FanHouse BadrHari

The K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 is the year's biggest kickboxing event, and as we get ready for the Dec. 5 show, we have K-1 announcer Michael Schiavello offering his commentary on each of the fighters. His thoughts on Badr Hari are below.

Badr Hari landed one hard punch to the midsection of Zabit Samedov in the first round of their fight Saturday at the K-1 World Grand Prix Final 16 in Seoul, and that one punch was all it took to make Samedov crumple to the ground in the corner and quit, bringing the Final 16 to a dramatic end.

I've always believed that the one thing Japan's K-1 kickboxing promotion needs to take off in the United States is the emergence of one recognizable star. It's looking increasingly like HDNet, which owns the U.S. TV rights to K-1, thinks that star is Badr Hari.

Michael Schiavello is well known in much of the world as the English-language voice of Japan's K-1 kickboxing, but in the United States, kickboxing is a small niche sport. In an interview in advance of K-1's July 13 event, I caught up with Schiavello for an interview to discuss where kickboxing is now, both in the United States and the rest of the world, and where it could go if it capitalizes on the boom in popularity of MMA and on its U.S. television deal with HDNet. The full interview is below.

Badr Hari came out swinging and never relented in his fight with Semmy Schilt Saturday at the It's Showtime kickboxing event in Amsterdam, knocking Schilt down twice in just 45 seconds to win a first-round TKO victory. The above video shows the fight; more results are below.

UPDATE: K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Results

If you're in the mood to watch some great fights and stay up very late on Friday night or wake up very early on Saturday morning, you can catch the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Yokohama live at 4 AM ET Saturday on HDNet. Details below.

Alistair Overeem knocked out Badr Hari in the first round of their K-1 fight today at FieLDS Dynamite 2008. Here's the video:

Hari was making his first appearance in the ring since he was disqualified in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 Final for punching and stomping on a grounded Remy Bonjasky.

Overeem and Hari may fight each other in an MMA match at some point in 2009.

The only thing more bizarre than Badr Hari getting disqualified for stomping on the head of Remy Bonjasky at the K-1 World Grand Prix Final 2008 is the way he calmly and rationally talks about the incident as if he did nothing wrong:

Hari acknowledged that stomping on Bonjasky's head was against the rules, but he compared it to riding his bike on the sidewalk. Interesting comparison. And I guess Mike Tyson biting Evander Holyfield's ear was the equivalent of jaywalking.

After Badr Hari punched and stomped a grounded Remy Bonjasky in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 Final, he was justifiably disqualified.

But now K-1 is in a strange position: On the one hand, any reasonable sports league would suspend Hari for his actions. On the other hand, Hari is now more famous than ever, and K-1 would like to cash in on that fame. So should K-1 do the right thing from a sporting perspective, or cash in on that fame?

It looks like they're leaning toward cashing in. Sportal.hr is reporting (via Free Fight Videos) that Hari could fight Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic on the New Year's Eve Dynamite show.

That fight would be a big draw, but it would also call into question the integrity of the promotion -- Hari would basically be rewarded for his actions. My own view is that Hari should be suspended and shouldn't be fighting on New Year's Eve, but with K-1, money talks.

We already noted the bizarre behavior of Badr Hari, who was disqualified on Saturday in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 Final for punching and stomping on a grounded Remy Bonjasky. But if you missed it, here's the fight video:

Hari is expected to be fined and suspended by K-1. Bonjasky says he was experiencing double vision but expects to be back soon, possibly as soon as the New Year's Eve Dynamite event.