K-1 Revenge returned after a 27 year absence with two titles on the line and two super fights at the top of the bill. The title matches featured two all Japanese contests as Tomoya Yokoyama fought Yuta Matsuyama at Super Featherweight and Ryota Ishida took on Kosei Sekiguchi at Featherweight.
Mahmoud Sattari vs Aslan Koshiyev
Mahmoud Sattari secured a hard-fought decision victory over Aslan Koshiyev in a back-and-forth Cruiserweight contest.
Sattari began the fight looking to mix things up, chopping away with low kicks and using his boxing to target the Kazakh/Turks jaw to great effect.
Koshiyev responded with a long-range kicking attack, primarily attacking the body and legs with chopping kicks.
The second round saw Sattari become a completely different fighter, despite chopping Koshiyev to the canvas on several occasions he looked tired and held his hands low, almost leaving himself as a sitting duck for his opponent.
Despite Koshiyev having a much better round working his boxing and knees, a quickfire overhand right on the bell for Sattari buckled his knees and forced his hands to the canvas.
The referee failed to call the knockdown but that didn’t stop Sattari rallying from a lacklustre round two to seal the fight with a clinical round three, using stabbing kicks to the body and effective distance control to allow the Iranian to claim victory in front of his adopted home crowd.
Kacper Muszynski vs Seiya Tanigawa
Kacper Muszynski wasted no time in the ring as he swept aside Seiya Tanigawa inside the first round.
The first combination the Polish powerhouse threw sent Tanigawa to the canvas and the following attack to the body ended the contest just 45 seconds into the opening round.
After back-to-back losses in the K-1 ring stunted his early momentum, Muszynski reminded everyone why he is someone to be feared in the ring.
The question now is where does he go next? He has previously competed at both Middleweight and Super Welterweight and with his last loss coming for the Middleweight title he might seek to avenge that as a priority.
However, he also has history in the Super Welterweight Grand Prix, first being forced to withdraw with an injury at the semi-final stage, then losing a hotly contested qualifying match with Ouyang Feng.
Coming away from this event without a scratch on him and with several spots still open in the upcoming Super Welterweight Grand Prix, we could see Kacper Muszynski back in the K-1 ring sooner than we thought.
Yuta Matsuyama vs Tomoya Yokoyama: Vacant K-1 interim Super Featherweight Title
There were fireworks from the opening bell as Tomoya Yokoyama dropped Yuta Matsuyama within ten seconds on his way to a first-round knockout win.
Brimming with confidence, Yokoyama opened the fight by sprinting at his opponent and attempting to land a flying scissor knee, although that was unsuccessful, his 1-2 punch sent Matsuyama tumbling to the canvas.
From then on Yokoyama never let up, battering his opponent with low kicks and slick boxing, before ending the contest with a destructive right-left combo.
An elated crowd filled the arena with noise, but there was one man in particular Yokoyama hoped was listening.
“Remi Parra, if you’re listening to me, I’m going to get you whatever weight class you want”.
Ryota Ishida vs Kosei Sekiguchi: K-1 Featherweight Title
Ryota Ishida snatched the K-1 Super Featherweight Title, dropping Kosei Sekiguchi three times in the opening round to write his name in the K-1 history books.
There was nothing to separate the two on paper, 23 and 22 years old one man with a slight edge in power versus a man with a slight edge in speed, a classic stylistic matchup.
Ishida won the day with his patience, gauging Sekiguchi’s lightening fast attacks to drop him with a straight left hand late into the opening round.
A further straight left sent him back to the canvas and the final killer blow ended the contest with just 12 seconds left in round one.
Ecstasy for Ishida, agony for Sekiguchi, they will remember this night for very different reasons and perhaps this has the making for a future K-1 Revenge blockbuster.
K-1 REVENGE RESULTS
Kiyomitsu Samuel Nagasawa def. Tatsuya Oiwa by decision
Riamu def. Riku Otsu by decision
Koji Ikeda def. Kazuki Fujita by KO Round 1
Ryusho def. Hayato Onodera by decision
