Faisel Reding vs. Harold van Haagen 5R
WMTA European Title Fight - Heavyweight: Frank Lobman vs. Luc Verheyen R5
Ramon Dekker vs. Gilbert Ballentine 5R
WMTA World Title Fight - Super Heavyweight: Peter Aerts vs. Markus Fuckner R2 2:21
Kotei Yamada vs. Kintaro Sugimoto 3R. Close fight. Both were better at boxing, fighting inside with quick short punches, the crisper of which coming from Sugimoto.
Michael Thompson vs. Gary Sandland 4R 1:10. Sandland is the bigger, more powerful fighter. He isn't very skilled, but he did a good job of muscling Thompson, charging in and trying to overwhelm him. Thompson was at his best when he had distance, but wasn't dancing enough to keep Sandland away. Sandland's stamina was questionable, but Thompson wasn't active enough, allowing Sandland to rest by clinching after throwing a punch or two, the big body leaning on him seeming to wear Thompson down some. Thompson came on in the later stages, pushing off the clinch and landing. He knocked Sandland through the ropes with a knee, though it was more Sandland losing his balance than anything else. Thompson was trying to set up a spinning kick all fight, but kept going high. Finally, he nailed Sandland in the bread basket with a spinning savate for the KO. Good bout.
Yan Wessel vs. Rabel Robinson 5R. Wessel was taller, but Robinson was the better inside fighter. He was accurate, but not aggressive enough. Robinson would either land multiple blows or sit back and wait, which was annoying but successful. Neither were dominant, but Robinson had more on his blows and consistently landed when he threw. He also put Wessel down with a low kick just before the end of R1. Fair.
Yoshihisa Tagami vs. Takatora Funaki 1R 1:23. Excellent performance by Tagami showing hard speedy punches and a killer instinct. Tagami had an early knockdown with a right straight and put the heat on, overwhelming Funaki for a seonc knockdown. Tagami landed a nice left/right hook combo that Funaki withstood then put him down with a high kick that Funaki actually blocked. Funaki said it was a slip, and clearly it didn't land, but that was enough for the 3 KD rule. Funaki might have gotten a tough break, but he would have been knocked down again by the end of the round anyway.
WKA Intercontinental Super Light Heavyweight Title Match: Andre Manaart vs. Toshiyuki Atokawa 5R. Though he landed to the legs at will, Manaart still mixed his kicks up well. When Atokawa tried guarding the body, Manaart would go low or high and low. his combinations were sharp, and the best overmatched Atokawa was able to do was block a punch then get low kick. Atokawa barely landed anything, but showed a lot of heart as Manaart tired from hitting him so often. Atokawa walked right into a streaight left for a knockdown when he was coming in to kick. Despite all he withstood, Atokawa's best rounds were the final ones as he went on offense, even if his worn down opponent largely blocked him. Pretty good.
UKF World Light Heavyweight Title Match: Changpuek Kiatsongrit vs. Taiei Kin 5R. Close, tough exciting fight. Kin basically stayed away unless he was going to attack, backing away from Kiatsongrit's strikes but then coming in with a counter, for instance landing several spinning backfists. Kiatsongrit's strategy was to force Kin against the ropes and bring te knee up to the gut. He was getting frustrated because Kin, who is smart enough to know he can't fight inside with Thai clinch master Kiatsongrit, was keeping him out of his game by maintaining a safe distance. Kiatsongrit is like a cobra waiting to strike. Once in a while he doesn't wait long enough, for instance the beginning for R2 where he front kicked Kin low before the bell. Kiatsongrit eventually got his knees going, and some of them were wicked, but half of them didn't count because they landed low. Kiatsongrit clearly knocked the win out of Kin with a knee to the midsection, but Kin got fired up and became more aggressive, landing yet another uraken. Very good.
Ernesto Hoost vs. Masaaki Satake 2R 2:48. Hoost pecked away for a while then countered a left straight with a left high kick for the KO. Hoost didn't land big blows other than the finish, which was actually more fast than powerful, but he was accurate and efficient.
Andy Hug vs. Branco Cikatic 5R. Cikatic was very good punching on the inside, in fact he knocked Hug down at the outset with such a combination. Hug was adequate on the inside, but much better when he used his kicks to keep Cikatic away, as he couldn't use most of his best weapons from the distance Cikatic wanted to fight at. Hug turned the match early, but Cikatic refused to wild despite a pace that wasn't conducive to the large old man. Cikatic is lumbering and flatfooted. Hug pressured him, knocking him down in R2 with a series of punches. Hug fought with determination, keeping the heat on Cikatic, who was quickly running out of steam due to Hug's fever pace. Cikatic tried to turn it into a brawl so he could use his size to lean on Hug. He landed some heavy punches and managed to give Hug a mouse under the left eye. Very good.
GRAND PRIX '94 1st Round
Peter Aerts vs. Rob Van Esdonk
Andy Hug vs. Patrick Smith
Masaaki Satake vs. Michael Thompson
Andre Manaart vs. Branco Cikatic
GRAND PRIX '94 Semifinals
Patrick Smith vs. Peter Aerts
Branco Cikatic vs. Masaaki Satake
GRAND PRIX '94 Final: Peter Aerts vs. Masaaki Satake
Exhibition Match: Naoyuki Taira vs. Koji Yamazaki. Submissions were legal here.
GRAND PRIX '94 1st Round
Peter Aerts vs. Rob Van Esdonk. Esdonk won the first round, even putting Aerts down. The second round was more wide open with both men having their moments, but overall Aerts won it convincingly. Aerts was doing most of his damage after backing Esdonk into the ropes, but Esdonk did fairly well on the occassions when he opened up and fought his way back to the center of the ring. 3rd round wasn't particularly eventful, with the knockout being one big high kick out of nowhere.
Andy Hug vs. Patrick Smith. This was hard to believe. One would have thought that Hug would destroy Smith, but he never even got started. Smith had him down within 10 seconds, although Hug had one leg up to kick when he was hit so it was probably more of a case of him not having a strong base when he was hit. Smith caught Hug with a big uppercut a few seconds after he got up, and this time he definitely fell because he was hurt. Hug was up before the ref steped in front of Smith to get him to back up, so Smith decked Hug and that was it.
Masaaki Satake vs. Michael Thompson. Typical Satake fight. The most interesting thing was the scoring of the second round where one judge had it 10-10, but another scored it 10-7 Satake. 10-9 Satake was probably fair.
Andre Manaart vs. Branco Cikatic
Special One Match: Lucia Riker vs. Sandra Michelle Muua
GRAND PRIX '94 Semifinals
Patrick Smith vs. Peter Aerts. Smith was really aggressive here, but in an out of control roll the dice kind of way. Aerts isn't the type you are going to beat this way, although I suppose the same could be said about Hug.
Branco Cikatic vs. Masaaki Satake
Special One Match: Hiro Yoshitaka vs. Ewan Hiporitt. Small quick guys who were very active. They tired in the later rounds, but the 5th round was really exciting because it was close enough that both men put everything they had into winning the final round.
GRAND PRIX '94 Final: Peter Aerts vs. Masaaki Satake. Aerts consistently had the most interesting fights of the tournament, while Satake consistently had the least interesting fights in the tournament. Unfortunately, Satake was the one that kept his streak alive. He went about business like he always does and was able to hang in there, but there were very few highlights and you never got the idea that Satake could win.
Tournament Quarterfinals
Adam Watt vs. Artem Toyoyan
Bob Schrijber vs. Zijad Polio
Ernesto Hoost vs. Tony Luciano
Jerome Turcan vs. Mark Russell
Tournament Semifinals
Artem Toyoyan vs. Bob Schrijber
Ernesto Hoost vs. Mark Russell
Final: Bob Schrijber vs. Ernesto Hoost
Super Prestige Fight Muay Thai Rule: Abdellah Quay vs. Gilbert Ballentine
Tournament Round 1
Frank Lobman vs. Danny Crouweel
Glenn Wijngart vs. William van Roosmalen
Andre Oetelaar vs. Peter Verschuren
Peter Aerts vs. Rob van Esdonk
Tournament Semifinals
Frank Lobman vs. Peter Verschuren
Peter Aerts vs. Glenn Wijngart
Tournament Final: Peter Aerts vs. Frank Lobman
Jeff "Duke" Roufus vs. Takeshi Tanaka. Exciting, but one-sided.
Orlando Wiet vs. Taiei Kin. Pretty good fight.
Yoshihisa Tagami vs. Hector Pena. Slaughter.
Changpuek Kiatsongrit vs. Michael Thompson. Kiatsongrit landed the more damaging blows, but Thompson was more active. Finish was kind of fishy if you ask me, as it ended on a Miyato spinning savate kick 2 seconds into a round.
Ernesto Hoost vs. Mark Russell. Russell was able to get up from a killer high kick in the third round, but he was still on dream street and Hoost was pummelling him. Russell showed good heart here, but that only goes so far when your opponent is the best.
Toshiyuki Atokawa vs. Tasis "Tosca" Petridis. Atokawa was unable to stop Tosca's punches. Tosca couldn't really get his kicks and knees going, but eventually his hooks and straight punches did so much damage that he was able to use his legs on his wobbly foe. Atokawa was basically a punching bag in round 5.
Branco Cikatic vs. Stan The Man. Slow, deliberate fight. Neither man was very active, and it was rather dull.
Andy Hug vs. Patrick Smith. Smith came out with all guns blazing again, but this time Hug was ready for him. Flashy, all action fight. May have been a work as there were so many big swings in the short time it lasted, but one knee from Hug was really the only good blow that landed.
WKA World Muay Thai Super Heavyweight Title: Dennis "Hurricane" Lane vs. Masaaki Satake. Typical dull Satake match. Highlight was Lane hitting a nice uraken, but he looked a little silly doing it since he wound up falling down.
8 man tournament featuring Sam Greco & Michael Tompson
Masaaki Satake vs. Gary Sandland
Andy Hug vs. Duke Roufus
Hector Pena vs. Hammer Matsui 1R 2:39. Matsui was lucky to almost survive the first round. Pena was rocking him with heavy punches, landing hook combinations at will and generally just mauling Matsui. Matsui seemed to spend as much time on his back, as there were several slips in addition to the three knockdowns.
Orlando Wiet vs. Taro Minato 5R. Though Wiet is mainly remembered for his appearance at UFC 2, he was a multiple weight class world champion kickboxer who dabbled into MMA & boxing to little success. I expected him to beat Minato, a "Marshal Arts" Japan Middleweight Champion who always seemed robotic because he holds a really rigid block, but Wiet was barely even landing above the belt in the first half of the fight. While Minato wasn't landing a ton either, as he was often just kicking the block, he did mix his shots well and was connecting a lot more to the midsection as well as backing Wiet into the ropes then using the clinch. Wiet was knocked down from shots that were difficult to discern the quality of. In the second, he fell into the ropes after a short right, which I thought should have been called a knockdown given he grabbed the ropes to keep himself off the canvas. However, early in the 3rd, Wiet blocked a high kick then probably was just off balanced trying to back away from a right straight, a theory strengthened by Wiet popping right back to his feet by the 3 count, but this punch did land solidly, so it's hard to fault the knockdown call given it could go either way even after seeing the replay. Wiet felt the urgency now, and this turned into a hell of a fight as he began to up the pressure. Minato was still able to slow him down here, as he would tie him up against the ropes in the clinch. Elbows played a large role here as this was muay thai rules, with Minato throwing some nasty elbows when he had minimal separation and Wiet repeatedly using jumping 12-6 elbows, even with his back on the ropes in Minato's clinch. I've probably seen jumping 12-6 elbows before somewhere, but I've definitely never seen anyone throw a few dozen jumping elbows in a match before, and you know quack doctors across the globe were surely fearing for Minato's life. Wiet hit a sweet belly to belly suplex at the end of the 3rd, a round he likely would have won if not for the knockdown. One of the things that really stands out about old fights is the lack of an actual corner. Wiet just had his wife, kickboxing star Valerie Henin, armed with little more than 2 buckets and towel, which was not going to deal with the massive hematoma above his right eye. Henin must have said something great though, or perhaps shocked Wiet a few times, as he was a different fighter in the 4th, just exploding with right uppercuts while holding Minato's head with his left glove and throwing nonstop hooks and uppercuts once Minato got his head free. Minato was so beat down that Wiet eventually even landed some of the jumping 12-6 elbows, but this zombie somehow stayed on his feet while Wiet gave his arms a break and instead started uppercutting Minato with front kicks. The 4th round was just insane because Wiet kept a Diaz like pace while throwing everything at full power and landing most of these shots cleanly. The crazy thing is when Wiet would finally stop throwing, Minato would be right in there landing an elbow or a kick, so Wiet was almost forced to go right back on the attack. Wiet was really gassing toward the end of the round, but he kept throwing the front kicks to the chin, and then finally almost dropped Minato following a missed left high kick with a reverse spinning right high kick, but the ropes kept Minato from falling to the canvas (so at least these non knockdowns evened out). This is where I really hate round scoring because despite the dominant 4th round where Wiet turned Minato into a bobblehead that somehow kept staggering around, he was still very far down in the fight having lost the 1st 2 rounds that weren't that amazing and the 3rd because the ref called him down. Minato came out for the 5th with so much gunk in his hair it looked like he forgot he had another round before he could shampoo. Wiet continued to rock Minato in the 5th round, knowing he needed another dominant round at the very least, probably a knockout. He hit a sweet jumping side kick to the face followed by a side kick to the midsection. It's no wonder Wiet was exhausted with all these high dexterity attacks, but he willed himself to try to end things, landing another reverse spinning high kick into a forward roll, which looked like it was right out of Bloodsport. Minato managed to hang on though and get the decision 47-46, 47-46, 48-45. Excellent match.
Taiei Kin vs. Eugene Valerio 5R. Kin got off to a slow start, but got better with each round. He had better stamina than his opponent as usual. This wasn't one of his more exciting fights, in fact it was rather uneventful. It seemed closer than it was scored, as neither had much success. Fair.
Peter Aerts vs. Grant Barker 1R 2:00. Barker was out of his depth. He'd see that Aerts was about to attack, so he'd just stand there covering up. That might work against a lousy fighter, but anyone of quality will do just what Aerts did, strike around and through the block.
UKF World Super Heavyweight Title Match: Rob Van Esdonk vs. Andy Hug 5R 0:35. Not a particularly exciting bout, but Van Esdonk slowed Hug down and tired him out. He wasn't getting hurt, but he was mostly backing away and clinching. Van Esdonk came on in R4 landing some good punches and scoring on the inside. Knowing it was a close fight, Van Esdonk came out aggressive in R5, but got hit hard once then hesitated. Regrouping, he decided to go and landed a series of punches against the ropes then clinched, but before he could deliver a knee Hug decked him with a left hook for the surprising one punch KO.
Cikatic Final Match: Branko Cikatic vs. Ernesto Hoost 2R 1:18. Even at 40, Cikatic was still one of the most dangerous punchers. This was the rematch from the '93 Grand Prix Finals where Cikatic KO'd a countering Hoost with an overhand right he didn't see coming. In what was to be his final fight, Cikatic proceeded to do it again.
Sam Greco vs. Masaaki Satake 2R 1:27. Greco came on at the end of 1994, establishing himself as a force by winning the Karate World Cup and defeating Seido Kaikan's top star. Good short fight, one-sided but lots of heavy blows. Greco blitzed Satake, and had 2 quick knockdowns but couldn't seal the deal. He ran out of steam in the later portion of R1, allowing Satake to tie him up, but he still landed a stiff uraken among others. Satake has his liabilities, but no one will ever deny the man can take a shot.
interviews and pre-match build-up vignettes
Patrick Smith vs. Kimo
Best matches from 3/3, 4/30, 9/18, 10/4 & 12/10/94
Andy Hug vs. Branko Cikatic
Yoshihisa Tagami vs. Hector Pena
Masaaki Satake vs. Sam Greco
Peter Aerts vs. Rob van Esdonk
Changpuek Kiatsongrit vs. Taiei Kin
Peter Aerts vs. Graham Parker
Peter Aerts vs. Patrick Smith
Ernesto Hoost vs. Branko Cikatic
Masaaki Satake vs. Dennis "Hurricane" Lane
Andy Hug vs. Rob van Esdonk
Ernesto Hoost vs. Masaaki Satake
Ernesto Hoost vs. Mark Russell
Andy Hug vs. Patrick Smith