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.
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.
Saskia Merk van Rijswijk is a Dutch Muay Thai champion and actress. Currently she works as a hypnotherapist, mental coach and psychologist.
Lloyd Daniël van Dams, also known as The Tornado, was a Surinamese-born Dutch heavyweight kickboxer. He was a Dutch, European, and World Muay Thai champion. Known for his durability, van Dams was never knocked out in 84 professional fights. He held notable wins over Remy Bonjasky, Brian Douwes, Alexander Ustinov, Bjorn Bregy, and Brecht Wallis. Van Dams also competed in mixed martial arts.
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.
Daniel "The Rock" Dawson is an Australian super welterweight kickboxer and boxer, fighting out of Perth, Western Australia.
Ivan "The Hydro" Hippolyte is a Surinamese-Dutch former kickboxer. He was a multiple world champion in kickboxing and Muay Thai. He was the winner of the K-3 Grand Prix '95.
"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.
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.
Perry M. Johannes Ubeda is a Dutch former super middleweight kickboxer. Between 1992 and 2008 he won thirteen titles in kickboxing, as well as titles in taekwondo and pro-boxing and he is also a keen Motocross racer. Ubeda is now retired and runs his own gym, Ubeda Gym, in his home town of Nijmegen.
Thom Harinck is a Dutch kickboxer and kickboxing trainer and founder of the Chakuriki Gym in Amsterdam. He is married to Marjan Olfers, former member of the board of Ajax and from 1 May 2012 professor in sports law.
Chakuriki Gym was a kickboxing gym and headquartered the International Chakuriki Association located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It was also known as Dojo Chakuriki, Pancration Chakuriki, and Chakuriki Amsterdam. Founded in 1972, it was one of the oldest and well-established kickboxing gyms in the Netherlands. It has produced many top-level kickboxers and including K-1 world champions such as Peter Aerts, Branko Cikatić and Badr Hari. It also provided training in wrestling, as well as instruction in knockdown karate, judo, boxing and mixed martial arts.
L'houcine "Aussie" Ouzgni is a Dutch-Moroccan former Light Heavyweight/Middleweight Muay Thai kickboxer. Aussie was known as a firm fan favorite in the Netherlands due to his exciting style and knockout power, likened to a smaller version of fellow Dutch-Moroccan fighter Badr Hari. He is a three time Dutch national Muay Thai champion and a It's Showtime world champion.
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
Chris "The African Warrior" Ngimbi is a Congolese-Dutch Muay Thai kickboxer fighting out of Ngimbi Sports Academy in Pelt, Belgium. He is the two times It's Showtime 70MAX world champion fighting primarily within the It's Showtime and the K-1 Global Holding organizations. He also held the SUPERKOMBAT Middleweight Championship in 2016.
Amir "The Sphinx" Zeyada is an Egyptian-Dutch cruiserweight Muay Thai kickboxer currently fighting out of the Chakuriki Gym in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he is trained by Thom Harinck. He is a former Dutch national champion who originally started fighting as a middleweight. Zeyada holds two notable knockout victories over the highly rated Tyrone Spong. He’s the former runner up for the showtime belt.
Nobu Hayashi is a professional Japanese Heavyweight karateka and kickboxer. He is a two-time K-1 Japan tournament runner-up and holds notable wins over Ben Edwards, Sander Thonhauser and Faisal Zakaria. Hayashi fights out of Dojo Chakuriki Japan in Tokyo, Japan. Hayashi was diagnosed with Leukemia, but was recently able to recover and is now cancer free.
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.
Frank Muñoz is a Spanish heavyweight kickboxer, who has competed in the SUPERKOMBAT Fighting Championship, where he is a former 2013 SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix Tournament Champion. He is also the former WAKO-Pro K-1 European champion.
Armen Petrosyan is an Armenian-born Italian kickboxer who competes in the middleweight division. An aggressive fighter, Petrosyan began training in Muay Thai after moving to Italy from Armenia. Petrosyan and his brother Giorgio Petrosyan were put under contract with Oktagon management, he became a two-time Italian champion and a European titleist before arriving on the world stage in 2010 when he took back-to-back wins over Vuyisile Colossa and Dzhabar Askerov and later appeared as a competitor on the Enfusion reality television show. In March 2013, he won the eight-man Haarlem Fight Night IV tournament in the Netherlands to be crowned the WMTA World Super Welterweight Champion.
