The Return of The Dutch Kickboxing in One Super Series!
It’s virtually impossible to put together any kind of kickboxing story without mentioning what it once was and the rough fact that its glory is unknown among the modern-day fans.
For almost a decade now, hardcore kickboxing fans all across the globe have been feeling an enormous amount of rage and deception. Many fight fans especially the Europeans like myself, consider the glory days of K-1 kickboxing as the greatest times in the combat sports history! Allow me to put it this way: What MMA is today, K-1 was from the mid-90s to the beginning of its fall in 2010.
The Japanese K-1 was presumably the most exciting and the hardest combat sport to compete in. The fighters were typically fighting three or four times in a single night, stepping into the ring with broken bones, noses, torn ligaments, and other injuries. The legends such as Peter Aerts, Ernesto Hoost, and Remy Bonjasky became synonyms for strength, toughness, power and killer instincts. While remembering those times, we can’t escape the fact that K-1 Championship required superhuman abilities.
From the early beginnings, one country got established as the home of elite kickboxing and one style as the most effective one, Dutch Style! Just take a moment to look at the history of K-1 Champions from 1993–2013:
Looking at this incredible domination and remembering that roots of kickboxing are actually in Japan, the obvious question pops up: Is the air different in Holland? Have you ever thought why the Netherlands represents the home of modern-day kickboxing?
The logical explanation lays deep down in the early developments of the kickboxing as a martial art.
The history of Kickboxing and the birth of Dutch Style
The history of kickboxing includes many theories, but they all have a similar source. Kickboxing was originally developed as a mixture of Kyokushin Karate and Muay Thai during the 1950s in Japan. Although it was a blend of styles at the beginning, many rule changes in the competition between the two martial arts were sweeping towards the official birth of kickboxing as a sport on its own.
The popularity of kickboxing had exploded and quickly started expanding. Martial artists from other countries have quickly arrived in the land of the rising sun to master this new technique. One of the first actually came from the Netherlands! Thanks to the legends like Lucien Carbin, this unique mixture of Karate and Muay Thai had started to develop on the Dutch Soil.
The variations in styles between the early Dutch kickboxing and original Muay Thai were considerable. The European style was known for heavy punching, volume strikes, and aggression. On the other hand, Muay Thai is traditionally based around the vicious kicks and more consistent pace. After many trips to Thailand and adaptation of styles through many changes, the Dutch-style finally got established during the 1970s.
Although the Dutch style saw many enhancements over the years, their game continued to be heavily relying on the explosive western boxing which combined with powerful low kicks could overwhelm any other style. Compared with the traditional Muay-Thai, Dutch-style is more technical and advanced in terms of overall striking.
The pioneers who enjoyed representing this style to the worldwide audience were Ramon Dekkers and Rob Kaman. From the middle of the 90s, the future champions such as Peter Aerts, Remmy Bonjasky, Andy Sauwer and many more will dominate though the world kickboxing stages for the next 20 years. The Dutch proudly presented the once a hybrid blend of styles as the most effective fighting tool.
The fall of the K-1 organization
After the financial troubles indicated in 2010 finally became true in 2012, many of us thought the world of kickboxing cannot go down without the fight. However, it all fell apart spectacularly. In the following years, Dutch-style continued to live in Holland’s “It’s Showtime” and North American “Glory Kickboxing” promotions. Furthermore, the popularity of MMA exploded and the Dutch-style quickly became a must-have tool of every mixed martial artist’s stand up game. However, kickboxing as a sport on its own had instantly dropped to its knees.
It’s not a surprise seeing “Glory Kickboxing” struggling to bring the sport closer to the North American audience even with the ESPN and UFC machinery behind their back. The mainstream rise of kickboxing was born in Japan, and it is logical it will regain the lost popularity there. Considering the existing fan base and the rise of the ONE Championship, things are about to change quickly!
A new home — ONE: Super Series
ONE Championship has dominated the Japanese and Asian fighting market for a couple of years now. Established in 2012, the promotion has genuinely enjoyed incredible growth over the last couple of years thanks to the different approaches, innovations and business models. That said, the ONE chairman Chatri Sityodtong proudly announced on 12 February 2018 the birth of the Super Series!
Super Series came with the ultimate goal to become the leading organization of elite-level striking and with a mission to regain the once lost popularity of kickboxing. As said by CEO Chatri Sityodtong himself:
“I am thrilled to announce the addition of ONE Super Series, a global super league that will feature the world’s greatest strikers from Muay Thai, kickboxing, taekwondo, karate, kung fu, sanda, lethwei, silat, and more,” said Sityodtong
Right from the promising start, the blueprint of Dutch kickboxing started to emerge through the new generation of talents like Ibrahim “Mr. Cool” El Bouni and multiple-time Muay Thai and kickboxing World Champion Tarik Khbabez. The two were born and raised in the gyms of Amsterdam and naturally have the Dutch style stamped into their genetic code.
In a short time, both fighters fought their way towards the contender spot, and are wildly recognized as huge prospects. The promotion also signed many famous Muay Thai fighters such as Giorgio Petrosyan, Nong-O Gaiyanghadao and Dabrio Pinca to help the sport get recognized once again.
Considered everything said above, we’re interested to know your thoughts about the future of Dutch Style and will ONE FC be able to bring the glory back to kickboxing?
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