K-1 Super Fights:
Mo comes up big, Jet falls short

Ringside report by Sean Wippert
Photography by Chris Cozzone

In this first super fight, a tentatively paced round had Rick “The Jet” Rufus throwing a series of modified front kicks that kept Akio Mori Musashi at a distance. Musashi came back with a vengeance in the second round, landing repeated kicks to the right leg of Rufus. Musashi repeated this formula, as attacks to the legs seemed to come more and more as the round progressed. Rufus went on the defensive and seemed to grow weary on his left leg. Musashi came out and quietly worked the legs of Rufus until he had nothing to stand on. The offence from Rufus vanished just as fast as Musashi’s confidence grew as he took the match with a score of 29.5-28 / 29-29.5 / 30-27.5.

Mighty Mo came into this 2nd of two fights with what seemed like the entire arena with him. Early on though cheering did not seem to be enough as hard long kicks were the swung and landed by Remy Bojansky. Bojansky imposed his reach on the smaller stalkier Mo. With little or no reason to stop, Bojansky continued the onslaught of kicks. However a minor miss in judgment seemed to leaver Bojansky open just enough for Mo to show how might he really was. He connected with what seemed to be one of the hardest shots of the night that dropped the seeming impenetrable reach of Bojansky. The Mightiest of Mo came late, but arrived with the heart and artillery he has been known for before. After taking an assault of immense proportions from the taller Bojansky, Mo stuck to it and put the big man down and won the decision  27.5-29 / 29.5-27.5 / 29.5-28.5

Prelim fights:
Hanning, Evenson, Lackey score wins

First on the under card, was an aspiring Terror Dees who took on Dustin Hanning. Hanning came out fast and hard, rushing Dees with a flurry of punches. Firing back did not appear to be an option as Dees went down all to quick. Soon after he fell again and the fight was stopped at 1:56 mark of the first round. The fight ended as fast as it began.

Next on the bill was local Las Vegan Dan Evensen taking on an Arizona native named Steve Steinbeiss. Evensen seemed determined on taking it to the slightly smaller Steinbeiss. This was very apparent as Steinbeiss slipping awkwardly. The Arizona fighter came out early in the second slowed early by a high thigh kick. There was a good amount of kicks landed by both as the fight carried on but Evensen seemed to land the heavier of the two. Winded and showing fatigue, Evensen dragged the latter part of the fight. In the end Evensen may have started strong but seemed to deflate as the fight wore on. Steinbeiss came after him strong putting heat to him repeatedly and outlasted the bigger Evensen to take the win. The scores tallied 29.5-24 / 29.5-27 / 29.5-27 favoring.

The next fight of the night was a speedy Scott Lighty putting out an offense attack early against a larger Patrick Berry. Even with the barrage, Berry proceeded to bulldoze through the Lighty attack, landing heavy kick. Berry took a shot in the berries early and the fight was stopped for a few seconds. Lighty established a good perimeter with a series of roundhouses and jabs. These attacks set Berry off balance but didn’t push it beyond that. The last round saw Lighty landing well and continuing with the constant barrage of jabbing kicks. This did not stop Berry from looking to go big as he still ran through Lackey’s sets of fisted attacks. Overall this was a good fight with the faster more accurate Lighty slipping in shot after shot on the heavy hitting Berry. The score was 29.5–28 / 28.5-29 / 30-27 in favor of Lackey who moves up to 22-6-2 with 5 KO’s as Berry takes his first loss of his career as he falls to 11-1 with 7 KO’s

Bonus Pics

K-1 Las Vegas: Feitosa Takes The Title

Ringside report by Sean Wippert
Photography by Chris Cozzone

The Bellagio Hotel and Casino sported a packed house on this night. The sellout crowd of more than 4,902 fans was jam packed from start to finish. The atmosphere was electric to say the least. All was set to see another great K-1 event.

The main card scheduled started with the introductions of all the fighters followed by a parade of pyrotechnics. When business insured, this first quarterfinal started fast and fiery as Selbee came out firing immediately, backing of Nakasako. Nakasako returned fire with a few well-timed axe kicks. Selbee continued the assault coming out faster still with a few grazing axe kicks that seemed to just miss their mark. Selbee continued with attack after attack and unintentionally letting loose an errant reverse kick that groin of Nakasako. After a short respite of sorts Selbee continued onward with front roundhouses that seemed to land with an unusual level of frequency to the ribs of Nakasako. Although Nakasako was the pursuer of the fight, Selbee was the more offensive weapon as he landed well with roundhouses both to the ribs and legs of Nakasako. The judges concurred with a unanimous decision of 30-27.5 / 30-27 / 30-27 all in favor of Selbee who advanced to the Semi Finals.

The introductions to the next fight lasted far longer than the fight itself. Sean “Nightmare” O Haire came out of his corner in a fashion reminiscent of the older toughman championships. He threw a flurry of punches that for the most part landed. The “Nightmares” forward progress and punches were immediately halted by a viscous right hand from Goodridge landed and sent the former WWF star down fast and hard. After a staggered count of nine, O’ Haire came to his feet only to face the yet another blistering offensive explosion launched by Goodridge. This additional attack only seconds later began the implosion of O’ Haire as a series of monster haymakers found their marks The fight ended at the :55 mark in the first round. Unlike the WWF there was no Vince McMahon to send in assistance. This fight was an exercise in supreme force as the “Big Daddy” gave O’ Haire a true nightmare and advanced to the Semi Finals.

The next quarterfinal was a unique one. The giant Brazilian karate master Glaube Feitosa came in and threw big accurate shots that found their mark early on Dwayne “Black Cobra” Cooper. The “Black Cobra” returned sporadic fire, which was less than effective. The second round was opened up with an ear-piercing crack that sounded through the arena as the cobra landed a monster roundhouse to the ribs of Feitosa. Feitosa fired back immediately with several hard kick combinations that seemed to end with his knee connecting on the snakes body. As action continued, Feitosa was minorly slowed by intermittent flurries returned by the cobra. As the fight concluded it appeared that the cobra ran into the mongoose of sorts as he was out hit and out reached by the big heavy-handed Brazilian. Long hard jabs were a lead in to viscous kicks that in essence stopped Cooper before he could get anything started, allowing Feitosa to continue to the Semi Finals.

From the K-1 Official Website: American Carter Williams, at 24 the youngest fighter in the tournament, stepped in against Yusuke Fujimoto of Japan in the last quarterfinal. An explosive Williams won the K-1 USA GP in 2003, but the fighter has fizzled something since then, dropping five of his last seven. It is important to note that these losses came against very good and experienced fighters, and there have been some close and even controversial decisions.

In any case, this was Williams' opportunity to show the world he was back, and Las Vegas seemed to believe Williams would do it -- at +130 on the Bellagio odds board (a bet of $100 on Williams required for a net $130 payout) he was the clear favorite to win this tournament, and his entrance was greeted with the loudest reception given any tournament fighter.

Both men were very focused from the start, Williams light on his feet, frequently switching from orthodox to southpaw stance, throwing a nice variety of combinations. Fujimoto was also on, good with the low kicks, but neither fighter could take control. Midway through the round, Fujimoto charged in on the off-balance Williams, and took him to the corner. While Fujimoto put in the punches, Williams first closed up, then went to the clinch and brought up a knee that smacked Fujimoto in the face, breaking the Japanese fighter's nose and rendering him unable to continue. Bringing an opponent's head down to the knee is a foul under Nevada rules, but the action was ruled unintentional, and so the bout was officially declared a no contest. Under K-1 survivor rules specific to this contingency, Williams was advanced to the semis.

Semi-finals

The Semi Finals became more intense as they began to thin the field. Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge came out like a raging monster and dismantled an alternate for Mark Selbee by the name of Steve Steinbeiss. Mark Selbee sustained leg injury in his previous match. This was just a showing of pure brute force and overwhelming power as a bigger stronger Goodridge manhandled Steinbeiss. The fight ended at the 2:55 mark of the 1st round.

In the second of two Semi Finals, Carter Williams set out to prove his previous win was not an accident against Glaube Feitosa. The match started out well with hard shots landed by both fighters. Feitosa seemed to edge Williams out a little as the 1st round close. Feitosa seemed to open the floodgates on Williams and connected with kick after kick until he landed a nasty snap kick that dropped Carter. After surviving what seemed like an extended count, Williams soon took a monster axe kick that landed flush between the shoulder blades. The KO happened at 2:56 of the 2nd Round.

The finals set t he stage for what quite possibly could have been one of the best fights of the year. Gary “Big Daddy” Goodridge was set to take on Glaube Feitosa to finish the night. Like a bull after seeing red, Big Daddy came full steam at the slightly dinged Feitosa. The giant Brazilian held his own and returned fire like only a champion could. Using his exceptional reach he dug into Goodridge and proceeded to smash him. The return fire was too much for Goodrich as yet another monster snapping kick landed flush, sending “Big Daddy” through the ropes. Glaube Feitosa takes the K-1 Title and in Championship form.