After securing qualification in September, reigning champion Stoyan Koprivlenski will look to defend his tournament title as he takes on promotional newcomer and former Rajadamnern Stadium champion Hercules. Sporting a kickboxing record of 61-21 and riding a seven-fight win streak, Hercules enters the tournament after an injury forced original opponent Minoru Kimura to withdraw.
A first round blitz saw Alfousseynou Kamara overwhelm Albijon Morina to book his place in the tournament proper, and the Senegalese savate specialist has drawn Darryl Verdonk as his first-round opponent. Verdonk knocked down Nurtilek Zhalynbekov three times in his opening round contest to secure his spot in the tournament and will look to improve on last year’s effort, where he lost his opening round matchup with Raphael “Dengue” Silva.
The winner of the South American K-1 qualifying tournament earlier this year, Brazil’s Jonas Salsicha will look to continue his excellent tournament form as he takes on current Super Welterweight champion Ouyang Feng. An undefeated start to his K-1 career has seen Feng emerge as one of the early tournament favourites, in no small part due to his win over fellow tournament participant Darryl Verdonk and Polish standout Kacper Muszynski.
Completing the opening round bracket is a matchup between Zhora Akopyan of Armenia and Aymeric Lazizi of France. Akopyan will be looking to better his performance from last years tournament where he exited in the opening stages to Kacper Muszynski, whilst Lazizi will make his first appearance in the finals after overcoming Abiral Ghimire to qualify for the final eight in Tokyo.
Heavyweight Title Fight: Roel Mannaart vs Ariel Machado
Returning to the ring after a five-year hiatus earlier this year, Roel Mannaart reminded everyone why he was the king of the K-1 heavyweights after he brutalised the legs of K-Jee on his way to a second-round stoppage victory. A GLORY veteran with wins over Levi Rigters and Nico Pereira Horta, Mannaart will face another former GLORY fighter as he defends his title against Ariel Machado.
Machado won back-to-back tournaments to land himself a title shot, finishing all three opponents including Rhys Brudenell and Errol Zimmerman to secure K-1 gold. A low kick specialist in his own right, Machado has finished four of his last seven K-1 opponents with leg kicks, and he will look to chop down the big Dutchman and return to Brazil as heavyweight champion.
Super Lightweight Title Fight: Taio Asahisa vs Shu Inagaki
Looking to reclaim the title he lost to Yuki Yoza in 2023, Taio Asahisa has been relentless in his pursuit of K-1 gold, winning four straight and securing a matchup with Shu Inagaki for the vacant K-1 Super Lightweight Title. A fracture to his right hand prior to the fight saw Asahisa lose grip on the Super Lightweight Title two years ago, but back-to-back wins in RIZIN and a victory over Danila Kvach in July have seen him catapulted back into the title picture.
His opponent will be Shu Inagaki, a former title challenger who returns to the ring after a loss in May to Yodkhunpon. With the Thai fighter switching promotions to ONE FC revenge for Inagaki has been put on hold for now, in the meantime he will look to recapture the form that brought him a title in Krush and saw him make the final of the K-1 World MAX 2024 55kg World Championship Tournament.
Bantamweight Title Fight: Issei Ishii vs Eito Kurokawa
Returning to the K-1 stage after a three-year absence, young gun Eito Kurokawa will look to continue his form from Krush as he takes on the more experienced Issei Ishii in this Bantamweight Title bout. Ishii has twice before fought for the K-1 Bantamweight title, suffering two losses to Toma Kuroda whilst Kurokawa’s only career loss to former Super Bantamweight title challenger Rui Okubo.
This will be Ishii’s 11th contest in two years with seven of those contests coming under the RWS banner, by comparison Kurokawa has only competed once this year when he defended his Krush Bantamweight title with a third-round knockout win over Daina in March. At only 21 years old Kurokawa finds himself opposite the number ten ranked fighter in the BeyondKick flyweight rankings and a man with seven times the professional experience, he will need to be at his best to overcome the challenge that Issei Ishii will present him.
