K-1 wraps up its 17th annual World Grand Prix tonight in Yokohama, Japan, and if yesterday's press conference was any indication, it should be one intense night of fights. The MMA community has a horse in the race this year, too: Holland's heavyweight hulk Alistair Overeem has made himself the marked man in this evening's bracket by declaring MMA's supremacy over K-1.
Former PRIDE star Sergei Kharitonov is a late replacement for one of the tournament reserve bouts as well, so stay up late with the BloodyElbow.com Night Crew and enjoy some of the finest kickboxing the world has to offer.
Here's the slate for the live HDNet broadcast, which begins at 3AM Eastern:
K-1 World GP 2009 Tournament Final
#10: winner of #7 vs. winner of #8
Super Fight
#9: Keijiro "Kyotaro" Maeda vs. Tyrone Spong
K-1 World GP 2009 Tournament Quarter-Finals
#8: Le Banner/Schilt vs. Zimmerman/Bonjasky
#7: Karaev/Hari vs. Overeem/Teixeira
K-1 World GP 2009 Reserve Fight
#6: Sergei Kharitonov vs. Daniel Ghita
K-1 World GP 2009 Tournament Quarter-Finals
#5: Errol Zimmerman vs. Remy Bonjasky
#4: Jerome Le Banner vs. Semmy Schilt
#3: Alistair Overeem vs. Ewerton Teixeira
#2: Ruslan Karaev vs. Badr Hari
K-1 World GP 2009 Reserve Fight
#1: Peter Aerts def. Gokhan Saki via unanimous decision (3-0) at 3:00 of round three
After an even opening round and a second frame which saw the speedier Saki begin to take the driver's seat, a big right hook from "The Dutch Lumberjack" put Gokhan down with just seconds to go. Saki made it to his feet just in time, but couldn't put much together in the final period and ceded the bout to Aerts on all three judges' cards.
Opening Fights
-3: Jan Soukup vs. Tsutomu Takahagi
-2: Singh "Heart" Jaideep vs. Makoto Uehara
-1: Keiichi Samukawa vs. Ryuji Kajiwara
