World Kickboxing Network

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 Stephane Cabrerra, Billy Murray and Olivier Muller.

On September 19, 1998, WKN became the first organization to promote a world championship in Muay Thai on the same event as a boxing 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 in Atlanta. 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. Samir Mohamed vs. Alexander Kozachenko for the WKN World super lightweight title headlined the Eurosport and Pro TV televised event Local Kombat 10 in the city of Brăila. 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 and SFR Sport 5.

WKN World Cup

WKN World Cup 2009 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 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 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 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

• 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
• "A History of Kickboxing" – 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, site An interview with Joe Lewis, 1998

References

References

1. Ashley Martin. (16 April 2012). "The Complete Martial Arts Training Manual: An Integrated Approach". Tuttle.
2. (3 February 2020). "American kickboxing History".
3. (January 2000). "Vale Tudo Partnership". [[Black Belt (magazine).
4. (May 2014). "Jérôme Le Banner, poing final".
5. (10 February 2005). "Iftimoaie, vedeta la Cluj". [[Libertatea]].
6. (28 September 2006). "Festival K-1, PRO TV". [[Libertatea]].
7. (7 August 2016). "Ionuț Iftimoaie a devenit campion mondial al versiunilor Superkombat și WKN în fața a 30.000 de oameni". [[Libertatea]].
8. (8 August 2016). "Ionut Iftimoaie a devenit campion mondial al versiunilor Superkombat si WKN". Stirilekanald.
9. "IVC retorna com Kickboxing". Boxeando.
10. "IVC 15 - The New Era". [[Sherdog]].
11. "International Vale Tudo Championship - IVC".
12. "International Vale Tudo Championship - IVC - MMA Promoter".
13. "Simply The Best "Argentina Fight Night" Live por FOX Sports Este viernes". MMA.uno.
14. "Kombat Sport – En Juin sur SFR Sport 5". Kombat Sport.
15. "Kickboxing : 14 Countries represented at the first WKN World Cup in Malta - The Malta Independent".
16. (2019-06-21). "Combat sport World Cup coming to New Zealand in November". [[Newshub]].
17. (20 June 2019). "Mark Hunt's epic battle remembered as Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva announced to fight in Auckland".
18. Adyn Ogle. (26 June 2019). "MMA: Tauranga's Kelvin Joseph eyes world title fight in New Zealand". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
19. "MMA: Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva withdrawn for scheduled fight at Kickboxing and MMA World Cup in New Zealand". [[The New Zealand Herald]].
20. (2 December 2019). "Roan 'Jucao' Carneiro wins WKN middleweight MMA title at NZ World Cup". MMA India.
21. KRUD KUN KHMER, Kandal, Cambodia. (n.d.). BoxRec. Retrieved January 23, 2026, from https://boxrec.com/en/event/941622