Ernesto Frits 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 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.
Ray Sefo is a New Zealand fight promoter and retired kickboxer, boxer, and mixed martial artist of Samoan descent. He is a six-time Muay Thai World Champion and eight time K-1 World Grand Prix Finals tournament participant. He is the president of MMA promotion Professional Fighters League. In kickboxing, he defeated world champions Jerome Le Banner, Peter Aerts, Stefan Leko, Mike Bernardo, and Mark Hunt.
Michael Shawn Bernardo was a South African kickboxer and boxer from Cape Town. Bernardo was known as Beru-chan in Japan, where he has taken part in K-1 World GPs since 1994. He holds notable wins over Mirko Cro Cop, Andy Hug, Francisco Filho, Branko Cikatic, Stan Longinidis, Gary Goodridge and three consecutive wins over K-1 legend Peter Aerts.
Jérôme Philippe Le Banner is a French 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.
Remy Kenneth Bonjasky is a Surinamese-Dutch former kickboxer. He is a three-time K-1 World Grand Prix heavyweight champion, winning the title in 2003, 2004, and 2008. Bonjasky has been known for his flying kicks, knee attacks and strong defense, hence the nickname "The Flying Gentleman".
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 and 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 '96 was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. It was the fourth 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 almost qualified via elimination fights at the K-1 Grand Prix '96 Opening Battle event. The only absentee was Stan Longinidis who was unable to participate in the tournament due to injury - he was replaced by reservist Duane Van Der Merwe. As well as tournament bouts there were also two 'Super Fights' fought under K-1 Rules. In total there were twelve fighters at the event, representing seven countries.
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 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 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 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.
Stefan Leko is a German heavyweight kickboxer. He is the current WKA Super-Heavyweight world champion in kickboxing, and former Muay Thai world heavyweight champion and Kickboxing world super-heavyweight champion, WMTA, WKN, IKBO, IKBF, and WKA world champion, K-1 European Grand Prix 1998 champion, 1999 K-1 Dream champion and two time K-1 World Grand Prix in Las Vegas tournament champion. He fights out of Team Golden Glory in Breda, Netherlands under Cor Hemmers. Since 2011 Stefan Leko is coached and managed by Tom Trautsch and won two Heavyweight World Champion Titles.
Francisco "Chiquinho" Alves Filho is a Brazilian Kyokushin Karateka and kickboxer. He is one of the few karate-ka to have successfully completed the 100 man kumite more than once.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Tokyo Final was a kickboxing promoted by the K-1 ortheminutes each, with a possible tiebreaker.
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 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.
Tokyo, Japan 
