Post by K1power on Jan 16, 2018 0:34:50 GMT 1
*DISCLAIMER* Despite my 5 hours of combing through the forum, Liverkick, Wikipedia, YouTube and various Google results, creating an Excel sheet with notes and writing this there is still a good chance of some of you reading this going "I can't believe he missed X/Y/Z". The likely reason being my memory sucking. Just bear with me, please..
- Fight(s) Of The Year
Not an easy pick. While we actually had a lot of great fights I can't recall a single one that stood out above the rest.
So let's mention a few great ones:
- Antonio Plazibat vs. Ibrahim El Bouni
I feel like the K-1 HW tournament is not getting the credit it deserves and while I realize not everyone is a sucker for storylines the way I am, I genuinely feel the tournament gave us some quality fights, even if perhaps some of the quarterfinals ended up being blowout fights. Either way, the final was a greatly entertaining back-and-forth fight between the two best fighters in the tournament who both gave it their all.
- Chingiz Allazov vs. Kido Yasuhiro
So many reasons for me loving this one: the fight being a great ending of my favorite event of the year, Allazov's performance, Kido's performance, back and forth knockdowns. The only way I could have liked this better was if Kido actually won. Not because I don't like Allazov, but because Kido probably doesn't have a lot of years left as a fighter and a K-1 belt would have made it perfect, but I digress..
- Rico Verhoeven vs. Jamal Ben Saddik II
A great fight to finish Glory's season and an interesting (hi)story behind the fighters added weight to this one.
Honorable mentions:
- Wei Rui vs. Gonnapar Weerasakreck
Maybe not the first fight coming to people's minds in this category, but I had great fun watching things going back and forth - even if Gonnapar got a little bit Petro'd at certain points throughout the fight.
- Upset(s) Of The Year
I'm going to agree with karaevfan's picks and go with Hiramoto Ren defeating Gonnapar and - perhaps to a lesser degree - Endy Semeleer defeating Superbon.
Here are a few picks of my own though:
- Freddy Kemayo defeating Imad Hadar. Make no mistake: Glory put Kemayo in there to get killed and give Hadar a solid victory over a veteran under his belt. Seeing through a bullshit agenda and it ending up blowing up in the face of whoever came up with it is always great. Being a fan of Kemayo since his early K-1 days very much made this a feelgood story for me.
- Ulrik Bokeme knocking out Ibrahim El Boustati... Twice! Not even the combined forces of Team El Boustati and Enfusion could BS their way out of undergoing that a second time. In a sense it wasn't really surprising: I think most of us realized the hype behind El Boustati was fabricated and it was a question of time until the bubble burst, but I didn't expect Bokeme being the one to do it. While I don't wish anything bad on anyone, seeing someone so full of himself being put in his place was great.
- Melvin Manhoef defeating Remy Bonjasky in his 4th attempt. Second comeback or not, I don't think a lot of people picked Manhoef over Remy, what with Manhoef not having won a kickboxing fight in years.
Honorable mentions:
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao defeating Zakaria Zouggary in spectacular fashion.
On paper this fight could go either way, but I don't think many predicted a knockout of the magnitude we got. This was a fight that a lot of people were very hyped for. Unfortunately, the fight itself did not deliver and ended up being a horrible, awkward clinchfest. The finish made up for it though.
- Both Chris Baya and Elvis Gashi defeating Jay Jauncey. Especially the Gashi one was a surprise.
- Fighter(s) Of The Year
- Kido Yasuhiro - What a bittersweet feeling it must be to have such a peformance at this point of his career and it still not being enough to win the K-1 belt. 10 years ago Sato Yoshihiro became my hero when he knocked out Buakaw and in a lot of ways I view Kido as Sato's successor (despite being close to Sato in age). Just like Sato, Kido is the tall, skinny, hugely talented, but also hugely inconsistent Japanese hope at 70kg. Also, his sense of humor is always on point:
[For the love of God, someone find a link of Kido's 70kg WGP VTR]
- Wei Rui: He came out of nowhere and went 8-0 against strong opposition.
- Takeru & Tenshin: Perhaps not the most tested, but they consistently had savage performances. They must fight at some point.
Honorable mentions: Rico Verhoeven: While 2017 did turn Rico into a star in Holland, I don't think he really did enough for me to consider him FOTY. He was only in 1 real fight and while it was great I don't think it's enough to put him at the top. It just has the benefit of being fresh in people's memories due to having happened recently.
- MOHAN DRAGON (not joking!): A perhaps limited, but effective fighter who's just easy to root for and who had a great performance in the K-1 tournament.
- Breakout Fighter(s) Of The Year
- Wei Rui: Good looking Chinese answer to Petrosyan seemingly coming out of nowhere, winning the K-1 belt and defeating 5 additional mostly quality opponents throughout 2017.
- Tenshin: You could argue this being the case for Tenshin in 2016, but I feel he really cemented his position in 2017.
- Chingiz Allazov: You could argue he was already a rising star, but I feel his K-1 win did a lot for him and in the Kido fight he was actually tested.
- Hiramoto Ren: Who would have expected him to do anything noteworthy at all this year, really?
- Antonio Plazibat: A legit heavyweight contender putting himself on the map by winning the K-1 WGP.
- Rico Verhoeven: Sure Rico has been dominating for a while, but in addition to defeating Badr in late 2016, he became a star in the Netherlands in 2017 by winning his fights in spectacular fashion.
- Yousri Belgaroui: Aside from the loss in his rematch with Alex Pereira, he had a great year.
Honorable mentions: Chris Baya, Ibrahim El Bouni, D’Angelo Marshall, Kevin VanNostrand, Stoyan Koprivlenski, Tyjani Beztati, Cédric Doumbé
- Knockout(s) Of The Year
- Mladen Brestovac vs. Hesdy Gerges: I HATE that it happened to Hesdy, but damn what a KO.
- Rico Verhoeven vs. Jamal Ben Saddik II: A very brutal ending to a hard-fought bout.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao vs. Zakaria Zouggary: Forget about the fight, just remember that ending!
Honorable mentions: Sitthichai knocking out Yi Long. Like mentioned earlier, it's more about bullshit agendas being blown to bits that make this a mentionable one.
Also, what karaevfan said:
- Comeback(s) Of The Year
- Kido Yasuhiro: Who honestly expected Kido to perform the way he did in the tournament?
- Alex Pereira: It's my go-to argument, but remember how Pereira looked losing to Artem Levin a few years ago? Now compare that to how he looked in 2017.
- Kubo Yuta: After a bit of a rough patch he made a great comeback winning the K-1 WGP. Also loved the backstory with him and Kimura.
- Kimura Philip Minoru: He ended 2016 getting smashed by KRAZY HORSE in 10 seconds. He ended 2017 defeating Kido. That's a big improvement. He started the year with a rough KO loss, but was able to turn it around looking pretty solid.
Honorable mentions: Danyo Ilunga: It's just one fight, but a significant one. A feelgood moment for Ilunga and his (frustrated) fans.
- Controversy(s) Of The Year
- Mohamed Jaraya attacking a referee and Enfusion's horrendous handling of the situation.
- Ibrahim El Boustati's and Enfusion's shenanigans in the second Bokeme fight.
I'm not even going to go into their crazy fanbase somehow defending either of the above instances.
Dishonorable mentions:
- K-1 giving Noiri the decision over Kaew.
- Mentions of some very subtle racism by the K-1 commentary team somewhat ignoring Wei Rui in his fight against Gonnapar. I love K-1 and it's by far my favorite promotion, but BS must always be called out.
- Everything/Anything K-1 Global did troughout the year.
- Glory making disgusting mismatches like Rico vs. Bigfoot happen.
- Glory shamelessly using Antonio Gomez, Daniel Morales and Manny Mancha as sacrificial lambs throughout the year.
- Hesdy Gerges vs. Chi Lewis-Parry being cancelled multiple times, for which I entirely blame Chi.
For the ones not following MMA: after being let go by Glory Chi went to BAMMA and is now their HW Champion: a belt he received for ANOTHER FIGHT THAT DID NOT HAPPEN, because kickboxing phenom Maurice Jackson didn't make it through the medical check. After that Chi was scheduled to fight Brett Mcdermott, but from what I'm gathering that fight also - you guessed it - did not happen. Chi Lewis-Parry: the most succesfull fighter that never fights.
- Story(s) Of The Year
- K-1 announcing a big event for 2018 and actually holding a HWGP in 2017.
- Glory going to China.
Honorable mentions: Badr signing a multi fight deal with Glory at the end of the year.
- Event(s) Of The Year
- Again I have to agree with karaevfan - Easily The K-1 70kg WGP: It had the best mix of awesome storylines and fights.
- Most Glory events that came after whatever Glory 44 was.
Honorable mentions: WFL - The Final 16 - Manhoef vs. Bonjasky IV, most of the KNOCK OUT events.
I also wanted to give attention to something that kind of came and went - I guess due to lack of international exposure - but Peter Aerts had his actual retirement fight at WFL and it's a crime that it got as little attention as it did.
Finally, I feel like I pay way too little attention to what's happening in China; without Shadess I probably wouldn't have a clue about what's happening over there. Also, I should watch more Muay Thai. Thing is, I barely have time to keep up with stuff as it is.
Man, I knew writing this would easily absorb my whole night.
Anyway, thanks for bearing with me!
- Fight(s) Of The Year
Not an easy pick. While we actually had a lot of great fights I can't recall a single one that stood out above the rest.
So let's mention a few great ones:
- Antonio Plazibat vs. Ibrahim El Bouni
I feel like the K-1 HW tournament is not getting the credit it deserves and while I realize not everyone is a sucker for storylines the way I am, I genuinely feel the tournament gave us some quality fights, even if perhaps some of the quarterfinals ended up being blowout fights. Either way, the final was a greatly entertaining back-and-forth fight between the two best fighters in the tournament who both gave it their all.
- Chingiz Allazov vs. Kido Yasuhiro
So many reasons for me loving this one: the fight being a great ending of my favorite event of the year, Allazov's performance, Kido's performance, back and forth knockdowns. The only way I could have liked this better was if Kido actually won. Not because I don't like Allazov, but because Kido probably doesn't have a lot of years left as a fighter and a K-1 belt would have made it perfect, but I digress..
- Rico Verhoeven vs. Jamal Ben Saddik II
A great fight to finish Glory's season and an interesting (hi)story behind the fighters added weight to this one.
Honorable mentions:
- Wei Rui vs. Gonnapar Weerasakreck
Maybe not the first fight coming to people's minds in this category, but I had great fun watching things going back and forth - even if Gonnapar got a little bit Petro'd at certain points throughout the fight.
- Upset(s) Of The Year
I'm going to agree with karaevfan's picks and go with Hiramoto Ren defeating Gonnapar and - perhaps to a lesser degree - Endy Semeleer defeating Superbon.
Here are a few picks of my own though:
- Freddy Kemayo defeating Imad Hadar. Make no mistake: Glory put Kemayo in there to get killed and give Hadar a solid victory over a veteran under his belt. Seeing through a bullshit agenda and it ending up blowing up in the face of whoever came up with it is always great. Being a fan of Kemayo since his early K-1 days very much made this a feelgood story for me.
- Ulrik Bokeme knocking out Ibrahim El Boustati... Twice! Not even the combined forces of Team El Boustati and Enfusion could BS their way out of undergoing that a second time. In a sense it wasn't really surprising: I think most of us realized the hype behind El Boustati was fabricated and it was a question of time until the bubble burst, but I didn't expect Bokeme being the one to do it. While I don't wish anything bad on anyone, seeing someone so full of himself being put in his place was great.
- Melvin Manhoef defeating Remy Bonjasky in his 4th attempt. Second comeback or not, I don't think a lot of people picked Manhoef over Remy, what with Manhoef not having won a kickboxing fight in years.
Honorable mentions:
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao defeating Zakaria Zouggary in spectacular fashion.
On paper this fight could go either way, but I don't think many predicted a knockout of the magnitude we got. This was a fight that a lot of people were very hyped for. Unfortunately, the fight itself did not deliver and ended up being a horrible, awkward clinchfest. The finish made up for it though.
- Both Chris Baya and Elvis Gashi defeating Jay Jauncey. Especially the Gashi one was a surprise.
- Fighter(s) Of The Year
- Kido Yasuhiro - What a bittersweet feeling it must be to have such a peformance at this point of his career and it still not being enough to win the K-1 belt. 10 years ago Sato Yoshihiro became my hero when he knocked out Buakaw and in a lot of ways I view Kido as Sato's successor (despite being close to Sato in age). Just like Sato, Kido is the tall, skinny, hugely talented, but also hugely inconsistent Japanese hope at 70kg. Also, his sense of humor is always on point:
[For the love of God, someone find a link of Kido's 70kg WGP VTR]
- Wei Rui: He came out of nowhere and went 8-0 against strong opposition.
- Takeru & Tenshin: Perhaps not the most tested, but they consistently had savage performances. They must fight at some point.
Honorable mentions: Rico Verhoeven: While 2017 did turn Rico into a star in Holland, I don't think he really did enough for me to consider him FOTY. He was only in 1 real fight and while it was great I don't think it's enough to put him at the top. It just has the benefit of being fresh in people's memories due to having happened recently.
- MOHAN DRAGON (not joking!): A perhaps limited, but effective fighter who's just easy to root for and who had a great performance in the K-1 tournament.
- Breakout Fighter(s) Of The Year
- Wei Rui: Good looking Chinese answer to Petrosyan seemingly coming out of nowhere, winning the K-1 belt and defeating 5 additional mostly quality opponents throughout 2017.
- Tenshin: You could argue this being the case for Tenshin in 2016, but I feel he really cemented his position in 2017.
- Chingiz Allazov: You could argue he was already a rising star, but I feel his K-1 win did a lot for him and in the Kido fight he was actually tested.
- Hiramoto Ren: Who would have expected him to do anything noteworthy at all this year, really?
- Antonio Plazibat: A legit heavyweight contender putting himself on the map by winning the K-1 WGP.
- Rico Verhoeven: Sure Rico has been dominating for a while, but in addition to defeating Badr in late 2016, he became a star in the Netherlands in 2017 by winning his fights in spectacular fashion.
- Yousri Belgaroui: Aside from the loss in his rematch with Alex Pereira, he had a great year.
Honorable mentions: Chris Baya, Ibrahim El Bouni, D’Angelo Marshall, Kevin VanNostrand, Stoyan Koprivlenski, Tyjani Beztati, Cédric Doumbé
- Knockout(s) Of The Year
- Mladen Brestovac vs. Hesdy Gerges: I HATE that it happened to Hesdy, but damn what a KO.
- Rico Verhoeven vs. Jamal Ben Saddik II: A very brutal ending to a hard-fought bout.
- Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao vs. Zakaria Zouggary: Forget about the fight, just remember that ending!
Honorable mentions: Sitthichai knocking out Yi Long. Like mentioned earlier, it's more about bullshit agendas being blown to bits that make this a mentionable one.
Also, what karaevfan said:
- Comeback(s) Of The Year
- Kido Yasuhiro: Who honestly expected Kido to perform the way he did in the tournament?
- Alex Pereira: It's my go-to argument, but remember how Pereira looked losing to Artem Levin a few years ago? Now compare that to how he looked in 2017.
- Kubo Yuta: After a bit of a rough patch he made a great comeback winning the K-1 WGP. Also loved the backstory with him and Kimura.
- Kimura Philip Minoru: He ended 2016 getting smashed by KRAZY HORSE in 10 seconds. He ended 2017 defeating Kido. That's a big improvement. He started the year with a rough KO loss, but was able to turn it around looking pretty solid.
Honorable mentions: Danyo Ilunga: It's just one fight, but a significant one. A feelgood moment for Ilunga and his (frustrated) fans.
- Controversy(s) Of The Year
- Mohamed Jaraya attacking a referee and Enfusion's horrendous handling of the situation.
- Ibrahim El Boustati's and Enfusion's shenanigans in the second Bokeme fight.
I'm not even going to go into their crazy fanbase somehow defending either of the above instances.
Dishonorable mentions:
- K-1 giving Noiri the decision over Kaew.
- Mentions of some very subtle racism by the K-1 commentary team somewhat ignoring Wei Rui in his fight against Gonnapar. I love K-1 and it's by far my favorite promotion, but BS must always be called out.
- Everything/Anything K-1 Global did troughout the year.
- Glory making disgusting mismatches like Rico vs. Bigfoot happen.
- Glory shamelessly using Antonio Gomez, Daniel Morales and Manny Mancha as sacrificial lambs throughout the year.
- Hesdy Gerges vs. Chi Lewis-Parry being cancelled multiple times, for which I entirely blame Chi.
For the ones not following MMA: after being let go by Glory Chi went to BAMMA and is now their HW Champion: a belt he received for ANOTHER FIGHT THAT DID NOT HAPPEN, because kickboxing phenom Maurice Jackson didn't make it through the medical check. After that Chi was scheduled to fight Brett Mcdermott, but from what I'm gathering that fight also - you guessed it - did not happen. Chi Lewis-Parry: the most succesfull fighter that never fights.
- Story(s) Of The Year
- K-1 announcing a big event for 2018 and actually holding a HWGP in 2017.
- Glory going to China.
Honorable mentions: Badr signing a multi fight deal with Glory at the end of the year.
- Event(s) Of The Year
- Again I have to agree with karaevfan - Easily The K-1 70kg WGP: It had the best mix of awesome storylines and fights.
- Most Glory events that came after whatever Glory 44 was.
Honorable mentions: WFL - The Final 16 - Manhoef vs. Bonjasky IV, most of the KNOCK OUT events.
I also wanted to give attention to something that kind of came and went - I guess due to lack of international exposure - but Peter Aerts had his actual retirement fight at WFL and it's a crime that it got as little attention as it did.
Finally, I feel like I pay way too little attention to what's happening in China; without Shadess I probably wouldn't have a clue about what's happening over there. Also, I should watch more Muay Thai. Thing is, I barely have time to keep up with stuff as it is.
Man, I knew writing this would easily absorb my whole night.
Anyway, thanks for bearing with me!
