The K-1 World Grand Prix is set to return on the 17th of July at the Fukuoka Convention Center. The main event sees Gonnapar Weerasakreck make the first defense of his K-1 lightweight title against Taio Asahisa.
Gonnapar won the lightweight title in December with a close majority decision win over Kenta Hayashi at K-1 World Grand Prix 2020 last December. Asahisa caused a huge stir in the kickboxing world last year when he stepped in on four days notice and scored two knockdowns to comfortably beat Hayashi in a non-title fight on K’Festa 3.
This was also Asahisa’s first ever fight at lightweight but he has mixed it with some strong competition in his career. The 23 year old faced Leona Pettas and had two fights with Tenshin Nasukawa back in his amateur days and will be looking for a strong performance as he bids to win his first ever title.
The co main event sees former K-1 super-lightweight champion Rukiya Anpo make his debut at welterweight, where he faces Koki. This will be the first fight back for Anpo after he lost his title in devastating fashion, getting knocked out in the opening round of his bout with Hideaki Yamazaki at K-1 World Grand Prix 2020 last October.
Former K-1 featherweight Champion Yuki Egawa makes his super-featherweight debut against Tatsuya Oiwa. The former won the K-1 World Grand Prix -57.5kg tournament in 2019 but is coming off back to back decision defeats.
There are two other international matches on the card with Abiral Ghimire of Nepal facing Hiromi Wajima and Thailand’s Maki Dwansonpong facing Kota Nakano.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2021, Fukuoka, July 17th
Gonnapar Weerasakreck (c) vs. Taio Asahisa (For lightweight title)
Rukiya Anpo vs. Koki (Welterweight)
Yuki Egawa vs. Tatsuya Oiwa (Super Featherweight)
Koya Urabe vs. Fumiya Osawa (Lightweight)
Hiromi Wajima vs. Abiral Ghimire (Super Welterweight)
Kota Nakano vs. Maki Dwansonpong (Welterweight)
Kosuke Jitsukata vs. Naoto Maruyama (Heavyweight)
Naoki Yamamoto vs. Satoru Nariai (Super Featherweight)
Yuma Saikyo vs. Tatsuki (Lightweight)
Fukashi vs. Yosuke Tamura (Super Lightweight)
Nakajima Keisuke vs. Ryo Aitaka (Cruiserweight)
Miho Takanashi vs. Mari (Minimumweight)
Takumi Terada vs. Naoki Takahashi (Featherweight)
Mako Yamada vs. Nozomi (Atomweight)
Japan Lyra vs. Shion (Super Bantamweight)
Japan Tsubasa Yamawaki vs. Shohei Nishibayashi (Catchweight)
Kosei Kawakita vs. Yudai (Lightweight)
