The Yokohama Arena was filled with at least 20,000 fans, supporting 8 of the best stand-up fighters at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 Final. It was another great tournament for K-1, which included 2 opening bouts, 2 reserve bouts and the 8-man competition.
The Dutchman Remy "The Flying Gentleman" Bonjasky took home the victory over the undisciplined Moroccan, Badr "Bad Boy" Hari. During the first round of the K-1 WGP Final, Bonjasky knocked Hari to the ground with a solid left hook. After a few seconds, Hari easily got up and continued to brawl with the Dutchman. Hari began to push the pace and seconds later, he grabbed Bonjasky’s leg and pushed him to the mat. As the referee came in to separte the pair as to give Bonjasky some time to get up, Hari kept swinging at Bonjasky and even stomped his face. At first, Hari was told to stand in the corner and was given a yellow card. The doctors came in to check out Bonjasky as it seemed like the stomp appeared to have poked him in the eye as well. Although Bonjasky was given some time to recover, he could not continue the fight. The referee was forced to give Hari a red card, disqualifying the 23-year old Moroccan. Bonjasky was happy to have won the K-1 WGP, but didn’t expect to win it in this fashion:
"I don’t have anything to say to Badr…I still have some double vision. I also have a headache. If this was to
happen in another major sport like soccer, it would be a serious
problem. I was in tears because I trained very hard for this, and put
many things aside to be able to train so much. I didn’t want it to end
like it did."
Badr Hari was furious with Bonjasky and the fact that he couldn’t finish the fight. As Bonjasky sat in the corner trying to recover, Hari taunted him and told him to get up and fight. Immediately after the fight, he stated, "Remy’s corner was screaming at him to stay down…I came to fight and he didn’t. He’s a great actor." Even if Bonjasky would have continued, Hari showed complete disrespect in a final of the K-1 World Grand Prix tournament.
During the post-press conference, K-1 event producer Sadaharu Tanikawa
was disappointed with Hari’s performance. Sadaharu was offended by his
actions as he disrespected not only Remy Bonjasky, but the entire K-1
promotion:
"It was such a careless thing for Badr Hari to do. He was incredible in
the first and second fights, so it was such a waste. The event was
broadcast to 150 countries. If we forgave Hari for such behavior, it
would be insulting to all the other fighters. Giving him a red card
means he will be fined his entire purse. On top of that, we will have
to think of some further punishment after discussing this with Nobuaki Kakuda (rules
director)…as a Grand Prix, it was an extremely interesting event, however the ending wasn’t good."
Here are all of the results of the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 Final including reserve bouts:
Opening Fight Card Results:
- Taisei Ko defeated Takeru via a unanimous decision.
- Mitsugu Noda defeated Tsutomu Takahagi via KO at 2:49 in round 2.
Reserve Fight Card Results:
- Melvin Manhoef defeated Paul Slowinski via KO at 2:26 of round 1.
- Ray Sefo defeated Hong Man Choi via a unanimous decision.
Quarterfinal Results:
- Badr Hari defeated Peter Aerts via TKO at 1:39 of round 2.
- Errol Zimmerman defeated Ewerton Teixeira via a majority decision.
- Gokhan Saki defeated Ruslan Karaev via a unanimous decision.
- Remy Bonjasky defeated Jerome Le Banner via TKO at 1:46 of round 3.
Semi-final Results:
- Badr Hari defeated Errol Zimmerman via KO at 2:15 of round 3.
- Remy Bonjasky defeated Gokhan Saki via KO at 0:53 of round 2.
Final Results:
- Remy Bonjasky defeated Badr Hari via a "disqualification" at 0:53 of round 2.
Remy Bonjasky is the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 champion. Bonjasky pocketed $400,000 USD for his tournament win. Badr Hari is disqualified and due to his improper behavior, he will not acquire a paycheck. Gokhan Saki and Errol Zimmerman each receive $15,000 USD.
