Wednesday, 22 May 2013 20:09

On the heels of Saturday's It's Showtime event, a match up change has been made.

Murthel Groenhart is now in for William Diender. Groenhart will be taking on hometown Spanish fighter Rafi Zouheir. What's also interesting is that this fight is at -70kg. Just last week, Groenhart fought picked up a win over Errol Koning at It's Showtime Warsaw. That fight was at -77kg. We don't know exactly when Groenhart stepped in for Diender, but he has a relatively short time to lose 7kg (15 lbs). Groenhart has been fighting at -77kg for a while and this raises the question if he can even get down to 70kg and make it work.

Groenhart's opponent, Rafi Zouheir now faces a tougher challenge than his previous opponent William Diender. Diender had lost 7 of his last 9 fights. Groenhart hasn't exactly been tearing it up recently either but he's been fighting at -77kg.  If Groenhart can adjust to the weight well, it should provide a tough test for Zouheir, who's coming off a tournament win in January.

We don't know why Diender was taken out of the fight, but we'll be sure to update the story if we find out.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 20:09

Alistair Overeem is, regardless of K-1's current status, the 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, that means he won what is one of the biggest tournaments in combat sports with a long, rich history. It is still unclear if Overeem will be able to fight for K-1 again, or if K-1 will hold another World Grand Prix, but what is clear is that Overeem is involved in another huge tournament this year and that is the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix. Overeem faces off against Fabricio Werdum in the Final 8 round this weekend, in a rematch from a few years ago in PRIDE when Overeem was still cutting weight to make Light Heavyweight (PRIDE's Middleweight). Overeem has grown as a fighter since then, with his trainer Martijn de Jong actually saying that Overeem is the most improved fighter that he has ever had the pleasure of working with.

Overeem is already the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion and looks to take the Strikeforce Heavyweight GP crown as well beginning this weekend. Watch him as he talks to MMAFighting's Ariel Helwani about this weekend's big fight, and while it isn't kickboxing, he has the support of us and the kickboxing community. Also note that Overeem says that he has not signed a new contract with Zuffa yet, so he is still free to fight anywhere until that contract is up. [source]

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 20:09

There really hasn't been much hype around the upcoming K-1 show, which features the -63kg MAX Japan tournament Finals for this year. The rest of the tournament played out in KRUSH earlier this year, with a lot of solid talent involved in the tournament. Sadly, K-1 is in a dark place right now and many have simply stopped treating K-1 in the same regards. But regardless of this, at the end of this month K-1 puts on a show involving Japan's best at 63kg and one of them is Koya Urabe. Watch Urabe's open workout video for the upcoming show here.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 20:09

K-1 might not of held any shows yet this year, which has pushed many of the Japanese fighters who usually fight under the K-1 banner to fight in smaller promotions, such as KRUSH recently. One of those fighters has yet to look back since he finally reached the big stage of K-1 MAX glory, that fighter is Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima. Nagashima has entered into the world of professional wrestling, having his first bout in early May in Zero-One MAX against professional wrestler and former SHOOTO fighter Kohei Sato. They put on a match that many have heavily praised, saying that Nagashima looked natural in the ring, like he had been wrestling for years now. For a fighter like Nagashima, he is just a born performer, known for his flashy entrances and portraying an over-the-top character that received international attention when National Geographic featured Jienotsu in a documentary about "strange lifestyles."

He returned to the ring, once again in the Zero-One MAX ring with legendary Shinjiro Ohtani as an opponent, but this time around, in a tag team match. Nagashima's initial entry into Zero-One involved challenging Shin'ya Hashimoto's son, Daichi Hashimoto to a bout, only for Sato to take him on first. Nagashima was able to overcome the veteran Sato in his debut, and this time around he also got to face Daichi Hashimoto, who was teamed up with Ohtani. The kicker, of course, is that Nagashima's tag team partner in this bout is former K-1 fighter Akebono. Of course, Akebono did not see much success in MMA (0-4) or K-1 (1-8), but he has always been a big star that attracts attention to shows due to his former Sumo career. Him and Nagashima made for a good team that packed the house, with the K-1 team taking the win.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013 20:09

When your father is Melvin Manhoef and you decide to follow in your father's footsteps, you have huge shoes to fill. Manhoef is known by many names, from Marvelous to Mini Mike Tyson, and fights in MMA under the Strikeforce banner currently, but he is best known for Kickboxing. In the kickboxing world, Manhoef is one of the smallest Heavyweights around, but has shown that he packs an incredible punch and is a dangerous matchup for any elite fighter. Manhoef also leaves it all in the ring when he fights.

His son, Million Manhoef has been training for a while now, and it turns out that this nine year old is now taking on amateur fights and showing shades of his papa. Million comes out wearing a white version of his father's gladiator trunks, does a mock dance like his father and even has a crazy counter left hook to look out for. This video shows just how dangerous this kid could be in a few years.