Semmy Schilt lurches to another K-1 Grand Prix championship

Sorry I’m late posting about the K-1 World Grand Prix, which was held today in Yokohama, Japan. I spent the day at the Toronto BJJ annual tournament and have had jiu-jitsu on the brain, not kickboxing. Luckily, the fights are all on Youtube, so I haven’t really missed anything at all.

There’s something distinctly Tim Sylvia-like about Semmy Schilt. It’s his towering height coupled with a lumbering, unfluid (would that be solid?) style and an overall unchiseled pasty whiteness. Schilt picked up his record-tying fourth title at the event, taking out last year’s runner-up, Badr Hari, with body kicks in the first round of the final, Remy Bonjasky with leg kicks in the first round of the semi-finals and Jerome Le Banner with body kicks in the first round of their quarter-final bout.

Badr Hari defeated Alistair Overeem with a head kick in round one of their semi-final, and is it just me or does the neckless head of Overeem look like his shoulders took a dump and left it there?

I shouldn’t dis Overeem too much. He might go off on me like he did Ewerton Teixeira in the quarter-finals. I particularly like how many people rush into the ring after the fight, presumably to make sure Teixeira isn’t dead.

And the fastest fight of the night saw Badr Hari TKO Ruslan Karaev in just 38 seconds of their quarter-final.