K-1 World Grand Prix announced just today a new format for their year-end tournament. Now, K-1 will be hosting global tournaments in which the winning fighter will qualify for the final tournament in Tokyo, Japan. The qualifying tournaments represent multiple continents and nations.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2024
Dec. 14 in Tokyo, Japan will host the final 8-man openweight grand prix. This is a one-night tournament in which the winner will need to compete in three bouts to emerge victorious. The selection process for the 8 competitors is changed for 2024.
The 2023 winner, Liu Ce, of China, is the only fighter who is currently qualified for the tournament. The other seven will need to win to get in. Qualifying tournaments will be Bosnia and Herzegovina, the USA, Brazil, and Italy. These will bring in four winners. The other three will come from an Oct. 5 event held in Osaka, Japan.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina tournament is booked for Jun. 29 in Sarajevo, the USA tournament on Jun. 22 in New York, Italy’s tournament on Jul. 27 in Sicily, and Brazil’s will be for Aug. 3 or 10 hosted in Curitiba.
The international selections are working in tandem with local kickboxing promoters as a collaboration with K-1. The USA organization is Ring of Combat, Italy is working alongside Oktagon, and Brazil is with WGP.
The K-1 World Grand Prix 2024 is set to be an action-packed tournament with fighters from all over the globe, working alongside international kickboxing promotions. The official tagline is “One fighting sport for all mankind.”