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Post by K1power on Jun 10, 2024 7:49:28 GMT 1
There was some talk about Bahram challenging Rico for the title and Remy said they shouldn't do it, because it would 'demystify' Bahram and make the HW division look even poorer.
I think Bahram can compete at both LHW and HW as he only seems to move a few kgs back and forth.
The thing is now that someone has figured Bahram out he may start to lose more often, which could derail his hype train. His wild fighting style, while fun and explosive, leaves a bunch of holes. He's been able to compensate for it with his speed, but more fighters will learn to time their counters like Abena did.
I've seen the suggestion being made that Bahram should just join a gym/adjust his style, but in a sense that will make him more traditional and thus predictable.
Either way he should get his foot fixed first and take some time off as he's definitely earned it.
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Post by K1power on Jun 10, 2024 7:52:46 GMT 1
So with this event in the rear-view mirror, what are some fights for Glory to make?
Abena vs. Khbabez is the most obvious one and seems all but confirmed, but what else?
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Post by K1power on Jun 10, 2024 9:15:58 GMT 1
Post-fight presser with Abena:
It's 95% in Dutch, so some interesting tidbits:
- Since he's accomplished pretty much everything he can in the division, he's not sure what's next for him.
- Says he definitely won't be able to make 85kg, but also feels he'd be a bit too small to compete with the top 4 heavyweights: He estimates he'd be around 105kg and the top guys there walk around at 120kg.
- Feels he has no real injuries other than his shins being a bit damaged.
- Didn't want to say anything concrete yet about his future plans outside of Kickboxing.
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Post by K1power on Jun 10, 2024 15:34:06 GMT 1
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lero
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Post by lero on Jun 12, 2024 5:05:01 GMT 1
+ Abena committing to the lowkicks and making Latescu look like a beginner. My time for K-1 trashing  : Nobdy should EVER AGAIN put a fighter over 80kg in any ranking only if he is succesful in K-1. Last time Latescu also got exposed by random japanese obese guy via legkicks. This reality check was necessary. Japanese heavy-er rankings are not more elite than... I don't know, Thai heavy rankings. I don't know why some people was confident Latescu was going to advance to the semis. Heck I even think Liu Ce, while a great and exciting fighter, would lose against the four finalist of this LHW tournament. You can't enter any heavy kickboxing rankings only fighting iranian inflated nobodies and japanese fat dudes. After saying this: Latescu is only a kid, I think he will become a much better fighter with some more practice. Hope he moves to the Netherlands after this. I wish K-1 abandons their heavyweight delirium and focus on making tournaments in some orphan categories like 75kg or 60kg. Last year they did that cool 75kg tournament when they crowned Hassan Toy, then they robbed him him in the rematch against Kintaro and then killed the division again. |
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kbfan
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Post by kbfan on Jun 12, 2024 7:03:10 GMT 1
Latescu with proper training could get really, really good imo! He's just 22 years old, agree he should move to Netherlands and get the training he needs.
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lero
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Post by lero on Jun 12, 2024 14:50:03 GMT 1
Latescu with proper training could get really, really good imo! He's just 22 years old, agree he should move to Netherlands and get the training he needs. Somebody was pointing out on Twitter how a green Alex Pereira got schooled by seasoned Artem Levin before Poatan becoming the monster he turned out to be. After that Alex Pereira knocked out a 21 years old Donegi Abena. Now Abena schooled young Latescu and got to the top of the mountain. Maybe in 4-5 years Latescu will become the terror of the division. Is beatiful to see it happening. |
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Post by K1power on Jun 12, 2024 19:02:22 GMT 1
+ Abena committing to the lowkicks and making Latescu look like a beginner. My time for K-1 trashing : Nobdy should EVER AGAIN put a fighter over 80kg in any ranking only if he is succesful in K-1. Last time Latescu also got exposed by random japanese obese guy via legkicks. This reality check was necessary. Japanese heavy-er rankings are not more elite than... I don't know, Thai heavy rankings. I don't know why some people was confident Latescu was going to advance to the semis. Heck I even think Liu Ce, while a great and exciting fighter, would lose against the four finalist of this LHW tournament. You can't enter any heavy kickboxing rankings only fighting iranian inflated nobodies and japanese fat dudes. After saying this: Latescu is only a kid, I think he will become a much better fighter with some more practice. Hope he moves to the Netherlands after this. I wish K-1 abandons their heavyweight delirium and focus on making tournaments in some orphan categories like 75kg or 60kg. Last year they did that cool 75kg tournament when they crowned Hassan Toy, then they robbed him him in the rematch against Kintaro and then killed the division again. I agree with some of your comments, but have some counters (even though we're going slightly off-topic for this thread). For starters, if we say the way Abena blasted through the tournament reflects badly on his opponent's prior accomplishments, K-1 shouldn't be singled out. He also destroyed Khbabez and Rajabzadeh, so then it should also reflect badly on Glory's own heavier divisions, since Khbabez is the LHW champion and Bahram is currently their #2 at HW. Of course Khbabez gets some slack for being hurt by Touré, but Bahram seemed more fresh than Abena going into the final. As for Abena, going by Dutch media coverage he was vocably fed up with Glory and came across unmotivated for the tournament. It's not insane some people gave Latescu a chance given the circumstances. Mental wellbeing and mindset are often underestimated components of not just fighting, but life in general. Abena was also coming off a tough loss while Latescu has been on a roll. I may have been a bit harsh on Latescu in the past, but his recent accomplishments have somewhat won me over and at this point I'm definitely more confident about his future. When we're talking about K-1's heavier divisions, it's true that in recent years they have been too reliant on the Iranian fighters and blown up Japanese middleweights, but they've also been the first major platform for a lot of up-and-comers that went on to become contenders in Glory like El Bouni, Mannaart and Plazibat. The problem is/was that a lot of fighters have been using K-1 as a stepping stone. Given the money and lack of competition at the time it's understandable. What K-1 needs to do now is attract more international fighters, which they appear to be pursuing again with their expansion and regional qualifiers. It will take a couple of years to build up fun divisions, but hopefully they'll get there. K-1 should NEVER abandon their HW division, just improve it. K-1 without a HW division is like Formula 1 without cars. They don't have to be able to compete with rival promotions right off the bat. Also, Liu Ce may lose to Glory's top 4 LHW competitors, but that doesn't mean he can't compete. I'll even go as far as saying that there isn't that much competition in general: Glory's MW and LHW divisions are very solid, but their HW division currently really only consists of 5-6 contenders and Rico. Now is the perfect time for K-1 to strike and build something from nothing. Also, I may be in the minority with this, but I don't think Toy was robbed against Matsukura. I legit thought it was close enough to where it could have gone either way. There are some BS decisions in K-1 every now and then - and I'll be the first one to point them out - but I don't think this was one of them. I do hope Toy will be back though and the 75kg division gets some more attention. |
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lero
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Post by lero on Jun 12, 2024 22:31:52 GMT 1
Yeah, I know one guy who was pissed as hell for your previous comments hahahaha. About Toy... Yes, he fought like shit in that fight. I think the fight between Abena vs Latescu can tell us more about the level of those fighters that the fight between Abena and Bahram. You can argue that Bahram "got caught" and nobody would discard him in an instant rematch. But Latescu got totally dismantled before the KO and I think most people would agree that in a near future rematch the result should be similar. (even though our romanian friend said Latescu was injured before the fight) |
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Post by K1power on Jun 13, 2024 17:15:52 GMT 1
We all know that person  . About Abena, Latescu and what it says about previous opponents. I think El Bouni and Touré simply didn't have the right gameplan against him and everyone he fought in K-1 was completely outsized. If Abena rematches Bahram, I'm going with Abena. He never looked as good as he did in the tournament. I was completely blown away. I think a rubber match between Bahram and Maslobojev would be more interesting and harder to predict. |
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