Branko Cikatić was a Croatian heavyweight kickboxer, the first Croatian-born fighter to achieve international success. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time. He was the first K-1 World Grand Prix Champion. The tournament was held on April 30, 1993 in Japan.
Dale Cook is an American former kickboxer who competed in the middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and cruiserweight divisions. With a background in karate and taekwondo, Cook debuted professionally in 1977 and spent the early part of his career as a full contact rules fighter. In the 1980s, he began fighting under Oriental and Muay Thai rules and took two world titles under the WKA banner. A short stint in shoot boxing towards the end of his career in the mid-1990s resulted in another world title in that discipline.
Tyrone Clinton Spong is a Surinamese-Dutch professional boxer and mixed martial artist and former kickboxer. As a boxer, he held the WBC and WBO Latino heavyweight titles in 2018. In kickboxing, he is the former WFCA cruiserweight champion, Glory 95kg Slam Champion and It's Showtime 95MAX World champion.
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.
Jomhod "King of the Ring" Kiatadisak is a professional Muay Thai fighter from Phang Nga province in the South of Thailand. He started learning muay Thai at the age of 7 and won his first fight when he was 11 years old. In 1986, Jomhod won the Southern Thailand Championship in 59.6 kg weight category and the same year, at the age of 16, he moved to Bangkok and began his proper fighting career.
Marco "The Sniper" Piqué is a Surinamese-Dutch welterweight kickboxer, fighting out of Team Snipers in The Hague, Netherlands. He is the current World Full Contact Association Muay Thai middleweight world champion, WMC intercontinental champion, and a two-time K-1 MAX regional tournament finalist.
"Fast" Faldir Chahbari is Moroccan-Dutch former welterweight kickboxer who fought out of Morocco. He a x2 Muay Thai amateur world champion and is the former World Full Contact Association (W.F.C.A.) Thai-boxing junior middleweight world champion.
James Phillips is a German heavyweight kickboxer of African American descent, currently competing in K-1. He is former European muay thai champion and two time K-1 Croatia tournament champion. He is trained by Michael Damboer and fights out of Thai-Bombs Mannheim.
K-1 Grand Prix '93 was a martial arts event held by the K-1 organization on April 30, 1993, at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. It was the inaugural K-1 World Grand Prix, featuring an eight-man tournament fought under K-1 rules. The eight tournament qualifiers were all invited on the basis of their achievements in the kickboxing world. As well as tournament matches there was also a full contact karate bout between Andy Hug and Nobuaki Kakuda. The event featured ten fights with fighters representing seven countries. The winner was Branko Cikatić who defeated Ernesto Hoost in the final by first-round knockout, becoming the first K-1 World champion.
Dmitry "Shok" Shakuta is a Belarusian Muay Thai super middleweight kickboxer fighting out of Minsk, Belarus for the SK-55 gym. He is an eight-time amateur and professional world champion, most well-known for being the It's Showtime 77MAX world champion between 2008 and 2009.
Shemsi Beqiri is a Swiss Albanian kickboxer who competes in the middleweight division.
Rayen "Red Bean" Simson is a Surinamese-Dutch former super middleweight Muay Thai kickboxer. He won 7 world titles in 3 different organizations and was ranked number 2 at the Lumpinee Stadium - a notoriously difficult achievement for a farang fighter. He has also won a European title, 2 Dutch titles and has won tournaments in Shoot Boxing and K-1 MAX. During his career he has amassed over 100 wins and he holds notable victories over fighters such as Ramon Dekkers, Ashwin Balrak and Faldir Chahbari. He had his last fight in 2010.
José 'The Devil's Advocate' Reis is a Portuguese Muay Thai kickboxer of Cape Verdean descent fighting out of Lisbon, Portugal for Olival Gym at either welterweight or super middleweight. He is the 2010 W.F.C.A. Full Contact world champion and a x2 K-1 MAX regional champion who has fought for both the K-1 MAX and SuperLeague organizations. His younger brother, Luis Reis, is also a successful kickboxer.
Ali Gunyar is a Turkish-Dutch middleweight Muay Thai kickboxer fighting out of Eindhoven, Netherlands for Team Gunyar, where he is trained by his brother Suleyman Gunyar. Ali is a four-time kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion, who has made appearances for the K-1 MAX, SuperLeague and It's Showtime organizations. As of 2011 Ali is the current W.I.P.U. "King of the Ring" super middleweight world champion in K-1 rules
Grégory "Cheetah" Choplin is a French-Ivorian Middleweight and Super Middleweight Muay Thai kickboxer.
Fadi Merza is a retired Syrian born Austrian-Assyrian middleweight kickboxer. Merza was a multiple world kickboxing and Muay Thai champion.
Gilbert Ballantine is a Surinamese-Dutch retired professional kickboxer and a nine-time kickboxing and Muay Thai world champion. He also took part in mixed martial arts competition, winning three Rings Dutch championships.
Emil Zoraj is a Croatian Light heavyweight kickboxer fighting out of Zagreb, Croatia. In his career he was double WKA thaiboxing world champion, It's Showtime 75MAX trophy Tilburg tournament champion, WBC Muaythai intercontinental champion and OPBU Euro-African muaythai champion.
Karapet Karapetyan, also known as Karapet Papijan is an Armenian-Dutch kickboxer who competes in the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. A professional since 2002, Karapetyan established himself on the Dutch scene by becoming a national champion and having a short stint in the It's Showtime promotion before two ill-fated world title shots in 2012. He signed with Glory the following year. As of 2 November 2015, he is ranked the #3 welterweight in the world by GLORY.
Jordan Lutalo Evora is a Ugandan-Dutch kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He was WFCA Cruiserweight Muay Thai champion, DFC 95 kg Slam Champion, and K1 MAX World Champion, fighting out of Vos Gym Amsterdam, Netherlands.
