Tenshin Nasukawa and Takeru Sagawa’s highly anticipated fight at The Match 2022 lived up to the expectations. Nasukawa was declared the winner in the end.
The main event was co-promoted by K-1, Rise, and RIZIN. The event included famous kickboxers.
From the start, it was a thrilling striking match. Nasukawa had dropped Sagawa at the conclusion of the first round. After the final bell, Nasukawa received a unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards.
In the co-main event, Kaito won a majority decision against Masaki Noiri in the extended round. In contrast, Kento Haraguchi won the feature contest by stopping Hideaki Yamazaki in the second round.
After the match, Takeru Sagawa was overwhelmed, and he could hardly speak. He stated: “I’m really grateful for making this fight happen and those people who helped make the fight happen.”
“People who supported me, my opponent Tenshin – thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am sincerely sorry to my fans who believed in me, the K-1 fighters and those at my gym. Thank you.”
Post-fight Takeru media interview. Takeru is overwhelmed and can barely speak. Media is told interview ends there. "I'm really grateful for making this fight happen and those people who helped make the fight happen, people who supported me, my opponent Tenshin" (cont.) pic.twitter.com/fiPUjS2s3S
— Combat Cat 🇦🇺🇯🇵 the-fighter.net (@fourthavenue520) June 19, 2022
The gate for ‘The Match 2022’ was announced to be at $25 million. In comparison, the highest gate in UFC history was Conor McGregor’s bout with Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205 took. The event took in $17.7 million in ticket sales.
According to K-1’s founder, The Match 2022 had roughly 500,000 PPV sales. To Japan, this is a significant amount.
They generated 25 million dollars through PPV and another 5 million dollars from sponsors. The promoters earned 50 million dollars in income. There were 59,000 people in attendance, and 56399 tickets were sold.
Per founder of K-1, PPV buys of #THEMATCH2022 is about 500k buys. A big number to Japan.
More than expected. They make 25 Million Dollars with PPV, plus 5 Million with sponsors. 50 Million Dollar revenue, 59k ppl with 56399 tickets sold. #HYPE https://t.co/4MAogxDKVu— Bruno Massami (Бруно Массами) (@BrMassami) June 19, 2022
Therefore, it is fair to say that the event was a huge success even despite the tv deal falling through due to unearthed connections between Sakakibara and the Yakuza.