K- 1 has become the undisputed most influential standing fighting hall in the world with three sharp weapons, namely, accurate competition positioning, efficient and innovative commercial operation and star effect.
Ishii Kazuyoshi was born in extreme karate, and later founded his own Zhengdao Guild Hall in Osaka. Feeling that extreme karate is falling apart, there are many factions, and old age and death are not related, Ishii decided to establish a world competition that truly abandoned the concept of portal and embraced heroes from all walks of life. Ishii knows that the level of the game without the audience is no matter how high, there are also high and low. Only by keeping the game intense can the audience be invited to the scene. Therefore, the rule of K- 1 is based on the principle of encouraging attack and KO, which limits the techniques to slow down the pace of the game, such as cuddling and prohibiting wrestling. For safety reasons, elbow operation is also prohibited. The usual game is 3 minutes 1 inning, * * * playing 5 innings, and the intermission 1 minute. The knockout round is three rounds and three minutes. If there is a tie, overtime will be played (the number of rounds in overtime will vary according to the type of conference). When the knocked-down player counts to 10 seconds and fails to stand up, it is KO. It's KO to fall three times in a round. In the knockout stage, except for the final, two falls in a round are KO. The criteria for judging the outcome are: KO, TKO (including the medical supervisor stopping, the referee stopping, the assistant throwing white towels, etc.). ) and the judgment of three judges. Scoring is similar to boxing rules, with *** 10 points per round. When there is no obvious difference between the two players, the game will be tied, and the opponent with obvious advantages will be deducted 1 point, and the opponent with particularly obvious advantages will be deducted 2 points. Finally, three judges will calculate the total score. When two or more referees draw lots at the same time, the game is considered a draw. In recent years, the rules of K- 1 have become stricter and stricter. In a non-graded competition, one side can only hit the knee once after the other side adopts the collar technique, which has a great influence on the players from Muay Thai. Attracted by the novel competition system and huge bonuses, heroes from all walks of life flocked to K- 1 and gradually developed into the most influential fighting organization in the world.
The event packaging of K- 1 is the best in the fighting world, even in the world championship. Every year in the finals, they invited first-class Japanese directors, DJs and lighting engineers to ensure that the scene reached the level of rock concerts. In the 2003 finals, K- 1 even moved a symphony orchestra directly to Tokyo Dome Gymnasium. The cost of such a super giant system often exceeds one million dollars. How can we ensure profitability? There are four main sources of income for K- 1: the first is ticket income. Generally, the audience of K- 1 is more than 10,000 people, and the semi-finals and finals of K- 1 often attract 50,000 to 60,000 people. The current record is 74500 in the 2002 K- 1 10th Anniversary Finals. Tickets are generally divided into four grades, 6000, 13000, 16000, 30000 yen, so the ticket revenue alone is already considerable. The second is the broadcasting fee and sponsorship of Japanese TV stations. K- 1 was broadcast on Japanese public television. Due to high ratings and high advertising revenue, Fuji TV and TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System), which cooperate closely with K- 1, sometimes provide broadcasting fees as high as two million dollars. The year-end dinner K- 1 Super Explosive was sponsored by TBS Astronomy. The third is the share of copyright fees for pay TV and cable TV from overseas. The big K- 1 game can be watched on the pay-per-view (PPV) in the United States on the same day, with a general charge of $30; European ESPN2 sports station regularly broadcasts K- 1 games, and it is necessary to pay the copyright fee to K- 1. K- 1 competitions and sales of players' intellectual property products constitute the fourth part of income, including videos, DVDs, T-shirts with players or club logos, dolls with players' portraits, etc. And the sales area outside the competition site can discharge hundreds of meters of long queues every time. In recent years, the sales of derivative services provided by new media such as websites and mobile phones have increased rapidly.
Surprisingly, K- 1 Bureau (FEG Company became the official promotion company of K- 1 in 2003, and K- 1 Bureau is under its jurisdiction) has only 10 employees, and is extremely dedicated except for a clear division of labor (former president Kazuo Ishii calls himself/Kloc. Under the guidance of K- 1 employees, they are responsible for production, publicity, translation, logistics and other aspects, just like the gears on the huge sports machine K- 1, driven by * * *.
K- 1 won many fighters at the same time, which is a household name in Japan. Three-time champion Peter Aerts, Dutch lumberjack, four-time champion Ernesto Hoost, God of War andy hug, 200 1 champion mark hunter, uncrowned king Jerome Lebana, Croatian special police mirko klopp, steel wrist Mike Bernardo and Crocodile became the ratings guarantee in turn after they became famous, which ensured a huge team of loyal boxing fans for K- 1. Norika Fujiwara, the superstar of the Emperor, made a long-term guest appearance on K- 1, and the commentator's score on K- 1 also improved a lot. However, in recent years, the star-making movement of K- 1 seems to rely too much on the celebrity effect, but ignores the strength, and the strength is the foundation of the battle. It advocates alternative stars like Bob Sapp and Chad Haakeo Rowan, and treats veterans who laid the foundation for K- 1 in the past. Although it was successful in business, it cooled the hearts of die-hard boxing fans.
In the past 10 years, K- 1 experienced a series of changes, such as the sudden death of Andy Hug (the champion of 1996 K- 1, a Swiss vacuum artist living in Japan) and the tax evasion scandal of Ishii Kazuyoshi, but its influence increased instead of decreased. At the beginning of its establishment, the only undifferentiated events gradually developed into five series of events: K- 1WorldGP, K- 1Japan, K- 1WorldMax, K- 1MMA, K- 1 Premium Dynamite, which together formed a huge series.
K- 1 World Grand Prix (referred to as K- 1 World Grand Prix, GP means Grand Prix) is an undifferentiated event. This is an event that K- 1 existed from the beginning, and it is also the basis for K- 1 to build a huge empire today. The champion of K- 1 usually refers to the champion of K- 1 world GP.
When the first K- 1 World GP was held in 1993, there were no qualifiers. The founder Kazuyoshi Ishii selected eight top players from all over the world, all of whom wore heavyweight champion gold belts of internationally renowned fighting organizations such as ISKA, WKA and WMTA at that time, including two iconic figures of K- 1 and three K-65438 from the Netherlands. The appearance of these heroes on the same stage can be said to be the most luxurious lineup in the history of free fighting, which was witnessed by tens of thousands of spectators at the First Gymnasium of Tokyo National Yoyogi that night. After three rounds of hard single-loss elimination, veteran Blanco from Croatia won the championship trophy with a record of all KOs, and pocketed 50,000 US dollars in prize money. After that, the number of participants increased from 8 to 16, and the competition was divided into two stages: semi-final and final. With the further expansion of the scale of K- 1, there is another intervention match before the semi-final. At first, all these preliminaries were held in Japan. Later, K- 1 defined its overseas strategy, set up branches in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, France and other free fighting powers, and extended the preliminaries to these countries, which not only expanded the influence of K- 1, but also explored it. Since 2000, K- 1 has held preliminaries in eight major cities in the world. Winners can participate in four or five intercontinental preliminaries held in the United States, Europe and Japan, and the winners can directly enter the semi-finals of K- 1 World GP held in June every year. Usually, there are 14 places in the semi-finals, of which 7 are finalists in last year's finals (there are 8 in the finals, of which 1 place is allocated to Japanese players), 4 ~ 5 are intercontinental preliminaries, and the remaining 2 ~ 3 places are mobile, which are specially allocated to those players who can't enter the semi-finals by virtue of their strength, but have high popularity and market appeal, which also reflects K. On July 17, 2004, Zhang Qingjun, a young Sanda player from Beijing Shenghua Wushu Fight Club, defeated Chad Haakeo Rowan, former sumo wrestlers of Yokozuna, in the K- 1 World GP Korean Competition and entered the semi-finals. Unfortunately, he was forced to abstain because of a tibia injury. In recent years, the finals of K- 1 World GP have all been held in Tokyo Dome (indoor baseball stadium, which can accommodate up to 75,000 spectators), and the annual K- 1 World GP Series is also called "Tokyo Dome Road". Since 2002, the prize money of K- 1 World GP champion has risen to 400,000 dollars.
(See the schedule of the 2003 K- 1 World Grand Prix, see the annex. )
K- 1 Japan series activities
There are two kinds of K- 1 Japan series events. One is non-tournament K- 1 Japan. This kind of competition is usually held several times a year, mainly for domestic players in Japan, and foreign high-level players are invited to participate, with the aim of cultivating local heavyweight players in Japan. The other is the championship K- 1 Japan GP. The final is held in September every year, with 8 places. They are all outstanding players in the non-championship K- 1 Japan series. Last year's champion was automatically selected. The champion of K- 1 Japan GP won the ticket for the opening match of K- 1 World GP in June, that is, the semi-final. Usually, the eight finalists are all Japanese players, but in rare cases, K- 1 invited foreign players to participate. 1999 and 2000, two top heavyweight Sanda players, Juan and Teng Jun, were invited to participate in the K- 1 day GP and reached the semi-finals respectively. 200 1 Nicolas Pettas, a real karate star who was born in Denmark but has lived in Japan for more than ten years, took part in K- 1 Japan GP with a wild card and won the championship.
K- 1 the world's largest series of events
K- 1 The world's largest value is K- 1, a new series of events that started in 2002. MAX is the abbreviation of martial artist limit, and the contestants are 70kg and below. Because K- 1 World GP is an undifferentiated competition, it is difficult for Asian players to compete with European and American players in physique and physique because of race, but at a small level, technology is undoubtedly a more important winning factor. In fact, many middleweight players in Japan and Thailand are very strong, so K- 1 World MAX came into being, providing them with a stage to show their Asian strength. In May 2002, the first K- 1 World MAX*** had eight contestants, among whom representatives from Japan and Australia were selected, and the rest were invited by K- 1. Zhang Jiapo, a famous Sanda player in China, represented the Chinese Wushu Association and lost to Gao Lan, the 70kg champion of the Lumpini Boxing Hall in Thailand in the first round. Since 2004, K- 1 World MAX has expanded its army. In April 16, players were arrested and killed, and in July, 8 players entered the finals. In 2002, the champion of K- 1 World MAX was albert kraus of the Netherlands, the kingdom of free fighting. In 2003, the first prize was won by the Japanese fighting idol Zhengren. In 2004, the winner of the new project was Bo Qiu, a poor boy from the suburb of Bangkok, Thailand. Another traditional competition of K- 1 World MAX is the "World vs Japan" competition on June 10 every year. Seven world-class players confronted seven top Japanese players. China Sanda athlete "Sanmao" Wang Sanzhen participated in this event in 2002 and lost to Japanese player Xiao Ye Chong by a controversial referee. Unlike K- 1 World GP players, K- 1 World MAX has many handsome idol boxers, attracting a large number of female boxing fans. The perfect combination of speed, skill and explosiveness displayed by middleweight players and the personal charm of some idol boxers make K- 1 World MAX series become the new highlight of K- 1.
K- 1 MMA
In recent years, the veteran officials who fought for K- 1 are in a state of gradual decline, while the Mesozoic and Cenozoic generations have not taken over the guns of their predecessors well, and the attraction of K- 1 to hardcore martial fans has a downward trend. On the other hand, MMA) organization PRIDE was established only at 1997, but its influence has become the first in the world. Commercially, PRIDE's ticket sales are far stronger than K- 1, and the number of pay-per-view subscriptions is also very strong. It can be said that Pride competes with K- 1 in media promotion, ratings, player resources and other aspects, and it is likely to catch up. K- 1 It took 10 years to build a huge fighting empire, and there was no room for others to sleep soundly on the other side of the sofa. In 2003, the new president, Masako Tanegawa, adopted the strategy of proud fighting, gave up the image of K- 1 as a synonym for standing fighting and started her own comprehensive fighting event-K-1MMA. After the MMA rules were tested in the K- 1 Explosives New Year special on June 365438+February 0, 2003 and some events in the K- 1 Japan Series in 2004, the first K- 1 MMA event was officially held on May 22, 2004, named ROMANEX (. What makes K- 1 uneasy is that this tournament has not received a satisfactory response. On the contrary, what is instilled in Tanigawa's ear is a sharper criticism than a proud contest. There is only one reason. Most players of K- 1 ROMANEX are guest players of K- 1 and some professional wrestlers. * These people can't conquer pride. Therefore, it is the most urgent problem for K- 1 ROMANEX to find an authentic hybrid fighter. Where can I find it? There is only one answer-spend money to grab pride. It can be predicted that K- 1 and PRIDE will launch a "war without smoke" for the contestants.
K- 1 high quality explosive
Japanese people's love for martial arts is probably second to none in the world, and K- 1 super explosive on New Year's Eve can be said to be the best example. K- 1 series events were recorded and broadcast on Fuji TV, Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) and other major TV stations on the day of the competition, and the ratings were generally among the best in sports programs. However, K- 1 is not satisfied with this. They joined hands with the Tokyo Broadcasting System and made an almost shocking move-challenging the red and white songs on New Year's Eve. As we all know, the red and white songs of Japanese NHK TV station, like the Spring Festival Gala of China CCTV, have occupied the top spot in ratings on New Year's Eve for decades. No one can compete with it for ratings, let alone a battle show. June 365438+February 3, 20031,K- 1 broadcast heavily to build an ultra-luxury lineup including former Olympic wrestling champions. At that time, Bob Sapp, the superstar, took the former sumo station in Chad Haakeo Rowan, Yokozuna as the finale, and achieved a shocking audience rating of 19.5%, among which the audience rating of Bob Sapp vs Chad Haakeo Rowan for a quarter of an hour exceeded 40. Encouraged by this, K- 1 and TBS decided to hold the annual competition of K- 1 super explosives, which included both the traditional K- 1 standing rules and the K- 1 MMA rules for comprehensive fighting. There are even mixed rules of K- 1 standing and K- 1 MMA (one round of K- 1 standing rules and one round of K- 1 MMA rules). The only purpose of the competition is to entertain the audience and strive for ratings. In order to do this, we must play the "celebrity card", so we saw many incredible "dreams" on K- 1 super explosives. On June 5438+February 3 1 day, 2004, Bobby, the host of funny programs on TBS TV, unexpectedly challenged Cyril Abidi with MMA rules. Jiu Jitsu master Royce Gracie subdued Chad Haakeo Rowan, who weighed more than120kg. This program still achieved an average audience rating of 20.2% under the double squeeze of the red and white songs and the special male sacrifice II for the proud New Year, and the audience rating of the two shows exceeded 30%. This is an amazing achievement and a "miracle" that only happened in Japan.
Concluding remarks
If the K- 1 system is compared to a special mixed fleet, then K- 1 World GP is undoubtedly the flagship, not only because other series of competitions are derived from it, but also because it is equivalent to K- 1 in the minds of most boxing fans. K- 1 Japan is like a supply ship, undertaking the task of importing fresh blood for K- 1. K- 1 World MAX is comparable to a torpedo boat, small but flexible and powerful; K- 1 MMA seems to be a carrier-based aircraft, which opens up a second battlefield for K- 1 beyond the permanent technical arena. K- 1 super explosive can only be described as an aircraft carrier, which includes both conventional armament of surface ships (K- 1 regular competition) and carrier-based explosives (K- 1 MMA competition). The resources used are unparalleled and can even replace K- 1 world GP. How to coordinate the relationship between the flagship and the aircraft carrier in the future is a problem that K- 1 authorities need to attach great importance to.