K-1 World MAX 2009 Final 8 Pairings Announced

Alternate: Yasuhiro Kido

K-1 announced the pairings for the K-1 World MAX Final 8 today. The show will take place at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on Monday, July 13th. We get two new pairings and two rematches in the bunch: Buakaw and Holtzken will meet again after their 2007 opening round bout (which the Thai won), while Kyshenko and Souwer get a redux on their tight match from last year's semi-finals.

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by Chris Nelson on Apr 22, 2009 8:49 AM EDT reply actions

http://www.k-1.co.jp/k-1gp/b09_0422.htm

Slots =
A & B – first fight
C & D – second fight
E & F – third fight
G & H – fourth fight

Order of picks:

1. Drago – slot A
2. Kyshenko – slot E
3. Petrosyan – slot C
4. Yamamoto – slot B – said he wanted revenge for Sato
5. Holtzken – slot G
6. Kraus – in the unenviable position of picking between Petrosyan, Kyshenko, or Holtzken, he went with Petrosyan in slot D. Said it was because it was in the earliest bracket available.
7. Buakaw – slot H. Said it was because he fought Holtzken before.
8. Souwer – had no choice but slot F against Kyshenko.

by ilostmydog on Apr 22, 2009 1:46 PM EDT reply actions

VERY interesting.

The article I read on Sportsnavi didn’t mention any of that, just the matchups. Is that how they always do it?

I love the giant bracket backdrops.

by Chris Nelson on Apr 22, 2009 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah. Final eight is always done with the lottery for both MAX and the WGP.

by ilostmydog on Apr 22, 2009 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions

It's really cool how they do the matchups for this. Would like to see it in DREAM.

Also I find it interesting that Kraus took Petrosyan. I mean it sucks to have to pick between those 3 but I think it’s obvious Holtzken is the weak link.

A Kyshenko/Petrosyan final is possible and would be awesome. It’s rare in K-1 for the final to be 2 guys who have never met before.

by zacd on Apr 22, 2009 7:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Kraus was in a somewhat bad position. There were no ‘easy’ fights available to him. Holtzken, without a doubt, was the weakest guy available but that was also fight four, so he would be getting the least amount of rest time between fights if he took it. Also, saying he takes and wins that fight, he’s going to end up against one of Souwer/Buakaw/Kyshenko in his second fight, which is also never good (moreso in a tourney).

I think his thought process was that he thinks his best chance of taking out Petrosyan is in the first fight of the night, when he’s fresh and can bang as hard as he wants to. Then if he wins that, he’s got a significantly easier second fight against the winner of Drago/Yamamoto than he would in the other bracket. He also gets more rest time and if he makes it to the finals, there’s a very large chance that the opposing brackets finalist has gotten the crap beaten out of him along the way.

by ilostmydog on Apr 22, 2009 10:08 PM EDT up reply actions

That makes sense.

After Buakaw/Holtzken ends how much time is there until the next batch of fights begins?

by zacd on Apr 22, 2009 11:09 PM EDT up reply actions

ilostmydog would know better than me, but I think they do the Final 8 matches in July, then semifinals and finals in October

by Chris Nelson on Apr 22, 2009 11:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah I just went to the official website. Semi’s in July and then finals in October. So I guess Kraus just felt like fighting a tough ass guy or he thinks Petrosyan is overrated maybe.

by zacd on Apr 22, 2009 11:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Still, it comes down to picking his poison. Although I failed to remember that the GP structure is different now, he still gains some advantage for this fight. He can take his lumps against Petrosyan, maybe win, and have several months to recover. Then he’s got the relatively easier fight against the winner of Drago/Yam before the finals the same night.

If he had gone against Holtzken and won, he would have had to get past one of Kyshenko/Buakaw/Souwer before potentially fighting Petrosyan/Souwer/Buakaw in the finals. Although I doubt Kraus really thought it through that much, it would seem that he could gain a slight advantage for taking the tougher fight this time. I don’t think he’ll beat Petrosyan, but it’s MAX so you really never know.

by ilostmydog on Apr 23, 2009 1:00 AM EDT up reply actions

My bad. I forgot they changed that for MAX last year. :( Too bad they didn’t change it back now that Masato is gone (since it was changed solely so his legs could survive long enough to win the title).

by ilostmydog on Apr 23, 2009 12:50 AM EDT up reply actions

I hope there is a lot they change when Masato retires. I’ve heard that prior to BPP’s premiere in 2004 you could do unlimited knees in the clinch and now you can only do one? Apparently after he destroyed Kohi and handled Masato they changed that.

by zacd on Apr 23, 2009 1:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, that’s true. I don’t necessarily know if it was to ‘protect’ Masato (not that he needs it), but knees were already limited in HW K-1 before they were in MAX. I think the argument they used is that they weren’t ‘exciting’ or something. It’s unfortunate because it really handicaps certain fighters. Kohi needed a few years before he could do anything properly again and Sato took a while to get used to it. I personally think Sato would blitz half the division if knees were back in.

by ilostmydog on Apr 23, 2009 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions

From NoB:

The ratings for the event were 10.9% which is slightly better than the MAX Japan GP broadcast. The fight which got the highest rating was Nagashima vs. Kraus which got a strong 17% rating.

http://nightmareofbattle.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/the-aftermath-k-1-world-max-2009-final16/

by Chris Nelson on Apr 23, 2009 7:36 PM EDT reply actions