Thursday, 20 June 2013 03:51

EVERY forum I visit I see people saying how 1 dimensional and how overrated Shinya Aoki is. 

"Why is he #4." "LMAO he's a 1 dimensional cry baby." "Once again a Japanese fighter is over ranked."

So I pose a question for those who say these type of things.

Who should be #4?

Edgar, Melendez, Maynard are generally 1-3 in everyone's rankings. But when we hit #4 is where the majority of MMA fans get upset. But I don't seem to understand why.

Lets take a look at some names right behind Aoki who people think should be #4.

Eddie Alvarez: Just weeks ago many thought he was the #2 guy in the world. He can wrestle, bang, and is extremely tough, but what merits a ranking ahead of Aoki? First and foremost he was defeated by Aoki a few years ago in under 2 minutes. Great start! His 2 best wins are Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Joachim Hansen. Last I checked Aoki has beaten them too, and in quicker, and in more dominating fashion. Aoki has wins over quality guys like "Shaolin" Ribeiro, JZ Cavalcante, Caol Uno, Mizuto Hirota, Marcus Aurelio, and Lyle Beerbohm. Alvarez has quality wins against Pat Curran, Katsunori Kikuno, Roger Huerta, and Toby Imada. Facts: Aoki has beaten Alvarez's top 2 names. Aoki has better quality wins. And lastly, and most importantly, Aoki defeated Alvarez head-to-head. How can you justify putting Alvarez ahead of Aoki? YOU CAN'T! It's impossible! Stop trying to say he deserves to be ahead of him. 

Jim Miller: A lot of people are high on him right now, and I think he's sheer quality, but what has he done? He beat a guy that Jamie varner beat err took to a draw. Won a close decision over Mark Bocek that is highly debatable. Won a competitive decision over Gleison Tibau, and defeated an unexperienced "prodigy" in Charles Oliveira. How many of these guys have ever sniffed the top 10? ZERO! Oh, he also beat Duane Ludwig, Mac Danzig, and Matt Wiman. Any of these guys top 10 wins, or even top 15 wins? Case closed!

Anthony Pettis: While I think he has great potential, and could be UFC LW champ someday he hasn't accomplished a whole lot. Ben Henderson is a very good win. Shane Roller, and Danny Castillo are also good. After that...... a whole lot of nothing. 

Kenny Florian: He beat the post Pride Gomi, yeah well so did Sergei Golyaev. Clay Guida, the UFC's 155 gate keeper, how nice! Joe "I can't compete at 155 anymore and if I want to have a job I have to go to 45" Stevenson. Wow! Roger Huerta, Joe Lauzon, and Sam Stout, decent names. Can't lie. But how many top 10 wins does Mr Florian have? ZERO!

Melvin Guillard: Evan Dunham is a very good win. However he was also awarded a bogus decision over Gelison Tibau. Anyone who thinks he deserves a top 5 ranking or even top 10 ranking is nuts. 

Sean Sherk: Horse shit decision over Dunahm, and outside of that hasn't won since 2008. 

So these are the main guys who could have a case for #4. None of which have the resume of Aoki, but since so many of you guys absolutely hate the man who deserves the spot over him? The logical and only appropriate answer would be "none of those guys," but since you can't put your bias aside who should it be? 

I WANT ANSWERS!

Thursday, 20 June 2013 03:51

The GLORY World Series keeps getting more and more interesting as the card trickles out. The event organizer Martijn de Jong is currently on vacation in Indonesia, so things are happening whenever he has the time and internet connection to make big moves, and he continues to do so.

We already know that the main event is the tournament final between Gokhan Saki and Brice Guidon, and that Tommy Depret will meet Siyar Bahadurzada in the Middleweight MMA Finals. On top of that Errol "Bonecrusher" Zimmerman vs. Mourad Bouzidi, Nieky Holzken vs. Artur Kyshenko, Igor Jurkovic vs. Pavel Zuravilov and our good friend Mark "Fight Shark" Miller vs. Nikolaj Falin are all kickboxing bouts that will go down on that card. Outside of It's Showtime, no one else in the world can put together such a blockbuster kickboxing card.

There has been a new bout announced featuring two names that kickboxing fans know very well; Chalid "Die Faust" Arrab and Zabit Samedov. Die Faust won the K-1 Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2006 and holds big career wins over Musashi and Gary Goodridge. Zabit Samedov has a 72-10 kickboxing career and has decided to take the plunge into MMA, where these two kickboxers will meet. Die Faust has already fought in ten MMA bouts, so in MMA rules, Die Faust is already more experienced and actually holds a submission victory.

This isn't the first time where two world class kickboxers have met in MMA rules, but it should truly be interesting. It is also interesting to note that Zabit Samedov went on record in 2009 claiming that Golden Glory fighters were all "jacked up on steroids" and that fighters like Zimmerman have walked around, publicly doing steroids in the gym, at the time upsetting Golden Glory head honcho Bas Boon.

Thursday, 20 June 2013 03:51

Welcome back to the LiverKick.com rankings. These rankings are an attempt to break down the top 25 fighters in two different weight classes - Heavyweight, for fighters above the 77kg limit, and Middleweight, for fighters at the 70-72.5kg limit. Our rankings are based on in-ring accomplishments and recent wins and loses. We hope they reflect where these fighters currently stand, although we recognize that all rankings are inherently subjective.

April 2011

Unlike the Heavyweight division, the Middleweights continue to see a lot of action - there just wasn't much of it since our last rankings.  Khem Sitsongpeenong snuck up a spot with a win in Thailand, while Robin van Roosmalen made it into the rankings at #25, but that's it for changes.  No worries, as there's some excellent matchmaking around the corner.

April's big MW fight will come on the 23rd at Shootboxing as #3 Andy Souwer faces #5 Yoshihiro Sato.  Any clash between two top 5 fighters is worth taking note of, and this will be a good one.

Also in April, #19 Khem Sitsongpeenong vs. Prakaisaeng in the Isuzu Thai Fight qualifying tournament semi-final, and #20 Yuya Yamamoto vs. MMA's Akihiro Gono in Krush.  Hopefully we'll also get some news on the delayed Krush 70kg tournament as well, as it will be interesting to see who makes their way into that field given the lack of K-1 MAX options at the moment.

Looking ahead, we will be gifted with a glut of major Middleweight fights in May.  Some of the May highlights include #1 Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Chahid Oulad El Hadj, #4 Artur Kyshenko vs. #6 Nieky Holzken, #7 Mike Zambidis vs. #21 John Wayne Parr, #17 Chris Ngimbi's first It's Showtime title defense, #18 Mohammed Khamal vs. #25 Robin van Roosmalen, plus #2 Buakaw, #11 Sudsakorn, and #14 Saiyok all in action at the France Thai Fight show.  That's a lot of big fights, so start clearing your schedule.

One final note - the big 70kg event remains the It's Showtime July 23 tournament with #1 Giorgio Petrosyan, #3 Andy Souwer, #5 Yoshihiro Sato, #9 Murat Direkci, #12 Gago Drago, #17 Chris Ngimbi and #23 Dzhabar Askerov.  Winner of that will easily claim the #1 spot - the only question is, can anyone take the crown away from the Doctor?

Thursday, 20 June 2013 03:51

A bloodied Saenchai Sinbi takes it to Liam Harrison at last weekend's Duel at the Dome event.  Saenchai was victorious by unanimous decision.

For more pictures, plus complete results from the event, check out MyMuayThai.com.

Thursday, 20 June 2013 03:51

FightstarTV is one of the few websites that brings fresh, unique video content from the world of Dutch kickboxing, and never to disappoint, they walked through the opening of Peter Aerts' new gym in the Netherlands where the Dutch Lumberjack has vowed to help other fighters train and learn proper technique.

Watch as Mr. K-1 gives a guide through his new gym including the upstairs with a juice bar and a balcony overlooking the gym floor. [source]