K-1 MAX Results: A New King is Crowned, Knocking Out All in His Path

K-1 has finally gotten exactly what they wanted, and that is a Japanese hero for them to raise up and proclaim the best. The -63kgs tournament was an experiment by K-1, a chance for them to get some fresh talent into the mix and dip into the thriving lightweight Japanese scene that they had previously been missing out on. Japanese fighters tend to thrive at lighter weight classes, as seen in MMA, and with Masato's departure from the Middleweight/MAX division, they thought fast and this is what they came up with. Their new champion is a twenty two year old painter named Tetsuya Yamato and he just knocked out everybody that stood in front of him.

The quarterfinals saw a lot of action, and a lot of long, hard bouts for the competitors. Matsumoto was able to score a third round knockout over Uematsu, but very deep into the third round, nearly going the distance. The young dynamo Yuta Kubo was unable to put Keiji Ozaki down, taking a unanimous decision victory over him. The one with the supermodel looks, Kizaemon Saiga did the same, fighting his way to a unanimous decision over Naoki Ishikawa. Then Yamato stepped into the ring against Yuki, and he absolutely flattened him in the first round with a big right hook. This was a taste of things to come. 

In the semi-finals, the pairings were Kubo and Matsumoto and Saiga and Yamato. Kubo fired back after the long quarterfinal bout by taking it to Matsumoto, landing an absolutely beautiful left high kick in just over a minute and sending himself on to the finals. Saiga provided a bit more of a challenge for Yamato, as they fought for nearly two rounds before Yamato was able to capitalize and land a left hook to the jaw that floored the pretty boy and putted Yamato into the finals against Kubo. 

The stage was set and both young men entered the finals looking to become the first K-1 -63kgs champion and they absolutely went to war. Schiavello is still blown away by the fight hours later and all the live reports I've seen have said nothing but the same; these two just went at it. Plenty of tense moments until finally Yamato put Kubo down in the third round and was crowned the first -63kgs lightweight champion of K-1. 

The other notable bouts of the evening were in the reserve fight, Watanabe fell to Kazuyuki Miyata via decision, proving that being entertaining might land you a spot on a K-1 card, but not a victory. In 70kgs Final 16 action Albert Kraus secured himself a spot in the Final 8 with a decision win over Hiroki Nakajima. Yuya Yamamoto's hard luck continues as Yoshihiro Sato bounces back, taking a decision win over him to move on to the Final 8. Of course, Yuichiro Nagashima isn't to be forgotten, as he battled Andre Dida to a 2-0 decision victory, moving him forward as well. Full results here.

SBN coverage of K-1 MAX -63kgs Final/70kgs Final 16