Jérôme PhilippeLe Banner is a French former kickboxer. Le Banner fought for most of his career in K-1 and became known for his aggressive fighting style and knockout power. He holds notable victories over Ernesto Hoost (twice), Francisco Filho, Mark Hunt, Sam Greco, Mike Bernardo (twice), Peter Aerts, Rick Roufus, Remy Bonjasky, Tyrone Spong, and Stefan Leko.
Nobuaki Kakuda is a retired karateka and kickboxer.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. It was the twelfth K-1 World Grand Prix final, involving twelve of the world's best K-1 fighters from eight countries, with all bouts fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs). The tournament qualifiers had almost all qualified via the K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 Final Elimination with the exception of Remy Bonjasky who was the reigning champion.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Tokyo Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1. The event was held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, November 19, 2005 in front of 58,213 spectators. It was the thirteenth K-1 World Grand Prix final, involving twelve of the world's best K-1 fighters, with all bouts fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs). The tournament qualifiers had almost all qualified via the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Osaka - Final Elimination with the exception of Remy Bonjasky who was the reigning champion. As well as tournament matches there was also an 'Opening Fight' fought under K-1 Rules between Patrick Barry and Alexander Pitchkounov. In total there were fourteen fighters at the event, representing eleven countries.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Tokyo Final was a kickboxing promoted by the K-1 organization. It was the fourteenth K-1 World Grand Prix final, the culmination of a year full of regional elimination tournaments, involving twelve of the world's best K-1 fighters. It followed K-1's classic tournament format - eight fighters compete in a quarter final contests with the four winners advancing to a pair of semi final bouts, and the two winners there clashing in the final. All fights were conducted under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs), three rounds of three minutes each, with a possible tiebreaker.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 Final was a martial arts event held by the K-1 on Saturday December 8, 2007 at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. It was the 15th K-1 World GP Final, the culmination of a year full of regional elimination tournaments. All fights followed K-1's classic tournament format and were conducted under K-1 Rules, three rounds of three minutes each, with a possible tiebreaker.
Nicholas Pettas 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.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Seoul Final 16 was a martial arts event held by the K-1 on Saturday September 27, 2008 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, Korea. It was the Final Elimination tournament for top sixteen fighters. The winners qualified for the K-1 World GP 2008 Final held on December 6, 2008 at Yokohama Arena, Japan.
K-1 World MAX 2008 World Championship Tournament - Final - was a martial arts event promoted by the K-1 organization. It took place on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at the Nippon Budokan Arena in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 7th annual K-1 World Max World Championship Final, featuring four quarter final winners of K-1 World MAX 2008 Final 8 held on July 7, 2008 in Tokyo, Japan. The card also included a couple of tournament reserve bouts, two Superfights between Takayuki Kohiruimaki vs Joerie Mes and Nieky Holzken vs. Virgil Kalakoda, the ISKA World Lightweight Title Match plus the quarterfinals in K-1's new Koshien King of U-18 series. The four quarter final winners of the K-1 Koshien bouts would qualify for the semi finals at the Dynamite!! 2008 event.
Ewerton Teixeira is a Brazilian professional kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and Kyokushin Kaikan karateka. Teixeira obtained his first K-1 title in 2008 at K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Fukuoka by beating Keijiro Maeda in the final. He is training K-1 at the Ichigeki Academy Kyokushin Kaikan in Tokyo, Japan. Despite the short career for a kickboxer, Teixeira has notable wins against K-1 legends: Jerome Le Banner, Errol Zimmerman and Musashi
The 2009 M-1 Challenge season was the second season of the M-1 Challenge series presented by M-1 Global. It started on February 21, 2009 and concluded on December 3, 2009. 16 teams from around the world competed in the 2009 M-1 Challenge Season, up from the 9 teams that competed in 2008. The teams typically featured top MMA prospects. The Season was won by the Russian Legion team.
K-1 PREMIUM 2006 Dynamite!! was an annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held by K-1 and Hero's on New Year's Eve, Sunday, December 31, 2006 at the Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Japan. It featured 10 HERO'S MMA rules fights, and 4 K-1 rules fights.
K-1 PREMIUM 2004 Dynamite!! was an annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held by K-1 on New Year's Eve, Friday, December 31, 2004 at the Osaka Dome in Osaka, Japan. It featured 7 K-1 MMA rules fights, 3 K-1 rules fights, and a special mixed K-1 & MMA Rules fight.
K-1 PREMIUM 2003 Dynamite!! was an annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held by K-1 on New Year's Eve, Wednesday, December 31, 2003 at the Nagoya Dome in Nagoya, Japan. It featured 6 K-1 MMA rules fights, and 4 K-1 rules fights.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 Final Elimination was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. The event was held at the Osaka Dome in Osaka, Japan on Saturday, October 11, 2003 in front of 31,700 spectators. It was the final elimination competition for the K-1 World Grand Prix 2003, involving fourteen fighters from across the world, with all bouts being fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs). The fourteen fighters were a mixture of invitees or had qualified via previous events.
Tachi Palace Fights (TPF) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion which hosts events at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California. Matchmaker for TPF is former fighter Richard Goodman.
Bellator Fighting Championships: Season Five was the fifth and latest installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, and began on September 10, 2011. Mixed martial arts tournaments will were held in multiple weight classes, including the bantamweight, welterweight, middleweight, and heavyweight divisions.
Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoka 2011, also known as Fight for Japan. How are you! New Year! 2011 was a mixed martial arts, puroresu and kickboxing event in the annual New Year's Eve event promoted by FEG, M-1 Global and the Inoki Genome Federation that took place on December 31, 2011 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
Michael Thompson is an English former karateka and kickboxer who competed in the cruiserweight and heavyweight division. After a long and distinguished career in Kyokushin, in which he won the British Open four times, the Commonwealth Championships in 1988 and the European Championships in 1991 as well as competing three times in the World Open, Thompson later switched to Seidokaikan and reached the final of the 1994 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup. During his time as a Seidokaikan competitor, he also fought as a professional kickboxer in K-1, amassing a 6-5 record and becoming the WKA European Super Cruiserweight Champion.
