Nicholas Pettas

Nicholas Pettas
Pettas at K-1 Turkey 07
Born	(1973-01-23) January 23, 1973 Mykonos, Greece
Other names	The Blue-Eyed Samurai
Nationality	Greek Danish
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	98 kg (216 lb; 15.4 st)
Division	Heavyweight
Style	Kyokushin Karate[1]
Stance	Orthodox
Fighting out of	Tokyo, Japan
Team	Team Spirit AE
Rank	Black belt in Kyokushin
Years active	1991–2008
Kickboxing record
Total	19
Wins	9
By knockout	8
Losses	10
By knockout	8
Draws	0
Other information
Occupation	Martial arts instructor, dojo owner, actor
Notable students	Koichi Watanabe
Website	http://www.nicholaspettas.com/

Nicholas Pettas (born January 23, 1973 in Mykonos) is a Greek-Danish karateka, former heavyweight kickboxer and actor, who fought out of Team Sprit AE in Tokyo, Japan. Pettas mainly competed in the promotion K-1 between 1998 and 2007, and was the winner of the K-1 Japan Grand Prix 2001.^[2]

Although an under-sized heavyweight, Pettas is known for his powerful low kicks and holds notable victories over Yusuke Fujimoto, Nobu Hayashi, Musashi, Gökhan Saki and Peter Varga.

Early life and karate career

Pettas was born in Mykonos, Greece to a Greek father and Danish mother. Following the death of his father, he moved to Denmark with his mother at the age of three.

After being beaten up in a street fight when he was fourteen, he decided to join a karate school to learn to defend himself. Not knowing which styles there were, he was introduced to Kyokushin by Michael Mattheson, a friend of his brother Tony. He found himself a new following and needed no more schooling, and so at the age of sixteen decided to leave high school in order to save up money to go to Japan and study with Masutatsu Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin. After getting permission to join the uchi-deshi program, a live-in training of 1000 days, he moved to Japan from Denmark at the age of eighteen. At the age of twenty-one, he completed the vigorous training course to become the first non-Japanese ever to finalize the program. He was last uchi-deshi of Master Oyama, who died soon after Pettas' graduation.^[3]

After his graduation of the programme, he competed in several tournaments and achieved many significant titles and honours such as reaching the title in European Karate Championships and placing 5th and 3rd place in the World Championships, respectively in 1995 and 1997.^[4]

Kickboxing career

Early career (1998–2002)

Following his successful career in full contact karate, Pettas joined K-1, a Japan-based kickboxing organization. He made his debut against Stefan Leko at K-1 Dream '98 on July 18, 1998 in Nagoya, Japan. Leko was able to dominate Pettas with his superior boxing skills, and knocked him out in the second round.^[5]

After a decision loss to Ryuta Noji in March 1999, Pettas returned to K-1 to compete in the eight-man tournament at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Nagoya on July 30, 2000. He stopped fellow karateka Ricky Nickolson with a low kick in the quarter-finals before going on to face Jérôme Le Banner in the semis. The end of the fight was somewhat bizarre. Le Banner knocked Pettas down twice, forcing the referee to stop the match. Upon the second knockdown, Pettas returned to his feet sharply and prepared to punch Le Banner only to stop. Le Banner then replied by striking Pettas with a right hook, knocking him unconscious.^[6]

Following this, he lost a unanimous decision to Michael McDonald in a superfight at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Fukuoka on October 9, 2000.^[7] He bounced back, however, by using low kicks to KO Peter Varga at K-1 Gladiators 2001 on March 17, 2001.^[8]

The peak of Pettas' career came on August 19, 2001 when he won the K-1 Andy Memorial 2001 Japan GP Final at the Tokyo Dome. He finished Yusuke Fujimoto and Nobu Hayashi with his now-famous low kicks in the quarters and semis, respectively, before advancing to the final to take on Musashi. After three rounds the bout was called a draw and went into an extra round to decide the winner, after which Pettas prevailed with a unanimous decision victory.^[9][10]

This tournament win qualified him for the 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix, the annual gathering of the best heavyweight kickboxers in the world for a one-night tournament. At the K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 Final in Tokyo on December 8, 2001, he was eliminated at the first stage by Alexey Ignashov. Ignashov, the much larger fighter, dominate Pettas before knocking him out with a knee strike in round two.^[11]

He returned to the ring on April 21, 2002 against Peter Aerts at K-1 Burning 2002 in Hiroshima, and was knocked out with a knee once again.^[12] Then, on June 2, 2002, he fought Sergei Gur at K-1 Survival 2002 in Toyama. During the second round, Pettas hit Gur with a right low kick. Gur checked the kick, breaking Pettas' shin bone. This injury kept Pettas out of competition for 3 years and 4 months.^[13]

Return from injury and later career (2005–2008)

He finally returned to the ring on October 8, 2005 against a young Gökhan Saki at Bushido Europe: Rotterdam Rumble in Rotterdam, Netherlands. He defeated Saki via technical knockout when his corner stopped the fight in the second round.^[14]

In late 2006, Pettas knocked out two low-level opponents and earned a return to K-1. Badr Hari greeted him in his second debut at the annual New Year's Eve martial arts event, K-1 PREMIUM 2006 Dynamite!!, on December 31, 2006. Hari won the fight as Pettas was unable to continue after obtaining a broken arm in the second round.^[15]

He then rematched Peter Aerts in a superfight at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Hong Kong on August 5, 2007. Aerts got the better once again, knocking Pettas out with a spectacular high kick in round two.^[16]

After losing his past five fights in K-1, Pettas finally broke this streak with a sensational KO victory over South Korean giant Kim Young-hyun at K-1 PREMIUM 2007 Dynamite!! on December 31, 2007. Pettas wore down Kim, who stood thirteen inches taller than him, with low kicks before dispatching him with punches forty-one seconds into round two.^[17]

His last fight came on August 9, 2008 when he was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Hawaii by Rick Cheek, severing a muscle in his thigh made him pull out and Rick Cheek was awarded the winner by TKO due to referee stoppage.^[18]

Personal life

Pettas lives as an expatriate person in Japan.^[19] He is also an actor, appearing in Japanese cinema and television. Perhaps his best known role is alongside Kimura Takuya in the TV drama Change. From 2008 to 2009, NHK World show Samurai Spirit was created and produced to fit his personality and the show has won several international prizes for best sports educational shows and best sports documentary. He is currently co-presenter of the NHK World television show imagine-nation.^[20]

Titles

Karate

• European Heavyweight Champion (1995)
• 6th World Open Karate Tournament 5th Place (1995) (losto to Francisco Filho)
• 1st World Weight Category Championships 3rd Place (1997) (lost to Glaube Feitosa)
• 7th World Open Karate Tournament 5th Place (1999) (lost to Glaube Feitosa)
• 10th Shin Karate World Championships Champion (2000)

Kickboxing

• K-1
  • 2001 K-1 Japan Grand Prix Champion

Filmography

• House of Smack Down (2003)
• Road 88 (2003)
• Sibirian Express 5 (2004)
• Wrestling Inferno (2005)
• The Winds of God, Kamikaze (2005)
• LoveDeath (2006)
• Puzzle (2008)
• Change (2008)
• Fumō Chitai (2009)

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record

9 wins (8 KOs), 10 losses Result Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes Loss 9-10 Rick Cheek TKO (referee stoppage) K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Hawaii 02008-08-09August 9, 2008 1 1:15 Honolulu, Hawaii, USA 2008 Hawaii Grand Prix quarter-final. Win 9-9 Kim Young-hyun KO (right punch) [[K-1 PREMIUM 2007 Dynamite!!]] 02007-12-31December 31, 2007 2 0:41 Osaka, Japan Loss 8-9 Peter Aerts KO (right high kick) K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Hong Kong 02007-08-05August 5, 2007 2 2:24 Hong Kong Loss 8-8 Badr Hari TKO (arm injury) [[K-1 PREMIUM 2006 Dynamite!!]] 02006-12-31December 31, 2006 2 1:28 Osaka, Japan Win 8-7 Takeshi Onda TKO (corner stoppage) HEAT 2 02006-09-23September 23, 2006 2 1:00 Aichi, Japan Win 7-7 KO (punches) Xplosion Superfight 14 02006-08-18August 18, 2006 3 - Sydney, Australia Win 6-7 Gökhan Saki TKO (corner stoppage) Bushido Europe: Rotterdam Rumble 02005-10-08October 8, 2005 2 - Rotterdam, Netherlands Loss 5-7 Sergei Gur TKO (doctor stoppage) K-1 Survival 2002 02002-06-02June 2, 2002 2 1:00 Toyama, Japan Loss 5-6 Peter Aerts KO (knee) K-1 Burning 2002 02002-04-21April 21, 2002 1 2:50 Hiroshima, Japan Loss 5-5 Alexey Ignashov KO (right knee) K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 Final 02001-12-08December 8, 2001 2 1:21 Tokyo, Japan 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix quarter-final. Win 5-4 Musashi Extra round decision (unanimous) K-1 Andy Memorial 2001 Japan GP Final 02001-08-19August 19, 2001 4 3:00 Saitama, Japan 2001 Japan Grand Prix final. Win 4-4 Nobu Hayashi KO (right low kick) K-1 Andy Memorial 2001 Japan GP Final 02001-08-19August 19, 2001 1 1:26 Saitama, Japan 2001 Japan Grand Prix semi-final. Win 3-4 Yusuke Fujimoto KO (right low kick) K-1 Andy Memorial 2001 Japan GP Final 02001-08-19August 19, 2001 1 2:57 Saitama, Japan 2001 Japan Grand Prix quarter-final. Win 2-4 Peter Varga KO (right low kick) K-1 Gladiators 2001 02001-03-17March 17, 2001 3 1:39 Yokohama, Japan Loss 1-4 Michael McDonald Decision (unanimous) K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Fukuoka 02000-10-09October 9, 2000 3 3:00 Nagoya, Japan Loss 1-3 Jérôme Le Banner KO (left hook) K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Nagoya 02000-07-30July 30, 2000 1 3:00 Nagoya, Japan 2000 Nagoya Grand Prix semi-final. Win 1-2 Ricky Nickolson KO (right low kick) K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Nagoya 02000-07-30July 30, 2000 1 1:27 Nagoya, Japan 2000 Nagoya Grand Prix quarter-final. Loss 0-1 Stefan Leko KO (punch) K-1 Dream '98 01998-07-18July 18, 1998 2 1:09 Nagoya, Japan Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest

See also

• List of male kickboxers
• List of kickboxing organizations
• List of K-1 Events

References

External links

• Nicholas Pettas official website and blog
• Profile at K-1
• Nicholas Pettas at the Internet Movie Database