Badr Hari vs Ruslan Karaev 2007

Our first foray into super heavyweight competition features Badr Hari and Ruslan Karaev. Both fighters hit hard and fast and have a somewhat spotty history with getting chinned due to reckless mistakes or loose defense. Most of you will be familiar with Badr. The Moroccan has skyrocketed in standing in recent years with defeats of many top fighters including Alistair Overeem, Semmy Schilt, and Alexei Ignashov. He is currently on a self-imposed hiatus due to mental breakdowns in the ring that lead to disqualification losses, but remains a uniquely important figure in super heavyweight kickboxing.

Badr has put on weight recently, but at the time of this fight he, like Ruslan, was one of the smaller super heavyweights on the K-1 circuit. Ruslan's career has not been doing well, unlike Badr's, and he's been sitting out recent tournaments due to injury or lack of preparation. He always poses a threat because of his punching power. Unfortunately, because of poor defense, his window for victory against skilled opponents often seems little more than a puncher's chance.

This was their second meeting. The fight took place in Yokohoma, Japan and was an eliminator for the newly formed 100 kg division in K-1. Badr wears the blue gloves, Ruslan the red.




Thanks to javateastraight for this fight. You can see how this fight is reminiscent of Satoshi Kobayashi vs Osman Yigin. Ruslan does some serious damage before he is taken out with a very unexpected punch. I feel the development of fighters is relevant to matches like this. A fighter with knockout power and talent can dominate for a long time without becoming technically sound. Unfortunately, at a certain level, fighters with natural talent and impeccable technique will be able to dismantle them. Sometimes fighters will abandon a more technical style for the sake of exciting bouts, as I believe Badr chose to do when he gained popularity, but I don't believe that was the case with Ruslan. Coaches and fighters need to work together from an early stage to create a solid technical foundation. The consequences of not doing so are beginning to be seen in MMA with fighters like Matt Brown and Wanderlei Silva and have long been apparent in English boxing. Mike Tyson is a good recent example of a fighter that was able to win largely on past hard work and natural talent before declining technically. Roy Jones Jr. and Prince Naseem Hamed are examples of fighters that were lost when their reflexes began to slow.

Ruslan has been knocked out many times over the course of his career and I would not be surprised if he is already beginning to feel the effects. His recent record possibly reflects a decline in his reflexes. Badr is built much better for this style, having reach and speed over most of his opponents, but he too has been knocked out many times. In this fight, some more disciplined footwork would have gone a long way for both fighters, as would a tiny bit of restraint, or even something so basic as a closed guard.

Remy Bonjasky has revealing thoughts on this. He says in an interview with MMAFighting:
"The thing is, I don't want to get knocked out. I have two sons. I want to teach them math when I'm 40 or 50 years old. This is a game that is hard and not completely good for your health. After this I want to do something else where I use my brain.