I know this is halfway trolling, but after watching the last few K-1s other than the Max where Buakaw won it... K-1 has sucked ass worse than Pride 13 and UFC 11 combined.
But I've watched the last three Shootboxing events and they've been awesome great rules, great fighters and great fights. I mean seriously, no BS about clinching, they let it go on until it gets boring, throws are allowed and so are standing submission. But even better, they allow elbows and knees.
Seriously, the competition and fights are about three times better than K-1 has been in the last five years!
Yo man seeing all those quick KO's (not to mention Goes humping Coleman's leg) was DA BOMB!! ...and it brought people back to reality about mma fighting.... did you mean perhaps Pride 12 instead with all the lay and pray?
Kai - agree with ya about Shootboxing! Did you read Ogata's comments about the last K-1 MAX Japan? Also checl out All Japan Kickboxing! I'd say its even more exciting than Shootboxing (and I train in shootboxing!). I haven't attended a boring AJKF card yet in 2 years.
“I am upset with the fact that people (public) are showing interest in what we believe to not be interesting at all. Obviously, there aren’t too many people out there who can tell the difference between real and not real. The judges were horrible and I am glad I decided not to fight in that tournament. The only positive thing about that tournament was (Kazuya) Yasuhiro’s real man-like attitude. I believe everyone is working really hard, right? Then what hell are they doing? That’s what I thought. I couldn’t think of anybody in that tournament who could beat me. I thought, after all, Masato is still the most consistent of all.”
Thanks for the link Silk. It reminds me of the comments I made why K1 Max has the silly clinch rules, no elbows and spactic judging when it could be so much more better like AJKF and SB! Ogata is right. I hope that in the future either him, Shishido or any of the other top SBers can win the K1 Max and put SB on the map. The public deserves better (though I'lll still watch K1 Max :) ).
Btw since you trained SB, can you tell me why Shishido always comes in wearing a Chinese silk pyjamas?
Poobear - most common ones are guillotine, standing rear naked/arm triangle and standing armbar/chickenwing. If the other guy's knee touches the ground the ref breaks it up. It's also made difficult cause the guys are wearing typical kickboxing gloves, so you cant use your fingers, the opponent is often sweaty and slippery and so on.
IronMonkey - I actually did ask Shishido that a few years ago, but forgot the answer :( I'll ask him again this week. I think it has something to do with his love for Kung Fu movies and that he also did Shirinji Kempo (He ascribes some of his hand speed and fluidity to that)before doing SB. He said that before a fight he would watch kung fu movies to look for a funky technique that he would try in his fight to humour the crowd and maybe even win in crazy fashion :-)
Btw, in celebration of SB's 20th anniversary, they came out with a best of SB 2 dvd set, one is called "Blue Corner" and the other "Red Corner".