K-1 Kickboxing was formed in 1993 with the idea that all the top kickboxing names would flee to the promotion in order to find out who the baddest man on the planet was. The idea was simple: Throw a bunch of tough guys in a tournament and see who comes out on top. It was called the K-1 World Grand Prix.
While maintaining a bit of a cult following among combat sports fans in the United States of America, the promotion flourished in Japan, selling out 50,000 seat stadiums multiple times. K-1 has established stars such as Ernesto Hoost, Peter Aerts, Andy Hug and Semmy Schilt. Even though the fighters of K-1 were free to take fights in other promotions to hone their skills, this is the promotion where most of them became stars.
Mark Hunt and Jerome Le Banner met in the K-1 World Grand Prix Semi-Finals in 2002 and put on one of kickboxing’s most exciting fights to date. Mark Hunt, even to this day in the UFC, is known for having an incredible chin. Jerome Le Banner stood across him and threw anything he could to stop the Samoan. This bout truly was the Unstoppable Force vs the Immovable Object. Enjoy!
