THE NATURAL ARISTOCRAT
®The Natural Aristocrat
Issue 01 | K-1 World MAX
By Nir Regev
Mona Kimura
5-0
Undefeated
TWO OF THEM BY KNOCKOUT
FIVE FIGHTS, NO DEFEATS
EXTENSION ROUND
THREE JUDGES,
THREE CARDS
Photograph ©︎K-1
K-1 WORLD MAX 2026
KICKBOXING
MONA KIMURA
FIVE FIGHTS, NO DEFEATS
THE MOST EXCITING FIGHTER IN WOMEN’S KICKBOXING
Photograph ©︎K-1
The Midas KICK
In her toughest challenge yet, Mona Kimura’s leg rose like a scythe to survive the claustrophobic close-range pressure of Marine Nicol. Kimura unleashed a series of high kicks, front kicks, side kicks and even an oblique kick to slow down Nicol’s advancing brigade of fists.
As K-1 commentator Michael Schiavello put it on the English call, “Marine Nicol is built,” her musculature a piece of engineered architecture opposite Kimura, a figure of delicate precision. Yet, despite taking a probable hematoma late in the third round, Kimura’s gameplan didn’t stop to catch its breath.
Bruce Lee famously once said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” And despite Schiavello’s commentary about Kimura ‘not having a spinning back kick’ in her armory, Kimura’s kicks land with the cold finality of a closing vault door. There is no wasted motion, only the clean, devastating impact of form perfected.
Winning
favors the
methodical
Photographs ©︎K-1
Her recoil minimal, Kimura’s movement is economical, precision honed through relentless repetition, stripped of all but its essential purpose. A deliberate footfall on the opponent’s psyche.
Marine Nicol closed in early with a barrage of fists, holding Kimura in tight corners and the occasional clinch and grab.
However, Kimura battled through her opponent’s suffocating shadow. Her spotlight in women’s kickboxing would not be snuffed, the flame would go on.
A hard-earned decision in the extra round. Marine Nicol’s heavy strikes on the leg Kimura uses to maintain her balance were surprisingly not as effective as theorized pre-fight online.
Kimura’s quite comfortable hopping on one foot as her base, and the threat of her strong boxing seemed to release the pressure valve.
Nir Regev
The Extra Round
All three judges scored the extra round 10–9 and the decision came back 3–0 in favor of Kimura. Marine Nicol, the 2021 savate boxe française world champion, goes to 25–7. Kimura now owns a 5-0 record, two of them by way of knockout.
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In this issue
Mona Kimura’s fifth win, page by page. Every line below is a link to its page, and the numbers are the page numbers.
Photographs ©︎K-1 · K-1 World MAX 2026, Yoyogi National Gymnasium II
Tale of the tape
Red corner against blue corner, the way the sport writes it down. Every figure is from K-1’s own fighter pages and the weigh-in.
Mona Kimura
Red corner
Marine Nicol
Blue corner
Photographs ©︎K-1 · Left, Mona Kimura; right, Marine Nicol
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Warrior
mentality
She fights in pink with a bow in her hair, echoing the silhouette of Chun-Li from Street Fighter.
what’s next for the
undefeated fighter?
Photograph ©︎K-1
Photos: Fight Night
Twelve frames from Yoyogi.
Photographs ©︎K-1 · K-1 World MAX 2026, Yoyogi National Gymnasium II, Tokyo
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The round
they added
Three rounds, three judges, three different answers. K-1 adds a fourth round only when a fight is drawn, and in Tokyo it had to.
Photograph ©︎K-1
- Result
- Extension decision, 3–0
- Opponent
- Marine Nicol, 25–6
- Division
- Women’s flyweight, 52 kg
Photographs ©︎K-1 · Yoyogi National Gymnasium II, Tokyo
Photograph ©︎K-1 · K-1 World MAX 2026
| Judge 1 | Judge 2 | Judge 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulation | 30–28 | 30–30 | 29–30 |
| Extension | 10–9 | 10–9 | 10–9 |
| Decision | Kimura | Kimura | Kimura |
The official card
Three judges, three answers
K-1 gives a flyweight bout three rounds, and a fourth only when the judges cannot separate the fighters. Here they could not: 30–28 Kimura, 30–30 level, 29–30 Nicol. A split draw, and the extension was called.
All three scored that round 10–9 the same way. Nicol, the 2021 savate world champion, leaves at 25–7.
Photographs ©︎K-1 · Article © Nir Regev, The Natural Aristocrat®
Photograph ©︎K-1 · The decision after the extension round
One more round
Ten points to the winner, three times
Regulation: 30–28 Kimura. 30–30. 29–30 Nicol.
Extension: 10–9, 10–9, 10–9.
Decision: Kimura, three cards to none.
The fourth round exists only as a remedy, and it is scored like any other. All three cards said the same thing for the first time all night in favor of Kimura. Who’s next? Is a title fight on the way for Kimura?
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Photograph ©︎K-1
Red corner. Mona Kimura, Gifu, 166 cm, unbeaten in five.
Mona Kimura
Red corner, 5-0
Born 12 April 2001 in Mizuho, Gifu. Fights out of K-1 Gym Meguro, Team Tiger. Five professional fights, five wins, two by knockout, the last of them an extension-round decision over a savate world champion.
Photograph ©︎K-1
Blue corner. Marine Nicol, Switzerland, 25–6 coming in.
Marine Nicol
Blue corner, 25–6
Savate boxe française world champion in 2021. Swiss WAKO Pro champion in 2025, and the K-1 WMAC Elite and Open tournaments the same year. She came to Tokyo as the more experienced fighter by twenty-seven fights.
She is 29, born in Aix-en-Provence and fighting out of No Limit Squad for Switzerland, 157 cm to Kimura’s 166, and an orthodox fighter against a southpaw. She weighed in at 51.1 kg.
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By the numbers
The fight in figures. Every number below is from the K-1 release and the official cards; nothing is estimated.
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