Welcome to the seventh edition of the kickfighting roundup, where fights outside major promotions such as GLORY, ONE, RISE, and K-1 are given the spotlight. This month saw many high profile fighters take fights in smaller promotions, with former K-1 champion Taito Gunji taking on a young challenger in Cristian Bogdan at the Japan Martial Arts Expo and Sergey Ponomarev making his annual return to Ural FC. We also saw controversy in Japan, a new prospect emerge in Romania, and huge happenings in China, making for one of the busiest months this year for kickfighting.
VALENTIN MAVRODIN VS. CALIN PETRISOR
October 11, 2024 - Two of the top 70 kg fighters in Romania faced off in a double title bout at DFS 24. The young and highly talented Valentin Mavrodin took on Calin Petrisor in a rematch for Petrisor's ISKA World Super Welterweight title and Mavrodin's DFS Middleweight title. Mavrodin had won the inaugural DFS Middleweight earlier this year against another top Romanian fighter, Marian Lapusneanu. Petrisor and Mavrodin had previously fought late last year in a three round bout that saw Mavrodin win a unanimous decision victory. The narrative of the fight would be obvious once the first bell rung, with the two fighters exchanging heavy blows at close range in a high tempo fight. Much of the volume from Petrisor would be punches, with Mavrodin mixing in punches and kicks to work at the body and legs of the shorter fighter. The younger fighter had success rolling laterally as Petrisor came in with big hooks, causing Petrisor to swing himself off balance in much of the fight. Mavrodin would ultimately win a unanimous decision, claiming both titles and cementing himself as a fighter to look out for in the 70 kg division.
QUMUXIFU VS. SHOGO KURIAKI
October 12 - The 22-year-old Yi-Chinese kickboxer Qumuxifu came to Japan last year as an unknown, thought to be just another walkover for Ryusei. Despite this, he made the KNOCK OUT golden boy taste the canvas for the first time in his career with a brutal right hook in the first round. Despite losing the fight conclusively to Ryusei in an extra round, the performance earned him more appearances on KNOCK OUT, where he would notably defeat the 18-year-old prodigy Taimu Hisai. His two victories following the loss to Ryusei earned him a title shot at 57 kg against a solid veteran in Shogo Kuriaki. The Japanese kickboxer has faced a myriad of top kickboxers at his weight, giving up competitive decisions to the likes of Kotaro Yamada and Yuki Kasahara, and notably recently stopping former K-1 champion Shuhei Kumura.
In the fight, Qumuxifu started strong, rocking his opponent several times in the first round with his hands while landing hard body kicks that would leave Kuriaki’s right side bruised. The Japanese fighter would have good moments towards the latter half of the second, plausibly drawing the round, and just as the fight was slipping away from Kuriaki, he landed eye-catching punches that stumbled his opponent several times to take the third round. One judge gave the fight to Qumuxifu while the other two scored the fight a draw, forcing an extra round. Kuriaki - visibly tired, - kicked on the backfoot while his opponent pressured forward, landing heavy punches and kicks. Shogo Kuriaki would nonetheless win a controversial split decision in the extra round.
The decision sparked outrage from CFP - a Japanese promotion that links Chinese and Japanese promoters, - and puts any future cooperation between KNOCK OUT and Wu Lin Feng at risk.
KAITO ONO VS. DAVIT KIRIA
October 13, 2024 - Coming off a controversial injury stoppage win against game European talent Dragomir Petrov, Kaito Ono faced off against former GLORY Lightweight champion Davit Kiria. Post-departure from ONE, the Georgian Kiria has had a very rough run in the sport, losing to Tawanchai in his final fight in ONE by arm breakage and then losing to Ouyang Feng in one of the most one sided loses in his career by low kick stoppage. Going into this fight against Kaito, many thought a similar story would play out. The Shootboxing ace Kaito put on a very safe performance, hurting the veteran Kiria, but never taking the initiative or throwing the volume to attempt to finish his opponent, making for an unimpressive performance. As such, Kiria was able to weather the storm against the newcomer, although still losing a unanimous decision against the Shootboxing ace.
SERGEY PONOMAREV VS. JAYDEN EYNAUD
October 16, 2024 - Former Russian Kickboxing Federation champion Sergey Ponomarev took on one of his toughest opponents in his career in Australia's Jayden Eynaud, whom is a two time WMC and WBC World Cruiserweight champion and fellow teammate of top 65 kg contender Chadd Collins. Despite being the more experienced fighter under kickboxing rules, the Russian had significant amounts of trouble with the size, physicality, kicks, and awkward style of the Australian Muay Thai fighter. Ponomarev would enter linearly, swinging hooks, which Eynaud would answer with his jab, left body and low kicks, or clinch, allowing him to neutralize much of the heavy offence of the Russian powerhouse. Although, the fight was still competitive, with Ponomarev still able to land a couple big punches on Eynaud whenever he overextended. When the scorecards were read at the end of their five round affair, Ponomarev would be declared the victor by a highly controversial split decision.
TAITO GUNJI VS. CRISTIAN BOGDAN
October 19, 2024 - Former K-1 Featherweight Champion Taito Gunji made a quick two week turnaround to fight young, unknown Romanian Cristian Bogdan on the Japan Martial Arts Expo card at a 59 kg catchweight. Just two weeks removed from losing his belt to Takumi Terada in a highly controversial extra round unanimous decision loss, Taito Gunji dominated the short notice fight and showed why he was still a top fighter in the 57.5 kg division. For almost the entire fight, Gunji battered the young Romanian fighter's body with a never ending stream of hooks across five rounds. The former K-1 champion earned himself a very wide unanimous decision.
WU LIN FENG 549
October 26, 2024 - Wu Lin Feng continues to impress fans with star studded events in the lead up to their huge WLF tournaments that are slated to occur at the end of this year or beginning of next year. This event featured big names such as Ouyang Feng, Aleksei Ulianov, Jomthong Chuwattana, and Kongnapa Weerasakreck.
OUYANG FENG VS. ALEKSEI ULIANOV
Both fighters put on dominant performances on their way to the finals of their WLF MAX 70 kg qualifier.
K-1 Super Welterweight champion Ouyang Feng showed a new wrinkle in his skillset by using in and out footwork and counterstriking to dominate the highly aggressive Johannes Baas. Despite trying hard to put on pressure against the K-1 champ, Baas was never able to build any significant offence, being completely outgunned by the varied lead side punching and kicking game of the Chinese fighter. When shots would land, Feng used his disciplined guard well to weather the shots while throwing his own counters.
Former GLORY Featherweight contender Aleksei Ulianov put on a very similar performance, using his in and out footwork, excellent head movement, and boxing to dominate his opponent Ji Longteng over three rounds. Ulianov was never in trouble and showed the composure of a long time veteran, battering the younger fighter with in and out 1-2s and hooks enroute to a very wide unanimous decision victory, although not without taking some, but minimal damage to his legs.
Ultimately, Ouyang Feng would be the victor of the tournament, defeating Ulianov by unanimous decision in a fight that was cut short from the Henan Television broadcast, although highlights showed a high action fight where Ouyang Feng was able to drop the former GLORY contender with a left hook in the second round.
WEI WEIYANG VS. GEORGI MALANIA
Georgi Malania has shown himself to be a very impressive foreign fighter in the Chinese promotion prior to entering the tournament. Almost undefeated at 67 kg, with only a loss to Zhou Jiaqiang. At 63 kg, the Georgian is a big challenge for anyone at the weight, as shown by his performance against perennial contender Zhang Lanpei. The taller Malania worked behind his highly varied jab and body knees to completely dismantle the offence of the forward moving, smaller Zhang enroute to a very easy, unanimous decision victory. With the only meaningful offence from the Chinese fighter being a few calf kicks that the Georgian timed with lead uppercuts.
Wei Weiyang put on an upset victory when he defeated K-1 Lightweight champion Kongnapa Weerasakreck in a very tough three round fighter in the semifinals of the B group qualifiers of the WLF 63 kg tournament. Appearing to be totally outgunned in the first round of the fight against the hard hitting and always tough Thai southpaw, the Chinese fighter pulled it back in the second round by using his awkward switching hitting and constant movement to make Kongnapa overextend into big counters. In the second, Kongnapa was sent to the canvas with a pull back 1-2 early in the second round, which was ruled a non-knockdown by the ref based on Wu Lin Feng's flash knockdown rule. Kongnapa once again walked into a right hand late in the third round, wobbling him and allowing the Chinese fighter to build more offensive to secure the round and the victory for himself.
Going into the finals, Malania was the much fresher of the two, having barely taken damage in his fight against Zhang Lanpei, whilst Wei took some heavy shots from the hard hitting Kongnapa. Malania would go on to win the tournament by outgunning the worn Wei Weiyang to a unanimous decision victory.
YI YUXUAN VS. ALEXANDER MICHAILUK
Yi Yuxuan impressed many fans with his slick boxing in August when he claimed an eight man 67 kg tournament victory by defeating Zhang Kui in the finals. As such, coming into this fight, many were counting on him to put on another impressive performance against the unknown Russian Alexander Michailuk. Although, the fight was cut short from the Henan Television broadcast, the Chinese fighter would go on to win the fight by split decision.
