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It would be the youngsters 5th A class fight entering the tournament, and the odds were against him. The underdog position however seemed to favour the young fighter from Hoofddorp as he won the tournament with conviction. At only 20 years of age, Keastner was the youngest and most unexperienced fighter in the tournament. But he would prove himself worthy of filling up the spot of Tarik el Idrissi, who had to pull out due to injury. Few figured on Keastner upsetting the field as he did, beating fighters with years of more experience. It seems the Dutch K-1 MAX tournament is having a neck for causing upsets, as Keastner is walking into the steps of Warren Stevelmans, who caused the upset last year winning the tournament. First up in the tournament quarter finals were Moroccan fighter Rachid “the man of steel” Belaini vs Belgian Muaythai champion Mohammed Rahhoui. Rahhoui used his reach advantage wisely, keeping the distance with hard bodykicks. However, Belaini started to turn up the pressure and landed some clean punches in the second, putting Rahhoui in reverse. The pace went up even higher in round 3, and while Belaini packed the better punch, Rahhoui had the better kicks. Rahhoui, being the Muaythai specialist, kept searching for the clinch whenever Belaini closed the distance, and eventually got a warning for clinching. Nonetheless,the judges scored the fight in favour of Rahhoui earning him a trip to the semi-finals. In the second quart final, Turkish kickboxer Ali Gunyar, who fought in the final 16 K-1 MAX event in 2006, took on youngster Leroy ”Bambam” Keastner. From the start, Keastner showed he had zero deference for the experienced fighter from Turkey, pressing the action and putting Gunyar in reverse with strong, powerful boxing combinations. At the last minute of the round, a cut above the eye of Gunyar prompted a doctor’s checkup, but he was allowed to continue. It seemed Gunyar realised this could cost him the fight, as he started to fight back hard, looking for the knockout. Keastner didn’t seem to be bothered and kept fighting forward, advancing to the semi’s. 
Next up were runner up from the 2008 HOLLAND MAX tournament Marco Pique vs Chris “The African Warrior” Ngimbi. A mellow start compared to the first two quarter finals, with both fighters feeling each other out, realising they could have two more fights coming up. Pique earned the round landing some solid leg kicks, and a high knee coming in close to the chin of Ngimbi. However, “The African Warrior” started to turn up the pace in the second, attempting to KO Pique with some spectaculair flying knees. Pique kept coming with the legkicks with Ngimbi checking none of them. In the third round it was all Ngimbi, who went berserk on Pique. After 3 rounds, the judge scored the fight as a draw and a tiebreaker round was prescribed. In this round, Ngimbi pressed the action for sure but however, Pique was awarded the victory. 
The last of the first tier-matchups saw upcoming fighter Hafid “The Heyena” el Boustati vs the veteran William “The Machine” Diender. Many experts would have favoured Diender to have the better chances of the two, based on experience. Nothing seemed to be less true. El Boustati fought extremely intelligent, bobbing and weaving like a professional boxer, avoiding the dangerous hooks of The Machine, countering with crisp combinations. 
The Heyena scored a down in the second with a solid knee, and even tough Diender recovered quickly and was able to continue in the 3rd as well, this would earn Hafid a unanimous decision, turning the odds and making him a favourite to advance to the finals. The first semi-finals featured Leroy Keastner vs Mohammed Rahhoui. Rahhoui seemingly didn’t want to box with Keastner, clinching him up, prompting the referee to come in between on numerous occasions. Keastner didn’t want to clinch, brawling his way out successfully several times. Rahhoui seemed to be annoyed and got a point deduction for landing a spinning elbow. A mistake that would cost him dearly, because Keastner took the victory and advanced to the finals. The second semi-finals saw Hafid el Boustati taking on Marco Pique. Pique seemed to be a bit fatigued from his last fight, that went over 4 rounds. Hafid looked fresh and hungry, scoring with crisp combinations while Pique looking for the counter attack. However, things would turn for the worse for El Boustati, when a doctor checkup was prompted due to a cut above his eye. His corner tried to close it up, but after a third checkup the doctors decided to stop the fight, minding El Boustati’s health. Thus, Pique earned a TKO victory and advanced to the finals. The tournament final saw Marco “the Black Sniper” Pique vs Leroy “Keastner” Bambam going all out, both eager to make there mark in Japan. Marco pressed the action for sure, but Keastner had his guard well covered up and countered with annoying fast lowkicks, all of them landing and slowing Pique down. Keastner, the lightest (68kg) and youngest fighter in the tournament had no trouble putting also Pique in reverse mode and pressing the action with strong boxing combinations. Marco came back strongly in the third, going all out and determined not to end up as runner up again, but he couldn’t get the upper hand against the young underdog who simply had nothing to lose that night and kept fighting forward no matter what. After 3 rounds of action the decision went to Keastner, causing a huge set-up becoming the youngest and most un-experienced 2009 K-1 MAX Holland champion ever. Congratulations Leroy! How do you feel now? “I’m feeling incredible!! I just won the tournament!!” Did you expect this to happen? “I felt strong and trained very hard, but I did go into the tournament with the least amount of experience. My team and I were like “we’ll see” You just qualified for the final 16 in Japan, who would you like to fight? I would love to fight Drago. Did you have any injuries coming out of the tournament? Some bruises and bumps, but I can still walk down the stairs so it’s not so bad! So what’s in store for you? 21 of april is the date of the final 16 in Japan. I’m going to focus on that first and we’ll see after that. In the reserve fight, Melvin Rozenblad defeated Marvin Sansaar by split decision. The card also had 3 superfights Mosab “The Jaguar” Amrani, who gained international fame beating Thai KO specialist Anuwat Kaewsamrit, showed he’s a force to be reckoned with defeating veteran Robert van Nimwegen. Amrani kept pressing the action for 3 rounds with lightning fast combinations, stumbling van Nimwegen on several occasions and eventually earning a very convincing unanimous decision.
Khalid Chabrani took the vacant dutch kickboxing title at -76kg, defeating Amir “The Sphinx” Zeyada in a spectaculair fashion. Chabrani managed to score 3 knockdowns during the fight, but “the Sphinx” showed a lot of heart, and was determined to finish the fight on his feet and even managed to hurt Chabrani in the 5th. But it wasn’t enough by far, and Chabrani took home the belt and the fame. Also, Eric Zowa defeated the 160kg titan Clyde van Dams on points in a heavyweight matchup.
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