K-1 WORLD GP 2018 JAPAN K'FESTA.1 [21-03] Results

[h]

Feb 8, 2018 2:04:19 GMT 1 dvewlsh said:

I can't even fathom the answer because it's probably just a shrug.

they literally held up a sign with this on it

¯\_( ツ )_/¯

[K1power]

Ooh I'm loving this.

[fartsmeller]

That's a fantastic poster design

[karaevfan]

So full fight order has been announced. Its a whopper, the Abema stream is scheduled for 9 hours with 2 intermissions!

Fightcard
(ordered)

Preliminary Fights

P-1 Sano Junpei vs. Matsumura Hideaki
P-2 Ruku vs. Kato Kona
P-3 Hara Shouta vs. Kondo Kaisei
P-4 Toushi vs. Hayato
P-5 Yokoyama Takumi vs. Oiwa Tatsuya [60kg tournament reserve fight]

Main card (Part 1)
Landhousing Presents "4th WORLD GP Super Featherweight Championship Tournament"
QF-1 KOJI vs. Urabe Hirotaka
QF-2 Komiyama Kosuke vs. Suarek Rukkukamui
QF-3 TAKERU vs. Stauros Exakoustidis
QF-4 Goshyu Masanobu vs. Timur Nadrov

WW Title Fight:  Kubo Yuta (c) vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
HW Title Fight: Antonio Plazibat (c) vs. Roel Mannaart


[Intermission 1]


Main card (Part 2)
50kg Women's SuperFight
KANA vs. Polina Petukhova
Super BW SuperFight: Gunji Taito vs. Tosaka Takumi
Super LW SuperFight: Nakazawa Jun vs Soda Yasuomi

Landhousing Presents "4th WORLD GP Super Featherweight Championship Tournament"

- SF-1 Winner of QF-1 vs Winner of QF-2
- SF-2 Winner of QF-3 vs Winner of QF-4

Super FW Title Fight: Noiri Masaaki (c) vs. Tetsuya Yamato
Super WW Title Fight: Chingiz Allazov (c) vs. Hinata

[Intermission 2]

Main card (Part 3)

WW SuperFight: Kimura 'Phillip' Minoru vs. Hirayama Jin
WW SuperFight: Kido Yasuhiro vs. Issam Chahid
EMURGO presents: Kaew Weerasakreck vs. Hiramoto Ren
LW Title Fight: Wei Rui (c) vs. Urabe Koya
Super BW Title Fight: Takei Yoshiki (c) vs. Kubo Kenji

Landhousing Presents "4th WORLD GP Super Featherweight Championship Tournament" 
- Super FW Title Fight: Winner of SF-1 vs Winner of SF-2

FYI Kaew vs Ren not confirmed to be a title eliminator so far as I know.

[K1power]

That is extremely long. I've been to actual events in Holland from start to finish with 25-30 fights on the card and those were pretty much all day engagements as well. While it's great as an all day activity, it's very taxing and by the end of the day you're pretty spent.

I wonder how that translates to an all day stream as usually when event streams go over 5 hours I already find them a bit on the long side.

However, these cards usually aren't as stacked as this one and I suspect taking an actual break from watching when the intermissions kick in will have a refreshing effect.

I assume they'll want to completely fill out that time slot for maximum exposure, so it's going to be a long one even if there are lots of KO's.

While I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it I'm trying to get a few days off from work for this and other engagements.

[fartsmeller]

I've got one project ending on the 16th and the next starting on the 30th, so huge thanks to Goodloser or whatever they're called for scheduling a Godzilla sized card during the time I intend to do exactly jack shit.

I do need to find a VPN that'll withstand it 9 hours of streaming, however.

[K1power]

Try SoftEther. It's a great one that Shadess provided me with and it's been getting me through the past K-1 events. Also China might have a region free stream via www.yy.com.

[fartsmeller]

Yeah I've used SoftEther in the past, but during the last K-1 card I watched the best server got flaky and the others didn't cut the mustard so I ended up using yy.com. Back when Hola worked, you used to be able to turn it off while watching and if you stopped the page from refreshing it would just work using your normal connection, but the geoblocking seems to just get better and better every time I come up against it.

Sidenote: the softether installation warning screen is amazing pbs.twimg.com/media/DJ_c_DHW0AE64WN.jpg

[karaevfan]

Oh! I looked into this because I'm stateside this event.

There's apparently a service that lets you sign up to watch a free trial that gets you Gaora. No Abema + vpn nonsense needed (thanks Grabaka Hitman)

I've also schedule a Wednesday vacation day for this. My boss was curious as to why I needed a midweek break, but you know, priorities

[Shadess]

BECAUSE I HAVE TO WATCH 9 HOURS OF KICKBOXING OKAY...THERE, NOW YOU KNOW
**turns away and walks out of the office**

[dvewlsh]

Mar 8, 2018 21:14:11 GMT 1 karaevfan said:

Oh! I looked into this because I'm stateside this event.

There's apparently a service that lets you sign up to watch a free trial that gets you Gaora. No Abema + vpn nonsense needed (thanks Grabaka Hitman)

I've also schedule a Wednesday vacation day for this. My boss was curious as to why I needed a midweek break, but you know, priorities

Wait WHAT?!

I wish I had known this before. Goara is a fucking goldmine of combat and wrestling shows.

[karaevfan]

We are a week or so away.

Just to get us in the mood, I will be translating some of the promotional material every day until this event. Thinking around things like fighter interviews, those short documentaries Abema releases, etc.

First off, is a long interview Takeru did with the magazine Fight & Life

Interviewer: So the once announced main card fight has been cancelled and turned into a tournament. I assume, of course, that you can’t just shrug and say you don’t mind what happened

Takeru: Well… there’s a lot of difficult things, and its no doubt that the tournament is a much tougher route than the original fight. But looking at things positively, this tournament has fighters who have beaten the past champion and fighters who have beaten those fighters. So the caliber of fights is definitely higher than the original card. And I think that if I win this, no one would be able to raise a complaint. It’s a tough road, but one I need to clear.





Interviewer: Surely you’re not completely at ease with what’s happened. I assume that with a possible 3 fights on the horizon instead of just one, your physical preparation has significantly changed as well.

Takeru: Yes. The training has really shifted around. The biggest thing is that I’ve been prepping for a southpaw all this time. Even before I went to the US, for 2-3 months. But everyone in the tournament is an orthodox.



Interviewer: That sounds difficult.

Takeru: I need to basically remove all the anti-southpaw habits I’ve engrained. Right stance or left stance, you might think there’s not that big of a difference, but if that switches everything changes whether it be distance or the angle of strikes, so its actually a completely different thing. So that is a small worry for me, but I still have a month or so left so I’ll just have to retrain myself.



Interviewer: You were prepping for a main event weren’t you? Has that cancellation impacted your motivation at all?

Takeru: Well as for being the main event, if I just keep winning I will become that so instead of just being gifted the slot, I think it’s more valuable if I earn it by winning. I’ve been saying from the start that “I will be the one to pull the new K-1 ahead” so now that the goal of Saitama Super Arena is just ahead I’ve been granted one last challenge—to win my main card slot. That’s how I’m taking it.



Interviewer: When you heard the card was being changed to a tournament, what was your initial reaction?

Takeru: I wondered who else I would be able to fight. The first name that came to my name was Stauros.



Interviewer: Ah really?

Takeru: Having a card swapped out is terrible news to spring on the fans, but I thought that if it was at least vs. a fighter who’s KO’d Taiga they might at least be understanding so I asked them to set up the Stauros fight. But there was the possibility that he would be fighting in another event around the time… so when I thought about what would satisfy the fans I thought that a tournament might be enough and when that idea was suggested I accepted without hesitation. Only I found out that my gym’s sempai, Hiro-kun (Urabe Hirotaka) would be on the tournament too. Then I thought “I don’t want to do that”.



Interviewer: Really now?

Takeru: 8 years since I came to Tokyo, I’ve been practicing with him for all this while and he’s taking care of me outside of practice too. Really he’s not a sempai for me so much as a big brother and I didn’t want to fight with family. I told them “if Hiro-kun is in the tournament, I’m out” at first, but then my fight would disappear and that would be betraying the fans. So in the end they brought me over. Its not a fight for myself, but for the fans who’ve supported us since K-1 was restarted. At this moment, I’m still not thinking of fighting Hiro-kun and I’m training while eliminating that possibility from my mind.



Interviewer: So you don’t want to fight each other if possible. But it’s a tournament, surely you don’t want Hirotaka to lose in the middle.

Takeru: That’s the thing isn’t it? I do want him to win, but I don’t want to encounter him. So I’ve erased the thought from my mind at the moment.



Interviewer: I see. Can I ask you about your impressions about Stauros, your 1st round opponent?

Takeru: He has skills and he was originally taking fights around 65kgs so I think he has the most power out of anyone in the field. In this tournament by taking him on in the 1st round while we are both fresh, we can surpass the originally scheduled card, so I knew that I wanted him first. Not that I doubted that he couldn’t work his way up to face me, but I wanted him first. I think he’s the best in the field, and that’s my motivation for now.



Interviewer: Is he a difficult opponent for you?

Takeru: He’s an aggressive fighter who’s looking for the big shot, so I prefer him over someone who won’t engage. But the fact that I can use my weapons against him means that he can do the same for me, so there’s always risk. It’s a tournament, so I know I have to make a gamble in order to KO my opponents. Otherwise I’m going to be damaged and won’t be able to proceed. So he’s a good fit, but a difficult opponent if that makes sense.



Interviewer: Komiyama outpointed Stauros. You don’t plan on trying something like that?

Takeru: No. You can’t do that over a tournament. I have no plans of using three rounds.



Interviewer: What about his offensive weapons?

Takeru: He’s dangerous with his hooks, but he’s not just a swinger. He’s always looking for counters. That’s what I’m watching out for. A bum swinger, you can just let swing himself tired, but Stauros has a good eye and only starts swinging when you’re hurt. That’s the big worry.



Interviewer: What about the other fight in the same block, Goshyu Masanobu vs Timur Nadrov

Takeru: Nadrov, I’ve watched a couple of videos of. I got the impression that he has good combos. So I’d like to fight him. It will be a good matchup and he has a lot of attention on him, so that’s a good fight for me. I think Goshyu is good too, but I’d prefer to fight Nadrov.



Interviewer: What about the opposing block? Komiyama vs Suarek?

Takeru: In the finals, I’m hoping to fight Suarek. He’s a titleholder in another org so I’ve heard he’s really good and I got the impression that he’d actually be a better fit for K-1 than muay thai, so if I think a lot of people would have to recognize me if I win.



Interviewer: What about Komiyama’s style?

Takeru: I guess for me it’s a relatively difficult opponent. I’d prefer Suarek.



Interviewer: Now last, Hirotaka vs Koji. Koji’s taunting is attracting a lot of attention.

Takeru: Honestly, I really have no interest in Koji. I don’t think he’s strong at all. Its easy to get attention by just opening your mouth, but he has no skills to back that up so it’s just a waste of energy to engage him. If he was a threat, I’d be much more engaged. Before Ozawa Kaito and Taiga tried to get a rise out of me, but I knew they were the real deal so I got heated. Koji doesn’t excite me at all. He can say what he wants against me, but all I hear comes in one ear and out another. If we were to fight, it wouldn’t even be worth showing it to fans so we can settle that privately. I think Hiro-kun is just gonna win easy.



Interviewer: If you get what you want, it will be Stauros, Nadrov, Suarek, three foreign top fighters in a row. That sounds pretty difficult.

Takeru: If I’m doing this thing, then might as well do it right. If I beat fighters who’ve fought around the world, that means the world will have to recognize me. If I can beat them all in a one day tournament, then that’s a golden opportunity.



Interviewer: You are moving up in weight. What about bulking up?

Takeru: You can’t just gain weight really quickly, so I’ve been taking the slow route up. I think the body at which you can move well is the best. No point in wrecking your conditioning bulking up. You can’t just make a 60kg body overnight so there might be a bit of a size gap. But that’s all part of the game.



Interviewer: If you win, you will be the Super FW champion. After that will you be staying at that weight?

Takeru: Honestly when I was just going to fight Taiga I wasn’t planning on stick around that weight. I just knew that we needed to put on the best show ever for Saitama, so I thought just moving up once for this might be enough. Never thought I’d be doing at least three fights here.



Interviewer: You’ll worry about what comes later after you win?

Takeru: Yes. I think I’ll fight where I fit best, so I’ll think about it after I win.



Interviewer: Have you talked to Hirotaka at all?

Takeru: Just a bit. Like “Well I guess its decided”. Hiro-kun has already fought his little brother Koya-kun, so I guess he’s somewhat over the hesitation. He’s really not concerned at all. He told me “I’ve fought Koya and now I might fight Takeru, so that might as well be fate.” I was worried he’d be hostile against me, but he was more in the mood of “I’m lucky to be able to fight two little brothers” so I thought that was pretty cool of him.



Interviewer: When those brothers were fighting I heard they completely separately practice between each other. Are you doing that now?

Takeru: No not at all. I’m not going to turn against him and he doesn’t seem to care so we’re still practicing together.



Interviewer: Now, there’s been a lot up to this point, but what are your thoughts on the big match in Saitama specifically.

Takeru: I’m really looking forward to it. There’s pressure, but putting aside all the drama, we as the new K-1 finally made it up to this point so if I’m not having fun its of no point. My philosophy is that I need to have enjoy fighting to make sure the fans are enjoying the show. There’s been a lot of challenges up to this point, and we’ve been able to find a lot of opportunities along the way. Everything from here to the fight, I’m going to do the same as I always do.



Interviewer: Now with social media being so developed, I’m sure you hear a lot of negative opinions as well. How do you deal with people saying that you’re “ducking” or being “protected”?

Takeru: Well it bums me out of course. Sometimes I get in the mood of “what did I do to be so bashed”. ‘Haters’ may not be numerous, but they talk a lot and they stand out. You start getting the illusion that everyone hates you and you aren’t even able to process anger, you’re just sad. I’ve talked to a lot of famous people about what I need to do to get the haters on my side. The answer that came back is ‘having haters is proof that you’re getting attention. You can’t worry about the anonymous who won’t show their faces. You just have to enjoy the attention’.



Interviewer: I see

Takeru: But you know I think that these people are spending their time to post things about me, so while they are haters they’re also fans in a way. So I’m trying to be positive about it. People might still disparage me, so I think of how I can prove them wrong. “What can I do to satisfy these guys?” “What can I do to shut them up”. A lot of hate was coming in around the time this tournament was announced. So the reason why I took the offer isn’t just to satisfy the fans, but to make the haters say “Wow, Takeru is taking on this tournament? I guess he’s great after all”. That’s my motivation. That’s why I wanted Stauros first.



Interviewer: If you can pile those three victories together, it will truly be a great accomplishment on a big stage.

Takeru: That’s right. The people who support me as fans. The people that support me as haters. I want to satisfy them all. Every fight, I go in thinking that I need to leave it all on the line expecting that this could be my last fight. I don’t know how many more fights I can take on and I don’t know when I might suffer a big injury. So every fight is a culmination of what I’ve done so far and every fight is payback for everything the fans have given me. That’s what I want to show the audience. So I’ll become the champion and give both the fans and haters something to be happy about.

[fartsmeller]

Thanks a lot for that, that must take a lot of effort. Takeru is vastly more thoughtful and insightful than you'd guess for a guy who fights like a madman.

[karaevfan]

Mar 14, 2018 12:06:36 GMT 1 fartsmeller said:

Thanks a lot for that, that must take a lot of effort. Takeru is vastly more thoughtful and insightful than you'd guess for a guy who fights like a madman.

My pleasure. Hard to get into fights if you don't understand where the fighters are coming from.

Takeru's pretty fascinating. He's an emerging superstar these days, but he's been fairly vocal about feeling responsible for rebuilding kakutougi in Japan even though really nobody was pinning their hopes on him since he was fighting in a weightclass nobody cared about and its not like he was a shining prodigy like Tenshin. He doesn't have the innate charisma of someone like Masato, but he's made up for it by being super strategic about how he sells the sport. Even when he was just a Krush fighter with no promotional push, he talked his way into a TV talent agency and was showing up on Ninja Warrior and other variety shows just to force the kickboxing back into mainstream conversation.

[K1power]

karaevfan said:

My pleasure. Hard to get into fights if you don't understand where the fighters are coming from.

Thank you! Both for the comment and the humongous wall of translation above it.

Some people are mainly interested in the quality of fights/fighters and there's nothing wrong with that, but for me that approach doesn't really work as it feels a bit distant and sterile if that choice of words makes any sense.

I really care a lot about the stories behind the fighters and stories behind matchups.

Have yet to read the Takeru interview, but will comment as soon as I get it done.