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He won by all knockouts. Everything started with Banner
It may well be said that everything started with Banner in the world Grand Prix main match tournament. The championship hopeful, Banner, met rival and last semi-final winner, Sefo, in the Osaka round of the main match held in parallel with the world regional qualifying games. But it was disclosed that Sefo had back pains in practice before the competition. Even though he knocked out Adam Watt in the first match, he had to withdraw ahead of the semi-final. He underwent emergency treatment with an agonizing look on his face. This was shown on the giant TV screens in the venue, and seemed to forebode an eventful opening. On the contrary, Banner didn’t appear perturbed. He knocked out Major in a match that was expected to be a tussle, excitingly downed Brega who beat Kusatsu, and then finally beat Watt easily. The total time he fought these three fighters was only four minutes. The winner, Banner confidently laughed and said “I can take my time to condition myself before the final.”
Defending champion Hoost, victorious amid hostile crowd
There was stormy booing at the Vodaphone Arena in Melbourne, which was the venue for the first world Grand Prix main match. And the hostility was focused on Ernesto Hoost, who won the world Grand Prix last year. Hoost tilted his head saying, “I don’t know why they are booing” It was probably due to the fight against Mark hunt in the semi-final. Hoost beat Gur in the first match and fought against local hero Hunt who knocked out Hiromi Amada. Hunt fell down, appearing to slip after a punch. He was counted down, and was forced to have a tough match. The eyes of the audience might have been directed against the fearsome Hoost who beat Hunt. He barely beat Matt Skelton by judgment in the final. In contrast to Banner, he won the competition as if he were treading on thin ice. However, the real victim of Melbourne was Mirko. He was downed by McDonald with a short hook. The road to Tokyo dome was closed.
Ignashov won the tournament for the first time. The scorpions poison raised a disturbance
Who ever expected this result? It was not the favorites Bernado nor Abidi but the Red Scorpion, Alexey Ignashov who won the main match tournament held in Nagoya after the Osaka and Melbourne tournaments. Ignashov was injured in the match against Skelton in August last year, and was unable to use his favourite sting technique (knee kick). But in the Nagoya tournament he downed his opponents one after another with his recovered knee kick. He dealt the final blow to Majstorovic in the first match and Thomson in the semi-final with his sting. He was supposed to fight against Bernado in the final, but Bernado sustained unexpectedly serious damage from Van Dams in the semi-final with a knee kick to his groin and had to withdraw. He also downed Van Dams easily to win the tournament. Incidentally Abidi was already beaten by Thomson to be eliminated in the first match.
A new star appeared in Las Vegas. Reborn Leko, victorious
Only the competition in Vegas is left for the main match tournament, and Filho and Aerts will fight for the remaining slot. Being in gambling territory, they are mostly favored to win, followed by Leko, Maurice, and Kruth. So, it is no exaggeration to say that the competition for victory was narrowed down to these two fighters. However, something terrible happened from the first match. Filho was floored by Ivanovich in the match that ended in a draw, and lost the game by judgment in the extension. There was a problem with the judge sent by the athletic commission of Nevada. It seemed that the judge marked the game in a boxing manner, and so Filho lost the game. It ended with an unfortunate result. Another favorite also ran into trouble. Even though Aerts fought successfully through to the final, he was beaten by Leko’s right straight. It was partly because of the worsening injury, but Leko matured remarkably. This was a competition that symbolized the rise of the new generation.
Japan seized by a foreigner. Nicholas of Kyokushin won the competition on his first appearance in the competition
There were two themes in the Japan Grand Prix this year; whether Musashi could win a third successive time, and whether Nicholas Pettas of Kykoushin could be stopped? Nicholas has been living in Japan for more than ten years. He is, so to speak, a Blue-eyed Samurai. The greatest point was whether the Japanese group could defend the Japanese flag against this first time participant. Muscle Monster Yusuke Fujimoto fought him in the first match, but even though Fujimoto downed him with a body blow, he lost the gsme by a knockout and couldn’t stop him. The following nobu hayashi had already injured his leg in the fierce fight against tatsufumi tomihara, and was easily beaten. The last stronghold, musashi , reached the final in the worst condition. He suffered in the match aganst tooru ooishi, and couldn’t take advantage of the situation in the semi-final against go chudo. On the other hand, Nicholas was in rizing form and the audience was on his sude. The match was not settled in the final round and went to an extra round. Nicholas threw several punches to stop musashi from a successive win, and won his first championship at the same time.
Filho laughed last. Hunt in the best eight fighters
The top eight fighters entered the consolation tournamanet that ended up being of the largest scale ever, top fighters such as Aetts, Filho, Bernado, Sefo, Mirko and Abidi did not yet have tickets to the final. However, Aerts dropped out due to a lingering injury (but won a recommendation by fan ballot). Mirko couldn’t leave his country following the terrorist attacks. Abidi worried about his health and did not enter the tournament. As a result, the other fighters fought for the final. Split into two blocks, winning would mean an unconditional ticket to Tokyo dome. However, the tournament was eventful right to the very end. Bernado was beaten by watt, and Sefo suffered damage to his right eye in the fierce battle against Hunt and was stopped by the doctor. Filho won the tournament effortlessly, and Hunt won the remaining slot. The curtain seemed to be lifted on the new age.
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