K-1 'World Grand Prix 2008 Final' preview

The card for K-1’s last event of the year ‘World Grand Prix 2008 Final’ has been finalized and is set to go down this Saturday, December 6 at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan.

The live broadcast will begin Saturday at 3:00 AM ET on HDNet.

The big fights are of course this year's tournament finals, which will range from the quarterfinals all the way to the finals in the span of one night.

First up in the quarterfinal bouts we have the aging veteran and former 3-time K-1 World Grand Prix champion Peter Aerts. Now at 38 years old this could be one of his last outings and possible chances to win the Grand Prix for a fourth time.

He’ll have the unenviable task of taking on some of the new blood of K-1 in the form of Badr Hari, who is coming off a impressive display over everyone’s favorite giant Hong Man Choi back in September.

It should also be mentioned that Hari was the first and current K-1 Heavyweight Champion and Aerts certainly has his work cut out for him. Another factor is that all three of Aerts tournament wins came in the 90’s, with the last in 1998.

However he still managed to fight his way into the finals of the 2006 and 2007 Grand Prix, coming up short to Semmy Schilt both times. That said Aerts finally got revenge and knocked "Hightower" out of the tournament this year in the round of 16, which came as a shock considering Schilt had won the tournament an impressive three straight times before that.

Perhaps there’s still some gas left in Aerts tank.

Next up we see more young prospects break through in what could be regarded as somewhat of a styles clash, pitting karate against Muay Thai when undefeated Brazilian karate phenom Ewerton Teixeira collides with 3-time Dutch Muay Thai champion Errol Zimmerman.

This should be an exciting fight as both fighters have to lay it all on the line if they want to take the next step in their K-1 careers and claim the tournament crown.

The third quarterfinal bout will pit Ruslan Karaev versus Gokhan Saki. Some fans may remember Karaev from his epic battle with Azem Maksutaj back in 2005. Since then he's been fighting with mixed results but managed to turn things around and win five straight including an appearance in the final eight of this year's K-1 Grand Prix.

His road to the finals won’t be easy though as Karev's winning streak in comparison to Saki's isn't nearly as impressive. Saki has won a staggering 15 in a row and is dead set on winning the whole thing and abruptly shattering the dreams of anyone in his way.

Watch out!

Last but not least in tournament action we have two fighters who are no strangers to K-1. Jerome Le Banner, who's been competing professionally since 1995 will face former 2-time Grand Prix winner Remy Bonjasky. They’ll be facing off for a second time, with Le Banner getting the better of Bonjasky back in 2006.

Will this fight be any different?

Bonjasky certainly seems to think so and recently called for the retirement of Le Banner (half jokingly) who's dropped four out of his last seven fights. To be fair, three of those losses were against the very formidable Semmy Schilt.

Hopefully Bonjasky won’t take Le Banner lightly because of those defeats. Despite his recent record, Le Banner is still a very dangerous fighter - even after the fight is over. Just ask Nicholas Pettas, who made the unfortunate mistake in post-fight confusion of raising his fist to Le Banner who then in one punch layed Pettas out cold.

It wasn't a pretty sight.

Also in the very few mixed martial arts fights Le Banner has had, he still is the only person to beat Yoshihiro Akiyama, ending that fight with some deadly knees. I’m sure he’ll be looking for a similar result come December 6.

K-1 veteran and butt-kicking Hollander Melvin Manhoef returns to action after a brief retirement to face Paul Slowinsky in one of the two reserve fights. Many wondered if Manhoef's retirement only applied to mixed martial arts and not K-1. Perhaps a win or a loss to Slowinsky will be the deciding factor.

So in the end we have the old school versus the new. Who will come out on top? Will it be the seasoned veterans who have carried the sport for so long or will the new generation finally emerge and continue the evolution of the sport to a higher level?

Or maybe an alternate will sneak in the back door and steal all the glory?

Here is the official fight card for K-1 'World Grand Prix 2008 Final':

Main Card:

K-1 World Grand Prix Final
Winner of Semifinal 1 vs. Winner of Semifinal 2

K-1 World Grand Prix Semifinals
Winner of Aerts/Hari vs. Teixeira/Zimmerman
Winner of Karaev/Saki vs. Le Banner/Bonjasky

K-1 World Grand Prix Quarterfinals
Peter Aerts (93-26-1) vs. Badr Hari (75-7-1)
Ewerton Teixeira (7-0) vs. Errol Zimmerman (74-7-1, 1 NC)
Ruslan Karaev (18-6) vs. Gokhan Saki (74-9, 1 NC)
Jerome Le Banner (91-15-1, 1 NC) vs. Remy Bonjasky (79-14)

Preliminary Card
Mitsugu Noda (6-2) vs. Tsutomu Takahagi (1-5)
Takeru (5-12) vs. Taisei Ko (1-0)

Reserve Fights
Paul Slowinski (87-13-1) vs. Melvin Manhoef (38-4)
Hong Man-Choi (17-5) vs. Ray Sefo (74-20-1)