K-1 Executive Committee
“K’FESTA.6” 3.12 (Sun) Yoyogi 2nd match card announcement press conference, the 5th title match is also decided!
[K-1 30th Anniversary Year]
A press conference was held in Tokyo on January 27 (Friday), and the match card for the Yoyogi National Stadium First Gymnasium Tournament “K-1 WORLD GP 2023 JAPAN ~ K’FESTA.6 ~” on March 12 (Sunday) has been announced.
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Champion Tetsuya Yamato vs challenger Kenta Hayashi’s super
lightweight title match has been decided! “I will polish my left hook so that Ibushi Gin can KO” (Yamato) vs. “Don’t win the belt, no matter how hard you try” (Hayashi)
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Yamato defeated Hideaki Yamazaki at last year’s K’FESTA.5 to win the Super Lightweight Championship. At the Yokohama Arena tournament in September, he defeated the challenger Daizo Sasaki, who was on a 10-game winning streak at the time, and defended his belt. Yamato will be participating in “K’FESTA” for the second year in a row, and will be defending his title for the second time. On the other hand, Hayashi is a former K-1 lightweight champion, who won Ruku at the K-1 Yokohama Arena tournament in September last year and won the K-1 Osaka tournament in December. We will challenge Yamato’s title to win the second class.
As mentioned above, the opponent Yamato won the belt at “K’FESTA.5” a year ago was Yamazaki, and the opponent in his first defense match was Yamazaki’s fellow student Sasaki. This time, Hayashi, who challenges Yamato’s belt, is a former student of Yamazaki and Sasaki and Yamazaki’s younger brother.
Takumi Nakamura, Producer of K-1, said, “I think it was a title match that felt like a story for both Tetsuya Yamato and Kenta Hayashi. We have announced four title matches so far, but it’s different from other matches, only two people. I want to show you a title match that you can’t do, a match that you can talk about.”
Yamato, who has decided to defend his second match on the big stage of “K’FESTA”, said, “Because the venue Yoyogi Daiichi Gymnasium and my left hook go well together (*In all Yoyogi Daiichi games, I won by KO with a left hook. ), I want to improve my left hook by the day so that I can do my own Ibushi Gin KO.”
On the other hand, Hayashi said, “My senior Hide-san and Okura-kun are losing, so I want to take the belt from the bottom. Rather than defeating him by KO, I really want to win, so I’m going to hold my breath for 9 minutes of 3 minutes and 3 rounds. Even if I stop, I want to keep my guard up and fight to win,” he said with strong
determination to seize the throne.
Tatsuya Oiwa and Kaito Ozawa rematch for the first time in about 6 years and 7 months! “Honestly, Ozawa is a passing point” (Oiwa) vs. “I’ll crack your head open” (Ozawa)
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Tatsuya Oiwa vs Kaito Ozawa’s Super Featherweight match has been decided. Oiwa participated for the first time since the Super Featherweight Championship Tournament last September. This time it will be a re-start match for the K-1 throne.
On the other hand, Ozawa is returning to the match for the first time in about a year since the match against Shuhei Kumura in February last year. In the most recent match, a black star was ahead, but from this time on, he will form his own team “Team KK” (Team Kay), raise the class to super featherweight, and make a fresh start. Oiwa and Ozawa met at Krush Nagoya in August 2016, where Ozawa won by overtime decision. The battle of each other’s restart has become a rematch for about 7 years.
Regarding the weight class change, Ozawa said, “For the past few games, I’ve been sweating less during warm-ups before matches, and I wasn’t sure if I should move up the weight class. . Regarding changes in the gym and practice environment, he said, “As a martial artist, I think I’m going to enter the last spurt, and being tied down doesn’t suit me, so I thought I’d be free to let it go in my own way. I decided to go,” he explained. Also, when Ozawa is asked about his impression of Oiwa, he treats it as “Sekawa (Takeru)-kun’s goldfish feces.” “I think that the brain is also made of muscle, so I think I’ll crack that head open,” he said fearlessly.
On the other hand, Oiwa also provocatively said, “It’s not a sweet class where you can get fat and move up the class.” To be honest, this is just a passing point, and of course I will wind up the K-1 belt,” said Ozawa.
Kazunari Ishii vs. Yoshirah in the bantamweight division of the spotlight “Yoshirah will attack and attack until he can’t kick” (Ishii)
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It was announced that Kazunari Ishii will participate in “K’FESTA, the biggest match of the K-1 year” for the first time, against Yosira Cho Hapayak. Ishii has been participating in the K-1 JAPAN GROUP since last year, and advanced to the final in the first bantamweight championship tournament in December. Although he lost to Toma Kuroda by decision 1-2 in overtime, he did not reach the belt, but he showed his presence in a close match where it would have been possible for either side to win.
On the other hand, this is the second appearance of Yoshira in K-1. Participated in the first bantamweight title decision tournament and faced Kuroda in the first round. Although he lost to Kuroda by extension decision, he destroyed Kuroda’s arm with a powerful middle kick, showing off the strength of his Muay Thai-trained kicks. Takumi Nakamura, Producer of K-1, said, “After finishing the bantamweight tournament, I think the match that the fans wanted to see the most was the match between Ishii and Yoshirah. I wanted to combine that match with ‘K’FESTA’. I think that this match will be a match that conveys the charm and fun of bantamweight even on a big stage.” Ishii said, “I’ve decided to fight Yoshira, who I wanted to play as much as Kuroda. If I win here, I’m sure I’ll have a chance to play with Kuroda, so I want to win here first and create an opportunity to win the belt before the end of the year. I want to go,” he said. “In Thailand, I used to go forward and knock him down with punches and low kicks, so I think Yoshirah will kick me, but I will attack him so hard that he can’t kick him, and I will attack him and knock him down in the 3rd round.” I burned with fighting spirit to overthrow Yoshirah. Seiya Tanigawa vs Stéphane Latesque and AKIRA Jrvs Ryunosuke Hoshi are decided in the heated cruiserweight battle! “I will carry the weight class of Japan on my back. I want you to see that determination” (Tanikawa)
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In the heated K-1 heavyweight front, two notable cruiserweight cards have been decided. Seiya Tanigawa vs Stéphane Latesque, AKIRA Jrv vs Ryunosuke Hoshi. K-1 Openweight tournament runner-up Tanigawa became the Japanese ace in the K-1 cruiserweight division after defeating former K-1 cruiserweight champion K-Jee last August. After that, I stayed away from matches, but I went to Mike’s Gym in the Netherlands to practice martial arts and prepare for the match against foreign players.
The opponent prepared for such Tanigawa is Latesque from Romania. Latesque is a 21-year-old rookie who has fought mainly in Eastern Europe, and at the K-1 Osaka tournament in December last year, he scored a shock KO victory over Mahmoud Sattari and quickly attracted attention. Takumi Nakamura, the K-1 producer, said, “I wanted to set up a match with K-1 as soon as the match in December was over.” “Muay Thai giant” Pakorn to compete in K-1 for the first time! Hayato Suzuki who intercepts “I’m looking forward to seeing how far my kicks can go. I’ll eat the legendary Pakorn.”
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It has been decided that Hayato Suzuki, who has three consecutive wins in the super lightweight division, will face Pakorn P.K. Saenchai Muay Thai Gym. Suzuki is a former Krush super lightweight champion, and although he had a difficult time with three consecutive losses, he won three games and won three in 2022, and is undefeated. After defeating Kenta Hayashi, Kaisei Kondo, and Vito Tofanelli, he will take part in “K’FESTA.6” as a top super-lightweight fighter.
On the other hand, Pakorn became the champion at both stadiums, Lumpinee and Rajadamnern, which are said to be the two halls of fame of Muay Thai, and in 2013, he was also selected as the Muay Thai MVP by the Thai Sports General Bureau. In the past, he is a super heavyweight in the Muay Thai world who won against the “living legend of Muay Thai” Jomthong, who rampages in the K-1 super welterweight front.
You can see the enthusiasm and comments of each player from here. https://www.k-1.co.jp/news/
“K’FESTA.6” Sunday, March 12, 2023 Yoyogi Daiichi Gymnasium Tournament Overview ◆ Date and time March 12, 2023 (Sunday) Doors open at 11:30, main event starts at 13:00
◆Venue: Yoyogi Stadium First Gymnasium
◆ Sponsor/Author K-1 Executive Committee
◆ Planning and production: M-1 Sports Media Co., Ltd.
◆ Operation: Good Luther Co., Ltd.
◆Admission fee
Royal seat (with benefits) 100,000 yen (100,500 yen on the day) Arena SRS seats 60,000 yen (60,500 yen on the day)
Arena RS seats 35,000 yen (35,500 yen on the day)
Arena S seats 18,000 yen (18,500 yen on the day)
Stand S seat 18,000 yen (18,500 yen on the day)
Arena A seats 10,000 yen (10,500 yen on the day)
Stand A seat 10,000 yen (10,500 yen on the day)
Stand B seat 7,000 yen (7,500 yen on the day)
* Consumption tax included / All seats reserved / Tickets required from elementary school students.
*Participating players are subject to change without notice. *Purchased tickets cannot be exchanged or canceled.
Ticket sales URL: https://k-1.shop/ticket/products/detail.php?product_id=2090 Tournament URL: https://www.k-1.co.jp/schedule/16595/
Details about this release:
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