Eduard Aleksanyan (R) (SENSHI)

SENSHI 22: Preview of a Night of Stars on the Black Sea

Guido Colombo July 5, 2024

SENSHI, the youngest and most disruptive European combat sports promotion, will be back in action this weekend in Varna, Bulgaria, the “Pearl of the Black Sea,” with its 6,000 years of history.

SENSHI 22 will take place On Saturday, Jul. 6, at 11:30 a.m. ET at the beach arena in the St. Constantine and Helena resort in Varna, Bulgaria, and the main card will host eight professional matches in the ring, including two European title defenses.

In the very impressive main card, a mix of young uprising talents and still dangerous veterans, two of the most titled Bulgarian kickboxers, Atanas Bozhilov and “Mr. Action” Eduard Aleksanyan, will defend their European SENSHI titles in the ring under KWU Full Contact Rules (K-1 rules).

Bozhilov will face Samo Petje from Slovenia and Eduard Aleksanyan the German Jakob Styben.

The distinguished German fighter Jakob Styben will fight in SENSHI 22 in a rematch for the European title. Styben is GLORY and KOK fighter, the IKBF K-1 European Champion and 2015 Northern Thailand Muay Thai Champion. He is also the MTBD German Muay Thai Champion and the K-1 National Champion (IKBF).

His match will be against the prominent Bulgarian fighter Eduard Aleksanyan after Aleksanyan won the SENSHI European title in the -90 kg category at SENSHI 18 last year in an intensive bout. Aleksanyan is the WAKO PRO European K-1 Champion in 2021, Savages Kickboxing Champion in 2019, and National Kickboxing Champion in 2018 and 2020. In Apr. 2023, Aleksanyan was ranked as one of the top-10 best middleweight kickboxers in the world by Combat Press.

In the other title fight Atanas Bozhilov is a 3 times WAKO World champion and present SENSHI European champion. His opponent, the Slovenian Samo Petje, is a former FFC champion and GLORY and KOK fighter with over 40 pro bouts of experience.

The last no titled bout of the card will be the electrifying challenge in the Heavy weights between “The Second Round Killer” Rade Opačić from Serbia and Daniel Lentie from Cameroon. The Serbian holds the record for the Most wins (7) and most Ko (5) in the ONE Super Series Heavyweight Division. He also fought in K1, Enfusion and Kunlun. The Paris based Lentie is a former FFC fighter with 77 wins as a pro.

Don’t blink in the other + 95 KGs bout of the card. A ko artist, the Greek Giannis Stoforidis, former Enfusion Champion and ONE, GLORY and Superkombat fighter will face the terrible brasilian Ariel Machado, 7-3 with 7 Ko wins in MMA but first of all 53 wins (36 by KO) in Kickboxing with notable victories in GLORY and K1 WGP.

A particularly emotional moment will be Bulgarian Dragomir Petrov returning to the ring at SENSHI 22 after taking half a year off. Petrov is the SENSHI European champion in -70 kg and former GLORY fighter. The strong and experienced fighter Bartosz Botwina from Poland (WKU Kickboxing world champion and GLORY fighter) will be his challenge in the arena.

In a truly unusual move for a major professional event, the evening will open with an undercard of five amateur matches. They will be the finals of the KWU (Kyokushin World Union) SENSHI World Cup for amateurs which is held in these categories: -70, -75, -80, -85 and up to -90 kg under KWU SENSHI full contact rules (basically the same K1 rules but fighters wear helmets and shin pads). Over three consecutive days, from 4 to 6 July, the amateurs will go through intense eliminations and semi-final battles, giving their all in the quest for the final.

The KWU SENSHI World Cup for Amateurs is conducted as part of the 18th International Martial Arts Camp in Kamchia that started on July 1 and will ending on July 7. The camp host nearly 2000 participants from all over the world trained in kickboxing and Kyokushin by legends of martial arts such as Semi Schilt, Ernesto Hoost, Albert Kraus, Francisco Filho, shihan Glaube Feitosa, Ewerton Teixeira and, first of all, “The Last Samurai” Shihan Akira Masuda, IX dan of Kyokushin karate, the 12th fighter in the world to complete one of the toughest tests in Kyokushin karate – the “100 man kumite” challenge. Created by Kyokushin founder Masutatsu Oyama, this challenge involves facing 100 fighters in two-minute sparring sessions. In the modern history of Karate Kyokushin, only a few have managed to endure and overcome this test. One of them is Shihan Akira Masuda. In 1991, he defeated all 100 opponents in just 3 hours and 22 minutes.

The live broadcast of the semi-finals of the SENSHI World Cup can be followed on SENSHI‘s YouTube channel.

SENSHI 22 main card will be broadcast live on media partners Boec.BG and Boec.COM, the national television Bulgaria ON AIR, the sports channel MAX Sport 2, the American online martial arts television TrillerTV, YouTube channel KOD Sport, Kwunion.com, the information portal Kyokushin Karate News and Fighto.News.

SENSHI 22 Beach Arena full card

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