Saki, Gokhan

Saki was born and raised Schidame , a small town near Rotterdam , in a large family of Turkish origin. From the age of 11, he started kickboxing , tried himself in football . At age 14, for family reasons, was forced to drop out of school. At the age of 16, he refused to practice football, focusing on kickboxing ^[3] .

The first coach was Jan Pastierik, under whose leadership he became the champion of the Netherlands, Europe and the world of Thai boxing in just three years. In 2003 he became a member of the Golden Glory team. In 2006 he returned to Pastzherik and began performing with him and Golden Glory . Training with Cor Hammers , Saki defeated fighters like Andre Tete, Vitaly Akhramenko and Enriquez Zova. In addition, he met with Badr Hari , Nicholas Pettas. With all the merits of Hammers, Saki always noted the work of the first coach, who managed to put the fighter equipment.

2006—2007

Gokhan Saki's debut in the framework of K-1 took place at the tournament in Amsterdam on May 13, 2006 . In the quarter-finals, the Belarusian fighter Alexey Ignashov defeated, and in the semifinals, Rani Berbachi, but in the finals he lost in the first round by knockout to Björn Bregi.

In March of the following year, Saki returned to K-1, went against Hiromi Amada at the K-1 Grand Prix in Yokohama in 2007 and won by TKO, actively using low-kicks . On June 23, 2007, as part of the Amsetrdam Grand Prix in 2008, he defeated Murad Buzidi by decision of the judges. The year ended successfully - on November 2, he won the Russian fighter Magomed Magomedov in the framework of the K-1 Fighting Network Turkey 2007 in Istanbul . After the fight between the fighters, there was a misunderstanding when Saki hit Magomedov at the end of the battle, pretending to want to hug him. Magomedov considered this unsportsmanlike behavior, and hit Saki with his head. There was a scandal involving coaches and managers, but in the end everything was settled, and both fighters shook hands. Magomedov lost by unanimous decision.

2008

On February 16, 2008, Saki won the heavyweight championship title (+95 kg) at the WFCA World Thaiboxing. In the battle for this title, he defeated the Englishman Chris Knowles in his hometown of Skhidam by technical knockout (left low-kick). Then followed the superboy as part of the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Amsterdam on April 26, in which he knocked out Paul Slowinski with the left cross in the first round.

His victories attracted the attention of entrepreneurs and Gokhan Saki was invited to take part in the 16th K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 tournament in Hawaii, which started on August 9th. Saki won the tournament by knocking out all three opponents, Deutsch Puy, Rick Chick and Randy Kim. This victory allowed Saki to take part in the final of sixteen at the K-1 World Grand Prix ( English 2008 K-1 World Grand Prix ), and the fighter was the first Turk to win the K-1 Grand Prix.

At the end of 2008 , on September 27, the Sixteen tournament started in Seoul . Saki's first fight was a fight with the legendary representative of New Zealand Ray Sefo . After three rounds, the judges decided on a draw, thus sending the fighters to an additional round, which was to determine the winner. After an additional round, Saki was unanimously declared the winner. In December, Saki made it to the Grand Prix finals, where he defeated Ruslan Karaev in the semifinals, but in the finals he was knocked out by tournament winner Remy Bognaski, having missed a kick in the jump ^[4] .

2009

On February 28, 2009, Saki had a fight with Arndt Bank, successfully defending the WFCA Thai boxing heavyweight title. The victory over the German was won in the first round after a powerful blow to the hull. A month later, he took part in the Grand Prix of the K-1 tournament in Yokohama , where eight fighters determined the champion in heavy weight (over 100 kg). In the semifinals, he fought Tyrone Spong , three rounds of the winner were not revealed and the fight was continued in an additional, fourth round. In it, Saki managed to send the opponent to the knockout. In the final, Saki was opposed by the Japanese Keijiro Maeda. As in the previous match, the champion was not identified in three rounds, and according to the results of the extra round, the Japanese won by a separate decision.

On August 2, in the framework of K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Seoul , a battle between Saki and Ukrainian Pavel Zhuravlev took place. The battle ended in defeat of the Turk by unanimous decision. Also in the battle, Saki received a knee injury, which meant for him to miss the Grand Prix of the sixteen best. However, he took part in the match of reservists in the final part of the K-1 Grand Prix of 2009, where he met with the legendary Dutchman Peter Arts . By unanimous decision, Saki lost, so his series without victories amounted to three fights.

2010

In early 2010, Saki won two victories - in January and February, including defending his WFCA Muay Thai title, and in April returned to K-1. At the K-1 Grand Prix in Yokohama (K-1 World Grand Prix 2010), he defeated Jaidip Singh and then Melvin Manhuf at It's Showtime 2010 in Amsterdam . In the second round, the fight was stopped after Manhof knocked down three times.

By mid-2010, Saki had fully recovered from his injuries and gained a good shape. As a result, he was invited to the final of the 16th K-1 Grand Prix of 2010, which was held in Seoul ( South Korea ). On October 2, a fight took place with Frenchman Freddy Kemayo ^[5] , who was knocked out in the first round. ^{[6] [7]}

He then took part in the 2010/11 United Glory season in Amsterdam (United Glory 12), knocking out Nikolai Falin representing Germany in the first fight.

After this victory, Saki returned to Japan to compete in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 Final , a tournament that kicked off on December 11, 2010. ^[8] He met with Daniel Gita in the quarter finals and won by unanimous decision after four rounds. In this fight, he received a fracture of his right hand, however, he entered the semifinal battle with Golden Glory team-mate Alistair Overeem . Acting only with his left hand and legs, he managed to squeeze a larger opponent, and even knock him down. Overeem got a heavy left kick on the torso, after which Saki also got a rib fracture on his right. The fight was stopped in the first round, since Saki could not continue the fight. ^[9]

2011

After recovering from injuries sustained in the K-1 Grand Prix, Saki returned to the United Glory World Series in March 2011, where he defeated Wendell Rocher by decision in the United Glory 13 semi-final.

On May 28, in Moscow, he decided to continue preparations for United Glory 14 and by decision defeated Brice Guidon.

2012

On January 28, 2012, Saki met with Moroccan fighter Badr Hari as part of It's Showtime 2012 in Leeuwarden held in the Netherlands . This fight was the last for Hari, who decided to move from kickboxing to boxing. Hari defeated his opponent very easily, sending Saki knocked down three times in the first round, as a result the fight was stopped, and Hari was awarded the victory by technical knockout. The right uppercut (first knockdown), then the right hook (second) and left uppercut (third knockdown) turned out to be victorious. ^{[10] [11]}

After Saki’s first coach, Cor Hemmers got a post at Glory, he could no longer devote so much time to training, and Saki eventually joined the Mike's Gym team, led by Mike Passenier ^[12] .

As part of the Glory 2: Brussels tournament on October 6, 2012, which took place in Brussels ( Belgium ^[13] ), Saki met with Murad Buzidi and won by unanimous decision ^[14] .

Saki finished the year with the mixed martial arts heavyweight tournament Dream 18 & Glory 4: Tokyo in Saitama, Japan , the final of which was held on December 31, 2012. In the opening match, Saki defeated Raumaru , sending him to the floor twice in the first round, as a result the judge was forced to stop the fight. In the quarterfinal match, Saki went to the Brazilian fighter Anderson “Braddock” Silva , whom he defeated with a crown left hook in the last seconds of the first round. At the semifinal stage, Saki entered the future winner of the tournament, Sammy Schilt . In terms of growth, the weight of Saki was significantly inferior to the opponent, but he lost only in points ^{[15] [16] [17]} .

2013 — present

On April 6, 2013, at Glory 6: Istanbul, the Turk met Romanian Daniel Gitse in a fight for the right to challenge the Glory Heavyweight Championship , a title held by Samia Schilt ^[18] .

Personal life

Saki has citizenship of the Netherlands and Turkey, and his parents are Turkish immigrants ^[19] . He named Fyodor Emelianenko as his favorite fighter; he also mentioned Ramon Dekkers in an interview ^[19] .

• Gokhan Saki on Twitter
• Profile at K-1
• Gokhan Saki official website
• Golden Glory team