The World Kickboxing Network (WKN) is an international

Kickboxing Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid Martial arts, martial art and Boxing (disambiguation), boxing type based on punch (combat), punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, norma ...

governing body established in 1994 by Stephane Cabrera.

History

In 1994, the World Kickboxing Network was founded as a subsidiary of (ISKA) to capture new markets. The ISKA's operations were concentrated in the North American market, while WKN was focusing in Europe, Asia & South America. In the 1990s there was strong competition between kickboxing federations. Both organizations split in late 1998 due to minor disagreements. The newly created team was chaired by Frenchman leader Stephane Cabrera with others persons as Billy Murray, Olivier Muller and others. On September 19, 1998, WKN became the first organization to promote a world championship in

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 ...

on the same event as a

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

world championship. Jérôme Le Banner vs. Espedito Da Silva for the WKN World super heavyweight Muay Thai title was sanctioned on the undercard of Evander Holyfield vs. Vaughn Bean for the WBA and IBF heavyweight titles at

Georgia Dome The Georgia Dome was a Stadium#Types, domed stadium in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta between downtown Atlanta, downtown to the east and Vine City to the west, it was owned and operated by the State of Georgia as part of th ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. The event was organized in collaboration with promoter Don King whom raised the hand of Le Banner, crowned new WKN Muay Thai world champion after knocking out Da Silva in the first-round. On October 22, 2004, WKN made history in kickboxing by promoting the first kickboxing world championship bout in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Samir Mohamed vs. Alexander Kozachenko for the WKN World super lightweight title headlined the

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia, owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its WBD Sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

and

Pro TV PRO TV (, often stylized as PRO•TV since 2017) is a Romanian free-to-air television network, launched on 1 December 1995 as the fourth private TV channel in the country (after TV SOTI, Antena 1, and the now-defunct, but online Tele7ABC). It is ...

televised event Local Kombat 10 in the city of

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The Sud-Est (development region), ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2021 Romanian ...

. The local Kombat promotion later developed into the Superkombat Fighting Championship, with its winners competing for the WKN titles. In January 2011, International Vale Tudo Championship (IVC) announced its return with a new ruleset based on the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. On August 20, 2016, WKN brought IVC back to the international scene by co-promoting ''Micheletti Vs. Ortiz'' for the WKN World super cruiserweight World title in the main event of IVC 15 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The event also included MMA bouts. Micheletti defeated Ortiz and took the title by knockout in the first round. After IVC 15, there were no more events and the organization is currently on hiatus. After IVC 15 there were no more events and the organization is currently on hiatus. In 2014, WKN launched a world series of international kickboxing events named ''Simply the Best'' which was broadcast on

FOX Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

and SFR Sport 5.

WKN World Cup

WKN World Cup 2009 Paceville, St. Julian's, Malta The event took place in St. Julian's, Malta on September 19, 2009 with up to 13 countries partaking, including Malta, Corsica, Belgium, Egypt, France, Poland, UK, among others. WKN World Cup 2019 Auckland, New Zealand The event was held from November 28 to November 30, 2019, as an amateur championship contested by international athletes in their respective weight classes. It took place at

The Trusts Arena The Trusts Arena is an indoor arena located in Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand. It is a multi-purpose stadium that primarily holds sports events and music concerts. The Arena was opened by then Prime Minister of New Zealand Helen Clark on 11 ...

in Auckland, New Zealand with up to 60 countries participating. The event marked the first time kickboxing and mixed martial arts world championships were contested at the same event in New Zealand. The WKN World Middleweight MMA title bout between Kelvin Joseph and Roan Carneiro as well as the WKN World Super Heavyweight championship bout between the champion Gregory Tony and former UFC Heavyweight title challenger and former Cage Rage World Heavyweight champion Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva were expected to headline the last day of competition. The fight between Tony and Silva was cancelled, as Silva was not medically cleared after being knocked out in his previous bout. Carneiro won the fight against Joseph and took the title by submission in the first round. WKN World Cup 2017 Tehran, Iran The event was held in Tehran, Iran on March 10, 2017 with 12 countries participating.

WKN Champions

* Tyrone Spong * Jerome Le Banner * Batu Khasikov * Nathan Corbett * John Wayne Parr * Artem Levin * Corentin Jallon * Riyadh Al-Azzawi * Vladimir Mineev * Andrei Kulebin * Yohan Lidon * Xhavit Bajrami * Dmitry Shakuta * Alexander Ustinov * Daniel Ghiță * Cătălin Moroșanu * Ionuț Atodiresei * Amancio Paraschiv * Ionuț Iftimoaie * Nicolas Wamba * Siniša Kovačić * Ekaterina Vandaryeva *

Ondřej Hutník Ondřej Hutník (born February 19, 1983) is a retired Czech Muay Thai kickboxer. He is a former SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Championship title challenger. Biography and career On December 30, 2011, Hutník defeated Mohamed Boubkari and Fra ...

* Youssef Boughanem * Brandon Vieira * Federico Roma * Sudsakorn Sor Klinmee * Jacko Ali * Simon Dore * Cristian Bosch * * * *

Champions by weight class

WKN uses the following weight divisions.

Sources

Books and articles *
"A History of Full Contact Karate

– Mikes Miles * Delmas Alain, Callière Jean-Roger, ''Histoire du Kick-boxing'', FKBDA, France, 1998 * Delmas Alain, ''Définition du Kick-boxing'', FKBDA, France, 1999 * Miles Mikes, sit
''An interview with Joe Lewis, 1998''

References

External links

*{{URL , http://www.worldkickboxingnetwork.net/ , World Kickboxing Network (WKN) Official Website Kickboxing organizations Sports organizations established in 1994