It looks like K – 1 and Rizin decided to give a very special Christmas present to the fight sports fans around the world, as at today’s presser long-awaited bout between Tenshin Nasukawa and Takeru was announced for June 2022.
Both fighters were present as also was RIZIN FF CEO, Nobuyuki Sakakibara. It was announced that this kickboxing dream match will be a part of a joint venture event by both RIZIN and K – 1, with the exact date, venue, and rest of the card to be announced in the future. What is known is a weight limit of 58 kg day before the match with a maximum limit of an extra 4 kg on the day of a fight.
Sakakibara stated, that the day has finally come for these two to fight and it will be in June 2022. In his opinion that he made his best effort to bring this matchup to realization and it’s one of the most demanded by the fans. It deserves to be held in the biggest venue possible and that’s why an executive committee will be set up to work on the details.
Two rival champions
Takeru said that he always thought that this particular match should take place on neutral ground. This is the best Christmas present that he could give to K – 1 fans. He said that he sees Tenshin nut only as a rival, but another champion. Takeru admitted that he pushed for this fight to take place in the middle of the next year, but he also was willing to step into the ring in March, as it would be a year since his last fight against Leonna Pettas at K’Festa 4. He would like to fight one more time before meeting Tenshin. As for the 58kg weight limit, Takeru stated that he will prepare his body accordingly as well as he’ll prepare for a different set of rules that will be put in place for this bout. He has one demand whatsoever – an unlimited extend of extra rounds, resulting in a fight-ending only by a knockout if it exceeds three rounds time distance.
An epic crossover
For Tenshin the whole thing is like an amazing crossover of two different worlds. He compared it to One Piece and Naruto anime series crossover to scratch this comparison and compared it one more time to Disney and Universal pictures. Nasukawa has stated, that he’s still willing to fight on New Year’s Eve and in April. He feels that he’s better than Takeru in many aspects of a fight. Tenshin made his mind to retire from kickboxing in April, but Sakakibara asked him to postpone it for this fight, and fans demand this fight also played the role in accepting this matchup.
In a recent episode of the Couch Warrior Podcast, host Mike welcomed Charalampos Grigoriou, who recently won a contract during season 7 of Dana White's Contender Series after knocking out Cameron Smotherman one minute into the fight. The conversation delved into Grigoriou's martial arts journey, his feelings on representing Cyprus and Greece, and future plans.
