seido,

yeah. mark is the champ. i do respect him. on december 8th 2001, he had a great day. i thought he should have lost weight but he obviously didn't need to. i guess the beauty of being k-1 champ is that no one can take it away like a title.

winning has done a lot for him too, i assume. he now has the respect he deserves from promoters and fighters and most importantly himself.

do you think mark can win this year too? only two people have done that, hoost and aerts. even andy hug couldn't do it. in order to better his chances he has to make the best decisions. i don't think gaining 2-4kg each time out is a good decision. lollo thinks it's unusual but doesn't want to draw any negative conclusions until there is some evidence that the rapid weight gaining is actually affecting his performance.

i'm not a bodybuilding judge. i don't care if he carries a spare tire. what i see is a fighter who starts breathing heavy in the second round and who is getting fatter. based on these observations, i feel that i can respect what he did december 8th last year and still bet against him in big matches this year.

mark's last performance also makes things interesting. 1] he nearly got knock out. 2] he didn't prepare properly. if he were on the stock market, would you be buying or selling?