(Left leg, bodybag.)
If you aren’t familiar with the name Gokhan Saki, by next year you will be.
The talented K-1 light heavyweight’s Team Golden Glory trainer Martin de Jong informed mmazone.nl today that his charge is preparing to make his MMA debut in 2011, but said under which banner is yet-to-be decided.
"Saki has not signed anything yet, but will make his official debut in MMA
next year," said de Jong.
Here’s a clip of Saki’s last fight a few weeks ago at the Glory hybrid MMA and kickboxing event in which he scored a Bas Rutten approved liver punch KO over Nicolaj Falin:
(video courtesy YouTube/GloryMMA)
Saki, who beat Melvin Manhoef by TKO in May, will have no shortage of promotions to fight for when the time comes for him to cross over into the cage.
United Glory is owned by the founders of Golden Glory, which is likely where he will make his debut and considering two of his teammates, Marloes Coenen and Alistair Overeem are Strikeforce champions, we could see him fighting Stateside sooner than later.
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Well that’s why he’ll get setup with brawlers to showcase his muay thai abilities. He’ll most likely end up in Strikeforce, but even the UFC would put him against Rampage or some other big brawler who isn’t thinking about going to the ground (I still don’t know why rampage stopped his wrestling BTW, durr)
Give him 2-3 strikers, a year to train some take down defense, and then build the guy up slowly. That’s all I can hope for.