Upcoming epic women's Kickboxing tournament!

[WaffleNinja]

Kunlun fight, the emerging Chinese fight promotion that puts on Kickboxing, MMA, Muay Thai, and Lethwei fights has got a great card on October 28th. It features a 4 woman kickboxing tournament, here are the brackets:

 

Women's 52kg Tournament Semifinal #1

Isis Verbeek (Netherlands) vs. E Meidie (China)

 

Women's 52kg Tournament Semifinal #2

Anissa Meksen (France) vs. Xu Zhurong (China)

 

Isis Verbeek is a Dutch Kickboxer out of the renowned Mike's Gym, E Meidie is a Sanda world champion who transitioned to Kickboxing a few years ago and has been dominating ever since, Anissa Meksen is a French Kickboxing and  Muay Thai champion who has knocked out some serious opposition like Iman Barlow, and I've never heard of Xu Zhurong, but when it comes to Kunlun fight a fighter with a Chinese name I have never heard of usually means someone fresh out of the ranks of elite Sanda fighters who do especially well in women's competitions. 

 

I am pumped for this event. I will be cheering for E Meidie, she is a great fighter and very inspirational.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Good stuff. Is this K-1 style rules? Would love to see Meksen fight full rules versus a Thai like Chommanee (if she could get down to 54 kg) or someone like Farida Okiko.

[WaffleNinja]

Ya K-1 rules. Meksen fought FTR back in the day but she was smaller. Id also like to see her fight the 54kg best in FTR but I think she makes more money fighting on these big kickboxing events.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

Bizarrely, she seems to have fought THIS fight, in Bangkok, for a European title earlier in the year. Comes to Thailand and does not fight a top Thai (as well).

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

Ya K-1 rules. Meksen fought FTR back in the day but she was smaller. Id also like to see her fight the 54kg best in FTR but I think she makes more money fighting on these big kickboxing events.

What is the progression like on these K-1 style shows, like Kunlun and Enfusion? Do they have standing champions or tournaments, are there fan favorites with sponsorship deals? Do fans follow the particular fighters?

[WaffleNinja]

What is the progression like on these K-1 style shows, like Kunlun and Enfusion? Do they have standing champions or tournaments, are there fan favorites with sponsorship deals? Do fans follow the particular fighters?

Enfusion is kinda like the spiritual successor to Its Showtime, it has standing champions but it will do contender tournaments. There are fan favorites who I would imagine have sponsorship deals but not sure. A few big names have followings, e.g. Ilias Bulaid. Kunlun seems to be dominated by huge-tournament format. It gets pretty crazy sometimes. e.g. right now they are in the middle of a tournament that has been going on for I think over a year now. They held four man 70kg tournaments on all their events until they had 16 tournament winners, and now those winners I think are still in the best of 16 stage. I'm not even sure their tournament will be done in 2016 lol Kunlun doesn't have exclusivity contracts so you will often see big names from other promotions. e.g. I'm pretty sure Sittichai fought there recently. I think he might actually be in the big crazy tournament.

 

Edit: I just checked and ya Sittichai is in it.

[WaffleNinja]

Spoilers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Women's 52kg Tournament Semifinal #1
E Meidie (China) def. Isis Verbeek (Netherlands)

Women's 52kg Tournament Semifinal #2
Anissa Meksen (France) def. Xu Zhurong (China) by Decision

Women's 52kg Tournament Final
E Meidie (China) def. Anissa Meksen (France)

 

I'm happy for E Meidie, this cements her as the clear best female kickboxer at her weight class imo. I have suspected she was for a long time. The first half of the card didn't air so there is no video of it so far.

[Lobo11]

Props to her corner.  I'm sure it wasn't easy to throw in that towel but she was too tough for her own good.  Huge heart.  That beautiful violence...

[WaffleNinja]

Update: I checked Anissa's facebook and she wrote a post saying she got sabotaged by the Chinese lol Apparently a stretcher ran over her foot in the venue, Meidie was using headbutts and wasn't penalized, and she thought she got screwed on the scorecards too, all part of an elaborate conspiracy to make Meidie win the match. I wouldn't be surprised if the Chinese judges leaned towards their compatriot in the scoring, but the rest of that seems a bit far fetched.