Nick Walker Pursues Another Championship at K4 Fighting: Rising Stars in Buffalo
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Nick Walker and Ethan Westfield square off ahead of their 170-pound Muay Thai title fight at K4 Rising Stars in Buffalo on August 8.
Nick Walker will attempt to add another championship victory to his undefeated amateur Muay Thai record when K4 Fighting returns to Buffalo RiverWorks on Saturday, August 8.
K4 Fighting will return to Western New York with K4 Fighting: Rising Stars, a mixed combat-sports event featuring Muay Thai, kickboxing, amateur MMA and submission grappling.
The event takes place Saturday, August 8, at Buffalo RiverWorks in Buffalo, New York. Doors are scheduled to open at 5 p.m., with the first fight beginning at 6 p.m. The exact bout order remains subject to change, but the current card is built around two five-round title fights and several matchups involving established K4 competitors.
At the center of the promotion is Nick “Living Stone” Walker, a three-division K4 champion who will face Ethan “The Sandman” Westfield for the 170-pound Muay Thai championship.
Walker has become one of the most accomplished fighters competing regularly inside the K4 cage. Westfield, however, is not being brought in simply to fill the other side of a championship poster. Both fighters enter the matchup without a loss on their official amateur Muay Thai records.
That makes the championship fight more than another appearance for an established titleholder. It is a legitimate test between two undefeated Muay Thai competitors at different points in their careers.
Nick Walker Looks to Continue His Championship Run
Walker enters Rising Stars with an official 6-0 amateur Muay Thai record.
His six recorded victories include four unanimous decisions, one additional decision victory and a second-round stoppage of Gabriel Vega. Walker most recently defeated Logan Samarija by unanimous decision on April 10, completing five rounds to claim K4’s 175-pound Muay Thai championship.
K4 has promoted Walker as a three-division champion who has never lost inside the promotion’s cage. His résumé supports the larger point behind that promotion: Walker has repeatedly proven that he can win against different opponents, across multiple weight classes and over championship distance.
Walker’s record also shows that he does not need every fight to unfold the same way.
He has demonstrated enough power to force a stoppage, but most of his victories have come through controlled performances on the scorecards. That experience could become important against Westfield, particularly if the challenger survives Walker’s early pressure and forces the champion into another tactical five-round fight.
Walker should not be described as undefeated across every striking ruleset. He has a previous amateur kickboxing loss on his record. He is, however, officially undefeated in amateur Muay Thai and has yet to lose in the K4 cage.
That distinction matters.
As Jmurrayathletics has previously explained, Muay Thai and kickboxing cannot always be evaluated as if they are the same sport. Changes in stance, defensive positioning, clinch work and the ability to connect punches with kicks, knees and elbows can significantly change the way a matchup develops.
At 170 pounds under Muay Thai rules, Walker will be competing in the format where he has built his strongest verified record.
Ethan Westfield Has Earned His Opportunity
Westfield enters the title fight with a verified 3-0 amateur Muay Thai record, along with a 1-0 amateur kickboxing record.
He began his documented Muay Thai run with a split-decision victory over Eric Stanford in August 2025. Westfield followed that performance with a first-round stoppage of Preston Jeffers in November before defeating Malakai Green by unanimous decision on June 27, 2026.
That recent victory gives Westfield a little more than one month between his final recorded fight and the championship matchup with Walker.
Westfield’s results also show a developing fighter who has already found multiple ways to win. He has gone the distance in close and convincing decisions while also producing an early stoppage.
The largest difference between the two men is experience.
Walker has twice as many official Muay Thai victories and substantially more championship-round experience. Westfield, meanwhile, is entering his first publicly documented five-round Muay Thai contest against the strongest opponent of his career.
That creates the main question surrounding the fight: Is Westfield arriving too early, or is K4 introducing its next major champion?
K4’s online promotion has leaned into Westfield’s underdog position with the phrase “Doubt me now.” The challenger has an opportunity to turn that message into the biggest result of his career by becoming the first fighter to defeat Walker inside the K4 cage.
Walker deserves to enter as the established name. He has the deeper résumé, more five-round experience and a history of winning K4 championship fights.
Westfield deserves to be treated as a real challenger.
A 3-0 Muay Thai fighter coming off a unanimous-decision victory is not an opponent Walker can overlook, especially when Westfield also has enough finishing ability to punish a mistake.
Colby DiLandro Faces Another Five-Round Test
Another major title fight currently announced and the co-main event for Rising Stars will feature Buffalo’s Colby “The Curse” DiLandro against Kevin “The Serial Killer” Conable for the 135-pound K4 kickboxing championship.
DiLandro is only 20 years old, but his record already includes several fights that went into the later rounds.
He enters the event with an official 6-2 amateur kickboxing record and a 1-0 amateur Muay Thai record. Both of DiLandro’s kickboxing losses came by split decision, including a five-round defeat against Marco Sanchez in April 2025 and another close loss against Andreas Quiroz in December.
DiLandro responded to the second loss by stopping Justin Zvanitajs in the fifth round on March 21, 2026.
That may be the most important result to consider before Rising Stars.
Rather than allowing consecutive split-decision losses to slow his progress, DiLandro returned and produced a championship-round finish. He has now shown that he can compete through five rounds, survive close fights and still carry enough offense into the final round to force a stoppage.
Conable does not have DiLandro’s volume of recorded kickboxing fights, but he brings experience from several combat-sports formats.
His official record includes three amateur Kickboxing victories, a 2-2 Muay Thai record and a five-round split-decision kickboxing loss to Wyatt Gilbert in May 2026.
The records make DiLandro the more established kickboxer on paper. They do not make Conable inexperienced.
Conable has already spent five rounds in MMA, Muay Thai and kickboxing competition. His ability to remain competitive over championship distance could force DiLandro into another close fight where every round matters.
For DiLandro, the matchup is an opportunity to move beyond being viewed only as a promising young Buffalo fighter. A victory would give him a K4 championship and strengthen his position as one of Western New York’s most notable developing strikers.
Gabriel Vega Returns to MMA
The supporting card also includes an amateur featherweight MMA matchup between Eric Phan-Tran and Gabriel Vega.
Vega has one of the more unusual records on the event because his experience extends across MMA, Muay Thai and kickboxing.
He holds an official 2-2 amateur MMA record, with all four fights ending by stoppage. His victories include one technical knockout and one triangle-choke submission. His two defeats also came by finish.
Vega’s striking background may be even more notable. He owns a 5-1 official amateur Muay Thai record, with three stoppage victories. His only recorded Muay Thai loss came against Walker in 2023.
That previous meeting provides an indirect look at how far Walker’s influence extends across this card. One fighter he defeated is now continuing his transition into MMA, while Walker prepares to headline another championship matchup.
Public information on Phan-Tran remains limited, which makes Vega’s ability to combine his striking experience with takedown defense and submission awareness the clearest storyline heading into the contest.
Opolentisima and Gammon Share a Common Opponent
Dennis Opolentisima and Joseph Gammon are scheduled to meet in a 155-pound kickboxing fight.
The matchup has a useful recent comparison: both fighters defeated Isaiah Padilla by unanimous decision in 2026.
Opolentisima defeated Padilla at K4 SuperBrawl 2 on January 31. Gammon then earned his own unanimous-decision victory over Padilla at K4 Friday Night Fights on April 10.
Results against a shared opponent do not guarantee how two fighters will perform against each other, but they provide a reasonable starting point.
Both men have shown that they can control three-round fights against the same level of opposition. Rising Stars will offer a more direct answer regarding which fighter is prepared to move forward in K4’s 155-pound striking division.
Western New York Meets New York City
The current card also includes Isak Buan against Keenan Hinds at approximately 145 pounds and Elijah Forbes against Aiden Dobo near 138 pounds under full Muay Thai rules.
Buan and Forbes represent Diamondheart Striking and Grappling in Brooklyn, bringing a New York City presence to a card filled with Western New York competitors.
Hinds has an established history with K4, including recorded victories over Aaron Buckley, Carlos Gonzalez and Dillon Tharp. He also has a kickboxing stoppage victory over Wendell Matthews.
These matchups add an important regional element to Rising Stars.
K4 is not only matching fighters from the same local circles. The promotion is bringing competitors from different New York markets into Buffalo, giving developing athletes an opportunity to face opponents they may not regularly encounter at smaller gym or interclub events.
K4 Fighting: Rising Stars Tickets and Streaming Information
K4 Fighting: Rising Stars takes place on Saturday, August 8, 2026, at Buffalo RiverWorks, located at 359 Ganson Street in Buffalo, New York.
Doors are scheduled to open at 5 p.m., with the opening fight scheduled for 6 p.m. Tickets are available through the official Buffalo RiverWorks event listing and are currently advertised as starting around $40.
Fans unable to attend in person can watch through the promotion’s pay-per-view platform at K4Fighting.TV.
The fight card and bout order remain subject to change. Several fighters remain listed without finalized opponents in the current regulatory registry, making it important for ticket buyers to follow K4 Fighting’s official announcements as the event approaches.
Why K4 Fighting: Rising Stars Is Worth Watching
The event’s strongest selling point is not simply the number of different combat sports represented.
It is the quality of the questions attached to the leading fights.
Can Walker continue his championship run against another undefeated Muay Thai fighter?
Can Westfield close the experience gap and deliver the biggest upset of his career?
Can DiLandro turn his fifth-round finishing ability into a K4 championship in front of a Buffalo crowd?
Rising Stars gives Western New York fight fans two five-round title fights, developing local athletes, experienced K4 competitors and visiting fighters from outside the Buffalo market.
Walker has already established himself as the event’s leading name. On August 8, he will have to prove once again that the championship attention surrounding him is justified.
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