Unlike organisations in other combat sports, a lot of Kickboxing promotions are open to and often participate in cross-promotion between organisations. This is undoubtedly something healthy for the sport and should be utilised more in MMA. The fans get to see the best fights between the best fighters in the world, no matter which organisation they’re a part of. The only major Kickboxing organisation that doesn’t do this seems to be ONE Championship.
Here’s a rundown of some of the best examples of cross-promotion in Kickboxing:
RISE WORLD SERIES 2023 (RISE vs GLORY)
RISE capped off 2023 with a bang with RISE WORLD SERIES 2023: FINAL ROUND. The card was stacked top to bottom with elite kickboxers and RISE champions. The prelims alone featured 4 champions. However, the main card was the focus of the event, featuring 9 RISE vs GLORY matchups.
The matchups featured elite fighters from each promotion. On GLORY’s side, fighters included Kumandoi, Petchpanomrung, James Conde, Tessa De Kom and more. On RISE’s side, fighters included Toki Tamaru, Kento Haraguchi, Kan Nakamura, Kaito, Seina, Kenta Nanbara, Chadd Collins and more. The event was a huge success with excitement all the way through. It’s a perfect showcase as to why cross-promotion is the way to go.
RISE ELDORALDO 2024 (K-1 vs RISE)
RISE ELDORADO 2024 is coming up this weekend and will be RISE’s biggest event of the year so far. The card is headlined by the super-fight between Shiro and Toki Tamaru. However, the main focus of the card will be the five K-1 vs RISE fights.
These matchups include big names from either promotion, with Yuki Tanaka, Hyuu, Ryu Hanaoka and Masahiko Suzuki on RISE’s side. K-1’s side includes Koya Saito, Ryuka, Koji Ikeda and Akihiro Kaneko. These eight names make up four of the five matchups.
The remaining fight is an absolute super-fight between Kan Nakamura and Yuki Yoza. Each of these fighters are lightweight champions in their own promotions, Nakamura in RISE and Yoza in K-1. This matchup will lead us to find out who really is the best lightweight in the Japanese Kickboxing scene.
K-1 WORLD MAX 2024 (K-1 vs RISE)
Another upcoming event this week, K-1 WORLD MAX 2024 acts as the sister event to RISE ELDORADO 2024, with another five K-1 vs RISE matchups featured on the card. The first three matchups include Yuta Matsuyama, Shoki Kaneda, and Yuuki Egawa on K-1’s side and Andrei Haraguchi, Daiki Toita and Hyuma Hitachi on RISE’s side.
The two big matchups in this series are Miyuu Sugawara vs Koyuki Miyazaki and Taito Gunji vs Keisuke Monguchi. Sugawara and Miyazaki are both the Atomweight champions of each of their promotions. Gunji and Monguchi are both the Featherweight champions of each of their promotions. Two Champion vs Champion fights to top off the ten RISE vs K-1 fights happening this week.
Also on the card, both the K-1 Women’s Flyweight Title and Men’s Cruiserweight Title will be on the line, with fan favourite Liu Ce fighting for the Cruiserweight Title after winning the Openweight Grand Prix last year. The rest of the card will include the opening rounds for the K-1 70kg ‘World’s Strongest’ tournament which will be taking place throughout the year. Additionally, K-1 has finally provided an international PPV for their events. 2024 is looking like a huge year for the historic Kickboxing promotion.
THE MATCH 2022: Tenshin vs Takeru
The biggest cross-promotion event in Kickboxing in recent years has to have been Takeru vs Tenshin in 2022. Takeru had ran through all his competition in K-1 and was a three-division champion with the organisation. Tenshin had ran through all his competition in RISE and RIZIN and is now considered one of the greatest Kickboxers of all time, retiring at the age of 24 with a record of 44-0 to pursue a career in Boxing.
This crossover event also featured many other K-1 vs RISE fights, including big championship fights like Kan Nakamura vs Leona Pettas and Kaito Ono vs Masaaki Noiri. The event sold out the 55,000 capacity Tokyo Dome and is likely the biggest Kickboxing event in history.
Cross-promotion seems to be everywhere in Kickboxing and always proves that it’s a great thing for the sport. Fans always get the best fights possible and fighters always get the opportunities to prove themselves against the best in the world. The future is looking bright for cross-promotion too, as RISE and GLORY have already announced they will continue to have more RISE vs GLORY events in 2024. Kickboxing is the only combat sport right now that uses cross-promotion effectively to progress the sport and the results speak for themselves.
The only cross-promotion we’ve seen in MMA in recent years has been Bellator vs RIZIN. Based on how well it’s worked for Kickboxing, it seems to be something other combat sports promotions should consider too.
