The landscape of kickboxing's 63 kg. division in Japan changed a bit on Saturday as Yuta Kubo topped the eight man field at the K-1 World MAX 2011 63 kg. Japan Tournament Final.

Although Kubo came up just short of tournament victory in 2010, paying the price for careless defense as he was knocked out by Tetsuya Yamato in the tournament final last July, he was able to surpass the expectations of many and take home the title this time around.

The quarterfinal round of the tournament saw Kubo defeat Kizaemon Saiga by majority decision. Meanwhile, former K-1 Koshien champion Masaaki Noiri used a clear speed advantage to dispatch Krush 63 kg. champion, Ryuji Kajiwara. The bout between Noiri and Kajiwara was decided by a split decision following an extension round. The other side of the bracket saw 2010 champion Tetsuya Yamato sneak past HIROYA, while Koya Urabe took entirely too many leg kicks en route to a decision win over YUKI.

Yuta Kubo continued his march to victory by defeating Masaaki Noiri in the semifinal round. Kubo took a unanimous decision against Noiri, who just moved up from competing in the Krush 60 kg. tournament earlier this year. Koya Urabe was able to top Tetsuya Yamato in their second meeting, as Yamato failed to capitalize on Urabe's swollen lead leg.

Although the final bout betwen Kubo and Urabe was one that many fans were hoping for, the tournament format left many feeling certain in the final result before the bout even began. Koya Urabe plainly took too much damage in his quarterfinal bout to withstand the smart attack of Kubo, who continually went to the lead leg that troubled Urabe. Be that as it may, Urabe was able to score effectively with combination punching even as his mobility was greatly hindered. Admirable as Urabe's performance may have been, t was too little for the Team Dragon fighter to secure victory. A rematch between Kubo and Urabe is something which absolutely needs to occur to provide greater clarification on where things stand at 63 kg.

Moving forward, K-1 is clearly looking to establish a more international presence in the 63 kg. division. The organization is looking to put together a true international tournament and the organization really pushed for talent from around the world to contact them if interested in competing.

Although Saturday's tournament provides a real sense that Japan is fielding some of the top fighters in lighter weight classes, there will continue to be a number of questions regarding the domestic talent as fighters are developed in Europe, other parts of the Asia-Pacific region, and elsewhere.

The K-1 World MAX 63 kg. Japan Tournament Final will be streaming live from Japan tonight, starting at 2:30am EST. The eight man tournament will feature the division's top talent in Japan, with fighters including Koya Urabe, Yuta Kubo, and Ryuji Kajiwara. In addition to the 63 kg. tournament, tonight's event will feature a 70 kg. bout between former K-1 MAX champion Albert Kraus and Yoshihiro Sato.

You can watch the event through official K-1 streams on YouTube, Ustream, and a host of other sites. Per the official K-1 site:

- K-1 WORLD MAX 2011 -63kg Japan Tournament FINAL / Live Broadcasting -

Date: 3:30pm, June 25th <Japan time / GMT+9>
Price: Free
Broadcasting on:
▼K-1 OFFICIAL WEBSITE
http://www.k-1.co.jp/

▼YouTube Live: K-1 Channel
http://www.youtube.com/K1

▼Ustream: K-1 Channel
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/k1-channel

▼K-1 Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/K1official

▼PP Live
http://www.pplive.com

We'll keep you up with the night's results, which you can find after the jump.

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Tonight is the K-1 World MAX 63kg Japan Tournament. The first official card held by FEG this year following a ton of bad press about massive debts and fighters who have yet to be paid. Having found an event sponsor in "MAGES", it seems that this card will go off without a hitch. I say that because MAGES is a brand new company that has just formed this month, which leads me to believe it is nothing more than a money mark. I hope I'm wrong but I expect that I'm correct with this assumption. The card kicks off at 2:30am EST and will run however long they decide to run it. I'd expect the show to have an intermission as FEG loves to do so if you are planning on staying awake, I'd have prepare to stay up for at minimum five hours though it could run longer. 

Now as for the fights, Fraser Coffeen at BloodyElbow did a damn good job at breaking them down. The field includes names such as Tetsuya Yamamoto, HIROYA, Kizaemon Saiga, and Ryuji Kajiwara and with the bouts planned as they are, tonight should be a great night of fights for the little guys. A one night tournament and a field of 8, we'll see seven tournament bouts as well as a Super Fight between Albert Kraus and Yoshihiro Sato. 

The card is free and should be great. I'm embedding the video after the jump. I'm hoping it works. If it doesn't, you can find the card here or here or here. All three links will work, but I'd like to keep you all here if possible so you don't have to switch screens.

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In case you somehow missed the news, here's a little reminder that the K-1 World MAX 2011 63 kg. Japan Tournament will be streaming live on June 25th.

The event is big for a number of reasons. The foremost? It's the return of K-1. While other promotions and organizations including It's Showtime, Fight Code, Wako-Pro, SuperKombat, and many more have been doing a fine job of things, fans know and love the K-1 brand.

Next Saturday's eight-man tournament will, of course, feature a number of Japan's top 63 kg. fighters. The first round match ups have been set and fans will see newly crowned Krush 63 kg. champion Ryuji Kajiwara take on former K-1 Koshien champion and 60 kg. contender Masaaki Noiri. Kizaemon Saiga and Yuta Kubo will also square off in the first half of the tournament bracket. In the other half of the bracket, Krush poster boy Koya Urabe will meet Yuki, while defending champion Tetsuya Yamato will meet Hiroya.

Add in the super fight between Albert Kraus and Yoshihiro Sato, and some intriguing reserve bouts, and you've got what should be a fine event.

K-1 will be making its highly anticipated return in just under a month, as the Japanese kickboxing promotion turns to an eight-man tournament showcasing domestic talent in the 63 kg. weight class. What's more, the promotion will look to offer some intriguing non-tournament bouts on the evening, the first of which will see former K-1 MAX champion Albert Kraus take on 2010 runner-up Yoshihiro Sato.

Via K-1's official website:

Fight For JAPAN "K-1 WORLD MAX 2011 -63kg Japan Tournament FINAL"
Date: Saturday 25 June 2011 / Gate Open PM3:00 Start PM4:00
Venue: Yoyogi Stadium 2nd, Tokyo, JAPAN

[ Fight Cards ]
[-63kg Japan Tournament FINAL Quarterfinal]
Tetsuya Yamato vs. HIROYA
Koya Urabe vs. Yuki
Yuta Kubo vs. Kizaemon Saiga
Masaaki Noiri vs. Ryuji Kajiwara

[Super Fight: K-1 Rules / 3Min. 3R Ext.1R / -70kg]
Yoshihiro Sato vs. Albert Kraus

As anticipated, K-1 is leaning hard on the 63 kg. talent that has been developed under the Krush banner. In fact, three of the four semifinalists from Krush's recent tournament at the weight limit will be appearing here.

Tetsuya Yamato enters as the defending champion here, but he has a truly tough draw against Hiroya. The K-1 Koshien 2008 champion could very well spoil Yamato's hopes of regaining his footing in the division

While Koya Urabe looked to be positioning himself as the face of the 63 kg. division in Japan, his loss to Team Dragon teammate Ryuji Kajiwara in the Krush tournament final in April has definitely set him back a bit. He will enter as a clear favorite over Yuki, who was knocked out in short order by Tetsuya Yamato in last year's K-1 MAX 63 kg. tournament.

2010 runner-up and former Krush standout Yuta Kubo gets an interesting draw as he's paired against Kizaemon Saiga. Despite Saiga's appearance in the semifinals of the recent Krush tournament, the expectations seem to have lowered a bit for the 22-year-old fighter.

Ryuji Kajiwara, recently crowned the Krush 63 kg. champion, meets former Krush 60 kg. favorite Masaaki Noiri in perhaps the most interesting of the quarterfinal bouts. Noiri's back-and-forth Krush semifinal bout with Yuji Takeuchi was truly something to behold, as Noiri ended up on the wrong end of a hook. Upset in dramatic fashion, the former Koshien champion's choice to move up in weight here is definitely refreshing. Be that as it may, Kajiwara's experience and boxing acumen will make this a difficult task for Noiri.

Don't let the language barrier ever stop you, that is the lesson that Kazuyuki Miyata took away from this weekend's broadcast of the K-1 -63kgs Grand Prix on HDNet. During that event, the HDNet/K-1 announce crew of Michael Schiavello (HDNet) and Mike Kogan (K-1 USA) went on a bit of a tangent about the reserve bout between Kazuyuki Miyata and Kazuhisa Watanabe.

"Don't get me started," Kogan replied. "I might get fired for this, but no, of course not. It's ridiculous. Beyond ridiculous. This fight is ridiculous."

Miyata won the fight by unanimous decision, but Schiavello made sure the fans watching at home didn't believe they were watching a high-quality kickboxing match, saying, "Miyata has no place in a K-1 ring."

Said Kogan, "He sucks. Honestly, he sucks. ... He has no business here. ... It's insulting. This is K-1. Don't come here if you don't know what the hell you're doing."

Brutally honest commentating is quite refreshing in the world of commentators simply looking to put the sport and their company over as opposed to telling it like it is. Kogan and Schiavello have never been reserved with their opinions, as many will remember during the Grand Prix last year and their celebration when Badr Hari defeated Alistair Overeem. But that isn't the story here, the story is that Kazuyuki Miyata got word of this and mustered up a reply to this (translation via Skill MMA).

"K-1 USA's commentary man Mike Kogan was insulting me.

"He knows me but he's still saying things like that? I have confidence at 63kg. Of course, I have confidence in K-1 too. I have many weapons. I can win with my body strength alone at that div. I'm so pissed off that I'll fight in the next K-1 as well. I'll even fight anybody.

"I really want to kick someone's ass. It's been a long time since I've felt that way."

Apparently, Miyata is going to use this insult as motivation, which hopefully means his next performance in a K-1 ring is a bit more impressive, which would mean Mike Kogan wouldn't have to be brutally honest about him. For what it's worth, I'm not sure the complaint was aimed at Miyata, a wrestler-turned-MMA fighter as much as it was with K-1's booking of that fight.

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

More action from the 63kg Grand Prix - this is the semi-final bout between Yuta Kubo and Yoshimichi Matsumoto.  Kubo came in off a decision victory over Keiji Ozaki, while Matsumoto scored the 3rd round upset knockout of Daisuke Uematsu.  This one is short, but you really should watch it.

It doesn't have the brutality of Yamamoto v. Shaffer, but this is one of the most technically beautiful KOs of the the year.  It also comes so fast that you have to watch the replays to really appreciate Kubo's skill here.

I mentioned yesterday that Kubo reads his opponents masterfully, and that is exactly what happens here.  Starting back at the 0:41 mark in the clip, you see Kubo fake a body kick, which Matsumoto responds to by dropping his arm to push the kick away.  At 1:16, Kubo throws another kick to the body, a bit higher up this time, and Matsumoto uses his arm to take the kick as defense.  With those two responses, Kubo has all the info he needs.  He throws what at first appears to be a body kick, keeping his hip low to get Matsumoto to protect his body.  As Kubo expected, Matsumoto brings in his near arm tight to defend his ribs, while also dropping his outside arm to push the strike away.  But Kubo is already adjusting his kick, bringing it up to connect with Matsumoto's now unprotected head.  The ploy works perfectly.  The kick lands clean, and Matsumoto is done.

Beautiful example of technique and how to read your opponent in order to strike through their defenses.  I'm looking forward to seeing more of Kubo in K-1.

What else could we look at today but the historic crowning of the first ever K-1 63kg Grand Prix champion?  Here is the finals between Tetsuya Yamato and Yuta Kubo.  Kubo came into this fight after a decision victory over Keiji Ozaki and a round 1 KO of Yoshimichi Matsumoto that really needs to be seen.  Yamato had scored the round 1 KO of Yuki, followed by a round 2 KO of Kizaemon Saiga.

GREAT fight here, probably the K-1 fight of the year so far.  Kubo's really good at seeing openings and capitalizing on them, and he uses that skill here to get the surprising knockdown in round 1.  Yamato looks to be in trouble, but pushes through it, and by the midway point of round 2 has really begun applying the pressure to Kubo.  There are some fantastic exchanges late in the 2nd as both men just go for it. 

As the 3rd starts, it's clear Yamato's strikes have taken their toll on Kubo, who is wobbly and has lost the power.  Yamato gets the knockdown, leading to a classic moment of Kubo gamely regaining his feet while Yamato watches, blood streaming down his face.  That right there is beautiful stuff.  The final sequence is epic, with Kubo pushing forward and Yamato landing a series of shots, finishing with a short left you can barely even see that puts Kubo down cold.

Great work from both men, and a fitting end to an action packed tournament.