Gökhan Saki
Gökhan Saki (born 18 October 1983) is a Dutch-Turkish kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He is a Dutch and European Muay Thai champion, "K-1 World GP 2006 in Amsterdam" tournament finalist, "K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Hawaii" champion and former Glory Light Heavyweight Champion. Saki also competed in the light heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Early life. Saki, born and raised in Schiedam, Netherlands, holds dual Dutch and Turkish nationality as both his parents were Turkish immigrants. Saki began training in kickboxing at the age of 10 when he also began playing football, but  eventually quit football at the age of 16 because of his preference for kickboxing. Kickboxing career. His initial trainer was Jan Pasztjerik, under whom he became Dutch, European and World Muay Thai champion within three years, before moving to the Golden Glory gym in 2003. In 2006, he returned to Pasztjerik as he embarked on a joint production with Golden Glory and Pasztjerik. Training at Golden Glory with Cor Hemmers, Saki became a well-known fighter as he took wins over André Tete, Vitali Akhramenko, Henriques Zowa and Alexey Ignashov. Apart from the aforementioned wins he also accumulated losses against  well-established fighters such as Badr Hari and the Greek Nicholas Pettas. Despite his success under Hemmers, Saki considers Pasztjerik as the main influence who helped him develop to the fighter he would become. 2006–2007. Saki made his K-1 debut at the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Amsterdam" on 13 May 2006 where he defeated Rani Berbachi in the quarter-finals and Alexey Ignashov in the semis, before losing to Bjorn Bregy by first round knockout in tournament finals. Saki returned to K-1 in March the following year, taking on Hiromi Amada at the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2007  in Yokohama" and winning via technical knockout by using Dutch-style low kicks. On 23 June 2007, he defeated Mourad Bouzidi at the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Amsterdam" by unanimous decision. He finished off the year by taking a unanimous decision victory over Russian muay Thai fighter Magomed Magomedov at "K-1 Fighting Network Turkey 2007" in Istanbul on 2 November. 2008. On 16 February 2008, Saki won the World Full Contact Association (WFCA) World Thaiboxing Super Heavyweight (+95 kg) Championship by defeating Englishman Chris Knowles via TKO (left low kick) in his hometown of Schiedam. Following this, his  next significant bout came in a super fight at the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Amsterdam" on 26 April where he knocked out Paul Slowinski with a left cross in the first round. Following these impressive victories, he was invited to take part in the sixteen-man tournament at the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Hawaii" on 9 August. Saki was able to win the tournament in devastating fashion by knocking out all three of his opponents, Deutsch Pu'u, Rick Cheek and Randy Kim. This victory earned Saki a place in the 2008 K-1 World Grand Prix final  sixteen. Later that year at the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Seoul Final 16" on 27 September, he was drawn against legendary New Zealander Ray Sefo. After three rounds, the judges had scored the fight a decision draw so it went to an extra round to determine the winner, after which Saki was announced the victor by unanimous decision. Advancing to the final eight at the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 Final" on 6 December, Saki defeated Ruslan Karaev in the quarter-finals before being knocked out by the eventual champion, Remy Bonjasky, in the semis by a jumping  kick to the rib cage. 2009. Gokhan Saki began 2009 with a defence of his WFCA World Thaiboxing Super Heavyweight Championship, finishing Germany's Arndt Bunk with a body shot in round 1 on 28 February. A month later, he took part in the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Yokohama", an eight-man tournament to determine the inaugural K-1 Heavyweight (−100kg) Champion. In the semi-finals, his fight with Tyrone Spong went into an extra round where he was able to win via knockout. In the final, he faced Keijiro Maeda in a bout which also went into  an extra round. However, he lost via majority decision this time. He returned against Pavel Zhuravlev on 2 August in a super fight at the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 in Seoul". He lost the fight via unanimous decision and also injured his knee in the fight, which meant that he could not participate in the World Grand Prix last sixteen. He was still able to take part in a reserve fight at the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2009 Final", however, where he faced the legendary Dutchman Peter Aerts. He was defeated via unanimous decision (30–27, 29–27, and 29–28), meaning  that he had now lost three fights in a row. 2010. In early 2010, Saki was able to bounce back by taking two wins in January and February, including a defence of his WFCA Muay Thai title against Utley Meriana, before rejoining the K-1 circuit in April. He took a decision victory over Singh Jaideep at the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Yokohama" before taking on Melvin Manhoef in a highly anticipated bout at "It's Showtime 2010 Amsterdam" on 29 May. Saki won via TKO in the second round after the referee stopped the fight due to Manhoef  being knocked down three times. Having made a full recovery from his injuries and poor form, Saki was invited to the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Seoul Final 16" on 2 October where he knocked out Frenchman Freddy Kemayo in the first round. Following this, he entered the United Glory 2010/11 World Series at "United Glory 12" fourteen days later where he KO'd Russian Nikolaj Falin in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Saki then returned to Japan for the "K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 Final" on 11 December. He faced Daniel Ghiţă in the quarter-finals and won by unanimous decision after  four rounds. However, he broke his right hand during the fight and went on to battle Golden Glory teammate Alistair Overeem in the semis. Alistair landed a heavy left kick to Saki's right elbow that was also broken in his quarter-final fight. The fight was a first-round TKO win for Overeem. 2011. After recuperating from the injuries he sustained in the K-1 Grand Prix, Saki returned to the United Glory World Series in March 2011 where he took a decision victory over Wendell Roche in the semis at "United Glory 13". He then went on to win  the World Series at "United Glory 14: 2010–2011 World Series Finals" on 28 May in Moscow, Russia where he defeated Brice Guidon by decision. 2012. On 28 January 2012, Saki faced Badr Hari at "It's Showtime 2012 in Leeuwarden" in what was to be Hari's last kickboxing match before moving into boxing. Hari defeated Saki with ease, scoring three knockdowns in the first round before the referee stopped the fight, earning him a TKO victory. He dropped him with a right uppercut first, the second knockdown came by a right hook. Finally, he landed a right uppercut again  which dropped Saki for the third time. When Saki's trainer, Cor Hemmers, took up a position working in the Glory promotion and was unable to spend as much time in the gym as before, Saki moved to Mike's Gym to train under Mike Passenier. He faced Mourad Bouzidi at "" on 6 October 2012 in Brussels, Belgium and won by unanimous decision. Saki ended the year by competing in the sixteen-man 2012 Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam at "" in Saitama, Japan on 31 December 2012. Saki defeated Raoumaru with ease at the opening stage, flooring the out-matched Korean  twice in round one and forcing the referee to stop the bout. Then, in the quarter-finals, he knocked out Anderson "Braddock" Silva with his patented left hook in the closing seconds of round one. Advancing to the semis, Saki was eliminated by the eventual tournament winner, Semmy Schilt. Dwarfed by eleven inches and outweighed by twenty seven kilograms, Saki's high work rate was not enough to outpoint Schilt and he lost on points after the judges awarded the giant Dutchman the first two rounds. 2013–2015. Saki rematched Daniel Ghiţă at "" in Istanbul, Turkey on 6 April 2013 in  a #1 contender's bout for the Glory Heavyweight Championship held by Semmy Schilt. The fight started out a little rough, as Saki caught a kick from the Romanian. He then backed Ghiţă up and threw him to the mat with a sweep. Ghiţă landed hard, looking to have suffered an arm injury. According to Glory's official rules, leg sweeps and trips are illegal moves and should thusly be counted as such. Instead, referee Joop Ubeda counted it as a down as Ghiţă took a while to get to his feet. Even though injured, round two saw again Ghiţă  being more consistent but midway through the round, the Dutch began landing heavy punches on him and simply did not let up, dropping durable Romanian three times to take a win via TKO after the referee stepped in, calling the fight. In the semi-finals of "" in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States in October 2013, Saki gave a lackluster performance and was on the receiving end of a controversial knockdown in round one as he lost a majority decision to eventual tournament champion Rico Verhoeven. On 2 November 2013, Saki released a statement declaring that he was looking into taking  legal action against Glory over the decision. Saki was crowned the inaugural Glory Light Heavyweight Champion when he won the "" in Istanbul, Turkey on 12 April 2014. He faced Nathan Corbett in the semi-finals and was beginning to punish the Australian's body when blood began to leak from Corbett's right ear after an overhand left to the organ, leading the ringside physician to advise referee Al Wichgers to halt the fight at the 2:35 mark of round one. He then faced Tyrone Spong in a highly anticipated rematch in the final. Midway through the opening round, Spong  threw a kick to Saki's left leg. Saki checked the kick, causing Spong's lower right leg to fracture immediately and end the fight via TKO. Saki's sportsmanship of immediately tending to Spong was widely praised by the fans. Saki was stripped of the Glory light heavyweight title due to inactivity in Glory on 27 July 2015. 2021–present. On 8 October 2021 it was announced that Saki made his return to Glory with a single-fight contract. He is scheduled to replace Antonio Plazibat against James McSweeney at on October 23, 2021. Saki won the fight by  second-round knockout via leg kicks. Mixed martial arts career. Early career. Early in his kickboxing career, Saki also had a MMA bout. He faced James Zikic on 11 July 2004 at Cage Fighting Championships 1: Cage Carnage. He lost the fight via TKO. Ultimate Fighting Championship. On 25 May 2017, Saki announced he had signed a multi-fight deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Saki made his promotional debut against Henrique da Silva on 23 September 2017 at . He won the fight via knockout in the final seconds of the first round. This win earned Saki his first "Performance  of the Night" bonus award. Saki was expected to face Khalil Rountree on 30 December 2017 at UFC 219. However, he was forced to pull out, citing knee injury and was replaced by Michal Oleksiejczuk. The bout against Rountree was then rescheduled and eventually took place at UFC 226 on 7 July 2018. Saki lost the fight via TKO in the first round. Saki was scheduled to face Saparbek Safarov on 16 March 2019 at UFC on ESPN+ 5. However Saki pulled out of the fight in late February due to an undisclosed injury. Safarov remained on the card against  a replacement, Nicolae Negumereanu. On 8 February 2021, it was reported that Saki had been released from the UFC. Later, Saki clarified that he asked the UFC to let him go due to the multiple injuries sustained in mixed martial arts training. Personal life. Saki holds dual Dutch and Turkish nationality. He has stated that he respects Ramon Dekkers, and referred to Fedor Emelianenko as his favorite fighter. Kickboxing record (Incomplete). ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white  | ! style=background:white | ! style=background:white |