K-1 WORLD GP 2018 JAPAN - 90kg Tournament [24-09] Results

[K1power]

Fightcard
TAKERU vs. Daniel Puertas
Takei Yoshiki vs. Akram Hamidi
KOJI vs. Stauros Exakoustidis
Ozawa Kaito vs. Ashizawa Ryusei
Goshu Masanobu vs. Suarek Rukkukamui
Anpo Rukiya vs. Hayashi Kenta
Higashimoto Hisaki vs. Kawarada Shuji
Ogura Takaya vs. Ryota

90kg Championship Tournament
OD-KEN vs. Sina Karimian
K-JEE vs. Brian McGrath
Sugimoto Hitoshi vs. Aundre Groce
Uehara Makoto vs. Boubaker El Bakouri

Tournament Reserve Fight
RUI vs. Taichi Furuta

[K1power]

Looks like it'll be 90kg after all (OP Updated):



90kg Championship Tournament
OD-KEN vs. Sina Karimian
K-JEE vs. Brian McGrath
Sugimoto Hitoshi vs. Aundre Groce
Uehara Makoto vs. Masinissa Hamaili

Tournament Reserve Fight
RUI vs. Taichi Furuta

www.k-1.co.jp/news/28230/

They probably want to put Uehara somewhere where he isn't always up against larger guys.
Looks like K-1 has dubbed this weightlcass 'Cruiserweight'
A little surprised Kato Hisaki is not in the field, but they might want to use him at HW.

While the field appears to be so-so, I'm positively surprised to see Aundre Groce among the names as one of the fighters from the K-1 Global Tournaments who made it to the Japan events. In spite of everything bad I associate K-1 Global with at this point, those Europe Tournaments Ned Kuruc put together were pretty solid.

Would have been happier with a bigger name like Kryklia making it from the Global to the Japan field, but oh well.

Also, they added Goshu Masanobu vs. Timur Nadrov

[fartsmeller]

I cannot begin to express how much of a let down a 90kg tournament is after the possibility of a 65kg one.

Goshu is easy pr and I like him, but he's a kinda technically limited fighter who just lost to a similarly limited fighter in Krush. Maybe my perception is clouded by only watching videos of Nadrov winning by KO but this seems like too much for him right now.

[K1power]

While a 65kg tournament probably would have had a much more solid field of participants, I like that they're establishing champions for more weightclasses. With 90kg now being added, all we'll need is one or two more weightclasses between the 75-85kg range and all bases are pretty much covered.

Even if this tournament ends up not being good, whoever wins it should at least be halfway solid and a good starting point to take on more solid title challengers.

[Fox]

I should have known that the nice balance of Glory monopolizing above 70kg and K-1 monopolizing under 70kg was too good to be true. HW was tolerable, now HW and 90kg... I dont like the way things are going.

[K1power]

That was never gonna happen nor ever anyone's plan. At the end of the day every serious promotion wants champions that span the whole spectrum of weightclasses from Feather to HW. There was no way K-1, as the godfather of HW kickboxing, was not going to go to the bigger weightclasses eventually.

The 'problem' with K-1 going to bigger weightclasses, though, is a multi-facetted one. Let's take the heavyweight division as an example and look into why it's difficult for K-1 to build a strong division there.

1. Money
Japanese, or 'homegrown' fighters - even K-1's stars - are usually much cheaper than foreign fighters. That's not a problem though, because in the lower weightclasses K-1 has a lot of stable fighters and other homegrown talent to saturize the divisions so that they only really need a few foreign fighters with a big name or two (like Allazov) to add legitimacy and flavor to the division.

As you go up in weight though, Japanese talent becomes more scarce while fighters generally get more expensive. You end up in a situation where you have a tournament with four Japanese fighters of which only one or two are actually good. Whatever talent they get from overseas can't cost too much, because K-1 simply can not afford it. That means out of the four foreign fighters, there's a chance you only have one or two noteworthy names as well.

2. (Lack of) Talent
There just aren't a lot of good heavyweights. Not even Glory has a solid division, despite having most of the stars. The drop-off after Rico and then the rest of the top 5 or so guys is pretty steep.

Now, it's possible to build a solid division consisting of mid-level veterans, young talents and 'fun' fighters a la WFL with their Final 16 and now upcoming Final 8 events. However, even with as few events as they are holding they're about to crumble due to financial issues and had to postpone their big Final 8 event which brings us back to the money point.

Big heavyweight shows are simply very expensive while K-1 is throwing cards together for, in relative terms, lunch money.

3. Contracts
The current fractured kickboxing landscape we have had to deal with for these past 7 years has not made things easier. Let's say K-1 suddenly got a financial boost by a new TV deal, private investor or sponsor, giving them some money to throw around. They probably would not be able to get a top 5 HW due to contractual obligations to Glory.

4. Market
K-1 Japan only has rights over the Japanese market. The logical extension of that is that they're mostly interested in producing Japanese champions, thus Japanese fighters getting the biggest push. It just stands out more negatively at bigger weightclasses, where Japanese talent is rare.

===

Now, even with the above in mind it's still possible to build solid divisions at higher weightclasses. I just expect it to take more time since they can't make a lot of big moves at once.

If you look at the bigger picture, I am convinced K-1 is making good moves.

Just remember: baby steps..

[lero]

How is the purse of Tenshin and Takeru compared with let's say... Petro, Rico, Badr, Buakaw and.... Holzken when he was champ?

[K1power]

Perhaps karaevfan can give some insight in to typical Japanese purses for their big names, but generally speaking they make a lot less than European stars.

Ironically, Petro is a cheap fighter: During the 'bidding wars' K-1 Global had with Glory in 2011-2012 it came to light that Petro, who has been more or less a free agent was making roughly 11 or 12k a fight which was absolute peanuts for the biggest name at 70kg. I'm not sure how much he's making now, but his stock can't be higher now than it was 6 years ago. He may make some extra money from sponsorship deals or 'local' commercials over in Italy. I just hope he's getting paid.

As for Buakaw, I think he was paid in the 60k range for his K-1 MAX Final against Kehl where he ended up sabotaging the event.

I think Badr was paid 200k for his 'farewell' fight against Saki at It's Showtime in 2012. After that, depending on where he was fighting or how much in need he was of cash he has been fighting for substantially more and substantially less. Perhaps Dave can ballpark how much Badr is making in Glory.

[Fox]

I get why K-1 wants to establish some bigger weight classes, it just sucks we will see the true talent at the low weight classes at a lower frequency. Maybe we will get lucky and they will take more Krush fights or China fights.

[karaevfan]

My thoughts on the idea of a cruiserweight GP

Really guys? So you're admitting all the Japanese fighters aren't real HWs. Fine. What exactly do you do for the HW scene now that you've brought all of them down now?

Jul 14, 2018 17:13:22 GMT 1 K1power said:

Perhaps karaevfan can give some insight in to typical Japanese purses for their big names, but generally speaking they make a lot less than European stars.

Ironically, Petro is a cheap fighter: During the 'bidding wars' K-1 Global had with Glory in 2011-2012 it came to light that Petro, who has been more or less a free agent was making roughly 11 or 12k a fight which was absolute peanuts for the biggest name at 70kg. I'm not sure how much he's making now, but his stock can't be higher now than it was 6 years ago. He may make some extra money from sponsorship deals or 'local' commercials over in Italy. I just hope he's getting paid.

As for Buakaw, I think he was paid in the 60k range for his K-1 MAX Final against Kehl where he ended up sabotaging the event.

I think Badr was paid 200k for his 'farewell' fight against Saki at It's Showtime in 2012. After that, depending on where he was fighting or how much in need he was of cash he has been fighting for substantially more and substantially less. Perhaps Dave can ballpark how much Badr is making in Glory.

Takeru has quoted his per night winnings at $100K, not counting tournament winnings. I'd imagine both he and Tenshin make a lot more on sponsorships as they both have big league sponsors and are off doing a ton of media.

The scene is a lot worse off for everyone besides those two. Worth noting that many local guys are paid in tickets, which is another reason why I have 0 hopes for a heavier weight scene. Lacking a major TV deal to sell their product to the masses, K-1 needs to stock the cards with local fighters to sell tickets and fill seats. Fights like Gonnapar vs Wei Rui which were two foreign fighters are basically a charity case for them. That makes the prospect of a truly competitive world class heavier division a pipe dream unless they get on TV

[K1power]

I remember Musashi joking about K-1 making him fly business class when they would have foreign fighters on the same plane travelling first class.

[K1power]

BTW I wonder how much in total it cost K-1 to put K'Festa together.

[K1power]

Some fights added & opponent changes (OP updated):



Takeru vs. Daniel Puertas
Anpo Rukiya vs. Hayashi Kenta
Higashimoto Hisaki vs. Kawarada Shuji
Ogura Takaya vs. Ryota

www.k-1.co.jp/news/28386/

Looks like Luca Grusovin is being replaced by Daniel Puertas.

[K1power]

I also did a short analysis of the tournament participants just for the heck of it:

OD-KEN


+ Fast
+ Goes for the kill
- Hittable
- Appears a bit undersized even for 90kg

Verdict: Fun to watch fighter who will struggle against taller fighters with power.

Sina Karimian


+ Decent kicks & knees
- Seems uncomfortable out of the clinch

Verdict: Fighter who will potentially turn a K-1 rules fight into a clinchfest.

K-Jee


+ Fast
+ Commits to lowkicks
- Hittable
- Not much power in his shots

Verdict: Fighter with a somewhat fun style who will struggle against anyone with power.

Brian McGrath


+ Decent spinning kicks
- Sloppy movement

Verdict: A bit of a sloppy fighter who will run into trouble when his flashy techniques don't work.

Sugimoto Hitoshi


+ Reach
+ Combinations
- Hittable
- Slow

Verdict: Fighter with a decent physique and skillset, but who needs to work on his speed to be a threat.

Aundre Groce


+ Decent knees
+ Decent ring movement
- Not much power in his shots
- Does not fight with urgency

Verdict: An experienced fighter who misses the power and urgency to make a fight fun for the audience.

Uehara Makoto


+ Decent power in his punches
+ Sneaky highkick
- Throws in singles too much
- Tends to hesitate a lot

Verdict: A somewhat inconsistent fighter who can have a good, fun fights when he fights without hesitation. Will always struggle against larger fighters at a somewhat comparable skill level.

Masinissa Hamaili


+ Versatile moveset
+ Throws with power
- Overcomits to spinning techniques

Verdict: Potentially dangerous fighter who focuses too much on flashy techniques.

===

While the field isn't impressive, I think it should at least produce a few entertaining fights.

[fartsmeller]

Really looking forward to Takei vs Akram Hamidi. I hope Rukiya can come back strong after getting completely disintegrated by Gonnapar. Koji vs Stauros will probably be fun and Goshu is probably going to end up as gif fodder, but when you add a Takeru fight onto that then it's actually a card I'm looking forward to regardless of the GP attached to it. Hopefully there's a pleasant surprise in the field.