Kyokushin Honbu Dojo

Mas Oyama’s knockdown karate is not kickboxing, but it fed the sport a specific kind of fighter: extreme body conditioning, head kicks as the primary knockout weapon, and — because the code bans punches to the head — very little head movement. Andy Hug’s axe kick makes sense only against opponents whose guard is set for round kicks, which is a Kyokushin habit carried into a code that punishes it.