SBNation.com User Blog: Sweet Scientist

30th All Japan Shinkyokushinkai Karate Championships Streaming Live now on Youtube

Sweet Scientist — Sat, 18 May 2013 18:16:05 -0000

The 30th Shinkyokushinkai All Japan Championships are streaming live on Youtube on May 18th at 10PM (Eastern). For those of you that might be wondering what the hell Shinkyokushinkai is, it is one of the multiple organizations sanctioning Kyokushin Karate and was founded by 1991 lightweight and openweight world champion Kenji Midori. For those that might be wondering what the hell Kyokushin Karate is, it's like Taekwondo, if Taekwondo had balls, chest hair and Don Frye's moustache. Matches are bare knuckles full contact fights, punches and elbows to the head are not allowed, but kicks and knees are allowed on the whole body.

HOLY SPINNING SHIT!

Sweet Scientist — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:16:10 -0000

Great KO in a Kyokushin Karate fight.

Lion Fight 9 (Full Muay Thai Rules) on AXS TV Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 02:04:56 -0000

After a great first card on AXS, Muay Thai is back on the channel formerly known as HDNet at 10PM ET.

Here's the card:

Titre LION FIGHT light Heavyweight:

Artem Levin 174.5 LBS vs. Simon Marcus 173 LBS

Co-Main event:

Tiffany Van Soest 125.5 LBS vs. Natalie Yip 122.5 LBS

Super-fights:

Kevin Ross 146.5 LBS vs. Bernie Mendieta 146.5 LBS

Ognjen Topic 130 LBS vs. Paowarit Sasiprapa 129 LBS

Jason Andrada 120 LBS vs. Erik Ruiz 118 LBS

Zach Bunnell168.5 LBS vs. David Pacheco 168.5 LBS

Fanny Tommasino 106 LBS vs. Regan Gowin 101.5 LBS

Nick Chasteen 147.5 LBS vs. Eduardo Alvarado 146 LBS

Armin Safiari 159.5 LBS vs. Jonathon Wyderko 160 LBS

Tyler Rodgers 146.5 LBS vs. Eddie Guerrero 156 LBS

After a great first card on AXS, Muay Thai is back on the channel formerly known as HDNet at 10PM ET.

Here's the card:

Titre LION FIGHT light Heavyweight:

Artem Levin 174.5 LBS vs. Simon Marcus 173 LBS

Co-Main event:

Tiffany Van Soest 125.5 LBS vs. Natalie Yip 122.5 LBS

Super-fights:

Kevin Ross 146.5 LBS vs. Bernie Mendieta 146.5 LBS

Ognjen Topic 130 LBS vs. Paowarit Sasiprapa 129 LBS

Jason Andrada 120 LBS vs. Erik Ruiz 118 LBS

Zach Bunnell168.5 LBS vs. David Pacheco 168.5 LBS

Fanny Tommasino 106 LBS vs. Regan Gowin 101.5 LBS

Nick Chasteen 147.5 LBS vs. Eduardo Alvarado 146 LBS

Armin Safiari 159.5 LBS vs. Jonathon Wyderko 160 LBS

Tyler Rodgers 146.5 LBS vs. Eddie Guerrero 156 LBS

Thai Fight Tournament Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:02:38 -0000

The first 2013 event of Thai Fight: King of Muay Thai is on right now: http://tv.ohozaa.com/live/3/

Last years winner and Muay Thai star Buakaw isn't returning but it still is a pretty good card with big names like Sudsakorn and Saiyok fighting today.

Fight card:

Saiyok Pumpanmuang (70kg) v Thiago Teixeira (70kg)
Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee (70kg) v Veselin Veseliov (70kg)
Saenchainoi (68kg) v Adalayton Pareira De Frettas (68)kg
Changpuak S Kaewsuk (70kg) v Nate Poptherathum gym (70kg)
Thepsutin Pumpanmuang (70kg) v Aitor Alonso (70kg)

The first 2013 event of Thai Fight: King of Muay Thai is on right now: http://tv.ohozaa.com/live/3/

Last years winner and Muay Thai star Buakaw isn't returning but it still is a pretty good card with big names like Sudsakorn and Saiyok fighting today.

Fight card:

Kyokushin Karate Russian Championship and Muay Thai from Lumpinee streaming live

Sweet Scientist — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 06:27:15 -0000

It's all in the title, the Russian cup of Kyokushin Karate starts today and it is streamed live on Youtube. If you're unfamiliar with Kyokushin Karate, it can aptly be described as Taekwondo with balls:
-Bare knuckles, full contact fights, punches allowed to the body, kicks and knees allowed everywhere.
-The Russian championship is one of the most relevant competitions with the Japan chapionship and of course the World championship.

Prelims are over.

Finals stream (scheduled start time 12:00 AM CET 6:00 AM EST)
:

Muay Thai live from Lumpinee stadium:

http://www.tvkeela.com/facebookapps/livekeela/?fb_sig_in_iframe=1&fb_sig_locale=en_US&fb_sig_in_new_facebook=1&fb_sig_time=1291952922.9056&fb_sig_logged_out_facebook=1&fb_sig_added=0&fb_sig_country=us&fb_sig_api_key=89053213a5938c245e7d4fda04a4dfe1&fb_sig_app_id=119819458060477&fb_sig=3a33a4b0fbcac6d80fcac45bcec2f55c

Prelims are over.

Finals stream (scheduled start time 12:00 AM CET 6:00 AM EST)
:

Muay Thai live from Lumpinee stadium:

Old school: Ernesto Hoost fighting Sylvain Postel for the European Savate/Boxe Française...

Sweet Scientist — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:37:35 -0000

Old school: Ernesto Hoost fighting Sylvain Postel for the European Savate/Boxe Française title in 1988

Superkombat Final 8, Klitschko vs Wach, Mares vs Moreno Live Discussion

Sweet Scientist — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 17:29:55 -0000

There is no MMA on tonight. However there is plenty of fights on in kickboxing and boxing.

Kickboxing:

At 21:00 CET (15:00 EST) SuperKombat will hold the final 8 round of its heavyweight Grand Prix:

Super-fight (+96 kg) 1.Dimitry Bezus (Russia) vs Tomas Hron (Czech Republic)
Super-fight (+96 kg) 2. Ibrahim Aarab (Marocco) vs Dzevad Poturak (Bosnia Herzegovina)

Final Elimination (+96 kg) 3. Daniel Sam (England) vs Ismael Londt (Suriname)
Final Elimination (+96 kg) 4. Pavel Zhuravlev (Ukraine) vs Freddy Kemayo(France)
Final Elimination (+96 kg) 5. Roman Kleibl (Czech Republic) vs Sebastian Ciobanu (Romania)
Final Elimination (+96 kg) 6. Benjamin Adegbuyi (Romania) vs Alexey Ignashov (Belarus)
Super-fight (+96 kg) 7. Petr Vondracek (Czech Republic) vs Radu Spinghel (USA/Romania)
Super-fight (+96 kg) 8. James Wilson (USA) vs Ionuţ Iftimoaie (Romania)
Super-fight (+96 kg) 9. Carter Williams (USA) vs Catalin Morosanu (Romania)

Boxing:

At 22:45 CET (16:45 EST) The boxing heavyweight champion of the world, Wladimir Klitshko (58-3, 50 KOs) will defend his title against Mariusz Wach (27-0, 15 KOs), in his first fight since the death of his longtime trainer Emmanuel Stewart (RIP).

And at 4:00 CET (22:00 EST) on Showtime, WBC super bantamweight champion Abner Mares (24-0-1, 13 KOs) will face Anselmo Moreno (33-1-1, 12 KOs) in my most anticipated fight of the week end.
Also on the card, IBF bantamweight champion Leo Santa Cruz (21-0-1, 12 KOs) will face Victor Zaleta (20-2-1, 10 KOs) and at super middleweight Alfredo Angulo (20-2, 17 KOs) will attempt to come back from his loss to James Kirkland against Raul Casarez (19-2, 9 KOs).

There is no MMA on tonight. However there is plenty of fights on in kickboxing and boxing.

Kickboxing:

At 21:00 CET (15:00 EST) SuperKombat will hold the final 8 round of its heavyweight Grand Prix:

Super-fight (+96 kg) 1.Dimitry Bezus (Russia) vs Tomas Hron (Czech Republic)
Super-fight (+96 kg) 2. Ibrahim Aarab (Marocco) vs Dzevad Poturak (Bosnia Herzegovina)

Boxing:

MFC 35 live discussion

Sweet Scientist — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 03:18:52 -0000

Front paged by Chris Hall

Your favorite Canadian MMA promotion is back tonight with Maximum Fighting Championship 35. In the main event Elvis Mutapcic faces off against Joseph Henle.

MFC 35 is live on AXS TV right now

Fightcard:

Main Card/AXS TV

Middleweight Championship (Vacant): Joseph Henle vs. Elvis Mutapcic

Middleweight: Jared McComb vs. Derek Parker

Light Heavyweight: Paul Grandbois vs. Jason Kuchera

Featherweight: Shane Nelson vs. Graham Spencer

Heavyweight: Smealinho Rama vs. Ryan Fortin

Welterweight: Cody Krahn vs. Sabah Fadai

Preliminary Card

Lightweight: Matt Jelly vs. Jose Rodriguez

Lightweight: Garret Nybakken vs. Joe McMillan

Middleweight: Chase Degenhardt vs. Chad Sherman

75 words minimum

Front paged by Chris Hall

Your favorite Canadian MMA promotion is back tonight with Maximum Fighting Championship 35. In the main event Elvis Mutapcic faces off against Joseph Henle.

MFC 35 is live on AXS TV right now

Fightcard:

Main Card/AXS TV

Middleweight Championship (Vacant): Joseph Henle vs. Elvis Mutapcic

Middleweight: Jared McComb vs. Derek Parker

Light Heavyweight: Paul Grandbois vs. Jason Kuchera

Featherweight: Shane Nelson vs. Graham Spencer

Heavyweight: Smealinho Rama vs. Ryan Fortin

Welterweight: Cody Krahn vs. Sabah Fadai

Preliminary Card

Lightweight: Matt Jelly vs. Jose Rodriguez

Lightweight: Garret Nybakken vs. Joe McMillan

Middleweight: Chase Degenhardt vs. Chad Sherman

75 words minimum

Channel Surfing: A Youtube Guide for the Fight Fan

Sweet Scientist — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:09:47 -0000

Bored at work? Bored period? Couldn't afford the PPV this week end, don't get Fuel and Showtime and need a fight fix? Just feel like watching some fights? I've got your back.

Welcome to the Youtube guide for the fight fan. Youtube is a fantastic tool, and contrary to what you might believe at first glance isn't just cute cat videos and covers of the Super Mario theme, there's actually an incredible number of fights out there waiting for you. The problem is finding them. Once again, I got you covered, I used my Youtube-Fu skills for the greater good and compiled some of the best Youtube channels in this post.
Whether you're a striking or grappling fan, between the boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, Judo, grappling, Karate, wrestling, Savate and of course MMA, there's something for you here (and for those of you that find real fights boring and didn't care about the UFC until a blond giant with a phallic chest tattoo became HW champ, there's even a little bit of pro wrestling). Without further ado and in the immortal words of Big John McCarthy, let's get it on!

MMA:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEPatCp2kkt9WvgdKxHx-RPE38pS8td9e
Well, our first one isn't really a channel, but BE member Head-splitter just posted a playlist with 43 of the legal UFC, WEC and Pride fights on Youtube and saved me a lot of work.
He also once again proved to be a man of great taste (he once called me a kickboxing expert, proving that flattery, if anything, can at least land you the first spot on a Youtube channels list) by having a playlist of fights of my favorite fighter ever, Genki Sudo.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BellatorMMA
It appears these days that Bellator isn't exactly the paradise land where title shots are earned, not given and the fighters come first that Bjorn Rebney wants you to believe it is. Contracts practices aside, Bellator has some exciting fights and their channel brings you highlights from their events and a few of their best fights in full (most notably Alvarez vs Chandler).

http://www.youtube.com/user/combatemma
Our next stop is Brazil, if you ever find yourself looking for footage of a Brazilian fighter, the CombateMMA channel is probably your best bet.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FightSportLeMag
We'll still be staying mostly in Brazil with the official page of the french version of FightSport magazine which contains full fights videos (with French commentary) from:

Meca World 11, 12 (Jose Aldo, Gleison Tibau, Evangelista Cyborg)
Jungle fight 1-5 (Lyoto Machida, Jacare, Fabricio Werdum, Bibiano Fernandes, Jose Pele Landi, Alexander Schlemenko)
IVC 1-9 (Wanderlei Silva, Babalu, Jose Pele Landi)
M1 Global Breakthrough (Karl Amoussou, King Mo) along with Fedor's fights in Affliction and a few Pride fights (Cro Cop, Shogun, Wanderlei, Vovchanchyn)

http://www.youtube.com/user/GladiatorGames
We're back to the US with the official channel of Midwest local Promotion Legends of Fighting Championships.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TachiPalaceFights
Still in the US, the Tachi Palace Fights official channel offers a few of their fights (including the McCall-Formiga fight).

http://www.youtube.com/user/jiujitube
To conclude our tour of the local US scene, this channel features plenty of local MMA and grappling fights along with a few instructionals.

http://www.youtube.com/user/UltimateChallengeMMA
We'll know cross the pond with the Ultimate Challenge MMA official channel (features fights of LHW prospect Jimi Manuwa who will debut in the UFC this week end against TUF veteran Kyle Kingsbury).

http://www.youtube.com/user/BAMMAUK
We'll stick to the UK for the BAMMA official channel (whose MW champion Tom "Kong" Watson will also make his UFC debut this week end against a former TUF competitor in Brad Tavares).

http://www.youtube.com/user/LegendFCMMA
We're now in Hong Kong with the Legend FC official channel, and its Fight Night Fridays.

http://www.youtube.com/user/OneFCMMA
The official channel of Philippines based promotion OneFC.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SFL
SUPA FITE LEEG's channel, has some fights from their shows and their own version of TUF called SFL: Challengers.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mrsfc18
Some fights from SFL, OneFC and Legacy FC.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nipton80
You know who was awesome? Joachim Hansen, that's who. This channel features 18 of his fights.

http://www.youtube.com/user/swmerk
This one (and the two other channels from this user but I'll get to that) is great. Plenty of early MMA, it includes:

Genki Sudo being awesome at a grappling tournament.
Fedor's MMA debut.
14 of Igor Vovchanchyn's pre-Pride fights (including his execution of Adilson Lima).
Most of Rickson Gracie's MMA career (and his second Vale Tudo fight with Zulu in 1984)
7 of Anderson Silva's early fights (including his first loss and his fight with Sakurai)
4 of Randy Couture's fights in Japan.
4 of Wanderlei Silva's Vale Tudo fights.
5 of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's fights in Rings (including his first fight with Dan Henderson).
7 fights of Jose Pele Landi (including his fights with Lidell, Hughes and Miletich)
Jorge "Macaco" Patino Vale Tudo fights (unfortunately, not his fights with Pele).
A lot of Shooto (Caol Uno, Jens Pulver, Rumina Sato, Hayato Sakurai)
Melvin Manhoef's brutal war with Evangelista Cyborg.
Pancrace Road to Championship 3 (Ken Shamrock vs Bas Rutten)
Absolute Fighting Championship 3 (8 man tournament with Igor Vovchanchyn)
K-1 Hercules 95 (Andy Hug vs Jérôme Le Banner, Peter Aerts vs Mike Bernardo)
K-1 Star Wars 96 (Jérôme Le Banner vs Ernesto Hoost, Andy Hug vs Masaaki Satake, Peter Aerts vs Mike Bernardo)
K-2 Tournament (Ernesto Hoost)
Cro Cop's K-1 debut against Le Banner.
A 15 years old Mike Tyson.
A few pro wrestling matches of Kazushi Sakuraba in UWFI (including his alleged first shoot fight).

http://www.youtube.com/user/swmerk2
Different channel, same user:

Anderson Silva's pro debut.
More fights from Pele (including his crazy 2nd fight with Macaco)
Shooto events in parts and fights from Uno, Sato, Sakurai, Gono and Carlos Newton.
A few Jens Pulver fights (including his fights with a 17 years old Joe Stevenson)
Bas Rutten vs Frank Lobman in Muay Thai.
Two fights from Full Contact legend Benny "The Jet" Urquidez under Japanese kickboxing rules (Beautiful finishes).
Frank Shamrock vs Enson Inoue.
Fights from BTT founders Mario Sperry and Murilo Bustamante.

http://www.youtube.com/user/swmerk300
Still the same user, this one still has some MMA fights but is more focused on kickboxing:

Yves Edwards' fights with Aaron Riley.
Yuki Nakai's run in Vale Tudo Japan 95.
2 Genki Sudo fights.
Randy Couture vs Jeremy Horn in Rings.
4 of Frank Shamrock's Pancrase fights (Rutten 1 and 3, Kondo and Tamura).
Renzo Gracie vs Eugenio Tadeu.
A few more Pele fights.
A few more Sato fights (and a highlight of his fights in Combat Wrestling competitions).
Vitor Belfort's pro debut.
Rick Roufus' Full Contact fights with Ernesto Hoost and Rob Kaman.
Peter Aerts' 3 fights with Frank Lobman and the last two of his 5 fights with Hoost.
Buakaw's pro debut.
Mark Hunt's K-1 fights with Ray Sefo, Cro Cop, and Francisco Filho and his second fight with Le Banner.
Rob Kaman vs Ernesto Hoost 2.
K-1 Holland: Night of the Stars tournament.
2 K-1 and 2 very early (1983) Kyokushin fights of Andy Hug.
The Dekkers vs Coban tetralogy.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7gr6vl5hQALWq0uRVsIYqg
Another good one with non-UFC or Pride fights (mostly Pancrase) of some name fighters:

9 Chael Sonnen fights.
24 Renato "Babalu" Sobral fights.
3 Pat Miletich fights.
2 Nate Diaz fights.
12 of Semmy Schilt's MMA fights.
18 Frank Shamrock fights (including the 3 fights with Bas Rutten.
6 Akiyama fights.
5 Gilbert Melendez fights (Guida, Thomson 1, Ishida 1).
6 Satoshi Ishii fights.
Fights from Pancrase founders Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki.

http://www.youtube.com/user/UmekiABSOLUTE/videos
And we'll conclude the MMA part of this post with a channel focusing on the smaller japanese promotions:

Fights from Shooto, Deep, ZST (Satoru Kitaoka, Katsunori Kikuno, Rumina Sato, Hideo Tokoro).
Submission grappling matches (Caol Uno vs Genki Sudo, Gomi, Kid Yamamoto and even 2 tag team matches).

Bored at work? Bored period? Couldn't afford the PPV this week end, don't get Fuel and Showtime and need a fight fix? Just feel like watching some fights? I've got your back.

MMA:

http://www.youtube.com/user/combatemma
Our next stop is Brazil, if you ever find yourself looking for footage of a Brazilian fighter, the CombateMMA channel is probably your best bet.

Meca World 11, 12 (Jose Aldo, Gleison Tibau, Evangelista Cyborg)
Jungle fight 1-5 (Lyoto Machida, Jacare, Fabricio Werdum, Bibiano Fernandes, Jose Pele Landi, Alexander Schlemenko)
IVC 1-9 (Wanderlei Silva, Babalu, Jose Pele Landi)
M1 Global Breakthrough (Karl Amoussou, King Mo) along with Fedor's fights in Affliction and a few Pride fights (Cro Cop, Shogun, Wanderlei, Vovchanchyn)

http://www.youtube.com/user/GladiatorGames
We're back to the US with the official channel of Midwest local Promotion Legends of Fighting Championships.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TachiPalaceFights
Still in the US, the Tachi Palace Fights official channel offers a few of their fights (including the McCall-Formiga fight).

http://www.youtube.com/user/jiujitube
To conclude our tour of the local US scene, this channel features plenty of local MMA and grappling fights along with a few instructionals.

http://www.youtube.com/user/LegendFCMMA
We're now in Hong Kong with the Legend FC official channel, and its Fight Night Fridays.

http://www.youtube.com/user/OneFCMMA
The official channel of Philippines based promotion OneFC.

http://www.youtube.com/user/SFL
SUPA FITE LEEG's channel, has some fights from their shows and their own version of TUF called SFL: Challengers.

http://www.youtube.com/user/mrsfc18
Some fights from SFL, OneFC and Legacy FC.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Nipton80
You know who was awesome? Joachim Hansen, that's who. This channel features 18 of his fights.

http://www.youtube.com/user/swmerk
This one (and the two other channels from this user but I'll get to that) is great. Plenty of early MMA, it includes:

Genki Sudo being awesome at a grappling tournament.
Fedor's MMA debut.
14 of Igor Vovchanchyn's pre-Pride fights (including his execution of Adilson Lima).
Most of Rickson Gracie's MMA career (and his second Vale Tudo fight with Zulu in 1984)
7 of Anderson Silva's early fights (including his first loss and his fight with Sakurai)
4 of Randy Couture's fights in Japan.
4 of Wanderlei Silva's Vale Tudo fights.
5 of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira's fights in Rings (including his first fight with Dan Henderson).
7 fights of Jose Pele Landi (including his fights with Lidell, Hughes and Miletich)
Jorge "Macaco" Patino Vale Tudo fights (unfortunately, not his fights with Pele).
A lot of Shooto (Caol Uno, Jens Pulver, Rumina Sato, Hayato Sakurai)
Melvin Manhoef's brutal war with Evangelista Cyborg.
Pancrace Road to Championship 3 (Ken Shamrock vs Bas Rutten)
Absolute Fighting Championship 3 (8 man tournament with Igor Vovchanchyn)
K-1 Hercules 95 (Andy Hug vs Jérôme Le Banner, Peter Aerts vs Mike Bernardo)
K-1 Star Wars 96 (Jérôme Le Banner vs Ernesto Hoost, Andy Hug vs Masaaki Satake, Peter Aerts vs Mike Bernardo)
K-2 Tournament (Ernesto Hoost)
Cro Cop's K-1 debut against Le Banner.
A 15 years old Mike Tyson.
A few pro wrestling matches of Kazushi Sakuraba in UWFI (including his alleged first shoot fight).

http://www.youtube.com/user/swmerk2
Different channel, same user:

Anderson Silva's pro debut.
More fights from Pele (including his crazy 2nd fight with Macaco)
Shooto events in parts and fights from Uno, Sato, Sakurai, Gono and Carlos Newton.
A few Jens Pulver fights (including his fights with a 17 years old Joe Stevenson)
Bas Rutten vs Frank Lobman in Muay Thai.
Two fights from Full Contact legend Benny "The Jet" Urquidez under Japanese kickboxing rules (Beautiful finishes).
Frank Shamrock vs Enson Inoue.
Fights from BTT founders Mario Sperry and Murilo Bustamante.

http://www.youtube.com/user/swmerk300
Still the same user, this one still has some MMA fights but is more focused on kickboxing:

Yves Edwards' fights with Aaron Riley.
Yuki Nakai's run in Vale Tudo Japan 95.
2 Genki Sudo fights.
Randy Couture vs Jeremy Horn in Rings.
4 of Frank Shamrock's Pancrase fights (Rutten 1 and 3, Kondo and Tamura).
Renzo Gracie vs Eugenio Tadeu.
A few more Pele fights.
A few more Sato fights (and a highlight of his fights in Combat Wrestling competitions).
Vitor Belfort's pro debut.
Rick Roufus' Full Contact fights with Ernesto Hoost and Rob Kaman.
Peter Aerts' 3 fights with Frank Lobman and the last two of his 5 fights with Hoost.
Buakaw's pro debut.
Mark Hunt's K-1 fights with Ray Sefo, Cro Cop, and Francisco Filho and his second fight with Le Banner.
Rob Kaman vs Ernesto Hoost 2.
K-1 Holland: Night of the Stars tournament.
2 K-1 and 2 very early (1983) Kyokushin fights of Andy Hug.
The Dekkers vs Coban tetralogy.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7gr6vl5hQALWq0uRVsIYqg
Another good one with non-UFC or Pride fights (mostly Pancrase) of some name fighters:

9 Chael Sonnen fights.
24 Renato "Babalu" Sobral fights.
3 Pat Miletich fights.
2 Nate Diaz fights.
12 of Semmy Schilt's MMA fights.
18 Frank Shamrock fights (including the 3 fights with Bas Rutten.
6 Akiyama fights.
5 Gilbert Melendez fights (Guida, Thomson 1, Ishida 1).
6 Satoshi Ishii fights.
Fights from Pancrase founders Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki.

http://www.youtube.com/user/UmekiABSOLUTE/videos
And we'll conclude the MMA part of this post with a channel focusing on the smaller japanese promotions:

Fights from Shooto, Deep, ZST (Satoru Kitaoka, Katsunori Kikuno, Rumina Sato, Hideo Tokoro).
Submission grappling matches (Caol Uno vs Genki Sudo, Gomi, Kid Yamamoto and even 2 tag team matches).

Boxing:

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGreatA
A goldmine, lots of old school boxing fights including names like:

Muhammad Ali
Sugar Ray Robinson
Joe Louis
Roberto Duran
Willie Pep
Archie Moore
Joe Frazier
Rocky Marciano
George Foreman
Sonny Liston.
Carmen Basilio
Wilfred Benitez
Floyd Patterson and many more. If you're even remotely interested in boxing this one is a must subscribe.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BreakBotable
Another goldmine (611 videos):

Joe Calzaghe
Manny Pacquiao
James Toney (if you only know him from his fight with Randy please check him out. he deserves the ridicule he got for his MMA performance and comments but it's a shame that most MMA fans know him only for that. He was a really great boxer).
Marcel Cerdan
Lennox Lewis
Roy Jones Jr
Sugar Ray Robinson and countless others.

Added on oct. 1 2012:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaQFw6Uq-fwbbZuBKknCQJg
Great channel (1170 videos).

http://www.youtube.com/user/ibhof22
Pro boxing fights and documentaries:

Sergio Martinez
Marvin Hagler
Floyd Mayweather Jr
Pernell Whitaker
James Toney
Carmen Basilio
Wilfred Benitez
Jake LaMotta
Joe Louis
Sugar Ray Leonard.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MayweatherUnofficial
Whatever you may think of Floyd Mayweather Jr outside of the ring, there's no denying that the man is a genius inside of it. You'll find most of his pro fights and a couple from his amateur days including 3 from his 1996 Olympic run on this channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/YeahJustLikeChuckie
About 150 pro fights (notably 10 of Juan Manuel Marquez' early fights).

http://www.youtube.com/user/HenryMaskesToes
Another one with about 150 fights:

Chavez Sr vs Taylor 1
Thomas Hearns
Gatti vs Ward trilogy
Roy Jones Jr
Bernard Hopkins
Oscar De La Hoya
Pernell Whitaker
Morales vs Barrera 1
Prince Naseem Hamed among others.

http://www.youtube.com/user/AIBABoxing
The AIBA official channel. The AIBA has showed in the last Olympics what a joke they are (special mention to robbing Alexis Vastine two Olympics in a row and likely driving him away from the sport) and I'll leave it at that. Still, it's not the boxers fault and some fights and fighters (Vasyl Lomachenko) on their channel are worth checking out.

Fights from Olympic qualifying tournaments, European championships and 2011 World championships.

http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldSeriesBoxing
The World Series of Boxing is a team based competition featuring Amateur boxers in a ruleset closer to pro boxing.Fights are 5 rounds and judged under the 10 point must system and the boxers don't wear headgear. Their Youtube channel has all the events from their 2 seasons.

http://www.youtube.com/user/WorldOfAmateurBoxing
The reference for amateur boxing.

http://www.youtube.com/user/IMikeTysonI
Mike Tyson fights (Quick knockouts) and highlights.

http://www.youtube.com/user/jackyle11787
Pro boxing fights, mostly from the eastern European and Japanese scenes.

http://www.youtube.com/user/rayrobinson333
Training and sparring footage from some big names (Oscar De La Hoya, Pernell Whitaker, Roy Jones Jr, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr, Marco Antonio Barrera, Shane Mosley, Larry Holmes, Juan Manuel and Rafael Marquez).

Added on oct. 1 2012:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBoxingHistory
A lot of boxing documentaries and a few full fights:

Gatti-Ward trilogy
Hagler-Hearns
Whitaker-Chavez
Whitaker-De La Hoya
Bowe-Golota 1 and 2.

Muay Thai:

http://www.youtube.com/user/CHOKDEEVIDEO
This one is an absolute must subscribe. It has hundreds of Muay Thai fights and is updated with new fights every day. Almost any notable fighter has at least one fight on this (and if they don't, there's a good chance that they will soon). Great, great channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GKfromMTA
Lots of Muay Thai fights from Thailand.

http://www.youtube.com/user/KALGORAN
Muay Thai fights (Spong, Souwer; Yodsanklai, Saenchai, Anuwat, Attachai, Kraus) and a few full contact fights (including an excellent one between Sebastien Pace and Fouad Ezbiri).

http://www.youtube.com/user/mobysan1
Full Muay Thai events from Thailand
Krush 13, 17, 18 (maybe the most entertaining combat sport card of 2012)
Evolution 25 (Australian Muay Thai)
United Glory 15

http://www.youtube.com/user/LiveMuayThaiGuy
Fights from Thailand.

Kickboxing:

http://www.youtube.com/user/K1
K1's official channel. Tons of fights.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GalaxyJillll
Lots of Japanese kickboxing highlights, and a few very good fights from Japanese promotion Krush.

http://www.youtube.com/user/kickboxingromania
Fights from K-1's last event in Los Angeles, some other fights, mostly from the Eastern European scene

Savate:

http://www.youtube.com/user/chassebas
This channel has all the fights of the Savate Boxing 8 event and some other Savate and Full Contact fights. The last three fights of the event are under the fairly new pro ruleset.

http://www.youtube.com/user/poleboxe77
A channel with Savate and Full Contact fights along with a lot of training footage.

Kyokushin Karate:

http://www.youtube.com/user/111makar111
All the Kyokushin World championships, some of the All Japan championships, Akira Masuda and Shokei Matsui's Hyakunin Kumite (100 man kumite) some individual fights and instructionals.

http://www.youtube.com/user/kyokushin411
2 World championships of the Kyokushin Matsushima branch and individual fights.

http://www.youtube.com/user/badarbence
The full Kyokushin vs K1 event, Kyokushin fights from the 10th European championships.

WKF Karate:

Added on oct. 1 2012:
http://www.youtube.com/user/WKFKarateWorldChamps
The WKF official channel.

BJJ/Grappling:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ibjjf
IBJJF official channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/avezajac
ADCC 2009 and 2011 full events, Gracie Jiu Jitsu instructionals, Sambo instructionals, Muay Thai instructional by Rob Kaman, 6 episodes of the Human Weapon TV show (Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, Sambo, Ninjutsu, Eskrima, Marine Corp Martial Art).

http://www.youtube.com/user/GrapplersQuest
Grapplers Quest official channel.

Judo:

http://www.youtube.com/user/judo
International Judo Federation official channel. Highlights and Livestreams from their events.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Legolas79117129
Probably more Judo matches (3750) than you could ever watch (and a lot less elfs than you'd expect).

Wrestling:

http://www.youtube.com/user/WrestlingTV
Fila's official channel.

Divers:

http://www.youtube.com/user/hatemiag
Some boxing fights, the 2008 Tae Kwon Do Olympic tournament, the 2012 European Karate championship, It's Showtime 55 and two 2012 Judo Grand Prix.

http://www.youtube.com/user/MMANationDotCom
Your MMA and hat of the day brought to you by Kid Nate and Zombie Prophet.

http://www.youtube.com/user/PharrFromHeaven
BE Member RagingNoodle's Channel. It's pretty varied with Shooto, Pancrase, K-1 Hero's and boxing fights, pro wrestling matches and music.

http://www.youtube.com/user/RealMartialChannel
Human Weapon full season.

Pro Wrestling:

As most of you likely guessed with my little dig at it in the intro, I'm not the biggest fan of pro wrestling. I got no problem with the fact that it's "fake", it's entertainment and after all I watched movies my whole life without being bothered by their fakeness. The problem is that:

I didn't grow up watching it and thus have no emotional ties to it.
It doesn't entertain me, which is problematic for something called sport entertainment that isn't actually a sport.

However, there's no point in denying that MMA and especially the Japanese scene has ties to pro wrestling.
The UWFI and the Japanese "shoot style" pro wrestling organizations in general are a extremely rare occurrence of something Japanese being less ridiculous than its foreign counterpart and a number of notable and less notable MMA fighters have participated in it at some point in their career. I included two channels featuring pro wrestling matches involving names like Kazushi Sakuraba, Kiyoshi Tamura, Josh Barnett, Bas Rutten, Akira Maeda (RINGS founder), Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki, Nobuhiko Takada and a bunch of others pro wrestlers that fought in Pride at some point. Oh, and this happens:

I dont know about you but that's far more entertaining to me than what the WWE does.

http://www.youtube.com/user/infromerkh
http://www.youtube.com/user/UWFvideos

I'll conclude this post with some little tips for searching fights:

Set the search options to long videos to avoid highlights and interviews (works especially well for boxing).
When you do find a fight, check the user's channel. There's a good chance that he's got more of them.
Use the "search channel" option on the biggest ones.

If you know of any hidden gems, please share them in the comments (along with a short description of the content if possible) and I'll update the post with them. Thanks for reading and enjoy the fights!

BAMMA 10 is live right now

Sweet Scientist — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 20:02:58 -0000

There's some british MMA on as BAMMA holds its 10th event tonight on 5Stars in the UK and AXS TV (former HDNet) in the US.

Former UFC fighter and TUF finalist Andre Winner is fighting for the organization's lightweight title against Rob Sinclair (11-2). UFC veteran Curt Warburton is also on the card along with a British middleweight title fight.

Fight card:

Main	Lightweight	Jeremy Petley	vs	Dyson Roberts
Main	Lightweight	Ian Entwistle	vs	Lewis Long
Main	Lightweight	Curt Warburton	vs	Lee Wieczorek
Main	Middleweight	Jack Marshman	vs	Andrew Punshon	For BAMMA British Middleweight Championship
Main	Lightweight	Rob Sinclair	vs	Andre Winner	For BAMMA World Lightweight Championship

There's some british MMA on as BAMMA holds its 10th event tonight on 5Stars in the UK and AXS TV (former HDNet) in the US.

Fight card:

Main	Lightweight	Jeremy Petley	vs	Dyson Roberts
Main	Lightweight	Ian Entwistle	vs	Lewis Long
Main	Lightweight	Curt Warburton	vs	Lee Wieczorek
Main	Middleweight	Jack Marshman	vs	Andrew Punshon	For BAMMA British Middleweight Championship
Main	Lightweight	Rob Sinclair	vs	Andre Winner	For BAMMA World Lightweight Championship

Klitschko-Charr, Mathysse-Ajose and Ward-Dawson Live Discussion

Sweet Scientist — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 19:19:43 -0000

Tonight is a big night for boxing with 3 cards

At 2:30PM EDT on Boxnation, Vitali Klitschko will defend his WBC title against Manuel Charr. (The bout will air on tape delay on HBO at 9:45 pm EDT).

Undercard Lineup

Heavyweights, 10 Rounds
Magomed Abdusalamov (15-0, 15 KO) vs Jameel McCline (41-12-3, 24 KO)

Heavyweights, 10 Rounds
Vyacheslav Glazkov (12-0, 9 KO) vs Konstantin Airich (23-6-2, 17 KO)

Featherweights, 10 Rounds
Ayup Arsaev (12-0, 7 KO) vs Khavazhy Khatsyhau (8-0, 5 KO)

Middleweights, 10 Rounds
Andrey Meryasev (10-0, 9 KO) vs Muhitdin Rajapbaev (8-2, 5 KO)

Women's Junior Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Svetlana Kulakova (4-0, 1 KO) vs Iryna Bartash (2-0, 0 KO)

Tonight is a big night for boxing with 3 cards

At 2:30PM EDT on Boxnation, Vitali Klitschko will defend his WBC title against Manuel Charr. (The bout will air on tape delay on HBO at 9:45 pm EDT).

Undercard Lineup

Heavyweights, 10 Rounds
Magomed Abdusalamov (15-0, 15 KO) vs Jameel McCline (41-12-3, 24 KO)

Heavyweights, 10 Rounds
Vyacheslav Glazkov (12-0, 9 KO) vs Konstantin Airich (23-6-2, 17 KO)

Featherweights, 10 Rounds
Ayup Arsaev (12-0, 7 KO) vs Khavazhy Khatsyhau (8-0, 5 KO)

Middleweights, 10 Rounds
Andrey Meryasev (10-0, 9 KO) vs Muhitdin Rajapbaev (8-2, 5 KO)

Women's Junior Welterweights, 4 Rounds
Svetlana Kulakova (4-0, 1 KO) vs Iryna Bartash (2-0, 0 KO)

At 9:00 pm EDT on Showtime, Lucas Mathysse ( 31-2, 29 KO) will meet Olusegun Ajose (30-0, 14 KO) at 140 pounds. The undercard will air at 7:00 pm EDT on Showtime Extreme.

Undercard Lineup

Middleweights, 10 Rounds (Showtime)
J'Leon Love (12-0, 7 KO) vs Ramon Valenzuela (7-1, 1 KO)

Junior Middleweights, 10 Rounds (Showtime Extreme)
Ishe Smith (23-5, 11 KO) vs Irving Garcia (17-7-3, 8 KO)

Junior Middleweights, 6 Rounds (Showtime Extreme)
Daquan Arnett (6-0, 4 KO) vs Jesus Tavera (4-2, 1 KO)

Lightweights, 6 Rounds (Off-TV)
Oscar Cortes (21-0, 11 KO) vs Miguel Buendia (8-1-1, 5 KO)

At 9:45 pm EDT, HBO will air the Klitschko-Charr fight and super middleweight champion Andre Ward (25-0, 13 KO) will defend his title against light heavyweight champion Chad Dawson (31-1, 17 KO). Antonio Dimarco will meet John Molina in a lightweight co-feature.

London 2012 Olympics: Boxing Finals Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 11:42:46 -0000

The second session of the boxing finals take place today. Gold medal matches will take place in the flyweight, bantamweight, lightweight, welterweight, light heavyweight and superheavyweight divisions. The fights will start at 13:30 local time (8:30 EST).

Matchups:

Flyweight:

Tugstsogt Nyambayar (Mongolia) vs Robeisy Ramirez (Cuba)

Lightweight:

Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine) vs Soonchul Han (South Korea)

Welterweight:

Freddie Evans (Great Britain) vs Serik Sapiyev (Kazakhstan)

Light Heavyweight:

Egor Mekhontcev (Russia) vs Adilbek Niyazymbetov (Kazakhstan)

Super Heavyweight:

Roberto Cammarelle (Italy) vs Anthony Joshua (Great Britain)

Matchups:

Flyweight:

Tugstsogt Nyambayar (Mongolia) vs Robeisy Ramirez (Cuba)

Lightweight:

Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine) vs Soonchul Han (South Korea)

Welterweight:

Freddie Evans (Great Britain) vs Serik Sapiyev (Kazakhstan)

Light Heavyweight:

Egor Mekhontcev (Russia) vs Adilbek Niyazymbetov (Kazakhstan)

Super Heavyweight:

Roberto Cammarelle (Italy) vs Anthony Joshua (Great Britain)

London 2012 Olympics: Boxing Finals Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 18:22:15 -0000

The first session of the boxing finals take place today. Gold medal matches will take place in the light flyweight, bantamweight, light welterweight, middleweight and heavyweight divisions. The fights will start at 20:30 local time (15:30 EST).

Matchups:

Light Flyweight:

Zou Shiming (China) vs Kaeo Pongprayoon (Thailand)

Bantamweight:

John Joe Nevin (Ireland) vs Luke Campbell (Great Britain)

Light Welterweight:

Roniel Iglesias (Cuba) vs Denys Berinchyk (Ukraine)

Middleweight:

Esquiva Falcao (Brazil) vs Ryota Murata (Japan)

Heavyweight:

Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine) vs Clemente Russo (Italy)

Matchups:

Light Flyweight:

Zou Shiming (China) vs Kaeo Pongprayoon (Thailand)

Bantamweight:

John Joe Nevin (Ireland) vs Luke Campbell (Great Britain)

Light Welterweight:

Roniel Iglesias (Cuba) vs Denys Berinchyk (Ukraine)

Middleweight:

Esquiva Falcao (Brazil) vs Ryota Murata (Japan)

Heavyweight:

Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine) vs Clemente Russo (Italy)

London 2012 Olympics: Boxing Semifinals Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 04:38:58 -0000

The boxing semifinals are up today, the first session will start at 13:30 London time (8:30 EST) and feature action in the lightflyweight (49kg), bantamweight (56kg), lightwelterweight (64kg), middleweight (75kg) and heavyweight (91kg) divisions.

Matchups:

Lightflyweight:

Zou Shiming (China) vs Paddy Barnes (Ireland)
David Ayrapetyan (Russia) vs Kaeo Pongprayoon (Thailand)

Bantamweight:

Lazaro Alvarez (Cuba) vs John Joe Nevin (Ireland)
Luke Campbell (Great Britain) vs Satoshi Shimizu (Japan)

Lightwelterweight:

Roniel Iglesias (Cuba) vs Vincenzo Mangiacapre (Italy)
Munkh-Erdene Uranchimeg (Mongolia) vs Denys Berinchyk (Ukraine)

Middleweight:

Anthony Ogogo (Great Britain) vs Esquiva Falcao (Brazil)
Abbos Atoev (Uzbekistan) vs Ryoto Murata (Japan)

Heavyweight:

Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine) vs Tervel Pulev (Bulgaria)
Teymur Mammadov (Azerbaijan) vs Clemente Russo (Italy)

The second session will start at 20:30 London time (15:30 EST) and feature action in the flyweight (52 kg), lightweight (60 kg), welterweight (69 kg), lightheavyweight (81kg) and superheavyweight (+91kg) divisions.

Matchups:

Flyweight:

Misha Aloyan (Russia) vs Tsugtsogt Nyambayar (Mongolia)

Michael Conlan (Ireland) vs Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana (Cuba)

Lightweight:

Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine) vs Yasnier Toledo Lopez (Cuba)

Evaldas Petrauskas (Lithuania) vs Soonchul Han (Korea)

Welterweight:

Taras Shelestyuk (Ukraine) vs Freddie Evans (Great Britain)

Andrey Zamkovoy (Russia) vs Serik Sapiyev (Kazakhstan)

Lightheavyweight:

Yamaguchi Falcao Florentino (Brazil) vs Egor Mekhontcev (Russia)

Adilbek Niyazymbetov (Kazakhstan) vs Oleksandr Gvozdyk (Ukraine)

Superheavyweight:

Magomedrasul Medzhidov (Azerbaijan) vs Roberto Cammarelle (Italy)

Ivan Dychko (Kazakhstan) vs Anthony Joshua (Great Britain)

Matchups:

Lightflyweight:

Zou Shiming (China) vs Paddy Barnes (Ireland)
David Ayrapetyan (Russia) vs Kaeo Pongprayoon (Thailand)

Bantamweight:

Lazaro Alvarez (Cuba) vs John Joe Nevin (Ireland)
Luke Campbell (Great Britain) vs Satoshi Shimizu (Japan)

Lightwelterweight:

Roniel Iglesias (Cuba) vs Vincenzo Mangiacapre (Italy)
Munkh-Erdene Uranchimeg (Mongolia) vs Denys Berinchyk (Ukraine)

Middleweight:

Anthony Ogogo (Great Britain) vs Esquiva Falcao (Brazil)
Abbos Atoev (Uzbekistan) vs Ryoto Murata (Japan)

Heavyweight:

Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine) vs Tervel Pulev (Bulgaria)
Teymur Mammadov (Azerbaijan) vs Clemente Russo (Italy)

Matchups:

Flyweight:

Misha Aloyan (Russia) vs Tsugtsogt Nyambayar (Mongolia)

Michael Conlan (Ireland) vs Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana (Cuba)

Lightweight:

Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine) vs Yasnier Toledo Lopez (Cuba)

Evaldas Petrauskas (Lithuania) vs Soonchul Han (Korea)

Welterweight:

Taras Shelestyuk (Ukraine) vs Freddie Evans (Great Britain)

Andrey Zamkovoy (Russia) vs Serik Sapiyev (Kazakhstan)

Lightheavyweight:

Yamaguchi Falcao Florentino (Brazil) vs Egor Mekhontcev (Russia)

Adilbek Niyazymbetov (Kazakhstan) vs Oleksandr Gvozdyk (Ukraine)

Superheavyweight:

Magomedrasul Medzhidov (Azerbaijan) vs Roberto Cammarelle (Italy)

Ivan Dychko (Kazakhstan) vs Anthony Joshua (Great Britain)

London 2012 Olympics Day 11: Boxing Quarterfinals Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 18:08:06 -0000

Today is the last day of quarterfinal action, as the the light flyweights (49 kg), light welterweights (64 kg) and light heavyweights will battle for a spot in the medal matches. The fights will start at 20:30 London time (15:30 EST).

Matchups:

Light flyweight:

Shimming Zou (China) vs Birzhan Zhakypov (Kazakhstan)

Paddy Barnes (Ireland) vs Devendro Singh Laishram (India)

David Ayrapetyan (Russia) vs Ferhat Pehlivan (Turkey)

Kaeo Pongprayoon (Thailand) vs Aleksander Aleksandrov (Bulgaria)

Light welterweight:

Roniel Iglesias (Cuba) vs Uktamjon Rahmonov (Uzbekistan)

Daniyar Yeleussinov (Ukraine) vs Vincenzo Mangiacapre (Italy)

Tom Stalker (Great Britain) vs Munkh-Erdene Uranchimeg (Mongolia)

Jeff Horn (Australia) vs Denis Berinchyk (Ukraine)

Light heavyweight:

Julio la Cruz (Cuba) vs Yamaguchi Falcao (Brazil)

Elshod Rasulov (Uzbekistan) vs Egor Mekhontcev (Russia)

Adilbek Niyazymbetov (Kazakhstan) vs Ehsan Rouzbahani (Iran)

Oleksandr Gvozdyk (Ukraine) vs Abdelhafid Benchabla (Algeria)

Matchups:

Light flyweight:

Shimming Zou (China) vs Birzhan Zhakypov (Kazakhstan)

Paddy Barnes (Ireland) vs Devendro Singh Laishram (India)

David Ayrapetyan (Russia) vs Ferhat Pehlivan (Turkey)

Kaeo Pongprayoon (Thailand) vs Aleksander Aleksandrov (Bulgaria)

Light welterweight:

Roniel Iglesias (Cuba) vs Uktamjon Rahmonov (Uzbekistan)

Daniyar Yeleussinov (Ukraine) vs Vincenzo Mangiacapre (Italy)

Tom Stalker (Great Britain) vs Munkh-Erdene Uranchimeg (Mongolia)

Jeff Horn (Australia) vs Denis Berinchyk (Ukraine)

Light heavyweight:

Julio la Cruz (Cuba) vs Yamaguchi Falcao (Brazil)

Elshod Rasulov (Uzbekistan) vs Egor Mekhontcev (Russia)

Adilbek Niyazymbetov (Kazakhstan) vs Ehsan Rouzbahani (Iran)

Oleksandr Gvozdyk (Ukraine) vs Abdelhafid Benchabla (Algeria)

London 2012 Olympics Day 9 : Boxing Quarterfinals Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 17:22:11 -0000

The quarterfinals will take place in the flyweight (52kg, most exciting division IMO) and welterweight (69kg) divisions. The winners tonight are guaranteed a place on the podium and a medal. The fights will start at 20:30 London time (15:30 EST)

Matchups:

Flyweights:

Misha Aloian (Russia) vs Jeyvier Cintron Octavio (Puerto Rico)

Jazurbek Latipov (Uzbekistan) vs Tugstsogt Nyambayar (Mongolia)

Nordine Oubaali (France) vs Michael Conlan (Ireland)

Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana (Cuba) vs Andrew Selby (Breat Britain)

Welterweights:

Taras Shelestyuk (Ukraine) vs Alexis Vastine (France)

Custio Clayton (Canada) vs Freddie Evans (Great Britain)

Errol Spence (USA, last American boxer) vs Andrey Zamkovoy (Russia)

Gabriel Maestre Perez (Venezuela) vs Serik Sapiyev (Kazakhstan)

Matchups:

Flyweights:

Misha Aloian (Russia) vs Jeyvier Cintron Octavio (Puerto Rico)

Jazurbek Latipov (Uzbekistan) vs Tugstsogt Nyambayar (Mongolia)

Nordine Oubaali (France) vs Michael Conlan (Ireland)

Robeisy Ramirez Carrazana (Cuba) vs Andrew Selby (Breat Britain)

Welterweights:

Taras Shelestyuk (Ukraine) vs Alexis Vastine (France)

Custio Clayton (Canada) vs Freddie Evans (Great Britain)

Errol Spence (USA, last American boxer) vs Andrey Zamkovoy (Russia)

Gabriel Maestre Perez (Venezuela) vs Serik Sapiyev (Kazakhstan)

London 2012 Olympics Day 8 : Boxing Quarterfinals Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 19:03:31 -0000

Things are getting serious tonight in boxing as the first quarterfinals will take place in the lightweight (60kg) and middleweight (75kg) ans superheavyweight (+91kg) divisions. The winners tonight are guaranteed a place on the podium and a medal. The fights will start at 20:30 London time (15:30 EST)

Matchups:

Lightweight:

Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine, n°1 P4P amateur, must watch) vs Felix Verdejo Sanchez (Puerto Rico)

Gani Zhaliaouv (Kazakhstan) vs Yasnier Toledo (Cuba)

Domenico Valentino (Italy) vs Evaldas Petrauskas (Lithuania)

Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (Uzbekistan) vs Soonchul Han (South Korea)

Middleweight:

Anthony Ogogo (Great Britain) vs Stefan Hartel (Germany)

Zoltan Harcsa (Hungary) vs Esquiva Falcao (Brazil)

Abbos Atoev (Uzbekistan) vs Vijender Singh (India)

Adem Kilicci (Turkey) vs Ryoto Murata (Japan)

Superheavyweight:

Magomedrasul Medzhidov (Azerbaijan) vs Magomed Omarov (Russia)

Mohammed Arjaoui (Morocco) vs Roberto Cammarelle (Italy)

Ivan Dychko Kazakhstan) vs Simon Kean (Canada)

Zhang Zhilei (China) vs Anthony Joshua (Great Britain)

Matchups:

Lightweight:

Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine, n°1 P4P amateur, must watch) vs Felix Verdejo Sanchez (Puerto Rico)

Gani Zhaliaouv (Kazakhstan) vs Yasnier Toledo (Cuba)

Domenico Valentino (Italy) vs Evaldas Petrauskas (Lithuania)

Fazliddin Gaibnazarov (Uzbekistan) vs Soonchul Han (South Korea)

Middleweight:

Anthony Ogogo (Great Britain) vs Stefan Hartel (Germany)

Zoltan Harcsa (Hungary) vs Esquiva Falcao (Brazil)

Abbos Atoev (Uzbekistan) vs Vijender Singh (India)

Adem Kilicci (Turkey) vs Ryoto Murata (Japan)

Superheavyweight:

Magomedrasul Medzhidov (Azerbaijan) vs Magomed Omarov (Russia)

Mohammed Arjaoui (Morocco) vs Roberto Cammarelle (Italy)

Ivan Dychko Kazakhstan) vs Simon Kean (Canada)

Zhang Zhilei (China) vs Anthony Joshua (Great Britain)

London 2012 Olympics Day 8 : Boxing Quarterfinals Livethread and Bantamweight Quick Picks

Sweet Scientist — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 15:00:20 -0000

Things are getting serious tonight in boxing as the first quarterfinals will take place in the bantamweight (56kg) and heavyweight (91kg) divisions. The winners tonight are guaranteed a place on the podium and a medal. The fights will start at 20:30 London time (15:30 EST)

Matchups:

Bantamweight:

Lazaro Alvarez Estrada (Cuba) vs Robenilson Vieira De Jesus (Brazil):

Reigning world champion Lazaro Alvarez is the favorite to take gold in this weight class. He had a bye in the round of 32 and beat Joseph Diaz Jr (USA) in the round of 16, Alvarez wasn't as dominant as he was expected to be in that fight (he dominated Diaz in the quarterfinals of the 2011 world championships) but I think Diaz deserves a lot of credit for that, he looked really improved.
Vieira beat Orzubek Shayimov (Uzbekistan) and Sergey Vodopiyanov (Russia) to get to the quarter finals. I
thought Vodopiyanov got jobbed in that fight and I don't think Vieira will cause much trouble to Alvarez.

My pick: Alvarez

John Joe Nevin (Ireland) vs Oscar Valdez Fierro (Mexico):

2011 world bronze medalist John Joe Nevin probably had the most impressive performances in this weight class so far with his dominant wins over Dennis Ceylan (Denmark) and Kanat Abutalipov while Valdez Fierro beat promising prospect Shiva Thapa (India) and upset top seed and 2011 world bronze medalist Anvar Yunusov (Tajikistan). This should be a very interesting fight, Nevin is the rightful favorite but I expect Valdez Fierro to make it a fight and wouldn't be overly surprised if he scored a second upset.

My pick: Nevin

Luke Campbell (Great Britain) vs Detelin Dalakliev (Bulgaria):

Campbell (2011 world silver medalist) is the favorite on this side of the bracket. He defeated a game Jahyn Vittorio Parinello in the round of 16, using his reach and solid boxing skills. Detelin Dalakliev (2009 world champion) is a solid boxer but at 29 years old, he seems to have declined a bit since his championship run. He easily defeated Ayabonga Sonjica of South Africa in the round of 32 but struggled against Ibrahim Balla (Australia) in his next fight, winning an extremely close decision to get to the quarterfinals.

My pick: Campbell

Mohamed Ouadahi (Algeria) vs Satoshi Shimizu (Japan):

Ouadahi advanced by walk over in the round of 32 and defeated William Encarnacion Alcantara (Dominican Republic) in the round of 16. Shimizu won a close decision in a pretty ugly fight against Isaac Dogboe in the round of 32 and took a beating in the first two rounds of his fight against top seed Magomed Abdulhimov (Azerbaidjan), Abdulhamidov gassed badly in the third and Shimizu made the most of his opportunity, battering the Azeri for the whole round. The problem was that he wasn't just fighting against him but also the ref and the judges, the ref never counted Abdulhamidov despite 5 knockdowns and the judges somehow scored that round even, awarding the win to Abdulhamidov in one of the most disgraceful decision I've ever seen. Thankfully, AIBA overturned the decision and Shimizu is in the quarterfinals. Honestly, neither of these guys was really impressive so far, Ouadahi's opponent fought a terrible fight and Shimizu seems unable to use his reach advantage effectively (prompting Wonderfulspam to nickname him the "Japanese Struve"). I'm leaning towards Ouadahi but I'd be extremely surprised to see one of these fighters winning their next fight.

My pick: Ouadahi

Heavyweight:

Unfortunately I missed the heavyweight fights and won't make picks but here are the match ups:

Oleksandr Usyk (Ukraine, 2008 world cup silver medalist, 2009 world silver medalist, 2011 world champion) vs Artur Beterbiev (Russia, 2007 world silver medalist, 2008 world cup gold medalist, 2009 world champion, all at LHW)

Tervel Pulev (Bulgaria) vs Yamil Peralta (Argentina)

Teymur Mammadov (Azerbaidjan) vs TBA

Jose Larduet (Cuba) vs Clemente Russo (ITA)

Matchups:

Bantamweight:

My pick: Alvarez

John Joe Nevin (Ireland) vs Oscar Valdez Fierro (Mexico):

My pick: Nevin

Luke Campbell (Great Britain) vs Detelin Dalakliev (Bulgaria):

My pick: Campbell

Mohamed Ouadahi (Algeria) vs Satoshi Shimizu (Japan):

My pick: Ouadahi

Heavyweight:

Unfortunately I missed the heavyweight fights and won't make picks but here are the match ups:

Tervel Pulev (Bulgaria) vs Yamil Peralta (Argentina)

Teymur Mammadov (Azerbaidjan) vs TBA

Jose Larduet (Cuba) vs Clemente Russo (ITA)

London 2012 Olympics Day 7: Boxing Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 02:48:29 -0000

Continuing from yesterday's livethread.

Boxing: The lightflyweight, lightwelterweight, and light heavyweight rounds of 16 will take place today, the top seeds in each weight class will enter the competition.

At lightflyweight, Shiming Zou (China), Paddy Barnes (Ireland), Serdamba Purevdorj (Mongolia) and David Ayrapetyan (Russia) are in.

Lightwelterweights Everton Dos Santos (Brazil), Vincenzo Mangiapre (Italy), Thomas Stalker (Great Bitain) and Denis Berynchik (Ukraine) will have their first fights.

The lightheavyweights top seeds are Julio La Cruz Peraza (Cuba), Elshod Rasulov (Uzbekistan), Egor Mekhontcev (Russia), Adilbek Niyazymbetov (Kazakhstan) and Abdelhafid Benchabla (Algeria).

The first session starts at 13:30 London time (8:30 EST) and the second at 20:30 London time (15:30 EST)

LETS MUTHERFUKERS!

Continuing from yesterday's livethread.

Boxing: The lightflyweight, lightwelterweight, and light heavyweight rounds of 16 will take place today, the top seeds in each weight class will enter the competition.

At lightflyweight, Shiming Zou (China), Paddy Barnes (Ireland), Serdamba Purevdorj (Mongolia) and David Ayrapetyan (Russia) are in.

Lightwelterweights Everton Dos Santos (Brazil), Vincenzo Mangiapre (Italy), Thomas Stalker (Great Bitain) and Denis Berynchik (Ukraine) will have their first fights.

The lightheavyweights top seeds are Julio La Cruz Peraza (Cuba), Elshod Rasulov (Uzbekistan), Egor Mekhontcev (Russia), Adilbek Niyazymbetov (Kazakhstan) and Abdelhafid Benchabla (Algeria).

The first session starts at 13:30 London time (8:30 EST) and the second at 20:30 London time (15:30 EST)

LETS MUTHERFUKERS!

London 2012 Olympics: Boxing and Judo Day 6 Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 06:42:17 -0000

Continuing from yesterday's livethread.

Judo: today is the men's 100kg class and the women's 78kg class. There is a preview here. The preliminary rounds start at 9:30 London time (4:30 EST) and the medal matches at 14:00 London time (9:00 EST)

Boxing: The lightweight and middleweight rounds of 16 will take place today, the top seeds in each weight class will enter the competition.

At lightweight, P4P number 1 Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine, 2007 world silver medalist, 2008 Olympic champion, 2009 world champion and 2011 world champion), Yasniel Toledo Lopez (Cuba, 2011 world silver medalist), Domenico Valentino (Italy, 2007 world silver medalist, 2009 world champion and 2011 world bronze medalist) and Vazgen Safaryants (Belarus, 7-1 and ranked number 4 in the World Series of Boxing) are in.

At middleweight, Ievguen Khytrov (Ukraine, 2011 world champion), Ryota Murata (Japan, 2011 world silver medalist), Bogdan Juratoni (Romania, 2011 world bronze medalist) and Esquiva Falcao Florentino (Brazil, 2011 world bronze medalist) will have their first fights.

The first session starts at 13:30 London time (8:30 EST) and the second at 20:30 London time (15:30 EST)

LETS MUTHERFUKERS!

Continuing from yesterday's livethread.

The first session starts at 13:30 London time (8:30 EST) and the second at 20:30 London time (15:30 EST)

LETS MUTHERFUKERS!

London 2012 Olympics: Boxing and Judo Day 5 Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:57:59 -0000

Continuing from yesterday's livethread.

For Judo, today is the men's 90kg class and the women's 70kg class. There is a preview here. The preliminary rounds start at 9:30 London time (4:30 EST) and the medal matches at 14:00 London time (9:00 EST)

In boxing, the heavyweights (91kg) and superheavyweights (.91kg) see their first day of action and shit gets real in the bantamweight division's second day of action as reigning world champion Larazo Alvarez Estrada (Cuba) enters the tournament along fellow top seeds Luke Campbell (Great Britain, 2011 worlds silver medalist), Anvar Yusunov (Tajikistan, 2011 worlds bronze medalist) and Magomed Abdulhamidov (Azerbaidjan, 10-1 and ranked n°3 in the World Series of Boxing). The first session starts at 13:30 London time (8:30 EST) and the second at 20:30 London time (15:30 EST)

There is also men's épée and women's sabre in fencing, as well as football, basketball, handball, voleyball, water polo, badminton, tennis, table tennis and weight lifting, if you are into that sort of thing.

LETS MUTHERFUKERS!

Continuing from yesterday's livethread.

LETS MUTHERFUKERS!

London 2012 Olympics: Boxing and Judo Day 3 Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 08:32:28 -0000

For Judo, today is the men's 73kg class and the women's 57kg class. Preview here. Start time 9:30 am local time, 4:30 am EST.

In boxing, the flyweights (52kg) and light heavyweights (81kg) will compete. Start time 13:30 local time, 8:30 am EST.

In other sports, for fencing, today's women's épée. There's also women's basketball, swimming, men's field hockey, women's volleyball and women's handball on today.

I look forward to another good day of Olympic action. Have at it guys!

For Judo, today is the men's 73kg class and the women's 57kg class. Preview here. Start time 9:30 am local time, 4:30 am EST.

In boxing, the flyweights (52kg) and light heavyweights (81kg) will compete. Start time 13:30 local time, 8:30 am EST.

London 2012 Olympics: Boxing and Judo Day 1 Livethread

Sweet Scientist — Sat, 28 Jul 2012 09:35:31 -0000

The Olympics started today. For combat sports, Judo Men's 60 kg and Women's 48 kg are up today starting at 9:30 local time(4:30 EST). For Boxing, Men's Bantamweight (56 kg) and middleweight (75 kg) preliminary rounds will take place today, starting at 13:30 local time (9:30 EST). It should be a fun day of fights and I look forward to commenting the action with you (Blah blah blah blah 75 words limit won't you ever leave me alone).

Olympic Boxing Preview: Men's 56 kg.

Sweet Scientist — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 12:38:21 -0000

The Olympic games are just 10 days away. Spanning 2 weeks and featuring 286 boxers, the Olympic boxing tournament is one of the biggest combat sports competitions in the world. Amateur boxing is undergoing changes as the women will make their Olympic debut and the new AIBA scoring system will be used for the first and last time at the Olympics

The new scoring system was used at the last World Championships and uses 5 judges scoring the bout using scoring machines (clean hit with the knuckle part of the gloves = 1point), the two extreme scorecards are cut out and an average of the three middle scorecards is used to determine each boxer's score, in case of a tie the boxer winning on the most scorecards is declared the winner. This scoring system and headgear will be abandoned after these Olympics in favor of the 10 point must system.

AIBA has experimented with this using the newly created "semi pro" league: World Series of Boxing. The WSB features franchises regrouping amateur boxers in team based competition, the fights are 5 rounds, scored under the 10 point must system and boxers don't wear headgear. 5 qualifications to these Olympics were earned through the WSB, and a fair number of boxers competing in the Olympics have fought in the WSB during the past 2 years. Following this success the AIBA has announced that it will create a pro league allowing top level amateurs the opportunity to earn a living with boxing while still being able to compete in the Olympics.
Going back to the Olympic tournament, first up on July 28 will be the bantamweight division (56 kg). Join me after the jump for a look at the weight class.

Participants:

Mohamed Amine Ouadahi (Algeria)

Alberto Ezequiel Melian (Argentina)

Ibrahim Mitat Balla (Australia)

Magomed Abdulhamidov (Azerbaidjan)

Robenilson Vieira De Jesus (Brazil)

Detelin Dalakliev (Bulgaria)

Lazaro Alvarez Estrada (Cuba)

Denis Ceylan (Denmark)

Wiliam Encarnacion Alcantara (Dominican Republic)

Braexir Romeo Lemboumba (Gabon)

Merab Turkadze (Georgia)

Isaac Dogboe (Ghana)

Luke Campbell (Great Britain)

Shiva Thapa (India)

John Joseph Nevin (Ireland)

Jahyn Vittorio Parrinello (Italy)

Satoshi Shimizu (Japan)

Kanat Abutalipov (Kazahkstan)

Oscar Rafael Valdez Fierro (Mexico)

Aboubakr Seddik Lbida (Morocco)

Jonas Nghilandemwenyo Matheus (Namibia)

Sergey Vodopiyanov (Russia)

Ayabonga Sonjica (South Africa)

Wessam Slamana (Syria)

Anvar Yunusov (Tajikistan)

Pavlo Ischenko (Ukraine)

Joseph Diaz Jr (USA)

Orzubek Shayimov (Uzbekistan)

AIBA's Top 10 rankings:

1: Anvar Yunusov (Tajikistan)
2: Lazaro Alvarez Estrada (Cuba)
3: Luke Campbell (Great Britain)
4: John Joseph Nevin (Ireland)
5: Mohamed Amine Ouadahi (Algeria)
6: Veaceslav Gojan (Moldova, won't take part in the Olympics)
7: Detelin Dalakliev (Bulgaria)
8: Otgondalai Dornjyambuu (Mongolia, won't take part in the Olympics)
9: Bruno Julie (Mauritius, won't take part in the Olympics)
10: Dmitry Polyanskiy (Russia, won't take part in the Olympics)

2008 Olympics Results (57kg):

Gold: Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine)
Silver: Khedafi Djelkhir (France)
Bronze: Yakup Kilic (Turkey) / Shakim Imranov (Azerbaidjan)

2009 World Championships results (54kg):

Gold: Detelin Dalakliev (Bulgaria)
Silver: Eduard Abzalimov (Russia)
Bronze: John Joseph Nevin (Ireland) / Yankiel Leon Alarcon (Cuba)

2009 World Championships results (57kg):

Gold: Vasyl Lomachenko (Ukraine)
Silver: Sergey Vodopiyanov (Russia)
Bronze: Bahodirjon Sultonov (Uzbekistan) / Oscar Rafael Valdez Fierro (Mexico)

2011 World Championships results:

Gold: Lazaro Alvarez Estrada (Cuba)
Silver: Luke Campbell (England)
Bronze: Anvar Yunusov (Tajikistan) / John Joseph Nevin (Ireland)

The Favorite:

N°2 ranked Lazaro Alvarez Estrada has to be considered the favorite to win gold in this category. The 21 year old Cuban southpaw made a statement last october by winning the World Championships, beating 4 of this year's Olympians, all ranked in the top 20, including the current n°1 and n°3. His length, footwork and his quick and accurate left straight should carry him to a gold medal in his first Olympics.

Lazaro Alvarez vs Luke Campbell 2011 World Championships Final:

Other contenders:

N°3 ranked Luke Campbell took silver at the last world championships, upsetting then n°1 Detelin Dalakliev in the quarterfinals and beating current n°4 and n°5 ranked John Joseph Nevin and Mohamed Ouadahi. His size, sound fundamentals and very good control of distance will make him a tall order for anyone in these games and give him a very good shot at winning gold in front of his homecountry.

Luke Campbell vs Detelin Dalakliev 2011 World Championships Quarterfinal:

The n°1 ranked Anvar Yunusov took 5th place in the Beijing Olympics, since then he's won the 2011 Asian Confederation Championship, beating n°8 ranked Otgondalai Dornjyambuu in the finals and took bronze in the 2011 World Championships, defeating then n°3 Sergey Vodopiyanov in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual winner Lazaro Alvarez Estrada in the semis. He's compiled a 4-1 (loss avenged) record in the second season of the World Series of Boxing and won the Governor's Cup in St Petersburg in May, besting Italian Olympian Jahyn Vittorio Parrinello in the finals. His shoulder roll and counter striking skills should ensure him at least a place on the podium if not Gold although I think that Alvarez is a bad matchup for him and I suspect that Campbell might be too.

Anvar Yunusov vs Sergey Vodipiyanov 2011 World Championships Quarterfinal:

Keep an eye out for:

N°7 ranked Detelin Dalakliev, the 2009 World Champion has never been to the Olympics and at 29 years old this year might be his only shot at Olympic glory.

At just 23 years old, Ireland's John Joe Nevin is already a 2 time Bronze medalist at the World Championships. He lost a very close decision to Luke Campbell in the 2011 World Championships and will be looking to make an impact for his second time in the Olympic games.

The former 2007 World Champion and 2009 silver medalist, Sergey Vodopiyanov appears to have slowed down a bit in recent years but is still fairly young considering his experience at 24 years old.

18 year old Shiva Thapa (India) won Silver at the 2010 Youth World Championships and fairly easily won the Asian Qualifying event, along with 19 year old American Joseph Diaz (Worlds quarterfinalist, lost to eventual champion Lazaro Alvarez) he's the prospect to watch.

Overall, this is a very interesting division, the bantamweights should bring fast paced action and although there's a clear favorite, a lot of boxers have a legitimate shot at a medal.

Muay Thai Classics: Dekkers vs Coban

Sweet Scientist — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 20:41:31 -0000

This fanpost was promoted to the front page by T.P. Grant

Many MMA fans are familiar with Ramon Dekkers at least by name, as Dekkers is widely recognized as one of Muay Thai's all time greats, amassing a record of 186(95 KOs)-30-2, and winning 8 world titles over the course of a career spanning 20 years. One name they might not be familiar with though is the one of perhaps his biggest rival, another all time great, Coban Lookchaomaesaitong.

Starting his Muay Thai training at the age of eleven, he made his Radjadamnern debut at 15 and was a Lumpinee champion before he turned 20. While well rounded and proficient in all phases of Muay Thai, these two Nak Muays were mostly known as two of the sport's most devastating punchers.

In 1991, a 20 years old Ramon Dekkers had already won 2 world titles and was breaking out as a star in Thailand, losing only competitive decisions to the best Thailand had to offer, dominating the rest. Meanwhile the 25 years old Coban was a 2 time Lumpinee champion and 2 time world champion himself when they first met in Paris on April 21, 1991.

video after the jump...

This fanpost was promoted to the front page by T.P. Grant

video after the jump...

The much smaller Thai southpaw would catch Dekkers with a devastating left hook a minute into the fight, becoming the first (and only) Thai to ever knock Dekkers out. Dekkers had only been stopped once when he was 17 years old up to that point.

4 months later, Coban and Dekkers would rematch in the legendary Lumpinee stadium.

The fight didn't last much longer than the first one, and once again, the left hook started it all. Only this time, it was Dekkers hurting Coban with it, following with a brutal knee and a flurry of punches in one of the displays of killer instinct that earned him the nickname "Turbine from Hell". Having brutally avenged his loss in the first fight would go on to avenge an earlier loss to Sangtiennoi, to knock out French Nak Muay Joël César twice and lost a decision to Sakmongkol this year. With a confirmed yearly record of 4-3 (3 KOs, 2 avenged losses and more than likely a few more wins than 4 given the lack of detailed Muay Thai records) he became the first farang (occidental) to win the Nak Muay of the year award in Thailand.

However, with the first pair of fights split at one win a piece and lasting a combined time of less than a round, questions still remained as to who was truly the better fighter. On February 28, 1992, in Samut Prakan, Thailand the two fighters met for a rubber match.

Unlike the fist two, the fight started at a pace much more typical of Muay Thai fights, gradually gaining in intensity through the early rounds. After three pretty evenly fought rounds, Coban's left hook would once again make the difference as, like in the first fight, he used it to counter a left hook from Dekkers, sending him to the canvas. This time Dekkers would get up from it, and despite going down a second time, managed to survive the round, even mounting a late rally in the fifth en route for a spirited but clear cut decision loss.

The rivalry between the top 2 fighters of their era wasn't over though, and Coban and Dekkers would cross paths one last time in 1993 in Paris.

In a very tactical fight, Dekkers smartly avoided exchanging punches with the quicker Thai, instead using his reach advantage to draw him in a kicking battle to win a close decision and tie the series at 2-2. The fight was surrounded by a bit of controversy though, as, on Dekker's demand, elbows weren't allowed (Dekkers had lost a few fights before via cuts due to elbows) and Coban claims that he was set up by the promoter and wasn't supposed to fight Dekkers that night.

With the rivalry ending in a tie, determining the better man is left for the fans to argue. What isn't up for debate however is the place in history of these two Nak Muays as the best of their era and undisputable all time greats.

Coban put an end to his career after competing for 23 years in 2000, retiring with a 250(90 KOs)-20 record, 2 Lumpinee and 5 world titles. He now teaches Muay Thai in NYC. Ramon Dekkers definitely retired from the rings in 2006 after a comeback in K-1 that saw him go 1-1 in kickboxing, beating Duane Ludwig and 0-1 in MMA, losing to Genki Sudo. He is now a coach at his Golden Glory affiliated gym in his hometown of Breda.

So K-1 Came Back This Week End (And If You Missed It You Can Still Watch it for Free)

Sweet Scientist — Mon, 28 May 2012 04:20:10 -0000

After a long period of financial troubles culminating in a year without a WGP and a change in ownership, K-1 was finally back this week end in Madrid with a card featuring this year's MAX tournament Final 16 and Badr Hari's return to kickboxing after retiring from the sport 4 months ago to pursue a boxing career. The event featured some very good fights, if you missed it you can watch it for free here. Join me after the jump for my thoughts on the event.

First of all, I was disappointed with the production of the event, I've been waiting for K-1's return for quite some time and this was basically an It's Showtime event with a K-1 logo, don't mistake me, that was a good night of kickboxing but the fact that it didn't quite have that K-1 feel to it was a minor disappointment.
Gago Grago looked terrible and shot against Andy Ristie, he got beaten up for most of the fight and didn't seem to have an answer for it besides covering up.
After his usual slow first round, Arthur Kyshenko turned it up in the second and absolutely destroyed Su Hwan Lee, knocking him out with a left hook that left Lee lying on the canvas for 3 minutes.
Murthel Groenhart needed a big third round after getting pressured by Harut Grigorian for the first two. Groenhart came out swinging in the third, knocked down Grigorian and stopped him with 40 seconds left in the fight to secure an amazing comeback win. Both of these guys were deserving of a spot in the Final 8 and I'd like Grigorian to get the call should someone in the Final 8 get injured.
Chain Superpro Samui vs Chris Ngimbi was a very good fight, Superpro Samui is obviously a very skilled fighter but I don't think 70 kg is the right weight class for me, he looked noticeably smaller than Ngimbi and although he showed tremendous heart and a very solid chin, Ngimbi's strikes were hurting him more than his were hurting Ngimbi. Good performance by both fighters but I'd like to see Samui drop down to 63 kg, I think he'd be a force at that weight.
Yasuhiro Kido vs Xu Yan was pretty lackluster until Kido knocked out Yan with a spinning backfist. Great knockout and a good win but Kido didn't exactly look like a future champion with this performance.
Andy Souwer avenged his 2011 loss to Abraham Roqueni, he wasn't overly impressive in doing so but although he's slowed down in recent years and isn't the force he was a few years ago he remains a top guy and a tough out for anyone in the division.
Zambidis looked excellent once he found his rythm in the second after a feeling out first round against Chahid Oulad El Hadj. He battered Chahid with brutal body shots before knocking him out in the third.
Seeing Cro Cop win by KO and looking relatively good while doing so was nice. Loren Javier Jorge isn't a world beater by any means and I don't expect Cro Cop to make another run to the top but if he wants to finish his career facing this type of guys and other fading greats, I'm all for it and I'll gladly be watching.
Daniel Ghita did what was expected from him and beat his outmatched opponent up. Roche showed amazing heart and toughness but he was out of his depth and his corner wisely recognized that and threw in the towel in the second instead of letting their guy take an unnecessary beating, props to them.
Badr Hari had a good first round that saw him knock down Anderson Silva, but then proceeded to coast threw the last two rounds en route to a decision victory. This wasn't a bad performance and Silva is always a good win but that wasn't quite the statement people expected from him in his return to K-1.
Overall this was an awesome night of fights and makes me feel good about this "new" K-1's future. Oh and the tribute to Mike Bernardo (RIP) was pretty cool, Mike wasn't the most well known fighter from his era and deserves some recognition.

MMA's Cousins: Other Forms of Martial Arts Mixing Striking and Grappling

Sweet Scientist — Fri, 18 May 2012 08:56:52 -0000

After fanposts on the different styles of kickboxing and on "traditional" striking arts, this fanpost will conclude this little series of post and will focus on forms of martial art mixing striking with grappling.

Kudo Daido Juku:

Kudo Daido Juku was created in 1981 by Kyokushin Karate and Judo black belt Takashi Azuma. K-1 great Semmy Schilt was a two time champion in Kudo and Minoki Ichihara fought at UFC 2 and lost to Royce Gracie which prompted Azuma to study BJJ and incorporate BJJ techniques to Kudo. Kudo also held events called WARS where Kudo fighters would take on fighters from other styles under the other style rules.

Rules: One interesting thing to note is that there is no "weight" classes in Kudo but "physical index" classes, one's physical index being calculated by adding his height in centimeters to his weight in kilograms. Thus, a fighter who's 180 cm tall and weights 70 kg has a physical index of 250, same as a fighter 170 cm tall and weighting 80 kg. Physical index classes are -230, -240, -250, -260, -270, +270 and absolute.
one three minutes round with possibility of 2 extra rounds. Punches, kicks, elbows, knees and headbutts allowed standing, clinching allowed for 10 seconds and ground fighting allowed for 30 seconds twice in every round, ground and pound allowed to the body, forbidden to the head for the fighter on top, but simulated ground and pound brings points. In the absolute class if there is a physical index difference of more than 20, groin strikes are allowed for the smaller man. Victory is possible by KO, submission, or judges decision.

So, what does it look like?:

Kudo highliht (contains footage of Azuma competing in Kyokushin and of WARS event against Shooto, Kickboxing and Muay Thai).
Osada Kenichi highlight (contains footage of WARS event against Muay Thai).
WARS 6 against Lutte Contact highlight.

Combat Sambo:

Sambo is a russian martial art developed in the 1920's as the Red Army's system of hand to hand combat. Sambo has roots in Judo and different styles of folk style wrestling. Combat Sambo is one of the two competitive rulesets of Sambo (Sport Sambo being a grappling only ruleset).

Rules: One 6 minutes round. Punches and kicks allowed, knees allowed to the body and legs. Ground and pound allowed (punches to the head, knees to the body, and kicks to the legs). 1 to 4 points are awarded for throws depending on the way the opponent lands. 4 points are awarded for a 20 second hold down (once in the match) and 2 points for a 10 second hold down (twice in the match). Victory is possible by: KO, Submission, Points or Judge decision in the event of a tie.

So, what does it look like?:
Fedor Emelianenko vs Blagoi Ivanov

Lutte Contact:

Lutte Contact (Contact Wrestling) was created in 1993 in France as a way to provide something close but safer that what NHB provided at the time.

Rules: One 4 minutes round with possibility of a 2 minutes extension. Punches and kicks allowed, knees allowed to the body (two in a row maximum). Ground fighting allowed for 20 seconds once for each fighter.

1 point: leg kicks and body strikes, punches to the head.
2 points: kicks to the head, spinning kicks to the body, throws where the opponent does not land on his back.
5 points: spinning kicks to the head, throws where the opponent lands on his back, first knock down.
Victory is possible by: KO (opponent can't answer a 5 count), submission, or points.

So, what does it look like?:

Yoseikan Budo:

Yoseikan Budo was created in 1965 by Judo, Aikido and Karate black belt as a synthesis of the martial arts he studied in his life. he had been pushed by his father, who trained under Judo founder Jigoro Kano and was an assistant for Aikido founder Morihei Ueshiba, to train in a variety of martial arts (boxing, savate, Karate) with this objective in mind. Yoseikan Budo is based on the concept of shockwave movement, which is applied to every part of the art (striking, grappling, fighting with weapons, kata, aikido...).

Rules: 2x2 minutes rounds with possibility of an extra round. Punches and kicks allowed, knees allowed to the body. No ground and pound.

So, what does it look like?:

Yoseikan budo also holds weapon competitions:

Pankido:
Pankido, (the path of universal energy, Pan from pancrace, Ki means energy and Do means path in Japanese) was created in 1997 by Karate black belt and French mixed fighting pioneer (organized one of the first full contact competitions mixing striking and grappling in France in 1988) Patrick Lombardo.

Rules: For the Golden Belts tournaments: unlimited number of 8 minutes rounds, for the first 3 minutes of each round, striking only is allowed (no clinching, and no grappling), for the last 5 minutes of each round clinching and grappling is allowed. Techniques allowed: punches, elbows and knees to the body and legs, kicks to the legs, body and head, headbutts to the body, ground and pound is allowed to the body, hair pulling allowed. For the French Cup, unlimited number of 5 minutes rounds, first 2 minutes of each round striking only, grappling and clinching allowed for the last 3 minutes of each round. Victory is possible by KO or submission.

So, what does it look like?:

Ju-Jitsu Fighting System:

Ju-Jitsu Fighting System is a point fighting ruleset basically mixing Judo with point fighting Karate.

Rules: 2x2 minutes rounds. Punches and kicks allowed above the beltline, no straight punches or kicks to the head, strikes must be controlled.
No striking in the clinch. The fight is scored on striking, clinching (throws), and grappling (pins and submissions).

Striking: Waza ari (1 point): partially blocked strike
Ippon (2 points): clean strikes.

Clinching: Waza ari (1 point): throws where the opponent does not land cleanly on his back.
Ippon (2 points): Throws where the opponent lands cleanly on his back.

Grappling: Waza ari (1 point): Pinning your opponent for 10 seconds.
Ippon (2 points): Pinning your opponent for 20 seconds, submitting your opponent (3 points).

If a fighter scores an Ippon in each part (Full Ippon) he wins before the limit.

So, what does it look like?:

Bonus game: I'm in the above video (which I'd recommend watching with the sound off). The first guy to find me will win lifelong premium membership to my fan club (premium members privileges include live updates on every point I score in the BECW by Email, text message and carrier pigeon).

Pankration:

Pankration is a tentative of recreation of the antic martial art of Pankration.

Rules: 1x5 minutes round with a possibility of 1x1 minute extension. Punches and knees allowed to the body and legs, kicks allowed to the legs, body and head. Punches and knees to the body and kicks to the legs are allowed on the ground.
1 point: Punches to the body, kicks to the legs, knees to the body on the ground.
2 points: Kicks to the body, standing knees to the body, incomplete throws and takedowns.
3 points: Kicks to the head, complete throws.
4 points: Knockdowns.
Victory is possible by KO (opponent can't answer a 10 count), submission, TKO (2 knockdowns) or points.

So, what does it look like?:

Human Weapon episode on Pankration.

I hope you enjoyed reading these posts as much as I enjoyed writing them. Thanks for reading!

Kudo Daido Juku:

Lutte Contact:

Lutte Contact (Contact Wrestling) was created in 1993 in France as a way to provide something close but safer that what NHB provided at the time.

Yoseikan Budo:

So, what does it look like?:

Yoseikan budo also holds weapon competitions:

So, what does it look like?:

Ju-Jitsu Fighting System:

Striking: Waza ari (1 point): partially blocked strike
Ippon (2 points): clean strikes.

Clinching: Waza ari (1 point): throws where the opponent does not land cleanly on his back.
Ippon (2 points): Throws where the opponent lands cleanly on his back.

Grappling: Waza ari (1 point): Pinning your opponent for 10 seconds.
Ippon (2 points): Pinning your opponent for 20 seconds, submitting your opponent (3 points).

If a fighter scores an Ippon in each part (Full Ippon) he wins before the limit.

So, what does it look like?:

Pankration:

Pankration is a tentative of recreation of the antic martial art of Pankration.

So, what does it look like?:

Human Weapon episode on Pankration.

I hope you enjoyed reading these posts as much as I enjoyed writing them. Thanks for reading!

Traditional striking arts

Sweet Scientist — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 23:21:19 -0000

After my fanpost presenting the different styles of kickboxing and the positive response it had, I said in the comments that I planned to do another one on more traditional striking arts. It took me longer than I said it would at the time since my social life and my laziness got in the way but I finally got to work. This post will focus mostly on Karate and the two big "families" of styles that constitute it.

Karate:

Karate (the empty hand) originates in Okinawa and has roots in chinese Kenpo (the original Kanjis used for it read "the hand of china").

Jissen styles:

Jissen styles are full contact styles of Karate generally derivating from Kyokushin Karate.

Kyokushin:

Kyokushin Karate was founded in 1964 by Masutatsu Oyama. It was the first Jissen style of Karate.

Rules: 1x2 minute round (3 minutes in the semifinals and finals of a tournament) with a possibility for 2 extra 2 minutes rounds in case of a draw. Full contact (KO allowed). Punches and elbows to the chest allowed, kicks and knees allowed on all striking levels. If a contestant is knocked down for more than three seconds, his opponent scores an Ippon and wins the fight. If a contestant is knocked down for less than 3 seconds, his opponent scores a Waza Ari (half point), if a contestant scores 2 Waza Ari, he wins the fight.

So, what does it look like?:

Notable fighters: Ryu Narushima (that lead high kick), Lechi Kurbanov (P4P best spinning shit thrower in the world), Andy Hug (RIP, incredible Kakato geri), Francisco Filho (one of the few to have completed the Hyakunin Kumite, 100 man kumite), Glaube Feitosa (popularized the Brazilian Kick), Kenji Midori, Ewerton Teixeira, Nicholas Pettas.

If anyone wants to learn a bit more about Kyokushin and wants to see Jimmy Smith get his ass kicked, here is the Fight Quest episode on Kyokushin.

Shidokan/Shindokai:

Shidokan Karate was created in 1981 by Yoshiji Soeno, a student of Masutatsu Oyama, who added Muay Thai and Judo techniques to Kyokushin Karate. Shindokai Karate was created after a different between some of the branch chiefs and the Honbu Dojo in Japan.

Rules: Shidokan and Shindokai have the particularity of having multiple rulesets.
In Shindokai tournaments, the rules are Kyokushin rules plus clinching allowed for 3 seconds, takedowns and throws allowed and ground fighting allowed for 5 seconds. The last round of the quarter, semifinals and finals are contested under Shindokai Boxing rules, the contestants take their Gi's top off and put on boxing gloves, punching to the head are allowed in this round. Shindokai also has a Shindokai submission ruleset where ground fighting is allowed for 30 seconds.
Shidokan has 3 rulesets: Shidokan martial art (5x3 minutes rounds, Kyokushin rules+clinching allowed for 3 seconds and ground fighting allowed for 5 seconds), Shido Boxing (5x3 minutes rounds, boxing gloves, punches to the head allowed) and Shido Grappling (3x5 minutes rounds, Shidokan martial art rules but no time limit on the ground). As far as I know tournament rules are the same as Shindokai.

So, what does it look like?:

Mumonkai:
Mumonkai Karate was founded in 1973 by Yoshimoto Togashi. Togshi apparently has a Kyokushin base and fought in kyokushin competitions before creating his own style, there's not a lot of information on his background and on the style (I haven't been able to find a precise ruleset). Going from the videos available: fighters wear protective headgear (the same type as Daido Juku competitors) and small gloves, punches, elbowsn knees and kicks are allowed on all strike levels but they seem to seek Ichigeki (the decisive strike, very important concept in Karate) and every fight seems to be stopped as soon as a decisive strike is scored. Kinda looks like a mix of Jissen and Sundome rules.

So, what does it look like?:

Seidokaikan:

Seidokaikan Karate is a Kyokushin offshoot created in 1980 by future K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii.

Rules: Kyokushin rules plus clinching allowed, boxing gloves and punches to the head allowed in extension rules.

So, what does it look like?:

Notable fighters: Andy Hug, Masaaki Satake, Sam Greco, Musashi, Semmy Schilt.

Sundome styles:

Sundome styles are styles that use light contact point fighting rulesets. There are 2 major point fighting Karate rulesets:

World Karate Federation (WKF) ruleset: 1x3 minute round, all strikes must be controlled (a KO will result in a DQ), no strikes under the beltline, Kicks and punches allowed to the head and chest.
Ippon (3 points): Kick to the head, valid technique on an opponent that has been thrown or swept.
Waza Ari (2 points): Kick to the chest.
Yuko (1 point): Punches.

So what does it look like?:

Japan Karate Association (JKA) ruleset: 2 types of matches, Ippon Sanbu (1 point match) must score an Ippon to win ,and Sanbon Sanbu (3 point match) must score 2 Ippons to win.
Matches can be 1x2 minutes round, 1x3 minutes round or 1x5 minutes round.
Strikes are judged on: proper execution and power of the technique, proper distance and timing, correct posture and proper frame of mind, concentrated mind and spirit, execution to the proper target. If all the criteria are reached, an Ippon is scored. A technique that is well executed but does not qualify as a 1 point or Ippon, is defined as a half point or Waza Ari. 2 Waza Ari constitutes an Ippon.

So what does it look like?:

Styles: Pretty much all Sundome styles compete under these rulesets and the differences are mostly found in Katas and in their out of competition self defense applications which I'm far for an expert on so I'll just list the major ones:
Shotokan is the most widespread style of Sundome Karate and was the first to be introduced to Japan by it's founder Gichin Funakoshi.
Wado Ryu was created by Hironori Otsuka and is considered to be the first specifically Japanese style of Karate.
Uechi Ryu is one of the Okinawan styles and also holds full contact competitions where full contact palm strikes to the head are allowed in addition to kicks and knees on all striking levels and punches and elbows to the chest.
Goju-Ryu (created by Kanryo Higaonna) and Shorin Ryu (created by Sokon Matsumura) are the 2 other major styles of Okinawan Karate.

Taekwondo:

Taekwondo (the path of the feet and fist) is a Korean martial arts mostly known for its kicking techniques.

Rules: World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) rules: 3x2 minute round. Punches allowed to the chest, kicks allowed to the chest and face. Full contact (KO allowed) 1 point: valid techniques to the chest. 2 points: spinning kick to the chest. 3 points: kick to the head. 4 points: spinning kick to the head.

So, what does it look like?:

Vovinam Viet Vo Dao:

Vovinam Viet Vo Dao is a Vietnamese martial art created in 1938 by Nguyễn Lộc. It is mostly famous due to its flying scissors techniques.

Rules: 2x1 minute round. Semi contact (a Ko will result in a DQ, techniques are "marked" but must be controlled), no punches to the head, no strikes under the belt, kicks allowed to all strike levels, knees allowed to the chest. Takedowns and throws allowed. I found videos that seemed to use another ruleset but can't find this ruleset anywhere.

1 point: punches and knees to the chest. 2 points: kicks to the head or chest. 1 to 3 points: Takedowns and throws. 1 to 4 points: Scissors techniques. 0 point: strikes to the legs arms and shoulders.

So, what does it look like?:

There are hundreds of Karate styles and hundreds of traditional striking art so this is in no way exhaustive but I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for reading!

Karate:

Karate (the empty hand) originates in Okinawa and has roots in chinese Kenpo (the original Kanjis used for it read "the hand of china").

Jissen styles:

Jissen styles are full contact styles of Karate generally derivating from Kyokushin Karate.

Kyokushin:

Kyokushin Karate was founded in 1964 by Masutatsu Oyama. It was the first Jissen style of Karate.

So, what does it look like?:

If anyone wants to learn a bit more about Kyokushin and wants to see Jimmy Smith get his ass kicked, here is the Fight Quest episode on Kyokushin.

Shidokan/Shindokai:

So, what does it look like?:

Seidokaikan:

Seidokaikan Karate is a Kyokushin offshoot created in 1980 by future K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii.

Rules: Kyokushin rules plus clinching allowed, boxing gloves and punches to the head allowed in extension rules.

So, what does it look like?:

Notable fighters: Andy Hug, Masaaki Satake, Sam Greco, Musashi, Semmy Schilt.

Sundome styles:

Sundome styles are styles that use light contact point fighting rulesets. There are 2 major point fighting Karate rulesets:

So what does it look like?:

Taekwondo:

Taekwondo (the path of the feet and fist) is a Korean martial arts mostly known for its kicking techniques.

So, what does it look like?:

Vovinam Viet Vo Dao:

Vovinam Viet Vo Dao is a Vietnamese martial art created in 1938 by Nguyễn Lộc. It is mostly famous due to its flying scissors techniques.

So, what does it look like?:

There are hundreds of Karate styles and hundreds of traditional striking art so this is in no way exhaustive but I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for reading!

Judo Grand Prix Baku live on Youtube now.

Sweet Scientist — Sat, 05 May 2012 13:29:37 -0000

Judo Grand Prix Baku live on Youtube now.

The Different Styles Of Kickboxing

Sweet Scientist — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:36:04 -0000

There's been a lot of kickboxing talk in the past few months with K-1's return and guys like Stephen Thompson and Justin Lawrence getting in the UFC and on TUF. The problem with that is that there's a lot of disparity between all the styles that get lumped in together and just called "kickboxing". I made no secret when Stephen Thompson became the flavor of the month that I wasn't sold on his hype and the relevance of his undefeated kickboxing record due to the style he competed in. So after one of my (countless since saturday) "patting myself on the back, told you so" sessions where I'd explain to every one that would show even a remote sign of interest in listening me that Thompson was in no way a "world class kickboxer" or even a particularly good striker, I figured I spent enough time being a dick about it and decided to try to make this kickboxing stuff less of a mess for guys just starting to get into it by writing this fanpost presenting the different styles of kickboxing.

First, we need to define kickboxing, I went with the definition of what we call "boxes pieds-poings" here in France(literally feets-fists boxing), a term I like because it allows a distinction between kickboxing (the style) and kickboxing (the whole "family" of combat sports). So by that definition kickboxing would be any form of combat sport practiced in boxing gloves, allowing kicks and full contact fighting (A KO is a victory and not a DQ due to excessive contact) and prohibiting ground fighting.

Now that we have a broad definition of what is kickboxing, lets take al look at some of the styles that fit that description.

Kickboxing:

I'll start with the obvious first one. Kickboxing as a style generally refers to a competition where kicks are allowed on all striking levels (low, middle, high).

Rules: Generally contested over 5x2 minutes rounds but that can change depending on the competition. I've seen it done over 3x3 minute rounds, 5x3 minute rounds or 7x2 minute rounds. Punches on all striking levels, kicks allowed on all striking levels, direct knees (without clinching) allowed in "japanese rules", backfists may or may not be allowed.

So what does it look like?:

Kamel Jemel (Muay Thai) vs Samir Mohamed (Full Contact) in a kickboxing match.

Kamel Jemel vs Samir Prince II ~ Part 1 par

Kamel Jemel vs Samir Prince II ~ Part 2 par

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

I'll stick with guys that claim kickboxing to be their style and are not based in another style so the list will be a pretty short one: Cro Cop, Thiago Michel in Bellator.

Full Contact:

Full Contact is short for Full Contact Karate, it originated in the US in late 60's early 70's when karatekas,notably Joe Lewis and Bill Wallace,frustrated with the no contact rule in Karate decided to put on boxing gloves and fight with full contact rules. It was brought to Europe by Dominique Valéra who started fighting in it after being banned from the French Karate Federation for punching a ref at the 1975 world karate championship in Long Beach. It then followed two different paths. In America Full contact stayed pretty close to its Karate roots stylistically whereas with the devellopment of Muay Thai in Europe in the late 70's and 80's, "Fullers" evolved under its influence adopting a stance closer to boxing than Karate.

Rules: Generally contested from 3x2 minutes rounds to 7x2 minutes rounds. Punches and kicks above the beltline allowed, no low kicks but footsweeps are allowed.

So what does it look like?:

In its European form:

In it's American form:

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis, Rick Roufus, Duke Roufus, Benny Urquidez, Stephen Thompson, Justin Lawrence, Jérome LeBanner.

Muay Thai:

Thailand's national sport, Muay Thai originated from Muay Boran which was the Thai Army system of unarmed combat.

Rules: 5x3 minutes rounds. Punches, kicks, elbows and knees allowed on all striking levels from distance and from the clinch. In some parts of the world elbows are prohibited unless the fighters (Nak Muays) wear elbow pads.

So, what does it look like?:

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Buakaw, Yodsanklai, Saenchai, Rob Kaman, Ramon Dekkers, Peter Aerts and plenty others.

K-1:

K-1 isn't a style per se but a competition which was created in 1993 by Kazuyoshi Ishii, founder of Seidokaikan Karate (a Kyokushin derivate), to determine who was the best stand up fighter and which was the best stand up style. The K-1 WGP and MAX Titles are two of the most prestigious titles in Kickboxing.

Rules: 3x3 minutes rounds with a possibility of one or two extra rounds in case of a draw. Punches kicks and knees allowed on all striking levels from distance. One knee strike allowed from a one-handed clinch, (knees from the clinch used to be legal but rules were changed over time).

So, what does it look like?:

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Ernesto Hoost, Peter Aerts, Jérôme LeBanner, Andy Hug, Semmy Schilt, Rémy Bonjasky, Mark Hunt, Masato, Buakaw, Andy Souwer, Albert Kraus, Giorgio Petrosyan, Genki Sudo, Duane Ludwig, Kid Yamamoto.

Shootboxing:

Often called the "standing vale tudo", Shootboxing is paracticed in shootboxing pants and allows standing submissions.

Rules: 3x3 minutes rounds or 5x3 minutes rounds with the possibility of one or two extra rounds in cas of a draw. Punches, kicks and knees allowed on all striking levels from distance and from the clinch, thrown and submissions allowed.

So, what does it look like?:

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Andy Souwer, Buakaw, Albert Kraus, Toby Imada.

Savate:

Savate (also called boxe française) is a kickboxing style originating in France in the XIXth century. It's practiced with shoes on (Savate means old shoe in French).

Rules: 5x2 minutes rounds. Punches and kicks allowed on all striking levels but kicks must hit with the foot and not with the shin. Punches are scored but only the first punch in a combination counts, to get more points from punches a kick must be thrown.

So, what does it look like?:

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Ernesto Hoost, Farid Khider, Enoch Effah.

Sanda/Sanshou:

Sanda/Sanshou is a form of kickboxing competition originating from China, It's particularity is that it allows throws and takedowns.

Rules: 2 to 5x2 minutes rounds, sometimes best of 3 2 minutes rounds. Punches and kicks to all striking levels (knees and elbows used to be allowed in intermilitary meetings but were banned in the first world championships in 1991) knees have apparently been reintroduced in Pro Sanda, throws and takedowns allowed.

So, what does it look like?

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Cung Le, Thomas Diagne (maybe?).

I hope this introduction to the different styles of kickboxing helps fans just getting into kickboxing and those that are not fans yet but are interested in getting into it as much as the similar article I read a few years back when I was getting into combat sports helped me. If you're interested in kickboxing the K-1 youtube channel has lots of fghts available for free: http://www.youtube.com/user/K1. I apologize for any english mistakes and typos that surely have found their way into this and would appreciate if you could point them out to me. Thanks for reading!

Now that we have a broad definition of what is kickboxing, lets take al look at some of the styles that fit that description.

Kickboxing:

I'll start with the obvious first one. Kickboxing as a style generally refers to a competition where kicks are allowed on all striking levels (low, middle, high).

So what does it look like?:

Kamel Jemel (Muay Thai) vs Samir Mohamed (Full Contact) in a kickboxing match.

Kamel Jemel vs Samir Prince II ~ Part 1 par

Kamel Jemel vs Samir Prince II ~ Part 2 par

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

I'll stick with guys that claim kickboxing to be their style and are not based in another style so the list will be a pretty short one: Cro Cop, Thiago Michel in Bellator.

Full Contact:

Rules: Generally contested from 3x2 minutes rounds to 7x2 minutes rounds. Punches and kicks above the beltline allowed, no low kicks but footsweeps are allowed.

So what does it look like?:

In its European form:

In it's American form:

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Bill Wallace, Joe Lewis, Rick Roufus, Duke Roufus, Benny Urquidez, Stephen Thompson, Justin Lawrence, Jérome LeBanner.

Muay Thai:

Thailand's national sport, Muay Thai originated from Muay Boran which was the Thai Army system of unarmed combat.

So, what does it look like?:

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Buakaw, Yodsanklai, Saenchai, Rob Kaman, Ramon Dekkers, Peter Aerts and plenty others.

K-1:

So, what does it look like?:

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Ernesto Hoost, Peter Aerts, Jérôme LeBanner, Andy Hug, Semmy Schilt, Rémy Bonjasky, Mark Hunt, Masato, Buakaw, Andy Souwer, Albert Kraus, Giorgio Petrosyan, Genki Sudo, Duane Ludwig, Kid Yamamoto.

Shootboxing:

Often called the "standing vale tudo", Shootboxing is paracticed in shootboxing pants and allows standing submissions.

So, what does it look like?:

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Andy Souwer, Buakaw, Albert Kraus, Toby Imada.

Savate:

Savate (also called boxe française) is a kickboxing style originating in France in the XIXth century. It's practiced with shoes on (Savate means old shoe in French).

So, what does it look like?:

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Ernesto Hoost, Farid Khider, Enoch Effah.

Sanda/Sanshou:

Sanda/Sanshou is a form of kickboxing competition originating from China, It's particularity is that it allows throws and takedowns.

So, what does it look like?

Guys that fought in it you might have heard of:

Cung Le, Thomas Diagne (maybe?).