Excellent year in review show that shows highlights of roughly 40 bouts from 1996. Good tape if you aren't familiar with K-1 as it shows highlights of the major bouts of the year and has separate segments on most of the big stars.
Vander Merwe vs. Ernesto Hoost
Ray Sefo vs. Petar Majstoro
Branko Cikatic vs. Musashi
Mike Bernardo vs. Masaaki Satake
Stephane Reveillon vs. Jean Claude
Andy Hug vs. Peter Aerts
Peter Aerts vs. Jean Claude
Stan The Man vs. Takeru
Stefan leko vs. Sadau Kiatsongrit
Kirkwood Walker vs. Musashi
Changpuek Kiatsongrit vs. Nobuaki Kakuda
Sam Greco vs. Andy Hug
Jerome Le Banner vs. Ray Sefo
Ernesto Hoost vs. Mike Bernardo
Ernesto Hoost vs. Shaun Johnson
Perry Ubeda vs. Stephan Nigema
Musashi vs. Michael Thompson
Taiei Kin vs. Orlando Weit
Hideki Boku vs. Mariano DeFlorin
Masaaki Satake vs. Kirkwood Walker
Andy Hug vs. Mike Bernardo. As usual, Hug had the most exciting fight on the show. Hug being in his home country made it more exciting because the fans were really into everything he did. Bernardo got off to a good start against him, but he's so one-dimensional. Bernardo, as usual, didn't establish any kind of kicking offense and doesn't really work the body with punches, so in the later rounds Hug was able to avoid most of the punch to the head offense a more tired Bernardo's was throwing at him.
Jerome Le Banner vs. Peter Aerts
Ray Sefo vs. Jean Claude
Stan The Man vs. Vander Merve
Branko Cikatic vs. Sam Greco
Andy Hug vs. Francisco Fihlo
Francisco Fihlo vs. Vander Merve
Jean Claude vs. Sam Greco
Rick Roufus vs. Jerome Le Banner
Stephan Leko vs. Ernesto Hoost
Branko Cikatic vs. Mike Bernardo
Peter Aerts vs. James Warring
Jean Riviere vs. Masaaki Satake. Match was so close it was ruled a draw after 5 rounds and again after the first extra round, so it went 7 rounds total before a winner could be declared.
Andy Hug vs. Pierre Guenette
K-1 JAPAN GP 1st Round 7/20/97 Nagoya Dome
Masaaki Satake vs. Sadakazu Kiyohara
Syuji Abe vs. Ryo Takigawa
Yasuhiro Anbe vs. Keitaro Yaginuma
Masashi Suzuki vs. Kazuhiro Asari
7/20/97, K-1 JAPAN LEAGUE Shootboxing Special Match: Takehiro Murahama vs. Takato Kitaoka
K-1 JAPAN Featherweight Grand Prix '97 1st Round 11/9/97 Tokyo Dome
Takehiro Murahama vs. Kensaku Maeda
Suguro YamAnochi vs. Kenichi Sato
9/7/97 K-1 GP '97 1st Round SPECIAL MATCH: Hiroyuki Yoshino vs. Melvin Murray
K-1 JAPAN GP Semifinals 9/7/97 Osaka Dome
Masashi Suzuki vs. Yasuhiro Anbe
Syuji Abe vs. Masaaki Satake
11/9/97: Taiei Kin vs. Taro Minato
7/20/97 K-1 JAPAN LEAGUE MA Japan Kick vs. All Japan Kick: Joe Tsuchiya vs. Eiichi Fukutomi
11/9/97 K-1 JAPAN Featherweight Grand Prix '97 Final: Takehiro Murahama vs. Kenichi Sato
7/20/97: Nobuaki Kakuda vs. Ryuji Murakami
7/20/97 K-1 JAPAN Grand Prix '97 Tournament Final: Masaaki Satake vs. Masashi Suzuki
Tournament Quarterfinals
Francisco Filho vs. Sam Greco. Filho put Greco down in 10 seconds with a lame combination. Greco got up, but the ref waved it off. Supposedly the right got Greco in the right spot.
Jerome Le Banner vs. Ernesto Hoost. Hoost surprised me by fighting such a fast 1st round. Of course, Le Banner being so aggressive had something to do with it, but Hoost's strategy was to cover up, back away, and wait for Le Banner to make a mistake.
Mike Bernardo vs. Peter Aerts. Bernardo forced Aerts into the role of counter puncher. Aerts never found his rhythm, but he hits so damn hard that all it takes is a small opening and one good shot. Bernardo did a good job defensively in R2, but surprisingly throwing low kicks early in R3 may have got him more out of his game than Aerts.
Masaaki Satake vs. Andy Hug. Satake tried to come out slugging, but Hug put him out with a high kick in 10 seconds.
Tournament Semifinals
Francisco Filho vs. Ernesto Hoost. One of Hoost's most patient fights. Disciplined defensive struggle that was tough to score. Hoost didn't want to let Filho lay back, so he edged in and made him throw. Hoost didn't have much luck countering Filho's kicks.
Peter Aerts vs. Andy Hug. Hug had the much easier 1st round fight and was in top form, while Aerts wasn't at his best and was worse the second time out. Hug did well in the 2nd round except Aerts made him pay for missing a kakato otoshi. Hug pressured Aerts and Aerts wasn't successful counter punching.
Tournament Final: Andy Hug vs. Ernesto Hoost. Good competitive high stakes fight. Hug was kicked low almost as soon as the match started. Otherwise, the 1st round was about setting each other up. Hug's left foot was messed up, but he had to kick with it anyway since that's his main striking foot. Hug jumped at Hoost at the start of round 3 only to take a left hook to the face. Hug is not the better fighter, but he grinded it out and kept R1 & R3 close enough that the fight could have gone either way. Although Hug weathered Hoost's typically flurry at the start of R2, that round was still the key to Hoost's victory.