What is the 'premier' Kickboxing organisation ?

[Broadcast]

Super Kombat is almost failing roght now, due to Respect Gym and it's rosters started their own Promotion (Respect World Series).

It isn"t true. And Respect World Series didn"t even host any other event.

Superkombat found new names in Cristian Spetcu, Amansio Paraschiv or others. Unfortunately one of the best young prospects died in car accident. SK will be on CBS now. They also don"t depend on Eurosport. Deals with South America will also be announced.

Superkombat dont depend on Stoica brothers. Wanna tell you some new names from Superkombat that made debut in Glory in the last 1-2 years or in China? Many are top 10 in the world.

* Yoann Kongolo
* Yousri Belgaroui
* Alex Pereira
* Zinedine Hameur-Lain
* Dangelo Marshall now at LA
* Cătălin Moroșanu in Chicago, also at Glory
* Amansio Paraschiv in Kunlun
* Cristian Spetcu also in China
* Roman Kryklia
* Cedric Manhoef
* Fabio Kwasi
* Felipe Micheletti
* Stauros Exakoustidis

Let"s say Sam, Zhuravlev and especially Londt are older.

ALL THESE came to prominence due to Superkombat. They first fought in SK, not in known promotions.

 

[Sakuraba7]

My understanding of the fall of K-1 is that it was rooted in the general culture of Japan shifting away from combat sports(relatively speaking). I met a Japanese guy a few months ago and we became friends. I asked him about K-1 and he said he loved the old days of Aerts, Hoost, Masato, etc. so then I asked him if he was a Takeru fan and he had no idea who he was. I tried to get him interested in the new scene but he just had zero interest, even though there are new Japanese stars.

For the big guys I like the big jumps in weight classes. Just a preference I suppose.

The weight class names are very superficial and I don't think much of them. When talking about K-1 I pretty much always just use the number and its no issue. They just use it to ease the transition of MMA fans. Probably a good idea to put pragmatism over tradition, especially as they are still really pushing to grow their brand.

Besides overlooking the lower weights, and the Japanese (and Asian) stars that could have come from them. I think the WGP model ran its course and became tiresome. I can see why the Japanese liked the olden days, the fighters were fresh and storylines were new. At some point however, it became the same 20 guys fighting over & over again, facing the same opponents for the fifth or tenth time. Then we have guys like Schilt who some considered boring, and also seeing him winning multiple years in a row.

As for your friend, once a guy loses interest it can be hard to come back. I've lost interest in WWF, which i was a fan of during the Attitude Era. I lost interest in MMA after PRIDE folded, then again after Strikeforce folded, i only recently started watching MMA again.

Using MMA weight-classes might ease some MMA fans into the sport, but that doesn't factor the boxing fans, or the oldschool MT or KB fans who are already used to a certain weight system (even if its not uniform). Kickboxing should attract both boxing and mma fans.
The gap of 15 lbs to 170 then to 185 is too much IMO. There's room for another division in there, and this is the divisions with a lot of potential prospects. In boxing, the Jr MW to MW to Sr MW divisions have excess talent. Its where both Eastern and Western kickboxers can converge. You have to factor weight-cutting. Guys weighing-in at 170 are natural 180'ers, but someone whose a natural 167 can't cut down to 155 and be competitive.

 

[Snubnoze707]

The gap of 15 lbs to 170 then to 185 is too much IMO. There's room for another division in there, and this is the divisions with a lot of potential prospects.

What prospects? Both 170 and 185 are extremely shallow to begin with. Their absolutely is no room for another division there in Kickboxing.

 

[Shadess]

* Yoann Kongolo
* Yousri Belgaroui
* Alex Pereira
* Zinedine Hameur-Lain
* Dangelo Marshall now at LA
* Cătălin Moroșanu in Chicago, also at Glory
* Amansio Paraschiv in Kunlun
* Cristian Spetcu also in China
* Roman Kryklia
* Cedric Manhoef
* Fabio Kwasi
* Felipe Micheletti
* Stauros Exakoustidis

Let"s say Sam, Zhuravlev and especially Londt are older.

ALL THESE came to prominence due to Superkombat. They first fought in SK, not in known promotions.

Kongolo, Pereira, Kryklia, Micheletti (and probably Manhoef) sure as shit didn't come to prominence from Superkombat.

 

[Mafanofe]

Alex Pereira started to Be notable to international competition on His late WGP days,where His promoters and The org placed him against south and north American opponents after he defeated Cesar almeida and became crowed The Best me kickboxer of The country

Micheletti The same as pereira

Kryklia was totally built for The Interna tional scene due tafnet

 

[SuperLuigi]

What prospects? Both 170 and 185 are extremely shallow to begin with. Their absolutely is no room for another division there in Kickboxing.

Ya honestly I'd rather conglomerate them into 80kg than add a third class in that range. Tons of great match ups with Kyshenko, Marcus, Doumbe, and Holzken.

 

[Broadcast]

I was not talking about being built necessarily. I"m talking about TV and important promotion. Scouting.

Shady, Cedric Manhoef held the Superkombat New Heroes belt for a while. Of course, he entered top 10 after. Kongolo didn"t fight in televised shows before Superkombat where he won Debut of the Year Award.

 

[OngBakBoy]

Glory and Enfusion I believe is the top of the foodchain right now, then there's Kunlun Fight which is really weird.

Bellator Kickboxing exist from nowhere.

K-1 is still there, but failed to be notice.

Super Kombat is almost failing roght now, due to Respect Gym and it's rosters started their own Promotion (Respect World Series).

I don't know if WFL is still alive.

Then we have Final Fight Championship and other European and Chinese Promotions aswell.

enfusion is probably the promotion that delivers the most excitement. i cant ever recall an enfusion event that was boring. their fighters are technically sound and always bring it. they might not be the best in term of actual level of fighters (their top fighters would probably lose against top fighters of other promotions) or the best in promotional succes, but damn do they give fans what they crave for, excitin fights.

i'd rather watch an enfusion event than a so you think you can dance mma fight or a let's please the gamblers muay thai fight

 

[Finding Deebo]

Bump...Gotta be Glory and One right? and then some distance to the 3rd best right? And which promotion would that be.

 

[Khonda]

It's K-1 and I wouldn't have it under ONE

 

[Blazeblack]

Bump...Gotta be Glory and One right? and then some distance to the 3rd best right? And which promotion would that be.

One, K-1 Japan and Glory are the top 3 and each seems to specialize. Glory has a strong WW, MW and LH division, they also have most of the top active heavyweights. One undeniably has the best 70kg division by far and has a lot of Muay Thai talent. K-1 is the king of the lighter weights. After these three it’s probably Enfusion then WLF in China.

 

[baconCrunch]

K-1 & Glory are #1 now
K-1 is best at lighter weights
Glory above LW-WW...
but both orgs have mixed european fighters

I don't feel ONE is up to par with the above

 

[Broadcast]

enfusion is probably the promotion that delivers the most excitement. i cant ever recall an enfusion event that was boring. their fighters are technically sound and always bring it. they might not be the best in term of actual level of fighters (their top fighters would probably lose against top fighters of other promotions) or the best in promotional succes, but damn do they give fans what they crave for, excitin fights.

i'd rather watch an enfusion event than a so you think you can dance mma fight or a let's please the gamblers muay thai fight

Lungu, you"re back! There is no Like button on your posting. ) Maybe because of the yellow?

 

[Snubnoze707]

K-1 & Glory are #1 now
K-1 is best at lighter weights
Glory above LW-WW...
but both orgs have mixed european fighters

I don't feel ONE is up to par with the above

This post would have made sense if it was made with the other posts in this thread 3 years ago.

ONE is absolutely on par, if not better in some ways, than those promotions.

Lungu, you"re back! There is no Like button on your posting. ) Maybe because of the yellow?

Check the post date...

 

[Broadcast]

ONE is not on par in my opinion, they haven"t developed yet the weight classes, except the LW. Sure, they signed new names, Londt, B Stoica, I think that also Inocente, but there is room for more on the roster.

The LW and the Muay Thai in ONE. The LW is perfect.

Still, should be considered the 2nd best after Glory.

 

[Broadcast]

ONE HW: Kryklia, Khbabez, Andrei Stoica, Bogdan Stoica, El Bouni, Anderson Braddock Silva, Londt, Aygun (in no order), also Inocente (?)

ag.

GLORY HW: Verhoeven, Ben Saddik, Adegbuyi, Hari, Marshall, Wilnis, etc

GLORY LHW: Vakhitov, Pereira, Tavares, Abena, Maslobojev

ag.

ONE LHW: no division yet

GLORY MW: Wisse, Belgaroui, etc (almost no one, very weak now, needs fresh names, even from the WW)

ag.

ON MW: no division yet

GLORY WW: Doumbe, Nabiev, Harut, Bates, Meshnikov, Hamicha, Semeleer

ag.

ONE WW: Eeersel, Holzken (that"s all)


Nobody takes seriously a promotion which is focused a lot on the "bantamweights" and all the Japanese and Asian midgets, that don"t hold global divisions. It"s the same in boxing. You can take seriously the MAX aka LW (70 kilogram) weight class, division, and the Muay Thai maybe because it"s a different sport and others don"t have.

Really, if you want to watch only "cockfights", then straweights, flyweights and bantamweights.

 

[Broadcast]

Japan height now is like of South Korea 173.5 cm, China height is smaller but at Beijing Region is 175.2. Same as in France (175.5).

So develop also the heavier division, otherwise nobody will take it seriously in the Netherlands! Only the dumb writers from North America.

There are countries in Europe, especially in South-Eastern Europe, with average height of 172-175 cm. Europeans, whites!

So you can"t say Japan, South Korea and China are really like Thailand, there is a huge lack of heavier kickboxers in these countries! Or they should start promoting them also.

I am not saying they should do, if they don"t want to expand locally it"s not my business, but ONE Championship without HEAVIER PROMOTIONS also will not be taken seriously!

Kickboxing = K-1 (Schilt, Hoost, Aerts, Bonjasky, etc)

If Chattri thinks "kickboxing" is Asia, he is wrong. I do agree with more weight classes, no problem, but kickboxing is global and any serious promotion should be like in the UFC.

Imagine a Bellator competing with UFC without many weight classes/divisions. And like I said before, weeks ago, smallest weight classes are not GLOBAL. LW is global, but some others are not. They are not very expanded in Europe.

I mean Superbon as a p4p is deserveful (like Sittichai was), Takeru and Tenshin no way. They just fight in Japan and that part of Asia. Even their Chinese and Thai opposition is limited. Even if they win 170 fights in a row, we will never know how good they were. Masato for example was a deserveful p4p. Masato faced global opposition in K-1 MAX.

 

[Kanka]

I'd say 99% of kickboxing is Europe, Japan, China, China. 1 % for the rest of of the world.

 

[Snubnoze707]

I really don't think it's possible for one promotion to be stacked in every division. I think it's better for promotions to focus on making strong divisions where they can. ONE doesn't need HW at all. Maybe 77 or 85kg max. Let Glory take those divisions and try to build them up, instead of rotating the same 5 fighters.

ONE is also not just a Kickboxing promotion, they have a strong Muay Thai division, a big push for women divisions, and MMA. Now if Glory was to go under, ya they should try to take over those divisions as well if they keep getting cash injections.

 

[Broadcast]

Depends, do they want to be just an Asian promotion? Because if they don"t care about the Netherlands and Europe, they can skip expanding/developing. Certainly they cannot overtake Glory that way. As quality maybe yes, but what kind of promotion is that without all the weight classes? Take a look at UFC and Boxrec. In my opinion they cannot just focus on Muay Thai and under 70 kilogram.

It would be also "odd" to sell rights in the Unites States, and to promote only the lighties and Muay Thai. Because the people are different. They could still make it though if the quality is big, if the product is good.

But let"s face it, besides the elite, the LW is also not really that great. You cannot just promote all over the same fighters.

On the other hand, there is that negative aspect that you mention, it is a split of fighters. But there is also positivity to be honest, kickboxing could grow. Where is competition it"s the best. UFC would also need a serious competitor, not this joke Bellator. All the other MMA promotions are just feeding Glory and they don"t send future stars there. UFC must polish them big. Today, MMA is much weaker than kickboxing.

In my opinion, just keep expanding, developing all the promotions into professional circuits. Starting from the head of kickboxing, the HW, to the FW. The rests if you have them, it"s their will. There is huge potential for kickboxing, but for this you must scout and use all the bigger scenes.

Would have been better though if kickboxing would have kept stealing Muay Thai fighters (all are lighter).