Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Aerts pulls upset and Overeem breaks Saki to reach K-1 WGP Final

Peter Aerts has won three K-1 titles (1994, 1995 and 1998) and now he's got a chance at another at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Japan. The veteran of 17 straight K-1 WGP's pulled the big upset on 6-foot-11 Semmy Schilt.

Aerts' face got torn apart in the first two rounds, but the judges scored it 20-20, 20-20 and 20-19 going to the third.

Even with his right eye cut and swelling badly, Aerts turned it on in the final round. Schilt gassed and ate dozens of big punches.

Aerts, 40, will meet Alistair Overeem in the final. Overeem's power striking was amazing against Gohkan Saki. The hulking Dutchman landed two unbelievable body kicks that changed the fight.

The first stopped Saki in his tracks and essentially turned off his offense. The second one, a left kick to the body, left Saki doubled over. The kick landed on both his right elbow and side. It almost appeared that the arm was broken. When the referee finished his 10 count, Saki said he couldn't go any longer giving the first round win to Overeem.

Saki, the much smaller fighter at just 218 pounds, was flashing excellent speed early. His combinations were dynamite but the 261-pound Overeem walked through most of them.

Saki did get Overeem to the ground when he nailed the 6-foot-5 monster with a spinning kick just 16 seconds into the fight.

Unfortunately for Saki, he had the toughest fight in the quarterfinals. He battled another giant in Daniel Ghita. That fight went the full three rounds and then they needed an extra round to determine a winner.

Ghita's body and leg kicks were nasty throughout. Saki may have been a little softened up by the time he faced Overeem.

Update - HDNet's Michael Schiavello reported that Saki suffered a broken right elbow and broken right hand.  

Quarterfinal results: 
Aerts def. Mighty Mo via KO 1st round
Saki def. Ghita via split decision
Schilt def. Kyotara via unanimous decision
Overeem def. Tyrone Spong via unanimous decision

Dominique Swain Jamie Chung Alicia Witt Radha Mitchell Melissa Rycroft

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