Robert Malcolm Sapp is an American mixed martial artist, kickboxer, professional wrestler, actor, and former American football player. He is currently under contract with Rizin Fighting Federation. Sapp has a combined fight record of 24–39–1, mostly fighting in Japan. He is well known in Japan, where he has appeared in numerous commercials, television programs, and various other media, and has released a music CD, Sapp Time. He is known there as a gaijin tarento. He is currently working sporadically for various MMA promotions in the U.S., Japan, and Europe.
Mirko Filipović, better known by his ring name Mirko Cro Cop, is a retired Croatian professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer and amateur boxer. He is mostly known for his time in Pride Fighting Championships. Cro Cop fought in the UFC, K-1, RIZIN and Bellator. He is widely considered one of the greatest Heavyweight Kickboxers and MMA fighters of all time.
Ernesto Frits Hoost is a Dutch retired professional kickboxer. A four-time K-1 World Champion, Hoost is considered to be one of the greatest kickboxers of all time. Debuting in 1993 at the K-1 World Grand Prix 1993, where he came just one win short of the world title, Hoost announced his retirement thirteen years later on 2 December 2006 after the K-1 World GP Final tournament in Tokyo Dome, Japan. Hoost holds notable victories over Peter Aerts (4x), Branko Cikatić, Mirko Cro Cop (3x), Jérôme Le Banner (3x), Andy Hug (3x), Ray Sefo (3x), Musashi (2x), Mike Bernardo, Francisco Filho (2x), Sam Greco, Stefan Leko (3x), Mark Hunt, Cyril Abidi, and Glaube Feitosa.
Andreas "Andy" Hug was a Swiss karateka and kickboxer who competed in the heavyweight division. Considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time, Hug was renowned for his ability to execute numerous kicking techniques rarely seen in high-level competition. Although he was usually smaller than his opponents, standing at 1.80 m and being barely a heavyweight, weighing around 98.0 kg in his prime, he made up for his lack of size with his tremendous athleticism and speed. A southpaw, his trademark kicks included the axe kick and the "Hug Tornado", a low spinning heel kick targeting his opponents' thighs.
Peter Aerts is a Dutch semi-retired kickboxer. Known for his devastating high kicks, which earned him the nickname "The Dutch Lumberjack", he is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time.
The history of K-1 can be called the history of Seidokaikan, which is a school of Full contact karate that preceded K-1.
K-1 Grand Prix '97 Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. It was the fifth K-1 World Grand Prix final involving eight of the world's best heavyweight fighters (+95 kg/209 lbs), with all bouts fought under K-1 Rules. The eight finalists had all qualified via elimination fights at the K-1 Grand Prix '97 1st round. Also on the card was a four-man tournament for featherweight kickboxers (57 kg/126 lbs) based in Japan and a local 'Super Fight', with all bouts fought under K-1 Rules. In total there were fourteen fighters at the event, representing seven countries.
K-1 Grand Prix '98 final round was a martial arts event promoted by the K-1. The event was held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, on Sunday, December 13, 1998, in front of 63,800 spectators. It was the sixth K-1 World Grand Prix final involving eight of the world's best heavyweight fighters (+95 kg/209 lbs), with all bouts fought under K-1 rules. The eight finalists had all qualified via elimination fights at the K-1 World Grand Prix '98 opening round. Also on the card was a number of 'Freshman Fights' fought under a mixture of Jiu-Jitsu Freestyle and K-1 rules. In total there were eighteen fighters at the event, representing seven countries.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. It was the eighth K-1 Grand Prix final, involving eight of the world's top fighters, with all bouts fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs). The eight finalists were a mixture of invitees, some of whom had been at the previous year's final, or had qualified via preliminary tournaments.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1. The event was held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, December 8, 2001, in front of 65,000 spectators. It was the ninth K-1 Grand Prix final, involving eight of the world's top fighters, with all bouts fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs). The eight finalists had almost all qualified by winning preliminary tournaments, while two additional fighters were invited as reserve fighters in case of any injuries.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1. The event was held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, December 7, 2002 in front of 74,500 spectators. It was the tenth K-1 World Grand Prix final, involving ten of the world's top fighters, with all bouts fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs). The eight finalists had almost all qualified via preliminary events, while two additional fighters were invited as reserve fighters. In total there were ten fighters at the event, representing eight countries.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. The event was held at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, December 6, 2003 in front of 67,320 spectators. It was the eleventh K-1 World Grand Prix final involving ten of the world's best fighters. The eight finalists had almost all qualified via preliminary events, while two additional fighters were invited as reserve fighters, with all bouts being fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs). As well as tournament bouts there was also an 'Opening Fight' between Yusuke Fujimoto and Matthias Riccio and a 'Super Fight' between Martin Holm and Jan Nortje, both fought under K-1 Rules. In total there were fourteen fighters at the event, representing ten countries.
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 MAX 2007 World Championship Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. It was the sixth annual K-1 World MAX final for middleweight kickboxers, involving eight finalists and four reserve fighters, with all bouts fought under K-1 rules. Seven of the finalists had won elimination fights at the K-1 World MAX 2007 World Tournament Final Elimination, while the eighth, Gago Drago, had been invited despite losing his elimination match. Another defeated elimination fighter Virgil Kalakoda would be called up to take part in a reserve fight, while the other three reservists were invitees. As well as tournament fights there was an opening fight and two super fights fought under K-1 rules. In total there were eighteen fighters at the event, representing ten countries.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Tokyo Final was a kickboxing promoted by the K-1 ortheminutes each, with a possible tiebreaker.
Patrick Joseph Barry is a former American mixed martial artist and kickboxer who competed as a heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is particularly known for his low kicks.
Xhavit Bajrami is an Albanian-Swiss former kickboxer who competed in the heavyweight division. A Seido karate practitioner and Andy Hug student, Bajrami built up an undefeated record domestically before he was recruited by K-1 where he won the K-1 Braves '99 tournament and finished as runner-up in two other tournaments. He is also a two-time Muay Thai world champion, having won the ISKA World Super Heavyweight title in 2004 and the WKN World Super Heavyweight strap in 2010.
K-1 World MAX 2004 World Tournament Final was a kickboxing and martial arts event promoted by the K-1 organization. It was the third K-1 MAX final for middleweight kickboxers involving eight finalists and two reserve fighters, with all bouts fought under K-1 rules. Seven of the eight finalists had won elimination fights at the K-1 World MAX 2004 World Tournament Open, while the last finalist and both reserve fighters were invited despite suffering defeats. As well as tournament matches there was also an opening fight, fought under K-1 rules and a super fight fought under K-1 mixed rules. In total there were fourteen fighters at the event, representing nine countries.
K-1 World MAX 2006 World Championship Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. It was the fifth K-1 World MAX final for middleweight kickboxers, involving eight finalists and two reserve fighters, with all bouts fought under K-1 rules. Seven of the finalists had won elimination fights at the K-1 World MAX 2005 World Tournament Open, while the eighth, Virgil Kalakoda, had been invited despite losing his elimination match. The two reserve fighters had qualified via preliminary tournaments; Artur Kyshenko had won the K-1 East Europe MAX and Rayen Simson had won the K-1 MAX Netherlands. As well as tournament matches there were also a two opening fights and two super fights fought under K-1 rules. In total there were eighteen fighters at the event, representing nine countries.
K-1 Andy Memorial 2001 Japan GP Final was a martial arts event promoted by the K-1 organization, named in honour of K-1 legend Andy Hug who had died the previous year. It was an elimination tournament involving eight fighters based in Japan, with all bouts being fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs) and the winner qualifying for the K-1 World Grand Prix 2001. Six of these fighters had qualified via the earlier K-1 Survival 2001 event while holder Musashi had qualified as last years winner and long time Tokyo resident Nicholas Pettas was a foreign invitee. As well as tournament bouts there were a number of local and international bouts, including special 'Andy Memorial Matches', with matches fought under either K-1 or MMA Rules. In total there were twenty two fighters at the event, representing nine countries.
Tokyo, Japan 
