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K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993, well known worldwide mainly for its heavyweight division fights and Grand Prix tournaments. In January 2012, K-1 Global Holdings Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong, acquired the rights to K-1, and is the current organizer of K-1 events worldwide.
Founded in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii, at its height in the late 90s and the 2000s under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was the largest and most prestigious "Kickboxing" organization in the world. With thousands of fighters and watched by millions of fans around the world. K-1 also promoted mixed martial arts events, with some events having both kickboxing and MMA matches on their cards (such as their Dynamite!! series). However, since 2010 K-1 started to lose its status of top organization, as FEG started to have financial issues, not being able to organize big events or pay huge prize money, eventually going bankrupt, and successor holding companies have been unable to maintain events the same level of size during the FEG years.
The letter K in K-1 is officially designated as a representation of words karate, kickboxing and kung fu. Nevertheless, some reports suggest that it represents the initial K found in competing disciplines such as karate, kickboxing, kung fu, kempo, kakutougi (the generic Japanese term for "combat sports"), and taekwondo. Yet another theory claims that the K simply comes from kakutougi and the "1" component pertains to the single weight division (in earlier competition) and the champion's unique position. Nevertheless, the promotion held several tournaments under K-2 and K-3 banners from 1993 to 1995.
K-1 has its own unique ruleset different from other styles of Kickboxing. Because it has become so popular, K-1 is also seen as its own style of kickboxing and sometimes is erroneously considered as a standalone martial art/combat sport. Kickboxing governing bodies such as the ISKA and WKN have also crowned their own "K-1 rules" champions.

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