Kyokushin Headlines - 2005

Awesome Uzunyan, Abdurashidov and Gatashev are top in London
The third IFK World Championships in London saw the crowd at Crystal Palace National Sports centre witness an extremely high standard of fighting. The heavyweight section saw an early shock as Russia's Timofei Tsyganov was knocked out by by a Britain's Tom Silver with mawashi geri jodan in the first round, and Chris Seal was defeated by Holland's Mathias Kelderman on a split decision after an extension.
Russia's Anzor Shkhabakhov (left) looked in superb form as he won his first three matches all by ippon within two minutes before dubiously losing on weight to Paul Travers in the semi final, Travers had previously overcame Russia's Sergey Melyuk in the quarter final also on weight. Timur Gatashev had looked in good form as he advanced through the draw with wins that included a hard fought fight against Iran's Meshkati, and then Silver in the quarter final and Mathias Kelderman in the semi final both via an ippon. A hard fought final saw Gatashev pressurize Travers with some powerful punches before he finally scored a wazari in the third round with a hiza geri to take the title. In the middleweight section Russian fighters looked very strong again as Shamsudin Abdurashidov defeated Holland's Alkan and Switzerland's Pavlovic by ippon to reach the quarter finals. Alexei Gorokhov destroyed Poland's Zawodniy and then defeated the strong Alexei Korotkiy of Belarus in a very close fight. Alexander Erokhin scored an ippon against India's Ashok with a jodan Hiza geri in his first fight and then advanced on weight after a hard fight against France's Dhorme. The final Russian to reach the last eight was Anzor Kardanov, who had defeated Belgian Willeme by ippon and Britain's Lee O'Neill by decision en route to the last eight. The remaining top eight fighters were made up of Britain's Kenny Jarvis and Chris Odunakan, Canadian Yannick Galipeau and and Daniel Sanchez of Spain. The quarter finals began as Gorokhov defeated Sanchez by ippon after a strong body punch, Jarvis & Galipeau had a real scrap with the Canadian advancing on boards, as did Kardanov against Erokhin, and Abdurashidov defeated Odunakan by unanimous decision. Boards again came into play in the semi finals as Kardanov advanced against Galipeau after a very hard fight and excellent fight between Abdurashidov and Gorokhov also ended due to Abdurashidov having broke more boards.
The final was a short affair as after an explosive start by Abdurashidov saw him close to knocking Kardanov out on a couple of occasions before the power of Abdurashidov mawashi geri chudan broke Kardonov's arm and lead to Abdurashidov being awarded an ippon and the middleweight world title. The lightweight  section was equally as enthralling, Briton's Mark Goodwin and Darren Stringer looked in good form as they advanced to the quarter finals in another category that ominously saw four Russian fighters make up the last eight. The remaining fighters to make up the quarter finals were the very strong Stachon of Poland, and Canada's Zimmerman who was hoping to go one better than his quarter final appearance last time around in Valencia. In two very close fights Uzunyan advanced past Stachon on weight and Goodwin defeated Dzhafarov on boards. The other two quarter finals saw Dzaganiya and Zimmerman have another even match with Dzaganiya going through on boards and Stringer gain a spectacular ippon with a jodan mawashi geri against Zlenko. The semi finals were both a Britain versus Russia affair, Uzunyan landed a spectacular rolling axe kick to shock the home crowd by knocking out the rock solid Goodwin and after a real scrape between Dzaganiya and Stringer the Russian advanced on boards. A very well matched final between Uzunyan and Dzaganiya saw Uzunyan take the title after an extension and be crowned IFK World Lightweight Champion.

Abdurashidov and Osipov steel the show in Moscow

Suzuki wins top prize as Nesterenko stuns crowd
The inaugural IFFK World Championships (Royama Org) was held in Moscow with fighters from Russia dominating. Sergey Osipov (right) claimed first prize in the heavyweight section by defeating Sergey Melyuk in the final and the excellent fellow Russian Timur Gatashev taking third place. In the middleweight section Shamsudin Abdurashidov looked a class above the rest as took first place after defeating Rasim Samedov in the final, with Roman Lagutin claiming third place. The lightweight section saw Kazuya Matsuda of Japan triumph as he defeated Russia's Emil Dzhafarov in a close final, with Edgar Zatikyan claiming third place. The 37th All Japan Tournament (IKO 2) witnessed former Champion Kunihiro Suzuki put behind the disappointment of his semi final defeat at the World Cup in Osaka to storm to his fourth title. Russia's Roman Nesterenko looked in awesome form as he scored and ippon for a jodan hiza geri against last years runner up Nomoto, and another ippon against Kouichi Tokusa; who had previously defeated Tanigawa, with a chudan tsuki in the quarterfinal before losing to Kenji Maekawa in the last four. Maekawa had previously defeated defending champion Tsukakoshi on weight but was no match for Suzuki in the final who gained an ippon gedan mawashi geri to seal and unprecedented fourth All Japan title.

Ibragimov marches to top prize

Gogonel continues amazing year
Alexander Ibragimov of Russia (below with Kancho Matsushima) was the Grand Champion at the European Open Championships (IKO 3) held in Warsaw, Poland after a fight of between the winners of the four respective weight categories. Romania's Lucien Gogonel (right) continued his amazing year at the European Championships (IKO 1) held in Varna, Bulgaria as the he added the European middleweight title to the Lightweight World title he won in may. In the final he defeated Spain's Javier Lezcano with the strong pair of Romania Nicolae Stoian and Russian Champion Mikhail Tretyakov sharing third. The Super heavyweight section saw a long overdue European title for Armenia's Artur Oganasian after he beat Czech Jan Sokup in the final. In the light section defending champion Piotr Moczydlowski of Poland faced Russia's Dmitry Kuteka with the Russian coming out on top. Bulgarian Stilian Petrov took third place along with four time former Champion Piotr Sawicki. In the heavyweight section Poland's Krzysztof Habraszka was looking for his third straight title but was denied by Russia's Goderzi Kapanadze in the final. Third place was shared between the always impressive Alejandro of Spain and Germany's Eduard Wallmen.
Ibragimov defeated last years World Tournament runner up Hassan Nazemi in a close super heavyweight final with Spain's Domingo Quinones again taking third along with Zsambor Magosi of Hungarian. Kanat Rahimov of Kazakhstan who was runner up last time around went one better as he won the lightweight section after defeating Hunagry's Imre Gyarmati, Russian pair Dmitry Tereszczenko and Maxim Mironov shared third. Iran's Issa Parvarioghani won the middleweight section after defeating Telzan Kasdiev in the final, Alimbek Konakbiev of Russia and Pole Boguslaw Kwiatkowski shared third place.
Kazakhstan's Bulat Narubayev took the heavyweight title by beating Yaroslav Legayev of Russia with Csaba Orenovszki of Hungary and Turk Yenen Kahraman third.

Teixeira, Tanaka, Nakahara and Gogonel take top prizes in spectacular event
The third World Weight Tournament (IKO 1) was a spectacular event that lived up to all its pre tournament expectations. The super heavyweight final saw the final all kyokushin fans wanted as Brazil's Ewerton Teixiera (below left) squared of against the Russia's Lechi Kurbanov (below right). Both fighters had a spectacular route to the final including an ippon for Teixiera for a jodan hiza geri against Mikhail Kozlov in the quarter final in a much anticipated battle and an even more spectacular knock out for Kurbanov against the Russian man mountain Andrey Stepin. A close final went two extensions with both fighters on top through out the fight, Kurbanov came close with another ushiro mawashi geri but it was Teixiera who got the decision after a late surge. Alexander Pichkunov finished third and was unlucky in his semi final with Teixiera not to go into an extension an Stepin was fourth after his knockout by Kurbanov.

The heavyweight section witnessed the only Japanese victory and this was only after a questionable decision earned Kentaro Tanaka the victory over the irrepressible Maxim Dedik in the final. Dedik was in awesome form after scoring an ippon against Poland's Banasik and easily defeating Japan's Morimura and the much fancied Brazilian Eduardo Tanaka. Another Brazilian fighter in Fabiano Da Silva was in excellent form and eventually finished third after losing to eventual winner Kentaro Tanaka of Japan in the semi final. The final was a clash of styles with Dedik relying on punches and Tanaka concentrated with his trademark low kicks, after a close first round the judges awarded the fight to Tanaka to halt an intriguing contest and give the victory to the home fighter. The middleweight section was a very keenly contested event that included 2001's first and second place fighters in Emil Kostov and Hiroyuki Kidachi. Kostov had looked in ominous form before losing out on a poor decision to Japan's Takamitsu Sakurai in the semi final. Kidachi had a tough fight against Romania's Nicolae Stoian before losing on boards in the other semi final to the young Brazilian fighter Andrews Nakahara on boards. Nakahara then went on to defeat a tired and battered Sakurai in one round in the final. Other points of interest saw Poland's Sylwester Sypien score the fastest knockout of the day with a chudan mawashi geri after only 16 seconds against Jose Luis Amurio of Bolivia. The lightweight section opened up with a reigning champion Masafumi Tagahara against three time European champion Lucien Gogonel of Romania. From the start the Romanian constantly applied pressure to his smaller opponent and eventually took the fight after the first extension. Yuuki Fukuii, who was aiming to go one position higher than the four years ago when he finished second, and looked among the favourites until the recurrence of a broken leg sustained last year ended his hopes in the quarter final against Brazils Kuwahara. 
In arguably the fight tournament two time Japanese lightweight champion took on multiple Russian Champion Marcel Murakaev. This fight saw both fighters give their all in a brutal match that went two extensions with Shiojima taking the decision and the place in the quarter finals. Japan's Yuzu Suzuki had been in good form and beat the excellent Isobe of Brazil in the quarter finals before overcoming a weary Shiojima in the semi final. Gogonel had continued with his advance and won the other semi final after scoring a wazari for a chudan tsuki against Kuwahara. The final was a hard battle with two well matched fighters but Gogonel used his extra strength to wear down Suzuki and take the fight after the second extension.

Surprise victory for Uchida

Habraszka defend titles after Spanish Challenge
There was a shock in the All Japan Tournament as defending Champion and overwhelming favourite was defeated by Japan's lightweight Osamu Shiojima. Poland's Krysztof Habraszka put the disappointment of not retaining his European Heavyweight title to retain the European Openweight title in Belgrade, Serbia.
The hard fought quarter final went two extensions with the eventual work rate of Shiojima getting him the decision. Another lightweight reached the final as Masafumi Tagahara lost to the strong Tatsuya Kato of Seido. Another strong Seido fighter in Hideo Sawada lost a hard fought battle against last years runner up Tadakuni Tokuda. The last quarter final saw the very energetic young fighter Yoshiaki Uchida defeat veteran Naoki Ichimura. In the semi finals a hard fought match between Uchida and Tokuda saw Uchida edge it after the second extension and Shiojimas work rate again give him the decision against the unfortunate Kato. The excellent Alejandro Navarro of Spain reached his first European final but was unable to do enough to get the decision. Habraszka defeated Navarro's compatriot Pablo Estensoro in the semi finals. Navarro had defeated the very strong fighter Jan Sokup from the Czech Republic who was carrying an injury from the earlier rounds. The top eight was made up of Karol Cielsuk who reached the quarter finals for the second year running, the experienced campaigner Sveto Dekovic of Serbia, Zahry Damianov of Bulgaria and last
Shiojima became the first lightweight to reach the final since the legendary Kenji Midori 15 years earlier. Uchida however used his 30kg weight advantage well to boss the tatami and overpower Shiojima and give the youngster his first All Japan title. years runner up in Romanian Nicolae Stoian who has now reached at least the last eight in this event for the last three years.

Victory again for Tanigawa as Dimitrov dominates
The 3rd World Cup (IKO 2) took place in Osaka with a few shocks and surprise along the way. The light weight category saw the Kou Tanigawa (below left), who won the first edition 8 years ago, take the title again. He overcame the very strong Bulgarian Dimitar Popov and the equally impressive Vasily Kudiakov in the semi final and final respectively on tameshiwari to take the title.
The middleweight section saw the overwhelming favourite Valeri Dimitrov take the title as the Bulgarian never looked in trouble as he progressed through the draw. In the final he met surprise package Alexei Leonov of Kazakhstan who had defeated Japan's Gaku Yasamoto in a close semi final. Leonov, however was no match for Dimitrov who scored an ippon for a chudan hiza geri. The heavyweight section was equally as exciting as two former winners met in the last eight as Russia's Denis Grigoriev took on Japan's Norichika Tsukamoto. After a hard fight in which the physically stronger Grigoriev handed out a lot of punishment but finally fell foul to a superb mawashi geri jodan in the second extension that gave Tsukamoto and ippon. Tsukamoto then went the distance again but was this time beaten in the second extension on a decision by current All Japan Champion Takayuki Tsukakoshi (right centre). The other semi final saw reigning World Champion Kunihiro against the immense Donatas Imbras in a surprise result as Imbras dominated to take the decision in one round. In the final Tsukakoshi did all he could to hang on against the power of the Lithuanian and eventually scraped through the fight to win on boards.

Fortune favours Osipov as Uzunyan shines

East Europe dominate in Copenhagen
The Russian Championships organised by IFKK-Royama Organisation saw a return to competition of Sergey Osipov (left). In the first round of the heavyweight section Osipov narrowly overcame the powerful IFK fighter Timofei Tsyganov in a fight that went the distance as Osipov struggled with Tsyganov's power. Osipov then went on to reach the final where he controversially defeated another IFK fighter in Anzor Shikhabakhov on boards and Shikhabakhov was denied a wazari in a fight that went to two extensions. Last years runner up in Nalchik's Timur Gatashev finished third with IFK's Alexander Ibragiumov fourth. Reigning IFK Russian Champion Roman Uzunyan (below) of St. Petersburg was superb as he won the lightweight title after defeating Krasnodar's Ruslan Zlenko in the final with reigning champion Emil Dzhafarov of Dagesthan in third. The European Championships (IKO 2) heralded strong performances from fighters from East Europe who dominated the top podium places in Copenhagen, Denmark. Bulgaria's Dimitar Popov won his fourth lightweight title in a row after defeating Hungary's Joszef Nemes in the final with Hungarian fighter Gabor Rosza and Dane Silas Inoue taking third. In the absence of some of the top names Romania's Marious Ilas took the middleweight title after defeating Orest Proc of Lithuania. Last years runner up Christian Christian of Denmark finished third with Lithuanian Andzej Milevskij. The heavyweight section saw former middleweight champion Valeri Dmitrov dominate the event as he fought in his first event since his awesome display at the World Tournament in 2003. Dimitrov dispatched all his opponents inside one round and took the trophy with an easy win against Lithuania's Mindaugas Pavilionis in the final. Hungary's Daniel Torok finally claimed a much deserved European title as he defeated Denmark's Benno Rasmussen in the final. Fellow Dane Brian Jakobsen again finished on the podium as he claimed third place with another Lithuanian in Arturas  Mazeliauskas.

Old & new faces take Russian Titles
At the Russian Championships (IKO 1) the major names along with two new faces took the titles. The evergreen Marcel Murakaev defeated Dmitry Startsev to win the lightweight title in an event again dominated by fighters from Perm. This was remarkably Murakaev's fifth Russian title in all versions. The middleweight section saw 20 year old Mikhail Tretyakov defeat Anton Dmitriyenko in the final with former champion Vasily Timofiev third. Perm's dominance continued with Igor Titkov, who put away the disappointment of losing last years European Championship final, by taking the heavyweight title by defeating Goderdzi Kapanadze in the final. The Super heavyweight event saw many of the big names compete with Sergey Plekhanov taking the top prize after he defeated five time former champion Mikhail Kozlov in the final and second and Andrey Stepin in the semi final who took third place.
Uzunyan, who with this event won his third title of the year after an amazing five victories last year was also awarded the most spirited fighter prize for his performances as he confidently overcame all on comers. The middleweight section contained many strong fighters including former IFK Russian Champion Akbolat Appaev, three time and reigning IFK Russian Champion Alexei Gorokhov, along with last years winner in this event in Shamsurdin Abdurashidov. The first controversy began in the quarter final as Abdurashidov narrowly defeated the ever improving Alexander Erokhin of IFK St. Petersburg after a very close fight. The controversy continued as in his semi final Alexei Gorokohov received two illegal blows that needed treatment by the doctors. Gorokhov amazingly fought on and eventually took his place in the final. Despite being heavily hampered by injury, Gorokhov gallantly fought on but was unable to do enough as Abdurashidov eventually retained his title.

Victory sweet for Erokhin

 Super Kozlov strikes again
At the 15th Russian Championships (FKR-IFK), St. Petersburg's Alexander Erokhin finally claimed a major prize after winning the middleweight section. Erokhin, who has twice been a quarter finalist in the event along with quarter final appearances in the Russian Open in Yamburg in 2004 and the Royama Organization Russian Championship earlier this year took the title after beating former winner Akbolat Appaev in the final. Armen Hachatryan of Kemerovo was third with Viktor Polonskiy of Tomsk fourth. An injury to Roman Uzunyan hampered his chances of defending his lightweight title as he was defeated by the strong Muscovite Igor Dzaganiya in the final, with Edgar Zatukyan of Moscow third and Dmitriy Pisa of Yakutiya fourth. The young fighter from Nalchik, Tahir Nasypiev was in spectacular form as he won the heavyweight title culminating in a defeat of Dmitriy Savelyev. Savelyev's appearance in the final earned the Igor Peplov coached St. Petersburg team a presence in all the male finals, the first time this has happened since the strong Nalchik performance back in 1997. Last years champion Sergey Mikhailin, and runner up Vladimir Danileyko were third and fourth respectively.

Russia's Mikhail Kozlov (left) put the disappointment of his quarter final defeat to in the World Weight Tournament against Ewerton Teixeira to become the third overseas fighter in four years to win the super heavyweight section of the All Japan Weight Tournament (IKO 1) after he defeated Keiji Higuchi in the final. Yoshitaki Uchida was third along with Russian Artem Pukas in fourth. This year saw for the first time a -85kg section, with two time former middleweight winner Hiroyuki Kidachi taking the top prize after beating Yasushi Itatani in the final. The reaming categories saw the -75kg section won by Tomohiko Matsuoka with Makoto Ozaki taking the -65 kg section.

Mikhailin wins again and Uzunyan keeps up form

Winning return for Ntumazah
At the 15th Moscow Open reigning Russian Heavyweight Champion Sergey Mikhailin retained the title for what was his sixth Moscow Open win in all. Another Russian Champion, in the superb lightweight fighter Roman Uzunyan of St, Petersburg kept up his run on the back of four tournament wins last year and the St. Petersburg Open (IKO 2) win this year to take the lightweight section after defeating Alexei Popov in the final. Former finalist Firuz Kasymov was victorious in he middleweight section after he overcame Alexander Lagutin. The French Open (IKO 2) witnessed the successful return of former IFK European Champion and five time British Heavyweight Champion Felix Ntumazah (right) as he swept through all opposition to easily take the title. Belgium's Sven Vermuelen finished second, with compatriot Claude Hermann, also of Belgium, third along with Britain's Tom Silver. The middleweight section saw Georgia's David Gejadze win his third title in a row after narrowly defeating Britain's Chris Odunakan in the final. Swedish fighters Jimmie Collin and Andreas Almen finished third. The lightweight section witnessed an all French final as David Dericke won this event for the third successive time after beating Nordin Tonkin whilst Holland's Dmitri Sennema and Fabien Denouex made up the remaining podium places.

Paksi defends Dutch title
Hungary's Lorant Paksi defend his Dutch Open Heavyweight title after defeating Germany's Dennis Hermann in the final. Holland's Victor Teixera and Tom Maliepaard won their first title in light and middleweight sections respectively and Rudolf Conquet returned to take the Super Heavyweight title for the first time for five years.

Lezcano and Navarro on form in France

Zimmerman & Galipeau reign supreme
The French Open (IKO 1) saw may big names congregate for a very strong event. France's Jérôme de Timmerman was the only home victory after he defeated Spain's Santiago Garcia in the lightweight final. Spaniard Javier Lezcano claimed another victory as he took the middleweight title. A rematch of the Tunisian Open final earlier in the year saw the same result as Tunisia's Chokri Nafti defeated the strong Sergio Lopez of Spain in the final with European middleweight champion, Lucian Gogonel of Romania, third. A hard fought super heavyweight section once again saw Spain's Alejandro Navarro (right) victorious in his debut at the plus 90 kilogram category.

The annual Mas Oyama Memorial Gold Cup held in Montréal again saw IFK fighters dominate as Canada's Mikhail Zimmerman won his fourth lightweight title at the event and Yannick Galipeau win his third successive middleweight title in a row. Costa Rica's Javier Gerli triumphed in an all Costa Rican final to win the heavyweight section.

Jarvis makes it four as Goodwin and Travers also win

Kenny Jarvis won the British Regional title and cemented his claimed to be Britain's top middleweight after he beat last years champion Chris Odunakan in a hard fought final. Michael Dvorak reached the podium for the fourth time in the last five years along with Lee O'Neill as they shared third. The evergreen Mark Goodwin looked in top form once more as he defeated Kenny Mortin in a close semi final before dropping young welsh fighter Leon Lundregan in the lightweight final. Paul Travers retained the heavyweight title after Miguel Fernandez withdrew injured after a hard semi final against Saied Hossini who took third place with Tom Silver.

 New Champions in Spain

More success for Navarro
At the Spanish Open (IKO 2), the titles went to fighters who had never won this event before as Jose Maria Lozano took the lightweight crown, David Bosch the middleweight version, and the strong Pedro Soriano the heavyweight section. Alejandro Navarro won his third title of the year in the first Spanish Openweight title for the event held in Fuertventura. In the final he defeated fellow Spaniard Sergio Lopez ho also continued his successful year with the strong Polish fighter Michal Krzak finishing in third place.