K-1WGP Returns After 14 Years! The K-1 World Qualifier Rounds Begin with a Night of Upsets! 〜Eastern European Qualifier Champion is Reserve Fighter Cvjetićanin at ‘K-1 WORLD GP 2024 in Sarajevo’
On June 30, 2024, the ‘K-1 WORLD GP 2024 in Sarajevo’ was held at the Skenderija Arena in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The K-1 Bosnia event marked the opening round of the revived K-1 WGP World Qualifying Tournaments, after a 14-year hiatus. Eight fighters participated in the K-1 World GP 2024 Eastern Europe Qualifier Tournament, competing for one ticket to the ‘K-1 WORLD GP 2024 in Tokyo’ to be held at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium on December 14th.
The first round of the Eastern European Openweight Qualifier Tournament featured four quarter-final matches: Kadir Yildirim (Turkey) vs. Tomas Hron (Czech Republic), Claudio Istrate (Italy) vs. Nidal Bchiri (Morocco), Balint Ladover (Hungary) vs. Miroslav Vujović (Montenegro), and Ivan Bartek (Slovakia) vs. Danilo Tošić (Bosnia and Herzegovina). All fighters competed in the 8-man, one-day tournament.
In the reserve fight, Serbia’s Miloš Cvjetićanin won by TKO with a powerful knee, which opened a cut on Bosnian fighter Muamer Jugović’s forehead. The unexpected injury foreshadowed the drama to come.
The first quarter-final match of the main event began fairly straightforward, as “The Turkish Terminator” Yildirim clashed with 42-year-old Czech fighter Tomas Hron. Yildirim, an undisputed champion who had defended his WAKO-PRO World Super Heavyweight title 24 times. Hron, defeated Errol Zimmerman in 2022, scored a KO victory over Zahir Benaddi last December and won the 120kg tournament in the 2021 Road to ONE.
The second quarter-final match featured Claudio “Grizzly” Istrate, who created a sensation in his debut K-1 fight in September 2023 when he knocked out Mahmoud Sattari with his heavy hands. Istrate faced Bchiri, a top European fighter who has a KO win over “The Bonecrusher” Errol Zimmerman in 2018. The lineup between these two fighters was highly anticipated from the start.
Hron was knocked down by Yildirim’s right hand in the first round. In the 2nd round, they exchanged punches, again with Hron being knocked to the canvas after taking a left but making a comeback. In the 3rd round, Yildirim aimed for Hron’s head with a spinning kick. At one point, the two fighters became entangled on the ropes, and Hron toppled out of the ring, glancing off a table before hitting the concrete below. As the audience let out shocked gasps, Hron dusted himself off and climbed back into the ring. Despite this impressive display of resilience, the Czech fighter was unable to secure victory, and Yildirim won by a unanimous 3-0 decision.
The noticeably slimmer Istrate started light on his feet, pressuring Bchiri from the 1st round with crisp punches. The Italian was leading in points after the first round, having won a majority of their exchanges, but the fight went the Moroccan’s way in the second round, as Bchiri began inflicting damage with body blows and a number of hard-hitting low kicks, and Istrate seemed unsure how to retaliate. Bchiri’s low kicks began taking a toll in the 3rd round, sapping power from Istrate’s “cannonball hands.” When the Italian did connect with his normally devastating right hook, the tough Bchiri merely grinned. Overall, the bout was evenly matched during the 3rd round, and judges sent the fight to an extra round after declaring it drawn. Here’s where the drama of the night kicked into high gear: the Grizzly stormed out of the ring, resulting in a forfeit and creating the major upset of the night. Istrate, favored by many to win the event, essentially eliminated himself in the quarter-final round.
The third quarter-final match was between Hungary’s Ladover and Montenegro’s Vujović. Both fighters were aggressive from the start. In the 2nd round, they continued aggressive combinations of punches and kicks, focusing very little on defense. In the 3rd round, Vujović aggressively attacked with spinning kicks, winning by decision.
The fourth quarter-final match was between Ivan Bartek and local Bosnian hero Danilo Tošić. Bartek used his reach and connected with knee strikes from the 1st round, but Tošić countered with his superior boxing skills. In the 2nd round, Tošić upped the pressure hoping to win with his hands. By the 3rd round, the difference in boxing skill clearly was scoring Tošić points, and the Bosnian would win by decision.
The first semifinal match featured “The Turkish Terminator” Yildirim against “The Soldier” Bchiri. Bchiri pressed forward with punches in the 1st round, but Yildirim landed stiff counters. In the 2nd round, Yildirim threw a number of combinations, only to be forced on the back foot by Bchiri, who soldiered on forward. Bchiri continued to apply pressure with his hands in the 3rd round, but it would be Yildirim who would advance, and the Turkish fighter won by decision in a close fight. This would not be the last time we saw Bchiri that night, however.
The second semifinal match is where the drama went up a notch. Vujović, who had won by decision earlier, had sustained too much damage and was unable to compete, which necessitated bringing in the relatively fresh reserve fighter Miloš Cvjetićanin to face a heavily damaged Tošić. Tošić, however, had indicated he wanted to withdraw, but without Istrate there were no replacements, and he bravely entered the ring. Perhaps showing mercy to his opponent, Cvjetićanin avoided leg kicks in the 1st round, instead pressing with peek-a-boo hooks. Early on into the 1st round it was obvious that Tošić was struggling, but the Bosnian showed heart for the duration of the round. At the start of the 2nd round, Tošić’s corner threw in the towel, resulting in a TKO. Cvjetićanin advanced to the final.
In the final, the upsets continued. With tournament favorites Istrate and Bartek eliminated, the final was slated between “The Turkish Terminator” Yildirim and the lucky reserve fighter Cvjetićanin. Yildirim announced that he could not continue, and it appeared for a brief moment that Cvjetićanin would make K-1 history by winning a tournament without fighting an opponent. This is where Bchiri showed his true grit, and despite losing to Yildirim in the semifinals, advanced to the finals.
Cvjetićanin aggressively threw low kicks, while Bchiri countered with punches, and caused Cvjetićanin to lose balance with a spinning kick. In the 2nd round, Cvjetićanin pressed with flying knee strikes and low kicks. Having fought 6 rounds to Cvjetićanin’s 2, Bchiri was himself facing accumulated damage, and after eating a few hard low kicks, raised his hand for a standing 8, signaling that his defenses were crumbling. The referee counted, and as Bchiri resumed fighting, Cvjetićanin continued to press with low kicks, and this time the Soldier surrendered, prompting the referee to stop the fight.
The reserve fighter Cvjetićanin will advance to the K-1 WGP Finals in December after emerging victorious from a night of unthinkable drama. The heroes of the night were Bosnian Tošić, who fought through the pain to save the tournament, Bchiri, who doggedly persisted throughout the night, and Cvjetićanin, who now joins the ranks of other reserve fighters that have gone on to win K-1 tournaments, such as Mark Hunt in 2001, Peter Aerts in 2006, and Remy Bonjasky in 2008.
The competition can be viewed below. Check it out!