Benny Urquidez is an American 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.
Kashmir Singh Gill popularly known as Kash "The Flash" Gill, is a retired British professional kickboxer who is a former four-time world champion.
Dennis Raymond Alexio is an American former Undisputed World Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion who competed in the light heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. Starting out as a light heavyweight, Alexio kicked off his career with an extensive, knockout-laden undefeated streak before losing a decision to Don "The Dragon" Wilson in a World Kickboxing Association (WKA) World Super Light Heavyweight Full Contact Championship match in 1984. He rebounded from this by winning the Professional Karate Association (PKA) World Light Heavyweight title that same year before moving up to cruiserweight and taking the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) World Cruiserweight Full Contact strap. In the late 1980s, he began his transition to the heavyweight division where he won six world titles and was considered the undisputed World Heavyweight Champion. He faced the two toughest tests of his career in 1992 against Branko Cikatić and Stan Longinidis - both of whom were heavier fighters - fighting to a controversial draw with Cikatić and losing to Longinidis via an early low kick KO which resulted in a broken leg.
William Louis Wallace is an American karateka and former professional kickboxer. He is known for his adept use of high-speed leg kicks, earning him the nickname "Superfoot." He was the Professional Karate Association (PKA) World Full-Contact Champion, and the Middleweight Kickboxing Champion for six years, retiring with a 23-0-0 record.
Joseph Henry Lewis was an American karateka, kickboxer, and actor. As a fighter, Lewis gained fame for his matches in the 1960s and 1970s, and was nicknamed "the Muhammad Ali of karate." He has twice been voted the greatest fighter in karate history, having won innumerable karate tournaments, and has attained the titles of "United States Heavyweight Kickboxing Champion," "World Heavyweight Full Contact Karate Champion," and "United States National Black Belt Kata Champion."
Donald Glen Wilson, nicknamed "The Dragon", is an American martial artist, film actor, and former professional kickboxer. An 11-time world champion who scored 47 knockouts in four decades, he has been called by the STAR System Ratings as "perhaps the greatest kickboxer in American history. He has disposed of more quality competition than anyone we've ever ranked".
Jean-Yves Thériault is a Canadian kickboxer, kickboxing trainer, and author.
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.
The Professional Karate Association (PKA), later Professional Karate & Kickboxing Association, now--effective March 1, 2022 PKA WORLDWIDE--was originally a martial arts sanctioning organization, now transformed into a martial arts promotion company. Through the 1970s, the PKA was the major professional kickboxing organization in the United States and in Europe, featuring such fighters as Bill "Superfoot" Wallace, Joe Lewis, Benny "the Jet" Urquidez, The Iceman Jean-Yves Thériault, Dennis "the Terminator" Alexio, Rick "the Jet" Roufus, Scott "The Hammer" Bennington, Jerry Trimble and Jeff Smith.
Mearion Shonie Bickhem III, better known as Shonie Carter, is an American mixed martial artist. He is a former WEC Welterweight Champion, a UFC veteran, and a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 4 reality show. He has also competed in Pancrase, Shooto, King of the Cage, M-1 Global, KSW, and Bellator. He is known for his flashy dress, colorful vocabulary, outlandish personality and use of the spinning backfist in competition.
Olivier Gruner, also named O.G, Оливье Грюнер in Russian, and 奥利弗·古鲁内尔 in Chinese, is a French former naval commando, actor, director, producer, screenwriter, martial artist, and pilot. Born in Paris, France, he moved to the United States in 1988. His career began in 1987 at the Cannes Film Festival, France, where he was discovered.
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, winning the PKA World Middleweight Championship. 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.
Russ Hogue is an American kickboxer from Belleville, Illinois. He started training in martial arts under three time world kickboxing champion Jim Boucher in Belleville, Illinois. He was also a member of a National Karate competition team with other notable athletes such as Bridgett Riley, Patrick Riley, Donny Reinhardt.
Daniel "Tiger" Schulmann is an American Kyokushin karateka and mixed martial arts trainer.
A.J. Verel is an American kickboxer, martial artist, actor, stuntman and inductee into the Pro Martial Arts/MMA Hall of Fame. Verel is a former Light Heavyweight & Middleweight sport karate and kickboxing Champion. In 1992 he won the World Kickboxing Association's (WKA) Middleweight title. Verel holds black belts in five different martial arts and as co-captain of the U.S. National Martial Arts and N.A.C.K. Demonstration Teams won two gold medals.
Demetrius Havanas, known as 'The Golden Greek', was a third degree karate black belt and kickboxer. He won more than 90 consecutive tournaments in forms and fighting competition, and won 13 grand championships in 1971. He was ranked in the top ten of American Karate fighters between 1971 and 1975.
Steve Shepherd was a five-time world kickboxing champion and a top pioneer kickboxing promoter in the state of Florida. He defeated eight world champions from five weight divisions, four of them during their championship reigns. He also decisioned future world champions Don Wilson, Ted Pryor, Dale "Apollo" Cook and Bob "Thunder" Thurman.
Glenn McMorris is a retired kickboxer, a former Professional Karate Association Full-Contact Middleweight United States Champion, a sport karate Hall of Famer, and the only fighter to have knocked out Martial Arts Hall of Famer Don "The Dragon" Wilson.
Márcio Navarro is a retired Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and professional kickboxer. Navarro is the former International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) light middleweight oriental rules world champion. Navarro also is an instructor at Valor Martial Arts in Wichita, Kansas.
Glenn R. Keeney was an American martial artist. He was born to Walter Russell and Lucy Puckett Keeney in Anderson, Indiana in 1942, and began his karate training in 1957.
