Krush Announces March 19th Tournament Semifinal Bouts

The semifinalists for the Krush 63kg. tournament were all decided with the conclusion of the promotion's event on January 9th. Along with the 55kg. and 60kg. tournaments, that tournament is set to conclude on March 19th. I can now inform you that the semifinal matches for all three tournaments have been announced.

Koya Urabe will meet Takuya Shirahama in the first semifinal bout held at the 63kg. limit. Both Urabe and Shirahama escaped Krush's January 9th event with extension round decisions. Urabe narrowly defeated South Korean Sung Hyun Lee, while Shirahama topped Yuki Yamamoto. The other 63kg. semifinal will, of course, see Kizaemon Saiga take on Ryuji Kajiwara. Both fighters scored unanimous decision victories in their quarterfinal bouts.

Masaaki Noiri, the K-1 Koshien champion from 2009, will meet Yuji Takeuchi in the 60kg. semifinals. Noiri has been having real success since his victory in 2009, scoring numerous knockout victories and seemingly adjusting well to his drop in weight from the 63kg. division. Another K-1 Koshien fighter who also dropped from 63kg, Hirotaka Urabe, will meet Dynamite Yuta in the other 60kg. semifinal bout.

The 55kg. semifinals will see Shootboxing champion Ryuya Kusakabe square off against Hiroaki Mizuhara. Kusakabe had an excellent quarterfinal bout against R.I.S.E. 55kg. champion Nobuchiko Terado back in December. In the second 55kg. semifinal bout, KENJI meet with Shota Takiya.

More news related to non-tournament bouts should be coming soon, and we'll keep you updated on information related to further Krush events later in the year. A quick listing of the bouts again after the jump.

63kg. Tournament
Semifinal bout: Koya Urabe vs. Takuya Shirahama
Semifinal bout: Ryujia Kajiwara vs. Kizaemon Saiga
Final bout: Urabe/Shirahama vs. Kajiwara/Saiga

60kg. Tournament
Semifinal bout: Massaki Noiri vs. Yuji Takeuchi
Semifinal bout: Hirotaka Urabe vs. Dynamite Yuta
Final bout: Noiri/Takeuchi vs. Urabe/Yuta

55kg. Tournament
Semifinal bout: Ryuya Kusakabe vs. Hiroaki Mizuhara
Semifinal bout: KENJI vs. Shota Takiya
Final bout: Kusakabe/Mizuhara vs. KENJI/Takiya