Yokkao Extreme 2013 Recap: Askerov Upsets Souwer, Thais Showcased

Sunday, 27 January 2013 12:37

Written by Rian Scalia

Yokkao's big Yokkao Extreme event went down yesterday in Milan and featured a card that lived up to the anticipation, with a lot of great fights and performances.

The main event saw the lone K-1 rules bout of the evening take palce, with Andy Souwer fighting Dzhabar Askerov. Askerov was actually able to counter Souwer on a number of occasions and shook him a few times, including once in the first round where Souwer momentarily dropped to a knee after a left hook, which could've been a knockdown. Despite his fights against Stevelmans and Kehl being underwhelming, Dzhabar showed why you can never count him out, as he took a close, but in my opinion clear split decision victory. This is most definitely Askerov's biggest career win to date and he now is on a three fight win streak.

Yokkao's lineup of Thai fighters was on full display yesterday, which saw a rare Thai vs. Thai, let alone top Thai vs. top Thai fight taking place outside of Thailand in Saenchai PKSaenchaimuaythai against Diesellek Aoodonmuang. The fight was a bit underwhelming, and you kind of got the sense that they both really didn't go for it, but it was still a great display of skill by both fighters. Diesellek wasn't out of his depth but Saenchai started to pull ahead in the third round and would eventually get the decision win.

Right before the main event, last year's breakout Thai star Aikpracha Meenayothin fought internationally once again, against a strong, formidable opponent in Frank Giorgi. Aikpracha didn't come out of the gate super aggressive but in the second round he really foudn his mark, dropping Giorgi with a straight left and then dropped him once again with a high kick, causing the ref to wave off the fight. It was another impressive performance from Aikpracha, who continues to steamroll anyone in his way.

Like Askerov vs. Souwer, Jordan Watson vs. Kem Sitsongpeenong was another close fight. I think Watson won the first round slightly, but in the second round Kem opened up a cut with an elbow that would go on to cause a lot of pauses in the fight for the doctor to attend to the cut. What's more if that Watson got cut a second time later in the fight. Watson started to really go for it with punches in the third round while Kem was able to do some good clinchwork. All in all, it was a pretty close fight that was called a draw. The constant pauses in the fight for the cuts really throw a wrench in the scoring of the bout.

Mickael Piscitello beat Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee back at Thai Fight in September, but this time was a lot different. Sudsakorn dropped Piscitello in the first and had the overall edge for the entirety of the fight, controlling the range throughout.

Houcine Bennoui put on a great performance against Imwiset Pornnarai. He really showed how much he's matured as a fighter over the past year, not getting too wild when he would tag Imwiset. The first round was all Bennoui with a knockdown to his credit and after that Imwiset came back into the fight a bit but Bennoui won clearly with a solid showing.

Full results here.

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