This review was commissioned by Eric T. over on my Ko-fi account.
Instead of his iconic baby blue long tights, Volk Han enters this fight in red boxing-style shorts. It’s a small bit of mind games here to try and unsettle his opponent, the much more striking-focused Dutchman Dick Vrij. It’s also an indicator of the narrative thread running through this match, a variation on the classic striker vs. grappler dynamic. Volk is already known in 1993 to be able to snatch a victory from a wicked fast submission out of the blue, but here there’s a chip on his shoulder wanting to prove himself capable against the kickboxer.
That translates beautifully into how the action plays out. The RINGS ruleset too provides us a fascinating emotional arc for both men. The first few minutes play out like a babyface shine for Volk, primarily spending the time flexing on Vrij by taking him down to the mat and forcing him to burn his rope breaks. Vrij, for his part, is quick to reach for the ropes at basically any opportunity that Volk has his hands on him, confident in his ability to control the match from a standing position as opposed to fully engaging Volk down on the mat.
What ends up happening is that an initially confident Volk starts to crack when not given the room to really apply himself on the mat. It takes a minute, but at about the halfway point of the match, Vrij finally overtakes by focusing on these big knockdowns using his kicking. At this point in time, one knockdown was equivalent to three rope breaks in the RINGS ruleset, essentially forcing Volk Han to expend three times the effort to match a single precise blow from Vrij.
The unfortunate thing for Volk is that it seems possible. Any time he gets his hands on Vrij, a quick arm submission or a redirect towards the legs isn’t far off. It’s just that Vrij’s got no pride about burning his rope breaks, thus always stunting Volk’s momentum. The problem is that Volk starts deviating from his best strengths, wanting instead to stand and trade to prove himself against Vrij in the striking department. This doesn’t work out for him nearly as well as Vrij always seems to get the best of the striking exchanges, even nailing these glancing blows that wipe out Volk.
It’s around the third knockdown or so where the cracks in Volk’s confidence really start to show. Watch the way he emotes as he gets up to his feet from each succeeding knockdown. He goes from confidently getting his hands up for the crowd, to smacking his hands together in frustration, down to just that truly expressive hands on the waist frustration in the back half of the match. One can actually feel the fight slipping away from him on every level, watching both the points get knocked away from him and the confidence leaving his eyes with every passing seconds.
Dick Vrij’s emoting is no less important here, though it does play out a little more subtly. Towards end of the match, one can see him start to clench his jaw, really savoring the feeling that he’s got Volk figured out and applying the pressure. His striking also looks about as good as one can expect from a kickboxer trying to not legitimately KO their opponent, but the movement combined with Volk’s selling makes it all feel entirely believable.
In the end, Volk ends up backing himself into a corner here. Down on points, only one knockdown left, he charges in and Vrij blitzes him with a series of strikes to finally take him down for good. Volk came in wanting to play his opponent’s game, and gets fittingly humbled for the arrogant attempt.
Yet another display of the emotional narratives that can run through shoot style and how to best utilize the genre to evoke those feelings. The pride before the fall, the agony of defeat.
Rating: ****1/4
