A press conference for K-1 BEYOND, scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 31 at Yokohama Buntai, was held on the 26th in Tokyo. At the conference, it was announced that Liu Ce, the reigning K-1 WORLD GP Cruiserweight Champion who was set to defend his title, had withdrawn from the event due to an injury sustained during training. He was originally scheduled to face Thian “Tarzan” in the title match.

K-1 producer Mitsuru Miyata explained the situation:

“At noon on May 24, we received a message from China stating that during a sparring session the night before, Liu was struck in the face by a punch and was undergoing medical examination at a hospital. Later, we were informed that he had suffered a broken nose and surrounding facial fractures, and that he had been ruled out of competition by a doctor. As a result, it was decided that he would be unable to participate.”

With this development, the originally scheduled title match between Liu and Tarzan was canceled. Since the bout was set to be the main event, an alternative plan was discussed. The new proposal: Liu would vacate the title, and a match between Tarzan and Mahmoud Sattari would be held to determine the new champion. Once a new champion is crowned, Liu would then challenge the winner.

According to K-1, all parties involved—Liu, Tarzan, Sattari, and Reda Zaidi, who was originally scheduled to face Sattari—agreed to this revised plan.

As for Reda Zaidi, he is now expected to be rescheduled for either the July event in Fukuoka or the September event in Yoyogi.