On Saturday, April 22, K-1 returned to the Yoyogi National Second Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan for K-1 World GP 2017 Super Bantamweight Tournament.
In the evening’s main event, K-1 crowned a new super bantamweight champion after eight fighters competed in a one-night tournament to win the vacant belt. The former titleholder and current K-1 featherweight champion Takeru relinquished his title when he moved up in weight. In the tournament quarterfinals, Keisuke Ishida fought France’s Charles Bongiovanni, Japan’s Yoshiki Takei took on Spain’s Antonio Orden, England’s Jamie Whelan met Nobuchika Terado, and Japan’s Kenji Kubo collided with China’s Suen Takchuen.
In the main card action, top pound-for-pound great Kaew Weerasakreck defended his title against top-10 featherweight Hideaki Yamazaki. Takeru took on Lion Fight veteran Victor Saravia in a non-title bout and K-1 Max 63-kilogram Grand Prix champion Tetsuya Yamato returned against K-1 Koshien champion Hiroya.
The event aired live at 2 a.m. ET on Ameba TV (Japan).
Kaew Weerasakreck def. Hideaki Yamazaki by unanimous decision – for super lightweight title
Takeru def. Victor Saravia by knockout. Round 3
Kenji Kubo def. Nobuchika Terado by knockout. Round 2 – super bantamweight tournament semifinal
Yoshiki Takei def. Keisuke Ishida by TKO. Round 1 – super bantamweight tournament semifinal
Tetsuya Yamato def. Hiroya by knockout. Round 2
Koichi def. K-Jee by knockout. Round 3
Kenji Kubo def. Suen Takchuen by unanimous decision – super bantamweight tournament quarterfinal
Nobuchika Terado def. Jamie Whelan by extra round split decision – super bantamweight tournament quarterfinal
Yoshiki Takei def. Antonio Orden by TKO. Round 3 – super bantamweight tournament quarterfinal
Keisuke Ishida def. Charles Bongiovanni by knockout. Round 2 – super bantamweight tournament quarterfinal
Namito Izawa def. Yuya Suzuki by split decision – super bantamweight tournament reserve
Hiromi Wajima def. Kazunari Kimura by TKO (cut). Round 1
Seiya Ueda def. Masa by unanimous decision
Yuma Saikyo def. Hiroki Kokubo by knockout. Round 1