This isn't a Muay Thai fight, but I get to post what I want. I"ll probably throw in an inspirational boxing fight or even an MMA fight, if their technique doesn't look too disgusting. (You know what I mean. There are five guys in American MMA who look like they know how to punch and kick and three of them are named Anderson Silva.)
Yoshihiro Sato is a Muay Thai fighter with quite a pedigree on the Japanese circuit. Before fighting in K-1 he was a fighter for the AJKF (All Japan Kickboxing Federation), which allows all Muay Thai weapons. Sato's build is excellent for the stabbing knees he likes to use and, if you watch his runs through the Japan Max Grand Prix, he lands a lot of KO knees to his opponents' heads. I think he could be an excellent knee-fighter a la Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn if K-1 didn't have its silly no-pulling-the-head-down and one-knee-in-clinch rules. On the AJKF circuit, he has wins over Kaolan Kaovichit, Fuji Chalmsak, and Peter Crooke. In K-1, it took him a while to start stringing wins together but he's beaten high level opponents, most famously Buakaw Por Pramuk by KO. He has wins over Mike Zambidis, Murat Direkci, Gago Drago, Kaoklai Kaennorsing, and his fight with Masato in the 2008 Max Semi-Finals was hotly contested. Also, despite being a fairly old (for a fighter) 29, he continues to show gradual but tangible improvements in technique and performance. He wears the blue gloves in this match.
Albert Kraus's rivalry with Masato in 2002 and 2003 really helped put K-1 Max on the radar. They had an epic four fights with Kraus winning first for the 2002 belt, drawing the second, and Masato taking the last two, first for the 2003 belt and then to advance to the final with Buakaw in 2004. Kraus has since fought nearly everyone on the K-1 circuit and with generally positive results. His performance has been slightly inconsistent, as evidenced by his KO by Murat Direkci and the decision loss (with a KD) against Gago Drago, but he has posted wins over top-flight opponents. He favors a volume punching style but with enough power to give some fighters problems. He has two wins over Yoshihiro Sato, a TKO over Andy Souwer, wins against Mike Zambidis, John Wayne Parr, Virgil Kalakoda, and Buakaw Por Pramuk. Craftier opponents like Gevorg Petrosyan, Andy Souwer, and Buakaw Por Pramuk have been able to stymie his offense, but Kraus is a bad fight for almost anyone not at that highest level. Kraus wears the red gloves.
Part 1
Part 2
(Michael Schiavello, now official English commentator for K-1, has uploaded his own video of the fight. It's not as clear as medvedav01's above, but is very entertaining to watch. Mike Bernardo and Ray Sefo commentate alongside The Voice and provide some good insights.
Michael Schiavello's upload of Kraus vs Sato 2007)
Otherwise, thanks to medvedav01 for the uploads. This was their second meeting in the 2007 Max Quarter-Finals. As you can see, Kraus unloads on Sato and catches him with a very high proportion of his punches. Despite taking a lot of fire in return, Kraus seems to wear punishment well. He's not as crisp in the third round but still manages to capitalize on holes in Sato's defense. Sato for his part, looks much improved over their first meeting in 2006. He is, for one, much more active and lands his shots with more power. His decision to throw long punches against Kraus also paid off points-wise. Kraus has shown a habit in recent years to raise his hands for victory during the decision even when he quite clearly loses -- see the 2009 contest against Gevorg Petrosyan -- but he avoids that, of course, in this match.
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