FanHouse RemyBonjasky

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.

Early on Friday I noted that Melvin Manhoef prides himself on being a brawler when he steps into the ring, rather than a cerebral fighter with a game plan. So that makes it especially interesting to note that Manhoef's opponent in Saturday's K-1 World Grand Prix in Seoul, Remy Bonjasky, prides himself on being a cerebral fighter who protects himself from knockouts -- and from the long-term brain damage that he fears suffering in the ring.

With four words in the above video, Melvin Manhoef explains why he's such a popular K-1 and MMA fighter -- and why he's also a fairly limited fighter who wins plenty of fights by exciting knockout but also loses plenty of fights to more tactical opponents.

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.

The best kickboxer in the world survived a tough test from a rising star in mixed martial arts on Saturday, as Remy Bonjasky defeated Alistair Overeem by unanimous decision in the main event of the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Yokohama.

The K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Yokohama, Japan has ended, and we have the results 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.

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.