Robert Malcolm Sapp is an American professional wrestler, actor, and former American football player best known for his career as a kickboxer and mixed martial artist. 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 also appeared in an episode of the HBO program Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. He is currently working sporadically for various MMA promotions in the U.S., Japan, and Europe.
Ernesto Fritz Hoost is a Dutch retired 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 December 2, 2006 after the K-1 World GP Final tournament in Tokyo Dome, Japan.
Bobby Ologun is a Nigerian-born Japanese television personality and mixed martial artist. In Japan, he is known simply as Bobby (ボビー). He speaks English, Yoruba and Japanese. He currently lives in Saitama, Saitama Prefecture. On July 26, 2007, he announced on Mezamashi TV that he had become a naturalized citizen of Japan, taking his wife's surname and registering officially as Bobby Konda.
Kazuyuki Fujita is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and a former amateur wrestler. A professional since 2000, he has fought in for the PRIDE Fighting Championships, K-1, Road FC, the Rizin Fighting Federation, and World Victory Road. Aside from MMA, he also competes in shoot style wrestling and puroresu.
Ikuhisa Minowa is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler currently competing in IGF as Minowaman. A professional MMA competitor since 1996, he was a longtime veteran of PRIDE and Pancrase and has also competed in other mixed martial arts promotions such as K-1 Hero's, Cage Rage, the SFL, Vale Tudo Japan, UFC, DREAM, and DEEP. He is the former DREAM Openweight Grand Prix Champion. Often undersized and a huge fan favorite in Japan, Minowa earned his nickname "The Giant Killer" by participating in many open weight contests, often submitting much larger opponents. Also renowned for his durability, he is a veteran of 115 fights, and is known for his trademark red speedo and mullet.
Wesley John Correira Jr., nicknamed Cabbage, is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the heavyweight and super heavyweight divisions. An iron chinned brawler, Correira began his career in 2000 and came to prominence with a number of knockout wins on the heavyweight scene in his native Hawaii before a two-year stint in the Ultimate Fighting Championship between 2002 and 2004. Following this, he became a journeyman heavyweight, fighting a number of notable opponents mostly in his native state.
The history of K-1 can be called the history of Seidokaikan, which is a school of Full contact karate that preceded K-1.
Hero's was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion operated by Fighting and Entertainment Group, the parent entity behind kickboxing organization K-1. Grown from and branched off of K-1's earlier experiments in MMA, including the K-1 Romanex event and various MMA fights on its regular K-1 kickboxing cards, it held its first show on March 26, 2005. The promotion was handled by former Rings head Akira Maeda. At a press conference on February 13, 2008, FEG announced that they discontinued Hero's and were creating a new mixed martial arts franchise, Dream, in collaboration with former Pride FC executives from Dream Stage Entertainment.
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou Nkamhoua, mostly billed simply as Sokoudjou, is a Cameroonian professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2006, Sokoudjou is the former KSW Light Heavyweight Champion, and has also competed for PRIDE, the UFC, WEC, Affliction, Strikeforce, K-1, DREAM and Bellator.
Masayuki Naruse is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, competing in the light heavyweight division.
Yōsuke "Yōsukezan" Nishijima is a Japanese professional boxer who has also competed in kickboxing and mixed martial arts.
Yoshihisa Yamamoto is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. A professional MMA competitor from 1995 until 2012, he competed for RINGS, WEF, PRIDE, Vale Tudo Japan, DEEP, and K-1 HERO'S.
Yoshihiro Nakao is a Japanese semi-retired professional mixed martial artist and former K-1 kickboxer and PRIDE FC fighter who has defeated the likes of Don Frye, Choi Mu-Bae, Jim York, Wesley Correira and Edson Draggo. Nakao is a World Victory Road veteran and signed a contract with DREAM in 2011 before the promotion closed in mid-2012. Nakao lost to Antônio Silva at World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku Rebellion 2009 after suffering an ACL injury as a result of a leg kick from Silva in the first round. Nakao most recently fought Dave Herman at Sengoku: Soul of Fight, losing by unanimous decision. In 2012 Nakao has decided to briefly retire from mixed martial arts to let some of his recent injuries heal and focus on family more. Nakao earned the nickname "kiss" after he infamously kissed Heath Herring on the lips and was subsequently knocked out by Herring before their fight even began at K-1 PREMIUM 2005 Dynamite!!.
Eric Scott Esch, better known by his nickname "Butterbean", is an American retired professional boxer, kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and professional wrestler who competed in the heavyweight division. He is also a television personality, having appeared in several programs and been referenced by many others. Esch transitioned to professional boxing in 1994 following a successful stint on the Toughman Contest scene and went on to capture the World Athletic Association (WAA) heavyweight and IBA super heavyweight championships. Beginning in 2003, he began fighting regularly as a kickboxer and mixed martial artist, most notably in K-1 and the Pride Fighting Championships. Butterbean's combined fight record stands at 97–24–5 with 66 knockouts and 10 submissions.
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.
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 2005 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, 2005 at the Osaka Dome in Osaka, Japan. It featured 7 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 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.
Mauricio "Baboo" Da Silva is a Brazilian kyokushin kaikan full contact karate practitioner and former professional kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He is a professional coach and trainer of K-1 and MMA, who has trained a number of world class fighters including Francisco Filho, Glaube Feitosa, Andrews Nakahara, Ewerton Teixeira, Ray Sefo, Aleksandr Pitchkounov, Takumi Sato, Jan Soukup, Kou Tasei, Jan Nortje, Doug Viney, Mighty Mo (kickboxer) and Akebono Taro. From 1998 to 2004 he worked as the trainer and sparring partner for Francisco Filho. He lived in Tokyo, Japan from 2005 to December 2010 and trained fighters from the IKO1 Kyokushin - Team Ichigeki and other fighters from visiting teams at the Ichigeki Plaza. He fought in the K-1 PREMIUM 2003 Dynamite!! and also in the Ichigeki events in Japan.
