Striking wishlist 2021: Our dream fights (Kickboxing & Muay Thai) 🇬🇧 English version

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Takeru Segawa vs Tenshin Nasukawa

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This is a fight we’ve all been waiting for long now, between two of the biggest Japanese kickboxing prodigies. These two have been dominating the same weight class for years now but in two different organisations (Tenshin evolving in Rizin while Takeru fights on the K-1 Global circuit), which has made the fight difficult. But the list of potential adversaries is shortening and the fights of both kickboxers are starting to look all the same. Kickboxing fans have started losing interest in them and both fighters would need a new challenge to up the hype again. Furthermore, the hope of seeing this fight finally happen came back few days ago, as the two men exchanged words together. The meeting happened when Takeru came to watch Tenshin fight, on the traditional new year’s eve show at the Saitama Arena in Tokyo. A mouthwatering picture for all striking fans!

Here’s another fight which has been in all the talks in kickboxing community for a while now, and in which both protagonists have shown their determination to make it happen. Cedric and Alex actually have something in common: both claim they want to write history of the sport. However, what challenge will be left in Glory for Pereira if he beats Artem Vakhitov (it won’t be easy)? And what challenge will be left for Cedric if he finally fights and beats Murthel Groenhart on January 30th? The answer is the following one: to become double champ for Cedric and to beat the last big Glory name for Pereira. Being able to be champion in different weight classes have always been the mark of legends in combat sports, so imagine if the two kickboxers could give us this last fight at the very top before transitioning definitely to MMA (another common point between the two champs). We’re praying for Glory to order this fight after the January 30th event, where the two champs will fight on the same card, and could meet on this day for promotional purposes (if they each win their fight obviously).

Still talking about legends, here’s a division where there are many. Ladies and gentlemen what we have here is probably one of the most stacked 70kg division of all time (yes probably better than K-1 max days). One FC counts in its ranks nothing less than: Giorgio Petrosyan, Sittichai Sitsongpeenong, Marat Grigorian, Superbon Banchamek, Davit Kiria, Tayfun Ozcan, Samy Sana…And the list goes on and on. Out of all the potential match-ups we can imagine between these killers, there are two which sound to us the most interesting. The first one is probably the highest level match-up we can have now pound for pound in kickboxing, between Petrosyan and Grigorian. Giorgio is considered by many observers as the GOAT of kickboxing, as he has been dominating this division for close to 15 years now, through different organisations (K-1, Showtime, Glory, One FC) and different generations (Buakaw, RVR, Allazov, Sana..). On the other hand, Marat is the best in the division right now as he finally took apart his boogeyman Sittichai to be sacred Glory champion, and has been cumulating simultaneously the belts in three of the biggest organisations: Glory, K-1 and Kunlun. If Marat is able to take the One FC belt away from Petrosyan he will realize a unique performance in the history of the sport, unifying all the belts of the greatest organizations (and in what is probably the most competitive weight division). And if Giorgio wins he will confirm that he is the GOAT for good.

On the other hand we have an opposition of style between two of the best technicians at their prime, Superbon Banchamek who recently won over Sittichai too, representing Muay Thaï style effectiveness in kickboxing against Tayfun Ozcan (former Enfusion champion) representing the famous dutch K1 kickboxing style. Whatever fight ONE decide to make, this division offers so many possibilities, so why not even imagine a new tournament?

This is a fight which would actually be a rematch, as both fighters already fought a few years ago, a fight where the Brazilian didn’t last long against the Japanese. But those who’ve been following Kimura’s career since know he’s not the same fighter today. Phillip has improved a lot, after conceding some defeats after his Krush title reign, he kept trying and slowly turned into a real KO artist, winning the K-1 70kg championship belt with three KO in three fights in the same night. Since, he seems near invincible and he’s now for sure a whole different animal than he was few years ago. On the other hand Masaaki Noiri is a cemented champion who has fought and won all over the world. But Noiri hasn’t had a real big fight for a while and would need a real challenge to get back under the lights. The only problem is that the two fighters are now evolving in two different weight classes (67kg for Noiri and 70kg for Kimura), so they should agree on a catchweight to make this fight happen.

This fight will most probably happen since Jamal is the most legitimate challenger for Petchmorakot and they both challenged each other on Instagram. Yusupov is now more than ever the man who deserves that title shot, as he defeated consecutively two of the best fighters of the division: knocking out Yodsanklai Fairtex and outscoring Samy Sana with a knockdown. Despite Jamal’s outstanding performances Petchmorakot is still the favorite in this fight, as the champion seems stronger than ever after defending the belt two times already. The man who already beat Petrosyan, Saenchai, Ramazanov, KO Liam Harisson and many others can add another tough name to this ridiculous list. Will Petchmorakot keep writing history or will Jamal write his own by creating the big upset? We certainly will have an answer very soon!

If we’re talking P4P ranking in Muay Thaï, we’re for sure talking about Rodtang jitmuanong. Most Muay thaï geeks would say he’s the number one at the moment, and it’s hard to get them wrong since the “tank” keeps chaining victories, each more impressive than the other. After a KO victory over Great Britain’s Jonathan Haggerty to defend his ONE belt, he defeated the PK Saenchai gym star and top Thai fighter Kaonar in a one sided battle. Against him, we’d love to see Superlek, the new star of Kiatmoo9, the famous camp of Buriman which produced some legends such as Singdam or Petchpanomrung. A funny fact to know is that Superlek is now sponsored by the famous brand Yokkao, with that move he joined his old colleague Singdam, but also Rodtang who is sponsored too! Superlek has recently defeated Panpayak in ONE, let’s remind than Panpayak is the only Nak Muay in History who has been three times crowned Sports Writers fighter of the year. Let’s pray we’ll see this very top level Muay Mat vs Muay Fimeu style clash!

The typical Moroccan vs Moroccan Enfusion clash at its finest between two KO monsters. Boutasaa is the young champ at 67kg, he shocked the audience with a first round head kick ko against one of the best of his division, Ilias Zouggary, in november 2019. Then he has defended his belt convincingly two more times since. On the other side we have another young rising star, Nabil Haryouli nicknamed “Tyson” because of his explosive KO punching power. Haryouli showed great improvement and maturity on his last performances and would need maybe another last fight against a top ranked fighter before he be definitely ready to challenge his compatriot.

Another rematch at the very elite of featherweight kickboxing division. Petchpanomrung is the champion for a long time and has cleaned the division, beating sometimes two or three times the same opponents. It starts looking like there is no real opposition for the Thai superstar who hasn’t fought for a while now. In 2017 Petch knocked out Zouggary with a crazy headkick which surprised his opponent, who wasn’t so far on the scorecard. But Zakaria has since improved a lot and impressed in Glory with masterclasses against top fighters Abdellah Ezbiri and Asa Ten Pow. Zouggary really looked like he has reached his prime and is better, faster, stronger than ever and ready for this rematch. He seems now to be the most legitimate challenger for Petch, so it’s very probable for Glory to order this fight during the current year.

We’ve been telling it for a long time now, Elias deserve a ONE title shot, either in Muay Thaï or Kickboxing. The match-up with Rodtang would be crazy too but we thought this other opposition of style was very exciting. Mahmoudi wanted the rematch with Petchdam, but since Ennahachi has beaten Petchdam in sensational fashion, ONE should give him directly the kickboxing title shot against Ilias. We’d love to see this fight as both fighters are known for their very spectacular and unorthodox techniques, so one thing for sure is this fight is going to be a show if it happens.

To conclude this 2021 wishlist I propose for a heavyweight clash. Both have recently faced a defeat but we all know that Nordine had to go to the final of the Glory tournament under disadvantageous conditions (big war with extra round while Levi Rigters was fresh). On the other side Badr Hari showed than he was still one of the most exciting fighters to watch. He is still in contract with Glory so it would be a good match-up to get back on the track or to know if it’s definitely time to end his career. Throughout history the heavyweight division was often at the heart of kickboxing, we have here two very explosive and beautiful fighters to watch, one absolute legend and a rising star. This fight would be fireworks for sure!

We hope you have enjoyed this article, we tried to imagine the best potential match-ups based on the sportive and stylistic aspect. Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts, tell us what are your own potential best match-ups for this year. And if you like our work don’t forget to share this article 🔁, comment 🗨️ and to follow us on socials 📳 in order not to miss anything.🔔 Thank you a lot for reading!🙏🙏😀😀