K-1

K-1 was founded in 1993 by Kazuyoshi Ishii, a Seidokaikan karate promoter who wanted to settle the question of which striking art produced the best fighter. The K in the name gestures at karate, kickboxing, kung fu and kempo; the 1 at finding a single champion among them.

The format was the innovation as much as the ruleset. A one-night, eight-man Grand Prix meant a champion had to win three fights in an evening, which rewarded durability and finishing ability over point accumulation and produced a decade of genuinely memorable finals. Ernesto Hoost, Peter Aerts, Semmy Schilt and Remy Bonjasky between them took most of them.

K-1 MAX, launched for the lighter divisions, arguably produced the better fights. It gave Masato, Buakaw, Andy Souwer and Giorgio Petrosyan a stage and made the Thailand-versus-Netherlands-versus-Japan stylistic argument into the sport's central storyline.

The original organisation collapsed financially around 2011-2012 and the brand has since been revived under different ownership, primarily as a Japanese domestic promotion where Takeru became the defining figure. Every major kickboxing promotion since has used a version of its ruleset.