Busy weekend in kickboxing

[regular john]

It was an insane weekend in the kickboxing community with the three biggest orgs worldwide all having shows back-to-back-to-back. Highlights were Artem Vakhitov defending his LHW belt in Glory further distancing himself from the pack in a shallow division, Yodsanklai Fairtex comeback after a long layoff due to knee injury and the early FOTY contender Koya Urabe vs. Gonnapar Weerasacreck.

K1 is not dead

Most people think K1 went bankrupt and ceased to exist but the K1 brand keeps running strong featuring some of the best fights in the lighter weight classes. They had an 8-man LW Tournament (62.5 kg) this weekend with chinese upstart Wei Rui surprisingly winning it all after favorites Koya and Gonnapar killed each other in the first round. The most spectacular KO of the weekend happened in the tournament reserve bout with japanese prospect Rukiya going all ninja on veteran Mizumachi Hiroshi:


View: https://twitter.com/New_K1_bot/status/835391090962247680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw


Early FOTY contender Koya vs. Gonnapar:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7z4aXj20xY


Kunlun Fight 57

Chinese org Kunlun constantly puts out some of the best, most stacked cards in kickboxing with the western world completely unaware. This weekend they had the first qualifiers for the traditional 70kg tournament that always features great talent from all around the world but the highest point was the return of beloved thai star Yodsanklai Fairtex after serious knee injury that sidelined him for all of last year:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKyvkTi2DTQ

 

[SCADA]

Wicked updates...thanks for posting

 

[regular john]

Glory 38

Glory quietly put out a good event with few known names and lots of finishes. Ariel Machado won the LHW tournament cementing a clusterfuck in this division by KOing Zinedine Hameur-Lain in the final. With champion Artem Vakhitov handily beating #1 contender Saulo Cavalari for a second time, this division is dead begging for Gokhan Saki's return. There is no one who can give Vakhitov a fight;

Perennial WW contender Murthel Groenhart had a legit dog fight with Thailand's cockfighting enthusiast Thongchai, scoring a KO after recovering from two questionable low blows:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkjzAYGDtnI


The biggest surprise of this event for me was the high quality of the HW showdown between Benjamim Adegbuyi and Anderson "Braddock" Silva. it was reminiscent of the old glory days of the HW division in K1 with these two huge guys showing great technique, heart and endurance. Braddock started strong and only a bullshit knockdown late in the 3rd round cost him the win, but Adegbuyi really took over in the extra round.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z9Or4pJQzo

 

[Mishima Zaibatsu]

Wasn't aware there was so much going on.

Watched Glory, wasn't their best event.

 

[regular john]

Wasn't aware there was so much going on.

Watched Glory, wasn't their best event.

wasn't their worst either. I was expecting less but it turned out to be a fun night of KOs. But the way the tournament played out it killed Hameur-Lain's hype and Machado will have nothing against Vakhitov. LHW division is a mess not only in UFC and mma in general, but in kickboxing too.

the events in Asia are always quality stuff, K1 has a very interesting FW scene going on and Kunlun has the most stacked roster of any org. I bet most people have no idea but even Glory's best fighters often fight in Kunlun. Rico Verhoeven's last loss was there which Glory shamelessly ignores.

 

[Ranger]

Adesanya fights this weekend at glory of heroes and there is a WLF event too.

 

[Mishima Zaibatsu]

wasn't their worst either. I was expecting less but it turned out to be a fun night of KOs. But the way the tournament played out it killed Hameur-Lain's hype and Machado will have nothing against Vakhitov. LHW division is a mess not only in UFC and mma in general, but in kickboxing too.

the events in Asia are always quality stuff, K1 has a very interesting FW scene going on and Kunlun has the most stacked roster of any org. I bet most people have no idea but even Glory's best fighters often fight in Kunlun. Rico Verhoeven's last loss was there which Glory shamelessly ignores.

How do you watch the K1 and Kunlun events?

I never know where to look for live streams.

Also is Top King still puttinf on events?

 

[regular john]

How do you watch the K1 and Kunlun events?

I never know where to look for live streams.

Also is Top King still puttinf on events?

I usually watch on YouTube the next day but there are ways (waters) to watch. This yy.com site that's mentioned in this thread - Max Muay Thai LiveStream 2/26 | TMMAC - The MMA Community Forum - streams Kunlun and for K1 from what I see they have a complicated VPN or whatever software that access japanese servers but I never messed with it. Fights are always on YouTube within a few hours.

 

[TedCzech]

It was an insane weekend in the kickboxing community with the three biggest orgs worldwide all having shows back-to-back-to-back. Highlights were Artem Vakhitov defending his LHW belt in Glory further distancing himself from the pack in a shallow division, Yodsanklai Fairtex comeback after a long layoff due to knee injury and the early FOTY contender Koya Urabe vs. Gonnapar Weerasacreck.

K1 is not dead

Most people think K1 went bankrupt and ceased to exist but the K1 brand keeps running strong featuring some of the best fights in the lighter weight classes. They had an 8-man LW Tournament (62.5 kg) this weekend with chinese upstart Wei Rui surprisingly winning it all after favorites Koya and Gonnapar killed each other in the first round. The most spectacular KO of the weekend happened in the tournament reserve bout with japanese prospect Rukiya going all ninja on veteran Mizumachi Hiroshi:


View: https://twitter.com/New_K1_bot/status/835391090962247680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw


Early FOTY contender Koya vs. Gonnapar:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7z4aXj20xY


Kunlun Fight 57

Chinese org Kunlun constantly puts out some of the best, most stacked cards in kickboxing with the western world completely unaware. This weekend they had the first qualifiers for the traditional 70kg tournament that always features great talent from all around the world but the highest point was the return of beloved thai star Yodsanklai Fairtex after serious knee injury that sidelined him for all of last year:


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKyvkTi2DTQ

Any chance K1 will capture its old glory, or do you think it will kind of continue to exist as it is now, putting on quality shows, but kind of flying under the radar of most people, at least in the US?

 

[regular john]

Any chance K1 will capture its old glory, or do you think it will kind of continue to exist as it is now, putting on quality shows, but kind of flying under the radar of most people, at least in the US?

IMO it will be imposible to revive the glory days of K1 as there was a very specific time and context for that to happen. there was money flowing from Yakuza and a growing interest in combat sports from the japanese. they used to sell out stadiums with 80,000 people to watch the WGP!

it was a naturally promising environment for combat sports comercially with lots of intrigue due to the uncertainty of the unknown which opened a window of opportunity for all sorts of crazy matchups and to satisfy the japanese people's lust for gigantic fighters; there was no drug testing and all of this created the epic K-1 HW scene of the late 90's/early 00's.

nowadays the interest in combat sports has stagnated and all that uncertainty has passed. K1 style kickboxing is not nearly as unpredictable as it was at that time. plus I think kickboxing in the US is forever associated with the shiny pants style bullshit which has no credibility at all. IMO K1 and kickboxing overall will always be a niche sport flying under the radar specially with orgs failing to create interest and specially in the US with no legit elite american fighters.

 

[TedCzech]

IMO it will be imposible to revive the glory days of K1 as there was a very specific time and context for that to happen. there was money flowing from Yakuza and a growing interest in combat sports from the japanese. they used to sell out stadiums with 80,000 people to watch the WGP!

it was a naturally promising environment for combat sports comercially with lots of intrigue due to the uncertainty of the unknown which opened a window of opportunity for all sorts of crazy matchups and to satisfy the japanese people's lust for gigantic fighters; there was no drug testing and all of this created the epic K-1 HW scene of the late 90's/early 00's.

nowadays the interest in combat sports has stagnated and all that uncertainty has passed. K1 style kickboxing is not nearly as unpredictable as it was at that time. plus I think kickboxing is forever associated with the shiny pants style bullshit which has no credibility at all. IMO K1 and kickboxing overall will always be a niche sport flying under the radar specially with orgs failing to create interest and specially in the US with no legit elite american fighters.

That's a shame, what a time that was, back in K1's heyday. And too bad there aren't any major American kickboxers, although I'm a fan of all of them, no matter where they're from.

 

[regular john]

is Top King still puttinf on events?

forgot to adress this. Top King is still putting events, yes. I don't really follow them but I often see those matchups where they have an old thai matched against a sacrifying lamb from time to time.

they had an event in mid-january where Sangmanee inexplicably drew with a random chinese. he wanted to go all out trading blows from the start and got knocked down in the 1st round and later he was outclassing the guy but with a 3 round fight it ended in a surreal draw.