K-1 World Grand Prix

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K-1 is a kickboxing combat sport that combines standup techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Kickboxing and traditional Boxing, among others. The name is a play off the abbreviation of Formula 1, which is F-1. The sport was first formed by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a former Kyokushin karate competition fighter who had formed his own organization, Seido-kaikan karate, in 1980. Seido-kaikan arranged several successful organization challenge events against other martial sport organizations, originally using rules based on the Kyokushin Knockdown karate rules, but gradually adapting and changing closer to kickboxing rules. In 1993 Mr. Ichii founded the K-1 organization exclusively as a kickboxing sport organizations, closely cooperating with, but independent from, Seido-kaikan.

1 K-1 World Grand Prix
- 1.1 Match-Ups
2 K-1 World Grand Prix dates and venues
3 K-1 World Grand Prix champions to date
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] K-1 World Grand Prix

K-1 Qualification System until 2005

Throughout the year K-1 holds various 16-men, 8-match grand prix style tournaments to determine the top 16 fighters who will compete in the K-1 World GP. K-1 events most commonly take place in Japan, but they have hosted shows in the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, France, South Korea, Australia, Sweden, Russia, Croatia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Hungary, Spain, Brazil and the USA, etc.

[edit] Match-Ups

Usually combatants of the quarter-finals of an 16-men 8-match tournament are paired by drawing. In case of the Final in the Tokyo Dome it is widely different. The whole event is combined with a ceremony and a press conference. The process looks like a lottery show in the beginning with all the fighters pulling a ball from a glass bowl. The balls represent numbers 1 to 8, which determines the fighters' order in choosing a position from a giant tournament tree figure by standing in front a drawn bracket (from A to H) on the poster, which represents the fighter's corner-color and the line-number of the match. Next fighter do the same, but he can now choose between challenging the one on the stage or an "empty" section. This procedure goes on until one fighter remains who has no choice just to fill to one slot left next to the one lone fighter. This system gives a freedom of choice and tactics to the fighters with the help of a little luck.

[edit] K-1 World Grand Prix dates and venues

Event	Date of Opening Round	Date of Final Round	Country
K-1 World Grand Prix 1993	N/A	April 03, 1993	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 1994	N/A	April 30, 1994	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 1995	March 03, 1995	May 04, 1995	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 1996	March 10, 1996	May 06, 1996	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 1997	September 07, 1997	November 09, 1997	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 1998	September 27, 1998	December 13, 1998	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 1999	October 05, 1999	December 05, 1999	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 2000	N/A	December 10, 2000	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 2001	N/A	December 8, 2001	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 2002	October 05, 2002	December 07, 2002	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 2003	October 11, 2003	December 06, 2003	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 2004	September 25, 2004	December 04, 2004	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 2005	September 23, 2005	November 19, 2005	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 2006	September 30, 2006	November 25, 2006	Japan
K-1 World Grand Prix 2007	2007	November, 2007	Japan

[edit] K-1 World Grand Prix champions to date

K-1 WGP	Winner	Runner-Up
1993	Branko Cikatić	Ernesto Hoost
1994	Peter Aerts	Masaaki Satake
1995	Peter Aerts	Jerome Le Banner
1996	Andy Hug	Mike Bernardo
1997	Ernesto Hoost	Andy Hug
1998	Peter Aerts	Andy Hug
1999	Ernesto Hoost	Mirko Filipovic
2000	Ernesto Hoost	Ray Sefo
2001	Mark Hunt	Francisco Filho
2002	Ernesto Hoost	Jerome Le Banner
2003	Remy Bonjasky	Musashi
2004	Remy Bonjasky	Musashi
2005	Semmy Schilt	Glaube Feitosa
2006	Semmy Schilt	Peter Aerts