K-1 WORLD GP 2022 in Fukuoka [11-08] Results

[K1power]

Fightcard
Featherweight (57.5kg) Tournament
Niimi Takahito vs. Wang Junguang
Tsubakihara Tatsuya vs. Toma
Gunji Taito vs. Facu Suarez
Kumura Shuhei vs. Jaosueayai Sor. Depachan

Tournament Reserve
Terada Takumi vs. Ginji

Superfights
K-Jee vs. Tanigawa Seiya
Ishii Issei vs. Fujita Kazuki
Egawa Yuuki vs. Maki Chachai
Suzuki Hayato vs. Kondo Kaisei
Miburo Kazuki vs. Mine Daiki
Animal Koji vs. Akira Junior
Gonnapar Weerasakreck vs. Iwasaki Hiroto
Shinohara Yuto vs. Yoza Yuki
Osawa Fumiya vs. Dansiam Ayothaya Fight Gym
Saikyo Yuma vs. Satomi Yuzuki
Sakamoto Hidenori vs. Maruyama Naoto
Kaito vs. Koki

Prelims
Rikito vs. Ryunosuke
Kensuke vs. Hayashi Shinpei
Nishibayashi Shohei vs. Taiga
Soichiro vs. Nagano Kakeru

www.k-1.co.jp/schedule/16577/

[K1power]

We have a fightcard (OP updated).

Looks fun!

[K1power]

Good to see K-Jee putting in the work. He's one of the few Japanese fighters who has both the body and skillset to actually compete at Cruiserweight. Not sure if he could overcome Sattari's explosiveness in an eventual rematch, but his upcoming matchup with Tanigawa is a good test for both.

[K1power]

We have a full card (OP updated).

Pretty massive with a total of 24 fights.

Not entirely sure why they're doing a featherweight tournament when Gunji is already the champ, but I'm not complaining.
This is kinda like when Takeru was in a tournament despite being a champ already.

[K1power]

Happening this Thursday.

Unfortunately I won't be able to catch it live.

[K1power]

Hoping I can somehow at least still catch a part of it.

[K1power]

Results
Featherweight (57.5kg) Tournament
Gunji Taito defeats Toma by TKO R1
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Toma defeats Wang Junguang by Unanimous Decision
Gunji Taito defeats Kumura Shuhei by by KO R1
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Wang Junguang defeats Niimi Takahito by Unanimous Decision
Toma defeats Tsubakihara Tatsuya by Majority Decision
Gunji Taito defeats Facu Suarez by Unanimous Decision
Kumura Shuhei defeats Jaosueayai Sor. Depachan by TKO R2

Tournament Reserve
Terada Takumi defeats Ginji by Unanimous Decision

Superfights
Tanigawa Seiya defeats K-Jee by Unanimous Decision
Ishii Issei defeats Fujita Kazuki by TKO R3
Egawa Yuuki defeats Maki Chachai by Unanimous Decision
Suzuki Hayato defeats Kondo Kaisei by Extra Round TKO
Miburo Kazuki defeats Mine Daiki by Unanimous Decision
Akira Junior defeats Animal Koji by KO R2
Gonnapar Weerasakreck defeats Iwasaki Hiroto by TKO R1
Yoza Yuki defeats Shinohara Yuto by TKO R2
Osawa Fumiya defeats Dansiam Ayothaya Fight Gym by Unanimous Decision
Satomi Yuzuki defeats Saikyo Yuma by Unanimous Decision
Maruyama Naoto defeats Sakamoto Hidenori by KO R2
Kaito defeats Koki by TKO R1

Prelims
Ryunosuke defeats Rikito by Unanimous Decision
Kensuke defeats Hayashi Shinpei by TKO R1
Nishibayashi Shohei defeats Taiga by Unanimous Decision
Nagano Kakeru defeats Soichiro by Unanimous Decision

www.k-1.co.jp/schedule/16577/

[K1power]

I was working and had the stream running in the background, so I was only half paying attention.
Please keep that in mind while I'm spouting my nonsense. I believe I caught the majority of it, though.

The Good:
+ While I don't believe this was the best possible event to follow up 'The Match', that is an unenviable task. This card on its own was solid and had some standout moments & performances.
+ Gunji Taito's Tournament run was great.
+ Toma, a 19 year old kid making it to the tournament final with solid performances.
+ While I may have my doubts on a couple of stoppages, I didn't spot any questionable decisions. Yay!
+ Nice KO by Akira Junior over Animal Koji.
+ Gonnapar did so much damage to Iwasaki in that last minute of R1, that despite surviving the round Iwasaki's corner called it. A good decision to protect their fighter and a very strong performance by Gonnapar.
+ Yoza scoring a rare calf low kick TKO over Shinohara. Hope Shinohara recovers well, he seemed in serious pain.
+ Nice (flash) knockdown Satomi Yuzuki scored on Saikyo Yuma which essentially won him the fight.
+ Nice KO scored by Maruyama over Sakamoto. You could see Maruyama was happy to redeem himself from that highkick KO loss to Jitsukata.
+ Wang getting past Niimi despite looking smaller and seemingly missing some power for this weightclass.
+ A bit surprised Tsubakihara lost to Toma. It was a close, chess match type of fight. I believe Toma is only 19 years old. Crazy.
+ Gunji / Suarez - An explosive start with Suarez wobbling Gunji early in the first. Gunji took over after that, but props to Suarez for hanging in there.
+ Kumura's destruction of Jaosueayai was a solid performance.
+ Fun, competitive prelims.

The Bad:
- While this was a fine event overall, I feel like it was missing some starpower and fireworks. Especially following up 'The Match' and much better K-1 cards earlier this year.
- While I appreciate Abema making half of these events available on YouTube, it's total BS that they keep the main portions geoblocked. I wouldn't mind paying for direct access, but having to go through a VPN annoys me to no end.
- This card had just way too many fights on it. I'll keep saying it; more frequent, but easily digestible cards: 10-15 fights a pop.
- Tanigawa / K-Jee. Awkward fight. Perhaps their styles aren't compatible. K-Jee ran out gas quickly. Neither of them are ready to face Karimian or Sattari at this point. Not by a mile.
- Not sure about the Gunji / Toma stoppage. That last 'knockdown' didn't really seem like one and with just 2 seconds to go I feel the ref should have just let the fight go on. I'm all for fighter protection, but this one felt a bit early for what was at stake here.
- While I'm glad Ishii / Fujita wasn't stopped because of a cut with less than a minute ago, I feel the stoppage was a bit premature with just 20 seconds to go.
- I don't think Egawa / Maki was a bad fight, but I was missing a sense of urgency.
- Suzuki / Kondo felt like a sloppy affair.
- While I thought Miburo / Mine was an okay fight, it feels like it was too high up the ladder. K-1 keeps putting Miburo in these 'showcases' because he's a bit of a character, but he's barely winning any of his fights.
- Animal Koji is one of the few Japanese cruiserweights who actually doesn't look like a chubby middleweight, but he fights like he spends more time lifting weights than focusing on his fighting skills, which is a shame.
- Osawa / Dansiam was way too clinchy. That said, the ref was pretty late with his first clinch warning to Dansiam and then awfully quick to follow it up with two yellow cards. Do cards still mean a purse deduction in K-1?

I feel like with this one I've been bitching more than usual, but then we're coming of a few high level events.
Again, I enjoyed this event, but the September card should be better.

[lero]

konappa is killing it recently, I hope he can get his belt back soon.

Hope they keep getting foreign fighters, nice perfomances by Wang and Suárez, time to call Wei Rui back.