Kickboxing is a full-contact hybrid martial art and boxing type based on punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouth guards, shorts, and bare feet to favor the use of kicks. Kickboxing is practiced for self-defense, general fitness, or for competition. Some styles of kickboxing include: full contact karate, Muay Thai, Japanese kickboxing, Lethwei, Sanda, and Savate.
Benny Urquidez is an American former professional kickboxer, martial arts choreographer and actor. Nicknamed "The Jet", Urquidez was a non-contact karate competitor who later pioneered full-contact fighting in the United States. He made the transition from point to full-contact karate in 1974, the year of its inception in the US, frequently fighting in bouts where the rules were ambiguous and contrasts in styles were dramatic. Urquidez is also known for once holding the rare achievement of six world titles in five different weight divisions, and remained largely undefeated in his 27-year career. His only loss came in a Muay Thai match which was shrouded in controversy, as Urquidez had only agreed to a no-decision exhibition, a clause which was ignored when the fight had ended.
Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term welterweight was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the opponents. If used, welterweight is typically between lightweight and middleweight.
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.
Yoshihiro Sato is a Japanese kickboxer competing in K-1 at middleweight (−70 kg). He is the former world champion of Muay Thai in WKA and WPKC, and he won the Japanese national tournament of K-1 twice in 2006 and 2007. His official nickname is "Mugen Sniper" which means Infinite Sniper.
Stan "The Man" Longinidis is an Australian retired heavyweight kickboxer and 8-time world kickboxing champion. Born in Melbourne of Greek ethnicity, Longinidis is one of the few fighters to win world titles in four different styles of kickboxing competition: international rules, Oriental rules, full contact and Muay Thai. He holds notable victories over Branko Cikatić, Adam Watt, Peter Graham, Musashi and Dennis Alexio.
Masaaki Satake is a Japanese former heavyweight karateka, kickboxer, professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. He is one of the pioneering heavyweight fighters in K-1, having been a member of Kazuyoshi Ishii's Seidokaikan school.
Peter "The Hurricane" Smit was a Dutch martial artist who mastered such different fight disciplines as kyokushin karate, kickboxing and Muay Thai.
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.
The World Kickboxing Association (WKA) also known as World Kickboxing and Karate Association, is one of the oldest and the largest amateur and professional sanctioning body for kickboxing and Karate.
Marek "The Punisher" Piotrowski is a Polish retired heavyweight kickboxer and boxer. He is a former ten time kickboxing world champion.
Lee Hasdell is a British martial artist, promoter and former professional kickboxer and mixed martial artist. Hasdell is considered by many to be a pioneer of mixed martial arts in the United Kingdom, particularly in the 1990s, when he drove a great deal of innovation in the field. Hasdell promoted the first professional mixed martial arts events in the UK and helped develop many of the standards within the British MMA scene of today.
John Wayne "The Gunslinger" Parr, also known as JWP, is a retired Australian Muay Thai fighter, kickboxer and boxer, fighting out of Boonchu Gym in Gold Coast, Queensland. He is a former 10-times World Champion and was the runner up on The Contender Asia.
Graciela Casillas is an American former boxer and kickboxer who competed in the bantamweight division. After training in several traditional martial arts, Casillas began competing as a kickboxer in 1976, and in 1979 she became the first fighter to hold world titles in both boxing and kickboxing by taking the World Women's Boxing Association's and the World Kickboxing Association's bantamweight championships. Although Casillas' Boxrec record is 5–0, Black Belt Magazine reported in May 1984 that she had 27 boxing matches, winning 15 by KO up to that point.
Naoko Kumagai is a Japanese female kickboxer and 3-time World Champion in three different weight classes. She also had two amateur boxing matches with Russian Elena Karpachova, and one pro boxing match.
Kevin Rosier was an American kickboxer, boxer and mixed martial artist. He had much success as a kickboxer, winning a number of titles, but did not transition particularly well into the world of boxing and was mostly seen as a journeyman fighter. Notably, he also took part at the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship event in 1993 where he reached the semi-finals.
The Standardized Tournaments And Ratings System (STAR) was the premier rating service for international kickboxing, from 1980 through 1989, as syndicated in fifteen martial arts and sports magazines throughout the world. It was recognized as the official ratings source by two out of three major sanctioning bodies for professional kickboxing, World Kickboxing Association (WKA) and Karate International Council of Kickboxing (KICK).
Gabriel Varga is a Canadian kickboxer who competes in the Lightweight division of Karate Combat. He is a former Bellator KB Featherweight champion, former two time Glory Featherweight champion, and former WKN lightweight champion.
Wirun Phonphimai, known professionally as Sagat Petchyindee, is a Thai retired Muay Thai fighter, professional kickboxer, professional boxer, trainer, and actor. He is a two-time Lumpinee Stadium champion, a two-time Rajadamnern Stadium champion, and also challenged for a WBC Super Bantamweight title in boxing.
Doris Köhler is an Austrian kickboxer and boxer. Since 2002, she has won a total of seven World Championships and four European Championship titles in light-and full-contact kickboxing according to the rules of the World Kickboxing Association (WKA), International Amateur Karate-Kickboxing Sport Association (IAKSA) and the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA). Since 2007, she has also competed in professional boxing competitions under the Women's International Boxing Federation (WIBF) rules.
