Ouyang Feng made his first appearance in K-1 after over a year since he dropped from the 2024 World MAX tournament due to injury. His opponent, Dutch-Indonesian standout Darryl Verdonk had been on a 3-1 run with wins over Hiromi Wajima, Zhora Akopyan, and Jomthong. The fight itself was a thriller, one of the best of the year so far, as Ouyang knocked down his opponent twice in the opening round and was dropped once himself in the same round. A war of attrition ensued as the Dutchman tried to whittle down Ouyang's commanding lead, but a knockdown proved too much to come back from as he could only win one of the remaining two rounds. Thus, the Chinese star earned his 14th consecutive win and defended his K-1 70kg title for the first time since winning it over 18 months before.
After the fight, Ouyang Feng expressed that he would be open to facing Kacper Muszynski and joining the K-1 World MAX tournament later this year.
RÉMI PARRA DOMINATES
Late in 2023, French standout Rémi Parra shocked the K-1 audience when he beat perennial top 61 kg kickboxer Leona Pettas, making a name for himself in Japan. When K-1 called him back for their 60kg championship tournament, the Frenchman was automatically seen as one of the favorites to win the title that had been vacated by his former opponent Pettas, earlier in the year.
As the tournament got underway, Krush champion Tomoya Yokoyama traded knockdowns with ONE fighter Egor Bikrev and eventually got a body shot KO in the extra round. One of China's best 60kg kickboxers Huang Shuailu handily beat Enfusion star Matthew Daalman over four rounds; however, his jaw was injured, as was the hand of reserve fighter Leona Pettas, so Daalman had to face Yokoyama in the semi-final with a badly damaged body. The Krush champion made quick work of the Dutchman, earning a first-round body shot KO to advance to the final. On the other side of the bracket, Parra knocked out Yuta Matsuyama with a massive right hand in the first round, then knocked out Kyokushin stylist Chihiro Nakajima in the second to face off against Yokoyama. In the final, Yokoyama repeatedly stuck himself in the corner—unable to circle out or create distance as Hirotaka Asahisa had done to beat the Frenchman in 2024—and was eventually knocked out by a sizzling Parra, who won the K-1 Super Featherweight title with three KOs against Japanese fighters in one night.
Parra takes a spot near the top of a young 61kg division in its transition phase after Taiga Kawabe left kickboxing, Hirotaka Asahisa moved up in weight, and Takeru Segawa exited his prime. As former K-1 Champion Yuki Egawa did not participate in the tournament for unknown reasons, he may be an interesting opponent for Parra.
THIAN DE VRIES WITH MASSIVE COMEBACK
As Liu Ce had to drop out of the fight against Thian De Vries due to a broken nose just a week before the show, he was stripped of his Cruiserweight title, and K-1 quickly found a replacement in former Champion Mahmoud Sattari.
The Iranian fighter shockingly knocked down Thian De Vries with an overhand just 30 seconds into the round, but the Dutchman came back with his own left cross seconds later to abruptly end the fight, expanding his undefeated record to 30-0 with 27 KOs. If De Vries doesn't sign with GLORY Kickboxing in the near future, he will likely defend his title against Liu Ce.
KOJI IKEDA UPSETS AKIHIRO KANEKO
Since his trilogy fight against Masashi Kumura in 2023, Akihiro Kaneko has shown signs of decline in his newfound passiveness. Still, he had been a pound-for-pound ranked fighter and one of the most technically sound kickboxers in the world who had beaten every opponent in front of him without fail for the past three years, so when Krush title challenger Koji Ikeda knocked him down 15 seconds into the fight, it was a major shock to the division. Kaneko couldn't get his offense going until the third round, and by then, it was too late.
Ikeda had lost 3 of his previous 5 coming into the fight, with losses to Krush Champion Riamu, RISE top contender Ryu Hanaoka, and a bad TKO loss to the madman Lyra Nagasaka. As the fight was not for Kaneko's K-1 55kg title, he still has a chance at redemption if a rematch is made.
