Friday, 24 May 2013 01:11

As I alluded to earlier, It's Showtime and REBELS are set to work together on July 18th in an event promoted by Stand Up Japan! The main event is set to be Giorgio Petrosyan vs. HINATA, which is one of the biggest non-K-1 MAX or Shootboxing fights Japan has seen in quite a while. There was talk of It's Showtime and the European Fighting Network establishing "It's Showtime Japan" in Japan, along with REBELS and a few other big names in Japan, but I didn't want to talk about it until I was sure (my Japanese only goes so far).

Nightmare of Battle did the honors of translating it, and it looks like It's Showtime Japan is a venture between It's Showtime's partners (It's Showtime and European Fighting Network), Japanese Martial Arts Directors (JMD) and REBELS. Together they have incorporated It's Showtime Japan, which will run it's first show next Spring. It will be a public company with Japanese kickboxer Toshio Fujiwara as the representative director.

It's Showtime Japan will establish eight weight classes, which will all have their set of rankings and help broaden the talent pool for It's Showtime's World Championships. Those weight classes are 61kg, 65kg, 70kg, 73kg, 77kg, 85kg, 95kg and Heavyweight.

The July show, main-evented by Petrosyan and HINATA will be "It's Showtime Japan Countdown-1" -- promoted by Stand Up Japan! and It's Showtime Japan, it will not be an It's Showtime event proper, instead part of a charity event and the first in a series of "countdown" shows leading into the debut of It's Showtime in Japan. Needless to say, It's Showtime has declared war on K-1 by moving into their home turf and working with one of the only kickboxing organizations that they aren't actively involved with, we'll see how this plays out.

Friday, 24 May 2013 01:11

K-1's relative silence continues, although there is a rumor of K-1 MAX happening in June or July, we've seen nothing definitive yet. The recent success of the Stand Up Japan event featuring Masato and KID Yamamoto has spawned a lot of positive press and apparently another charity event coming up in July. The Japanese press is all over the main event for the event as it will be a clash between Europe and Japan.

Japanese press have dubbed it "It's Showtime Japan vs. REBELS" with the main event being Giorgio Petrosyan vs. HINATA. Both men are at the top of the heap in the 70kg weight class. Petrosyan is currently the man to beat at 70kg, looking utterly unstoppable with two K-1 World MAX Championships in his possession. At the It's Showtime Lyon press conference Petrosyan mentioned that K-1 has still yet to pay him for his backpay, so there is a slim chance outside of K-1 making it up to Petrosyan, and if they actually have an event, that we'll see him competiing for them again.

So this should be considered a rare appearance in Japan for Petrosyan, against the top Japanese 70kg fighter outside of Yoshihiro Sato. There is talk of European Fighting Network and It's Showtime being more involved with the event, so stay tuned for more news regarding this event. [source]

Friday, 24 May 2013 01:11

Yesterday, in the shadow of It's Showtime, SuperKombat held a big event in Bucharest, Romania featuring names such as Albert Kraus and a heavyweight tournament featuring K-1 veterans Dzevad Poturak and Sergei Lascenko.

The heavyweight tournament started off with Roman Kleibl vs Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Kleibl took a decision in 3 rounds. In the second semi final, Sergei Lascenko stopped Dzevad Poturak with a knee to the body, setting up a final of Roman Kleibl vs. Sergei Lascenko. Lascenko went on to get the knockout agaisnt Kleibl in the second round, winning the tournament. Kleibl also advanced to the Final Eliminations, which are a bit unclear as to what they are right now but it looks like SuperKombat will be holding more events similar to this and the winners of the heavyweight tournaments will all meet in a final grand prix tournament. It's a big win for Lascenko, as he's been rather inconsistent and not in the best shape in past fights. You have to think the switch to Mike's Gym played a role in the turn around.

K-1 star Albert Kraus returned to action after a loss last month, taking on Romanian Marius Tita. Kraus went to work early, bombarding Tita with punches mixed in with low kicks until a high kick sealed the deal, knocking Tita out cold. It's a good win for Kraus as he was able to get back on track with a win. Nice to see him throwing some more kicks as well.

Others in action picking up wins were Rico Verhoeven and Sebastien Ciobanu. Upcoming Romanian star Bogdan Stoica forced his opponent's corner to stop the fight in the 3rd round of their Wako-Pro -88.68 kg Intercontinental Title Match. Romanian-Nigerian Benjamin Adegbuyi stopped his Czech opponent Libor Polach in the 1st round.

Overall, a good event from SuperKombat. Looks like they have some big things in the works. Check out the video of Albert Kraus' fight above and be on the lookout for more videos from the event over the week.

Friday, 24 May 2013 01:11

Once again, StillWill delivers with another top notch kickboxing highlight reel. You might remember his other amazing highlights of names such as Gokhan Saki and Melvin Manhoef. This time, the featured fighter is Tyrone Spong. Spong started out in the lower weight classes where he cleaned out the divisions and now he's all the way up to heavyweight where he's currently one of the top ranked fighters in the world. Check out the new amazing highlight below!