M-1 Challenge fotoverslag Seoul, Korea

**M-1 Challenge** · 03-09-2008, 12:24

M-1 goes Korea
After successful events in Holland, Russia, Spain, Russia again and Japan on August 29th 2008, the M-1 Challenge was staged in the Korean Capital of Seoul. The Jong Chun Gymnasium, the venue where it took place, was the same as where the Korean K-1 was held before.
Participating teams were Japan, The World Team, Korea and the USA. Next to that there were three superbouts presenting Park Won-Sik (Korea) vs Holland's Furdjel de Windt. Heo Min-Seok (Korea) vs Radmir Gabdulin from Russia and Lee Sang-Soo from Korea vs Roman Zentzov from Russia who needs no further introduction.
Special guest at this event was MMA's superstar "Fedor Emilyanenko" who was welcomed at the airport by a great number of reporters of the writing press as well as the TV with their camera's.
Fedor was yet again the centre of attention.
Seoul on the other hand is beautiful , the food is tasty and spicey with lot's of garlic and more important, the Hall, the ring and everything looked great and fightnight was dynamite.

Referees and Jury at the event were: Daisuke Noguchi (Japan), Marcel Homeijer (Holland), Viktor Korneev (Russia) and Kim Young Nam (Korea). Chief Jury was as always Ino Alberga from Holland. The TV production was done by Jerry Millen, Camera by Kevin Hewitt and the expert commentators were Sean Wheelock and Jimmy Smith.
Results of the M-1 Challenge up to this date:
Holland vs World Team 5 - 0
France vs Red Devil 3 - 2
japan vs Russian Legion 3 - 2
Finland vs Korea 4 - 1
Spain vs Holland 3 - 2
Finland - USA 4 - 1
Russian Legion vs Spain 3 - 2
Red Devil vs Finland 4 - 1
France vs USA 3 - 2
Japan vs Holland 1 - 4

Japan vs World Team
The World Team consisting of Wim Deputter ( Belgian ), Norman Paraisy ( French ), Jordan Radev (Bulgarian ), Bruno Carvalho ( Brazilian ) and Stefan Struve ( Dutch) can really be considered a World Team with all of their different nationalities.
From the Japanese team Ken Hamamura was replaced by the far more experienced Hidehiko Hasegawa . Yuji Shirai fought instead of Yuta Watanabe who was KOed heavy by Hollands Jason Jones in his last fight and Tatsuya Mizuno entered the team in the minus 93 kg class instead of Yuji Sakuragi who went up one class to replace Katsuhisa Fuji.
After an impressive opening ceremony with taiko drums the Challenge began.

Wim Deputter (68.8 kg) vs Daisuke Nakamura (69.9 kg)
Referee: Daisuke Noguchi
Most of the first round took place on the ground where Nakamura was in control of the fight and in which he almost succeeded twice with an armbar.
Second round was a bit more even but all three judges gave the victory to Nakamura.

Hidehiko Hasegawa (75.6 kg) vs Norman Paraisy (76.0 kg)
Referee: Viktor Korneev
Paraisy was a head taller then the stocky Japanese and he immediately took the fight to the ground where Hasegawa had a hard time defending himself. He was lucky that the referee had a bad day because he should have received a yellow card for using open hand techniques to the face.
In the second round it was more or less the same, but ten to fifteen seconds before the final bell Hasegawa applied a kimura. Paraisy is probably one of those people with extreme flexibility and a high pain tolerance, because despite the fact that Hasegawa applied maximum pressure and it even looked like the shoulder popped out and back in to its socket, the French fighter refused to tap out and he was rewarded for this because with a split decision of 2 judges in his favor he took the match.

Yuji Shirai (83.3 kg) vs Jordan Radev (83.4 kg)
Referee: Kim young Nam
No groundfight in the first round. Jordan connected a few times with knees, but the Japanese with some kicks. The second round was a whole other piece of cake. Although it was again mostly a stand up fight there was much more action and Shirai showed his ability to absorb an unbelievable amount of punches. He came back strong but not strong enough. The decision went to Radev 2 -1

Tatsuya Mizuno (92.3 kg) vs Bruno Carvalho (92.5 kg)
Referee: Daisuke Noguchi
Carvalho showed some beautiful grappling technique in this round, but was hit in the face while lying down after the bell for the end of the round. It was a clear intentional punch and the referee pulled a yellow card for Mizuno. The doctor was called in and he decided that Bruno could continue the fight after he was given some extra time to recover.
In the second round he kept his ground and he fought an even battle. His superiority in the first round made that he was awarded as the winner.

Yuji Sakuragi (95.6 kg) vs Stefan Struve (104.2 kg)
Referee: Marcel Homeijer
Struve who is 2.12 meters was a giant compared to Sakuragi. He is known for his triangle and it was clear that he intended to end this fight the same way as most of his fights by making his opponent tap out on the triangle. It was Sakuragi who tried to bring the fight to the ground but he could have better avoided it, because it didn't take the tall Dutchman long before he applied his favorite technique. When he had Sakuragi in the triangle hold he used his length advantage and started to pound the face of the unfortunate Japanese.
Stefan Struve winner by triangle and punches in 2.30 of the first round.

World Team winner with 4 - 1

Superbout
Park Won-Sik (Korea) (69.8 kg) vs Furdjel de Windt (Holland) 70.0 kg
Referee: Daisuke Noguchi.
Park appeared to be a complete fighter and controlled the whole fight. Furdjel kicked him twice on a man's most sensitive spot and was given a yellow card for this. Park recovered and continued the fight and went home as the winner by unanimous decision.

**M-1 Challenge** · 03-09-2008, 12:25

Korea vs USA
The Koreans lost from Finland 4 -1 in their first Challenge match, but althought the Finnish fighters won from the USA and they are leading their poule they lost against the Russian Red Devils. This means that if Korea wins all their upcoming fights with convincing numbers they still stand a fair chance to end up as the winners of poule A. But……, the same goes for the France, Red Devil and Finland.

Jangyong Kim (69.5 kg) vs David gardner (69.9 kg)
Referee: Daisuke Noguchi
Jang Yong Kim replaced Jong Man Kim who fought inRussia against Finland.
59 seconds young was the fight when a straight punch from Gardner connected to the chin of Jangyong Kim. Referee Noguchi saved him from further damage by jumping in between and stopping the fight. Gardner winner by KO punches

Doowon Seo (75.5 kg) vs Jake Ellenberger (76.0 kg)
Referee: Viktor Korneev
Ellenberg had a kickboxing background and ruled in the standing up position. Still it was him who brought the fight to the ground. There he received a yellow card for eye gouging. Doowon Seo was treated by the doctor and could continue to finish the round. In the second round Ellenberg controlled the fight standing up as well as on the ground. Blood was pouring from Doowon Seo from a cut under his eye and after 3.04 min in the 2th round the doctor intervened and Ellenberg was declared the winner.

Hyungyu Lim (83.0 kg) vs Brandon Magana (82.3 kg)
Referee: Kim Young Nam
Enervating fight with lots of action from both sides in the first round.
Also a very attractive 2nd round where after 3.58 min. Lim could apply a triangle choke on which Magana tapped out.

Moojin Na (91.1 kg) vs Brian Harper (92.5 kg)
Referee: Viktor Korneev
Moojin Na fought instead of Choi Seung Hyung
The fight lasted just 42 seconds. Harper tried to get Moojin Na on the floor but ended up on the wrong side where he received a flurry of hammer fists on his head which knocked him out cold.

Jihoon Kim (107.5 kg) vs Jeremiah Constant (113.3 kg)
Referee: Marcel Homeijer
A kimura after 1.55 min in the first round by Constant finished the fight.

USA wins the Challenge with 3 - 2

SUPERBOUT
Heo Min-Seok (Korea) (83.1 kg) vs Radmir Gabdulin (83.6 kg) Russia
Referee : Kim young Nam
Heo Min Seok winner on points after a fight in which both tried to apply different kind of leg and ankle locks time after time.

SUPERBOUT
Lee Sang-Soo (107.5 kg) vs Roman Zentzov (101.9 kg)
Referee: Marcel Homeijer
Short after the start Zentzov was cut high on the forehead by a punch. The doctor could stop the bleeding for a little while but after some time it started again. The referee stopped the fight again to wipe it off, but it didn't take long to start again and now the bleeding was profusely. Lee continued to be the more aggressive fighter and not only did he prove to be the better boxer in this fight, he also was the better grappler, because after they went to the floor Zentzov tapped out on a triangle choke after 4.33 seconds in the first round.