On Sunday, June 17, K-1 returned to the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan, for K-1 World GP 2018: Featherweight Championship Tournament.
In the evening’s tournament action, the K-1 featherweight championship was up for grabs in an eight-man, one-night grand prix tournament. In the opening round match-ups, Krush 58-kilogram champion Haruma Saikyo met Wu Lin Feng 60-kilogram tournament winner Hirotaka Asahisa, skilled French prospect Elias Mahmoudi took on former RISE champion Yuta Murakoshi, ISKA European champ Jorge Varela fought former Krush 58-kilogram titleholder and Ryusei Ashizawa battled the undefeated Silviu Vitez.
In the night’s main card action, K-1 lightweight champ Koya Urabe and super lightweight titleholder Masaaki Noiri met Arthur Sorsor and Vincent Foschiani in non-title affairs, respectively. Top-10 bantamweight Gonnapar Weerasakreck fought the human highlight-reel, Rukiya Anpo, former top-10 65-kilogram fighter Hideaki Yamazaki made his much anticipated return against Jun Nakazawa, the ever-popular Yasuhiro Kido clashed with former top-10 kickboxer Massaro Glunder and thrilling knockout artist Minoru Kimura took on Kazuki Yamagiwa.
The event aired live at 12:30 a.m. ET on Ameba TV (Japan). Check back following the event for the full results.
Koya Urabe def. Arthur Sorsor by knockout. Round 2, 0:46
Masaaki Noiri def. Vincent Foschiani by knockout. Round 2, 2:46
Minoru Kimura def. Kazuki Yamagiwa by knockout. Round 1, 2:48
Hideaki Yamazaki def. Jin Nakazawa by unanimous decision
Haruma Saikyo def. Ryusei Ashizawa by unanimous decision – featherweight semifinal
Yuta Murakoshi def. Jorge Varela by extra round unanimous decision
Gonnapar Weerasakreck def. Rukiya Anpo by knockout. Round 2, 1:48
Yasuhiro Kido def. Massaro Glunder by Disqualification
Hisaki Kato def. Makoto Uehara by extra round split decision
Haruma Saikyo def. Hirotaka Asahisa by split decision
Ryusei Ashizawa def. Silviu Vitez by knockout. Round 1, 1:28
Yuta Murakoshi def. Elias Mahmoudi by extra round split decision
Jorge Varela def. Kaito Ozawa by knockout. Round 1, 2:57
Yuki Egawa def. Yuta Otaki by knockout. Round 1, 1:28
Namito Izawa def. Kento Ito by unanimous decision
Kaiser Kondo vs. Hayato Suzuki ends in majority draw
Kaito def. Toshiki Watanabe by knockout. Round 1, 1:03
Tomoya Yokoyama def. Kazuma Kubo by knockout. Round 2, 2:05