Kyotaro Ranger

Q: What was your impression of your opponent?
A: My impression? He was really big. It was a bit scary, but I'd heard he was a nice guy, and when the fight was over, he really was (laughs).

Q: How did you feel about the fight?
A: I thought he would come in more. At least I made it through without getting crushed. Q: Did you want to knock him out using punches?
A: I've been a bit nervous out there, but I thought I'd try to go in with more punches. I guess I need more practice... sorry. My plan was to go in with low-kicks the first round, and then attack with punches in the second.

Q: Can you give a message to K-1 fans out there?
A: I'll do my best to give you enjoyable fights to watch!

Min Soo Kim

Q: How do you feel about the results of the fight?
A: I didn't have much time to prepare for this match, because I was preparing for Hero's. K-1 asked me to join in the line-up after one of the fighters backed out because of injury at the last second.

Q: Is there a problem with your legs?
A: Both my legs hurt. Besides the low kicks, one of his punches got in and I'm in a lot of pain.

Q: Did you want to win by decision?
A: Yeah, Randy and I have been friends since '93, so I didn't want to fight him in the first place, but if we had to fight, I wanted to win by decision. During the bout I wanted to go in for a punch rush, but my leg hurt so wasn't able to.

Q: Do you plan to keep fighting in K-1?
A: If FEG gives me a chance, yes, I'd like to participate.

Q: How was your opponent, Randy Kim?
A: I've heard people say he's weak, but he's actually strong, you know? He's got very good low kicks, and one-two punch that hits hard. I had to watch out for them.

Young Hyun Kim

Q: How do you feel after winning?
A: I was nervous, and wanted to use the things that I had learned more.

Q: What techniques do you feel comfortable using then?
Well, I could only use about 1/3 of what I had learned, which was disappointing.

Q: How did it feel to get hit?
A: It was my first time really getting hit in the face, and that surprised me. But if I'm going to keep fighting I need to get used to it.

Q: What do you feel you need to work on the most right now?
A: Right now I need to practice punching more, and working on my technique.

Q: You looked disappointed when you won, why was that?
A: I hoped to give a better first fight, but it seemed as if people enjoyed my performance, so that made me happy. I was also disappointed that I couldn't knock him down faster.
I'm still inexperienced, so I want to get better, and fight stronger opponents. But I need to get stronger and learn more techniques.

Badr Hari

Q: You caught him with a punch. Did it happen by chance?
A: No. there was no chance. Everything that I do is calculated. He was very well prepared for my jab, after the first round I could see that. So after that I threw my jab, and set him up for the other punch.

Q: Do you prepare for your opponents?
A: I don't care who comes on the draw. I don't care who comes next. I just think about what I have to do.

Q: If you have an opponent for the finals, would you pick Remy?
A: Now I like him very much, because he goes to the finals. If I have to choose between Semmy and Remy, I chose Remy because I just want to knock him out.

Semmy Schilt

Q: Did Paul's punches put pressure on you?
A: No, at the very beginning of the game I had to feel him out. After I did that, I knew I could keep with my strategy-keep him away with the punches and the kicks, and then finish him with the knee.

Q: Did you feel like you were fighting Hoost?
A: No, because I was fighting Paul

Q: Is the tempo of Final Eliminations different than normal fights?
A: I always when I have a game plan, the first few seconds you are going to look to see what happens. I just fought a good game.

Q: Was do you have to improve?
A: What do I have to improve? I just have to keep on training like I have been and make sure that I'm even stronger in December.

Q: What kind of tournament in December do you think that it will be?
A: I think still can improve a lot, and that it will be a really exciting tournament.

Q: Anything else?
A: I think I come a little bit closer to my goal (of three wins in a row).

Paul Slowinski

Q: What kind of strategy did you have?
A: The aim was to stay inside and stay real close, and aim at his head. He's a very big guy and it's hard to stay inside, he's very good at using his height.

Q: Do you think you can win your next fight?
A: Yeah of course. No one wanted to fight Semmy in the final 16, because if you lose then you don't get to go on. But I don't think this way. I said yes. Everyone said no, but I never say no to anyone.

Remy Bonjasky

Q: How does it feel to win?
A: Well I feel good. We've trained real hard for this, my team and me, first because last year was really disappointing. I won the fight but I had to withdraw from the tournament. If I look back on the last 2 months it was tough. My mother passed away and winning this fight was like giving a trophy to her, so I'm really glad.

Q: When did she pass away?
A: My mom passed away the 6th of June, 2 weeks before I had to fight in the arena, so I couldn't fight in the last fight.

Q: You dodged his spinning back-kick
A: I didn't feel it. He's been trying it for years, and it is his best weapon, but it didn't affect me.

Q: Message to the fans
A: To the Korean fans, I love to be here, I'm glad that you came here to see me, and I hope to be back soon.

Q: Which fighter do you think will be the biggest challenge for everyone?
A: The biggest challenge with be Semmy Schilt. He's the champion right, now he's strong, he's good he's got reach and weight. So I think he's going to be the biggest challenge for the other 7 fighters. All the other players are also very strong. I mean, advancing to the finals is proof of that, so other than the Champion I would say that the other fighters are very strong as well.

Stefan "Blitz" Leko

Q: After the fight it looked like you weren't satisfied with the KO decision.
A: It was a perfect kick, but I was totally okay. It was just like the lights went off and on for 2 seconds, then the referee called the fight. For me I was okay to still fight.

Q: Are you going to appeal?
A: I don't know. I'm just a little upset because I wasn't in the last round. K-1 said to me that it was okay, that it was their mistake, and they will try to find some way to take care of it. I had no problem I was okay to fight again.

Q: Do you still have bad feelings against Remy?
A: Yes. The fight was going good. But he had so much luck it was unbelievable. In the first round Remy tried to make an attack, and saw it doesn't work against me, and so he had to back up. I'm really, really upset.

Q: What is the next plan?
A: I must I hope to make some reserve fight, or find some other solution-because I'm not happy with this decision. It was wrong.

Q: It seemed like you had trouble in the second round. Why was that?
A: In the 2nd round his punches and kicks, I couldn't expect them, so I had a hard time adjusting to them. I had hoped to show a better fight.

Q: Are you satisfied with your win? And what is your next goal?
A: I'm always happy when I win, winning is my number one priority.

Q: You got caught by a couple of difficult hits, what type of training do you plan on doing from now on?
A: First of all, when I train, I train to get stronger, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I will-it takes a lot of work to improve. Rather than focusing on one thing, I know that I need work on everything.

Chalid "Die Faust"

Q: Any damage?
A: No, no, no, everything's okay.

Q: Your style was fairly simple...
A: Yeah, the problem is also my rhythm. I didn't fight for a year. As a fighter you have to at least fight 4 times a year to stay in the rhythm. It was a good fight, and I learned a lot which gives me more motivation for my next fight and to reach my target.

Q: Why did you take some much time off?
A: I had my hand broken after my fight with Ernesto Hoost, and that stopped me from fighting for 4 moths and then I had another injury and that is the sport. By like I said it just gives me more motivation to win for the next fight.

Q: During the 2nd round, you were probably winning. What do you think about the decision?
A: For me he won. Definitely. Of course, if I hadn't had tried to make a fight there wouldn't have been one, because he was too secure. But he won because of the knockdowns, so for me it's okay. He won..

Jerome Le Banner

Q: What did you think about having your opponent change at the last second?
A: I was a bit annoyed. But these things happen.

Q: What'd you think of your opponent?
A: I'd never heard of him before. I realized he's young, but when I saw his other fights, I realized I couldn't take him lightly. I knew he's going to come with kicks, so I had to be careful.

Q: You said you wanted to choose your opponent in the press conference who do you want to fight?
A: It's a drawing, so I can't really say who I'm going to fight. Everything changes based upon what order the numbers come up. I want the fight in December to be a big Pearl Harbor.

Q: What kind of fight...?
A: December 8th is Pearl Harbor, so I want it to be a day like Pearl Harbor. Banzai.

Young Soo Park

Q: You seemed a little bit unsure out there, what happened?
A: I didn't have time to prepare. There were some things to work out with the management, and I got a late start in training for this fight, so I was distracted.

Q: What happened when you were knocked down?
A: I was fully aware of what was going on. I wanted to get up but my body wouldn't respond. I'm going to have to work harder...

Q: What do you have to work on?
A: When I was backing up, my guard went down, and I think that's a bad habit I'll have to work on improving.

Q: What was it like to fight Le Banner?
A: It was a good experience. He's a famous fighter, and I felt like I was holding my own for a while out there. I let my guard down, and I need to work on that.

Peter Aerts

Q: You were the overwhelming victor. How do you feel?
A: It was not too much problem. Ray said he was a little bit sick, but the fight was not too much of a problem. I wanted to hurt his legs and that worked out.

Q: You are the only original K-1 fighter to remain.
A: The other fighters are too old to win. But I fight for 2-3 more years, and then stop. It's too bad, but what can you do? Maybe I can fight for 5 more years, but I want to win one more tournament and then stop.

Q: Can you give a message to your Korean fans?
A: Korea thank you very much for your support. I love you and I hope to be back soon. Osu.

Ray Sefo

Q: You seemed different out there. Were you feeling sick, or was it mental?
A: I've been sick for 2 weeks, and had a fever of 38C. I don't know what it is, I talked to the doctor, and talked to my mom and she told me not to fight, ha, ha. I knew that I didn't want to let the fans down, and that I wanted to fight at 100% I want to apologize to the fans. I felt like I was dying after the first round.

Q: We've heard that you were sick for your fight with Semmy Schilt a while back...
A: What I got this time is exactly the same thing as last time, but I recognized it too. Whenever I would walk, or eat, I would sweat like a dog, and when I went to the doctor he told me not to train for a week, so I was in the bed the whole time. But 4 or 5 days before I came to Korea I started training again. If all I did was doing nothing, my temperature was around 36.8C, but as soon as I would walk around it went up to 38C. Yeah it's the same thing. Maybe if I change my training schedule and stay in Vegas to train before the World Grand Prix then things will be different. It always seems to happen toward the end of the year and I don't know why. Your guess is as good as mine.

Q: This is the first Final Elimination outside of Japan, did that have anything to do with it?
A: No it didn't affect my game at all-the fans in Korea are so fantastic and phenomenal it's good to know that K-1 is so big in Korea. No, there's no excuse. It is what it is and there's nothing I can do about it. I was feeling sick, but I thought that I would see what happened. I know that Peter is a great fighter-he's a great warrior. Maybe now I'm going to take this year off, and use the rest of the year to recoup. I've been very busy, so maybe it's time to take a vacation, and be rested for next year.

Q: You said you are going to rest for a year, does that mean you won't fight, and just focus on training?
A: When I say for the rest of the year, that doesn't mean that I'm going to take a year off-I just mean the rest of this year. Yes, I have a lot of other projects that are keeping me busy, like film projects, so maybe so that's occupying my time also, and maybe its a good time for me to have a break from the fight game, and focus on other things. Today is not a negative thing, I'm a positive person, and I've learned this from my career the last 5 years. I've learned this. There are times that you are down, and then things go up, I think some times you just need a break. It's the first time in my fighting career that I've lost 3 fights in a row. I'm a positive person, and it may be a down year in the fight game but it's an up year in business. There's the good and the bad, you just have to focus on the positive.
Also I just want to give a message to the fans, I'm really sorry that this year hasn't been a good one for me, but I promise that this next fight I'll give you 100%. Keep supporting us. I just want you to know that what we fighters do is hard, but without you it isn't possible. And I know it's a little early, but if I don't get the chance to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year because it's close.

Hon Man Choi

Q: You looked tired, are you okay?
A: I was very nervous yesterday and only slept for 3 hours, so I'm tired.

Q: Was it because you were nervous about fighting Mighty Mo?
A: Yeah, I kept remembering Mighty Mo from that time, so it was hard to sleep.

Q: How do about the decision win?
A: I wanted to beat him by KO but beating him by decision is good in another way.

Q: Mighty Mo is unhappy with the decision....
A: I don't have any problems with it.

Q: What do you think about the low-blow?
A: I didn't hit him.

Q: At the press conference yesterday, you said you'd fulfill your goal, is it the championship?
A: I've been working toward my goal and that's the only thing on my mind.

Q: Do you think you put on a good show?
A: I was nervous out there today, so I didn't like the way I was moving, and I couldn't find the right timing.

Q: Mr. Tanikawa said he'd have a look at the video.
A: I feel this was a fair decision. I don't have any regrets.

Q: Mighty Mo wants a rematch, do you want to fight him again?
A: If there's a chance-any time.

Q: Who do you want to fight out of the best 8?
A: I want to fight Jerome Le Banner.

Q: There were a lot of other Korean fighters today, what do you think of them?
A: I didn't have a chance to see them because of today's fight, but I'll watch tomorrow

Q: What kind of fight do you want to have in the best 8?
A: I want to give it my all and not focus on what happens next. My main goal is to make it to the final 4.

Q: There are other fighters you could fight, such as Remy Bonjaski. Why do you want to fight Le Banner?
A: I like Jerome, and that's why I would like to fight him. I think it would be a good experience.

Mighty Mo

Q: In the 1st round, what do you think about the down you were given for the low blow?
A: That makes fighters lose hope for victory. I'm not saying that I'm the fighter who can do that, I'm just saying that the fans knew it and the guy who made the call didn't want to have to give it. I just wanted a couple of minutes to keep fighting, everybody knows Mighty Mo, I don't go down for nothing.

Q: How was he different from the last time you face him?
A: He seemed a little bit stronger because I hit him with some good shots and he didn't fall down so I was surprised, actually harder than the ones I hit him with before. He must have been practicing taking punches.

Q: Are you happy with the decision?
A: No. I feel like they stole the fight away from me. They gave it to Hong Man Choi I felt that I was the aggressor; all he did was throw this kick, that I blocked. I pushed the fight, and they still gave it to Hong Man Choi. I feel I was robbed. I should have won.

Q: Do you want to fight Hong Man Choi again?
A: Of course. I really think that there should be a 3rd fight. There was a lot of favoritism here. He must have picked up a new technique-a kick below the belt. So next time I'll wear a thicker cup. And next time I want to fight somewhere else.

Q: What will happen in that rematch?
A: 1st round knockout.

Mr. Sadaharu Tanikawa, Event Producer

First of all, I would like to extend my thanks to the Korean and Japanese press, there were over 200 members of the Korean press here, and I am thankful for the great showing we had from the Korean people.

This year we started up FEG Korea, and today was a big success. We had the press conference here yesterday and everything has gone so well, that we're seriously tempted even to have the finals here. No but next year we'll definitely have the Final Elimination in Korea again. We'd also like to make a fan club and have more opportunities to meet with the fighters.

Tomorrow all the fighters we could have hoped for will be in the drawing, the Final Elimination here today was at a very high level. But I was a bit disappointed in Ray's fight. Also, the main card didn't end on the note that we'd hoped for. Mo insists that it was a low blow, and we'll go over the tape. We're considering using an instant replay from now on. But aside from that it was a fantastic event. I'm convinced that K-1 is going to be very successful here, and am looking forward to the drawing tomorrow


Q: How is Sawayashiki?
A: His nose is broken, from Fujimoto's punch in the first round.

Q: What did you think of Sawayashiki's performance today?
A: Sawayashiki, has shown us extraordinary promise, and the kinds of things he can do. But Fujimoto has a bad habit of falling down even when he's attacking, that's a big problem, especially when you get to the final 16. I am happy that Sawayashiki made it to the Final 8. One of the biggest things to look forward to in tomorrow's drawing is Sawayashiki, Hong Man Choi and Badr Hari.

Q: What do you think about the Korean Fighters?
A: Young Soo Park is a strong fighter, I think we can expect good things from him. But Randy Kim, and Kim Song Gyoku still need some work, I think maybe they'd build more confidence if they fought in a smaller scaled tournament. And I think Young Hyun Kim has even better technique than Hong Man Choi did when he started, so I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do.

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