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Rob Kaman
Born
"Mr Low Kick" won world titles in both Muay Thai and kickboxing in the 1980s and 1990s, at a time when Europeans who travelled to fight Thais usually came home beaten. His low kick, thrown with full hip turn, became the backbone of the Dutch style, and his career shows how that style was built by taking Thai technique and adapting it for rules with fewer clinches.
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Ramon Dekkers
Dekkers fought the best Thais in their own stadiums in the late 1980s and 1990s and earned a following there that no European had before him. His combination punching, finished with a hook to the body and a low kick, translated directly from Muay Thai into Dutch kickboxing, and he took the same aggression into K-1 MAX late in his career.
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Ernesto Hoost
Born
"Mr Perfect" won the K-1 World Grand Prix four times (1993, 1997, 1999, 2000) after earlier world titles under Muay Thai and Dutch kickboxing rules. He gave away size to almost every heavyweight he fought and won with combinations and defence, so his K-1 tournaments are the clearest lesson in how technique beat bulk once clinching was restricted.
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Peter Aerts
Born
"The Dutch Lumberjack" won the K-1 World Grand Prix in 1994, 1995 and 1998 and was still reaching the final in 2010. His high kick suited K-1's open scoring, while his earlier world titles came under Muay Thai-influenced rules, and the span of his career shows a heavyweight reshaping his game as the division got bigger around him.
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Andy Hug
Born
Hug came from full-contact karate, where punches to the head are banned, and won the 1996 K-1 World Grand Prix after learning to defend them. His axe kick and spinning heel kick, karate weapons, became K-1 signatures, and his move into gloves remains the model for any karateka crossing over. He died of leukaemia in 2000 at 35.
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Mirko Cro Cop
Born
Cro Cop won Pride's 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix in MMA and the 2012 K-1 World Grand Prix in kickboxing, a decade apart. In MMA he had to build takedown defence around his famous left high kick; returning to K-1 he had to stop worrying about it. Few fighters have reached the top of both with the same weapon.
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Semmy Schilt
Born
Schilt won Ashihara karate titles, fought in Pride and the UFC, then won four K-1 World Grand Prix titles (2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009) and Glory's first heavyweight Grand Slam in 2012. At 2.12 m his front kick and jab controlled range under every rule set, and his career is the strongest case that reach can be turned into a complete system.
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Masato (kickboxer)
Born
Japan's biggest kickboxing star won the K-1 World MAX tournament in 2003 and 2008. He began under Japanese kickboxing rules with elbows allowed and adapted to K-1's restricted clinch with sharper boxing, which is why his MAX tournaments, against Thais and Dutchmen alike, are worth rewatching.
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Andy Souwer
Born
Souwer won K-1 World MAX in 2005 and 2007 and Shoot Boxing's S-Cup, where throws and standing submissions are legal, and also had MMA bouts. Moving between rules that reward throws and rules that ban them demanded unusual balance in the clinch, which is exactly what makes his fights instructive.
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Giorgio Petrosyan
Born
"The Doctor" won K-1 World MAX in 2009 and 2010 and ONE's featherweight kickboxing grand prix in 2019, as well as Muay Thai titles. His southpaw counters and footwork let him win without taking damage, and his consistency across promotions over fifteen years is what puts him in the conversation as the best of his weight.
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Rico Verhoeven
Born
Verhoeven held the Glory heavyweight title from 2014 to 2025 with a record 13 defences, then in May 2026 challenged Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC heavyweight boxing title and was level on two scorecards before an 11th-round stoppage. That fight is the best modern test of what transfers from kickboxing to boxing: his jab and conditioning did, his kicks could not.
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Alex Pereira
Born
Pereira was the first fighter to hold two Glory kickboxing titles at once, then won UFC titles at middleweight and light heavyweight, regaining the latter in 2025. His left hook travelled intact, while takedown defence and grappling had to be learned in a hurry, and his 2026 move up to heavyweight showed where the limits of that conversion lie.
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Israel Adesanya
Born
Adesanya built a long kickboxing career in New Zealand, China and Glory, including two defeats by Pereira, before becoming UFC middleweight champion in 2019 and again in 2023. His feints and range management transferred almost unchanged into MMA; what he added was the footwork to stay out of takedown range.
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Superbon Singha Mawynn
Born
Superbon came up through Thai stadium Muay Thai, then became a kickboxing star, knocking out Giorgio Petrosyan with a head kick in 2021 to win ONE's featherweight kickboxing title. Dropping the clinch and elbows forced him to win with kicks at range, and that head kick is the best single clip of a Thai adapting to kickboxing rules.
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Chingiz Allazov
Born
Allazov won titles in K-1 and Enfusion before knocking out Superbon in 2023 to take ONE's featherweight kickboxing title. His shift from European kickboxing to ONE's smaller gloves rewarded his counter punching, and the Superbon fight shows how a well-timed cross can undo a kicker's rhythm.
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Takeru Segawa
Born
Takeru won K-1 titles in three weight classes before moving to ONE, where he lost to Rodtang in 2025 and then beat him in April 2026 for an interim flyweight kickboxing title. Adapting to four-ounce gloves meant tightening his defence, and the two Rodtang fights side by side show that adjustment happening.
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Joanna Jędrzejczyk
Born
Jędrzejczyk won amateur world titles in Muay Thai before becoming UFC strawweight champion in 2015 and defending it five times. Her volume striking and clinch knees came straight from Muay Thai; her sprawl was the new skill, and her title reign is a clean example of a striker learning just enough wrestling to stay standing.
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Tiffany van Soest
Born
Van Soest has won major titles in Muay Thai and in Glory kickboxing, and fought in ONE under both rule sets. The switch is visible in her fights: more elbows and clinch knees under Muay Thai rules, more punching volume under kickboxing rules, with the same aggressive pace throughout.
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Anissa Meksen
Born
Meksen came from savate, the French kicking art fought in shoes, and has won world titles in savate, kickboxing and Muay Thai, including at ONE. Her precise, upright kicking is savate's legacy, and following her across those three rule sets is the easiest way to see how each one changes the same fighter.
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Valentina Shevchenko
Born
Shevchenko won numerous Muay Thai and kickboxing world titles before becoming UFC flyweight champion over two reigns. Unlike most strikers who cross over, she added trips and takedowns from the clinch, so her fights show Muay Thai's clinch adapted to MMA rather than abandoned.
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