Has anybody got the result yet?

Chopper Chapman won the tournament against Mike Cope in the final on points.
Mike Cope KO'd Zambidis
Amir dec Jenk Behic after 4th round
Tui won by decision
Chapman won by decision

Cope KO win over Amir
Chapman dec over Tui

Chapman dec Cope

Cope ko'd Zambithis with a knee to the head in the first round.
Opened up a massive cut, had to be stopped!!!

Mike wasn't KO'd, he had a terrible cut open above his eye. He was dominating, had dropped and hurt Cope and was going for the finish when Cope threw out a knee awkwardly in the middle of a barrage, Mike initially took it on the glove but it went off the glove and got him right above the eye. He was not hurt by it but a couple seconds later he became aware it was hanging open and felt the blood coming out so he took a knee. Ref called the doc in straight away and the fight had to be stopped. It was a bad, bad cut. It's very disappointing, he had the fight won but took that injury. That's the fight game though, you have to accept it and take the disappointments with the wins. It's hard to swallow ones like that, but his attitude is good about it, he knows shit happens and he isn't too worried about the setback, the worst thing is that it was a bad gash that's going to take some healing. Bad luck for him, could have happened to anyone, but he'll be back of course.

Even though it only went one round, he was killed in the grapple.
Hate to see what would have happened if he went up against Chopper...
Nickos, does Mike want to fight with knees? or just k/b?
I feel he is great at k/b, but is too short to be effective with knees.
I heard that he might go into pro-boxing?

Theres the deffenitions again. That would probably be called a KO on record but it certainly would be fair to say TKO when talking about the specific fight.

I think its strange taking a knee though. I mean the ref should stop it anyway, right? I just think thats strange.

Too bad it happened if he was winning but like you said thats the game.

Nickos...who fought Alex Tui first up? And how did Cope OKed Amir? Shame about Zambidis, but how was the fights in general? Can anybody give us more details on how the whole night went?

Another two Kiwis fighting at the final in OZ!!! Awesome...Sorry to Aussie brothers. I just can't help myself for being a proud Kiwi. LOL!

I am reall happy for Shane and especially Mike Cope.

I have had to privlege of training with Mike when he use to live and train in Wellington, New Zealand. He is absolutely awesome in and out of the ring. I owe alot to him because he helped me believe in my own abilities because he did.

Mike's grapple knee is second to none. He was one of the strongest knee grapple technicians if not thee strongest from our old club V.U.W. I have seen him win fights numerous times with knees, so he can definiately mix it up with the best of them 100%. Not to mention his super duper kicking and boxing abilities. Superb combinations too. A true Champions, Champion. He is one of my heroes.

If you haven't already go and train with him, you're in the same area aren't you? I hope to soon.

Oh yeah watch out for Rex 'Rumble' Redden he's in your weight division.

Train hard, God Bless and...

See you on the moon

Ngakau Volcano Spain

KIWIS

Does anyone know Mike Copes e-mail address?...I would appreciate it.

Nong-O, He may not have been at home with knees but he was still smashing Cope until he got cut. Cope was a few seconds from losing the fight but Mike got cut and that's that. That's why it's a tough one to swallow, in Mike's words he was lining Cope up for the finish at the exact time he felt the cut hanging open. As we said, that's how it goes sometimes. But you're right, he is not comfortable in the grapple, it was his very first time with knees and I personally didn't expect him to be comfortable at first. The key was for him to do the damage outside the grapple where nobody can really stand up to him. To be honest, there's a little more to the story but it's not worth going into, one thing for certain is he will rebound quickly. To answer your question, sure he wants to fight with knees, kickboxing rules he is nearly unbeatable, with his lack of height, knees are at automatic disadvantage, but he loves to fight and is a natural learner and will learn how to negate some of these things. As for the Pro boxing, yeah he will make his move into that soon...actually I believe out of all styles, he is MOST suited to boxing.
Lollo, Alex fought some young guy, I honestly can't remember his name. He won it on points.
Mark, what's strange about taking a knee? The blood was pissing out and getting in his eye, what is strange about that?

Well done to all the guys overall as well.

Nickos-stopping the fight due to bleeding is the refs job. In my thinking a fighter is there to fight. The ref and the trainer are there to take care and stop the fight if need be. Taking a knee means(to me) that you don't want to fight(maybe you want a break though thats pretty much the same).

If the cut is serious for the ref to stop it then that would be the normal course of action.

I just think its strange. To me taking a knee means you want to stop. i guess if you want to stop because of the blood then fine, you want to stop. But I think the idea is to fight and the trainers/ref will take care of you if you can't or shouldn't continue.

If he really couldn't see and the ref is slow maybe its the best course of action. Its just something I've never seen and doesn't happen often and me thinking is the fighter is there to fight untill the fight is done.

Not saying it was a bad think to do...just that its strange to me.

go the kiwi's!!!!!!!
Hey Lollo the guy who fought Alex was none other than Dodge from Lamai's gym in queensland. He had a couple of days notice.Good fighter.I think his name is brad dodge hull????not to sure.
Kiwi's Kiwi's Kiwi's

go the kiwi's!!!!!!!
Hey Lollo the guy who fought Alex was none other than Dodge from Lamai's gym in queensland. He had a couple of days notice.Good fighter.I think his name is brad dodge hull????not to sure.
Kiwi's Kiwi's Kiwi's

Nobody can stand up to Zambidis outside the grapple. But in the grapple it looked like he took a lot of knees and relied on just punching out of it which worked the first time when he downed Cope but not after that. His lack of experience with knees showed as his defence strategy in the grapple was questionable. It would be great to see him box. It's a hard loss to take because Cope was hurting both body and head but he persisted with what he knew best. If Zambidis is to continue with knees i'm sure he and Stan will work on their knee defence and grappling techniques and come back better.

Congratulations to one of the true Aussie fight legends in Alex Tui.To enter the ring after such a lengthy period of inactivity and perform at such a high standard is a credit to himself and his gymnasium.One of Australias finest trainers has shown he still has what made him one of the worlds foremost fighters over a decade ago!
Does anyone know when Fox will be screening the show??

Alex Tui was definitely very inspirational, he put on a good show and I was proud to be there to watch it.

Mike Cope was very impressive, he showed a lot of talent to outfight both Zambidis and Amir. Against Zam, even though he got caught a couple of times, he stuck to his gameplan and landed some excellent well timed knees, eventually one knee too many for the little Greek Warrior. Cope Also did very well against Amir, who must have been destroyed after the war with Jenk.

I'd also like to add how impressed I was by the performance of Jenk Behic, over a year and a half out of the ring and fighting Prince Amir first up, I didn't think he'd do that well but he was quite sharp especially in the grapple. He showed tremendous heart and if it wasn't for the knockdown in the last round he might have gone through. Definitely the best fight of the night.

Wow, I thought the show was great with lots of good fights.
Unfortunately I left a O.K seat, but hard to shoot from, to look for a better one. I ended up loosing both but Gurkan Ozkan gave me his seat (thank's Gurkan, you're a gentleman) which was perfect, but then I lost that one too. Oh well, so I don't have hardly any pictures to show you guys.

Guys, how did cope stop Amir?
I had the corner post in my way all night.
I spoke to Amir after the fight, and he reckons that he was headbutted pretty bad.

The final fight between Chopper and Cope looked pretty close. Even though I am a Chapman fan, I would have hated to make a decision.

Prince Amir right pictured, Jenk Behic kicking

NZ takes Ozzie's k-1 oceania and now k-1 max! hehe..GO NZ!!!!

One more shot.
Again the same guys.
I think K1 Max will definitely be more so dominated by the guys that can knee well, than it is in the big heavy weights. These 70 kg guys can do it all night long.

Hey, didn't Tarik waste his money on the two Thais. I was more entertained watching them between rounds.

Oh, just wanted to add.

Just the same as what Dean and Grim have allready said. I'm really glad I went to show because of all the great fights, but the biggest bonus was hanging out with Alex and camp for most of fight day. Alex takes being humble to another level, he really is one of the nicest quitest guys I have ever met in this sport and it was a pleasure seeing him fight which for me was the first time.

I agree, I met him earlier this year, and I have nothing but respect and admiration for the man.

Of cause the Thais weren't going to fight each other, they're both from the same camp. They should have been put in against local boys, then you would have seen them let rip. Very Disapointing.

I thought Jenk Behic was great too, considering the time he had off.

Also disapointing was the amount of people in the crowd who thought that it was funny to take the piss out of the Japanese and Thai languages. One girl near me complained that they aren't speaking english..another said that the Thais look like chimpanzees..funny enough she was of ethnic descent and didn't complain about the two Turkish people speaking in their language all night.

..funny enough she was of ethnic descent and didn't complain about the two Turkish next to us speaking in their language all night.

..funny enough she was of ethnic descent and didn't complain about the two Turkish people next to us speaking in their language all night.

Lollo, I wasn't there when Amir fought Cope, but I saw a replay afterwards and Cope didn't KO Amir, he headbutted him nicely and busted his nose or something. Amir was in bad shape and the fight was stopped with the win going to Cope. I think the ref missed the headbutt (well, you would assume he did)

To Lollo, Well Lollo I must say Alex still has the physique of a 20year old and the strength of a ox, It was the first time in kickboxing that I ever had so much emotion when seeing Alex standing amongst the rest of the 8 when the opening ceromony started, I was choking with tears of such a proud moment and and feeling the spirit of such a great warrior we have before us, it was a feeling I have never experience before, and the matching of the 8
was absouletly perfect..... Having seeing Brad Hull fight I thought that was a perfect match for Alex for Brad been a up incoming fighter with heart and skill he could have only learn!t from such a fight......
For as the bell rang in the 1st round Brad gave Alex No respect when Alex tried to touch gloves to start the fight,straight away he let out a front kick...the crowd gave a ooooooo!!!!!!sound and I knew then that we were going to see a fight on our hands.....Alex gave him a taste of his right hand and leg kicks front kicks throught out the fight dropping Brad a number of times in each of the 3 rounds, I was having those flash backs of the good old days when Alex was at his peak....He had won his first fight unaminously, with everyone there that knew Alex of old getting that fuzzy feeling again.........Alex now making it into the next round and up against Shane Chopper Chapman brought me right back down to earth
and I knew Alex was going to give it his best shot,even he knew that Chopper was going to be a fight for him, with Alex taking every thing Chopper threw at him, was able to come through the 3 rounds knowing he had fought one of the best fighters in that weight division in the Oceania region could only have left him satisfied with his own performance he had given throughout the tournament and enabling the public to see the great fighter and ambassordor he is for Australian kickboxing.............. Overall a great night..
Lollo I am sorry I did not call to let you know the progress of Alex!s fight...

I wrote this post for you because you know what I mean by it and how I feel for your cousin Alex.........
Take Care Lollo.
Best regards
Lucy.. Hi to lenata & boys....

Hi Paul,
Thanks for your company the boys and I thoroughly enjoyed it.....
I am glad you made it home safely.....
Regards
Lucy Tui

Nice post Lucy,
I flew down to Melbourne for Tarik's last show hoping to see Alex Tui & Ian Jacobs in action again. We only got to see half of the great duo that night so i am hanging out to see the telecast on Fox.

I heard the crowd and there were a few jerks not only in the thai fight but in other fights being disrespectful and thinking they were funny. We seen it at K-1 Melbourne and this time seen how several people can be so disrespectful to fighters, I don't know why they bother to turn up. The sport doesn't need them!

Now that Jenk is back in it, he will get his fitness up, and I hope tarik consistently puts him on his shows against world class opponents. The fight was close and I tought that he had done enough to take the extra round.

Who was Shane Chapmans first opponent?

KickMe

Some other news from the night for those not there,
Tarik told the crowd that he hopes to get a Stan V Greco fight for the next show, K1 Oceania in Feb. He also said that Sam hasn't actually agreed to the fight, but that he hopes to convince him with an offer just too good.
So, I guessing that Stan would take the fight, maybe Nickos could confirm.

Other fight goss. I heard the end of a conversation between Lucy and Gurkan, it looks like the possibility for Ozkan V Jacobs II and Ozkan V Tsakonas are looking good for 2002. Gurkan also made it clear that rumours of him going to full time boxing and leaving Kickboxing are not true.

Also, I walked past Stan half a dozen times during the weekend. I don't know if it's my imagination, he looks in absolutely great shape, but kinda looks lighter than I have seen him before. But then again, I got the same impression when I saw Sam Greco, so maybe I am imagining it.

Pic: Gurkan Ozkan left and Stan The Man.

Thank's Lucy,

It was lot's of fun. It was also nice meeting Rick, Ike and Jay.
I still reckon Rick should write a book, he honestly tells the best fight stories and gives the best character descriptions.

I think his name was Dominic Devanna from Perth tough customer he just would not go down Shane hit him with some great knee shots he just kept coming back.....
My fight of the night Jenk Behic and Prince Amir.....
It was a great final Shane Chapman & Mike Cope Congradulations Kiwi boys you both fought excellent!!!!!!!
Tarik once again put together a fantastic Show..
K1 Oceania sounds like a good show Feb 18th 2002 with Super fights to be Stan The Man, and Mark Hunt & Sam Greco all to be fighting different opponents,
The fighters I know so far K1 Oceania are Peter Graham,Doug Viney, Jason Suttie, Ron Sefo,Andrew Peck.....Still to be advised the other 3 opponents from Australia.......my choices would be Fadi Haddara,Chris
Chrisopholidis,and a wildcard .......
Looking forward for next years events............
Regards
Lucy Tui

Once again I missunderstood, I appologize.
I actually thought it was Stan v Greco.

I am glad you met Rick Kulu for he is also a legend in his own right,yes he suprised me with some of his stories and memories he talked about while we were walking down town for it has been a long time for us to be able to talk about the good old days and the stories he had were really funny which made us laugh it was a great weekend and was very happy that you were there to share it with us,you and Rick got along famously have you the photo of Rick and Nick Talakorous when you met Nick at the food court it would be good to post that up and put at the bottom voted the fight of the decade by Lucy Tui in 1993-4 when they fought on the undercard of Stan The Man and Branko Cikatic at the Melbourne Tennis stadium( I think).....Did you see Ricks face when he saw Nick......it was just so good to see the legends of Kickboxing sit down and go down memory lane like that.....I had such a great weekend .........
Regards
Lucy Tui

These two guys fought like machines. Actually, I guess they all did.
Amir is a total legend. I can remember reading posts saying that he should give up after the Bannon fight. How wrong were they. I'm dissapointed about the headbutt, cause I reckon he might have gone on otherwise.
Behic also, absolutely brilliant fighter and I can't wait to see him fight again outside a tournament.



Thank's Lucy.
I'll make you a print.

Here you go Lucy.

Pic : Nick Talakouris (sp), Lucy and RIck Kulu from Kulu Kickboxing.

Paul great pic I meant pic of just Nick & Rick those pictures come up excellent......Did you have any pics of Alex??
Thanks for that Paul
Regards
Lucy Tui

No Lucy,
I didn't take any pictures of Alex pre fight. I was hoping to take lots during the fight, but I lost my seat somehow. And taking pictures with ropes in the way is a waste of time.

You know what, this was only the second time ever, that I have been to a fight where I didn't spend the whole night looking through a camera lens. And it really was a strange experience. I don't know how to explain it, but I had the most surreal moment of clarity that I'm sure we all get every once in a while were I realized just how strange it is watching 1500 people dressed in their best, who have all payed to watch these young men possibly hurt each other. This all happened when I saw young Mike get cut so badly. Then I all of a sudden became very, very concerned about Alex. I guess mostly because he hadn't fought for so long. So, It was such a relief to see him do so well.
Anyway, my wife tried to explain such a feeling from the very first she went to a fight, but I didn't really understand her. I guess we all just get used to it, but this show somehow felt like it was the first time I had seen a fight for what it is. It was a very strange sensation.

Imagine being in the ring and having that same experience.

That really would be so frightening.

yes it is a frightening thing when you first realize people are here to see me get hurt or me hurt my opponent. That why preparation is the key.

It must have been strange for you Paul,I was looking around the ring for you I thought you must have been down really low taking shots it was so packed around the ring,I am glad I wasn!t a judge that night it would have been hard to judge with everyone on top of you....that would have been so disapointed for you....I was very disapointed when you told me afterwards
that you had only a few shots,because of the bad day you had the day before I was hoping the night would have made up for it with lots of photo!s of the fighters.....
Have you rung Richard Bradford yet?
Regards
Lucy Tui

How did the Thai's do???

Thongsai, read my post earlier about the Thais. They had to fight each other in
a separate single bout. That's if you would call it a fight. Imagine putting two guys from the same camp against each other. Very dissapointing.

Well it had the usual elements of a tournament!, bad decisions, injuries and controversies and a truly crap undercard (NO MORE boxing matches with that Muhamad Ali guy PLEASE!!!!!) Damn I sure was disappointed Iron Mike got busted open like that and had the fight stopped but oh well what can we do? Can't win em all and everyone has a share of bad luck sometimes! He wasn't knocked out or hurt, it was just one of those things, but I believe when he had dropped Cope hurt and started to batter him around the ring and finish him, he made a mistake as he rushed too much!I did not even see the shot that cut him, I just noticed him stand back and saying in Greek he couldn't see out of his eye and then the bleeding!! Ugly cut! Bad luck Mikey! But later in the show I saw the most ridiculous thing and I swear Cope had some lady luck shining on him!! He headbutted Amir smack in the middle of the face, Amir is dazed by it and turns away and the ref stops the damn fight and gives it to Cope?????????? I aslo feel very sorry now for Amir! The best thing was the fight between Jenk and Amir but alas the decision sucked as Jenk did enough in the extra round to win it! The other good thing about the night was the bar outside the venue! Damn rip off though!

Lucy,
Yeah, I didn't like the seat set up at all. It was much much better last show where people could walk around the ring. Oh well, at least the fights were great. Except for the boxing and and the exhibition fight.

Nong-O, we all know that the Thais were from the same camp. I kind of thought that fighting someone from the same camp was not Tabu these days.
Do you think they told Solak before they came out, that they planned to put on an exhibition fight?
Fair enough if they did I guess. But I kinda doubt it.


Last Pic : Amir Vs Behic.

I never saw Gurkan Ozkan, Tibet Hamza or Prince Amir fight each other a couple of years back when they were all at the same weight. I can't think of two fighters from the same camp fighting each other, I know of fighters who are friends fighting each other though.
Unfortunately they weren't allowed into the K1 fights, and it sounds like Tarik had a contract with them, so they had to come out.
Just the way it goes I suppose.

Just a quick note concerning the thai s,I m training at ISS in pattaya at the moment where they both train.They went to melborne under the assumption that they were fighting in the K1,at the last minute they was a change of mind(tarik Solik)that s why they had to put on a exhibition fight.I don t see why you invite thai s(in my view still the best in the world)to fight in a so called open tournament and then not let them fight in the tournament.Well there s a K1 here in jan with 4 thai s in it and 4 farang s(danny dawson,chopper,)Awesome

How is Pattaya? Hope you are staying away from the Best Friend Bar..!

Yeh Nong O I m on the straight and narrow at the moment,it is hard sometime s in pattaya,about your post about Fairtex I did actually work selling timeshare in Jomtien it was quite a laugh and it kept me here but you did get sick of it.Now am trying to my fitness back(I had 3 month s off)and finsh the year with a fight or 2.Party time new year s

Can you tell me more about the time-share?