Martin Holm (November 27, 1976 – June 24, 2009) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...

kickboxer Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid martial art and boxing type based on punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouth guards, shorts, and ...

and former WMC Muaythai World Champion. In

K-1 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the worl ...

he fought against some of the biggest stars at the time, like

Ernesto Hoost Ernesto Frits Hoost (born 11 July 1965) is a Dutch retired professional kickboxer. A four-time K-1 World Champion, Hoost is considered to be one of the greatest kickboxers of all time. Debuting in 1993 at the K-1 World Grand Prix 1993, where h ...

Ray Sefo Ray Sefo (born 15 February 1971) is a New Zealand fight promoter and retired kickboxer, boxer, and mixed martial artist. He was the K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 Runner-up, is a six-time Muay Thai World Champion, and was an eight time K-1 World G ...

, Michael McDonald and

Glaube Feitosa Glaube Araújo Feitosa (born April 9, 1973) is a Brazilian former kickboxer and a kyokushin full contact karate practitioner who was competing in K-1. In 2005, Feitosa won K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Las Vegas tournament and was a K-1 World G ...

Biography and career

When Martin Holm was seven years old, he started swimming in the local swimming school. A few years later he became interested in

Aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art which is split into many different styles including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai, and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practic ...

and practiced it for four years. Soon after he became interested in

Shotokan Karate is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" thr ...

. When he was 14 he entered one of the best

gyms in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

at that time, "Slagskeppet Muay Thai," where he met

Jörgen Kruth Jörgen Ingmar Kruth (born May 8, 1974) is a retired Swedish professional kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He is a former two time World Muay Thai Council Heavyweight Muaythai World Champion. He is considered to be among the gre ...

and immediately was taken by the sport. Martin was 18 years old and vacationing in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

with his trainer Po Lindvall and Jörgen Kruth when he had his first fight. He was not prepared for the fight but his opponent was an experienced local Muay Thai fighter. Holm attacked hard, fired a lot of shots and won the fight by a knockout with knee strikes at the 30 second mark in the first round. In 1998 or 1999 on the advice of his first trainer Po Lindvall Martin decided to follow his training friend Jorgen Kruth to Vallentuna Boxing Camp www.vbc.se, in an attempt to get to the next level as Lindvall was leaving his trainer carrier and VBC was the most excellent promoters of fighters at that time. From Vallentuna he had some professional fights and later entered K-1 two years after Kruth. Holm fought over 30 times for Slagskeppet and his first trainer Po Lindvall and won 4 European and 3 World titles before earning a WMC World Title match in 1999 in

. In 2002, he made his K-1 debut at the

K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 in Nagoya K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the world ...

. He knocked out

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

n Jokki Oberholtzer at 1'38" in the first round. His next fight was against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

practitioner

. Holm won again by a first round knock out. In 2002, in Saitama,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, he faced his toughest opponent yet, K-1 superstar

from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Holm lost the evenly fought battle by majority decision. He finished his rookie year in K-1 at the

K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 This is a list of events held and scheduled by the K-1, a Japanese kickboxing promotion. The first event, K-1 Sanctuary I, took place on March 30, 1993, at Kōrakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Since its inception, K-1 events were organized by the Fi ...

Finals undercard against

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

Michael McDonald. In 2003, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Holm fought against four-time K-1 World Champion

and lost by unanimous decision. In 2004, after his fight against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

Xhavit Bajrami Xhavit Bajrami (born October 30, 1975) is a Swiss former kickboxer who competed in the heavyweight division. A Seido karate practitioner and Andy Hug student, Bajrami built up an undefeated record domestically before he was recruited by K-1 whe ...

, Martin Holm retired from fighting in order to focus on his family and newborn son. After three years off, in January 2007, he announced he will be making his comeback to K-1. Martin Holm was found dead at a playground outside of his home in Täby north of Stockholm on 24 June 2009. The cause of death was suicide by hanging from a swingset. Holm had been privately struggling with depression and an emotional imbalance.

Titles

* 1994 WAKO Amateur Kickboxing European Champion * 1994 SIMTA Pro Muay Thai European Champion * 1995 WKA Amateur Kickboxing European Champion * 1997 WKA Amateur Kickboxing World Champion * 1998 IAMTF Amateur Muay Thai European Champion * 1999 IFMA Kings Cup Winner * 1999 WMC Pro Muay Thai World Champion

Kickboxing record (incomplete)

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Nagoya, Japan is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

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K-1 Scandinavia 2004 World Qualification This is a list of events held and scheduled by the K-1, a Japanese kickboxing promotion. The first event, K-1 Sanctuary I, took place on March 30, 1993, at Kōrakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Since its inception, K-1 events were organized by the Fig ...

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Solna, Sweden Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna is ...

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Jan Nortje Johannes "Jan" Nortje (born 11 April 1975) is a South African professional kickboxer, mixed martial artist and undefeated professional boxer who has fought for Strikeforce, DREAM, K-1, Inoki Genome Federation, PRIDE Fighting Championship and Ne ...

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K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 This is a list of events held and scheduled by the K-1, a Japanese kickboxing promotion. The first event, K-1 Sanctuary I, took place on March 30, 1993, at Kōrakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Since its inception, K-1 events were organized by the Fig ...

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Tokyo, Japan Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

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Phuket, Thailand Phuket (; , , or ''Tongkah'') is one of the southern provinces (''changwat'') of Thailand. It consists of the island of Phuket, the country's largest island, and another 32 smaller islands off its coast. Phuket lies off the west coast of m ...

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Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

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References

External links

Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holm, Martin 1976 births 2009 deaths Swedish male kickboxers Heavyweight kickboxers Swedish male Muay Thai practitioners Martial artists from Stockholm 20th-century Swedish sportsmen 21st-century Swedish sportsmen Suicides by hanging in Sweden 2009 suicides

Biography and career

Titles

Kickboxing record (incomplete)

See also

References

External links