USA Amateur K-1 FEDERATION​
FIGHT 'TILL THE END!
WHAT IS K-1?
K-1 is a kickboxing combat sport that combines standup techniques from Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, Kickboxing and traditional Boxing, among others. The name is a play off the abbreviation of Formula 1, which is F-1. The sport was first formed by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a former Kyokushin karate competition fighter who had formed his own organization, Seido-kaikan karate, in 1980. Seido- kaikan arranged several successful organization challenge events against other martial sport organizations, originally using rules based on the Kyokushin Knockdown karate rules, but gradually adapting and changing closer to kickboxing rules. In 1993 Mr. Ichii founded the K-1 organization exclusively as a kickboxing sport organizations, closely cooperating with, but independent from, Seido -kaikan.
Master Kazuyoshi Ishii's Message Who Found K-1
"IT'S NOT WHETHER YOU
GET KNOCKED DOWN, IT'S WHETHER YOU GET UP"
Vince Lombardi
If you want to discover for a sport that pits the planet's best contact martial arts experts against one another in combat, then look no further: You'll discover all the drama and thrills you can handle in the world of K-1, the king of fighting sports.
Powered by a swell of fan support, K-1's popularity has rocketed to dizzying heights in its native Japan. In 1999, some 60,000 fans crowded Tokyo Dome for the 7th annual K-1 Grand Prix while more than a million watched the event on television, making K-1 the fastest-growing spectator sport in the country.
K-1 fuses centuries of tradition from martial arts such as karate, kung fu, tae kwon do and kickboxing into a thoroughly modern and electrifying spectator sport. The K-1 rules are designed to allow fighters from different disciplines to meet and compete on an even playing field, while the elaborate staging of K-1 events makes these extravaganzas a veritable feast for the senses.
Honor and respect rule in the K-1 arena, there is no grappling or wrestling and there are none of the cheap shots that mar many so-called "open" or "no-rules" fighting competitions. Instead, K-1 combatants draw on their finely-honed skills to deliver the clean punches and kicks that make this the most sophisticated and advanced fighting sport in the world today. K-1 is where you will find the finest stand-up fighters vying for the distinction of being crowned the best of the best.
You don't have to be a karate or kung fu aficionado to enjoy K-1. Many if not most of the sport's fans have little previous interest in martial arts. A host of celebrities join males and females of all ages and backgrounds to make up K-1's dedicated fan base, and the reason for this is simple: People like excitement, and K-1 delivers.
With this year's Regional Qualifying Tournaments, you'll have an opportunity to see for yourself. Chances are that once you get a taste of the action you'll be hooked, just like the millions everywhere who have already discovered the world of K-1, the king of fighting sports.
K-1 Grand Prix
Throughout the year K-1 holds various 16-men, 8-match grand prix style tournaments to determine the top 16 fighters who will compete in the K-1 World GP. K-1 events most commonly take place in Japan, but they have hosted shows in the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, France, South Korea, Australia, Sweden, Russia, Croatia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, Hungary, Spain, Brazil and the USA, etc.
K-1 HISTORY
In 1980, Kazuyoshi Ishii founded his own karate organization New Japan Karatedo Federation Seido - Kaikan , after he resigned from Ashihara-Kaikan to which he had belonged for a few months since it (and Mr. Ishii) had broken out of the Kyokushin organization, Kyokushin-kaikan, earlier the same year. He then established the Seidokan Karate school in Osaka, with dojos and university-based karate clubs in the Kansai area.In 1982, the first All Japan Karatedo Tournament was held in Osaka, organized by Ishii and Seido-Kaikan, the new governing body for Seidokan Karate. The full-contact competition filled the Furitsu Gymnasium and was broadcast on local television.
In 1983, Seido-Kaikan fighters squared off against a group of Kung fu experts at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Kansai, Hong Kong, and had won the contest. Meanwhile, Ishii became the first Chairman of the newly formed All Japan Budo Promotion Association, an organization made up of Kansai-area karate and kenpo groups.
In 1985, Seido-Kaikan opened an office in the United States with Tom Edwards as its manager. Mr. Ishii began to send his students to other organizations' competitions to show their ability in 1986.
In 1988, two of Ishii's students, Toshiyuki Yanagisawa and Masaaki Satake, finished 1st and 2nd in the Karate Real Champion Tournament, earning Ishii's Seido-Kaikan respect in the martial arts community.
In 1991, following a series of successful tournaments, Seido -Kaikan went to Tokyo for a tournament against USA Oyama Karate, in which Masaaki Satake beat the legendary Willie Williams.
In 1992, Kazuyoshi Ishii held the first ever gloved karate event, in Japan, the Karate Japan Open, and Masaaki Satake had won it. K-1's eight-year history began with the revolutionary vision of Japan's Kazuyoshi Ishii. Following a sky-high climb through the ranks as martial arts mentor, promoter, and official, Ishii thought it was time to organize a major martial arts event. It was a dream meeting because of its concept, which was to decide the strongest martial artist in a night.
With karate moving closer to kickboxing in style, Ishii organizes the first K-1 Grand Prix at the Yoyogi Dai-Ichi Stadium in Tokyo, on 30 April, 1993. The event was held in a regulation-size boxing ring under the revolutionary K-1 rules, which permit punches to accommodate both karate and kickboxing fighters.
A sellout crowd of 10,000 saw Croatian karate and kickboxing veteran Branko Cikatić win the tournament after he knocked out Changpuek Kiatsongrit, Masaaki Satake and Ernesto Hoost. The very first K-1 would be the first place that Ernesto Hoost and Peter Aerts would fight, with Hoost winning the match by decision.
Later in the same year, the K-2 Grand Prix was held, which was a tournament in the light heavyweight class. Ernesto Hoost knocked out Changpuek Kiatsongrit in the final.
By Michael Afromowitz
HOW POPULAR?
The sport is most popular in Brazil, Japan, Europe, and Russia. Profesional K-1 becoming very popular in USA too- although fightsports are still banned in many states. Most K-1 contests in the United States take place in Las Vegas or Honolulu. The sports events are frequently shown on Tokyo Broadcasting System in Japan, Pay Per View television or ESPN 2 on "Friday Night Fights" in the United States and on Eurosport in Europe. K-1 events are broadcast in other countries by national and sports channels.
The competitions have been met with some fan and fighting pundit criticisms over the past few years since Bob Sapp became one of the fight co-ordinators due to their increased use of lower quality athletes that headline the events for no other reason than size or real-world status such as former Yokozuna Akebono, and comedian Bobby Ologun. Through this avenue, match quality is sacrificed for spectacality. Extremely biased judging in favour of Japanese fighters has been observed at many of the major K-1 international tournaments held in Japan. It is perceived wisdom that you must score multiple knockdowns or knock out a Japanese fighter to score a win at Japanese venues. Part of this problem stems from the fact that the judges are exclusively Japanese. The same problem has been seen to occur at the Korean K-1 events with Korean fighters. This controversy has recently appeared again at K-1 Heroes 6 in a match pitting Kazushi Sakuraba, the man that had been promoted as the face of the division and Lithuanian fighter Kestutis Smirnovas. Smirnovas, recovering from a front kick, caught Sakuraba coming in and knocking him to the ground senseless. Smirnovas, over the course of two minutes, pummelled Sakuraba with over 20 unprotected and unanswered punches, but the referee refused to stop the fight, only stepping in to reposition the fighters. Smirnovas, after three and a half minutes of relentless punching, began to slow down. This gave Sakuraba the opportunity to recover and knock down Smirnovas and get a submission win on him. K-1 promoter, Akira Maeda called from ringside for the fight to be stopped during the time Smirnovas was striking Sakuraba and along with PRIDE fighter Hidehiko Yoshida, condemned the actions of the referee. On June 30, 2006, K-1 officials reversed the result of a contest between Dutch fighter Remy Bonjasky and French fighter Jérôme Le Banner, held on May 13, 2006 at the K-1 World Grand Prix in Amsterdam event. The original result was a slim majority decision for Bonjasky (30-30, 29-28, 30-28). However, Le Banner filed a protest and K-1 officials from Japan and the United States reviewed the match based on current K-1 Grand Prix judging criteria. They made several conclusions, among which was the fact that the composition of the judges—all Dutch—completely ignored the element of impartiality. The result was reversed, giving the win to Le Banner by a score of 30-29. The K-1 website was updated to reflect this decision
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Professional K-1
and
Amateur K-1
Biggest difference is that Amateur K-1 has protection helmets and gear, versus profesional one -don't. Even little kids can do Amateur Competitions, becuase they use added chest protection for the kids-juts like in Taekwondo. Amateur K-1 is getting his popularity increased dramaticly in past 10 years, and in 5-10 years, we can see it next to Olympic Style Taekwondo in Olympic games. As first Amateur K-1 Fight club in USA-we offer you chance to be pioneers in this great sport advernture!
14911 E 127th St, Lemont IL 60439 USA E-mail: info@USAAmateurK-1Federation.com
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