working class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
family with 5 children, hailing from
Yozgat
Yozgat is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Yozgat Province and Yozgat District. His family emigrated to Australia when he was five and Solak grew up in the Northern Melbourne suburb of Brunswick among the Turkish community and in a crowded family.Global Promoting Phenomenon: Tarik Solak Suheyl Yekenkurul; 14 April 2005; Turk of America He started his
martial arts
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...
training in
taekwondo
Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...
under Jemal Hasan and achieved the rank of 4th dan. He later pursued a career in kickboxing and became a gym manager.
After a long fight with
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
, he died in October 2020, in Australia. His funeral took place in
Karşıyaka Cemetery
The Karşıyaka Cemetery () is a modern burial ground located at Karşıyaka neighborhood in Yenimahalle district of Ankara Province, Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West ...
, Ankara, on 24 October 2020. Solak was married between 1983 and 2005, and had one son, born 1983, named Arif.
Career
Solak started his career as a kickboxing promoter in 1993 with an event where Turkish fighters trained by Jemal Hasan such as Tibet Hamza, Gerald Ilhan, Recep Saka, and Gürkan Özkan were featured.Tarik Solak: The ascension of a remarkable promoter Nabil Rezgui; 4 February 2007; Muay Thai TV In the following year, Solak staged another show where Tibet Hamza vs. Gürkan Özkan bout was the main event. Major Australian sports broadcaster
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 ...
began covering Solak's promotions and by 1998, as he organised a major event at the
Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex
Crown Melbourne (also referred to as Crown Casino and Entertainment Complex) is an integrated resort consisting of a casino and hotel located on the south bank of the Yarra River, in Melbourne, Australia. Crown Melbourne is a subsidiary of C ...
.
In 1999, Solak met
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 ...
founder
Kazuyoshi Ishii
is a Japanese karateka, promoter, and business man. He was born in Uwajima City, Ehime Prefecture. Graduated from Ehime Prefectural Uwajima Higashi High School.
He is known as the founder of Seidokaikan, a karate organization, and the founder ...
in Japan.İşte gerçek 'Dövüş Kulübü' , Murat Arslan, Sinan Özen; Forbes Türkiye; 4 August 2008 After becoming the CEO for K-1's Oceania region, Solak promoted the first K-1 World Grand Prix event in Melbourne in 2001. Later K-1 fighters
Mike Zambidis
Michalis "Iron Mike" Zambidis ( Greek: Μιχάλης Ζαμπίδης; born 15 July 1980) is a professional Greek kickboxer and martial artist. He is an 18-time World Champion, including former World version W5, SUPERKOMBAT and in a series of K ...
and
Mark Hunt
Mark Hunt (born 23 March 1974) is a New Zealand former professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer. As a mixed martial artist, Hunt competed in Pride Fighting Championships (Pride FC) from 2004 until 2006, and the Ultimate Fighting Champi ...
got their opportunities at K-1 events promoted by Solak.
In 2003, Solak left K-1 and, by 2004, founded his new promotion A-1 World Combat Cup. A-1 was created with a
show business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz (since 1945), is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry.''Oxford English Dictionary'' 2nd Ed. (1989) From the business side (including managers, agents, produce ...
concept that blended kickboxing with various spectacles.Qu'est ce que le A1? /ref> After several events in Australia, in 2005, A-1 held its first event in Istanbul and Solak bolstered his ties with the European kickboxing scene through his partnership with French co-promoter Kader Marouf.Kader Marouf: « The » ring godfather Nabil Rezgui; 5 September 2006; Muay Thai TV A-1 was well received by the Turkish public in following years and events promoted by Solak had serious representation in Turkish media. By 2006 and later, the show business aspect of A-1 was even furthered by Solak with the tournament A-1 Model Boxing that featured female
fashion model
A model is a person with a role either to display commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as an artist's model.
Modelling ("modeling" in American English) entails using one's body to represent someone ...
AkÅŸam
''Akşam'' (''Evening'') is a Turkish newspaper founded in 1918, owned by Zeki Yeşildağ's Türk Medya Grup (T Medya Yatırım San. ve Tic. AŞ.) since 2013. In 2013 it had a circulation of around 100,000.
History
''AkÅŸams founders in 1918 inc ...
Turkish edition of
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
magazine asserted in 2008 that the success of A-1 in Turkey resulted in a 'kickboxing economy' with very significant dimensions.
In 2007, Solak was featured with a supporting role, named "Arif Boz", in Turkish TV series titled "Pusat", lasted 13 episodes, directed by
Osman Sınav
Osman Sınav (August 1956 – 20 March 2025) was a Turkish director, producer and screenwriter.
Life and career
Sınav studied art and also finished courses in textile design, cinema, and television at the Istanbul State Fine Arts Academy. He w ...
IMDb
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...