in Osaka event. Aoshi won the fight by majority decision. Tsubakihara was scheduled to fight Yuto Kuroda at Krush 108. He won the fight by unanimous decision, winning two of the three rounds according to two of the judges, while the last one scored the fight 30-29 for him. Featherweight career The Egawa duology Tsubakihara was scheduled to make his featherweight debut against Shoya Masumoto at Krush 114. He won the fight by a third-round head kick knockout. During the post-fight press conference, Tsubakihara asked for a fight at the K-1 World GP 2020 in Osaka, his hometown. Tsubakihara was granted his request, as he was scheduled to fight the newly crowned K-1 Featherweight champion and the 2019 K-1 "Fighter of the Year" Yuki Egawa. Egawa was at the time considered to be the second best kickboxer at 57.5kg, and came into the bout as a significant favorite over Tsubakihara. Tsubakihara kept to his patented outfighting style, keeping distance from Egawa and scoring points through jabs and front kicks. He won the fight by majority decision, with two of the judges scoring the bout in his favor (30-29 and 30-28), while the third judge scored the bout as a draw. The results of the fight was considered a massive upset at the time. During the post-fight conference, Egawa revealed he had suffered a fracture of the index finger on his left foot, three weeks before the bout, and called for a rematch with Tsubakihara. Tsubakihara agreed to an immediate rematch. The rematch between Tsubakihara and Egawa was scheduled as the main event of K-1: K'Festa 4 Day 1, with Egawa's K-1 Featherweight title on the line. At the time the bout was scheduled, Tsubakihara and Egawa were considered the #2 and #3 ranked fighters under 58kg in the world, respectively. The fight itself was closely contested, with two of the three judges scoring it 29-29 and 30-30 at the end of the first three rounds, and the third judge scoring it 30-29 for Tsubakihara. Accordingly, the fight went into an extra round, after which Tsubakihara won by split decision. Tsubakihara came under criticism for his outfighting style, perceived as boring by the fans, who called for a change in the K-1 ruleset to make for more exciting fights. K-1 later tweaked the ruleset, rewarding strikes with fight-ending intent more than point-scoring strikes. K-1 Featherweight title reign Tsubakihara was scheduled to