K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii.
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).
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. 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.
Kazuyoshi Ishii is a Japanese master of Seidokaikan karate and founder of the K-1 fighting circuit, a widely televised international martial arts competition combining Muay Thai, karate, sanshou, taekwondo, kenpo, boxing, and kickboxing. His karate training began with Kyokushin karate, but he formed his own karate organization in 1980, began promoting televised karate competitions, and started staging K-1 events in 1993.
Maurice Lavonne Smith is a retired American kickboxer and mixed martial artist. In kickboxing, he held the WKC world light heavyweight championship, the WKA world heavyweight championship, and the ISKA world heavyweight championship. In mixed martial arts, he held the Heavyweight championship in Battlecade Extreme Fighting and the UFC, and became a member of the UFC Hall of Fame in 2017. A professional competitor since 1980, Smith has formerly competed in kickboxing for the companies All Japan Enterprise and K-1, Pancrase, RINGS, PRIDE, Strikeforce, International Fight League and RFA.
Sem "Semmy" Schilt is a Dutch actor and former kickboxer, Ashihara karateka and mixed martial artist. He stands 212 cm and weighs 155 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.
Nobuaki Kakuda is a retired karateka and kickboxer and former K-1 Head referee.
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.
Kin Taiei is a Korean-Japanese light heavyweight karateka, kickboxer and mixed martial artist competing in K-1 and DREAM.
Peter Graham is an Australian karateka, kickboxer, boxer and mixed martial artist.
Peter "The Hurricane" Smit was a Dutch martial artist who mastered such different fight disciplines as kyokushin karate, kickboxing and Muay Thai.
Pierre Alain Ngalani is a Cameroonian-born Hong Konger mixed martial artist and Muay Thai kickboxer who most recently fought for ONE Championship, where he competed in the Heavyweight division. He is a four-time Muay Thai World Champion.
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.
Seidokaikan (正道会館) is a traditional full contact karate derived from Kyokushin by Kazuyoshi Ishii. Seidokaikan organized the first professional full contact karate tournament named the Karate World Cup. The Karate World Cup had special extension rounds; if the judge's decision was deadlocked after an extension round, the rules then allowed face strikes with fighters donning boxing gloves (kickboxing).
Ewerton Teixeira is a Brazilian professional kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and Kyokushin Kaikan karateka. Teixeira obtained his first K-1 title in 2008 at K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Fukuoka by beating Keijiro Maeda in the final. He is training K-1 at the Ichigeki Academy Kyokushin Kaikan in Tokyo, Japan. Despite the short career for a kickboxer, Teixeira has notable wins against K-1 legends: Jerome Le Banner, Errol Zimmerman and Musashi.
Tomasz Kucharzewski was a Polish-Canadian martial artist. Kucharzewski initially gained fame while fighting competitively in Kyokushin kaikan and Shidōkan styles of karate. Though greatly successful in karate, he became more involved in kickboxing during his later career. A dominating force in the ring, Kucharzewski was described by the veteran karate instructor and journalist Roger Salick as "indestructible" following his fourth International Shidōkan Championship wins. He held notable victories over Glaube Feitosa and international karate champion Gerry Marketos.
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.
Michael Thompson is an English former karateka and kickboxer who competed in the cruiserweight and heavyweight division. After a long and distinguished career in Kyokushin, in which he won the British Open four times, the Commonwealth Championships in 1988 and the European Championships in 1991 as well as competing three times in the World Open, Thompson later switched to Seidokaikan and reached the final of the 1994 Seidokaikan Karate World Cup. During his time as a Seidokaikan competitor, he also fought as a professional kickboxer in K-1, amassing a 6–5 record and becoming the WKA European Super Cruiserweight Champion.
Kūdō (空道) is a Japanese hybrid martial art. It is a full-contact combat sport that aims to achieve safety, aggression and practicality, a style of mixed martial arts practised with headgear and gloves. It features stand-up striking, with throwing and grappling techniques being also allowed in the competition, including restraint, locks and chokeholds.
Peter Graham 
Ernesto Hoost 
Mirko Cro Cop 
Ray Sefo 
Stefan Leko 
Mike Bernardo 
Samir Benazzouz
Andy Hug 
Matt Skelton 
Jérôme Le Banner 
Francisco Filho 
Jean-Claude Leuyer 
Musashi 
Perry Telgt
Vjatcheslav Soukhanov
