28 fighters from from 17 countries and four continents. This is the visit card of SENSHI 21 that will take place Apr. 20 in the multi-millennial city of Varna in Bulgaria. 12 of the 14 scheduled bouts will be under KWU FULL CONTACT rules (basically K-1 rules) and two of them in KWU OPEN style rules that means: four-ounce MMA gloves; all punches and kicks allowed; clinch up to 10 seconds; sweeps; hold the leg and hit, elbow strikes, throws, ground work up to 30 seconds (two times per round), chokes on the ground, submissions (on the legs only Achilles lock, no twisting the ankle or knee); shots to the body and knees to the body when on the ground.
In the main event the local idol Vladimir “The Pitbull” Valev will end his glorious career as a professional fighter facing the Spanish Carlos Garcia in the – 75 KG FULL CONTACT division. Valev’s professional career started in 1996 and to this date, he has over 300 fights at the amateur and professional level, with only 5 defeats in 54 fights at the pro level. Vladimir Valev is 39 years old and a multiple World, European, Balkan, and national champion. Among his accolades on the fighting scene are the WAKO title from 2013, the WAKO PRO championship belt from 2016, the recognition as the World No. 1 Fighter in K-1 in 2013, and the world title in Thai-boxing from 2013. In 2016, he became the first Bulgarian world pro kickboxing champion. The 33 years old Garcia is the K-1 Spanish champion from 2017, the runner-up in Spain’s Muay Thai championship from 2016 and the runer-up in K-1 World Championship from 2015.
The co-main event will be an Heavyweight FULL CONTACT clash between Giannis Stoforidis (Greece) and Christian Ristea (Romania).
The 34 years old fighter from Greece is coming back after a huge second round KO against Nenad Cosic at SENSHI 20 a few months back. He will seek another flowless victory against another fighter from the Balkans. Stoforidis won the Enfusion title in 2019, two championship belts from No Limits in 2011 and 2012 and the national boxing championship medal in 2011.
On the other hand Ristea is the Fight Arena champion 2023, the WKU international champion 2022 and the SUPERKOMBAT New Heroes champion 2012.
In the -95 KG FULL CONTACT division, Milos Cvjeticanin from Serbia will face off against Boubaker El Bakouri from Morocco. The winner of this match will challenge the ISKA Oriental rules world champion Mattia Faraoni on June 29th in Rome at Oktagon, the most important Italian kickboxing event. The Serbian, who is the WAKO world champion of 2017 and winner of the WAKO World Cup in 2019, is coming off a significant victory against the italian Enrico Pellegrino, the world champion of Fight Clubbing, at SENSHI 20. On the other hand, El Bakouri has previously been a rival of Mattia Faraoni during their time in Enfusion. A former world champion in the light heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions, he also participated in the K-1 World GP in 2018, reaching the final.Among the KWU OPEN style rules bouts pay attention in the – 75 KG division to Rusi Minev (Bulgaria) vs. Bruno Carvalho (Portugal).
Minev is a debutant in SENSHI. He is a six-time amateur MMA champion of Bulgaria and has never lost a fight at the national level. Minev won a bronze medal at the 2018 IMMAF World Championships in Manama, Bahrain, and a bronze medal at the 2019 IMMAF European Championships in Rome, Italy. Has a pro in the MMA is 3-1 with 2 subs and won prizes at the International Sofia Open and ADCC grappling tournaments.
The UAE Warriors and OKTAGON MMA veteran Carvalho is also a pro kickboxer and is now 5-4 in pro MMA with five knockout wins and is in search of a trend reversal in his career.
Here the full card of the event SENSHI 21 VARNA, BULGARIA, 20 OF APRIL 2024 12:30 PM ET:
Bout 1
Cat. -75 kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Mihail Velchovski, Bulgaria vs. James Conde, France
Bout 2
Cat. -75 kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Atanas Bozhilov, Bulgaria vs. Adrian Madalin, Romania
Bout 3
Cat. -70 kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Vlad Trif, Romania vs. Samo Petje, Slovenia
Bout 4
Cat. -75 kg KWU OPEN
Rusi Minev, Bulgaria vs. Bruno Carvalho, Portugal
Bout 5
Cat. -80 kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Nikola Cvetkovic, Serbia vs. Constantin Rusu, Moldova
Bout 6
Cat. -80 kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Nikola Todorovic, Serbia vs. Kevin Latchimy, France
Bout 7
Cat. -75 kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Basso Pires, Portugal vs. Stefan Dronjak, Canada
Bout 8
Cat. 95+ kg KWU FULL OPEN
Endrit Emini, Germany vs. Luis De Brito, Brazil
Bout 9
Cat. -95 kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Milos Cvjeticanin, Serbia vs. Boubaker El Bakouri, Morocco
Bout 10
Cat. 95+ kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Florin Ivanoaie, Romania vs. Miroslav Vujovic, Montenegro
Bout 11
Cat. 95+ kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Ahmed Krnjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Brian Douwes, Netherlands
Bout 12
Cat. 95+ kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Georgios Biniaris, Greece vs. Iraj Azizpour, Iran
CO-MAIN EVENT Bout 13
Cat. 95+ kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Giannis Stoforidis, Greece vs. Christian Ristea, Romania
MAIN EVENT Bout 14
Cat. -75 kg KWU FULL CONTACT
Vladimir Valev, Bulgaria vs. Carlos Garcia, Spain
SENSHI’s media partners are Boec.BG and Boec.COM, the national television Bulgaria ON AIR, the sports channel MAX Sport 1, the American online martial arts television TrillerTV, KOD Sport, Gol.bg, Topsport.bg, Kwunion.com, the information portal Kyokushin Karate News, Fighto.News and Novinata.bg.