i got to meet and train with Filho Shihan a few years ago. I asked about this fight and how his game plan was developed, he essentially said “he wasn’t defending and it kept working, so i kept kicking uchi-mata (inside low kick)”. His answer was far simpler than i expected
I still accept Roufus's loss,but you can't really give Filho all the credit,Roufus is much slower and had weird stance than he used to, If you compare him in his prime he is soo much quicker
@@exen3980 I think his stance is weird during those years because he's still figuring still out how to mix his Muay thai and karate/ kickboxing style work
Roufus was working with Saekson then, the same one who was in Kiatsongrit's corner, I think his influence on Roufus' style was not good. On the other hand Roufus was not afraid of Filho, Roufus was a very good boxer, he even won a WBC title, he had come into that fight with 3 losses in his career, 51 wins and 32 ko, Filho had only won 4 fights in kickboxing.
Rick did not adopt K1 rules in his game. So low kicks and knee strikes were not included in his arsenal. That's why he lost to Filho and Banner, he could have done better in K1 because he had so much talent as a striker. Still one of my favourite kickboxers.
There were quite a few kickboxers who had an excellent side kick, but the side kick is an athletes kick, most people like Roufus only used them for distance gauging and usually failed at using it to knock people over simply because their hips weren't fast enough. However guys like manson Gibson had great side kicks very similar to Wonderboy. High level sanda is what to watch if you want to see the best side kicks in the world.
