- K-1 is back! Young fighters assessed for KFL’s second season
The fight card of the second season of the Karma Fight League will be announced within a few weeks. The home of K-1 Kickboxing in Sri Lanka is set to put on an electrifying event yet again.
On 18 February, more than 100 athletes participated in the fitness assessment programme, hoping to get a professional win under the KFL banner.
Young fighters hailing from clubs in several parts of the country took part in the fitness test. Some clubs include Black Panther Academy Gampaha, Liger’s Club Matale, Vanquish Muay Thai Colombo, and Natural MMA Colombo.
Speaking to The Daily Morning Sports, KFL’s Fitness instructor Kokila Samarasekara, brother of late Master Daya Samarasekera said, the exercises in the fitness assessment are designed to test the limits of athletes specifically training for a fight.
During the programme, former KFL winner and the King of Kings LightWeight Champion 2023 Kavindu ‘Phoenix’ Rasanjaya shared his experience fighting abroad. Speaking to the group of fighters he highlighted the importance of intense training when preparing to fight in the international arena.
“When you are training for an international fight, you need to sacrifice a lot. You need to train twice a day, five times a week at minimum,” he said.
Speaking to the talent pool, the President of AFSO (World All Fight System Organisation) Sri Lanka, Dayan Samarasekara said future KFL events planned throughout the year would give more opportunities to fighters who do not get selected for the second fight night.
Speaking to the media he explained the vision of KFL: “What we are aiming for is to bring combat sports to a professional level in Sri Lanka”.
He also highlighted the need to build personalities of fighters as means of taking combat sports in Sri Lanka to new heights.
K-1 is an explosive version of Kickboxing, more prone to Knockouts and TKOs. Unlike standard Muay Thai rules, K-1 match officials must break off clinches within five seconds, making the three-minute rounds more action-packed.
The first season of the Karma Fight League was held in Colombo, on 26 August last year (2023).