This morning, live from the Edion Arena in Osaka, Japanese kickboxing juggernaut RISE returned with a loaded RISE World Series 2019: Semi-Final Round fight card.
Earlier this year, we saw the opening round of two separate RISE World Series tournaments. On the 58kg side of the tournament, we saw some spectacular showings. Thai beast Suakim mounted the comeback against a heavy-handed Thalisson Gomes Ferreira, finishing the Brazilian in the third round with a vicious body kick. 17-year-old Thai phenom Rungkit put on a show against Fred Cordeiro, defeating him by way of unanimous decision. Japanese muay thai specialist, Shiro, chopped Vladyslav Mykytas with leg kicks for the finish in round three. And finally, Japanese superstar Tenshin Nasukawa dominated an elite Argentinian in Federico Roma, finishing his foe in the third round with a sensational handplant headkick.
The 61kg tournament opening round was equally noteworthy. Tenshin teammate, Taiju Shiratori went to war with Hector Santiago, defeating him by unanimous decision following the sudden-death round four. Japanese slugger Genji Umeno defeated Lu Jun by unanimous decision, as Chanhyeong Lee beat Yuki in similar fashion. Seksan Orkwanmuang defeated K-1 veteran TAIGA by way of split decision to close out the opening round.
Now, onto the semi-finals.
Tenshin Nasukawa faced Suakim this morning in a rematch from their fantastic KNOCK OUT five-rounder that saw Nasukawa take the win. And in the other 58kg semi-final, Shiro and Rungkit faced off in a high-level muay thai contest that, on-paper, was perhaps the best fight of the entire semi-final round.
Taiju Shiratori faced Seksan Orkwanmuang as part of the 61kg semi-finals, as Genji Umeno and Chanhyeong Lee looked to complete the trilogy as the two had fought twice before this morning, with them going 1-1 against eachother.
In non-tournament bouts, the event also featured numerous losing fighters from the quarter-finals who impressed despite the losses. Thalisson Gomes Ferreira returned, fresh off a knockout win over TAIGA in RIZIN. He took on Japanese ace Masahide Kudo. After losing to Umeno, Lu Jun is back and he faced Kento Haraguchi, who won a 61kg tournament reserve bout during the opening round. Hector Santiago and “Mr. RISE,” Yuki would clash as well.
On the card that saw the opening round of these RISE World Series tournaments, Tapruwan Hadesworkout scored a sick first-round knockout over BeyNoah Black Panther, the RISE welterweight champion. Unfortunately for Tapruwan, the title was not on the line that night. This morning, he returned to take on the hard-nosed veteran Kosei Yamada.
The event was spectacular, and we highly recommend you purchase and watch the RISE World Series 2019 event for yourself on FITE TV. Check out the full results below!
Tenshin Nasukawa def. Suakim via TKO (Cut) in Round 3 – 58kg Semi Final
Shiro def. Rungkit via Ex. Round Unanimous Decision – 58kg Semi Final
Genji Umeno def. Chanhyeong Lee via Unanimous Decision – 61kg Semi Final
Taiju Shiratori def. Seksan Orkwanmuang via Unanimous Decision
Masahiko Suzuki def. Emanuele Tetti Menichelli via TKO (3 Knockdowns) in Round 2
Hector Santiago def. Yuki via Unanimous Decision
Kento Haraguchi def. Lu Jun via KO (Punch) in Round 1
Masahide Kudo def. Thalisson Gomes Ferreira via Majority Decision
Kosei Yamada def. Tapruwan Hadesworkout via Majority Decision
Kazuma Takahashi def. Shohei Asahara via Unanimous Decision
Ryuta Nakano def. Yuya via KO (Punch) in Round 1
Ryuki def. Kan Nakamura via Unanimous Decision