FieLDS K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Yokohama went down earlier this morning from the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. The stacked kickboxing event featured current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem in the main event against reigning three-time K-1 World Grand Prix champion Remy Bonjasky.
Also on the card, Peter Aerts took on Errol Zimmerman, Jerome Le Banner locked horns with Ewerton Teixeira and Melvin Manhoef joined three other men in a mini-tournament for the K-1 Heavyweight Title.
For those of you waiting to catch tonight's replay on HDNet starting at 9pm ET, be warned, spoilers ahead!
Starting things off was the semifinal bout in the Heavyweight Tournament which pitted Keijiro Maeda up against Melvin Manhoef. "No Mercy" was stalking his prey ready to come in for the kill when surprisingly Maeda beat him to the punch and landed a right hook that would see Manhoef crashing to the mat and sending the Tournament favorite packing.
Also progressing to the Finals would be Gokhan Saki when he was able to knockout Tyrone Spong with a well placed overhand right. Spong will get a chance at revenge when the two meet again in May.
Semmy Schilt garnered a decision victory over Hesdy Gerges by dominating most of the fight with his reach advantage to score some stiff shots and do lots of damage. Gerges didn’t have much offense to offer and spent most of the fight blocking shots with his face. He was able to hang on to the time limit but it was not nearly enough to get the win.
Getting back to his winning ways would be karate stylist Ewerton Teixeira. He piped Jerome Le Banner to the post in their bout. The contest needed two extra rounds when the judges ruled it a draw on two separate occasions.
Fortunately after the fifth and final round they were able to make a verdict, seeing a split decision in favor of Teixeira.
Junichi Sawayashiki was simply outclassed in his fight with Glaube Feitosa. He would be the victim of several knockdowns, the last of which in the second round he was not able to recover from, handing Feitosa the victory.
Filling in for an absent Badr Hari would be aging veteran and K-1 legend Peter Aerts, who stepped up to take on three-time Dutch Muay Thai Champion Errol Zimmerman. It was a back-and-forth battle that judges called a draw come the end of the third round.
This would lead to an extra round which Aerts used to pull out the victory. It looks like there’s still some life in this old dog yet.
With both fighters suitably rested from their fights earlier in the semifinals of the mini-tournament, the finals were ready to get underway to declare the new K-1 Heavyweight Champion.
Though Saki was the one pushing forward, he was constantly outdone by Maeda, who always had an answer for him by landing some well-timed combinations. The bout would continue in this nature and eventually wind up with the overlooked Maeda being announced the champion.
The main event of the evening didn't disappoint with Alistair Overeem and Remy Bonjasky battling for three rounds. Overeem put on a good performance and was overwhelming Bonjasky for a while with his brute force.
Late into the third Overeem looked to be cruising to a decision win when Bonjasky was able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a straight right, knocking Overeem down. He managed to get back up but the knockdown would become the deciding factor in the judges decision, who saw in favor of Bonjasky.
Here are the official results for ‘FieLDS K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Yokohama’:
Preliminary Card:
Mitsugu Noda (8-2) defeated Yang Rae Yoo (0-1) via unanimous decision
Yutaka Sakama (4-1) defeated Takashi Tachikawa (3-3) by KO (0:29-R1)
Takumi Sato (5-3) defeated Hiraku Hori (11-12) by TKO (1:19-R1)
Main Card:
Remy Bonjasky (37-8) defeated Alistair Overeem (1-2) via unanimous decision
Peter Aerts (63-22) defeated Errol Zimmerman (6-2) via unanimous decision
Glaube Feitosa (15-13) defeated Junichi Sawayashiki (5-5) by KO (0:47-R2)
Ewerton Teixeira (6-1) defeated Jerome Le Banner (43-18-2) via split decision
Semmy Schilt (29-3-1) defeated Hesdy Gerges (0-1) via unanimous decision
Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal:
Keijiro Maeda (9-1) defeated Melvin Manhoef (3-2) by KO (2:01-R1)
Gokhan Saki (8-2) defeated Tyrone Spong (1-1) by KO (1:57-R4)
Heavyweight Tournament Final:
Keijiro Maeda (9-1) defeated Gokhan Saki (8-2) via majority decision
Don't forget to catch all the action from FieLDS K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Yokohama in tonight's replay on HDNet starting at 9pm ET.
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