HONG KONG, August 5, 2007 -- Yasuke Fujimoto took a circuitous route but arrived victorious tonight at the K-1 Asia World Grand Prix Tournament in Hong Kong. It was the second consecutive Asia GP title for the 32 year-old Japanese karate fighter.

Held at the new Asia-World Expo Arena, the event marked K-1's first foray into Hong Kong. Featured alongside the eight-man elimination tournament were a trio of big-name Superfights.

One of Asia's strongest K-1 competitors, the huge Hong-Man Choi of South Korea, met Trinidadian-Canadian slugger Gary Goodridge in the card's top Superfight.

When the fighters met center ring for the referee's pre-fight instructions, Choi towering over Goodridge, there were gasps of amazement from the crowd. Renown for overwhelming opponents in the early moments of a fight, here Goodridge struggled in vain to overcome a 28cm/11" height disadvantage.

It wasn't close and it didn't last long. Goodridge circled and tossed a couple of low kicks while looking for a way in. But Choi was always in control, powering the big fists right through his opponent's guard before putting Goodridge on the ropes and bringing up the knee to score the fight-ending down at just 1:34.

Said Choi afterwards: "This is my first time in Hong Kong and I wanted to get out there and show people that I could be aggressive from the start. What's more, all of the other Korean fighters had lost today, so I felt I had to do something. I hope to be able to show everyone an even more improved fighting style in September."

One of the most keenly-anticipated matchups on the card was a Superfight between Badr Hari of Morocco and Aussie Peter Graham. Hari's trash talking of Graham at the press conference for last year's K-1 WGP in Auckland escalated to punches -- and when the pair met in the ring the following day Graham spun a heel hick round to shatter Hari's jaw. Hari has since become the first fighter to win the new K-1 Heavyweight Belt, and prior to this rematch the one-time braggart sounded gracious, thanking Graham for making him "stronger, more motivated and better." Graham, meanwhile, pledged to "help Badr to become even more mature!"

The fighters were tentative through the first round -- Hari keeping his guard high and working the left jab, occasionally leading with the right, both men throwing kicks but unable to really put the hurt in. The second saw the speedy Hari stringing combinations together to effect, landing a high kick and a couple of straight punches. Graham worked low kicks and the right, but was increasingly forced to the defensive.

Hari's long limbs were the difference in the third as he darted in all manner of strikes before downing Graham with a left straight punch to the midsection. The bout went the distance and the unanimous decision for Hari came as no surprise -- more surprising was the hugs the two exchanged after the final bell. Clearly, some of the hatred had been replaced with respect.

"I didn't have any hate for Peter, but I'm not his friend," said Hari in his post-fight interview. "I'm a professional, I came here to fight, and I beat him. I know he talked a lot of tough things about me, like he'll break my jaw again, but that is no problem. I just come to win and do my job. I don't want to break somebody's jaw. I just wanted to let him know that he was lucky last time, I was not the Badr that I am now. I just wanted to put that in his face!"

The card's other Superfight saw Peter Aerts of Holland take on spirited Seidokaikan fighter Nicholas Pettas of Denmark. No one better personifies K-1 than Aerts, who has participated in every World GP Final since the sport's inception in 1993 -- and has won it all three times.

But Pettas has a fine skill set of his own, and made a good go of it here, taking the fight to Aerts through much of the first with body blows, kicks and combinations, and showing impressive footwork and evasions to stay out of harm's way. In the second Aerts turned it all around, pumping in a right hook for a down that took much of the fire out of Pettas' attacks. Soon afterward Aerts fired up a high kick that caught Pettas on the side of the head. The Dane went down and did not get up for a long while, and the spunky Aerts, looking nothing like a 37 year-old, had the convincing win.

"It was a while since I fought Nicholas," said Aerts, "but he showed a good fight, he showed good heart. He really wanted to fight, and he fought like a man, not like Bob Sapp! I had a hard time finding my rhythm at the beginning of the fight, but I'm happy that I won, but I think I let him attack me too much. A win by points doesn't matter, but I won by knockout, so I hope the fans like that."

At the center of it all today was the K-1 Asia GP -- an eight-man elimination tournament, with the winner advancing to this year's K-1 Final Elimination.

First up in the quarterfinal bouts was Japan's foremost K-1 veteran, Musashi; and South Korean tae kwon do fighter Yong Soo Park.

Park let the feet fly from the start, and Musashi had a tough time closing. A Park low kick hit Musashi hard below the belt and the Japanese fighter was given a minute to recover, while Park was issued a warning. Incredibly, almost immediately after resumption Musashi caught a second boot to the orchises and this time went down writhing. Ringside officials now gave a yellow card and one-point deduction to Park and a five-minutes of recovery time to Musashi. Alas, he could not recompose, so both men were sent to their dressing rooms and the fight was resumed after the fourth quarterfinal.

At resumption, the time remaining in the first round played out fairly uneventfully, both fighters testing with kicks. But things got weird at the start of the second -- Musashi initially reluctant to oblige Park's extended arm for the usual touching of gloves, then rocked with three quick middle kicks when he did. Now miffed, Musashi went on the offensive, and in no time had Park on the run.

A high kick put Park off balance, and Musashi followed with a left hook and then a right, both of which landed hard across Park's jaw. The Korean's legs went out and he crumbled gracelessly to the canvas. Maybe it was the glove-touching incident or perhaps a lingering pain in his loins, but for whatever reason Musashi was compelled to move in over his stuporous opponent and commence flailing and crowing before his cornermen pulled him away. The KO win advanced Musashi to the semifinals.

The second tournament matchup saw Wang Qiang of China