Monday, 20 May 2013 22:50

Mark Miller comes back to the ring after heart surgery on May 28th in Moscow, Russia for The Glory World Series event. There he will be facing Nikolaj Falin, an accomplished Heavyweight Kickboxer in his own right, while the world will be able to view it. The Glory World Series will air in over 90 countries worldwide, including the United States on HDnet on June 17th. If you aren't already hyped up, this will help. Spread this around, post it onto your Facebook, post it on Twitter, email it to your friends. Get the word out that Mark Miller is coming back.

Monday, 20 May 2013 22:50

This past weekend saw many of the world's top fighters in action. Three big events took place on Saturday, May 14. It's Showtime Lyon, Battle in the Desert 2 and Thai Fight Extreme showcased great action between some of the world's best in kickboxing and muay thai. Here's a quick rundown.

It's Showtime Lyon

Some of the sport's biggest names graced the card on May 14th. Badr Hari, Daniel Ghita, Tyrone Spong and Chris Ngimbi all picked up wins while Yohan Lidon became the new It's Showtime 73MAX World Champion. Giorgio Petrosyan and Chahid Oulad El Hadj fought to a no contest.

Full Results Here

Thai Fight Extreme

Also in France, some of the top Thai fighters took on French opponents. All 5 Thai fighters, Buakaw Por. Pramuk, Yodsaenklai Fairtex, Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee, Saiyok Pumpanmuang and Petasawin Seatransferry walked away with their hands raised while Frenchman Fabio Pinca was upset by Yuya Yamato from Japan.

Full Results Here

Battle in the Desert 2

In Las Vegas, Nevada, some of the top Americans in muay thai went to battle, aswell as Cosmo Alexandre. Cosmo defeated American Cyrus Washington by unanimous decision while Ky Hollenbeck continued on his roll against highly regarded French fighter Gregory Choplin with a unanimous decision. Also on the card, American Kevin Ross retained his WBC Muaythai Title. Thanks to Muay Thai Authority for the full results.

Also in action, Dutch-Moroccan Ramzi Tamaditi from the Chakuriki Gym won the UMC World Title over Maik Karathanasis with a decision over 3 rounds. Congrats to Ramzi.

Last but not least, in Belgium, Yavuz Kayabasi, who beat Gago Drago in December, won by Doctor Stoppage over Gino Bourne. Watch out for Yavuz as he'll be on It's Showtime's June 18th card in Madrid, Spain.

Monday, 20 May 2013 22:50

Yesterday, It's Showtime kicked off their spree of four events in about a month's time with It's Showtime Lyon. The card was heavily anticipated by myself and many kickboxing fans alike. The main story of the card leading in was of course the return of Badr Hari. Hari had been away from the sport for a year and everyone awaited his return to the ring.

Aside from Badr Hari, the card featured more big names such as Daniel Ghita, Tyrone Spong, and Giorgio Petrosyan. Many dubbed it the most stacked card of the year. Did it deliver?

I'd say yes, but there's a few things that stood out that the card would've been better off without. There wasn't a boring fight, five out of the six main card fights were finishes. Aside from the no contest between Giorgio Petrosyan and Chahid Oulad El Hadj which was still a good fight, every fight had some good action. Now onto what I think It's Showtime would be better off doing for their cards in the future.

- No squash matches for big name fighters. Yes, I know Badr Hari was coming off a year lay off and Tyrone Spong a five month one. But atleast put some fighters in there who will stand a chance and not just be ran through. Daniel Ghita's opponent was different as it was a short notice injury replacement. Everyone watching seemed utterly disappointed that Gregory Tony just didn't want to fight with Badr and came to pick up his paycheck. I've heard Tony was on the card because he's a friend of Kader Marouf, the man who It's Showtime co-promoted this event with. I think they've learned a good lesson from this.

- Title matches have to be competitive or atleast look that way. Yeah, Willy Borrel wasn't exactly a squash match for Chris Ngimbi but the fight wasn't even competitive. Ngimbi was just on another level than Borrel the whole fight. Borrel hadn't fought in a year and it just happened to be his birthday. That's probably another case of him getting on the card because of a relationship with Kader Marouf. I think they could've just given him a regular bout on the card. There's better French fighters at -70kg like Mickael Piscitello who could've gotten a title shot although I think the title shot should be given based on wins, not because its in a fighter's home country. A knee to the face isn't the most pleasant birthday presant.

And here are a few things that I liked about the way It's Showtime ran their show.

- Everything was straight to business, no unnecessary lulls in between fights. One fight finished, on to the next one right away. It's a fresh breath of air as if you watch K-1, a show will take up to 5 hours for around 7 fights. It's Showtime yesterday had 6 fights and it lasted right to the 2 hour TV timeslot. No stuff like teenage Japanese girls singing in the ring for 20 minutes, just straight to business.

- It's Showtime is keeping their fighters active. Daniel Ghita is fighting again on It's Showtime's June 11 event in Poland. Tyrone Spong is fighting again at It's Showtime's June 18 event in Spain. And these are some of their top guys that are fighting regularly. Not to mention, It's Showtime fighters are free to fight wherever they wish and many of them fight all over the place during their layoffs from It's Showtime. In a time where the layoffs for MMA fighters and Boxers seem to be getting longer and longer and top fighters in these sports seem to be fighting less and less, it's refreshing to see guys staying active in kickboxing.

Putting aside my few criticisms, it was a pretty good event. This is a good lead in for the It's Showtime event in Amsterdam, just a week away on Saturday, May 21st. Hesdy Gerges, who just got out of prison again is fighting Englishman Chris Knowles in the main event. Also on the card, Mohammed Khamal vs. Robin van Roosmalen in what is probably going to be a fight of the year candidate. Also a title fight for the vacant It's Showtime 85MAX World Title that will be between Amir Zeyada and Sahak Parparyan. It may not have the star power of this past card yesterday, but don't sleep on it. I'm expecting some of these fights to be very exciting and the fights will probably turn out a lot better than yesterday.

It's Showtime continues to do big things. Be on the lookout for more news everyday from here at Liverkick.com.

Monday, 20 May 2013 22:50

Thai Fight Extreme was broadcast last night in Thailand on Channel 3 from 11:30 pm to 1:30 am.

Fights were three rounds under Muay Thai rules.

Results in brief:

Saiyok Pumpanmuang def. Ibrahim Njie Jarra, 1st round TKO, cut from left elbow

Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee def. Abdallah Mabel, DEC

Yodsanklai Fairtex def. Jose Barradas, DEC

Buakaw Por Pramuk def. Djime Coulibaly, DEC

Yuya Yamato def. Fabio Pinca, 2nd round TKO, cut from right elbow

Petasaween Seatanferry def. Sofiane Derdega, DEC

Allthebestfights.com has partial footage of Buakaw vs Coulibaly.

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The fights were a bit one-sided.

Saiyok needed all of 10 or so seconds to back Jarra up and cut him.

Sudsakorn's fight was one of the closer ones, but he didn't look to be in trouble anywhere during the fight and Abdallah Mabel was easily the most experienced of the French fighters, barring Pinca. Sudsakorn played in his usual way and hurt Mabel with lowkicks. Mabel came out with elbows to try and win by cut, but Sudsakorn ended up cutting him and they traded some uncommon techniques like spinning elbows. Mabel even threw a Saenchai cartwheel in the third.

Barradas came out gunning in the first round, but Yodsanklai ground him down with power shots and was hurting him against the ropes throughout the second. Yodsanklai cruised through the third and took the decision.

Buakaw dominated his fight with teeps, middle kicks, and dumps, as per usual. Coulibaly gave him a bit of trouble with right crosses in the third, but he got dumped from a low clinch three or four times for his troubles.

I admit I stopped watching Pinca vs Yamato after the first round. Fabio was handling Yuya easily. There was a very evident gap in technique that Yuya couldn't seem to bridge. The pressure game he applied in his upset vs Drago was nowhere to be seen since Pinca had him outmatched in boxing, power, and overall technique. Yuya did partially connect with a right headkick in the first, but it was all Pinca.

Yuya has massive balls, though, and he overcame the gap in experience and technique by rushing in with elbows and cutting Pinca. I didn't see this, and it probably wasn't pretty, but Yuya reminds us that fighters come to fight.

Petasaween was a 130 lb. stadium champion in Thailand, and he took the fight comfortable against Derdega, as he was favored to do. I didn't watch it, but from what I hear, it was about as one-sided as the other Thai vs French bouts.

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The fights were a good showcase of Muay Thai for a different kind of audience but, excepting Pinca vs Yamamoto, the fights weren't very competitive, and even that fight featured a massive difference in skill that Yamamoto overcame by luck and balls. If the Isuzu Tournament, which concludes this May 21st with Kem Sitsongpeenong vs Nopparat Keatkhamtorn, is any sort of gauge, though, the Thai Fight Tournament itself should feature some very competitive bouts, as it did last year.

Monday, 20 May 2013 22:50

It's Showtime Lyon is in the books now, with Badr Hari officially back in action against a less-than-game Gregory Tony, disappointing some, but doing as expected and taking out Tony within the first round. In a night that was largely filled by bigger names against up-and-comers there were a few big knockouts and TKO victories, but one of them really sticks out, and that is Chris Ngimbi and Will Borrel's scrap at 70kg.

Chris Ngimbi is hilariously underrated in the 70kg weight class, mainly because the bigger names have all competed for K-1 MAX and Ngimbi has not, but that does not mean that he is a slouch. He is It's Showtime's 70kg Champion and will actually be fighting Giorgio Petrosyan soon, as was announced on the broadcast tonight. Many fans enjoyed Remy Bonjasky's style of fighting for his flying kicks, and Chris Ngimbi showed in this fight against Willy Borrel that he is not afraid to take to the air and throw a flying knee when it's open. This was without a doubt the KO of the night. [source]