So, how does Glory compare to K1...?

Ijedi

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Hello all,

Recently (for whatever reason) I have decided to get back into my original love - Kickboxing! I used to religiously watch K-1 until I switched to mma. I think the over-saturation of mma has killed my love for it to be honest...

So I have fight pass and have been catching up on all the past K-1 fights which obviously brought me to Glory. So how does it compare? It seems to lack star quality compared to K-1 but then again that could just be because I knew most of the fighters from K-1 and only know a handful from Glory.

Favourite fighter back in the day was Crocop. I watched his fight vs Bonjasky the other day and thought he was a little unlucky to not get the nod I must say :cool:

Thoughts?
 
Like said glory misses the real stars. Thin contender field spread over more devisions.

Altough they do have the leading role as kickboxorganisation and held some good events. Events held in europe seem to be of way better quallity.
 
Well you still have Murthel Groenhart and Robin Van Roosmalen from the K-1 Max times.

Petchpanomrung and Sittichai are also probably some of the most skilled kickboxers ever, but they’re too dominant in their respective weight classes.

I think the most entertaining weight class at the moment is weltherweight. Alot of good fighters in that weight class.
 
K1 was better because it was only 2 weight classes and there was a lot more talent out there available for kickboxing. Heavyweight kickboxing used to be really fun to watch, now days I don't even bother watching unless its a title fight.
 
K1 was better because it was only 2 weight classes and there was a lot more talent out there available for kickboxing. Heavyweight kickboxing used to be really fun to watch, now days I don't even bother watching unless its a title fight.
5ish weight classes towards the end if you count the Koshien fights I was really hoping the -63 kg tournament would've brought in more fans but K-1 backed the wrong fighters. I can kind of see why they backed Hiroya hoping for another Masato but they should've had a backup plan. For the most part the two higher weight classes was the same outside of the occasional defense of the Heavyweight and Super Heavyweight titles.
 
Some things are better when it comes to Glory, imo.

K1 always felt like something special when I watched it though. Japanese promotions really know how to put on a show. The talent pool seemed to be deeper back then aswell.

K1 Max was the very best as far as combat sports are concerned.
 
If two weights classes makes things deeper, why was it always the same fighters you see over and over again?
 
K1 is overrated IMO. Kickboxing has evolved. Granted, those HW's were warriors, I'll give them that... but they had the brains of dinosaurs. Very low IQ. Just slugging it out. Swinging for the fences with often piss poor technique and no defense. Rico calls it fighting at a flip of a coin, and he's right.

Now come at me all you K1 fanboys, I'll take you all on.

<13>
 
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K1 is overrated IMO. Kickboxing has evolved. Granted, those HW's were warriors, I'll give them that... but they had the brains of dinosaurs. Very low IQ. Just slugging it out. Swinging for the fences with often piss poor technique and no defense. Rico calls it fighting at a flip of a coin, and he's right.

Now come at me all you K1 fanboys, I'll take you all on.



 
Those two fights prove exactly my point.

First we see a fairly young Rico with good defense and IQ, not quite as refined yet, but who nevertheless takes Schilt to the final bell. In the other fight we have Aerts vs Saddik, one gets knocked down twice, and the other 3 times and thus ending the fight. Typical flip of the coin fight. Uncontrolled and wild shots which results in a knockdown bonanza. I understand that it's entertaining, but is it really that high level? The HW's of the K1 era relied on agression and pressure solely. Rico would simply smother their attack with relative ease and slowly take over. Rico is next gen and has brought something new to the HW game, and that is a boxer-like IQ, but tailormade for kickboxing.,

 
Those two fights prove exactly my point.

First we see a fairly young Rico with good defense and IQ, not quite as refined yet, but who nevertheless takes Schilt to the final bell. In the other fight we have Aerts vs Saddik, one gets knocked down twice, and the other 3 times and thus ending the fight. Typical flip of the coin fight. Uncontrolled and wild shots which results in a knockdown bonanza. I understand that it's entertaining, but is it really that high level? The HW's of the K1 era relied on agression and pressure solely. Rico would simply smother their attack with relative ease and slowly take over. Rico is next gen and has brought something new to the HW game, and that is a boxer-like IQ, but tailormade for kickboxing.,

Are you talking about K1 in general or just Rico? I posted the Aerts/Saddik fight because the ghost of Aerts able to finish a top 5 heavyweight, it's doesn't reflect well on the level of Glory's current heavyweights. In terms of depth the heavyweight division is just nowhere near what it used to be. If we're just talking about Rico, then I agree that he could have won a K1 GP if he had the right draw. That said I think he'd always struggle with Schilt, Schilt only showed weakness against the hyper aggression of Badr and Aerts. That's never been Rico's game and I'd see him getting front kicked and jabbed repeatedly. I'll also add that the Rico/Semmy fight was only 2 rounds, Rico was rocked and hurt in that fight.
 
I posted the Aerts/Saddik fight because the ghost of Aerts able to finish a top 5 heavyweight

Yes, but Aerts won that fight on heart and grit. Aerts himself said he tried to make it a streetfight. But that's what he always does IMO. Don't rate Saddik particularly high as an intelligent fighter.

I'll also add that the Rico/Semmy fight was only 2 rounds, Rico was rocked and hurt in that fight.

Ok, forgot about that, been a while since I've seen these fights.
 
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Or when you have so many elite guys fighting each other so often, do they all end up beating and losing to each other..?
 
K1 is overrated IMO. Kickboxing has evolved. Granted, those HW's were warriors, I'll give them that... but they had the brains of dinosaurs. Very low IQ. Just slugging it out. Swinging for the fences with often piss poor technique and no defense. Rico calls it fighting at a flip of a coin, and he's right.

Now come at me all you K1 fanboys, I'll take you all on.

<13>
So K-1 MAX didn't exist?
 
K-1 had the presentation, the stars and they came round at the right time. They were prone to putting on freakshows but all in all the quality was there for the most part.

Dutch dominance: Bonjasky, Hari, Schilt, Aerts, Kraus, Sauwer.

Glory is cool but I'm not sure if I'd rank them higher than some other promotions.
 
So K-1 MAX didn't exist?

I think the top of Glory's current WW and LW divisions stacks up pretty well versus any K-1 Max final. I don't really understand, because the roster of one promotion basically made a natural transition to the other to a certain extend. Ristie KO'ed Petrosyan in Glory. People will bring up Buakaw and Souwer again, to them I say, please... move on.

The problem is, you're comparing two different formats. A tournament format with annual events vs stand alone cards in a division format. When people think of K-1 they naturally have the finals in mind, I mean what else, right? But remember those are once a year, annual events (you can throw in the elimination and dynamite events if you like). I think Glory is doing a great job, giving us pretty damn good cards on a consistent basis. As a matter of fact, Glory is looking stonger than ever.
 
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Oh, and from a production point of view Glory has K-1 beat as well. Slick, professional, clean and to the point. Exactly the way I like it.

But I don't want to come across as a K-1 hater, because I'm not. People need to stop this "in the old days everything was so much better" attitude, you sound like my grandparents. Things change and evolve.
 
Glory should not be considered at the same level as K-1 in LW/HW division, considering kickboxing is now fractured into million pieces.

The fact that people keep on comparing just the two instead of including Kunlun/WLF in the conversation shows that people are ignorant of the bigger picture of kickboxing world.

If anything K-1 is more similar to peak Kunlun. We just lack the international broadcast to grow fanbase abroad.

For example, Glory's LW division is just sad at this point, while Kunlun had the best LW all competing at one point.
 
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