Thursday, 23 May 2013 18:25

SuperKombat held their second show in their 2013 WGP series on Saturday in their home of Romania with some of their big hometown stars. There was a Heavyweight four-man tournament as well as a few Super Fights to round out the show. Sebastian Ciobanu walked away as the winner in the tournament, but not without a lot of doubt in the air as many believe that Frank Munoz rightfully won the bout and that Ciobanu was given a hometown decision by the judges.

The fans most likely went home happy as Ciobanu got his big victory and other hometown heroes by the way of Benjamin Adegbuyi and Catalin Morosanu picked up some wins as well.

Semi Finals: Frank Munoz (R3 - Dec.) Nikolaj Falin

Semi Finals: Sebastian Ciobanu (R3 - Dec.) Vladimir Toktasynov

Claudiu Badoi (R3 - Dec.) Stelios Papadopoulos

Benjamin Adegbuyi (R3 - Dec.) Jairizinho Rozenstruik

Stauros Exakoustidis (R2 - TKO) Ionut Atodiresei

Catalin Morosanu (R1 - TKO) Eduardo Mendes

Finals: Sebastian Ciobanu (Ext.R - Dec.) Frank Munoz

Thursday, 23 May 2013 18:25

Krush.28 took place earlier this week at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, headlined by the finals of the 58kg Tournament between Takeru and Nobuchika Terado to crown the first Krush 58kg champion. Also on the card were 60kg champ Hirotaka Urabe against Italy's Antonio Campagna and former 63kg champ Ryuji Kajiwara against the up and coming Minoru Kimura.

In the main event, Takeru and Nobuchika Terado were even throughout the fight, tagging each other constantly over the course of 3 rounds, but a 1st round knockdown for Takeru was the difference as he won a unanimous decision on scores of 29-27(x3). Terado's biggest weakness over the last few years has been the first round, getting dropped by Ryuya Kusakabe, Shota Takiya and Andy Howson in the opening frame. Takeru exploited that weakness and picked up his 6th straight win and improved to 11-1-0 (7 KO), the sole loss coming on a doctor stoppage due to a broken nose. I fully expect Takeru to stay at this weight as he is only 21 years old and probably wants to avoid fights with 55kg teammates Takumi, Namito Izawa, Norick Kitani and Keisuke Ishida. As for future opponents, we'll have to see if some higher profile 60kg fighters move down. If not, Krush will have to bring in either foreign competition or start taking guys from other organizations. For Terado, there's not a whole lot to say. It's clear that at 32 he is still an elite fighter, but he has been in a lot of wars and they are starting to take their toll. By no means should he retire, but his habit of starting slow and his declining defense will mean he'll struggle to pick up wins against the upper echelon of whatever division he chooses to fight at.

In the co-main event, Krush 60kg champion Hirotaka Urabe pushed his unbeaten streak to 15 with a 3rd round knockout of WAKO Italy Lightweight champion Antonio Campagna. Despite a 11cm height advantage for Campagna, Urabe dominated the fight, pressuring Campagna throughout. Despite his streak, this was by far Urabe's most dominant performance in the past 8 months, as he barely got by Xavier Bastard and SHIGERU, needing extension round cut stoppages to beat them both, and fought Naoki Ishikawa to a draw. This was a very solid win for him after a trio of tough battles and I'd like to see him right back at it in his next outing with either a 4th fight against Ishikawa or a rematch with SHIGERU. 

At 64kg, Minoru Kimura produced a big upset by knocking out former Krush 63kg champ Ryuji Kajiwara at 1:50 of the 3rd round. The 19 year old Kimura, who is known for his fast starts and big power, had a good gameplan for the fight as he was patient in the 1st, then turned it up with combinations in the 2nd and 3rd, dropping Kajiwara once in each round, the latter of which ended the fight. This is by far the biggest win of Kimura's young career and marks his 4th in a row, all of which have come by knockout. With Masaaki Noiri fighting in NJKF and Koya Urabe and Gagny Baradji tied up in the ISKA Lightweight tournament, Minoru Kimura may have just earned himself a shot at 63kg champ Hideaki Yamazaki. And I don't see how Krush can pass up on the opportunity as both fighters have power and aren't afraid to let their hands go. This is a big step back for Kajiwara who has lost two in a row and three of his last four. After a career-best run from 2010 to 2012 that saw him pick up wins over Koya Urabe, Tetsuya Yamato, Kizaemon Saiga, Naoki Ishikawa and HIROYA, he finds himself in the middle of the pack at Lightweight. At 36, age isn't too much of a concern as his counterpunching style doesn't get him into too many brawls, but it is plausible to think his speed is declining with each subsequent outing. He is still a very talented fighter, but this loss knocks him out of the top 10 in Japan and his age will make an even harder climb back to the top.

At 70kg, Shintaro Matsukura picked up a majority decision win over Yoichi Yamazaki. Matsukura returned to 70kg in this fight after dropping to 67kg to compete in the Krush GP earlier this year where he won his quarterfinal against Makihira Keita, but was completely outclassed by Yuta Kubo.

At 67kg, Yuya Yamamoto and TaCa did what they are best at and put on an entertaining brawl that went to an extension round where TaCa dropped Yamamoto to earn a decision victory. After a poor performance in the 63kg WILDRUSH League, TaCa is now 2-1 at 65kg and 67kg with the sole loss coming to Yuta Kubo. While Yamamoto had been struggling, he showed some of the skill that got him to the K-1 World MAX Semifinals in 2009 earlier this year in the Krush GP, stopping Hitoshi Tsukagoshi and pushing Abdallah Ezbiri to the brink in their semifinal bout. While he's still a game competitor, an on his game Yamamoto would have beaten TaCa quite handily.

Finally in the 55kg WILDRUSH League, league leader Takumi picked up his third win with his first stoppage, knocking out Yuya Suzuki in the first round. Both fighters had 4 points going into the bout, but it was Takumi who took a commanding lead with 7 points in three fights. In the other bout Yuki Masato picked up his first win over Kazuki Okawa with a dominant performance that resulted in a unanimous decision. Both men now have 3 points.

Quick results after the break Add a comment

Thursday, 23 May 2013 18:25

This was a pretty exciting weekend for Kickboxing fans and the hits just kept coming as the promotion that is known as probably the #2 Kickboxing promotion in the world, SuperKombat, held an outing in Vienna on the 10th. There were a few recognizable faces involved, as well as some fresh faces. SuperKombat always does a great job of bringing up new stars within their system, something that many other promotions have had problems with. Muamer Tufekcic had already won himself a spot on an upcoming SuperKombat WGP event, but his opponent this weekend, Agalar Sadikhadze fought an impressive fight, so much so that he was asked to participate in an upcoming event as well.

In attendance were international Kickboxing stars Remy Bonjasky, Semmy Schilt and Bogdan Stoica, who soaked in all of the action, being especially impressed by Sadikhadze. It should be noted that in what will serve as a warmup of sorts for his upcoming rematch with Badr Hari, Zabit Samedov made short work of the tough Wieslaw Kwasniewski with a big knockout in Round 1. It was another great event in the books for SuperKombat in 2013, with a big SuperKombat WGP event going down on May 18th in Craiova, Romania.

-64 kg: Turan Qafarov (Azerbaijan) def. Alexander Ramazotti (Italy) via Unanimous Decision

-91 kg: Vuqar Kazimov (Azerbaijan) def. Andreas Chomor (Hungary) via Unanimous Decision

-91 kg: Janos Nietlispach (Switzerland) def. Anar Mammadov (Azerbaijan) via Split Decision

-86 kg: Uros Bogojevic (Serbia) def. Etiram Rzayev (Azerbaijan) via Unanimous Decision

-75 kg: Husnu Sari (Turkey) def. Tural Bayramov (Azerbaijan) via TKO Round 3

-72 kg: Ramal Aslanov (Azerbaijan) def. Cristian Milea (Romania) via Split Decision

Heavyweight: Zabit Samedov (Azerbaijan) def. Wieslaw Kwasniewski (Poland) via KO Round 1

-72,5 kg: Parviz Abdullayev (Azerbaijan) def. Gabriel Bozan (Austria / Romania) via Unanimous Decision

-81 kg: Niels Wilmink (Holland) def. Kamil Sharifov (Azerbaijan) via Unanimous Decision

Heavyweight: Sam Tevette (Holland) def. Zamiq Atakishiyev (Azerbaijan) via Unanimous Decision

-72,5 kg: Alim Nabiyev (Azerbaijan) def. Adem Bozkurt (Turkey) via KO Round 1

Heavyweight: Muamer Tufekcic (Bosnia) def. Agalar Sadikhadze (Azerbaijan) via Unanimous Decision

Thursday, 23 May 2013 18:25

It was a good weekend for Kickboxing fans across the globe as not only did the United States see some action with Road 2 GLORY USA, but Eindhoven, The Netherlands saw a good offering from the fine folks at Enfusion LIVE. There were some really solid fights on the card this weekend, as Ali Gunyar's team was represented in full force at the event. Well, never mind, here are the full results;

Ali Gunyar (R3 - Decision) Grega Smole

Buray Bozaryilmaz (R3 - Decision) Keng Superprosamui

Aleide Lawant (R3 - Decision) Hatice Ozyurt

Bas Vorstenbosch (R3 - Decision) David Radeff

Amansio Paranschiv (R3 - Decision) Angelo Wilkes

Tayfun Ozcan (R3 - Decision) Pajonsuk

Thursday, 23 May 2013 18:25

Last night's Road 2 GLORY USA event went off without a hitch as famous trainer Duke Roufus teamed up with GLORY to present yet another Road 2 GLORY USA tournament, this time featuring Lightweight fighters. The tournament saw recognizable names such as Michael Manaquil, Muhsin Corbbrey and Cyrus Washington partake, with Manaquil taking the whole tournament, but it was not without surprises. Troy Sheridan was the breakaway star to emerge as he made it all the way to the Finals defeating Cyrus Washington and Jose Palacios before dropping a tough decision to Manaquil.

Manaquil went through Jameel Massouh and Muhsin Corbbrey before defeating Sheridan in the Finals.

Road 2 GLORY USA Milwaukee

Quarterfinal Round:

Michael Mananquil def. Jameel Massouh via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

Muhsin Corbbrey def. Dustin Johnson via unanimous decision (28-27, 30-27, 30-26)

Jose Palacios def. Ben Yelle via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Troy Sheridan def. Cyrus Washington via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Semifinal Round:

Michael Mananquil def. Muhsin Corbbrey via KO – Round 3 (:46)

Troy Sheridan def. Jose Palacios via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Championship Round:

Michael Mananquil def. Troy Sheridan via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Reserve Bout:

Jon Henderson def. Gustavo Rodriguez via KO – Round 2 (2:20)

Thursday, 23 May 2013 18:25

GLORY 8 Tokyo is taking place soon with a stacked card featuring an eight man tournament at 65kg with the likes of Yuta Kubo, Masaaki Noiri, Mosab Amrani and Liam Harrison, as well as single fights with the likes of Peter Aerts, Jamal Ben Saddik, Andy Ristie and Albert Kraus.

The event gets started off with the Road to GLORY portion, which isn't being shown on the stream, but results will also be provided for that. Full fight card can be seen here.

GLORY 8 starts broadcasting live at 2AM ET/11PM PT in North America, or at 7:00 AM in London, England, which is 3:00 PM local Tokyo time. You can watch the event live on LiverKick for $20 USD here.

Live results will be provided and updated in this post, as they happen. For live updates, details and play by play, we'll be on Twitter at @rianscalia and @Liverkickdotcom. 

70kg: Hirono Yu def. Danilo Zanolini by majority decision.

85kg semi final: Magnum Sakai def. Toshio Matsumoto by unanimous decision.

85kg semi final: Kengo Shimizu def. Yuki Niimura by unanimous decision.

61kg: Tatsuya Inaishi def. Yuji Takeuchi by split decision.

55kg: Dyki def. Jang Yong Ho by KO in Round 1.

85kg final: Kengo Shimizu def. Magnum Sakai by majority decision.

GLORY 8

65kg reserve: Andrej Bruhl def. Yukihiro Komiya by decision.

65kg reserve: Chonlek Super Pro Samui def. Zen Fujita by decision.

65kg quarter final: Mosab Amrani def. Marcus Vinicius by decision.

65kg quarter final: Masaaki Noiri def. Liam Harrison by TKO (Cut) in Round 2.

65kg quarter final: Gabriel Varga def. Abdellah Ezbiri by decision.

65kg quarter final: Yuta Kubo def. Chi Bin Lim by KO (Knee to Body) in Round 2.

70kg: Yoshihiro Sato def. Sung Hyun Lee by decision.

HW: Jerome Le Banner def. Koichi Watanabe by decision.

65kg semi final: Masaaki Noiri def. Mosab Amrani by decision.

65kg semi final: Yuta Kubo def. Gabriel Varga by decision.

70kg: Andy Ristie def. Albert Kraus by KO (Knee) in Round 2.

HW: Peter Aerts def. Jamal Ben Saddik by TKO (3 Knockdowns) in Round 2.

65kg final: Yuta Kubo def. Masaaki Noiri by decision.

Thursday, 23 May 2013 18:25

Yesterday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Shootboxing held its second major event of the year, headlined by a 67kg matchup between fan favorite Hiroki Shishido and DREAM Featherweight champ Hiroyuki Takaya. The rest of the card featured Shootboxing stars RENA, Hiroaki Suzuki, Satoru Suzuki and Naguranchun Masa M16, as well as stars and champions from other promotions like Kosuke Komiyama, Kizaemon Saiga, Mohan Dragon and Lorena Klijn.

In the main event, Hiroki Shishido dominated DREAM champ Hiroyuki Takaya en route to a unanimous decision on scores of 28-26 from all 3 judges. Shishido knocked Takaya down twice in the opening round with a kick to the body and a spinning backfist, securing an early lead. In the 3rd, Shishido was deducted a point for kicking a downed Takaya, but he had already secured such a big lead that the deduction didn't hurt him. Shishido has now won 3 of his last 4 after seeing his career going into a tailspin, where he lost 6 of 7. Takaya hadn't been very active over the last year, fighting on New Year's Eve in 2011 and not fighting in 2012 until again on New Year's Eve, where he lost to Georgi Karakhanyan.

In the co-main event, MA Kick champion Mohan Dragon surprised nearly everyone by knocking out Shootboxing Lightweight champion Hiroaki Suzuki in the 1st round. The fight started well for Suzuki, who was returning to 65kg after fighting in last year's S-Cup, as he knocked Mohan down with a left hook. However, the brawler from Nepal refused to be put away and scored with a massive right hook that sent Suzuki to the ground where he struggled to get up before the count of 10, forcing the ref to stop the fight. The win is huge for Mohan Dragon, who competed and lost in the opening round of the Road to GLORY 65kg tournament. Going in, there was little doubt that this would be a brawl as both men love to throw down and pack significant power. However, the consensus was that Suzuki's defense was better, that he had more power and that he would dominate in every aspect of the fight. The loss is Suzuki's first since 2010 and snaps a 6 fight winning streak. 

At 70kg, the crowd-pleasing Satoru Suzuki put his Shootboxing Super Welterweight title on the line against Yuki Sakamoto and it was Sakamoto who came out on top on scores of 50-48, 49-47 and 49-48. The little-known Sakamoto has quietly put together a 14-2 record entirely under the Shootboxing banner and the win will get him a lot of name recognition, as well as matchups with some of Shootboxing's better 70kg fighters or foreign talent. Despite his overwhelming popularity, the results have not been there from the former boxer Suzuki, who is just 2-5 since 2012.

In a 60kg #1 contender's bout, K-1 veteran Kizaemon Saiga took an extension round unanimous decision over Shootboxing Featherweight champion Naguranchun Masa M16 after a majority draw. Saiga's speed was too much, as he got the better of most of the boxing exchanges and Naguranchun wasn't able to abuse the Shootboxing ruleset enough to earn the victory. Saiga improves to 3-0 in the organization and has earned a shot at 60kg champ Akifumi Utagawa. Naguranchun drops his 2nd straight bout after losing to RISE champion Kosuke Komiyama.

Speaking of Kosuke Komiyama, he faced South Korea's Seong Jae Kim, winning a unanimous decision on scores of 30-26 and 30-27(x2). Komiyama got a bit of an easier challenge after taking on Shootboxing champions Naguranchun Masa M16 and Akifumi Utagawa in back to back appearances. He pushes his win streak to 9 and he could probably argue that he is the next challenger to the Shootboxing 60kg belt as well. I'd definitely like to see him fight Saiga, whether there's a belt on the line or not, either under Shootboxing rules or under Krush/RISE rules. Kim splits time between MMA and kickboxing, fighting out of the Gumi MMA gym, home to Korean MMA standout Doo Ho Choi. 

Shootboxing prospect MASAYA moved up to 67kg and bounced back from a loss to Kizaemon Saiga with a 2nd round stoppage of Horu Tarai. I'd like to see him face Hiroaki Suzuki next, as his ties with the Cesar Gym mean he won't be leaving Shootboxing for some time. 

Going over to the women's side, 3-time Girls S-Cup champion RENA took on highly touted Taiwanese muay thai practitioner Peiling Du. RENA took advantage of her opponent's unfamiliarity to the rules, scoring a few throws early in the fight before finishing it in the 3rd round with a choke. This was RENA's first fight since last year's Girls S-Cup in August, as she was recovering from an injury. It is very possible that her next fight will be her rematch with Erika Kamimura in RISE. 

In a 53.5kg fight, Lorena Klijn, the woman who upset Erika Kamimura in last year's Girls S-Cup, returned to Shootboxing, taking a majority decision over Miyo Yoshida on scores of 30-29, 29-28 and 29-29. Klijn competed in last year's S-Cup, drawing tournament co-favorite Erika Kamimura in the quarters, but she hung with Kamimura over the first three rounds, forcing an extension round where she scored a shoot point, ensuring victory. In the semis, she faced 2009 finalist V.V Mei, again going to an extension round, but was on the receiving end of several throws that gave V.V Mei the win. This is a solid win over Yoshida, who has beaten everyone Shootboxing put in front of her except Kamimura and now Klijn.

Finally, in a JKS48 qualifier, 2012 champion MIO moved on to the next round with a over Sayaka Yoshina while 2012 quarterfinalist Yuuki Kiratsu beat 2012 semifinalist Yusa Taichi to advance. 

Thursday, 23 May 2013 18:25

GLORY 7 Milan takes place today live from Milan, Italy featuring a main event pitting the top fighter in all of kickboxing, Giorgio Petrosyan, against Hafid El Boustati. Overall it's a stacked card in general and also features marquee match-ups between the likes of Murthel Groenhart and Robin van Roosmalen, Sahak Parparyan and Artem Levin, and Davit Kiria and Yury Bessmertny to name just a few.

You can watch the event live right here on LiverKick for $20 USD. The event starts at 3:30 PM ET/12:30 PM PT in North America. Aside from the live stream, in Canada GLORY 7 will air live on the Fight Network. In the United States, it will air on tape delay on CBS Sports Network at 1:00 AM ET/10:00 PM PT.

We'll be on Twitter providing live updates and play by play at @rianscalia and @LiverKickdotcom. Full fight card can be seen here.

77kg: Karapet Karapetyan def. Roberto Cocco by unanimous decision.

95kg: Michael Duut def. Steve McKinnon by decision.

65kg: Kaoponlek def. Sergio Wielzen by unanimous decision.

70kg: Chingiz Allazov vs. Marat Grigorian ruled a draw due to accidental cut caused from unintentional elbow.

85kg: Artem Levin def. Sahak Parparyan by unanimous decision in an extra round.

HW: Rico Verhoeven def. Jhonata Diniz by unanimous decision.

70kg: Davit Kiria def. Yury Bessmertny by unanimous decision.

70kg: Robin van Roosmalen def. Murthel Groenhart by unanimous decision.

70kg: Giorgio Petrosyan def. Hafid El Boustati by unanimous decision.

Thursday, 23 May 2013 18:25

Final Fight 3 took place today in Split, Croatia with a main event of Igor Jurkovic taking on Raul Catinas.

A ton of damage was dished out over the course of the fight between both fighters. Jurkovic showed some improvements in his overall game with added movement that helped him avoid some of Catinas' punch-rushes, as well as effective knees that at some points during the fight were clearly putting Catinas in some discomfort. Catinas appeared to take the first round but Jurkovic hurt him with knees to the body in the second round. The third round seemed like it would decide the fight. Catinas had his moments of landing some big punches in the round but to me, Jurkovic seemed to do more over the course of the round. Jurkovic ended up getting the decision win. Either way, it was a pretty close fight and could have gone to an extra round, or even maybe have gone to Catinas.

Pavel Zhuravlev returned to the ring in Croatia again and had a quick outing against Luca Panto, knocking him out in the first round. Toni Milanovic also rebounded with a win on the prelininary card, taking a unanimous decision over the young rising Dutch fighter Ibrahim El Bouni at 88kg. Full kickboxing results below:

88kg: Toni Milanovic def. Ibrahim El Bouni by unanimous decision.
HW: Mladen Kujundzic def. Rok Strucl by unanimous decision.
81kg: Vlatko Bajic def. Petros Vardakas by unanimous decision.
HW: Pavel Zhuravlev def. Luca Panto by KO in Round 1.
HW: Igor Jurkovic def. Raul Catinas by unanimous decision.

Photo via fightsite.hr

Thursday, 23 May 2013 18:25

Earlier today at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, former K-1 Heavyweight champion Kyotaro Fujimoto stepped into the ring for his 7th pro boxing bout against another former kickboxer in Fabrice Aurieng. After making the switch to boxing in late 2011, Kyotaro started his career with 5 straight wins including 3 knockouts before challenging Austrailia's Solomon Haumono for the OBPF Heavyweight title this past New Year's Eve. That fight didn't end so well for Kyotaro, who was rocked early in the 5th round, then, while seemingly out on his feet, put away for good with a monstrous right hand. Today, it was Kyotaro handing out the punishment as he knocked Aurieng down four times over the course of 7 rounds before forcing a corner stoppage at 1:11 in the 7th. He came in with an aggressive style and his defense still seems to be a bit shaky, but it was another good showing from the former K-1 champ against a fighter with a lot of fight experience, although Aurieng's boxing experience is about the same as Kyotaro's. Clearly, he has a long way to go before challenging some of boxing's top heavyweights and his management would probably be smart to put him in with some of the less powerful punchers in the division to get him some rounds and help him improve his defense. However, Kyotaro has shown good power, improved footwork and a solid chin on top of his kickboxing experience, so there's no reason that, with some polishing and a couple more years, he can't be a viable contender in a depleted Heavyweight landscape.