Ernesto Frits Hoost is a Dutch retired 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.
Akio Mori, better known by the name Musashi (武蔵), is a Japanese former professional karateka and kickboxer. He is a four-time K-1 Japan tournament champion, a former WAKO Heavyweight Muay Thai champion and two-time K-1 World Grand Prix finalist. Following a 14-year career, he announced his retirement at a press conference in Tokyo on August 26, 2009.
Jérôme Philippe Le Banner is a French kickboxer. Le Banner fought for most of his career in K-1 and became known for his aggressive fighting style and knockout power. 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, and Stefan Leko.
Remy Kenneth Bonjasky is a Surinamese-Dutch former kickboxer. He is a three-time K-1 World Grand Prix super heavyweight champion, winning the title in 2003, 2004, and 2008. Bonjasky has been known for his flying kicks, knee attacks and strong defense, hence the nickname "The Flying Gentleman".
Peter Aerts is a Dutch semi-retired super heavyweight kickboxer. Known for his devastating high kicks, which earned him the nickname "The Dutch Lumberjack", he is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time.
Sem "Semmy" Schilt is a Dutch former kickboxer, Ashihara karateka, mixed martial artist, four-time K-1 World Grand Prix Champion and one-time Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam Champion. 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 Grand Prixs won, with four.
The history of K-1 can be called the history of Seidokaikan, which is a school of Full contact karate that preceded K-1.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 Final was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. It was the twelfth K-1 World Grand Prix final, involving twelve of the world's best K-1 fighters from eight countries, with all bouts fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs). The tournament qualifiers had almost all qualified via the K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 Final Elimination with the exception of Remy Bonjasky who was the reigning champion.
Glaube Araújo Feitosa is a Brazilian former kickboxer and a kyokushin full contact karate practitioner who was competing in K-1. In 2005, Feitosa won K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Las Vegas tournament and was a K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 finalist. While living in Tokyo, Japan he fought and trained in the IKO1 Kyokushin - Team Ichigeki at the Ichigeki Plaza. He has gone the distance with some of the top fighters in his time, such as Peter Aerts, Remy Bonjasky, Semmy Schilt and Errol Zimmerman. He also holds victories over Cheick Kongo and Alistair Overeem.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Tokyo Final was a kickboxing promoted by the K-1 ortheminutes each, with a possible tiebreaker.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 Final was a martial arts event held by the K-1 on Saturday December 8, 2007 at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. It was the 15th K-1 World GP Final, the culmination of a year full of regional elimination tournaments. All fights followed K-1's classic tournament format and were conducted under K-1 Rules, three rounds of three minutes each, with a possible tiebreaker.
Errol Zimmerman is a Curaçaoan-Dutch kickboxer, representing the Hemmers Gym in Breda, Netherlands. He is three time Dutch Muay Thai champion, and K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Amsterdam and SUPERKOMBAT Fight Club tournaments champion.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Seoul Final 16 was a martial arts event held by the K-1 on Saturday September 27, 2008 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, Korea. It was the Final Elimination tournament for top sixteen fighters. The winners qualified for the K-1 World GP 2008 Final held on December 6, 2008 at Yokohama Arena, Japan.
K-1 World MAX 2008 World Championship Tournament - Final - was a martial arts event promoted by the K-1 organization. It took place on Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at the Nippon Budokan Arena in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 7th annual K-1 World Max World Championship Final, featuring four quarter final winners of K-1 World MAX 2008 Final 8 held on July 7, 2008 in Tokyo, Japan. The card also included a couple of tournament reserve bouts, two Superfights between Takayuki Kohiruimaki vs Joerie Mes and Nieky Holzken vs. Virgil Kalakoda, the ISKA World Lightweight Title Match plus the quarterfinals in K-1's new Koshien King of U-18 series. The four quarter final winners of the K-1 Koshien bouts would qualify for the semi finals at the Dynamite!! 2008 event.
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.
Jayson "Supercharge" Vemoa is a former Muay Thai World Champion from New Zealand who previously led a successful Martial Arts coaching career in Japan.
The list of people he has trained in the past includes Jonah Lomu, Hidetoshi Nakata, Noriyuki Higashiyama, Ray Sefo, Glaube Feitosa, Aleksandr Pitchkounov, Jordan Tai, Doug Viney, Ewerton Teixeira, Mark Hunt, and Jan Soukup.
K-1 Andy Memorial 2001 Japan GP Final was a martial arts event promoted by the K-1 organization, named in honour of K-1 legend Andy Hug who had died the previous year. It was an elimination tournament involving eight fighters based in Japan, with all bouts being fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs) and the winner qualifying for the K-1 World Grand Prix 2001. Six of these fighters had qualified via the earlier K-1 Survival 2001 event while holder Musashi had qualified as last years winner and long time Tokyo resident Nicholas Pettas was a foreign invitee. As well as tournament bouts there were a number of local and international bouts, including special 'Andy Memorial Matches', with matches fought under either K-1 or MMA Rules. In total there were twenty two fighters at the event, representing nine countries.
K-1 PREMIUM 2006 Dynamite!! was an annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held by K-1 and Hero's on New Year's Eve, Sunday, December 31, 2006 at the Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Japan. It featured 10 HERO'S MMA rules fights, and 4 K-1 rules fights.
K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 Final Elimination was a kickboxing event promoted by the K-1 organization. The event was held at the Osaka Dome in Osaka, Japan on Saturday, October 11, 2003 in front of 31,700 spectators. It was the final elimination competition for the K-1 World Grand Prix 2003, involving fourteen fighters from across the world, with all bouts being fought under K-1 Rules (100 kg/156-220 lbs). The fourteen fighters were a mixture of invitees or had qualified via previous events.
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.
