Friday, 24 May 2013 16:12

By Rian Scalia

French promotions La Nuit Des Challenges and Explosion Fight Night will come together on June 4th in Lyon, France to put on a stacked card featuring many big names in the kickboxing world. The theme of the card is Team Nasser K against the world. For those who aren't familiar with Team Nasser K, it's one of best kickboxing teams in all of Europe. Housing names suchs as It's Showtime 61MAX World Champion Karim Bennoui and his brother Houcine, Fabio Pinca, Yohan Lidon, Abdallah Mabel and many more. Top that off with 8 Full Muay Thai Rules Super Fight bouts and you've got a stacked card.

Fabio Pinca, winner of last year's Isuzu Thai Fight Tournament takes on WMC World Muaythai -135lb Champion, Saenchai Sor Sinbi (formerly known as Saenchai Sor Kingstar) in a rematch of their fight from 2007. Saenchai was able to take a unanimous decision win over Pinca the first time they fought. Now Pinca will try to even up the scores to 1-1 a piece. French fighter Yohan Lidon takes on Kongjak Sor Tuantong in a rematch of their fight from last August, where Lidon had to stop fighting after a middle kick to the arm forced him unable to continue. Lidon will be making a quick turn-around after his It's Showtime 73MAX World Title fight against Marat Grigorian on May 14 in Lyon.

Other notables on the Super Fight portion of the card include 3 time opponent of Giorgio Petrosyan, Abdallah Mabel, Abderahmane Penda, Yuksel Aydin, Chanachai Kaewsamrit and Houcine Bennoui.

In the Explosion Fight Night portion of the card, a mini one night -71kg qualification tournament is being held. Mickael Piscitello takes on Mickael Lallemand while Ludovic Millett battles Hichem Chaibi on the other side of the bracket. The winner will qualify for a place at the Explosion Fight Night Final Tournament alongside Ahmed Zragua of Belgium and Kem Sitsongpeenong of Thailand. These bouts will be K-1 3x3 Rules.

The full fight card is as follows:

Super Fights (Full Muay Thai Rules 5x3)
Fabio Pinca VS Saenchai Sor Sinbi
Yohan Lidon VS Sor Kongjak Tuantong 
Abdallah Mabel VS Chanachai Kaewsamrit 
Abderahmane Penda VS Johane Beauserjour 
Yuksel Ayaydin VS Abderrahmane Coulibaly 
Issam Reghis VS Cheick Sidibe 
Houcine Bennoui VS Lakthai 
Nabil Elouissi VS Samir Amrouche

Explosion Fight Night Qualification Tournament Step 3 (K-1 Rules 3x3 -71kg):
Mickael Piscitello VS Mickael Lallemand
Ludovic Millett VS Hichem Chaibi

Note: Saenchai is not 100% confirmed for the card. Also many of these fighters are fighting on It's Showtime's May 14th card. Don't be surprised to see some withdraw from this event with injuries.

Friday, 24 May 2013 16:12

Yuichiro "Jienotsu" Nagashima has been busy while K-1 has had some off time, and not just busy as a kickboxer, but doing lots of assorted and downright odd things. Like we showed you the other day, he was featured on a National Geographic special about cosplaying and on top of that he has been preparing to wrestle for Zero-One MAX. The match happened yesterday in Japan, where he took on former SHOOTO fighter and current Zero-One MAX wrestler Kohei Sato. Nagashima was victorious using a crucifix pin on Sato in a bout that saw Sato his a german suplex and piledriver on Nagashima, with Nagashima fighting back with a Moonsault and Shining Wizard. You can view the gallery from SportsNavi for the fight here.

Friday, 24 May 2013 16:12

The hits keep on rolling, as we quickly approach It's Showtime's May 14th card and their May 21st card there have been a few notable changes, as we just reported, Anderson Silva had to pull out of his bout with Daniel Ghita for the 14th. We have more bad news for It's Showtime fans, as many will remember, Hesdy Gerges has found himself in some legal trouble of late, and has now been extradited to Belgium to be interrogated about his possible involvement with cocaine trafficking.

The bad news is that It's Showtime no longer believes that Gerges will be able to participate on their May 21 card. They have removed him from the official card line up on their website, and Simon Rutz confirmed on his Facebook account in response to a fan that Gerges is out for the time being. This leaves It's Showtime without their main event for the card, but Robin Van Roosmalen vs. Mohamed Khamal is a great bout that could easily fill in for the absence of Hesdy Gerges on the card.

We'll keep you updated on any further updates for It's Showtime's May 14th and May 21st cards and who will fill in what spot. Hopefully they find an opponent for Chris Knowles.

Friday, 24 May 2013 16:12

For fans looking forward to May 14th's big It's Showtime event in Lyon, France, one of the fights has seemingly fallen apart at the last minute. Anderson "Braddock" Silva was staged to take on a beast of a man in Daniel Ghita. Anderson was coming off of a highlight reel head kick KO of Freddy Kemayo in December and Ghita is coming off of a loss to Hesdy Gerges in March.

Sadly, Simon Rutz announced on his Facebook page last night that Anderson "Braddock" Silva has gotten injured and that the promotion is searching for a replacement to fight Ghita on nine days notice. Nine days is an incredibly short amount of time to take a fight with a well-prepared Daniel Ghita, no matter who you are in the world of Heavyweight Kickboxing. We've heard a few names that have been floating around as possible replacement opponents, including a possible return of Rick Roufus, but at this point all bets are off.

Daniel Ghita is an incredible fighter in the prime of his career with some of the sickest leg kicks anyone has seen. On top of that, Ghita has been working on his hands to make himself more of a complete package, so we wish It's Showtime the best of luck in finding someone to step up to challenge Daniel Ghita on nine days notice, we can also hope for the sake of the fans that they are able to find someone to fight Ghita, as Ghita is incredible to watch. I for one would love to see Patrice Quarteron, a French fighter, step up or possibly Jerome Le Banner.

Friday, 24 May 2013 16:12

KRUSH ran the finals of their three big tournaments over this weekend and finally we are getting some video footage uploaded. Watch the 60kg finals as Hirotaka Urabe squares off against Yuji Takeuchi. Takeuchi more or less brutalized former K-1 Koshien Champion Masaaki Noiri earlier on in the night, a fighter known for being one of the absolute best in the weight class, helping to set up the finals. Here in the finals it is a thing of beauty as both fighters are looking to kill each other with every strike it seems like, which can only lead to one outcome.

Here is a hint; there is an absolutely brutal head kick knockout in this fight.