Wednesday, 19 June 2013 14:36

The K-1 World Grand Prix has come and gone now with a new champion emerging. For the first time, K-1 and MMA legend Mirko Cro Cop has won the big one by making his way through the legendary one-night K-1 World Grand Prix tournament to capture the Championship. LiverKick.com congratulates Mirko Cro Cop on his victory.

Wednesday, 19 June 2013 14:36

It is finally upon us -- the time for the K-1 World Grand Prix to go down. You can purchase your live stream at K-1's site for $20 and it starts at 3PM Eastern Time (in under an hour). All of the fighters have made weight and are ready to go. The Finals look like this;

Reserve: Sergeii Laschenko vs. Dzevad Poturak - The first round was a close one, with both fighters being quite even, but Poturak landing the cleaner shots. The second round is more of the same with Laschenko starting to gas out and Poturak getting off some more clean shots, not doing much damage, but winning. Round 3 saw Poturak control the fight even more, he ran away with this one.

Winner: Dzevad Poturak

Catalin Morosanu vs. Pavel Zhuravlev - Morosanu comes in like Morosanu with crazy hooks, very aggressive. Zhuravlev is able to weather most of the storm without much damage. Second round sees a lot of the same, but Zhuravlev is able to catch Morosanu a few times and opens up a cut above the eye. Round 3 sees a lot of the same, with Morosanu being a little more tentative and picking his shots. Not a pretty fight. Zhuravlev was landing the cleaner shots.

Winner: Pavel Zhuravlev

Mirko Cro Cop vs. Jarrell Miller - Tough first round for both guys. Cro Cop went for some of his patented kicks, but they were all blocked. Miller worked some leg kicks and landed some decent punches from the clinch. Second round was all Miller with clinch knees and uppercuts. Cro Cop is gassing out, but, this is Croatia. Third round is more of the same, Miller landing the cleaner shots and being the clear aggressor. Annnnd Croatian judges give the fight to Cro Cop.

Winner: Mirko Cro Cop

Badr Hari vs. Zabit Samedov - Badr looks calm and collected, drops Samedov early. He lands a low blow and Samedov looks dead. Literally something happened at the end of the round and no one knows what, but Samedov had Hari rocked, there was no count and Hari kind of dropped Samedov but it didn't count? I don't know. Samedov landed some big bombs, Badr got a counter. Badr got a bit of a rest for a bloody nose, I don't even know. Hari with an assault on Samedov in R3 but jumps on him instead, then he hits him a few more times and the ref calls the count. Badr then runs away the rest of the round while Samedov taunts him to hit him. Just a weird, surreal fight.

Winner: Badr Hari

Ismael Londt vs. Hesdy Gerges - Londt went full force with Hesdy defending as well as he always does. One would guess his tactic was to let Londt gas. Londt slows down a bit in Round 2, Hesdy starts opening up a bit more, but Londt still controlling the ring. Londt continues to swarm Hesdy and lands a flying knee that breaks Hesdy's nose and Hesdy calls the fight.

Winner: Ismael Londt

Xi Chuang def. Samo Petje - Entertaining scrap, absolutely the best fight of the event thus far.

Emil Zoraj def. Giannis Sofokleus - Well, this was an interesting fight. Giannis took the fight on something like 12 hours notice and still really took it to Emil, but Emil was able to edge him out in the end.

Semi-Finals: Pavel Zhuravlev vs. Mirko Cro Cop - Missed most of this as the stream went down. The PPV went down as well, that is, the PPV never worked and everyone was accessing it for free so K-1 shut it down. Even those who paid can't figure out how to get it to work. Cro Cop won.

Winner: Mirko Cro Cop

An announcement is made that Badr Hari has broken his foot and will be replaced by Dzevad Poturak. Poturak is not in the arena, though, so they need to push one of the Superfights up to give them time to tell him.

Jason Wilnis def. Toni Milanovic - Wilnis looked great, demolished Milanovic in the first round, big knockout.

Semi-Finals: Dzevad Poturak vs. Ismael Londt - Londt looked great but Poturak held his own. Poturak fought well but a kick to the midsection broke his rib and he calls it quits in the second round.

Winner: Ismael Londt

Agron Preteni def. Andrei Stoica  - This fight was all Stoica, at least it should have been, until Preteni dropped him and really turned the tide of the fight. From that point on it was Preteni's fight.

Mladen Brestovic def. Frank Munoz  - Tough fight for Munoz who really just seems to not be able to find the right weight class. Brestovic was simply the better man tonight.

K-1 World Grand Prix Finals: Mirko Cro Cop vs. Ismael Londt - Londt was controlling things early on, but a left high kick knockdown in R2 by Cro Cop sealed the victory for him.

Winner: Mirko Cro Cop

Wednesday, 19 June 2013 14:36

Today is going to be a jam-packed day for fighters kicking each other as there is not only the K-1 World Grand Prix Finals today, but Lion Fight 9 goes down tonight on AXS TV. Lion Fight have released a rather comprehensive video highlighting the weigh-ins where all fighters made weight for this event. We even got Tiffany Van Soest putting on a pair of "Deal With It" sunglasses, even if that wasn't what she meant, to me, that is exactly what it means. Deal with it.

So check it out and don't forget to tune in tonight at 10PM Eastern Time to AXS TV to catch all of Lion Fight 9.

Wednesday, 19 June 2013 14:36

It's true. We love Lion Fight. 

There aren't many big-name muay thai promotions in the United States. Of those select few, Scott Kent's Lion Fight has easily become the most recognizable, not only for their wide array of American bred talent, but also because the Lion Fight ring has played host to some serious international stars like Yodsanklai, Gregory Choplin, and Cosmo Alexandre. The icing on the cake is their television deal with AXS TV, which went into full effect at Lion Fight 8 back in January.  

Tomorrow marks the date for Lion Fight 9, which sees muay thai superstar Artem Levin take on Simon Marcus for the first ever Lion Fight championship. Also on the card, America's favorite son, Kevin Ross, goes head to head with Bernie Mendieta, Tiffany Van Soest faces Natalie Yip, and Ognjen Topic takes on Paowrit Sasiprapa. Joe Schilling was originally scheduled to be on the card but due to an issue with turning in his medicals in he was forced to withdraw.  

Obviously the biggest fight of the night is Artem Levin vs. Simon Marcus. Both these guys have something to prove. Marcus wants to show he can truly hang with the elite of the light heavyweight division. On paper, Simon is a wrecking machine. His record looks almost criminal with the amount of TKO and KO wins he's racked up over the course of his 32 fight win streak. But after watching his fights you'll see the Canadian struggle against strong boxers, drop his hands when put under pressure, and move backwards in a straight line after taking a few shots. It's understandable. The confidence to stand in the pocket, pivet on your lead foot and cover up only comes from the experience of facing fighters that will push you to your breaking point. And that's exactly what Levin is looking to do.

If you know Muay Thai, you probably know Artem Levin. The guy has beaten the who's who of 80 kg: Dmitry Shakuta, Cheick Sidibe, Alexander Stretsurenko, L'houcine "Aussie" Ouzgni, Roberto Cocco,  and Murthel Groenhart. He's also beat both Yodsanklai Fairtex in the Amateur World Muay Thai Championships (It might not sound like a big deal, but trust me, it is). He's the former It's Showtime 77 kg Champion, and current WBC champion. But even with all those accomplishments, Levin is still coming into this fight with a monkey on his back: His hotly disputed draw against Steven Wakeling late last year. In what was a highly debated fight to say the least, Levin was at first awarded a decision victory, but the ruling was overturned to a draw. Levin seems to have been slacking in his past few fights, and he no doubt wants to restate his position as the best in the world at light heavyweight by winning definitively over Marcus.

Also on the card we'll see Kevin Ross take on Bernie Mendieta in what will surely be an exciting technical affair. Mendieta is the U.K. WBC Champion, but against Ross he'll be the heavy underdog. Prematurely announced to be fighting at the GLORY 65 kg tournament in Japan, Kevin Ross is one of the few fighters from the United States that I personally believe has the potential to become competitive in the kickboxing world. Mendieta is not just another opponent for Ross- if he loses this fight, his stock will surely fall in the eyes of the international kickboxing community. There's a lot of pressure riding on his shoulders, but it's probably just another day at the office for him.

The other fight I'm really looking forward to that no one seems to be talking about is Ognjen Topic vs. Paowrit Sasiprapa. Topic, fighting out of New Jersey, is considered one of the top tier Muay Thai fighters from the East Coast. Last year he put a beat down on Rami Ibrahim, and has only two losses, both of which were very controversial. He faces Paowrit Sasiprapa who's been staying with Lion Fight regular Malaipet Sasiprapa since December of last year. Paowrit is a former Rajadamnern and Omnoi champion, and will be a huge test for the budding American star. 

Lion Fight will be shown live on AXS TV tomorrow at 10 PM Eastern Time. 

Wednesday, 19 June 2013 14:36

These guys are serious and this is the fight that we've all been eagerly awaiting here in the United States; the battle between two of the top Light Heavyweights in the world of Muay Thai in Simon Marcus and Artem Levin finally doing battle. Last night Lion Fight hosted open workouts featuring the two fighters and thanks to them we can watch both fighters as they strut their stuff before the upcoming bout.

Lion Fight 9 goes down tomorrow night on AXS TV at 10PM Eastern Time and features a host of great fights featuring Joe Schilling, Tiffany Van Soest and Kevin Ross. Don't miss it.