Dzabar Askerov vs. Chris van Venrooij

Yoshihiro Sato vs. Armen Petrosyan

Angelo Campoli vs. Andrei Kulebin

** Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Cosmo Alexandre

Giorgio Petrosyan fighting is a big deal, fighting top competition like Cosmo Alexandre is a bigger deal. Petrosyan’s defenses are as tight as ever within the opening seconds, as you’d imagine. Cosmo is using a lot of muay thai sweeps because, well, he can’t hit Giorgio. Petrosyan connects with a hook and he goes down, but it isn’t ruled a knockdown due to how quickly Cosmo gets up. Petrosyan using his hands to set up his kicks brilliantly throughout the round and is controlling where the fight takes place, all Cosmo is really doing is tripping him. Petrosyan had the cleanest shots in that round.

The ref looks like Olaf Alfonso and breaks them up early, as Cosmo’s corner forgot to return his mouthpiece. Giorgio is checking just about every kick and moving his head out of the way of strikes while setting up his own combinations. Cosmo asks him to bring it, but that doesn’t mask the fact he is getting worked. The only connections that Cosmo has seen so far are rushing knees to the midsection, but he pays for each and every one. Cosmo’s hands did connect a few times, but not enough to give him the round.

Cosmo comes into the third round down two rounds, he doesn’t look bad, but he is losing. Cosmo is able to back Giorgio up early on, but Petrosyan skillfully backs up and takes control of the ring and the round again. Watching him duck a hook while slipping one of his own is just incredible. Cosmo is frustrated and tries a desperation flying knee but connects with nothing. This was all Petrosyan.

Petrosyan easily takes the decision win and really, Giorgio Petrosyan is nearly unstoppable at this point. Cosmo Alexandre is incredibly tough and a very real opponent.

** Angelo Campoli vs. Andrei Kulebin

In the lone Full Muay Thai rules fight of the night, it’s decorated veteran Andrei Kulebin vs. the significantly less experienced, late replacement Angelo Campoli. Five rounds here, and right off the bat, they’re doing it right with live Thai music and Wai Khrus. Very cool.

And from there, sadly, there’s not a ton going on. Kulebin is clearly the better fighter, but Campoli is staying close. With every round, Kulebin takes a bit more of a lead, using superior clinch work to gain the advantage throughout rounds 1-3.

In the 4th, Kulebin scores with a nice slicing elbow, catching Campoli above the right ear coming out of a clinch. There’s definitely blood, but it’s nowhere near the eyes, but the ringside doctor waves it off anyway. Kulebin takes the 4th round TKO win in, while not a bad fight, nothing particularly memorable.

** Yoshihiro Sato vs. Armen Petrosyan

Yoshihiro Sato even fighting right now just shows the spirit that he has. This right here is Japanese spirit, this is budo. Japan is in a state of disaster and Yoshihiro Sato comes to fight against Armen Petrosyan. Armen has a lot to prove as he is in the shadow of little brother Giorgio. Sato comes in immediately with very tight combination work, but Armen picks and chooses his spots. Sato is fighting on guts and emotion, but as always, he is an intelligent fighter. The only problem is Armen can give it right back. Incredible round for both men.

The second round sees both men try to outsmart each other agai, but Armen uses a lot of thai sweeps early on to frustrate Sato. Reminds me of what Overeem did in his earlier K-1 fights. Both men are working their teep to keep the other at bay and clinching when they get in close. Sato does have a reach advantage ans is only really using it to avoid getting hit. Not the same fire as the first round.

We head into Round 3 most likely even on rounds and Sato looks ready to steal the show but Armen is looking to take him down, apparently. Armen is all about working the clinch, but Sato is actually landing some solid knees. Very ugly round once again, should probably be a draw but I could see it going to Armen.

Armen takes the ugly decision.

** Dzabar Askerov vs. Chris van Venrooij

Dzabar starts off with his high guard and goes to town on CVV immediately. His technique looks incredibly tight.When Askerov gets in close Chris is able to land a few shots, but Askerov’s guard is very good. Askerov counters a shot and lands a few amazing hooks that downs Chris and he can’t get up. All over.

Amazing technique from Askerov and a series of left hands murders Chris Van Venrooij and proves that he is a fighter to look out for in the years to come.

Absolutely incredible knockout, we’ll have a video of it when we can, it is something to behold.

** Bruno Franchi vs. Takuro Moriya

In the 2nd Oktagon fight, Bruno Franchi and Takuro Moriya met in another Dragon Series tournament fight. While neither man has a huge international reputation, both came to fight, turning in a very spirited, back and forth battle of wills.

Round 1 started even until Franchi started landing some nice knees, including some jump knees, to seemingly take the advantage. However, as the round drew to a close, Moriya began landing more leg kicks (plus a few illegal heel kicks to the calf) that hurt Franchi. He’ll need to start defending those, or Moriya’s going to punish him.

Round 2 is more of the same – from the outside, Bruno is able to work his game, but inside Moriya seems to take the edge in the clinch. Not as much focus on the legs from Moriya as I would have anticipated given R1. That was a close one.

The 3rd round comes down to conditioning, and to me it seems Franchi was able to push the pace more, keeping Moriya on the back foot and improving his clinck work inside.

Judges agree with me, as Franchi takes the decision in a very solid fight.

** Sudsakorn vs. Xu Yan

This weekend’s big kickboxing card from Italy has begun, and the show kicked off with a big fight: Sudsakorn vs. Xu Yan.

The #14 ranked Sudsakorn came in the heavy favorite, however Yan is a fighter who can always make it a fight. As it turned out, Sudsakorn was simply too much, putting on an absolutly beautiful Muay Thai clinic. In round 1, Suds used a Muay Thai dump early to show his dominance. The rest of the 1st was close, but Suds did enough to pull ahead.

Round 2 was the best of the fight as Sudsakorn shifted to the body with a wide range of attacks, including knees, teeps, and some nasty hooks. Yan stayed in it, including connecting a nice combo, but the Thai fighter was barely affected.

By round 3, Xu Yan was still giving his all, but the body attack had taken it’s toll, and the Chinese fighter began to fade. Highlight of thsi round was a gorgeous jump round kick from Sudsakorn off a caught kick by Yan. After unelasinh a combo, Suds earned a (somewhat spotty) standing 8 count. Honestly, that wasn’t the best count, but it didn’t matter as Sudsakorn easily took the decision win. Impeccable performance from the Thai, and a great way to kick things off.

Source: http://www.fansofk1.com/