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.
Akio Mori, better known by the name Musashi (武蔵), is a Japanese former professional karateka and kickboxer. He is a four-time K-1 Japan tournament champion, a former WAKO Heavyweight Muay Thai champion and two-time K-1 World Grand Prix finalist. Following a 14-year career, he announced his retirement at a press conference in Tokyo on August 26, 2009.
Ray Sefo is a New Zealand fight promoter and retired kickboxer, boxer, and mixed martial artist. He was the K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 Runner-up, is a six-time Muay Thai World Champion, and was an 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. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers to have never won the K-1 World Grand Prix. As mixed martial artist, he most notably competed in the now defunct Strikeforce in 2009 and 2011.
Jérôme Philippe Le Banner is a French kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and professional wrestler. Le Banner fought for most of his career in K-1 and became known for his aggressive fighting style and knockout power. He is a 2-time K-1 World Grand Prix runner up, a 2-time K-1 Preliminary Grand Prix champion, and is a multiple time world champion in Kickboxing and Muay Thai. 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, Stefan Leko (twice), Masaaki Satake, Maurice Smith, Gary Goodridge (twice), Musashi (twice), Cyril Abidi and Choi Hong-man (twice).
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. He is widely considered one of the greatest kickboxers of all time. Bonjasky has been known for his flying kicks, knee attacks and strong defense, hence the nickname "The Flying Gentleman".
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.
Sem "Semmy" Schilt is a Dutch actor and former kickboxer, Ashihara karateka and mixed martial artist. He stands 206 cm and weighs 171 kg. Schilt holds the distinction of being the only kickboxer to have won 5 major heavyweight tournaments, being a four-time K-1 World Grand Prix Champion and one time Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam Champion. He also held the K-1 Super Heavyweight Championship and the Glory Heavyweight Championship titles. He is the only fighter in K-1 history to win the world championship three times in a row, and also shares the record with Ernesto Hoost for most Grands Prix won, with four.
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 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.
Glaube Araújo Feitosa is a Brazilian former kickboxer and a kyokushin full contact karate practitioner who was competing in K-1. In 2005, Feitosa won K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Las Vegas tournament and was a K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 finalist. He has gone the distance with some of the top fighters in his time, such as Peter Aerts, Remy Bonjasky, Semmy Schilt and Errol Zimmerman. An accomplished karate fighter, he was known for his use of the "question mark kick," utilizing the technique in several knockout victories in his career. Feitosa also holds wins over Cheick Kongo, Alistair Overeem, Ruslan Karaev, and Paul Slowinski.
Stefan Leko is a German heavyweight kickboxer. He is the current WKA Super-Heavyweight world champion in kickboxing, and former Muay Thai world super-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.
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.
Errol Zimmerman is a Curaçaoan-Dutch kickboxer, representing the Hemmers Gym in Breda, Netherlands. He is K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Amsterdam and SUPERKOMBAT Fight Club tournaments champion. Zimmerman is also former Glory Heavyweight Championship and K-1 Super Heavyweight Championship challenger. In 2011 WIPU voted him the Kickboxer of the Year.
Gökhan Saki is a Turkish-Dutch kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He is a Dutch, European and World Muay Thai champion, K-1 World GP 2006 in Amsterdam tournament finalist, K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Hawaii champion and former Glory Light Heavyweight Champion. Saki also competed in the light heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
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.
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 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 
