1. Minoru Kimura: Bulldozed his way through the K-1 70kg tournament. Three straight first-round knockouts crowned him the king of the tournament that the Japanese government didn’t even want them to put on.
2. Mason Jones: The new Cage Warriors lightweight champion after defeating Joe McColgan by TKO in the first round at Cage Warriors 113.
3. Takeru: The phoenom took care of business and gave the folks what they wanted, wholesale violence, knocking out Petchdam Petchkiatpetch just inside the second round in the co-main of K’Festa 3.
4. Yuta Kubo: Faced a stiff challenge in Holland’s Jordan Pikeur at K’Festa 3, but turned him away via unanimous decision.
5. Bartosz Fabinski: In the main event of the crowdless Cage Warriors 113, Fabinski, and Darren Stewart, who were both scheduled for UFC fights in London, battled in Cage Warriors with Fabinski taking a wide UD.
6. Yoshiki Takei: The K-1 bantamweight champion had a razor-thin win over a game Dansiam Ayothaya Fight Gym by UD at K’Festa 3.
7. KANA: K-1’s femme fatale brought some violence with a first-round knockout of an overmatched Glory Peritore.
8. Masaaki Noiri: The K-1 staple defeated David Mejia via two 30-28s and a 30-29. I’m happy that K-1 is one of the only promotions in which judges are liberal with 10-10 scorecards, of which I, too, am a fan of.
9. Hiromi Wajima: The runner-up in K-1’s 70kg tournament had a hell of a run, but Kimura was an absolute buzzsaw that was stopping for no man, machine, or force.
10. Sina Karimian: Bested Ryo Aitaka by UD in the, call it, co-co man event of K’Festa 3.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!