Heavyweight Champion Badr Hari of Morocco met Croatian MMA fighter Domagoj Ostojic. It was Hari by KO when these two met three years ago, and Ostojic had vowed to avenge the loss tonight. But Hari had other ideas.

The bell rang, the fighters closed to the center of the ring, Ostojic tossed a low kick, and then, the fighters simultaneously threw lefts. Both punches landed, and although a rattled Hari stumbled backward and into the ropes, it was Ostojic who went down. The Croatian could not beat the count, and Hari had the win at 0:19.

"I just opened with the jab and he went over," said Hari in his post-fight interview. "I normally knock people out with my right, but I think I showed tonight that I can do it with my left as well -- I'm becoming a dangerous man! I'm a little disappointed I couldn't show the fans more, but I showed them a KO. I'm satisfied, because it's a fight, and the nicest things you can do in a fight our not get hurt, and knock people out!"

Australian muay thai fighter Paul Slowinski took on Moroccan kickboxer Aziz "Iceman" Jahjah in a thrilling back-and-forth contest.

A fine start to this one, Slowinski moving forward with tight technical kick and punch combinations, Jahjah scoring points from in close with the fists. In the second, Jahjah turned on the hurt, sinking a punch for a down then chasing Slowinski. The Aussie fighter got the down back with a right straight punch on a counter, but Jahjah soon connected with a right hook to score his second down. At this point it was looking bad for Slowinski -- but after sending the Aussie stumbling, Jahjah pulled away, apparently believing he'd won the fight. Slowinski stayed in his feet and made it out of the round. The lack of finish would come back to hurt Jahjah in the third round.

Here a refreshed Slowinski chased the increasingly fatigued Jahjah with punches to earn a standing count, then, to the delight of the crowd, pumped in a right hook and an uppercut to drop the Turk. Jahjah was hanging by a thread now, and Slowinski dispatched him with a couple of hooks.

"I had a game plan," said Slowinski, "but Aziz's right just kept coming in so quickly that I had to scrap the game plan and fight a brawl instead. I'm glad I got the win!"

In the third Superfight, it was American MMA fighter Scott Junk versus Min Soo Kim, a South Korean judoka.

Junk tossed low kicks and led with the right cross to start, and was looking good until he ran into a Kim straight punch and went down. Kim scored a second down with a left hook from close to take a strong lead on the score cards. There was some trash talk in the ring after the bell to end the first, cornermen stepping in to help the referee separate the fighters. In the second Kim the southpaw took a number of low kicks to his right leg before closing with fists, but Junk's blocking was sound and the American continued to put up points with his legs. In the third Junk again chopped at Kim's leg with low kicks, but found only fists or the clinch when the distance closed. Junk could not get the down he needed to get it close, and Kim coasted to a unanimous decision.


All three undercard fights acted as reserve matches for the USA GP tournament.

In the first reserve, South Korean shot putter Randy Kim (196cm/6'5") stepped in against the 180cm/5'11" Vilitonu Fonokalafi, a Hawaiian MMA and muay thai stylist.

Fonokalafi passed Kim's low kicks to strike in the first, Kim replying to the invitation with some good fistwork of his own before coming in with a knee that rattled Fonokalafi. By early in the second Fonokalafi appear to be entirely out of gas, and Kim needed only the limpest of lefts to send him to the canvas, where he stayed.

Gokhan Saki's promotion to the tournament had opened up a spot in the second reserve fight. The last-minute replacement was German K-1 veteran Stefan Leko, who went up against Junior Sua, a 41 year-old Hawaiian. Some might have figured Sua as way out of his league here, but the local fighter marshaled a terrific effort, surprising Leko with a right hook to score an early down. Leko had a smile on his face as he rose from the canvas, and now found his form, scoring two quick downs -- the first a standing count, the second courtesy a knee -- to bring this one to its logical conclusion.

In the last of the undercard bouts, Japanese kyokushin fighter Koichi made his K-1 debut against Dutch muay thai stylist Rico Verhoeven. The boys mixed it up well, both getting the strikes through, both tough enough to take them. It went to the cards where Verhoeven took a unanimous decision.

All bouts were fought under Official K-1 Rules (3Min. x 3R, with a possible tiebreaker round, two possible tiebreakers in the tournament final and the Superfights)

The K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Hawaii attracted a crowd of 8,807 to the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu. Hawaiian hero and former sumo wrestler Akebono, the event's co-promoter, took the stage early to encourage the crowd to make some noise, and they obliged big time -- bringing a terrific energy to the arena, spurring on the fighters.

The event was broadcast live across Japan on Fuji TV and in South Korea on the CJ Media Network. Time-delay broadcasts will bring the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Hawaii to some 135 countries -- for scheduling information, contact local providers. Check with the K-1 Official Website (www.k-1.co.jp/k-1gp) for official results and comprehensive coverage of this and all K-1 events.