Whenever people bring the topic of ‘K-1 level striking’ into an MMA conversation, it’s discussed like some roaming giant that lives on top of a hill in Ireland that occasionally comes down to pillage towns and snack on villagers. In the world of active UFC fighters, there’s only two men that have climbed to the top of that Mortal Kombat endurance ladder and grabbed the K-1 crown off the head of whatever boss resided at the top. On December 8th 2001, Mark Hunt defeated Jerome Le Banner, Stefan Leko and Francisco Filho in the same night to be crowned the K-1 World Grand Prix world champion. Nine years later, Alistair Overeem pulled off a similar feat by ousting Tyrone Spong, Gokhan Saki and Peter Aerts to grab the title of 2010 K-1 World Grand Prix champion. Through the wizardry of online betting and extreme confidence, Alistair Overeem also enabled me to pay my January’s rent that following month.
While Junior dos Santos doesn’t necessarily share the same accolade as Mark Hunt and Alistair Overeem, he is going to employ a former K-1 Grand Prix participant to get him prepared for the first title defense of his career. According to Guilherme Cruz of TATAME, Cigano’s camp has brought over Ewerton Teixeira to help the UFC heavyweight champion prepare for the striking caliber of Ubereem. If you followed Overeem’s path in the K-1 World Grand Prix finals back in 2009, then you undoubtedly remember Ewerton Teixeira. Perhaps you remember because the combat sports world saw perhaps one of the most brutal knee-to-forehead KOs that anyone has ever witnessed. Granted, with the new rules implemented into K-1, a clinch knee like this would actually be illegal. Nevertheless, it’s still an amazing strike relive, so we’re giving it to you free on MiddleEasy.com. Enjoy. [Source]
