FIKA details begining to leak through

Kazuyoshi Ishii officially announced FIKA today, and has promised it will be a new day for K-1 worldwide. FIKA is the Federation International K-1 Association, and will apparently be the new governing body for K-1. There will be a K-1 World Grand Prix in 2012, but to fully grasp what Ishii and his new partners have planned, think big.

FIKA is to be headquartered in Hong Kong and they are going to appeal big time to Chinese audiences by having some of their biggest shows take place in China. There will still be a "World Stage" event in Japan, but it doesn't appear to be the Finals. They are looking to hold events around the world to bring a 'World Cup' feeling and will try to be the FIFA of Kickboxing. FIKA has also brought on famous Chinese folk singer Song Zuying to sing the official FIKA theme song, which was apparently the big headline grabber in China in regards to this announcement, on top of the list of famous people at the event. The theme song will apparently be recorded in English as well, which Zuying was quoted saying it would help FIKA have a global appeal.

Seven Star Entertainment Fund, a branch of Sun Redrock Investment Group will serve as a partner in FIKA, owning about 60%, with the rest of the management team comprising the remaining 40%. Who is actually a part of this team outside of Ishii is not clear, but with the rumors of Bas Boon looking to invest in K-1 and this looking to be the future of K-1 and Bas Boon was on stage for the announcement with Semmy Schilt, it would be hard not to make connections. FIKA is looking to make for a much stronger push into the United States and China for K-1 and be less Japan-centric.

As of press time there is no firm details on a schedule or possible television

http://liverkick.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=998:details-on-fika-begin-to-trickle-out-a-new-k-1&catid=34:demo-content

"There will be national K-1 tournaments in April 2012, then the World GP Final 32 in May/June, Final 16 in Sept/Oct, Finals in Oct-Dec." - Herbetson

Yep, and their 3 weight classes are -- surprise surprise -- 63kg, 70kg and 95kg.

That is from their press release; http://fika-world.com/pressrelease.html

This is fantastic news, but I still have so many questions.

Is it safe to say that the K-1 name is free of FEG?

Also moving into China is the right idea. K-1 has a much better chance of catching on in China than the UFC

This is amazing news! I also think they should push K-1 more in Europe too, the European GP isn't enough imo. China and India are the countries to be in, so it's good they're going to China.

rofl i bet a card in india with singh jaideep would sellout with the right promotion of the fight.

Great news, only thing i don't like is the 95KG limit...no Ghita, Schilt and Arne

Hollywood Dang wrote:Great news, only thing i don't like is the 95KG limit...no Ghita, Schilt and Arne

I think this is a mistranslation.. I was told by a k1 fighter there will be a 220+ weightclass

Yeah it seems weird that Semmy would be at the press conference yet a 95kg limit. I think there is super heavyweight, it would make no sense at all not to include that as it's the most popular division. Probably just a miscommunication

Yeah, the Semmy thing was confusing, but the press release does say under 100kg (not 95, sorry).

This is the way K-1 should have been ran in the first place with the multiple qualifying tournaments they used to hold throughout the first quarter of the year.

I really like this idea of a Final 32 with National Qualifiers gaining entry by winning their respective country's tournament. Its got me really excited for the possibilities. Although, is there really that much depth in the 63 and Under KG division to warrant a 32 man tournament. I know there's enough talent spread throughout Japan, Europe, and Thailand to warrant a solid 16 man grand prix.

I'm liking the direction they're heading. Its bold and even though I thought they should have just continued building their domestic product by developing more Japanese talents and giving more recognition to those in NJKF, KRUSH, and Shootboxing through All Japan Final 16's, I'm not disagreeing with this one bit.

Mighty Trust Krusher wrote:This is the way K-1 should have been ran in the first place with the multiple qualifying tournaments they used to hold throughout the first quarter of the year.

I really like this idea of a Final 32 with National Qualifiers gaining entry by winning their respective country's tournament. Its got me really excited for the possibilities. Although, is there really that much depth in the 63 and Under KG division to warrant a 32 man tournament. I know there's enough talent spread throughout Japan, Europe, and Thailand to warrant a solid 16 man grand prix.

I'm liking the direction they're heading. Its bold and even though I thought they should have just continued building their domestic product by developing more Japanese talents and giving more recognition to those in NJKF, KRUSH, and Shootboxing through All Japan Final 16's, I'm not disagreeing with this one bit.

There's more depth at 63 than there is at heavyweight. Way more.

maybe 95 is the minimum?

I hope FIKA can pay off FEG's debts

From what I've heard that is the plan, with interest, but that isn't a done deal yet, I think.

Thank you Kaz Ishii

Now if only Sakakibara was as trustworthy