Tarik el Idrissi via www.kombatleague.net

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Tarik el Idrissi has been forced to withdraw from the March 21 K-1 MAX Europe Qualifying GP.  El Idrissi made the following statement (translated from Dutch):

We regret to announce that Tarik El Idrissi must withdraw from the matchmaking of Amsterdam Fight Club and K-1 Max Holland. Tarik was in very intensive training for these two fights, however, Tarik has a medical setback and his injury is still not healed enough to participate in these events. Both Team Black Label Fighting and Tarik El Idrissi regret this deeply, both for the fans and to the organizations, which relied on Tarik as part of their matchmaking. Of course we will keep you informed of progress regarding the injury of Tarik.

This is indeed an unfortunate setback for the el Idrissi, who was set to take part in the qualifying tournament, and was one of the early favorites to win and earn the spot in the Final 16. We of course wish him all the best for a speedy recovery.

No word yet on who will take his tournament spot.

Kohi vs. Nagashima takes place in the opening round of the K-1 MAX Japan tournament on March 27th.

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Finally, K-1 speaks with a card announcement and they speak loud and clear with the annual K-1 MAX Japan tournament which will take place on March 27th in Japan. The highlight of the event is 3-time MAX Japan champion Taishin Kohiruimaki facing off against the ever-colorful, cross-dressing Yuichiro Nagashima. The other tournament favorite has to be last year's cindarella story in Yuya Yamamoto, who made it to the finals of the 2009 MAX Japan tournament before losing a decision to Kohi, then earning his spot in the finals by racking up impressive victories in the Final 16 and Final 8 while Kohi sat on the sidelines with an injury. Yamamoto takes on HINATA, who might never be a pushover, but if a determined Yamamoto comes to fight, HINATA might not stand much of a chance. 

To round out the tournament, TATSUJI will take on the undefeated 2009 KRUSH 70kg (Middleweight/MAX) tournament champion, Hiroki Nakajima while Yasuhiro Kido will take on another KRUSH fighter, RYUJI.

The big news does not revolve around the tournament this year, instead the Superfights, as World MAX 2009 Champion Giorgio Petrosyan returns to action against Yoshihiro Sato. Petrosyan shows no signs of slowing down, as this will come just weeks after his planned bout with Kem Sitsongpeenong (the artist formerly known as Khem Fairtex). The other big news is the possibility of MAX adding another weight class to the mix on a permanent basis. There have been rumblings of a 63kg weight class (MAX is 70kg), and this press conference has claimed to look for a tournament to declare a champion within the next year in this weight class. The 63kg bouts on this card will feature some exciting fighters, with former Osaka Pro wrestling star and somewhat of a mixed bag in the world of martial arts fighter Takehiro Murahama (for some reason being billed as TAKE HERO by K-1) against Kosuke Komiyama. The big fight at 63kgs will be crazy brawler Kazuhisa Watanabe against Daiki Hata, better known to DREAM and DEEP fans as DJ. Taiki.

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Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima continues his cosplaying ways this time doing... something.  Dressing up as a waitress and serving food?

On February 6th, UKC ran their K-1 Rules event from the Palais des Sports in Dijon with K-1 superstar Jerome Le Banner as the special guest. The event was organized by HDI production and Youssef El Guebassi whose matchmaking has been prepared by Alan Kermorvan (manager of Team Le Banner), bringing together some fantastic French and European fighters.

French fighter Abdallah Mabe (76-10-1) won the 8-man K-1 rules tournament when he beat Karim Ghajji (59-4-1) via knockout with a flying knee in an exciting 'all French' showdown in the finals. On his way through the tournament, Mabel defeated Turkish fighter Ali Alkayis in the quarter finals and was victorious over Mickael Lallemand in the semi finals when he also stopped the fight with a flying knee.

Six time Muay Thai champion Dmitry Valent (79-5-0) picked up a five round decision victory over Yohan Lidon (78-8-1) in their WKN title fight. In a bout for the WPMF European Heavyweight title, Brice Guidon (19-5-0) defeated Chris Knowles (24-3-2) when the fight was stopped due to multiple cuts after punishing elbows by Guidon.

UKC France MAX K-1 Rules Palais des Sports (Dijon, France) February 6th, 2010
Tournament Final ~ UKC France K-1 Rules
Abdallah Mabel WIN via KO (R2)	vs.	Karim Ghajji
WKN World Title
Dmitri Valent (78-5-0) WIN via Decision (R5)	vs	Yohan Lidon (78-7-1)
WPMF  European Heavyweight Title
Chris Knowles (24-2-2)	vs	Brice Guidon (18-5-0) WIN via TKO (R1)
Tournament Semi Finals ~ UKC France K-1 Rules
Karim Ghajji WIN via Decision (R3)	vs	Marat Grigorian
Tournament Semi Finals ~ UKC France K-1 Rules
Abdallah Mabel WIN via KO (R1)	vs	Mickael Lallemand
WPMF European Title ~ 75kg
Kevin Haas (31-7-3) WIN via Decision (R5)	vs	Aiello Batonon (32-9-0)
Tournament Quater Finals ~ UKC France K-1 Rules
Marat Grigorian (22-2-1) WIN via Decision (R3)	vs	Hicham Chaïb
Tournament Quater Finals ~ UKC France K-1 Rules
Karim Ghajji (59-3-1) WIN via TKO (R2)	vs	Jakub Gazdík (35-1-2)
Tournament Quater Finals ~ UKC France K-1 Rules
Mickael Lallemand (64-11-0) WIN via Decision (R3)	vs	Dima Weime (30-8-1)
Tournament Quater Finals ~ UKC France K-1 Rules
Abdallah Mabel (75-10-1) WIN via TKO (R3)	vs	Ali Alkayis (20-1-0)
Reserve Fight
Serguei Khamemko (37-7-0)	vs	Khadda Redouani  WIN via Decision (R3)
Preliminary
Ludovic Millet (62-8-1) WIN via KO (R1)	vs	Thierry Lallemand (31-11-3)
Preliminary
Mark Bird (10-5-1)	vs	Sofian Taib (4-3-0) WIN via Decision (R3)

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The entertaining Kazuhisa Watanabe took part in a children's charity event recently, appearing as "Gentle Noodles Man" in a performance and hamming it up for a good cause.

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K-1 WORLD MAX 2009 Champion Giorgio Petrosyan will see his first fight after breaking his hand over the skull of Yuya Yamamoto and dismantling Andy Souwer to take home the title. This fight, of course, will take place in his home of Italy where he will be defending his WKN International Muay Thai title against the French fighter Mohamed Diaby.

The fantastic World Combat News brings us that along with the full card.

After beating Andy Souwer in last years K-1 World MAX Finals and winning the tournament, Giorgio Petrosyan (60-1-2) will defend his WKN International Muay Thai title against France's Mohamed Diaby at "Campionato Mondiale Thai Boxe" in Italy on January 30th, 2010.

WKN INTERNATIONAL KICKBOXING ORIENTALES RULES . 3×3 mn . 69,900 kg
Giorgio PETROSIAN ( CHAMPION . ITALIA) vs Mohamed DIABY ( CHALLENGER . FRANCE )

Chi Bin Lim

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Well, we've been waiting long enough for word from FEG in regards to their 2010 schedule, and by the looks of it, we'll still be waiting until March before we really see any sort of action from FEG in regards to K-1 and DREAM.

FEG released a press release about DREAM, announcing DREAM.13 will take place on March 22nd in the Yokohama Arena, with tickets on sale January 31st. No card has been announced yet, but there are rumblings of Bibiano Fernandes vs. Joachim Hansen for the Featherweight Championship already, and Maurilo Bustamante claiming he'll appear on the show as well.

Also in March it looks like the K-1 MAX Korea GP will take place, featuring '09 MAX Korea GP winner Chi Bin Lim and Jae Gil Noh.

Albert Kraus sparring from Mixfight

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With Masato bowing out at the ripe age of 30, some of the "older" K-1 MAX fighters have been considering career options. Of course by ripe I mean late 20's and early 30's. Albert Kraus is no stranger to K-1 MAX fans, in 2002 in the first K-1 WORLD MAX tournament he walked away as the champion, holding a win over Masato in that first tournament.

In a recent interview with Dutch portal Mixfight, a few questions came up surrounding the "age" of Kraus; who is 29 years old. Kraus went on record that he would like to capture the K-1 WORLD MAX title again, that he has two years left under contract with K-1, looking to fight about four times each year. Clearly not showing any signs of slowing down yet. He regrets Masato's retirement, as he'd like to fight him again and it has caused him, only a year younger than Masato, to reflect upon how much time is left in his career.

Still only 29, he understands though that weight-cutting is the most important thing for a lighter-weight fighter. fighters like Ernesto Hoost and Peter Aerts were brought up, who continue on into their late thirties, but Kraus points out that heavyweight fighters do not have to worry about their weight much like Middleweight fighters do. So don't look for Albert Kraus to retire any time soon.