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Schilt Returns to MMA

Schilt Returns to MMA

Thursday, January 10, 2008
by Tim Leidecker (tleidecker@sherdog.com)

Three-time defending K-1 World Grand Prix champion Semmy Schilt (Pictures) will make his comeback to the MMA ring on Saturday in Belgrade, Serbia.

After a potential super fight against Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) failed to materialize on New Year's Eve, the most dominant kickboxer of the new millennium has taken matters into his own hands. He told manager Bas Boon to find him a fight in early January on a European event.

Upstart promotion Lord of the Ring gladly obliged and put the 6-foot-11 Dutchman in the main event of its inaugural show. Schilt will face unrenowned Austrian heavyweight Nandor Guelmino.

The 31-year-old Viennese fighter comes from a taekwondo background and has been training in MMA for five years. He gives up eight inches and 25 pounds to Schilt, and he is much more inexperienced with only three previous fights compared to Schilt's almost 40 career MMA bouts and 30 kickboxing fights.

The fight with Guelmino has most likely been booked to ease Schilt back into MMA, which he had been away from for 17 months. His last bout under MMA rules was in August 2006, when he submitted Korean judoka Min Soo Kim (Pictures) in the first round via triangle choke.

Before his highly successful tenure in K-1, the former King of Pancrase had a mixed run in the now-defunct Pride Fighting Championships. He knocked out inferior opposition like Akira Shoji (Pictures), Masaaki Satake (Pictures) and Yoshihiro Takayama (Pictures), but he came up short against top dogs Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (Pictures) and Sergei Kharitonov (Pictures).

Schilt also had a brief stint in the UFC in 2001 before returning to Japan after losing to Josh Barnett (Pictures) at UFC 32.

Also on the card will be Schilt's Golden Glory teammates Valentijn Overeem (Pictures) and Aziz Karaoglu, Pride veteran David Bielkheden (Pictures), Red Devil team member Nikolai Onikienko and highly experienced Muscovite submission master Andrey Rudakov.

The show, which takes place at the 20,000-seat state-of-the-art Belgrade Arena, is supposed to be the first in a series of events taking place all over former Yugoslavia -- in Sarajevo, Podgorica, Zagreb, Ljubljana and Skopje -- and also in other parts of Southeast Europe, including Athens, Greece; Sofia, Bulgaria; and Tirana, Albania.

Full Fight Card

MMA Rules:
Aziz Karaoglu (Germany) vs. Noufel Amellouk (Morocco)
Valentijn Overeem (Pictures) (Netherlands) vs. Kresimir Bogdanovic (Serbia)
Goce Candovski (Macedonia) vs. Denis Stojnic (Serbia)
David Bielkheden (Pictures) (Sweden) vs. Mirzet Bajraktarevic (Croatia)
Nikolai Onikienko vs. TBA
Mathieu Ten Dam (Netherlands) vs. Maurice Luiendijk (Netherlands)
Andrey Rudakov (Russia) vs. Jason Jones (Netherlands)
Nandor Guelmino (Austria) vs. Semmy Schilt (Pictures) (Netherlands)

K-1 Rules:
Azziz Jah Jah (Morocco) vs. Vitor Miranda (Pictures) (Brazil)
Daniel Nordaas (Norway) vs. Chong (Thailand)
Serkan Yavuz (Turkey) vs. Stefan Leko (Pictures) (Germany)