by Monti DiPietro

It took him three hard bouts and a record 12 total rounds of fighting to do so, but Remy Bonjasky of the Netherlands persevered to defend his K-1 World Grand Prix Championship at the Tokyo Dome today. Bonjasky became just the third man to win the world's most prestigious fightsport le two years in a row. (Fellow Dutch fighters Peter Aerts, 1994/1995; and Ernesto Hoost, 1999/2000, are the others). The 28 year-old Muay Thai stylist also picked up a cool US$400,000 in prize money for emerging as the "King of Kings," and proved beyond a doubt that he belongs at the forefront of K-1's new generation of elite fighters.



This was the 12th K-1 World GP Championship, completing the sport's first full cycle on the 12 year Chinese astrological calendar. It is fitting that Bonjasky was born in 1976, the 'Year of the Dragon,' for he displayed the sort of heart and spirit attributed to that warrior class. Bonjasky's hard-fought victory capped a night of action which included several surprising upsets and some controversial decisions.