithic figure over the kickboxing world.

Neil Manich wrote an interesting, highly literate piece on Hari, drawing parallels from men like Vladimir Lenin, Caesar, and Alexander. While it certainly provides a window into Hari the fighter, the fandom present in Neil's article misses, in my opinion, the more appropriate context over Hari, the man and fighter. Dave Walsh even chimed in, offering a retort:

Badr Hari represents much more of an ideological state apparatus; he is pushed and pushed and pushed as the future, as the best and that he can do no wrong when he does nothing but wrong. Badr Hari in his perfect form is what K-1 and It's Showtime want, as he can clearly carry them into the future and be the superstar the kickboxing world needs, but the ideal Badr Hari doesn't exist. The real Badr Hari is in tight with the mafia, has worn shirts supporting Amsterdam drug dealers to the ring in K-1, he drives expensive cars, wears nice clothing and didn't have to earn most of what he got.

I'll get back to Neil's post in a bit, but I have to clarify that I've been asked by the man upstairs (Matt Roth) to pretend to be a kickboxing expert, and to inform the K-1 experts of what they're all more familiar with than I am. Along the way I learned something: Hari is damn fun to watch. You guys already knew that, but speaking as a neophyte, the task has proven to be a pleasure. I'm not some MMA fan who ignores the arts that shape the sport I love the most (I began as a boxing aficionado due to my dad, who was an amateur boxer), but K-1 is just something I never followed. Watching Hari fight, there's an intensity present in his behavior that can only be fostered by the few. Something innate. Something instinctual. Is it any wonder the same intensity that informs his behavior inside the ring, informs his behavior outside of it?

When I saw Hari's DQ loss to Remi Bonjansky at the K-1 WGP in 2008, I was shocked, as you might expect, but there are two moments that cut to the truth of who Badr Hari is. Yes, 4:48 is one part, but the other is the 10 seconds before the DQ where Bonjansky is launching lethal kicks to Hari's body, and Badr wades through the barrage to unleash a more ferocious one. The Hesdy Gerges fight was no different, with Hari absolutely pasting a very competent kickboxer, only to lose with a kick to Hesdy's face...while he was down of course. Given Hari's connections to the criminal world, Dave Walsh even went so far as to explain the behavior as 'worklike' in nature:

There are also whispers of some of Badr's loss to Gerges and his demeanor being part of a fix in the fight due to his connections and the incredible betting odds for the fight. While these are just rumors and cannot be confirmed, it can help to explain Badr Hari's actions in the ring as well as his stone cold demeanor after the fight, as well as make sense as to why he'd do something when it seemed like he was in complete control of both the fight and his emotions.

Hari's criminal past is well known. While assault might be expected for a kickboxer with a short fuse, it's charges like that of arson which often link Hari to a realm beyond the typical, and into an atmosphere more nefarious. Wearing shirts revealing himself to be a proponent of known, and quite infamous criminals in his homeland isn't exactly a subtle endorsement. I'm not interested in playing the role of "moral guardian" though. I don't condone any of Hari's actions. I condemn them, in fact. His actions require that condemnation. We're not talking about 'mere' misbehavior in the ring. We're talking about the actions of a certified delinquent. But I'm more interested in the relationship between the civilian, and the prizefighter, and how one compliments the other. If only Hari had some sort of moral switch...he could be a true great, right?

"If only"...it's the catchphrase for many troubled fighters; typically fighters who have the potential to be better than they are if only their heads were screwed on straight. ‘If only' Mike Tyson wasn't a maniac...‘if only' Anderson Silva wasn't so bizarre, we might have been saved from the Anderson Silva vs. Thales Leites and Demian Maia fights. If only Badr Hari wasn't such a "Bad Boy", and so forth. These qualifiers always miss the point though. They neglect the truth that just as discipline can be an ingredient for achievement, so too, can recklessness. Or eccentricity. When Anderson Silva danced around at UFC 112, the same behavior that informed his antics in the Maia fight is the same behavior, I'd argue, that informed his knockout wins over Vitor Belfort, Tony Fryklund, or Carlos Newton: who but someone so fascinated by his own quirks would attempt reverse elbows, or look for a front kick as the knockout blow? Anderson Silva, by all accounts, is an architect of indulgence. That's his crime when a fight doesn't quite go his way (like against Maia), but that same behavior generates his accolades (like against Belfort). Silva's a destroyer, but it's a byproduct of his indulgence, and eccentricity: not as a man of one-track violence.

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