－85㎏ MEN LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT. Twenty-nine fighters in this category, a category filled with some of the best in the world. Speaking about “World” in the category several World Champions are in the line-up, the reign champion and champions as fresh as they come.

Marek Odzeniak / Poland will face Pablo Chavaria / Bolivia representing South America. Chavaria participated at the 12^th World Championship so this is not his first appearance at this level. His opponent Odzeniak has a higher frequency and experience fighting on a higher level. The fight will be in favour of eminent all-rounder Odzeniak, Chavaria will continue to grow further and build on the fundament we saw I the 12^th World Championship. The winner faces one of the best Japanese fighter at the time: Nariyoshi Tada.

Nariyoshi Tada / Japan has showed very good results lately and has been taking top spots in the biggest tournaments I Japan. Took The 7^th JFKO All Japan Open title recently, that was a follow up from 2^nd place in the 53^rd All Japan Open 2021 – only beaten by Kembu Iriki. This include victory over Daiki Kato in the quarterfinal and Yusaku Watanabe in the semi-final. Tada had a break through one year earlier, reaching 6^th in the 52^nd All japan Open – and awarded the Spirit award! If Tada shows this level in this tournament, he will be one to count in when the top positions are at stake.

Gergely Fekete / Hungary vs Chingizkhan Ibrayev / Kazakhstan will be a fight between to young fighters moving forward in their carriers. Both have similar merits – Fekete entering the EC podium in 2022, and Ibrayev 2^nd in the U20 category IFK world championship in June. Another thing we find interesting is the reach advantage – or height difference between them. Ibrayev measures 205 cm. that is twenty centimeters taller than Fekete and of course, that will be a factor to count in. How it will turn out are more difficult to predict, but one have a feeling that the fighter that can manage to get the fight in his chosen favourite distance will pull trough. The winner will most likely face Justinas Kvietka / Lithuania.

Justinas Kvietka will fight Mahdi Salehi / Iran – Middle East region. Salehi is unknown for us but we are sure that he hold a respectable level. Kvietka has represented Lithuania in the 11^th and 12^th World Championship I Japan – for a start, and has been all over the world fighting at top level. Experience and the fact that the Lithuanian team are so strong will give him the clear edge in this fight.

 Kazushi Watanabe / Japan vs Tengiz Bastoian / Georgia. Kazushi Watanabe holds top level, and proved it lately in the 7^th JFKO All Japan Open taking the 2^nd place. Bastoian representing the European Region have not been on the EC podium since 2017. Stayed active fighting in the EC, but been out of the tournaments in earlier rounds. Style-vice these two are similar – up to a certain point. Strong pressure, close distance often for both. However, the change of pace and movement belongs to Watanabe – he also possesses extreme explosiveness in his techniques.

Lucky Mathebula / South Africa vs Jean-Paul Jacquot / France – Kyokushin-Kan. this matchup has significant physical differences to notice. Earlier we mentioned a height difference of 20 cm – in this case, we are talking about a height difference of almost 40 cm. As well as the difference in weight. This in the favour of Jacquot. We do not expect you to remember Mathebula when he fought Kou Tanigawa in the 9^th World Championship – but maybe some of you remember him when he fought Atsushi Kawase in the 12^th World Championship? Anyway, Lucky Mathebula is a very entertaining fighter with great kicking abilities – but in this case, he seems to have enter a weight division to high. Jean-Paul Jacquot have long and good experience. Many fight and tournaments all over the world, and some good merits in the baggage as well. Took 2^nd place in the KWU World Championship in 2019. Possesses great strength and has a toughness that keeps him in long and demanding battles. In recent times, he has mostly been seen wearing boxing gloves in the ring, competing under Kickboxing rules. If Lucky Mathebula is pulling this one off – then he is Lucky..

Benoit Porlier / Canada – North America region, will get a really challenge in Takashi Torihara/ Japan – but that would not be the first time. Porlier seems to have some kind of magnetism to attract top fighters in the first round when he participates in World Championships. 10^th Roman Nesterenko / Russia, 11^th Anatolii Zhuravel / Ukraine and 12^th David Bitkash / Russia. Last time in the 6^th World championship weight category 2017 he fought Shota Maeda / Japan. However, is reviles that he is known to this level, and he got the experience to fight some of the best. Takashi Torihara being on the JFKO All japan Open podium two times lately 2021/22 – but the winner of this fight must lift the level even further up facing a fresh and reign champion from 2017: Salahat Hasanov / Azerbaijan.

Hasanov is incredible hard. The longer the way seems to be to the top, the stronger he get. We are talking about a fighter that has been delivering top results for a long time. Last 16 in World Championship in Japan – 4^th place in the 1st WFKO International Tournament – 2018. If the preparations has been good and it is “All In” Hasanov will be a hard nut to crack – growing stronger into the tournaments.

Yuto Eguchi / Japan is for the most of us a well-known name. Good controlling the distance in the fight, strong pressure and seems to find your legs with his kicks frequently. Seen on the podium several times in the All Japan opens weight category. Came 7th in the 12^th World Championship in 2019 and did receive the spirit award. Facing Daniel Athanassopoulos / Australia – representing the South Pacific region. Daniel Athanassopoulos will probably face the best fighter that he have fought – up to now.

Chonglee Makki /Lebanon – will as usual represent the Middle East. We put it that way, because Makki have been in the game for a long time. Fought Norichika Tsukamoto in Osaka back in 2005 – at the 3^rd World Cup (World Championship in weight categories), fought Tsutomi Muruyama in 2013 in Lithuania and last time in Kazakhstan, he fought Kembu Iriki. Dropped down a weight category since last time. This time Makki can add another “star-name fighter” to his book: fresh World Champion IFK Jonas Rosin / Sweden. Rosin have established himself in the absolute top with many World and EC championships medals. With the fresh IFK World Championship tittle captured in June, he fall into being one of the favourites in the category.

Andrade Valerio Guilherme / Brazil – represent South America Region will face the eminent Daiki Kato / Japan. If someone should be called a technician Kato could be that someone. Really smoot technique and of course many years with fighting at the absolute top level makes him highly interesting to follow. Previous World Championships in weight categories, Kato has reached the podium twice. In 2013, reaching the final and last time 2017 3rd place. Can he manage to do that this time as well? The level and the challenge from others only increases so if he do so it will be one extremely hard goal to reach.

Artur Kovalenko / Kazakhstan must see himself up against a very decent opponent. Juras Sokolovas / Lithuania has developed over the past few years to become an extremely good fighter. He is big for his weight class so being alone can be a challenge. However, what we think is his absolute strength is his unpredictable style. Physically and technically very good, which allows him to surprise through long matches. He always has enough sharpness in his techniques to end a fight immediately.

3^rd placeholder from the 6^th edition in 2017, Vladimir Artyushin / Kazakhstan will face Ukrainian fighter Erekle Pirveli. While the technical Artyushin got several merits, Pirveli seems to miss that. Have not been on the EC podium, suffered for earlier exits.  Artyushin will be the favorite in this fight based on earlier merits and tournament record, a record that are quite rich. Entered top 16 in the 12th World Open Championship in 2019, wining three fights before losing to Yuji Shimamoto in his fourth fight. One month later four fights and victories made him the KWU World Champion.

Ilia Serhienko / Ukraine vs Tomohito Yukawa / Japan. None of them is heavy merited, but has good experience from years of fighting. Yukawa represented Japan in the 12^th World Championship, and more recently, he captured the 3^rd place in the 6^th JFKO All Japan Open in 2021. Serhienko became European Champion in 2021 – KWF, runner up in the World Champion of KWF later same year. In WKO the highest achievement was 3^rd place in the EC 2021 summer. How these fighters will stand up against each other are hard to tell.

Mzuvelile Mshweshwe / South Africa will fight Takumi Kakazu / Japan. Both are for us less known than the rest and it is hard to see the outcome of it. However, one thing for sure is that the level are used to fight at are higher than what Kakazu Mshweshwe are used to. The winner will face a person that know something about high level fighting.

Valeri Dimitrov / Bulgaria – Represent European region. After being out with injury last time in Kazakhstan 2017, Dimitrov is back. Most likely will Dimitrov face Kakazu (just speculations) Said before; some of the most interesting fights will be when the different regions collide. This year EC final when Dimitrov met Sokolovas gave us a reminder of how tough this level is. Comparing to this event the number of fights will be the same, but naturally, the level is higher. In the EC Sokolovas was the last fight – and a very demanding one. In this case (hypothetic) we can get a rematch with Sokolovas vs Dimitrov – but still the winner must fight the final after that. This gives us a certain perspective. Dimitrov can challenge everyone in the category and he will. How far will it take him, and who will challenge him?

There is no doubt that we are talking about an extremely high level. Not only when it comes to this category alone, but the championship as a whole. It is very gratifying to see that a world championship maintains a high standard, which unfortunately is not the norm globally. Everyone has a responsibility when it comes to holding championships, especially world championships and European championships etc. – and that titles have their value and that they are not just given away to those who show up.