MT/KB Japan Recent fights/results/news from Japan II

Interesting ly K-1 gave Liu Ce Fighter of the Year Award.



Wei Rui (ghe is Li Ce's coach) comments: "I didn't win this award either. I teach everyone, but I sincerely hope that they will catch up and surpass me."

But I would say Wei Rui was uch better in 2017 than LikuCe is now.

Also Wlf and K-1 are partnership. Seems like they plan on K-1 event in china, unified rankings, and fighters from WLF will got o K-1.
 
CaptainRomania said:
Interesting ly K-1 gave Liu Ce Fighter of the Year Award.



Wei Rui (ghe is Li Ce's coach) comments: "I didn't win this award either. I teach everyone, but I sincerely hope that they will catch up and surpass me."

But I would say Wei Rui was uch better in 2017 than LikuCe is now.

Also Wlf and K-1 are partnership. Seems like they plan on K-1 event in china, unified rankings, and fighters from WLF will got o K-1.
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Oh dang, Ill probably switch from Rise to K1 if they're putting in more Chinese guys.
 
Kickboxing is a dying sport, but despite that and despite having small ressources K-1 is doing great things and providing opportunities to people in China, Thailand and Japan and western others.

Respect.
 
Ara tech said:
Kickboxing is a dying sport, but despite that and despite having small ressources K-1 is doing great things and providing opportunities to people in China, Thailand and Japan and western others.

Respect.
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How can the sport be dying but also providing opportunities for growth? The sport is alive and well in Europe and Asia (especially Japan). I don't know why you keep saying it's dying when, by all metrics, it is growing and has a very stable grassroots base
 
Monte Moku said:
How can the sport be dying but also providing opportunities for growth? The sport is alive and well in Europe and Asia (especially Japan). I don't know why you keep saying it's dying when, by all metrics, it is growing and has a very stable grassroots base
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Not saying I agree or disagree, but I'm curious about what metrics are showing that Kickboxing is growing?
 
Tayski said:
Not saying I agree or disagree, but I'm curious about what metrics are showing that Kickboxing is growing?
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For RISE, the majority of their events have been held in Korakuen Hall, which has a capacity of about 2k. In 2023, 2024, and this year, while still holding their regular events at Korakuen Hall, they are more frequently holding shows at the Ariake Arena (15k capacity), Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (10k capacity), the Osaka EDION Arena (8k capacity), the Yokohama Buntai (5k capacity), and the Makuhari Messe (8k capacity).

K-1 has less events each year than RISE, but they consistently are filling seats at the Yokohama Arena (17k capacity), Fukuoka Arena (15k capacity), and Yoyogi National Gymnasium (13k capacity), as well as expanding internationally in 2024 and holding events in Europe at the Galati Ice Rink (12k capacity), Skenderija Center (6k capacity), and an event in Brazil at the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium (13k capacity).

GLORY is still holding most of their events in the Netherlands and surrounding countries, mostly at the Rotterdam Ahoy (17k capacity), occasionally the GelreDome (20k capacity), as well as going to the Arena Zagreb (15k capacity) and Dome De Paris (4.5k capacity) about once a year. They also have recently signed a deal with DAZN, which imo must be a signal that there is some level of financial growth going on since they haven't really had a streaming deal with a major provider before.

These promotions rarely share their PPV sales, so I can't really use that as a metric, but all three major Kickboxing promotions are either A) holding more events in larger arenas in their home countries, and/or B) holding more events at international venues.
 
Monte Moku said:
For RISE, the majority of their events have been held in Korakuen Hall, which has a capacity of about 2k. In 2023, 2024, and this year, while still holding their regular events at Korakuen Hall, they are more frequently holding shows at the Ariake Arena (15k capacity), Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium (10k capacity), the Osaka EDION Arena (8k capacity), the Yokohama Buntai (5k capacity), and the Makuhari Messe (8k capacity).

K-1 has less events each year than RISE, but they consistently are filling seats at the Yokohama Arena (17k capacity), Fukuoka Arena (15k capacity), and Yoyogi National Gymnasium (13k capacity), as well as expanding internationally in 2024 and holding events in Europe at the Galati Ice Rink (12k capacity), Skenderija Center (6k capacity), and an event in Brazil at the Nilson Nelson Gymnasium (13k capacity).

GLORY is still holding most of their events in the Netherlands and surrounding countries, mostly at the Rotterdam Ahoy (17k capacity), occasionally the GelreDome (20k capacity), as well as going to the Arena Zagreb (15k capacity) and Dome De Paris (4.5k capacity) about once a year. They also have recently signed a deal with DAZN, which imo must be a signal that there is some level of financial growth going on since they haven't really had a streaming deal with a major provider before.

These promotions rarely share their PPV sales, so I can't really use that as a metric, but all three major Kickboxing promotions are either A) holding more events in larger arenas in their home countries, and/or B) holding more events at international venues.
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Sounds to me that it's mostly just Japan where there's some type of growth. Glory is holding a lot less events than they used to and it's mostly just local. The US isn't really getting any kickboxing at all anymore since Bellator Kickboxing stopped and Glory stopped hosting events there. I think SuperKombat stopped too in Europe? One FC tried to revive Kickboxing with things like the 1 million dollar tournament but since then there are pretty much no full kickboxing events from them, just a few fights here and there on what is mostly either Muay Thai or MMA cards.

Overall I'm not sure if I'd say it's growing, but more stagnating or even dying tbh.
 
Tayski said:
Sounds to me that it's mostly just Japan where there's some type of growth. Glory is holding a lot less events than they used to and it's mostly just local. The US isn't really getting any kickboxing at all anymore since Bellator Kickboxing stopped and Glory stopped hosting events there. I think SuperKombat stopped too in Europe? One FC tried to revive Kickboxing with things like the 1 million dollar tournament but since then there are pretty much no full kickboxing events from them, just a few fights here and there on what is mostly either Muay Thai or MMA cards.

Overall I'm not sure if I'd say it's growing, but more stagnating or even dying tbh.
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GLORY is definitely not as big as they used to be, but I think they stretched themselves too thin initially and spent a lot of money expecting to see fast growth ala UFC, but they didn't/don't have a Dana White at the helm to steer the ship they way they needed it to go. I think GLORY downsizing made their business more stable, albeit they aren't the superpower in the industry they appeared to be in the beginning of their run. The US has never really been much of a market for Kickboxing, and Bellator itself was always a promotion that was awfully managed. ONE's $1 million tournament was great in concept, but they kinda fumbled the ball on keeping the 155 division active and carrying that momentum into future events. In the west, if your promotion isn't doing MMA shows, it seems to be really hard to grow; it has always been a difficult market for the sport outside of the Netherlands and a handful of eastern European countries. In Asia, it seems to be doing really well though. ONE is growing, (but like you said, they're basically just a Muay Thai promotion with sprinkles of MMA and Kickboxing), RISE is growing, K-1 is growing, Wu Lin Feng is growing, etc. I'm pretty optimistic about the state of the sport as a whole. Only downside for me is having to get up at 4:00 AM to set up a VPN and watch Japanese cards on Abema
 
Fight highlights from RISAE bantamweight tounament.










YUan is kind of interesting. He reminds me of a wrose Sittichai, Worse boxing.

Kan seems is fighting smarter than he did before.
Ok that link bnroke for some reason.
 
Tayski said:
Sounds to me that it's mostly just Japan where there's some type of growth. Glory is holding a lot less events than they used to and it's mostly just local. The US isn't really getting any kickboxing at all anymore since Bellator Kickboxing stopped and Glory stopped hosting events there. I think SuperKombat stopped too in Europe? One FC tried to revive Kickboxing with things like the 1 million dollar tournament but since then there are pretty much no full kickboxing events from them, just a few fights here and there on what is mostly either Muay Thai or MMA cards.

Overall I'm not sure if I'd say it's growing, but more stagnating or even dying tbh.
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Japan is the biggest market in kickboxing by far, so it is definitely growing.

The US was never an important scene for kickboxing. Just because there were shows there doesn't mean it was growing there. The model Glory used to run shows in different countries was silly, which is why they do not do it anymore.

At the start of the decade Glory may have had shows on other countries but had no stability. ONE was more of an MMA promotion and did not have KB at all (now it is a MT promotion that has some KB, which is effectively a plus for kickboxing). K1 had shaky legs and looked bush league, and has now built up a strong infrastructure of up and coming fighters. The funding in China had been pulled for its kickboxing scene, and now has had to build itself back up.


Kickboxing is at a point where the serious orgs aren't trying to get home runs right away or pretend they're peak K1 off the bat. They're creating a foundational piece around markets while slowly expanding. The best kickboxing promotions are simply being ran more smart than they were 10-15 years ago.
 
Masashi Kumura and Taito Ugnji have left K1. Maybe they will go to ONE.
Seems like K1 is focusing on Europe again. Their manager visited Netherlands a week ago. talked to many gym owners I heard.
 
I just aw Tenshin's little brother, Ryujin, knocked out Kumandoi. That is fis second top 10 win. He knocked out the RISE champion Riku Kazushima last year
Kumandoi looked pretty bad. But he was the favorite I think.
 
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