DMITRY SHAKUTA retained his world title, Chris Ngimbi produced a career-best performance and Murat Direcki
won a three round war with William Diender as It's Showtime 37 rocked the rural dutch town of Barneveld.
With their combination of stacked line-ups, atmosphere-building entertainment and global television coverage, Simon
Rutz's European Fighting Network are doing a terrific job of bringing kickboxing more into the mainstream.
And there was not a seat left in the house in their latest exciting event - promoted
in conjunction with four-time K-1 champion Ernesto Hoost - at a heaving Veluwehal in the mid-Netherlands.
Top fighters were in the capacity crowd as well as in the ring, with a relaxed Badr Hari - visibly broader
across the shoulders after working with a new strength and conditioning coach - posing for fan photos and confidently
declaring he will win his first K-1 World Grand Prix Final on December 5 in five minutes.
Joining the bad boy of K-1 in the audience were It's Showtime stablemate Giorgio Petrosyan, his right hand still in
a cast after breaking it on the way to winning this season's K-1 Max title, Hoost-trained heavyweights Tyrone Spong
and Paul Slowinski - sporting the scars of battle from his latest fight with Thor Hoopman - and Faldir Chahbari.
Belarussian Shakuta made it three wins in a row over Holland's Sem Braan as he held on to the It's
Showtime 77kg world title by clear unanimous decision.
Mejiro Gym's Braan is not
particularly heavy-hitting, technical or dynamic but he is one of the most underrated kickboxers in the world, making up for
his lack of flash with superb fitness, workrate and will to win.
It's Showtime Reality
series winner Braan floored Shakuta with a knee in their previous match but despite digging in throughout, could not get anywhere
near as close this time.
Shakuta was superior from the start, knocking Braan off balance
early and mixing his attacks down and up to make it a shutout in their trilogy by scores of 50-46, 49-48, 49-47, 50-47
and 49-46.
Turkish-Belgian Direcki, the It's Showtime 70kg world champion, also
came through on unanimous points in a non-title match against the always dangerous but inconsistent Diender,
a substitute for the injured Petrosyan.
Fights in Holland can often end prematurely
on cuts, with a gash against Gago Drago ending Diender's night early in Amsterdam in May.
But he was given a helping hand against Direcki by referee Joop Ubeda, who continually wiped away blood from
over his right eye after Direcki sliced him open with a jumping knee in the first round.
With his powerful fists, Diender is a constant threat against his opponents and had the better punch technique and heavier
shots, landing some solid rights and a peach of an uppercut.
But despite having his
moments he also missed a lot as he looked for single haymakers, with Direcki more diverse and busy, unleashing the jumping
knee, punches and front kicks while always generally a step ahead and pushing Diender to the ropes.
Waalre-based Ngimbi has already shown his potential in a short notice points loss to Petrosyan and proved he is the
real deal with a hugely impressive unanimous fight of the night points defeat of fellow bright prospect Chahid Oulad El Hadj.
Chahid is renowned for his relentless pressure fighting, has wins over Diender, Direkci
and Drago and pushed Nieky Holzken agonisingly close in his K-1 Max debut in Japan.
But
the 'Pitbull' was muzzled in a surprisingly subdued start and was made to pay for it by a razor-sharp Ngimbi.
Congo-born Ngimbi was snappy from the off and used in and out movement, popping his jab
and punishing the more flat-footed Chahid with inside and outside low kicks.
Then
out of nowhere the African-Dutchman floored him towards the end of the round with a high left knee.
The sheer force and timing made Chahid spin around 180 degrees and hit the canvas face-first in a heap, yet
he somehow hauled himself upright at six for the mandatory eight count.
The bell
rang at the perfect time for him as Ngimbi advanced to finish the job, and the 'African Warrior' continued
to stick and move as he dominated the second, with Chahid - cut from the knee - shaking his head as he trudged despondently back
to his corner.
With two rounds already in Ngimbi's bank, El Hadj knew he needed
a knockout to win and he went for it in the third and final round, landing repeatedly with heavy hooks, particularly
with the right hand.
But Ngimbi showed he has a good chin as well as slick skills, somehow
shaking the shots off to remain on his feet for a huge victory.
"I'm so happy,"
said Ngimbi, who thanked his new trainer at Siam Gym, Mekki Benazzouz for his inspiration.
"Six months ago I left my old gym Calmaro and I have to thank them for bringing me to this level."
Armenian fighters are always tough and are at the top of the middleweight food chain at the moment on the back
of Petrosyan's K-1 Max victory.
Petrosyan's compatriot Harut Grigorian,
whose brother Marat was an impressive winner on the Barneveld undercard, is also making big strides and followed up his
October points win over Ngimbi with a clinical defeat of Seo Doo Won.
The
South Korean arrived in Holland with a 6-6 mixed martial arts record and the fight quickly went to the ground - but not in
the way he would have wanted.
Won came out with a high guard so Grigorian did the right
thing and went to the only space available, the body.
Grigorian quickly dropped
the MMA man with a vicious left hook to the liver in a neutral corner and added two further body shot knockdowns - one from
a knee, the other with a left hook - for a convincing first round stoppage.
Up
and coming heavyweights took centre stage in the remaining two bouts on the main programme, with Anderson Braddock Silva and
Brice Guidon emerging unanimous points winners.
Brazilian Silva floored Dennis
Stolzenbach with a glancing left high kick in the first round but was made to work every step of the way for the rest of the
fight by the game Dutchman.
Chakuriki-trained Silva signed a five-year deal with Black
Label Fighting before stopping Stefan Leko in his previous match and has now won 11 of 12 bouts this year.
Big Frenchman Guidon made it to the semi-finals of the K-1 Final 16 qualifying tournament earlier this year
and claimed a notable scalp as he outworked the technical Tunisian-Dutchman Mourad Bouzidi.
Both gave the ringside commentators a fright at one point as they spilled over the ropes and onto their tables.
Bouzidi has lost two in a row now after going a year unbeaten, with the defeat following another points loss to Pavel Zhuravlev
in Russia.
Another up and coming heavyweight, hulking Dutchman Rico Verhoeven,
impressed in the final bout of the pre-programme, knocking out countryman Jantje Siersema with a knee to the pit of the stomanch
in the first round.
Siersema was still in agony several minutes after the result
was announced.
Hoost-trained Pole Johanna Jedrzejczyk, Irvin Sabajo, Nordin Kassiriou
and Klaas Duyst also shone on the undercard.
In the only female match-up, Jedrzejczyk
was fast and sharp as she piled up points to outscore Titiana van Polanen.
Sabajo made
the comeback of the night as he recovered from a knockdown to drop and stop spidery Veiga Monteiro in the second round.
Kassiriou knocked out stocky Gjetan Keta with a perfectly-executed spinning back kick to the midsection.
And Duyst got the 21-fight night off to an explosive start as he wrecked Alexander van
der Leeden with a short right hand for a hard first round knockout.
Van der Leeden
seemed to go into a brief spasm but thankfully recovered quickly to leave the ring of his own accord.
European Fighting Network return after the Christmas break with It's Showtime 38 in Prague in February,
when Hari will take on Bouzidi in the main event.
Undercard results: Klaas Duyst bt Alexander van der Leeden ko 1;
Stephan Keyner bt Reza Banstraz pts; Jan van Twillert
bt Patrick van Kraats rsc 2; Yassine Nacro bt Henk Duijst pts; Gerard Hop bt Dennis Koudijs pts; Jeroen van Noort bt Osman
Zvelver pts; Irvin Sabajo bt Veiga Monteiro rsc 2; Sonny Dagraed bt Abdel Bahaj pts; Johanna Jedrzejczyk bt Titiana van Polanen
pts; Nordin Kassiroui bt Gjetan Keta ko 1; Sergio Wielzen bt Gary Hamilton pts; Errol Koning bt Marino Schouten extra round
pts; Marat Grigorian bt Soufiane Aouragh retired 1; Nikos Taramas bt Daniel van Corler pts; Rico Verhoeven bt Jantje Siersema
ko 1.
