K-1 World GP 2024 in Sicily [27-07] Results

[K1power]

Sicilian promoter Paolo Viotti

“Hello everyone, my name is Paolo Viotti. I was a professional fighter for a long time during the golden age of kickboxing, competing in the same events as legendary fighters like Andre Mannato, Ramon Dekker, and Rob Carman. I am passionate about promoting the value of martial arts and have dedicated my life to the Italian fighting organization Fight 1, of which I am one of the founders.

In addition, the Italian martial arts event "Octagon", of which I am the chairman, is a historic event that will be watched live by 14,000 spectators, over 100 TV stations around the world, and Giorgio Armani, Donatella Versace, Dolce & We invited big names such as Gabbana and Mario Balotelli to the venue.

We have created wonderful shows so far, mainly in Milan. Last time, the ISKA world title was held in our ring, and Takumi Terada, a great K-1 player, was crowned the new champion. Twenty years ago, several K-1 qualifying tournaments were held in Milan, and the winners earned the right to participate in the final in Japan.

In Milan, I was lucky to see some of the best fighters in martial arts, like Yoshihiro Sato, Badr Hari, Giorgio Petrosyan, Robin van Rosmalen, and Andrei Stoica and Askerov.

Here's some shocking news. i'm back! Yes, K-1 is back! K-1 has returned to Europe and to Milan. The most iconic event in martial arts history, K-1, is back, thanks to Carlos Kikuta.

Please leave July 27th open. Because our local promoter Bruno Bottindari will host and organize the event in the city of Rossellini, on the famous Piazza Garibaldi. This region of Sicily is a special island in Italy, full of history of warriors, poets and writers. How do you get a chance to go directly to Japan for the K-1WGP in a world regional qualifying tournament involving eight heavyweight fighters? And it will be a fun opportunity to see how this important tournament unfolds."

Fightcard
Openweight Qualifier Tournament
Malang Konta vs. Ali Badawi
Agatino La Rosa vs. Florin Ivănoaie
Marcell Horvath vs. Samuele Pugliese
Pavlos Kochliaridis vs. Rhys Brudenell

Tournament Reserve Fight
TBA vs. TBA

75kg ISKA Intercontinental Title
Enrico Carrara vs. Hamed Bahi

58kg WKU MT World Title
Giuseppe Gennuso (C) vs. El Haboudi

Women's 55kg ISKA Oriental Rules World Title
Luciana Germano vs. Elodie Mabire

70kg Superfight
Luca Cappello vs. Gianbattista Di Pietro

67kg Preliminary Fight
Giuliano Vernuccio vs. Ryan Cachia

60kg Preliminary Fight - Youth Bout
Walter Trombadore vs. Kaiden Camilleri

www.k-1.co.jp/schedule/16626
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_in_K-1#K-1_World_GP_2024_in_Sicily

[K1power]

Press conference held in Italy, home of the K-1 WGP World Qualifiers!

[larsenator]

I see Carlo di Blasi is there too: Oktagon promoter, ONE FC European director (last I looked) and (former?) manager of Giorgio Petrosyan.
Carlo was also the man behind FIGHT CODE (which I did some PPV live TV commentary gigs for).

[K1power]

Di Blasi has a decent reputation, this card has some potential.

[larsenator]

He has always been extremely friendly towards me, and always honoured our verbal and written agreements.

[K1power]

Some names have startled to trickle in (OP updated), but I'm not familiar with any of these fighters.

[K1power]

I think we have most of the line-up (OP updated).

The only tournament participants I'm familiar with are Florin Ivănoaie and Rhys Brudenell.
Ivănoaie is a regular from the Romanian circuit and Brudenell lost to Cookie at the Glory 80 studio event.

[vampiro]

Brudenell also got brutally knocked unconscious in about 35 seconds by Sergej Maslobojev last Novemeber.

[K1power]

Ah that's right, wasn't it Maslobojev's HW debut?

Anyway, I vaguely remember Brudenell not looking half bad against Cookie, but I believe it was mentioned fighting is just a parttime gig for him.

[Shadess]

Maslo has fought Kryklia in Kunlun at HW etc. Brudenell might've been his first HW fight in a while tho. But also his KOK opponents are pretty handpicked and not really bigger than him so the weight class on paper doesn't much matter.

[K1power]

Maslo did make sort of a big deal about it in an interview with Champstalk last year. He said something along the lines of wanting to see how his body would deal with him gaining weight. His opponents in KOK weren't necessarily high tier, but I'm not sure they could afford any big names nor if Glory would have approved. Not that they seem to care about him too much anymore.

[K1power]

Happening this Saturday.

Not sure what to expect here as I'm unfamiliar with most of the fighters.

[K1power]

https://www.instagram.com/p/C95DwXlAOAP

20k bonus for the tournament winner which is okay for a local qualifier, I guess.

What I find odd is that this appears to be geo-blocked outside of DAZN Italy.
Not sure if that's typical for Italian promotions like Evolution Fight and Oktagon, but feels like a bit of a missed opportunity. Not that I expect a smaller, local card to do noteworthy PPV numbers, but still.

[Shadess]

Think evolution is usually global on DAZN.

Geo block could be fallout from the initial K-1 reboot deal with DAZN. Presumably DAZN got contacted by the people K-1 is having legal issues with and DAZN doesn't want any part of that mess so just local stream. That is allowed as an exception in the deal old K-1 signed with CSI Sports.

[vampiro]

Looks like Brudenell, the only fighter I recognized, RAN through everyone here. Obviously, I didn't watch, but if a guy Sergej Maslobojev EASILY and BRUTALLY beat is winning this.. good for him tho.