[K-1 MAX]: Japan - annunciato il torneo

Finally, K-1 speaks with a card announcement and they speak loud and clear with the annual K-1 MAX Japan tournament. The highlight of the event is 3-time MAX Japan champion Taishin Kohiruimaki facing off against the ever-colorful, cross-dressing Yuichiro Nagashima. The other tournament favorite has to be last year's cindarella story in Yuya Yamamoto, who made it to the finals of the 2009 MAX Japan tournament before losing a decision to Kohi, then earning his spot in the finals by racking up impressive victories in the Final 16 and Final 8 while Kohi sat on the sidelines with an injury. Yamamoto takes on HINATA, who might never be a pushover, but if a determined Yamamoto comes to fight, HINATA might not stand much of a chance.

To round out the tournament, TATSUJI will take on the undefeated 2009 KRUSH 70kg (Middleweight/MAX) tournament champion, Hiroki Nakajima while Yasuhiro Kido will take on another KRUSH fighter, RYUJI.

The big news does not revolve around the tournament this year, instead the Superfights, as World MAX 2009 Champion Giorgio Petrosyan returns to action against Yoshihiro Sato. Petrosyan shows no signs of slowing down, as this will come just weeks after his planned bout with Kem Sitsongpeenong (the artist formerly known as Khem Fairtex). The other big news is the possibility of MAX adding another weight class to the mix on a permanent basis. There have been rumblings of a 63kg weight class (MAX is 70kg), and this press conference has claimed to look for a tournament to declare a champion within the next year in this weight class. The 63kg bouts on this card will feature some exciting fighters, with former Osaka Pro wrestling star and somewhat of a mixed bag in the world of martial arts fighter Takehiro Murahama (for some reason being billed as TAKE HERO by K-1) against Kosuke Komiyama. The big fight at 63kgs will be crazy brawler Kazuhisa Watanabe against Daiki Hata, better known to DREAM and DEEP fans as DJ. Taiki.