Albert Kraus vs Yoshihiro Sato 2007

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