Our heavyweight division is quite scarce. Let’s be honest; compared to the lightweight division, it’s lagging behind. Let’s fix that and inject some new blood into it.
Vakhitov is a world-class kickboxer and an elite striker. He is a 2x GLORY Light Heavyweight Champion, a 4x Amateur Muay Thai World Champion, a 3x Russian national Champion in Kickboxing, he’s fought the best of the best in Kickboxing and Muay Thai, including Simon Marcus, Sadibou Sy, Vladimir Mineev, Danyo Illunga, and he has an impressive victory over Alex Pereira.
Now, I know there’s contention going around about signing MMA fighters or other combat athletes. But I think we should focus on what’s important: signing elite strikers, people who are willing to fight and put on exciting matchups. Just think about the potential superfight between Vakhitov and Levine for the Middleweight Title.
Signing talented strikers is paramount for exciting fights. It’s important that we prioritize skill over belts.
If he is not a karate black belt it is of no interest to the Karate Combat league.
This is not a Kickboxing league.
Having fighters with a karate background is the charm of the league.
i respectfully disagree @exponential4karate - i dont think we should discriminate against fighters without karate backgrounds. i don’t see how the league can scale fast enough that way.
imo fighters need to be excellent, marketable and agree to the league’s ruleset.
Good morning,
Yes I understand what you are saying, but it seems to me that it was originally the wish of President Adam, in order to restore the reputation of Karate.
It seems to me that the debate had been opened about Luke Rockhold (who does not have a karate background).
Sincerely.
Olivier
I do have know I have mixed feelings. Obviously Dutch kickboxing is a descendant of kyokushin. I guess I find it hard to believe that as popular as karate is worldwide that we’ve even put a dent in the talent yet. I guess the issue may be the distance for athletes living in other countries vs pay outs.
If you want to find a wealth of talent, go to Hawaii. Trust me. There’s more than 200 dojos on Oahu alone.