Ole Laursen

Ole Laursen
Born	Ole Baguio Laursen (1977-08-21) August 21, 1977 Manila, Philippines
Other names	Iron Fist
Nationality	Filipino (Born) Danish (Raise)
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	72 kg (159 lb; 11.3 st)
Division	Welterweight
Style	Muay Thai
Fighting out of	Ubon Ratchatani, Thailand
Team	Legacy Gym
Years active	1998–present
Kickboxing record
Total	56
Wins	36
By knockout	12
Losses	20
Mixed martial arts record
Total	13
Wins	9
By knockout	3
By submission	4
By decision	2
Losses	4
By submission	3
By decision	1
Amateur record
Total	6
Wins	5
By knockout	5
Losses	1

Ole 'Iron Fist' Laursen (born August 21, 1977) is a Filipino-Danish Welterweight Muay Thai kickboxer and mixed martial artist currently competing in ONE FC's Lightweight division.

Early life

Laursen was born in Manila, Philippines to Danish father and a Spanish-Filipino mother and moved to Denmark with his family when he was two years old. Laursen got involved with martial arts through his older brother Christian, and was 15 when he began training in Muay Thai.

Laursen currently lives in Ubon Ratchatani, Thailand and fights out of his own Legacy Gym.

Laursen trained with Peter J McCarthy, the subject, director and producer of the documentary, Fight of Flight which won "Best Foreign Documentary" at the Long Island Film Festival, New York as well as three other "Best Documentary" awards at festivals in Hamburg, Toronto and California. Laursen assisted the production team in Ubon Ratchatani.

Kickboxing / K-1 / Muay Thai career

As an amateur Laursen had six fights before turning professional. He lost his first amateur bout, took a year off, and then came back with five straight wins – all by knockout, winning the 1998 Danish amateur kickboxing title in the process. He made his professional debut in 2000 and picked up his first major honour that summer, defeating Eval Denton to win the I.K.F. European title.^[1] Laursen relocated from Europe to San Diego in the United States, where he won the vacant I.M.T.C. Championship in 2001.^[2] However, he was unable to defend his title later on that year, losing a controversial decision to the Thai fighter Kongnapa in what many thought was a Laursen victory.^[3]

In 2002 Laursen made his first appearance for the K-1 organization at the K-1 World MAX 2002 USA in Denver, Colorado, where he made the final only to lose to U.S rival Duane Ludwig.^[4] This defeat meant that Laursen was unable to participate in the inaugural K-1 MAX final but he made up somewhat for that defeat by winning the prestigious King's Cup in Bangkok, Thailand at the end of the year.^[5] In 2003 Laursen signed up with the newly formed European promotion SuperLeague where he faced Shane Chapman on his debut only to lose by decision.^[6] Despite this defeat Laursen had some initial success in SuperLeague with his Muay Thai style favouring five-round matches, going 4 and 2 with the organization by the end of 2004 and beating world champions such as Peter Crooke and Kamal El Amrani.

Over the following years Laursen spent much of his fighting time flicking back and forth between SuperLeague and K-1, although the increased competition (and shorter fight times introduced by SuperLeague) meant that he had little success with either promotion – finishing with an overall record of 4-5 SuperLeague, and 2-6 in K-1.

He returned to kickboxing to face pound-for-pound great Giorgio Petrosyan in Trieste, Italy on March 2, 2013. Severely overmatched, he was dropped with a knee to the liver before being knocked out with a left high kick immediately after in round one.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Boxing career

Laursen had a trial with the Philippines National Boxing Team and was accepted but decided to move to Thailand instead of staying in the Philippines to pursue a career in boxing.^[11]

Mixed martial arts career

Laursen made his professional MMA debut in 2006 and had two fights with the K-1 Hero's promotion in Japan. He lost his first fight against Genki Sudo by decision and his second fight to Caol Uno by third round submission. Laursen was suffering from a knee injury and was not able to train properly for the fight with Uno.^[12]

Laursen did not begin to fight MMA regularly again until 2010 because he was focused on his K-1 and Muay Thai career, a decision he has subsequently said he regrets.^[13] His next two fights were both in China, with Laursen submitting Liu Guang Yao in 2007 and knocking out Shawn David in 2009.

In 2010 he signed with ESPN Star Sports promotion Martial Combat in Singapore. He defeated Eduardo Pachu in the third round of their five-round 'super fight' at Martial Combat 1.^[14] His second fight was against Nick LeConte at Martial Combat 8 and Laursen won by unanimous decision. His final fight for Martial Combat was against Malaysian Muay Thai champion Jian Kai Chee at Martial Combat 12 and Laursen won by TKO in the first round.

In November 2010 MMA website Bloody Elbow ranked Laursen number eight on a list of the top lightweight prospects in the world.^[15]

ONE Fighting Championship

On July 15, 2011 it was announced that Laursen had signed with One Fighting Championship.^[16] On July 18 it was announced that Laursen would be facing fellow Filipino Eduard Folayang at ONE Fighting Championship: Champion vs. Champion at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on September 3.^[17] On August 17, 2011 it was announced that Laursen had injured his knee in training and would be unable to fight Folayang at ONE Fighting Championship: Champion vs. Champion. He was replaced by South Korean fighter A Sol Kwon.

On February 4, 2012 it was announced that Laursen would be facing Felipe Enomoto at ONE Fighting Championship: Battle of Heroes in Jakarta, Indonesia on February 11, 2012.^[18] He lost the fight via submission in the second round.

Championships and Accomplishments

Kickboxing

• 2002 King's Cup Muay Thai Champion -70 kg
• 2002 K-1 World MAX USA runner up -70 kg
• 2001 I.M.T.C. Muay Thai Super Welterweight World Champion -70 kg
• 2000 I.K.F. Pro Muay Thai European Champion -70 kg
• 1998 Danish Amateur Kickboxing Champion

MMA

• Martial Combat
  • 2010 Martial Combat Superfight Lightweight Champion -73 kg
• ONE Fighting Championship
  • Fight of the Night (1 Time)

Professional Kickboxing Record

36 Wins (10 (T)KO's), 20 Losses Date Result Opponent Event Location Method Round Time 2013-03-02 Loss Giorgio Petrosyan Gotti Promotions Trieste, Italy KO (left high kick) 1 2:10 2013-01-25 Win Local thai fighter Fight Night Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand KO (Legkick) 1 2013-01-11 Win Local thai fighter Fight Night Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand KO (Bodyshoot) 2 2008-06-14 Loss Jiri Zak Eight Brawl, Quarter Finals Copenhagen, Denmark Ref stopped fight (Leg Injury) 3 2008-05-31 Loss Virgil Kalakoda K-1 Scandinavia MAX 2008, Super Fight Stockholm, Sweden Ext.R Decision (Unanimous) 4 3:00 2007-06-28 Loss Andy Souwer K-1 World MAX 2007 Final Elimination Tokyo, Japan TKO (Foot injury) 1 2:07 Fails to qualify for K-1 World MAX 2007 Final. 2007-04-04 Loss Masato K-1 World MAX 2007 World Elite Showcase Yokohama, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 2006-09-24 Loss Buakaw Por. Pramuk K-1 MAX North European Qualification, Super Fight Stockholm, Sweden TKO (Ref Stop/Left Hook) 2 2:49 2006-05-20 Win Jean-Charles Skarbowsky K-1 Scandinavia Grand Prix 2006 Stockholm, Sweden Ext.R Decision (Unanimous) 4 3:00 2006-04-05 Loss Gago Drago K-1 World MAX 2006 World Tournament Open Tokyo, Japan Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 Fails to qualify for K-1 World MAX 2006 Final. 2006-01-14 Loss Farid Villaume The Night of the Superfights III Villebon-sur-Yvette, France KO 2 2005-10-22 Loss Foad Sadeghi SuperLeague Heavy Knockout 2005 Vienna, Austria Decision 3 3:00 2005-09-24 Loss Ali Gunyar SuperLeague Turkey 2005, Quarter Finals Tokyo, Japan Decision 3 3:00 2005-04-09 Loss José Reis SuperLeague Austria 2005 Vienna, Austria Decision 5 3:00 2005-01-23 Loss Hiroki Shishido Shoot Boxing Ground Zero Fukuoka, Japan KO (Right High Kick) 3 0:22 2004-10-22 Win Kamal El Amrani SuperLeague Germany 2004 Oberhausen, Germany KO (Knees) 5 2004-09-19 Loss Andy Souwer S-Cup 2004, Quarter Finals Yokohama, Japan TKO (Ref Stop) 1 2:37 2004-05-22 Win Fadi Merza SuperLeague Switzerland 2004 Winterthur, Switzerland Decision 5 3:00 2004-03-30 Loss Gregory Swerts SuperLeague Italy 2004 Padova, Italy Decision 5 3:00 2004-03-04 Loss Nuengtrakarn Por.Muang Ubon S1 World Championships 2004, Quarter Finals Bangkok, Thailand Decision 3 3:00 2003-12-06 Win Fadi Merza SuperLeague Netherlands 2003 Rotterdam, Netherlands Decision 5 3:00 2003-09-27 Win Peter Crooke SuperLeague Germany 2003 Wuppertal, Germany TKO 2 2003-05-10 Loss Shane Chapman SuperLeague Austria 2003 Vienna, Austria Decision 5 3:00 2003-03-15 Loss Jomhod Kiatadisak K-1 World GP 2003 Scandinavia Stockholm, Sweden Decision 3 3:00 2003-02-15 Win Imro Main VF3 - Rumble in the West Aarhus, Denmark Decision 5 3:00 2002-12-05 Win Faisal Zakaria King's Birthday 2002, Final Bangkok, Thailand KO 2 Wins King's Cup 2002 tournament -70 kg. 2002-12-05 Win Florin Vintilă King's Birthday 2002, Semi Finals Bangkok, Thailand KO 1 2002-03-15 Loss Duane Ludwig K-1 World MAX 2002 USA, Final Denver, Colorado, USA Ext.R Decision (Unanimous) 4 3:00 Fight was for K-1 World MAX 2002 USA tournament -70 kg. Fails to qualify for K-1 World MAX 2002 Final. 2002-03-15 Win Jason Jillian K-1 World MAX 2002 USA, Semi Finals Denver, Colorado, USA KO (Punch) 1 0:43 2001-10-12 Win BM Sasiprappa Warriors Cup 4 Culver City, California, USA KO 2001-06-03 Loss Kongnapa Warriors Cup 3 Burbank, California, USA Decision (Split) 5 3:00 Loses I.M.T.C. Muay Thai Super Welterweight World title -70 kg. 2001-02-25 Win Khunpon Dechkampu Warriors Cup 2 Burbank, California, USA Decision (Unanimous) 5 3:00 Wins vacant I.M.T.C. Muay Thai Super Welterweight World title -70 kg. 2000-06-29 Win Eval Denton I.K.F. Night of Champions St Helens, England, UK Decision (Unanimous) 5 3:00 Wins Denton's I.K.F. Pro Muay Thai Middleweight European title -75 kg. 2000-04-15 Loss Petri Martinez Copenhagen, Denmark TKO 3 Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest   Notes

Mixed martial arts record

See also

• List of male kickboxers

External links

• Fight or Flight official movie page
• Professional MMA record for Ole Laursen from Sherdog

References