Badr Hari - K1 Fighter

Biography and careerHari and Yusuke Fujimoto fought for the newly
Badr Hari began practicing kickboxing at the ageintroduced Heavyweight belt. Hari won the fight in
of seven, under the guidance of former World56 seconds with a kick to the chin. With the
Champion Mousid Akamrane. As a teenager heknockout Hari became the world's first ever K-1
trained under Mohammed Ait Hassou at the SitanHeavyweight champion.
Gym. When the Sitan Gym moved to Rotterdam,Hari got his chance for revenge against Graham in
Badr Hari joined the famous Chakuriki Gym ranHong Kong where he dropped Graham with a
by Thom Harinck. Under Harinck, Hari developedbody punch and won by unanimous decision.
into one of the greatest kickboxing talents of theOn September 29, 2007 at the K-1 World GP
Netherlands.2007 Final Elimination, Badr Hari beat the K-1
Early careerWorld GP 2007 in Las Vegas tournament
Under Harnick's coaching, Badr Hari suffered fewchampion, Doug Viney, by a second round KO and
losses. In 2003 he replaced Melvin Manhoef withqualified for his first K-1 World GP Final, held on
only a few days notice, to fight Alexey Ignashov.December 8 in Yokohama, Japan. His winning
Badr Hari, outweighed by more than 18 kg, loststreak came to an end with a decision loss to
the fight by knockout, but gained a lot of respectRemy Bonjasky, during quarter final.
for stepping up to such an opponent under those2008
circumstances.All of Hari's wins in 2008 were by knockouts, by
In January 2005, Badr Hari left Chakuriki andbeating Ray Sefo in Yokohama, Glaube Feitosa
joined Simon Rutz's It's Showtime team. After a(whom he defended his heavyweight title) in
few months' training at Mejiro Gym he returnedFukuoka and Domagoj Ostojic in Hawaii. On his
to Harinck's, but left again a couple of weeks later.next fight in Seoul he qualified for the K-1 World
Since then Badr Hari has been coached by MikeGP 2008 Final by TKO win over the Korean giant
Passenier, who also trains Joerie Mes, Bjorn BregyHong Man Choi.
and Melvin Manhoef.In the quarterfinals on December 6, Hari defeated
Road to K-1three time K-1 World champion Peter Aerts by
Badr Hari's road to fame began with a pair ofTKO in the second round. Then in semis he
matches against Stefan Leko in 2005. It tookknocked out Errol Zimmerman and headed to his
place at the It's Showtime 8 event, on June 12,first K-1 Final against Remy Bonjasky. After
2005. Badr Hari, who was generally known for hissuffering a knockdown in the first, Hari was
big mouth and slow ring entrance started somedisqualified in the second round for
trash talk between them before the fight andunsportsmanlike conduct by stomping and
abused Leko on the night which took a while topunching an already downed Bonjasky. First the
settle down. The ring entrance took longer thenreferee Nobuaki Kakuda issued a yellow card and
the actual fight, where Badr Hari was knocked outone point deduction. Meanwhile Hari proceeded to
by Leko's 'trademark' spinning back kick. LekoBonjasky's corner shouting, and quarreled with his
looked to be spitting on Hari while he was down.opponent's trainer Ivan Hippolyte who then also
On November 19, 2005, Hari got his chance forapproached Hari aggressively, but the officials
revenge. He entered the K-1 World Grand Prixprevented any further physical contact between
2005 as a reserve fighter against Stefan Leko.them. After the five-minute recovery time
Hari didn't seem to have lost his confidence andelapsed, the doctor reported Bonjasky was
knocked Leko out by a spinning back high kick toseeing double and could not continue. Hari was
the jaw. After all the bad blood between bothissued a red card and Bonjasky was declared the
fighters, Hari helped his opponent up and escortedK-1 World GP 2008 champion.
the dazed German to the corner.In later interviews Badr claimed Bonjasky was
K-1 New Zealand 2006acting, and that "Remy's corner was screaming at
In 2006 Badr Hari was scheduled to participate inhim to stay down".
the K-1 World GP 2006 in The Netherlands onAfter the event Badr was not suspended for his
May 13, 2006, but fought in the K-1 World GPactions, but K-1 has however stripped him of his
2006 in New Zealand instead as a last minuteheavyweight title and his fee for participation in
replacement. His opponent in the first round wasthe tournament.
Australian Peter "The Chief" Graham. Hari onceWhile there were many rumours of his and his
again showed his bad boy reputation by abusingopponent's participation, it was finally announced
Graham and starting a street fight at the pressthat Badr would face MMA Heavyweight Alistair
conference. In the actual fight Hari was knockedOvereem in a K-1 rules match on K-1's NYE
out by Graham's trademark "Rolling Thunder". Theextravaganza. Hari lost the fight by a left hook
heel hit Hari hard on the head and knocked himKO in the first round within 2 minutes. Part of the
out cold. Graham's kick broke Hari's jaw in multiplefight agreement is that both Badr and Overeem
places and sidelined Hari for a several months.would also fight each other in an MMA match for
Return to K-1FEG's DREAM promotion sometime in 2009. In an
Hari returned to the ring at the K-1 World GPinterview with Dutch tv station SBS 6 Badr Hari is
2006 Final Elimination in Osaka, Japan againstseen avoiding this match and few people are still
Ruslan Karaev. Karaev hurt Badr with a straightbelieving Hari's word to enter the contest against
right that left Hari slouching over in the corner,Alistair Overeem.
then Karaev delivered a kick to Hari's face when2009
it looked as though Hari was already lying on theHari's first fight in 2009 was against Frederic
canvas. Hari was counted out by the referee butSinistra who was not well known at this point and
immediately he and his corner protested, sayingwon again by 1st round knockout with his
the kick was a foul. When the referee did nottrademark right hand.
respond, Hari left in anger and trashed hisIn May Hari fought Semmy Schilt in a long-awaited
changing room.bout for the newly introduced It's Showtime
Despite been knockout, Hari was once againWorld Heavyweight title. Hari came out very
picked as a reserve fighter in the K-1 Grand Prixaggressively and knocked Schilt down twice in the
2006 Finals against Paul Slowinski. He won thefirst round. The fight was stopped after the
fight by unanimous decision.second knockdown and Hari took the
Hari then fought Nicholas Pettas at Dynamite andheavyweight title in 42 seconds.
broke Pettas's left arm in the second round withAt the K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final 16 Hari
his powerful round kicks.again used his trademark right cross to score a
Hari got his revenge against Karaev onK-1 Worldfirst round knockout over Zabit Samedov.
GP 2007 in Yokohama. Karaev and Hari's matchupAt the selection for the K-1 World Grand Prix
was one of two bouts to qualify for the first K-12009 Final Hari chose to fight Ruslan Karaev for
Heavyweight Title Match, scheduled on April 28,the third time. At the event Hari used his leg kicks
2007 in Hawaii. Hari was knocked down in theand cross punch to score a total of 4
second round and was just able to make it to hisknockdowns to earn TKO wins over Karaev and
feet when Karaev intended to finish the fight withAlistair Overeem in a rematch, to make it to the
a swinging punch which Hari ducked, and landed aWorld Grand Prix Final for the second year against
right cross to score a KO.Semmy Schilt. In their rematch Hari lost by TKO
K-1 Heavyweight championafter been knocked down 3 times in the first
On April 28, at K-1 World GP 2007 in Hawaii, Badrround.