Badr Hari's punishment revealed.

FEG has finally revealed Badr Hari's punishment after the self-proclaimed Golden Boy deliberately broke the rules in his fight with Remy Bonjasky in the finals of the K-1 WORLD GP 2008 Tournament.

After much discussion amongst FEG Producer Sadaharu Tanigawa and K-1 Rules Director Nobuaki Kakuda, Hari's official punishment are as follow:

1. Withdrawal of the entire fight purse from the event.
2. Being stripped off the K-1 WORLD GP Heavyweight Title.
3. No longer officially known as the 2008 K-1 WORLD GP Finalist.

When asked if there are any suspensions in mind for Hari, K-1 management indicated that in the near future, rules will be strongly implemented to disqualify and suspend fighters who deliberately break the rules much like Hari did in his fight against Bonjasky.

If you ask me for a personal opinion though, I don't think it is fair to not suspend Hari for his actions. Take a look at Yoshihiro Akiyama for instance. The popular judoka was suspended due to his use of skin cream, which he intended to use to treat his dry skin. However, after much protest by Kazushi Sakuraba, whom he faced at K-1 Premium 2006 Dynamite!! which led to the violation, not only was his fight purse withdrawn, he was also suspended for ten months. All that due to an unintentional use of a skin cream which he did not use in order to cheat. The sad thing about it though is that Akiyama was being a complete professional about the whole matter, apologizing sincerely for his actions, willing to take any punishment FEG handed over to him and also requesting (but never receiving) a rematch against Sakuraba to erase the whole memory of that match and start afresh. Even when he was getting booed and heckled by the fans and taunted heavily by Kazuo Misaki after their Yarennoka! fight, Akiyama took everything like a man and did not even do anything further to embarrass himself and the sport.

Hari on the other hand committed a huge foul which was absolutely embarrassing to the sport and at the same time, did not seem to show any remorse or regret over his actions. After grounding and pounding Bonjasky, he could have stopped, but he had to add a stomp as well. Then he had to make a scene by getting in Kakuda's face and also Ivan Hippolyte's face. I find it terrible how Hari commented on Bonjasky not showing any interest to fight anymore. What about Hari himself? If Hari was serious about wanting to compete for the richest prize in fightsport, he could have put personal issues aside and display professionalism by putting on a great fight and winning the tournament as many have predicted. Instead, he didn't seem to care about taking Bonjasky down. He didn't seem to care about grounding and pounding Bonjasky. He didn't seem to care about stomping on Bonjasky's head while he's on the ground. He didn't seem to care if getting in Kakuda's and Hippolyte's face would result in a disqualification.

Basically, on the grandest stage in fightsport and with the biggest opportunity of his life, Badr Hari didn't seem to care about becoming the K-1 WORLD GP Champion.

So why even bother competing for the title? I cannot imagine what must be going through the minds of the other six fighters who were watching the fight backstage and witnessing the humiliation Hari was bringing to the sport. To them, they could have been in the finals and fought for the title that they have been fighting for throughout the year and put on a better fight, not to mention a professional one as well without any controversies whatsoever. I mean, what was Hari trying to prove and gain out of this fight? This man has proven that no matter how good he is as a fighter, his personality and behavior is not worthy of being a role model to anyone. As a fight fan myself and as a man struggling to help Malaysians to see just how wonderful this sport is due to the professionalism shown by all fighters, it is absolutely discouraging and absolutely humiliating to see such action taking place that evening.

Let me make it very clear to everyone. K-1 and MMA are not sports-entertainment. Yes they have the glitz, the glamor, the pageantry with their always elaborate production for almost every event, especially in Japan, but this is a sport, a real legitimate sport. K-1 and MMA are as legit as football, as basketball, as baseball, as badminton, as tennis, as motorsports, as boxing and many other major sports out there. Yes the sport isn't as popular as it was years ago in Japan, but there is still a huge market there and also around the world. Having said that, I strongly pray and hope that such an incident would not be repeated ever again in this wonderful sport that I continue to love.

Perhaps this punishment would serve as a reminder to Badr Hari in the near future to not break any rules. I don't think it was justified fully as he truly deserves a suspension for his actions, but that's my opinion and sadly, I don't think FEG would even care about my opinion.

Source: FightOpinion.com