K-1 MAX Controversy: Was Petrosyan a Worthy Winner?

Published on various sites, November 10th 2010


Oops, he did it again. He played with our hearts, and smashed faces in.
Giorgio Petrosyan won his second consecutive K-1 MAX Grand Prix today, but it was far from imperious form that he did it in, by his usual godly standards. While the Italian/Armenian added another illustrious title to his incredible career resume, one can’t help wondering if this one was fully deserved. While the arguable p4p king of standup fighting earned three successive unanimous decisions, elements of the hardcore fanbase of K-1 have already let their feelings be known that only after a questionable decision win over Mike Zambidis that he scraped through the semi-final with, did he outpoint Yoshihiro Sato to claim the strap.

Now, Petrosyan is proven quality; not least being the reigning K-1 MAX GP champ. He is the goods, the pinnacle of the game, and his victory over Andy Souwer and pre-prime draw with the fearsome Buakaw Por.Pramuk illustrate that, along with his now 66-1-2 record, the sole defeat of which came at the hands of Nonthanan Por.Pramuk, when Petrosyan was 21. But in this particular tournament, a case can be and is being made that he should have bowed out at the semi-final stage.

Personally, I was not privileged to watch the entire first round of the semi-final in question, as the feed cut off. This is unfortunate. What I can say, is that with the rest of the fight I saw, Petrosyan at times came close to outclassing Zambidis… he is that good. But the second round that Zambidis put together, including what could very well be construed as a knockdown, must have been a 10-8 stanza; and thus enough to warrant the decision win after the ten minutes. As it was, Petrosyan gained the ascendancy in the extra-time period, and won what was thus a comfortable decision.

But regardless, perhaps fanboyism is rearing its head. Petrosyan is the absolute creme de la creme of fightsports right now, and he has the K-1 MAX Grand Prix titles to substantiate that claim. But with such men, decisions that leave room for doubt are already going to be subjected to more scrutiny.

This was a fantastic appetiser. Roll on December, and the World Grand Prix.

Fletch