Butterbean Goes Down Again, Saki and Hari Win Big at K-1 World GP 2008

The K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 went down Saturday at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, with Turkish kickboxer Gokhan Saki cruising through the event’s eight-man tournament thanks to three consecutive knockouts of Deutsch Puu, Rick Cheek, and Randy Kim. The GP’s quarterfinal round featured a match between Eric “Butterbean” Esch and Wesley “Cabbage” Correira, who previously fought in an MMA bout at Rumble on the Rock 8, where Butterbean won a doctor’s stoppage victory after two rounds. This time the ‘Bean wasn’t so lucky, as he suffered a head-kick knockout in the second round, which dropped his K-1 record to 2-4.

Another fighter who didn’t make it to the semis was American Gladiator/kickboxer Justice Smith, who lost a hard-fought decision to Mighty Mo Siligia — Mo was unable to continue to the GP’s second round, and was replaced by alternate Randy Kim, who knocked out Correira in the semis before being put down by Saki in the finals.

In the non-tourney superfights, K-1 World Heavyweight Champion Badr Hari needed all of seven seconds to knock out Domagoj Ostojic, and Min Soo Kim outlasted one-time UFC fighter Scott Junk to a unanimous decision win. Full results and video of the Hari/Ostojic knockout are after the jump. Props to MMA Mania and Bloody Elbow.

GP Quarterfinals:

Rick Cheek defeated Nicholas Pettas via TKO (R1)
Gokhan Saki defeated Deutsch Puu via KO (R1)
Wesley “Cabbage” Correira defeated Eric “Butterbean” Esch via KO (R2)
Siala-Mou “Mighty Mo” Siligia defeated Justice Smith via majority decision

GP Semifinals:

Gokhan Saki defeated Rick Cheek via KO (R1)
Randy Kim* defeated Wesley “Cabbage” Correira via KO (R2)
* Replaced the injured Mighty Mo.

GP Finals:

Gokhan Saki defeated Randy Kim via KO (R2)

Superfights:

Badr Hari defeated Domagoj Ostojic via KO (R1)
Min Soo Kim defeated Scott Junk via unanimous decision
Paul Slowinski defeated Aziz Jahjah via TKO (R3)

Reserve Fights:

Randy Kim defeated Vilitonu Fonokalafi via KO (R1)
Stefan “Blitz” Leko defeated Junior Sua via KO (R2)
Rico Verhoeven defeated Koichi via unanimous decision

(Badr Hari vs. Domagoj Ostojic; fight starts at the 1:14 mark.)