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Andy Hug and the 1996 K-1 World Grand Prix

The 1996 K-1 Grand Prix which began with a field of 16 competitors, including Peter Aerts, Musashi, Cro Cop, Jerome LeBanner, Ernesto Hoost and Mike Bernardo.

The Opening Round took place on 3/10/96 at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. Hug would fight Bart Vale, who took place in the infamous no holds barred fight against Mike Bitoni.

The next three rounds all took place on 5/6/96, again at the Yokohama Arena. Hug began by next fighting the lanky Duane Van Der Merwe, an alternate.

In the semifinals, Hug would meet Ernesto Hoost in a hard fought bout.

In the finale, Hug fought Mike Bernardo to complete his epic journey.

Video of the Day - Sexton v. Jedrzejczyk

Here is Joanna Jedrzejczyk fighting Rosi Sexton at Cage Warriors 69 which took place on 6/7/14 in London, England.

Jedrzejczyk (13-0, 7-0 UFC) won a unaminous decision over Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC 205. Her next opponent has yet to be announced.



(Joanna Jedrejczyk pictured)

Alexey Oleynik v. Krzysztof Kulak

Here is Alexey Oleynik or "Olexey Oleinik" fighting Krzysztof Kulak at KSW 8 which took place on 11/10/07 in Warsaw, Poland. This fight is the finale of an open weight tournament.

You'll notice Oleynik (51-10, 3-1 UFC) pull off one of his trademark maneuvers at the end of the bout, but from a different position as compared with his recent triumph over Victor Pesta.

Igor Vovchanchyn's Bizarre World Vale Tudo 5 Run

Here is Igor Vovchanchyn fighting Tulio Palhares, Elias Rodrigues and Nick Nutter at the World Vale Tudo Championship 5 which took place on 2/3/98 in Brazil.

At the time, World Vale Tudo's rule set was no holds barred/NHB without rounds. Vovchanchyn (55-10), an MMA and combat sports legend, fought almost exclusively in tournaments until entering the Pride organization. Vovchanchyn hold career victores over Mark Kerr, Yuki Kondo, Gilbert Yvel, and a very fatigued Kazushi Sakuraba.

Tulio Palhares, his first opponent that night, does own a TKO at UFC 17.5. The rest of his career wasn't much to write home about. No clue what happened at the end.


Vovchanchyn next fought Elias Rodrigues who was brought in supposedly after UFC veteran Patrick Smith could not continue after his bout. It features maybe the most non nonchalant tap outs I've seen.


In the finale, Vovchanchyn fought NCAA All American from Ohio State Nick Nutter, and the rest is history.

Who was Andy Hug?

Andreas "Andy" Hug was a superstar Swiss karate fighter who lived from September 7, 1964 - August 24, 2000. Andy was the first karate fighter to win the K-1 Grand Prix, which he did in 1996. K-1 is hands down the best kickboxing organization in the world. He was runner up in 1996 and 1997.

Hug was revered by the Japanese public, who admired his courage as he usually was the smaller fighter in the ring against much larger kickboxers. He was nicknamed "Blue Eyed Samarai" by the Japanese. Outside of K-1, Hug fought in numerous full contact karate matches, winning various titles around Europe and Asia.

His trademark axe kick was perfected to epic proportions as you will see in the highlight reels below. Andy also possessed a brutal spinning back fist, and nasty spinning high kicks and low kicks. In his last big K-1 match on June 3, 2000, he defeated Mirko "Cro Cop" Filopovic at K-1 Fight Night in his native land of Switzerland. Sadly, Hug died of leukemia a short time later. He was rewarded an honorary samurai title by K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii and was considered to be the bravest K-1 fighter of all by the Japanese public.

Hug notched K-1 wins over all the top K-1 stars in Jerome LeBanner, Musashi, Mike Bernardo and Masaake Satake; K-1 Champs Ernesto Hoost, Peter Aerts, Branco Cikatic, Ray Sefo; and UFC Champ Maurice Smith. He even KO'd Duke Roufus of Roufusport.

Video of the Day - Boyle v. Popov

Here is Derek Boyle fighting Alex Popov in RITR 15 which took place on 9/9/11 in Alberta, Canada.

Textbook flying knee? Check.

Video of the Day - Dandois v. Pink

Here is Cindy Dandois fighting Anjela Pink at Conquest of the Cage 24 which took place on 11/11/16 in Airway Heights, Washington.

Dandois (8-2) has career wins over former Strikforce champ Marloes Coenen, TUF veteran Jessamyn Duke and Invicta prospect Meghan Anderson. Dandois is a frequent training partner of former UFC champ Miesha Tate and has some solid grappling. As you can tell post fight, she is desperate for a chance to get to the UFC.

Fight starts around 5:25.

Video of the Day - Miesha Tate

Miesha Tate (18-7, 5-4 UFC) has retired from active MMA competition, though she is still training.

Genki Sudo v. Butterbean

Here is Genki Sudo fighting Eric "Butterbean" Esch at K-1: Premium Dynamite!! which took place on 12/31/03 in Nagoya, Japan.

Butterbean had a 77-10-4 boxing career with wins over Peter McNeeley (47-7) and Kenny Craven (28-20). His MMA career was respectable in its own right, as he went 15-10 with TKO's of Cabbage Correia, James Thompson and Sean O'Haire. He got a rough debut fight in that of MMA legend Genki Sudo.

Bas Rutten's Bar Fight in Sweden

Here is Bas Rutten discussing a bar fight in Sweden on the Joe Rogan Podcast. Paul Klawiter did the animation, pretty funny stuff.