Saturday, 18 May 2013 03:19

March was a huge month for Japanese kickboxing, with two Rajadamnern Stadium title fights, the Road to Glory 65kg tournament and big cards from RISE and Krush. This post will recap all of March's kickboxing and muay thai action from the past month.

March 3rd: Krush Ignition 2013 vol.1 and 2

Krush's series of smaller shows, previously known as Krush-EX, kicked off in March with a day-night double header. The main event only lasted 2:19, but was a wild affair with 2012 Youth GP semifinalist Daizo Sasaki knocking down prospect Minoru Kimura. However it was Kimura who came out on top, dropping Sasaki 3 times en route to a stoppage and giving him his third straight stoppage win after a pair of losses, which seem to have reenergized him. The co-main event saw Masanobu Goto rebound from a loss to Keiji Ozaki with a 1st round KO of Atsushi Ogata, who has proved to be little more than a punching bag since an upset win over Toshiki Taniyama. Ryuma Tobe returned to action after a 10 month layoff, knocking out Hiroshi Kamata in the 3rd round.

Tenkaichi 65

While the main event was an MMA fight, the main kickboxing attraction saw Legend 63kg champion Kouki Nakamura stop Masataka Maeda in the 1st round. Nakamura has fought on Big Bang cards before, losing to Koya Urabe and Naoki, and could find himself in Krush or RISE if he continues to dominate lower level competition.

March 10th: Road to GLORY Japan -65kg SLAM

The most stacked weekend of the month was headlined by GLORY's first Road to GLORY Japan event. The quarterfinals saw Zen Fujita stop Riki Matsuoka, Yuki beat Mohan Dragon, Masaaki Noiri get by HIROYA for a 3rd time and Yukihiro Komiya score an upset over Ryuji Kajiwara in a brawl. The semifinals saw Yuki use his signature low kicks to stop Zen Fujita while Noiri got by Komiya. In the finals, Noiri turned it on and dropped Yuki six times over the course of two rounds, ultimately stopping him with a brutal knockout and earning himself a spot in GLORY's 65kg world tournament in May. The event also featured a big superfight between Krush champ Hirotaka Urabe and WPMF champ SHIGERU in what was one of the best fights of the night. After three even rounds, Urabe opened up a nasty cut over SHIGERU's eye with a flying knee in the extension round, forcing a doctor stoppage. Full recap here.

SNKA: Magnum 31

This event featured two Rajadamnern Stadium title fights as Hiroki Ishii defended his 140lb title while Bantamweight champ Manasak Pinsinchai defended his strap against Mutsuki Ebata. Despite facing his second straight undersized opponent, Ishii was dropped in the 2nd round by an elbow and, despite recovering, finished in the 4th round by Aikpikart Mor Krongthepthonburi, who claimed Ishii's Raja title. In the co-main event, Manasak dominated Ebata in every aspect of the fight for the first four rounds and fended off a strong charge from Ebata in the final round, defending his title on foreign soil for the first time. Also on the card was 2010 K-1 Koshien champ Shohei Hareyama bouncing back from a loss to Shota Saenchaigym with a with a unanimous decision over Haruki. NJKF Welterweight Taeyeon was also on the card and despite impressing over the past year, he was knocked out in the 1st round by Shota Otsuki.

REALDEAL 32

REALDEAL Gym's 32nd event was headlined by a rematch between one of their top prospects and RISING Rookies Cup 70kg winner Ryota Toyoshima and Akio Kishima. Toyoshima won their first bout, but this fight couldn't have ended differently as Kishima landed with a big head kick in the 1st round that put Toyoshima to sleep.

BOUT 14

The main event saw the popular TOMONORI defeat WAKO Korea Flyweight champion Gan Byon-ju by decision, dropping him once in the fight. Also on the card was NJKF and Krush vet Shoya Suzuki who picked up a  win over Yoshiyuki Nagayama.

Recap of the second half of the month after the break.

Add a comment

Saturday, 18 May 2013 03:19

Enfusion Live holds their third show of the year today in London, England and we'll have you covered with live results as they happen. The main event features Michael Wakeling taking on Pajonsuk Super Pro Samui. As well, Andrew Tate fights Marino Schouten and the Enfusion women's 54kg title is on the line between Iman Barlow and Alexis Rufus.

Live updates of the event will be provided on Twitter at @rianscalia. The event starts at 4PM ET/1PM PT in North America and will be live on The Fight Network in Canada. Full fight card here.

Thanks to Knockoutpics for the photo. Check out the full photo album of the weigh-ins on Facebook.

Kaeng Super Pro Samui def. James Snelling by majority decision.

Amanda Kelly def. Fatima Adib by unanimous decision.

Andrew Tate def. Marino Schouten by unanimous decision.

Mirkko Moisar def. Jason Woodham by KO (Liver Shot) in Round 2.

Iman Barlow def. Alexis Rufus by unanimous decision.

Michael Wakeling def. Pajonsuk Super Pro Samui by unanimous decision in an extra round.

Saturday, 18 May 2013 03:19

Part of what always made K-1 special and work was that their regional qualifying tournaments became integral parts of the K-1 experience. The K-1 World Grand Prix did a lot of the times fall into having the same few names involved year-after-year, but new names came up on a regular basis from the regional tournaments that K-1 held. It is also what helped to grow the brand outside of Japan and turn it into a global sports entertainment brand.

This weekend's K-1 Moldova event follows in that traditional by having a few qualifying bouts as well as a Light Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament featuring some of the better names in the division that were available, with Constantin Tutu being an early favorite in the tournament. Here is a visual breakdown on the tournament as well as a few of the qualifying bouts and Superfights on the card.

Superfights and Qualifying bouts after the break. Add a comment

Saturday, 18 May 2013 03:19

GLORY 8 Tokyo takes place on May 3 in Tokyo, Japan at the Ariake Coliseum. Previously announced for the fight card were GLORY's eight man 65kg tournament, as well as a fight between Peter Aerts and Jamal Ben Saddik. The complete tournament lineup was just announced, as well as a few other fights.

The eight man field for the 65kg tournament is as follows:

Yuta Kubo

Mosab Amrani

Liam Harrison

Masaaki Noiri

Marcus Vinicius

Abdellah Ezbiri

Gabriel Varga

Chi Bin Lim

Two other fights were also added to the card. The 70kg fight that fell through at GLORY 5 London this past weekend between Albert Kraus and Andy Ristie has been rescheduled to be on this event. Also, Anderson "Braddock" Silva will fight Jaideep Singh.

Saturday, 18 May 2013 03:19

Kickboxing was in a bit of the standard early-year doldrums but now we are back into full swing with big events coming from every which direction. If you are in Europe or in Canada and have the Fight Network I urge you to check out this weekend's Enfusion Live show with an awesome card featuring some top talent. Look for fights from Pajonsuk, Andrew Tate, Iman Barlow and more.