Favorite kickboxer

As a Turk, my favorite kickboxer is definitely Gokhan Saki. Former glory and k1 champion and an overall nice guy
 
English wikipedia top kickboxers by pageviews (2018):

1. Tenshin Nasukawa
2. Buakaw Banchamek
3. Badr Hari
4. Choi Hong-man
5. Saenchai
6. Rico Verhoeven
7. Yi Long
8. Joe Schilling
9. Nieky Holzken
10. Alex Pereira

11. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong
12. John Wayne Parr
13. Hesdy Gerges
14. Gevorg Petrosyan
15. Yodsanklai Fairtex
16. Jamal Ben Saddik
17. Robin van Roosmalen
16. Liam Harrison
19. Kevin Ross
20. Andy Souwer
 
I'm a bit bias but I'd say the ones I discovered when I was a teen. Buakaw, Petrosyan, Andy Souwer... I think my favourite is probably Masato though. He benefits from being one of the only fighters where you can watch every fight he ever had - a lot of kickboxing bouts end up not being on film - so Masato's entire career being recorded and seeing him develop into one of the best ever is great.
 
Robin van roosmalen because he's shorter than me and is able to knock down people bigger than him. I also like sittichai because he has really good hands for a thai, and tyrone spong because he is a good boxer and kickboxer, who has a really good overhand.
 
who is the kick boxing goat

At lightweight Giorgio Petrosyan - he beat every name in their prime save Masato (who he didn't get to fight) and Buakaw (who he drew with) - his sole recorded loss is Andy Ristie who ended up being a flash in the pan after leaving Lucien Carbin.
Below him it's really a tie between Masato and Buakaw (though some will throw in Andy Souwer too). There isn't really a clear cut best in kickboxing

At Heavyweight it's Semmy Schilt. There's a lot of love for Ernesto Hoost, Bonjasky, Aerts and many many more, but Schilt's the most accomplished having won every tournament he ever took part in.
 
At lightweight Giorgio Petrosyan - he beat every name in their prime save Masato (who he didn't get to fight) and Buakaw (who he drew with) - his sole recorded loss is Andy Ristie who ended up being a flash in the pan after leaving Lucien Carbin.
Below him it's really a tie between Masato and Buakaw (though some will throw in Andy Souwer too). There isn't really a clear cut best in kickboxing

At Heavyweight it's Semmy Schilt. There's a lot of love for Ernesto Hoost, Bonjasky, Aerts and many many more, but Schilt's the most accomplished having won every tournament he ever took part in.

Ernesto hoost was a fighter that my old muay thai instructor (that was mostly a kickboxing instructor) referred me too. He was teaching us that 1-2-uppercut, and leg kick combo.
 
At lightweight Giorgio Petrosyan - he beat every name in their prime save Masato (who he didn't get to fight) and Buakaw (who he drew with) - his sole recorded loss is Andy Ristie who ended up being a flash in the pan after leaving Lucien Carbin.
Below him it's really a tie between Masato and Buakaw (though some will throw in Andy Souwer too). There isn't really a clear cut best in kickboxing

For me it's not just who you beat but how you beat them. And that's why IMO Buakaw was a level above Masato and Andy Souwer. I see Petrosyan and Buakaw as the best 2 at LW.

At Heavyweight it's Semmy Schilt. There's a lot of love for Ernesto Hoost, Bonjasky, Aerts and many many more, but Schilt's the most accomplished having won every tournament he ever took part in.

I agree with your pick, however Schilt didn't win every tournament he ever took part in, that's not true. Just out of memory in the 2010 K-1 tournament Peter managed to edge him in the semi final and went to fight Overeem in the final completely damaged. That's just on top of my head and there might be others. But yeah he's definitely the most accomplished anyway.
 
At lightweight Giorgio Petrosyan - he beat every name in their prime save Masato (who he didn't get to fight) and Buakaw (who he drew with) - his sole recorded loss is Andy Ristie who ended up being a flash in the pan after leaving Lucien Carbin.
Below him it's really a tie between Masato and Buakaw (though some will throw in Andy Souwer too). There isn't really a clear cut best in kickboxing

At Heavyweight it's Semmy Schilt. There's a lot of love for Ernesto Hoost, Bonjasky, Aerts and many many more, but Schilt's the most accomplished having won every tournament he ever took part in.

I can see where you're coming from with Schilt, however I do not think it is that simple.

Aerts has a winning record against Schilt (3-2), one less GP win than Hoost & Schilt (3) and he has held titles in Muay Thai and other Kickboxing styles; Hoost has a winning record against Aerts (4-2), ties Schilt in GP wins (4) and he holds titles over many styles of Kickboxing; Schilt has a winning record against Hoost (2 wins, 1 draw), ties him with GP wins (4) and hold titles in Karate.

The way I see it, it's basically a pick 'em between the three in a similar way the Four Kings of Boxing are/were.
 
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I don't 100% disagree about Schilt, but


I can see where you're coming from with Schilt, however I do not think it is that simple.

Aerts has a winning record against Schilt (3-2), one less GP win than Hoost & Schilt (3) and he has held titles in Muay Thai and other Kickboxing styles; Hoost has a winning record against Aerts (4-2), ties Schilt in GP wins (4) and he holds titles over many styles of Kickboxing; Schilt has a winning record against Hoost (2 wins, 1 draw), ties him with GP wins (4) and hold titles in Karate.

The way I see it, it's basically a pick 'em between the three in a similar way the Four Kings of Boxing are/were.

Well technically Schilt won more tournaments in Glory. For instance the first Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam Tournament at Glory 4 Tokyo which was stacked like a K-1 tournament:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_in_Glory#Dream_18/Glory_4:_Tokyo

Schilt won that tournament beating fighters like Rico Verhoeven, Gokhan Saki and Daniel Ghita along the way, while Peter Aerts got KO'd in his first fight by Mourad Bouzidi.

If you consider K-1 results, dominance and Glory results, Semmy Schilt is above Aerts and Hoost in accomplishment.

4 x K-1 WGP champion, Glory Gland Slam champion, K-1 HW belt and Glory HW belt. He also has a winning ratio of 86%, while Aerts has a winning ratio of 74% and Ernesto Hoost a winning ratio of 82%.
 
Well technically Schilt won more tournaments in Glory. For instance the first Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam Tournament at Glory 4 Tokyo which was stacked like a K-1 tournament:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_in_Glory#Dream_18/Glory_4:_Tokyo

Schilt won that tournament beating fighters like Rico Verhoeven, Gokhan Saki and Daniel Ghita along the way, while Peter Aerts got KO'd in his first fight by Mourad Bouzidi.

If you consider K-1 results, dominance and Glory results, Semmy Schilt is above Aerts and Hoost in accomplishment.

4 x K-1 WGP champion, Glory Gland Slam champion, K-1 HW belt and Glory HW belt. He also has a winning ratio of 86%, while Aerts has a winning ratio of 74% and Ernesto Hoost a winning ratio of 82%.

Oops, I meant to reply to the user with the John Marston picture, sorry for quoting your post by accident.

That being said, there isn't really a counter argument I can give, you proved your point that Schilt wins by resume haha. I did not know that he performed so well in the Glory HW tourney though, for some reason I got it in my head that Schilt lost to Verhoeven. I even have a false memory of a Glory promo posturing up Rico as 'the man who's beaten the man'; I was way off.

I can't really disagree that on paper Schilt looks like the best, but I think in prime-for-prime matchups between Hoost, Aerts and Schilt, there would not be a clear "best"; of course, that's all just conjecture though.
 
For me it's not just who you beat but how you beat them. And that's why IMO Buakaw was a level above Masato and Andy Souwer. I see Petrosyan and Buakaw as the best 2 at LW..

Yeah, I think that's fair. I think Buakaw/Kraus/Masato/Souwer is a bit of a four kings situation. I'd say Masato and Buakaw would probably come out on top for me - but they're also my favourites of the two.

I agree with your pick, however Schilt didn't win every tournament he ever took part in, that's not true. Just out of memory in the 2010 K-1 tournament Peter managed to edge him in the semi final and went to fight Overeem in the final completely damaged. That's just on top of my head and there might be others. But yeah he's definitely the most accomplished anyway.
Ahh yeah you're quite right. I heard Ray Sefo say that in like the 2009 final and for some reason I thought that was his last one. So he won all but on tournament. Must be honest though it's that last Glory one where he is old and also not a particularly well man that cements him as the best for me - beating three absolute killer heavyweights in his final retirement tournament.

Oops, I meant to reply to the user with the John Marston picture, sorry for quoting your post by accident.

That being said, there isn't really a counter argument I can give, you proved your point that Schilt wins by resume haha. I did not know that he performed so well in the Glory HW tourney though, for some reason I got it in my head that Schilt lost to Verhoeven. I even have a false memory of a Glory promo posturing up Rico as 'the man who's beaten the man'; I was way off.

I can't really disagree that on paper Schilt looks like the best, but I think in prime-for-prime matchups between Hoost, Aerts and Schilt, there would not be a clear "best"; of course, that's all just conjecture though.
In fairness - I don't think it's a huuuuuge gap. I don't think Schilt was leagues above the rest. I do agree it was a bit of a rock paper scissors deal with those big guys - but I'd say Schilt ultimately proved himself to be the best. He's the one giant that actually managed to live up.
 
I don't think I could name anyone who hasn't been already, but I'll throw some Aussies in:
JWP
Tentori
Macfie

I also really like Charles Bongiovanni.
 
Funny story. I'm not the world's biggest kickboxing fan but I do enjoy it. And, when I watch it I tend to like fighters who go to war rather than fighting in a more technical style to win on points. And, one fighter that goes to war a lot is Joe Schilling. Whom I was only moderately aware of & had only seen fight once or twice before he KO'd Melvin Manhoef in Bellator. Which put him on my radar & who I began following as a result.
So, he became my favorite active kickboxer.
Fast forward a couple of years & I meet my eventual fiance who used to work for the UFC & for Team Oyama's gym in Huntington Beach a few years ago as a PT/medical tech. And, while discussing her time there it came up that she used to date Schilling. Weird, huh?
I don't know how I feel about it.
On one hand, it's sort of cool. I mean, every adult has past relationships so it's no big deal. That time in her life could have been taken up by some random dude or it could have been taken up by Schilling. Right? So, it's no big deal.
On the other hand, though, it's just sort of strange. I mean I'm an Eskimo brother to an individual that was one of my favorite fighters. I don't dwell on that fact but it's there.
Plus, being a former pro fighter myself I've always had comfort in knowing that I could very likely beat up any of my girlfriend's previous significant others. Yeah, it's a lame male ego thing but I won't deny it. But, in this case, obviously, that's not the case. So that's weird. I've never had to deal with it before but while it's a bit humbling it's no big deal. I'm dealing with it just fine. And it's not as if she ever really brings him up.
But, I'm curious, if you were in my shoes how would you handle it? Would it bother you or not?

I say learn to check low kicks if schilling comes back lol
 
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