I thought Buakaw won in the first three rounds, I was surprised that it went to extension.
Buakaw would have been so much better as Giorgio’s final opponent - both are Muay Thai stylists, Buakaw was battered much less than Souwer, and last, but not least, Por Pramuk fighters have proved to be the hardest opponents to Petrosyan.
Still, Giorgio was his usual dominating self and deserved the trophy, credit should be given where credit is due. Even though Yamamoto is nowhere near Buakaw or Sower in terms of skills, winning two fights in one night in such fashion is something like Buakaw’s 2004 run.
The fights not in the tournament were great.
Nagashima is too much of a novelty fighter - I still haven’t seen any remarkable skills displayed from him in the ring. Once again, his entrance was longer than his fight.
Artur and Drago made very good performances - they both dominated their opponents, the difference was that Kohi showed more heart and determination to go to the decision than the Iranian newcomer.
Kraus vs Takeda was pretty hard to watch, at least for me… Kozo looked like he had to fight to pay the bills, and the fact that Kraus, while being the first K-1 MAX champion, is much younger than him, didn’t help. Too many knockdowns before the fight was stopped.
