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From MMAWeekly.com
Despite losing in a qualifier bout back in May, Duane "Bang" Ludwig finds himself right back in the mix of the K-1 World Max Tournament. He has been selected to compete in an alternate bout for the tournament with the winner stepping in should anyone in the main portion of the tournament be forced to withdraw for any reason.
In the past, K-1 has used what is regarded as a "survival rule" where if a competitor is forced to withdraw from the tournament after winning his bout, that competitor's defeated opponent would step in and fill the vacated position. Perhaps the most well known instance of this was when Ernesto Hoost, who lost his bout to Bob Sapp who then had to withdraw due to injury, reentered the 2002 K-1 World Grand Prix and went on to win the overall tournament title. It appears that K-1 is trying to move away from the "survival rule" and use alternates instead.
So on July 7th, Ludwig will again head to Japan to enter the K-1 ring. This time he will square off against Serkan Yilmaz who is 3-3 in K-1 competition. Despite his spotty record, Yilmaz is a tough fighter according to Ludwig's manager Sven Bean, "He's tough and really aggressive. He took (World Max Champion) Masato to a decision and he does a lot of crazy, spinning Tae Kwon Do style kicks."
According to Bean, Ludwig was planning on focusing strictly on MMA, despite having lost his last MMA bout to BJ Penn, but "this is an opportunity to get right back in the mix in the World Max. We just decided that we didn't want to pass up the opportunity."
Ludwig is the ISKA Light Middleweight World Muay Thai Champion and will be defending that title this winter for Bean's Ring of Fire promotion. So, if he wins this alternate bout and is called upon in the main draw of the tournament, it may well be a while before we see Bang back in the MMA ring.
Despite losing in a qualifier bout back in May, Duane "Bang" Ludwig finds himself right back in the mix of the K-1 World Max Tournament. He has been selected to compete in an alternate bout for the tournament with the winner stepping in should anyone in the main portion of the tournament be forced to withdraw for any reason.
In the past, K-1 has used what is regarded as a "survival rule" where if a competitor is forced to withdraw from the tournament after winning his bout, that competitor's defeated opponent would step in and fill the vacated position. Perhaps the most well known instance of this was when Ernesto Hoost, who lost his bout to Bob Sapp who then had to withdraw due to injury, reentered the 2002 K-1 World Grand Prix and went on to win the overall tournament title. It appears that K-1 is trying to move away from the "survival rule" and use alternates instead.
So on July 7th, Ludwig will again head to Japan to enter the K-1 ring. This time he will square off against Serkan Yilmaz who is 3-3 in K-1 competition. Despite his spotty record, Yilmaz is a tough fighter according to Ludwig's manager Sven Bean, "He's tough and really aggressive. He took (World Max Champion) Masato to a decision and he does a lot of crazy, spinning Tae Kwon Do style kicks."
According to Bean, Ludwig was planning on focusing strictly on MMA, despite having lost his last MMA bout to BJ Penn, but "this is an opportunity to get right back in the mix in the World Max. We just decided that we didn't want to pass up the opportunity."
Ludwig is the ISKA Light Middleweight World Muay Thai Champion and will be defending that title this winter for Bean's Ring of Fire promotion. So, if he wins this alternate bout and is called upon in the main draw of the tournament, it may well be a while before we see Bang back in the MMA ring.
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