Today it was reported by that Semmy Schilt has been disqualified and that Hesdy Gerges will take his place in the GP Final. Gerges was scheduled to compete in an “It’s Showtime” event on December 18th but has been replaced by Brit Chris Knowles according to the article.

First of all, this is what happened a while back:

Protest appealed against Sem Schilt

Remon Daalder, manager of Black Label Fighting, and Simon Rutz of IT’S SHOWTIME have both sent a protest to K-1 with the goal of disqualifying Sem Schilt for the K-1 World Grand Prix Final of December 11 in Japan.

In the K-1 regulations is written that in case a fighter gets injured during the fight, the wound may not be treated by one of the cornermen without interference of the official physician and referee. However, this did happen right after the first round by Bas Boon. Schilt, who received numerous lowkicks right from the beginning of the fight, didn’t check one of those lowkicks very well so his right shinbone got torn open. If the referee had seen this right away, the doctor had to take a look at the wound and continuing the fight wouldn’t have been medically responsible. The referee never discovered this wound, because Schilt’s corner ‘secretly’ applied a lot of tape on the wound. Despite the fact that the blood was visible right through the tape, the referee still didn’t see it. The fact that Schilt’s shinbone was stitched right after the fight, showed that it was a serious wound. The applied tape is clearly visible on the TV images and on YouTube (from the second round).

Simon Rutz: “Because Hesdy Gerges is our reigning IT’S SHOWTIME world champion, K-1 really wanted to match him with their own world champion. K-1 created a huge buzz in the Japanese media and hyped the question: ‘Who is the stronger one, the IT’S SHOWTIME world champion or the K-1 world champion?’ After 2 rounds the judges scored the fight 20-20 (draw), 19-20 (for Sem) and 18-20 (for Sem). However, like everyone could see, the third round was clearly for Hesdy Gerges so that round should have been scored 10-9, 10-9, 10-9 for Hesdy Gerges. If you add that score to the scores after round 2 you will get the following end result: 30-29 (for Hesdy), 29-29 (draw) and 28-29 (for Sem). A more clear example for an extra round can’t be found! If there would have been an extra round, Sem would never have been able to finish this round, because he already had difficulties finishing the third round. This decision was already unjustified, but on top of that it’s clear to see that Sem Schilt’s corner has violated the rules by applying a thick layer of tape on Sem’s deep wound.”

Remon Daalder: “I totally agree with this. If the K-1 follows their own rules, there is only one possibility, and that is the disqualification of Sem. If the K-1 doesn’t do this, the effects for the future of K-1 cannot be overseen. Everyone will then disrespect the rules. Sem Schilt speaks in De Telegraaf (Netherlands’ biggest newspaper) about a little form error, but I absolutely disagree. This violation of the rules means the difference between winning or losing and the difference between fighting a superfight on December 11 or fighting in the final for 400.000 dollar. If the rules are being followed, Hesdy Gerges will fight in the December 11 final and not Sem Schilt. ‘Secretly’ applying the thick layer of tape says enough actually, because if Sem’s corner wouldn’t have been convinced that the wound would mean the end of the fight, they just would’ve asked the doctor for permission, but clearly they had no trust in this. They took a chance/risk and in my opinion they’ve lost.”

– It’s Showtime

Source: http://nightmareofbattle.com/?p=4255&ke ... &width=850