Branko Cikatić
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Branko Cikatić
Branko Cikatić (4 October 1954 – 22 March 2020) was a Croatian heavyweight kickboxer, the first Croatian-born fighter to achieve international success. He was the first K-1 World Grand Prix Champion. The tournament was held on April 30, 1993 in Japan. Biography and career Cikatić began his martial arts training at the age of 12 when he took up Taekwondo, and later Shotokan Karate at 16. He eventually earned a black belt in both of these disciplines, as well as a blue belt in Judo. When he was 18 years old, he took up boxing before switching to kickboxing. He surprised the martial arts world by taking the 1993 K-1 Grand Prix tournament by storm, knocking out all three of his opponents in one evening, including Ernesto Hoost in the final match. To date Cikatić is the oldest winner of the K-1 Grand Prix at 38 years and 208 days. He extended his athletic resume to include mixed martial arts in 1998, fighting in the Pride Fighting Championships. His PRIDE debut was fought ag ...
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Croats
The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. Due to political, social and economic reasons, many Croats migrated to North and South America as well as New Zealand and later Australia, establishing a diaspora in the aftermath of World War II, with grassroots assistance from earlier communities and the Roman Catholic Church. In Croatia (the nation state), 3.9 million people identify themselves as Croats, and constitute about 90.4% of the population. Another 553,000 live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where they are one of the three constituent ethnic groups, predominantly living in Western Herzegovina, Central Bosnia and Bosnian Posavina. The minority in Serbia number about 70,000, mostly in Vojvodina. The ...
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Antonio Plazibat
Antonio Plazibat (born 12 December 1993) is a Croatian professional kickboxer, who currently competes in the Heavyweight division of Glory. Plazibat was the 2014 FFC Futures Light Heavyweight tournament winner, the 2017 K-1 WGP Heavyweight World Grand Prix winner and a former K-1 Heavyweight Champion. At the amateur level, Plazibat was a three-time national champion, having won the Croatian Kickboxing Championships consecutively between 2015 and 2017. Plazibat captured medals at both the WAKO world and continental tournaments, as he won the silver medal at the 2015 WAKO World Championships and the gold medal at the 2018 European Championships. As of January 2023, he is ranked as the second best heavyweight kickboxer in the world by both Beyond Kick and Combat Press. Combat Press has ranked him as a top ten heavyweight continually since August 2021. Amateur career Antonio Plazibat began his kickboxing career as an amateur, training with Ameno Gym. His first fight was again ...
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1999 In Pride FC
The year 1999 is the 3rd year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 1999 had 4 events beginning with, ''Pride 5''. Debut Pride FC fighters The following fighters fought their first Pride FC fight in 1999: * Anthony Macias * Bob Schrijber * Carl Ognibene * Carlos Barreto * Ebenezer Fontes Braga * Egan Inoue * Enson Inoue * Fabiano Iha * Francisco Bueno * Frank Trigg * Guy Mezger * Hiroki Kurosawa * Larry Parker * Mark Coleman * Maurice Smith * Minoru Toyonaga * Naoya Ogawa * Nobuaki Kakuda * Ricardo Morais * Soichi Nishida * Tom Erikson * Tully Kulihaapai * Vitor Belfort * Wanderlei Silva Events list Pride 5 Pride 5 was an event held on April 29, 1999, at The Nagoya Rainbow Hall in Nagoya, Japan. Results Pride 6 Pride 6 was an event held on July 4, 1999, at The Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. Results Pride 7 Pride 7 was an event held on September 12, 1999, at The Yokoha ...
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Mark Kerr (fighter)
Syracuse Orange Mark Kerr (born December 21, 1968 in Toledo, Ohio) is an American champion collegiate wrestler and retired mixed martial artist. During his MMA career he was regarded by many as the best fighter in the world, and was a World Vale Tudo Championship tournament winner, a two-time UFC heavyweight tournament winner, and a PRIDE FC competitor. In 2003, Kerr was the subject of an HBO documentary titled '' The Smashing Machine'', which detailed his MMA career fighting in Vale Tudo, the UFC and PRIDE. ''The Smashing Machine'' also focused on Kerr's eventual struggle with substance abuse, his relationships with his then-girlfriend, various training partners, and his friendship with Mark Coleman. Biography Early life Mark Kerr was born in Toledo, Ohio to Tom and Mary Kerr. His father was Irish, and his mother was Puerto Rican. From early childhood, he would dream of being in the World Wrestling Federation and would hold mock fights with his younger siblings in t ...
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Pride Fighting Championships
PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts events, broadcast to about 40 countries worldwide.What is Pride?
, Official Pride site. Last retrieved December 5, 2006
PRIDE was owned by the (DSE). For the ten years of its existence, PRIDE was one of the most popular MMA organizations in the world. Pride broadcast its event ...
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Mixed Martial Arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. The first documented use of the term ''mixed martial arts'' was in a review of UFC 1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg in 1993. The question of who actually coined the term is subject to debate. During the early 20th century, various interstylistic contests took place throughout Japan and in the countries of the Four Asian Tigers. In Brazil, there was the sport of Vale Tudo, in which The Gracie family was known to promote Vale Tudo matches as a way to promote their own Brazilian jiu-jitsu style. A precursor to modern MMA was the 1976 Ali vs. Inoki exhibition bout (which ended in a draw after 15 rounds), fought between boxer Muhammad Ali and wrestler Antonio ...
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Ernesto Hoost
Ernesto Frits Hoost (born 11 July 1965) is a Dutch retired 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 he came just one win short of the world title, Hoost announced his retirement thirteen years later on 2 December 2006 after the K-1 World GP Final tournament in Tokyo Dome, Japan. Hoost holds notable victories over Peter Aerts (4x), Branko Cikatić, Mirko Cro Cop (3x), Jérôme Le Banner (3x), Andy Hug (3x), Ray Sefo (3x), Musashi (2x), Mike Bernardo, Francisco Filho (2x), Sam Greco, Stefan Leko (3x), Mark Hunt, Cyril Abidi, and Glaube Feitosa. Biography Hoost was born in Heemskerk, North Holland to Surinamese parents. He played football for amateur club Hollandia until he was 15 years old, when he started training in kickboxing at the newly opened Sokudo Gym. In 1983, he had his first match against Wim Scharrenberg, which he won by knockout in the se ...
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Boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time in a boxing ring. Although the term "boxing" is commonly attributed to "western boxing", in which only the fists are involved, boxing has developed in various ways in different geographical areas and cultures. In global terms, boxing is a set of combat sports focused on striking, in which two opponents face each other in a fight using at least their fists, and possibly involving other actions such as kicks, elbow strikes, Knee (strike), knee strikes, and headbutts, depending on the rules. Some of the forms of the modern sport are western boxing, Bare-knuckle boxing, bare knuckle boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, muay-thai, lethwei, savate, and Sanda (sport), sanda. Boxing techniques have been incorporated into many martial ar ...
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Black Belt (martial Arts)
In East Asian martial arts, the black belt is associated with expertise, but may indicate only competence, depending on the martial art. The use of colored belts is a relatively recent invention dating from the 1880s. Origin The systematic use of belt colour to denote rank was first used in Japan by Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo in the 1880s. Previously, Japanese Koryu instructors tended to provide rank certificates only. Initially the wide obi was used. As practitioners trained in a kimono, only white and black obi were used. This kind of ranking is less common in arts that do not claim a far Eastern origin, though it is used in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. Relative rank Rank and belts are not equivalent between arts, styles, or even within some organisations. In some arts, a black belt may be awarded in three years or even less, while in others it takes dedicated training of ten years or more. Testing for black belt is commonly more rigorous and more centrali ...
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Karate
(; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fujian White Crane. Karate is now predominantly a striking art using Punch (combat), punching, kicking, knee (strike), knee strikes, elbow strikes and open-hand techniques such as Knifehand strike, knife-hands, spear-hands and palm-heel strikes. Historically, and in some modern styles, grappling, throws, joint locks, restraints and kyusho-jitsu, vital-point strikes are also taught. A karate practitioner is called a . The Empire of Japan annexed the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1879. Karate came to mainland Japan in the early 20th century during a time of migration as Ryukyuans, especially from Okinawa, looked for work in the main islands of Japan. It was systematically taught in Japan after the Taishō ...
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Martial Arts
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preservation of a nation's intangible cultural heritage. Etymology According to Paul Bowman, the term ''martial arts'' was popularized by mainstream popular culture during the 1960s to 1970s, notably by Hong Kong martial arts films (most famously those of Bruce Lee) during the so-called "chopsocky" wave of the early 1970s. According to John Clements, the term '':wikt:martial art, martial arts'' itself is derived from an older Latin (language), Latin term meaning "arts of Mars (mythology), Mars", the Roman mythology, Roman god of war, and was used to refer to the combat systems of Europe (European martial arts) as early as the 1550s. The term martial science, or martial sciences, was commonly used to refer to the fighting arts of E ...
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Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans Japanese archipelago, an archipelago of List of islands of Japan, 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island, Okinawa. Tokyo is the Capital of Japan, nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated and Urbanization by country, urbanized. About three-fourths of Geography of Japan, the c ...
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