 Anyway, at the beginning of the year the K-1 heads decided to discourage the usage of the clinch in order to create more exciting fights as it seemed to many tired fighters were using the clinch way to often resulting in slowing down the pace of fights.This move upset many of the K-1 fighters as it would force them to change the way they fought, as well as upset many of the K-1 purists who do not like change.The “no clinch” rule would affect many important fights throughout the year, and none more important than the first major fight of the year between defending K-1 WGP champion Semmy Schilt and three time WGP champion Peter Aerts.