K1 USA 2004 Press Release

K-1 "Battle at Bellagio III:" Last Chance To Advance For Tournament Fighters

2003 K-1 USA champion Carter Williams, Marvin "The Beastman" Eastman, and "Mighty Mo" will represent The United States in K-1’s "Battle at Bellagio III" eight-man, single-elimination tournament on Saturday at Las Vegas, Nevada’s Bellagio Hotel and Casino. The tournament, which will send its winner to a subsequent leg of single-elimination competition in Japan later this year, will air live on Pay-Per-View television.

The three American fighters will be challenged by five competitors who hail from five different countries. The following is the official draw for Saturday’s "Battle at Bellagio III" tournament:

Bracket A:

Carter Williams, United States
Vs.
Brecht Wallis, Belgium

Jorgen Kruth, Sweden
Vs.
Marvin Eastman, United States

Bracket B:

Jan Nortje, South Africa
Vs.
Alexander Ustinov, Russia

"Mighty Mo," United States
Vs.
Sergei Gur, Belarus

The winners of the two quarterfinal round matchups in bracket A will meet one another in the semifinal round of the tournament while the winners of the two quarterfinal round matchups in bracket B will do likewise. The victors of the two brackets will face one another in the championship round of the tournament.

At 24 years of age, Williams is the youngest prospect in the field of American martial arts fighters. He finds himself in a crucial position after being ousted from the quarterfinal round of April 30th’s "Battle at Bellagio II" tournament by Mighty Mo. Williams, who had been called to Japan for a fight only 33 days prior to the spring Las Vegas affair, executed his punch-kick combinations splendidly throughout the bout with Mighty Mo before being suddenly caught against the ropes with a barrage of punches that prompted the referee to step in and call a stoppage in the third and final scheduled round.
Wallis is a 26-year old native of Belgium who fled his homeland three years ago to pursue Muay Thai training in Holland, the world’s biggest producer of K-1 World Grand Prix champions. On February 14th, he secured a place in the "Battle at Bellagio III" playoff by defeating three consecutive opponents during the K-1 Scandinavia Grand Prix tournament in Stockholm, Sweden.

Kruth’s appearance will be the second of his career in Las Vegas. Nicknamed "The Viking," the 30-year-old Muay Thai stylist is a three-time Grand Prix qualifying tournament champion. His defining fight to date came on March 17, 2001 when he stopped Stefan Leko by knocking the German superstar down three times in the second round of their Yokohama, Japan matchup. Eastman was granted a spot in the tournament after he put on a heart-stopping show during his "Battle at Bellagio II" quarterfinal round bout with Canada’s Michael McDonald. The Beastman connected with several jumping knees before drawing first blood and putting McDonald on the canvas in the first round. In the following round, however, the Canadian was surprisingly able to regroup and score two knockdowns on Eastman. The second knockdown brought the fight to a close by way of technical knockout.

Nortje, an enormous specimen of man at 6 feet 11 inches and 315 pounds, is a world class kickboxer as well as an undefeated boxer who has knocked out all of his 10 opponents in "the sweet science." On August 17, 2002, the fighter aptly nicknamed "The Giant" made his way to Las Vegas for a K-1 Superfight with Ernesto Hoost. Hoost stopped Nortje in a thrilling battle. Ustinov is a 27-year-old rising star native of Russia. In 2003, he posted an outstanding 9-1 record in K-1 action and captured two qualifying tournament titles. At 6 feet 6 inches tall and approximately 270 pounds, he is another massive figure amongst K-1’s big men.

A power puncher who enjoys a toe-to-toe slugfest, Mighty Mo came to K-1 from the sport of professional boxing earlier this year. During the time he spent in his former profession, the 6 foot 1 inch, 275-pounder put away 16 of his 20 victims by way of knockout. Gur, a training partner and countryman of famed K-1 superstar Alexey Ignashov, is the latest fighting prodigy to come out of the tiny nation of Belarus. The 26-year-old captured the K-1 Grand Prix qualifying crown in Marseilles, France in January.

Tickets for "Battle at Bellagio III" are available for purchase both online in the K-1 USA website (www.k-1usa.net) store and at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino box office (1-800-963-9634). Tickets are priced at $50, $100, $150, and $250, respectively. The live Pay-Per-View broadcast of the event will begin at 10 PM Eastern Standard Time (7 PM Pacific Standard Time).

K-1 is a martial arts fighting sport that derives its name from its inclusion of a wide array of combat disciplines, including Karate, Kung-Fu, and Kickboxing ("K"), and its intent to determine one champion in one ring ("1"). After being staged for the first time in Japan in 1993 under the direction of founder Master Kazuyoshi Ishii, it later evolved into the country’s most popular sport and achieved popular culture status there as its athletes turned into larger-than-life celebrities.