The 2018 K-1 Lightweight World Grand Prix is set for Osaka this Saturday. Eight fighters will be competing over the course of a single night to win a 62.5kgs kickboxing tournament at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.
The show is headlined by a super featherweight (60kgs) title fight between reigning champion Takeru Segawa and challenger Koji Sumeragichi. The former won an eight man K-1 tournament earlier this year and has also won super bantamweight and featherweight tournaments to establish himself as one of the best kickboxers in the world.
Fight fans in Japan have been speculating for years about the prospect of a fight between Takeru and Tenshin Nasukawa for several years now. But with the latter competing for Rise and Rizin and the former being exclusively contracted to K-1 this dream kickboxing matchup does not appear close to becoming a reality.
On Saturday Takeru (35-1) who has not lost a fight since 2012 will be a strong favourite against Sumeragichi (25-12) who does not have quite as a impressive a record as the champion.
The co-main event will be the final of the lightweight tournament which is being contested by Fumiya Osawa, Liu Wei, Kyoshiro,. Indigo Boyd, Yuto Shinohara and Gonnapar Weerasakreck with Kenta Hayashi and Nicolas Gaffie on standby in case anyone gets injured.
K-1 Lightweight World Grand Prix, Osaka, December 8th
Takeru Segawa (c) vs. Koji Sumeragichi (For Takeru’s Super Featherweight Title)
Lightweight Tournament Final
Yoshiki Takei vs. Yodbuadaeng Fairtex (Super Bantamweight)
Masaaki Noiri vs. Riki Matsuoka (Welterweight)
Hideaki Yamazaki vs. Rukiya Anpo (Super Lightweight)
Lightweight Tournament Semi Final
Lightweight Tournament Semi Final
Riku Anpo vs. Taio Asahisa (Super Featherweight)
Shuhei Kumura vs. Yuta Hayashi (Super Bantamweight
Fumiya Osawa vs. Liu Wei (Lightweight Tournament Quarter Final)
Kyoshiro vs. Indigo Boyd (Lightweight Tournament Quarter Final)
Yuto Shinohara vs. Gonnapar Weerasakreck (Lightweight Tournament Quarter Final)
Kenta Hayashi vs. Nicolas Gaffie (Lightweight Tournament Quarter Final)
Hisaki Higashimoto vs. Shinichiro Kawasaki (Lightweight Tournament Quarter Final Reserve Fight)
Masafumi Kurasaki vs. Tetsu (Featherweight)
Seiya vs. Koji Suzuki (Lightweight)
Aoshi vs. Yuto Kuroda (Super Bantamweight)
