I speak japanese, Kazumi had a leg fracture 2 month before the fight. He also developed a hair line fracture on the opposite leg. He was not in the greatest fighting form at the time of this match. Considering all this, he did very well.
+Satsu no Tenshi They take more hits then MMA fighters that is for sure. But MMA fighters are also very dangerous. You don't want to have one fighting you on the ground with your kykoshin skills. Atm i am doing Krav Maga, also fun.
Perhaps one of the greatest Kyokushin matches I have ever seen, there is too much to unpack here, needless to say master level technique and spirit, I think correct decision, beautiful fighting. My legs got bruises just from watching.
not THAT much better imo, here they kept trading lowkicks for 3 minutes straight with no regard for their own defense either. That's how kyokushin is and will always be, the only way you can avoid that is if you can actually impose a KO threat which comes mostly from head punches (head kicks are low percentage strikes), which are notoriously banned.
Kyokushin fighters are great at punching to the head. Look at Andy Hug, Francisco Filho, Graube Feitosa, GSP, the list goes on. On top of that their kicks are some of the most devastating and their durability is second to none. What are you on about? and this fight is very technical, they are both trying to hit and not get hit. Trading kicks is fine if you can inflict more damage than the opponent.
did you even read my comment? I never said they're "bad at punching the head", i said that as long as head punches are banned (i know the reasons for the ban, but even if they're good reasons it doesn't stop the consequences from being regrettable) there's really not much risk in walking into someone's punching range and up into clinch distance (but not actually clinching) without really respecting the opponent's punches, in the classic trading-hits-until-someone-drops style kyokushin is notorious for. Secondly, you could call any fight in any fighting sport technical. Even taekwondo i.e. "leg fencing" is "technical", that doesn't automatically make it interesting nor realistic. Thirdly, they're not really trying not to get hit, or trying to block, they're basiclaly racing to who can hit the most low kicks. "Trading kicks is fine if you can inflict more damage than the opponent." you say: obviously true, but since both are doing the same exact thing, there's only 2 possibilities: 1 of the 2 is actually losing the race and should change gameplan, or they're both not really accomplishing anything. I also never qustioned kyokushin fighters' durability or kicking technique, which i indeed believe second to none. I'm just stating that this fight isn't "so much better than modern kyokushin close-up trading body punches", it's still the same rules, with the same flows, they're only staying a little further back and replacing the body punches with low kicks.
I understand your point of view. But it is indeed very technical. The issue here as that they are both very familiar with each others fighting style and are very close in size and skill level. I don't know if you've ever sparred or fought before, but it becomes much more difficult to execute your best techniques when the opponent is familiar with you or equally as skilled. Even if we look at the UFC fight Wonderboy vs Woodley, the same situation occurred, both not really being able to put anything together (as such they just trade blows). Also, if you've watched any instructional or understand a little Japanese from Kazumi, Matsui or any top kyokushin fighter. They have very technical and thought out counters, feints, spacing and so on. Particularly Kazumi, who proved to have devastating low kicks by manipulating DISTANCE and TIMING (which only the best fighters do, and transfers to all combat sports). These days a lot of fighters just rush in close and punch to the body, with very little thought of the technical side of fighting (where you actual have to think and react with strong counters and so on) relying on their power and endurance (this is a style that can work but isn't the most effective or entertaining). I will agree with you that this is more likely to occur in Kyokushin because there is no threat of head punches and clinches, but kyokushin fighters KNOW this and that is why they also practice kickboxing style rules (at least we do at my dojo and I have seen in many others). Thank you for the well thought out response. I do agree with you for the most part, but I can assure you that they are trying to be as effective as they can but they are too equal in skill. Watch Kazumi vs lesser skilled opponents and he demolishes them with his superior technical IQ.
All along felt that Kiyama is much taller, but when put together with Hajime Kazumi, both are on par in terms of physical height and size!....I kind of felt that Kiyama had the fear of a much senior and season fighter (Hjime Kazumi), mentally losing out in the fight..... Both fighting skills are great, but Hajime Kazumi being very consistence in his lower kicks attacking strategically dampened Kiyama's typical style of fearless attacks, and thus became too cautious and defensively handicapped. My humble Fellow Karate-Ka Views......
I guess perception is everything and everyone is entitled to their own opinion but IMHO I saw it as Kazumi winning this fight. A huge determining factor was the knockdown of Kiyama in the last round.
But as they say, the most effective Karate tends to be the ugliest and most sloppy looking. I would never want to be on the receiving end of a Punch or kick from a high ranking Kyokushin trained fighter
@@rtyler1869 Yes I suppose so but I think there are different styles of Kyokushin fighters. You can see the french guy on this video has this very "going forward to trade body shot mentality" while the other is rather much more technical! I like Kyokushin but I also dislike fighters who just stay in the middle of the tatami and just trade body punches without attempting anything smart or technical.
@Busy right now I never competed in knockdown karate. I didn't mean to sound like a hater, I like Kyokushin. Just saying that most of fights you can see are not as technical as this one. I love this fight.
@Busy right now yeah I know man. You sound like tired to explain to people why Kyokushin fight look the way they do 😂 I understand. Kyokushin fights look very unusual because of the ruleset and the body conditioning they do. The style is all about toughness and keep moving forward. It's not only about fighting efficiently and realism but about make you tough. Less realist in some ways but also more realist in others. Fighting bare knuckles and with gloves on is like day and night.
both are very good fighters and one should win to have a winner so one will surely be out punch/kick who will lost; and not all the time that one of them will always be superior but both are surely of the same level of ability and skill. Connectively, I thought kyukushin is a harsh(not hard) karate but in this kumite they do not punch on the face but on the body; they will only kick on it. In JKA kumite both face and body can be punch and kick when JKA is known only as hard karate and not harsh. In this fight both karatekas are many time come within punching distance of whichmany times one of them could already knockout punch the other.
yes, absence of head punches allow fighters to unrealistically close in on each other with little risk. But it's still much more useful than point fighting karate like the JKA and its glorified weaponless fencing, sorry.
Mirage- As someone who has done Kyokushinkai since i was 4, competed since I was 6 and have been in MMA and Muay Thai programs/circuits since I was 12. You have a really bad opinion. And honestly, a factually incorrect opinion.
DuPont Jean, Master Omya got sick of his students breaking hands, and his students complained about them rocking up to work with Brocken noses and cheeks so he introduced a rule to ban punches to the face during competition and sparring. However head kicks are allowed. I would also point out that we are trained to hit face as part of technique as part of self defence.
