Rick Roufus- passed his prime
Carter Williams- cocaine
Mighty Mo- The last USA man in the tourny
Patrick Barry- signed to UFC
Rick Cheek- ?
Raymond Daniels- MMA career sucks
Duane Ludwig- I wish
Will there ever be a K-1 champion from the United States?, I mean Brazil might get a K-1 champ before the USA does. I think its very important for an American to win the K-1 and carve a niche in Martial Arts history.. Thoughts?
but K-1
Raymond Daniels is a little small for K-1, isn't he? And Ludwig is wayyyy too small..
Maybe Barry goes back to K-1 if he has problems in MMA?
How's Cheek? I've only seen him in XARM. :)
Max
Ludwig has fought K-1 MAX.. Im talking any K-1 champion.
ttt
I doubt it, Muay Thai and kickboxing are very small in US, most good US strikers will end up in MMA these days.
Only if Kenny Florian switches to MAX.
If you're that big and actually athletic, you're probably going into football.
If you're not going into football and you're actually interested in combat sports, boxing and MMA have way, way more exposure in the U.S
So will we see a champion from the United States win a K-1 GP? If Mark Hunt can do it in cinderella fashion then maybe its possible.Guys like Patrick Barry, Mighty Mo, and Rick Cheek are the only recent Americans in K-1. I know guys like Shane Del Rosario & Raymond Daniels are up & coming kickboxers in the USA but both have shifted there sights on MMA(both men are also signed to Strikeforce)
Im thinking all the great American kickboxers came before K-1(Benny the Jet, Bill Wallace, Don Wilson) and alot were past there primes when they fought in K-1(Rick Roufus, Maurice Smith, James Warring)
As a combat sports fan one thing I wanna see before I die is an American(USA)win a K-1
Having fought,trained guys for K-1 & promoted a K-1 North American Qualifier Tourney in 2002. I push our guys toward UFC these days. It is very hard to gain the experience in that the top fighters have in K-1 here in North America.
I love the sport but also enjoy helping guys be bigger names here in North America as MMA Fighters.
sadly, the closest we've come was Bob Sapp beating Ernesto Hoost in a non-title match
i'd actually like to see Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson go to K-1.
the guy is no joke
JillWagner - why would it mattter if u have a US k-1 champ?
this "national" pride bs got to go
Lol. Hippie.
Rick Cheek got smoked by Gokhan Saki at the 2008 Hawaii GP
Raymond Daniels needs to fight K-1, either he bulks up to heavy or cut to MAX..USA does have Kickboxers
I hope we do.
The only way for American kickboxers to compete with the big Dutch guys in K-1 imo is to have extensively trained western boxing from the start along with MT and to have that KO power in the hands.
Its just too big of a curve to play the same game as a 6'4 dude from Holland whos been doing it immersed in that environment.
Brandon Vera would be a good candidate if he eventually gets cut from the UFC.
Shane Del Rosario?
no
there has only been 1 thai champ right? always thought that was odd, baukwa is amazing!