Martial arts and combat sports are becoming increasingly popular and gaining more media coverage. K-1 is a high profile form of kickboxing founded in 1993 and has featured a range of world-class fighters including worldwide fighting celebrities, such as Mike Tyson. As with all martial arts, discipline is strictly enforced and specific K-1 rules govern K-1 kickboxing bouts.
Fight Regulations
A regular K-1 kickboxing bout is three to five rounds in duration with each round lasting three minutes. Matches end by knockout, technical knockout, points decision, disqualification, draw or no contest in accordance with K-1 rules. During a K-1 kickboxing bout, the referee and fight assigned doctor have the authority to stop the bout at any time. If the fight goes the allotted time distance, the winner will be decided by the judge's scorecards. The judges score fights on a 10-point must system, where the winner of a round receives 10 points. A drawn round will be scored 10 to 10. If a fighter is knocked down three times in one round, the fight will be declared over as a technical knockout win.
Legal Target Areas
K-1 fighters only score points by striking in legal target areas. The target areas permitted to strike by rule are the front and side of the head and torso above the waist. A fighter is allowed to strike any part of the legs which can be attacked using the shin. The foot is a permitted target only when using sweep attacks. Forbidden areas to attack are the throat, back of the head, groin, kidneys and lower abdomen. A K-1 fighter is forbidden to attack using the elbow, thumb, shoulder, knife hand or head butts. K-1 rules dictate that use of these prohibited techniques can result in a verbal warning, point deduction, or disqualification at the discretion of the referee.
Decisions
When a fight ends by knockout, technical knockout or disqualification, the referee will stop the bout with immediate effect and award the victory decision to the victorious fighter. If the referee or doctor at any time deem an injury suffered by legal attacks too severe for a fighter to continue, the injured fighter will be pulled from the fight and the victorious opponent awarded the decision. If the fight goes the allotted time distance with both fighters still standing, the decision will be awarded by points on the judge's scorecards. The aforementioned 10-point must system is used and the fight will be announced victory by unaminous decision, by split decision, or the fight can be scored as a draw.
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