It's overlooked how dominant and great Semmy was

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MoreKane

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I think he's often overlooked in dominant fighter discussions of any discipline. Like dude was a freak of nature , and i think people just didn't like his style, but he was super effective . His jab was like a power punch and his leg kicks and knees were like tree trunks when they hit fighters.

We will never see another guy like him.. as much as I Iike Rico, we saw what a nearly 40 year old past prime did to him..... (Rico might of been still green at the time, but still)

dude definitely has an argument as the greatest kickboxer of all time

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Semmy Schilt is an absolute beast. Also interesting to learn he is naturally left-handed but fights orthodox, so it's not just the fact that he is throwing those jabs as a 7 foot tall beast of a man, but his jabs were thrown with his dominant hand (right hand) which simply must have put some extra pep on them.
 
I see you also Reddit, aswell as Dog (verb).

Semmy was excellent.
I don't take any note of people using the "yeah, but look at the size of him" / "unfair advantage" arguments. Fighters over the 2m height mark don't figure that much on the professional stage and those that have aren't much to write home about.

Semmy made damned good use of his arsenal and style to suit his needs. Mastering his own way, which is rare.

He is definitely in GOAT argument for HW.

He fought during the pinnacle of HW k1.

2 solid win streaks:
06, 09, 12 until retirement.
 
He's not great. He's just big. Look his fight vs HMC. He turned his back to run from punches at one point. He got robbed but still.

If he was normal size 190 cm he'd have exactly 0 WGP wins.

However he was very hard working and always in amazing shape.

His success though comes from him being naturally 2 weight categories larger then the competition.

Yes easily a top 5 hw kickboxing goat career or even #1
 
First of all, he can't be the greatest kickboxer of all time because his name is not Giorgio Petrosyan.

Second, most people consider him the greatest HW kickboxer of all time, which means he is NOT overlooked.

Third, the reason his legs were "like tree trunks when they hit fighters" is that each of his leg weighed 100 lbs. They felt heavy because they were LITERALLY heavy as fuck because he was a giant, not because his technique was anything special.
 
Kanka said:
I don't think it is overlooked, it is frequently mentioned in this forum
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I see my apologies, I learned it from a deep dive interview with Semmy a few months back which I also shared in this forum but the video has since been deleted for some reason. It was on the Lytes out podcast. Somehow it was never obvious to me from his fight style.
 
Overlooked? His greatness is widely accepted.

@MoreKane are you gonna start creating a Semmy thread here every week like you did with Wilder vs Fury in the boxing section until you got temp banned?
 
He's pretty much the go to for GOAT and if anything the fact that he's a HW and fans of KB have a hard on for K1 era he gets an extra boost.

Almost like saying Jordan is overlooked in basketball or something.
 
It's because people think he only won with his size. If that were true, Hong Man Choi should've been the greatest kickboxing champion. Semmy had training to back his stature and strength. Nobody discounts Dieselnoi for his height (188 cm) while being dominant as the Lumpini lightweight champ; the same should apply for Semmy.
 
StopDucking said:
F
Third, the reason his legs were "like tree trunks when they hit fighters" is that each of his leg weighed 100 lbs. They felt heavy because they were LITERALLY heavy as fuck because he was a giant, not because his technique was anything special.
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100 lbs each?

<WhatIsThis>
 
Jarl said:
It's because people think he only won with his size. If that were true, Hong Man Choi should've been the greatest kickboxing champion. Semmy had training to back his stature and strength. Nobody discounts Dieselnoi for his height (188 cm) while being dominant as the Lumpini lightweight champ; the same should apply for Semmy.
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Nobody discounts Semmy Schilt either. Most people think of Schilt and Dieselnoi as the most dominant fighter of their respective sports.

Nobody thinks Schilt "only won with his size" either. People are just aware that size is one advantage and the bigger the size difference, the greater the advantage.

Hong Man Choi, without his size, wouldn't be a professional fighter at all. And while a regular-sized Schilt might still make it as a fighter, he would have exactly 0 titles.

Are we supposed to believe Schilt was as technically sound as Hoost, Aerts or Bonjasky? No, he was nowhere near their technical level.

The size difference between Schilt and Hoost is the same as between a 6'4" fighter and a 5'7" fighter (Overeem vs Yodsanklai for instance). Surely, size must play a big factor here, does it not?

Dielselnoi is the most dominant muay thai fighter of all time and it's not even close. Still, most people rate Samart above him. Why? Because Dieselnoi's size played a big factor in his dominance. Watch their fight: even though Samart was more skilled, he couldn't do anything to Dieselnoi. He had to move the whole time not to get clinched and couldn't put any power in his strikes as a result. Dieselnoi himself said Samart's strikes were weak and he barely felt them. And we all know Samart can crack.
 
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Robbocop said:
Semmy Schilt is an absolute beast. Also interesting to learn he is naturally left-handed but fights orthodox, so it's not just the fact that he is throwing those jabs as a 7 foot tall beast of a man, but his jabs were thrown with his dominant hand (right hand) which simply must have put some extra pep on them.
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De la Hoya, who was known for his thudding jab, was also left handed but fought right handed.
 
Semmy is pretty damn technical, but as size can work to your advantage as far as distance control and things of that nature - which Semmy knows how to use properly, a lot of big guys don't - the size is also a detriment to the aesthetic of technique. It's impossible to have his frame and not look kind of goofy.
 
StopDucking said:
Nobody discounts Semmy Schilt either. Most people think of Schilt and Dieselnoi as the most dominant fighter of their respective sports.

Nobody thinks Schilt "only won with his size" either. People are just aware that size is one advantage and the bigger the size difference, the greater the advantage.

Hong Man Choi, without his size, wouldn't be a professional fighter at all. And while a regular-sized Schilt might still make it as a fighter, he would have exactly 0 titles.

Are we supposed to believe Schilt was as technically sound as Hoost, Aerts or Bonjasky? No, he was nowhere near their technical level.

The size difference between Schilt and Hoost is the same as between a 6'4" fighter and a 5'7" fighter (Overeem vs Yodsanklai for instance). Surely, size must play a big factor here, does it not?

Dielselnoi is the most dominant muay thai fighter of all time and it's not even close. Still, most people rate Samart above him. Why? Because Dieselnoi's size played a big factor in his dominance. Watch their fight: even though Samart was more skilled, he couldn't do anything to Dieselnoi. He had to move the whole time not to get clinched and couldn't put any power in his strikes as a result. Dieselnoi himself said Samart's strikes were weak and he barely felt them. And we all know Samart can crack.
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I agree with you that at a certain point, size does give you a tremendous advantage in competition. If Semmy was 6 inches shorter, he may not have been as dominant, but you really can't fault him for what he was born with. With size there are weaknesses like Semmy being a bit plodding in his movements, but he made good use of knees and front kicks in offensive and defensive maneuvers. Plus he was always deliberate in every move which made him relentless to defend against as well as keeping himself guarded.

Overall, Semmy has a fantastic fight career to respect. He won Daido Juku tournaments, was King of Pancrase, and champion in K-1 and Glory. The fact that he had technique and tactical application made him dangerous compared to other hulking competitors in Kickboxing and other fight sports. Can we fault Anton Geesink for dominating in judo because of his size? In his early career, he got beaten by smaller judoka, but as he refined his groundfighting, his training paid off and he neutralized his opponents to win with mat techniques. Martial arts always extol the idea of a smaller man defeating a bigger man with enough training and superior moves, but when the bigger man has technique and experience too, well it really boils down to who has the better heart and stamina to grind out the win as well as even luck.
 
Jarl said:
It's because people think he only won with his size. If that were true, Hong Man Choi should've been the greatest kickboxing champion. Semmy had training to back his stature and strength. Nobody discounts Dieselnoi for his height (188 cm) while being dominant as the Lumpini lightweight champ; the same should apply for Semmy.
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It's not only his size. He was a real good fighter but his size made the difference. He knew to use his size and was in amazing shape but still. Dude is a giant. HMC also had some high ranked wins and strong performances vs great. His technique is the worst ever yet he managed to beat good fighters. Dingo it's the size. It's like a MW fighting Lightweights.
 
Robbocop said:
Semmy Schilt is an absolute beast. Also interesting to learn he is naturally left-handed but fights orthodox, so it's not just the fact that he is throwing those jabs as a 7 foot tall beast of a man, but his jabs were thrown with his dominant hand (right hand) which simply must have put some extra pep on them.
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Yeah it is why he KOd so many men with jabs
Trabaho said:
It's not only his size. He was a real good fighter but his size made the difference. He knew to use his size and was in amazing shape but still. Dude is a giant. HMC also had some high ranked wins and strong performances vs great. His technique is the worst ever yet he managed to beat good fighters. Dingo it's the size. It's like a MW fighting Lightweights.
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GOAT HW kickboxer. He beat the current HW champ. Schilt avenged all his losses basically and was robbed in Korea vs Hong Man. He was only ever finished 2x and 1 was by knee strike with only 6 total losses 1 of which was a clear robbery so only really 5 losses. Rico has 10 losses but more total fights but lost to more opponents.
 
Diamondsareforever47 said:
Yeah it is why he KOd so many men with jabs


GOAT HW kickboxer. He beat the current HW champ. Schilt avenged all his losses basically and was robbed in Korea vs Hong Man. He was only ever finished 2x and 1 was by knee strike with only 6 total losses 1 of which was a clear robbery so only really 5 losses. Rico has 10 losses but more total fights but lost to more opponents.
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Peter Aerts is 3-2 vs him but Sammy got a way stronger resume.

I'm not sure why Ricco would be ranked ahead of golden Era K1 greats like Hoost, Aerts, Bonjasky ect
 
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