Type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Martial-arts promotion |
Founded | 1993[1] |
Founder(s) | Kazuyoshi Ishii[2] |
Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
Key people | Sadaharu Tanigawa (President) Nobuaki Kakuda (Executive producer) |
Website | http://www.k-1.co.jp/ |
K-1 is a world-wide kickboxing promotion based in Tokyo, Japan founded by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a former Kyokushin karate practitioner, and owned by the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), who organize combat sport events in Japan, and around the world, that include events by the mixed martial arts promotion Dream. K-1 combines stand up techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Savate, San Shou, Kickboxing, western-style Boxing, and other martial arts.[2] Its rules are similar to those of kickboxing but they have been simplified to promote exciting matches that may end in a knockout win.[3] K-1's techniques and unique rules have led some supporters to declare it a sport distinct from Kickboxing while others maintain that it is just a style of kickboxing.[4]
There are K-1 Regional Elimination Tournaments which qualify fighters for the K-1 World Grand Prix, along with licensed K-1 Fighting Network events designed to develop new talent internationally and there is also a 70 kg (154 lb) Middleweight division called K-1 MAX ("Middleweight Artistic Xtreme"). In 2007, K-1 introduced two new Title belts separate from K-1 World GP Champions, Super Heavyweight World Title for fighters over 100 kg/220 lbs and Heavyweight World Title for fighters under 100 kg/156-220 lbs.
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K-1's predecessor Seidokaikan Karate was formed in 1980 by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a former Kyokushin karate practitioner who had formed his own organization to help promote the best stand-up martial artists. Seidokaikan arranged several successful challenge events against other martial arts organizations, originally using rules based on the Kyokushin Knockdown karate rules, but gradually adapting and changing closer to kickboxing rules. In 1993, Mr. Ishii founded the K-1 organization exclusively as a kickboxing organization, closely cooperating with, but independent from Seidokaikan.[5]
On November 21, 2008 HDNet Fights announced its partnership with FEG to air K-1 events in North America.[6]
On March 30, 2010 K-1 has teamed up with one of their broadcast partners, Fuji TV, to film the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 in Yokohama in 3D, being the first combat sports show to be filmed fully in 3D.[7]
Throughout the year there are 6 K-1 World Grand Prix tournaments and 4 main K-1 MAX events. The winners will qualify to the K-1 and the K-1 MAX WGP Final Eliminations held in Osaka Dome, Japan. From there the final top 8 fighters will compete in the K-1 World GP Finals in Tokyo Dome, Japan.
Every year there are dozens of other K-1 qualifying tournaments and preliminaries all over the world.
The system of K-1 changes from time to time as a response to growing popularity in different parts of the world.
In the beginning, the K-1 series was a single tournament in Japan with fighters participating by invitation. K-1 has now branched out to all parts of the world and has been divided into preliminary Grand Prix-s, Fighting Networks and qualifiers. There are six regional GPs on all continents (except Africa and Antarctica) and all of them have the exclusive right to send the winners to the Final Elimination. Preliminaries are organized in countries with minor attendance and consists of tournaments where the winners qualify to the regional GPs.
K-1 attempted to gain popularity in the United States by holding two GPs, however only a few Americans have ever qualified for the Finals. In 2006 one of the American GPs was relocated to Auckland, New Zealand. Additionally the K-1 Paris GP lost its qualifying right in favor of Amsterdam.
The Final Elimination is an event where 16 participants compete for the final eight spots in the Finals. The line-up is made up of 6 new GP winners, the eight finalists from the previous year's Final, plus 2 fighters selected by the K-1 organization. In 2006 there were some minor modifications because Peter Aerts was replaced by Glaube Feitosa who reached the final match, therefore he was included in the 2006 Final Elimination.
Usually the combatants of the Elimination 16-men 8-match super fights are paired by drawing. This is done differently at the Tokyo Dome, however. The event is combined with a ceremony where the fighters pull a ball from a glass bowl with a number on it. The balls are marked with numbers 1 through 8, determining fighter order. The fighter with the number 1 ball will choose first "empty" section. This procedure goes on until all the fighters have selected their first quarterfinal opponent.
In 2007, because of the monopoly-like reign of Semmy Schilt, the K-1 organization introduced two new title belts and restructured the qualification system. The two titles can be acquired through single fights. One was created for the heavyweights under 100 kg fighters and the other for the super-heavyweights. Meanwhile, the well-known 8-man tournament system remains and the GP titles are still handed out.
The new tournament qualification system will be: the 8 finalists of last year, 4 new Grand Prix winners and two new single title champions; if some of the fighters hold more than one title, then the extra ones will be chosen by the organization. The last two spots will be selected by K-1 and the votes of fans from around the world.".[8]
The principal objective of K-1 is to win either by a knockout or by a split or unanimous decision. Victories are usually achieved by kicks to the legs, head or midsection or using traditional boxing punches, such as the jabs, hooks or uppercuts.
The classic defensive boxing stance is rather ineffective against leg kicks, and fighters are more or less forced to constantly move and counterattack. The traditional clinch, often used in boxing, is not allowed, which has led to a very high knockout ratio in the K-1, since the fighters in other stand-up fighting sports often use the clinch to gain time to recover if they have been hit. Clinching is also a big part of traditional Thai Boxing and the lack of this is one of the biggest differences between Thai Boxing and the K-1 rule-system. If you grab an opponent with the intent of using a knee-technique you have to let go after one single blow. In Thai Boxing, the fighters often hold on to each other to continuously use their knees and elbows. The same is said for Karate and Tae Kwon Do, though they consider clinch knees and elbows more circumstancial and only when the oppoent is weakened to avoid neck and groin counters.
Due to the combination of rules and allowed techniques, the common low kick has time and again proven itself to be one of the most efficient techniques in the K-1 fighter's arsenal. Boxers who are pitted against good low kickers have become completely pacified during their attempts to enter the K-1 fighting circuit (due to the extreme damage a low kick can deliver to the leg).
The rules themselves are constantly adapting and changing to create a competition which allows for participants of different styles to fight in a fairer manner, although these rules accommodate kickboxing rules as the main basis.
In K-1 single elimination tournament matches:
Source: K-1 Website
The following actions in K-1 are considered fouls:
A fighter is penalized as follows:
Two cautions result in one warning. Two warnings result in a point deduction, and three point deductions in one round can result in a disqualification.
A red card is shown automatically if a fighter commits a foul with malicious intent.
Source: K-1 Website
The sport is very popular in Japan, Korea and in Europe but enjoys only limited popularity in the United States. The majority of US states does not sanction fight events, therefore K-1 fights are banned. To date, all K-1 tournaments in the US have taken place in Las Vegas or Honolulu (with one exception: Milwaukee 2001).
The events are frequently shown on Tokyo Broadcasting System and Fuji TV in Japan, XTM in South Korea, HDNet ("HDNet Fights") in the United States and on Eurosport in Europe. Reruns of older events are also aired on The Fight Network in Canada and Star Sports in India. Smaller K-1 sanctioned events are also broadcast in other countries by national and local sport channels.
There have been a few alleged nationality biased controversies as well. On May 13, 2006, an all-Dutch judging panel decided in favor of Remy Bonjasky from Netherlands against Jerome Le Banner from France at the K-1 World Grand Prix in Amsterdam. Many thought Jerome Le Banner had won the contest but judges had a slim majority decision in favor of the Dutch fighter Bonjasky (30-30, 29-28, 30-28). Le Banner filed a protest and K-1 officials from Japan and the United States reviewed the match based on current K-1 Grand Prix judging criteria and two weeks later on June 30, 2006, the result was reversed and Jerome Le Banner was officially announced as the new winner. Open Scoring has been introduced to provide further transparency. At the end of a round, all judges current scores are submitted and read aloud via PA system.
Full list of all the K-1 tournament champions see List of K-1 champions.
Year | Champion | Runner-up |
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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 "Cro Cop" Filipović |
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 |
2007 | Semmy Schilt | Peter Aerts |
2008 | Remy Bonjasky | no runner-up |
2009 | Semmy Schilt | Badr Hari |
Year | Champion | Runner-up |
---|---|---|
2002 | Albert Kraus | Kaolan Kaovichit |
2003 | Masato | Albert Kraus |
2004 | Buakaw Por.Pramuk | Masato |
2005 | Andy Souwer | Buakaw Por.Pramuk |
2006 | Buakaw Por.Pramuk | Andy Souwer |
2007 | Andy Souwer | Masato |
2008 | Masato | Artur Kyshenko |
2009 | Giorgio Petrosyan | Andy Souwer |
Date | Champion | Event | № of defenses |
---|---|---|---|
March 4, 2007 – present | Semmy Schilt def Ray Sefo |
K-1 World GP 2007 in Yokohama | 4 3 April 2010 Errol Zimmerman 3 29 June 2008 Jerome Le Banner 2 13 April 2008 Mark Hunt 1 23 June 2007 Mighty Mo |
Date | Champion | Event | № of defenses |
---|---|---|---|
April 28, 2007 – December 17, 2008[9] | Badr Hari def Yusuke Fujimoto |
K-1 World GP 2007 in Hawaii | 1 29 June 2008 Glaube Feitosa |
March 28, 2009 – present | Keijiro Maeda def Gokhan Saki |
K-1 World GP 2009 in Yokohama | 1 3 April 2010 Peter Aerts |
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