Monday, 20 May 2013 08:46

Back on December 11th, Yasuhiro Kido and Shintaro Matsukura squared off in the main event of a regional Japanese event titled Big Bang 7, a series put on by the Taniyama Gym. Also featured on the card were Japanese standouts Shunta Ito, Toshiki Taniyama, Marimo and Yuto Watanabe.

In the main event, fellow 2011 K-1 70kg Japan MAX Tournament participants Yasuhiro Kido and Shintaro Matsukura faced off, with Kido scoring a 2nd round knock out with a spinning backfist at 2:24 in the round. Kido (25-13-1, 11 KO) has had is struggles, but when he is on his game he is a very difficult fighter to beat. He was coming off a loss to Kenta in the quarterfinals of the Japan MAX tourney which snapped a 4-fight win-streak. After the win, Kido called out Kenta, stating that he wanted to be the first man for Kenta to defend his title against. The loss moves the 20 year old Matsukura to 4-4 (3 KO) in his 2-year pro career and despite being on a 3-fight losing streak, he has had a break out year. After ending 2010 with a loss on the Sengoku: Soul of Fight card, the 2009 K-1 Koshien 70kg champ started his year off with his biggest win, a huge upset in a great fight over Yuya Yamamoto in the quarterfinals of the Krush 70kg tournament. However, he lost in the semifinals to Yutaro Yamauchi and lost a rematch with Yamamoto in the K-1 Japan MAX tournament semifinals. At 20, Matsukura could use a step back in competition and a bounce back fight against someone along the lines of Yoshi, but a matchup with fellow prospects Hiroki Nakajima or Takafumi Morita would be interesting.

In the co-main event, WMAF Featherweight champion Shunta Ito scored a 4th round elbow KO at 27 seconds into the round over Thai fighter Fasanghan Or Benjamad. With the win, Ito is 7-1 in his last 8 and 23-9-4 (8 KO) overall. After the fight, it was announced that Ito would rematch Hideki Soga at 60kg. The two fought back in July of 2010 at Big Bang 2 with Ito escaping with a split decision win.

Also in action was K-1 fighter Toshiki Taniyama who picked up his 5th straight win with a 3rd round TKO over Thai fighter Shirichai Sukpanya(?) at 1:42 into the round. Taniyama is an interesting fighter at 63kg as he owns wins over Hirotaka Urabe and Yuto Watanabe in K-1, but lost to Keiji Ozaki, although that fight went into an extension round and outpointing the flashy Ozaki is a tough task for anyone. Taniyama is now 12-1 (4 KO) in his pro career and could see himself mixing it up with the division's elite more often in the future.

Speaking of Yuto Watanabe, he picked up a 1st round TKO at 1:39 into the round over club fighter Atsushi Masukura. The win moves him to 10-5 (3 KO) and is a good bounceback fight after a loss to Toshiki Taniyama in K-1. However if Watanabe keeps his recent streak up, he will lose as he is now 5-4 over his last 9 without putting together 2 straight wins.

Krush vet Marimo lost a unanimous decision to NKB Lightweight champion Naoki on scores of 30-28(x3). Marimo is best known for fighting Koya Urabe earlier this year in Krush. Before losing to Yuto Watanabe at RISE 68, Naoki was on a 10 fight win-streak and 16 fight unbeaten streak going 15-0-1 after starting his career 0-1-1. He lost 4 straight fights, but has now bounced back and is on a 3-fight win-streak with one of those wins coming in an opening fight at the 2011 K-1 Japan MAX Tournament over Takayoshi Kitayama. Naoki is now 18-5-2 (5 KO) and the streaky fighter should see himself moving up in competition.

Finally, Team Dragon fighter and Krush vet Masakazu Watanabe improved to 15-12-1 (4 KO) with a split decision win over Ryoji on scores of 30-29, 28-29 and 30-28.

Monday, 20 May 2013 08:46

Another installment of the A-1 World Combat Cup series took place in Lyon, France on December 7, and while it's a bit late, results have just gotten out recently. The original card was supposed to have top French fighters such as Albert Chey, Karim Bennoui, Fabio Pinca and Mickael Piscitello but none of them ended up fighting. Chey and Bennoui were moved to a later date, Pinca is fighting on December 18 in the Thai Fight Finals and Piscitello got KO'd by Buakaw not too long ago. Nevertheless, the card went on and still had some decent match-ups.

Two of France's top fighters, It's Showtime 73MAX World Champion, Yohan Lidon and Gregory Choplin faced off for Lidon's WBC World Muaythai Middleweight Title. The two had met before, with Choplin taking a decision back in June of 2008. This time, Lidon took the win, taking a doctor stoppage in the fourth round over Choplin. It sounds like Choplin got injured and couldn't continue. Lidon rebounds from his loss to Vladimir Moravcik last month and Choplin has now dropped two in a row, losing to Abdallah Mabel last month.

A few Thais also picked up wins over their French counterparts. Kaopon Lek, the former Lumpinee and Rajadamnern Stadium champ who has been living in Italy for quite some time now, knocked out Crice Boussoukou in the second round. He's been fighting mostly in France and Italy for a long time now, and still going strong at 34 years old. Sittichai Sitsongpeenong, who was originally scheduled to face Fabio Pinca, knocked out Fares Bechar in the fourth round.

Full results below:

Abderahmane Penda def. Aydin Tuncay by decision.

Songniyom def. Boubu Konta by KO in Round 3.

Zinedine Hameur Lain def. Patrick Liedert by decision.

Kaopon Lek def. Crice Boussoukou by KO in Round 2.

Ludovic Millet def. Frederic Berichon by decision.

Berneung def. Mohamed Houmer by TKO (Ref. Stoppage) in Round 2.

Sittichai Sitsongpeenong def. Fares Bechar by KO in Round 2.

Yohan Lidon def. Gregory Choplin by TKO (Doctor Stoppage) in Round 4.

Monday, 20 May 2013 08:46

Earlier today at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Krush held its final event of the year, Krush.14, which was headlined by the semifinals and finals of their first youth tournament, the Under-22 ~Supernova~ Tournament, as well as 63kg champion Ryuji Kajiwara defending his title for the first time against Tetsuya Yamato.

The first semifinal was a rematch from the semifinals of the 2009 K-1 Koshien Tournament between the man who won that tournament, Masaaki Noiri, and the 2008 K-1 Koshien champion Hiroya. Like their first encounter, Noiri came out the aggressor and it paid off for him, as he scored a down in the opening round. Noiri held his lead and cruised through the rest of the bout, where he seems to have used his reach to nullify most of Hiroya's offense. Noiri earned a unanimous decision on scores of 30-28(x2) and 30-27.

In the second semifinal, Krush -63kg Tournament and 2011 K-1 -63kg Japan Tournament runner-up Koya Urabe defeated Yukimitsu Takahashi by a close, but clear decision, winning on scores of 30-28, 30-29 and 29-28. Urabe seems to have used his boxing, as usual, to grab a lead on the scorecards, but was not completely free of Takahashi's assault, as it appears he attacked Urabe's legs quite a bit.

In the finals of the tournament, Masaaki Noiri was able to nullify Urabe's superior boxing and ultimately landed with a flying knee that ended Urabe's night 2:58 into the 1st round. The tournament win is huge for Noiri and makes it his second youth tournament victory along with the 2009 K-1 Koshien tournament. Noiri had been in two other tournaments this year, losing in the semifinals of both. The win over Urabe is the biggest of Noiri's career and though there's no video yet, it appears that he fixed some of his defensive issues. Next for Noiri could be a shot at the winner of the Hirotaka Urabe-Naoki Ishikawa 60kg title fight at Krush.15 in January. For Urabe, it's his 3rd loss in a tournament final this year. In the Krush -63kg Tournament he was likely on his way to a win with the strength of his boxing but fell victim to a down that cost him the fight and in the K-1 -63kg Japan Tournament he got careless in the quarterfinals, failing to check leg kicks, which ultimately caused him to lose to Yuta Kubo in the finals and it seems he could've fallen victim to the same mistake this time. Despite his immense talent, Urabe may find himself without a tournament win for even longer if he fails to fix his defensive flaws. For Hiroya, it is another disappointing result for the former Koshien golden boy who was bounced in the quarterfinals of the K-1 -63kg Japan Tournament, albeit in a fight he arguably won, and now in the semifinals of this tournament.

In the night's other main event, Krush -63kg champion Ryuji Kajiwara successfully defended his title for the first time against 2010 K-1 -63kg Tournament champion Tetsuya Yamato by unanimous decision on scores of 30-27 and 30-28(x2). The first two rounds appear to have been back and forth with both fighters landing on each other, though Kajiwara seems to have gotten the better of it. Kajiwara took over in the 3rd round and was likely on his way to winning the round and the fight before scoring a knockdown with a flying knee in the final minute of the round, securing his victory. The win is a great birthday present for Kajiwara who turned 35 today and was a good challenge for the aging fighter. I don't see him holding onto the Krush title much longer though as Rashata could still be considered the top contender and I feel he would do much better against Kajiwara than Yamato did. The loss for Yamato is a second straight as he lost to Jomthong Chuwattana back in October and further solidifies his position below the elite fighters of the division.

In the tournament reserve bouts, the losers of the quarterfinal bouts faced off and Sho Ogawa defeated Shimpei Keita on scores of 30-29(x2) and 30-28 while Kengo Sonoda defeated Daizo Sasaki on scores of 30-28(x2) and 29-28. Ogawa should find himself on future Krush cards because even though he lost in the quarterfinals, he put up a good fight against Hiroya and was getting the better of him in some exchanges.

In non-tournament action, WPMF Japan #2 ranked Lightweight Yosuke Mizuochi scored a decision win over former NJKF Lightweight champion Ikki on scores of 30-28(x3). I believe this puts Mizuochi at 5-0 on the year and should give him more leverage towards a shot at current WPMF Japan Lightweight champion Arita Tsukahara, who is coming off a huge win over Kanongsuk Weerasakreck.

Quick Results after the break

Monday, 20 May 2013 08:46

Earlier today Lumpini stadium had its annual birthday show promoted by Virat Wachiraratanowong. The event was one of the biggest of the year and by the sounds of things delivered with good fights. 

Rob Cox of muaythaifocus, muaythai2000 and owner of Kiatphontipgym was on hand as always covering the event and giving live updates on his twitter page.  

Rising 16 year old star Songkom Sakhomsin once again scored a knockout, this time in the 3rd round over quite possibly the grittiest fighter in the lower weights The-Lek Wor. Sangprapai. The-Lek was put down in R2 but got up and was on rubber legs until the ref stopped it in the 3rd after getting blasted more. 

 In the fight of the night Mongkolchai Kwaytonggym took a points winner over Petmorakot Wor. Sangprapai.

Kaotam Lukprabart won a decision over the much smaller Chokprecha Kor. Sakooncher to keep his bantamweight championship.

Thong Puideenaidee bested Ponsaneh Sitmonchai over 5 rounds. Ponsaneh came back from a down in the early rounds, but didn't have enough to take the win in the end. 

Sam-A Kaiyanghadaogym dominated Ritidej Wor. Wanthavee and scored a stoppage in round 4 when the ref stopped it after Ritidej was clearly outclassed.  

In the upset of the night veteran Singdam Kiatmuu9 dominated F16 Rajanont. After round 4 F16 didn't come out for 5 after apparently suffering a broken arm from the legendary right kicks of Singdam.

Sagetdao Petpaiyathai once again took a decision win over Saenchai Sinbimuaythai in the nights main event. This is 2 straight wins over Saenchai and Sagetdao has beaten him 3 out of the last 4 times. 

Monday, 20 May 2013 08:46

Back on Saturday at Korakuen Hall, New Japan Kickboxing Federation held the 10th installment in its New Japan Blood series which usually focuses on fights sanctioned by WBC Muay Thai Japan. The event featured one WBC International title fight and one WBC Japan title fight.

In the night's main event, WBC Japan Super Featherweight champion Yoshinori Nakasuka fell to WKA Australia Super Featherweight champion Joseph Concha via split decision on scores of 48-50, 48-49 and 49-47, netting Concha the WBC International Super Featherweight title. The result is a bit of a surprise as Nakasuka was coming off of the biggest win of his career over Naoki Ishikawa while Concha had not really been known outside of his home country's kickboxing scene. Nakasuka was originally set to take on Oley Sakonpetch, but his opponent was changed to Concha. The win is pretty big for Concha who now gets his name out there.

In the co-main event, WBC Japan Super Welterweight champion and Krush 70kg tournament finalist Yutaro Yamauchi failed to defend his WBC Japan title against former WBC Japan Welterweight champion Soichiro Miyakoshi, losing on scores of 47-50(x2) and 48-49. Big win for Miyakoshi who I had pegged as more of a gatekeeper in Japan at 70kg, but, as he showed here, he has the ability to win against good fighters. He was coming off of back to back losses to Takafumi Morita and Yuya Yamato, losing his WBC Japan Welterweight title to Yamato. Yamauchi hadn't fought since his loss in the Krush 70kg tournament finals to Kenta. He is now on a 2-fight losing streak. Kazuya Takeda could be the next to challenge for this title as he is the only person ranked at Super Welterweight other than Yamauchi and Miyakoshi and Miyakoshi holds a win over Takeda from 2 and a half years ago.

Finally, in non-title action, WBC Japan Welterweight champion Yuya Yamato won a decision over J-Network #5 ranked Super Lightweight Keio on scores of 29-27(x2) and 30-27. Yamato was coming off of a loss in Thai Fight to Fabio Pinca in a rematch. An interesting next fight for Yamato would be against Soichiro Miyakoshi's brother Keijiro Miyakoshi, although Keijiro would have to move up about 5kg to challenge for the title and he already has the right to face WBC Japan Lightweight champion Rashata.

Monday, 20 May 2013 08:46

Swedish promotion "Rumble of The Kings" ran their annual November show yesterday, a night of big fights usually somehow involving Jorgen Kruth in a fight. This year was no different, but this year also hosted some fireworks as Yodsaenklai Fairtex vs. Artur Kyshenko as well as Dzabar Askerov vs. Chahid Oulad el Hadj. It was an internet PPV show with a mixed card of Mixed Martial Arts and K-1 fights, with the fight between Marius Zaromskis and Bruno Carvalho making international headlines thanks to Zaromskis landing a somersault kick during the fight.

A fight originally advertised as the main attraction was Ray Sefo vs. Jorgen Kruth in MMA rules, but apparently that fight was scrapped in favor of Kruth taking on Yusuki Kawaguchi. Kawaguchi is a fighter who never quite moved up the ranks in Japan as he is a Heavyweight, a division known to be weak for Japanese fighters, but he does have one notable victory over James Thompson in DREAM and has fought Mariusz Pudzianowski. The fight with Pudz leaves one to believe that he knew what he was getting into stepping into the ring against Jorgen Kruth in his home promotion and went down to Kruth in the first round via TKO after controlling him with his Judo early on. This is Kruth's fifth consecutive MMA win, most of which happened in his home promotion of ROTK, so take that with a grain of salt.

Yoshihiro Sato stepped up to fight at 75kg against Alex Tobiasson Harris. Sato held his own in the first round using his kicks and length to his advantage as he usually does before getting overwhelmed in the second round by Harris's boxing. The third round proved to be equally frustrating for Sato who was unable to break Harris's rhythm and he ended up dropping yet another decision to a fighter that many have only seen fight a few times. Sato has had a frustrating few years and should stick to 70kg fights, but it is always good to see a Japanese Kickboxer hitting the international scene, win or lose. Another disappointing fight came when Askerov met Chahid. This was an evenly-matched bout between two of the world's most exciting 70kg fighters and had a strange ending. Chahid took an unintentional low blow, much like in the Giorgio Petrosyan fight from earlier this year, and much like that fight, did not return to his feet to fight. Now, this is where it gets strange. The ref gave Chahid three minutes to recover, and after Chahid did not get back to his feet, the ref simply counted him down and gave the victory to Askerov. To say that this is wrong is an understatement, in situations like this a fight like that would be considered a No Contest, not be ruled in the favor of the fighter delivering a foul.

The feature bout of the evening at least saw some better action, as Artur Kyshenko was able to best Yodsaenklai Fairtex in three rounds. Both men stood toe-to-toe and threw everything they had at each other, with Yod simply being the smaller of the two fighters and having lost a step with his weight gain over the past few years was not as nimble as he needed to be. This included in the third round dropping his hands and taking damage with hopes of finding an opening from Kyshenko, which sadly did not work out. Kyshenko took the win and is having a stellar year.

For the full results and photos check out the Rumble of the Kings website.

Monday, 20 May 2013 08:46

After being delayed numerous times, the Thai Fight 2011 semi-finals finally took place today in Bangkok, Thailand. Two fights in each of the featured tournament weight classes, 67kg and 70kg, took place. Each participant had won previous fights in order to advance to the semi-finals.

Long time K-1 star Buakaw Por. Pramuk took on French fighter Mickael Piscitello. Piscitello actually held his own quite well until about halfway through the fight when Buakaw took over. Buakaw completely dominated the third round, knocking down Piscitello with a close elbow in the clinch before finishing the fight with another vicious elbow. He'll move on to the finals on December 18.

Fabio Pinca met Mosab Amrani at 67kg. As per usual, Amrani came out guns blazing in the first. Like Buakaw's fight, Pinca started to take over in the second when he hurt Amrani. The domination continued, as Pinca threw Amrani all over the place in the clinch, forced a standing eight count in the third and almost got a knockdown off a high kick. Pinca clearly won, but Amrani was very upset after the fight, spitting at Pinca's corner. When Pinca's cornerman offered Mosab water, Mosab smacked it out of his hand. I don't think we'll be seeing Mosab invited to compete at Thai Fight again.

Frank Giorgi and Abraham Roqueni met in a great fight at 70kg. Roqueni hurt Giorgio twice in the second round but was unable to finish him off. In the third, Giorgio came back and stole the fight, roughing up Roqueni in the clinch. Giorgio looked huge compared to Roqueni. He'll meet Buakaw on December 18 in the finals.

At 67kg, Kem Sitsongpeenong met Dongsu Kim. The fight was really a mismatch, as Kem toyed around with and dominated Kim for the whole fight. Quick results:

Buakaw Por. Pramuk def. Mickael Piscitello by KO (Right Elbow) in Round 3.

Fabio Pinca def. Mosab Amrani by decision.

Frank Giorgi def. Abraham Roqueni by decision.

Kem Sitsongpeenong def. Dongsu Kim by decision.

Monday, 20 May 2013 08:46

Fight Code wraps up their Rhinos heavyweight tournament series today in Geneva, Switzerland. Competitors have won their way into the final and four of them remain. The four: Vitali Akhramenko, Freddy Kemayo, Pacome Assi and Yuksel Ayaydin will battle it out in a one night tournament to determine the winner of the Fight Code Rhinos Tournament. Also on the card, two rematches form the last Fight Code event take place. Armen Petrosyan and Yuri Bessmurtny rematch, as well as Abdallah Mabel and Xu Yan.

You can watch the event live for free on www.livefightcode.tv. All you have to do is sign up.

Fight Code Rhinos Semi-Final #1:

Vitali Akhramenko def. Pacome Assi by Unanimous Decision. Very close fight. Akhramenko dominated the first round but Assi came back in rounds 2 and 3 and there could be a case made for him winning. Akhramenko's conditioning in this fight was very bad. Assi has improved immensely over the course of the year.

Fight Code Rhinos Semi-Final #2:

Freddy Kemayo def. Yuksel Ayaydin by Unanimous Decision. Great fight, non-stop action throughout. Pretty close and could've gone to an extra round.

Yoann Kongolo def. Hicham Zentari by TKO (Body Kick) in Round 2. Zentari had a granite chin but Kongolo got around that and finished him to the body. Kongolo is a beast.

Fight Code Dragons Final 8:

Yuri Bessmertny def. Armen Petrosyan by KO (Right Hook). Armen came out strong and looked like he hurt Bessmertny. Armen came at Yuri with full on offense and Yuri landed a counter hook, knocking him down. Armen got up and went at Yuri again, this time Yuri landed a vicious right hook. Armen got up but the referee waved off the fight.

Fight Code Dragons Final 8:

Abdallah Mabel def. Xu Yan by Unanimous Decision. Commentator is making a fuss about the decision just because Xu Yan was better in the third round and disregards anything that happened in the two rounds before.

Fight Code Rhinos Final:

Vitali Akhramenko def. Freddy Kemayo by decision. He wins $80 000 US.

Monday, 20 May 2013 08:46

Back on Wednesday RISE held RISE 85 which featured their heavyweight tournament, two title fights and two super fights featuring promotional champions. Usually I add a brief analysis with the results post, but I didn't want to make that post extraordinarily long. In the heavyweight GP, Singh "Heart" Jaideep won in the finals by KO over Makoto Uehara while Stefan Leko, Fabiano Cyclone and Mighty Mo were the victims of upsets in the opening round of the tournament. RENA managed to defeat Erika Kamimura in a very close fight, Kenji Kubo bested Dyki for the vacant Bantamweight title and RISE champions Kosuke Komiyama and Koji Yoshimoto picked up big wins over Sergio Wielzen and Son Hyun Lee, respectively.

• Starting with Jaideep, he proved what most people already knew and that is that he is above the level of RISE, J-Network, etc. when it comes to heavyweights in Japan. A 4^th fight with Fabiano Cyclone would have been nice, but he did what he needed to do. It'd be nice to see him compete in a qualifying FIKA tournament next year.
• Very surprising result from Makoto Uehara despite the quick loss to Jaideep in the finals. He proved me wrong in showing that his conditioning is better than previously thought as he was able to go 7 full rounds. His power is still there, though he failed to score a knockout which may show that he adapted to the tournament format and fought smart, conserving his energy. I’d also like to see Uehara in a FIKA qualifying GP.
• Jan Soukup was on the verge of making the finals in just his 5^th pro kickboxing bout, but his win over Fabiano Cyclone is huge. Should he continue to fight in kickboxing, he could be interesting, but at 32 he likely won't crack the top 25.
• For Raoumaru, the win over Mighty Mo is nice, but he didn't prove much, getting decimated by Jaideep early in the first round. Like I said in my preview, he could beat Mighty Mo, but didn't have much chance of doing anything thereafter.
• For Leko, I don't think this loss signifies that he should retire. He was coming off of two fights just a week ago and got his body roughed up pretty well by Errol Zimmerman. Uehara has power and was able to put up a pace that Leko couldn't handle so soon after fighting last week. This fight had the perfect recipe for an upset and Leko just wasn’t able to put in a winning performance.
• The most disappointing result on the night was for Fabiano Cyclone who I had pegged as the favorite to win the tournament. Perhaps it was an off night or just a bad style matchup for him. Next for him is an unknown, though I still want him to take a step up in competition.
• Hiromi Amada lasted the longest against Jaideep, but at 38 he's not going anywhere. He had an 8 year run in K-1 and will likely keep defending his HEAT title until he can't any more.
• I have nothing to say about Mighty Mo.
• This win for RENA is probably the biggest of her career so far. Coming off of losses to Ai Takahashi and Jessica Penne, I can't imagine many people had her as the favorite in this fight. I had her all but counted out, but she showed real heart and grit, grinding out this decision.
• The loss isn't really a step back for Kamimura and had it not been for fouls she could have gotten a draw or even a win. At just 18 she's now 23-2 (12 KO) and is likely pegged as the third best female fighter at this weight behind RENA and Ai Takahashi.
• Speaking of Takahashi, this fight pretty much makes her #1. I still want to see a fight between her and Kamimura, as well as a trilogy fight with RENA, but for now she sits alone atop her throne.
• Kenji Kubo, younger brother of Yuta Kubo, could now be regarded one of the top kickboxers in Japan at 55kg. However, with a pair of losses to Shota Takiya and a loss to Nobuchika Terado in his past, he'll need a big win or really good performance against someone like Ryuya Kusakabe or Takiya to be considered an elite fighter.
• Though there's no video of the fight yet, from the GBRing and Bout Review reports it seemed as though Kosuke Komiyama had a slight edge over Sergio Wielzen in the opening round before the cut appeared. Unfortunately, the fight ended early and it's hard to determine who the better fighter actually was that night. Still, it's a decent scalp for Kosuke Komiyama who has made a name for himself this year, capturing the RISE title against Kan Itabashi and now defeating Wielzen. His case to challenge Hirotaka Urabe for the Krush 60kg title gets stronger by the day and with Urabe having his first defense announced for January without an opponent, Komiyama is in a good position to be his opponent.
• Wielzen had fought twice in the month leading up to this fight and Simon Rutz admitted that he had almost no scouting on Komiyama and that left him open for Komiyama's front kick which found a home multiple times and was ultimately the strike that caused the cut.
• Koji Yoshimoto scored a huge win over surging prospect Son Hyun Lee. This win, as well as his win over Shohei Asahara back in June in K-1 should give him the publicity he needs to get placed into a qualifying FIKA tournament at 63kg.
• Disappointing result for Lee who holds a win over Kizaemon Saiga and took Koya Urabe to an extension round in a fight that could have arguably been scored in his favor. He lost a point for coming in slightly overweight and there was a point deduction in the 3rd round for clinching as well, though I'm not sure who the penalty was given to. If it was given to Lee, he would have won the fight via majority decision without the two point deductions, but as it stands, it's back to the drawing board for Lee.

Monday, 20 May 2013 08:46

Earlier today at JCB Hall, RISE held its 2011 Heavyweight tournament featuring the likes of Stefan Leko, Mighty Mo, Singh “Heart” Jaideep and Fabiano Cyclone, as well as its first women’s title fight in Erika Kamimura vs RENA, a superfight between Super Featherweight champion Kosuke Komiyama and Sergio Wielzen, a superfight between Super Lightweight champion Koji Yoshimoto and Son Hyun Lee and a Bantamweight title fight between Kenji Kubo and Dyki.

The quarterfinals of the heavyweight tournament featured three upsets. In a somewhat expected upset, RISE Heavyweight champion Makoto Uehara beat up K-1 veteran Stefan Leko en route to a unanimous decision victory on scores of 30-27(x2) and 30-26. Uehara scored a down in the third round, but was on his way to victory as he was all over Leko who had two fights just a week ago in the SuperKombat tournament. In another slight upset, WPMF World Heavyweight champion Fabiano “Cyclone” Aoki received just his second loss since 2007, losing to Kyokushin karate fighter Jan Soukup by majority decision on scores of 29-28(x2) and 28-28. Cyclone appeared to do well throughout most of the fight, but fell victim to a down in the second round which cost him the fight. In the other half of the bracket, K-1 fighter and J-Network Heavyweight champion Singh “Heart” Jaideep defeated K-1 veteran Hiromi Amada by 2^nd round TKO as a result of a cut caused by a knee. In the final quarterfinal bout, RISE Heavyweight title challenger Raoumaru was able to outland and outlast K-1 fighter Mighty Mo, scoring a 3^rd round KO at 2:49 into the round.

In the semifinals, RISE HW champ Makoto Uehara continued his run, edging out Jan Soukup in an extension round on scores of 10-9(x3) after judges had determined the fight to be a majority draw after 3 rounds, with scores of 29-28, 29-29 and 28-28. In the other semifinal, Singh “Heart” Jaideep made short work of Raoumaru, scoring a 1^st round KO at 1:39 with a knee strike.

In the finals, K-1 fighter Singh “Heart” Jaideep defeated RISE Heavyweight champion Makoto Uehara by 1^st round KO to win the RISE Heavyweight tournament. The knockout capped off a great performance from Jaideep who finished off all three of his opponents and is now 2-0 against Uehara.

In the night’s co-main event, 2-time Girls S-Cup champion RENA defeated WPMF, WBC Muay Thai and WMC Light Flyweight champion Erika Kamimura by razor-close unanimous decision on scores of 47-46(x2) and 46-45 to become the first Queen of RISE. I believe the only thing keeping the fight from a draw is a pair of penalties for Kamimura and one for RENA, though it could have been one penalty each, I am not entirely sure.

In the night’s final title fight, former NJKF Flyweight champion Kenji Kubo, brother of Yuta Kubo, defeated RISE #1 ranked Bantamweight Dyki by 1^st round KO at 1:35 to win the vacant RISE Bantamweight title.

In super fights, RISE Super Featherweight and Super Lightweight champions Kosuke Komiyama and Koji Yoshimoto won, with Komiyama defeating former It’s Showtime 61kg champ Sergio Wielzen  by 1^st round TKO and Yoshimoto edging out a win over top Korean Son Hyun Lee on scores of 29-28, 29-27 and 28-27. Lee started with a 1 point penalty for weighing in over the limit and another penalty was given in the fight for clinching, though I’m not sure to who. The Komiyama-Wielzen fight was stopped due to a cut.

Brother of Kosuke Komiyama, Yusuke Komiyama made his pro debut, fighting to a draw.

Quick Results after the break

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