Art work by Shunsuke Visuals. Find all his work here

Let Hamady ‘Baba’ Diagne and the legendary kickboxing content creator Shunsuke Visuals take you on a trip down memory lane, as they converse about the history of the epic K-1 MAX tournaments of the early ‘00s right up to their ‘end’ in 2010.

November 8, 2010. A little more than 10 years ago, the K-1 World MAX era ended with Giorgio Petrosyan winning his second tournament in a row.

Many Kickboxing fans and pundits call it the ‘Golden Era’ of the sport, and this is arguably right. From 2002 to 2010, nine World championship tournaments, eagerly awaited everywhere in the world, to determine who the boss was of the 70kg (154lbs) division. There also were a bunch of other events, including Japanese tournaments to determine who would represent the country in the World championship tournament: the division was stacked and allowed for these provisional tournaments to truly whittle the final tournaments down to the best of the best.

MAX stands for Middleweight Artistic eXtreme. Despite the corniness of the acronym today, there is a consensus among the fans about how great this era was simply because the events were absolutely everything the name had billed them as.

In the process of writing this article, I was wondering what would be the best way to describe how it felt to follow the best fighting league at the time. I consider myself one of the biggest fans of that era, but there is one guy, who’s the consensus number ONE fan ever. He played a huge part in bringing MAX excitement all over the world with his highlights, inspiring fans and fighters in the process. So I asked the legendary content creator Shunsuke to join me in this, and what follows will help you understand how great it felt.

The Beginning

Discovering K-1 MAX

Shunsuke: I was kinda familiar with K-1 , i knew Jerome Lebanner , Ernesto Hoost and Peter Aerts, but never got to watch the events. I was watching Pride (legendary Japanese MMA promotion Pride Fighting Championships) on DVDs from time to time before K-1 World MAX. I was a 20 year old Muay Thai beginner at the time. One day a friend of mine sent me a picture of Buakaw teeping Masato and I was like absolutely stunned! “Thatʼs a weapon? You can actually teep someone as an offense?” It was just still images, but i was amazed by it. Whatʼs funny is that my friend was Thai, he knew i loved Japan and told me “Look, the Japanese just got owned hahaha”

When i say Buakaw put K-1 World MAX on the map worldwide, itʼs because he put it on the map for me, and therefore for many others. Thatʼs how I first knew about MAX: The 2004 tournament finals just happened and I had to see the fight. Thatʼs when i went on the internet looking for some footage. For the younger readers here, you need to understand that at the time, finding and watching fights on the internet was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Baba: Well, I’m a little older, and was still fighting at the time K-1 World MAX was created. I was 18 when Kraus won the inaugural tournament in 2002 (exactly half the age i am today and now i feel very old). I was already following the fight scene closely, home internet just happened and made it much easier than waiting for VHS, let me tell you!

The 2004 finals were right after i came back from my first Thailand trip, and since there were still no Frenchies on the roster, i was always rooting for the Thai representative. I knew about the Por Pramuk gym and Buakaw because i was a huge fan of Namsaknoi (Lumpinee stadium lightweight champion and stablemate of Buakaw) and I was planning my second trip to train there at the same gym. Watching him win the tournament in such spectacular fashion, beating the local hero (Masato), was fantastic.

Shunsuke: My life changed when i found the K-1Fans.com forums (Editor’s Note: now sadly defunct). Fights were uploaded there, and i could finally watch all of it. I found the fight, Masato vs Buakaw, K-1 World MAX 2004 finals. “Letʼs watch!”

I knew about Muay Thai fights, the pace, the style of fighting. I didnʼt know kickboxing could be this exciting. I watched Buakaw destroy Masato and strangely , I was rooting for Masato even though i knew he lost. He gets wrecked but his fighting spirit and will to stay up just fascinated me. Thatʼs how i became a fan. When i found out it was their 3rd fight of the night i was even more impressed by his fighting spirit. From that moment I needed to know everything about these fighters. I started downloading and watching all I could find about K-1 Max. I lurked and leeched on K-1 fans forum for month. Fun fact : Sometimes we had to avoid coming to the forums the week after the event ended so we could download it without the results getting spoiled, that is how long it took to find footage in those days!

Baba : Man, finding the K-1 Fans Forum completely changed my life as well. One could think in a bad way, because I kind of stopped going outside for a while, and was binging fights 24/7! Took me a year to sign up in the forum and actually talk to the people in there. Thousands of fans, with such a passion for this sport, it was like Disneyland for kickboxing fans!. The leechers, the stans, the french connexion, the Masato bandwagon led by Shun, the Buakaw crew, etc. I have great memories of that era and it’s mostly because of the great people I met there. I’m glad i was able to find some of them on Twitter years after the forum died (shout out Bestrafer7 and Steven ‘The Warman’ Wright, and by the way, I was ‘Keyser’ on the forum).

The Greatest Era

Baba: Throughout the years, the K-1 organization invited the best fighters available in the division to prove themselves in toughest field. Every single 70kg fighter on the planet was eager to get the call, so much it was clear for everyone that the K-1 World MAX champion was more than likely to be considered the best in the world. This made for incredibly fun, action packed fights. There were some showcase fights, mostly Masato beating up boxing dudes, but 95% of the time it simply was the best fighters fighting each other. Sometimes more than once due to the fact that the roster was very never big, with the elite fighters more often than not progressing through to the finals multiple times. What more can you ask for? Combat sports fans are desperate for a format like this to this day.

Shunsuke : Japan knew before everyone else that to attract viewers worldwide you would need fighters from around the world and more importantly to entertain them, you'd have to find charismatic fighters from around the world. Charismatic fighters that can fight. If you were boring you couldnʼt stay in MAX, you had one fight and you were gone. Like the old Street Fighter, this is the video game aspect of fighting brought to life. An aspect that brought people to watch K-1 but more so K-1 max. A lower weight class, fast paced with great technique. Something I wanted to show the world in my highlights. This might be the reason i love K-1 MAX more than any other fighting events.

“To be completely honest, i was more eager for the final 16 announcement every year than for my own birthday”

Hamady ‘Baba’ Diagne

Baba : I always was a fan of the smaller weight classes-- below lightweight—due to the Golden Era of Muay Thai. K-1 World GP was ton of fun but I wasn’t that interested in the heavyweights (Editor’s Note: Baba is being a hipster here, as this article proves!). When they created MAX, I was immediately sold. It was everything i wanted in a K-1 ring, and because I was well aware of the European scene being a competitor myself, I knew there would be a lot of very good fighters. To be completely honest, I was more eager for the final 16 announcement every year than for my own birthday. Finding out what international talent they would match with the elite fighters on the roster. In 2009 for example, everyone was waiting for Petrosyan to finally make his K-1 MAX debut, there was much anticipation, and he surely didn’t disappoint knocking out fellow new comer Dzahbar Askerov.

The conversation between Baba and Shunsuke continues below after a look at K-1 MAX’s greatest rivalries.

The ‘Let it go’ segment from the legendary ‘Tales of the MAX’ movie by Shunsuke.

Masato FINAL by Shunsuke reviews the japanese superstar’s entire career, and highlights all of his rivals. A three hours long movie that is simply wonderful.

MAX Rivalries

As aforementioned, rivalries were a huge part of why MAX was so great. The best fighters were fighting each other consistently, every year. While the heavyweights were on the downside of their careers for most of the decade, the MAX division was thriving because of the opposite. As Masato was clearly the face of MAX, he was involved in most of the rivalries, as highlighted below.

Masato (Japan) vs Takayuki Kohiruimaki (Japan)

The pair met for the first time in 1997, way before the MAX divsion was even a thought. Both fighters were making their second professional appearance. Kohi was able to stop the younger Masato in the third round. Five years later, they met in the final of the first K-1 MAX Japan tournament. They were both regarded as favourite to win. Masato eventually was able to avenge his loss by decision, in close fight. Right after the loss, Kohi famously stated ‘Next time, I’ll kill him without fail’, setting up years of anticipation for a rubber match. Masato won the World MAX tournament in 2003 and became a superstar, while Kohi won both 2004 and 2005 Japan tournament, making him a crowd favourite. They finally met again in the quarter finals of the 2006 tournament, but by then the gap between the two had widened, and Masato won comfortably by decision, with both fighters squashing their beef for good.

Masato (Japan) vs Albert Kraus (Netherlands)

A classic K-1 rivalry. Kraus beat Masato in the semis of the first K-1 World MAX tournament in 2002, and eventually won the the title. Then they fought to a draw in a five rounds rematch. Masato eventually exacted his revenge in the sweetest way possible, knocking out the Dutchman in the second round of the 2003 final, capturing the title. The fourth match happened in the semi final of the 2004 tournament, with Masato winning a very tough fight. His reward? Getting beaten up by Buakaw in that years final.

Buakaw (Thailand) vs Masato (Japan)

Speaking of which. After winning his first title in 2003, Masato stated that he planned on winning the 2004 and 2005 tournaments before retiring on top. But the relatively unknown Thai dynamo had other plans.

In his tournament debut, after defeating John Wayne Parr and local crowd favourite Taishin Kohiruimaki, Buakaw put on a show in the final against Japan’s beloved champion. The judges infamously ordered an unnecessary extra round, desperate for the local hero to win but actually only causing Masato to take more of a beating but eventually, they had to award Buakaw the win.

Buakaw won another tournament in 2006 and became a worldwide superstar. After qualifying for the 2007 final, Masato specifically asked to fight Buakaw in the quarter finals, a wish he was granted. And he put on arguably the greatest performance of his career to even the score against the Thai. When you think of K-1 MAX rivalries, Buakaw vs. Masato is almost certain to be the first to come to mind.

Andy Souwer (Netherlands) vs Buakaw (Thaïland)

In between his long-awaited rematch with Masato, he managed to squeeze in another hard-fought rivalry, fighting Andy Souwer in both the 2005 and 2006 finals.

The first fight was very close, so much that the judges needed two extra rounds to finally pick a winner. After a five round battle, Souwer was declared the winner by split decision, winning his first title in the process. A year later—and to the surprise of everybody—Buakaw boxed his way up to the meet Souwer again in the final. With his new and improved boxing skills, he was able to take revenge and KO Souwer in the third round to become the first two-time MAX champion.

Three years later, the rubber match took place in the semifinals of the 2009 tournament. In a fight as close as their first meeting, Souwer controversially won by decision. Some fans had it for Buakaw, other scored it for Souwer like the judges. Whatever your thoughts on the decision, there can be no denying this was a rivalry that kept kickboxing fans on the edge of their seats.

Buakaw (Thailand) vs Yoshihiro Sato (Japan)

What a fantastic trilogy! I won’t elaborate too much, please watch ! Buakaw KO’d Sato in the second round of their first meeting in 2006. Then he beat Sato again a year later, but this time by decision after a crazy extra round. And then, in one of the biggest upsets ever, Sato shocked the world by knocking Buakaw out in the third round of their quarter final war in 2008. Three brutal, grueling wars, and even with the benefit of hindsight the 2008 knockout remains shocking to this day.

Andy Souwer (Netherlands) vs Masato (Japan)

Last one I’ll talk about, probably the most important one. Andy Souwer prevented Masato from winning a tournament again not once, but twice.

In the semifinals of 2006, they fought a superb, fast paced, back and forth war. Souwer eventually was able to outlast Masato, dropping him in the third round and winning by decision.

A year later, they both made it to the final. But just like Souwer the previous year, Masato was broken from his two previous bouts of the night against Buakaw and Artur Kyshenko. Souwer, who had fought a war in the semis against Albert Kraus, was able to take advantage and won by TKO in the second rounds, after Masato wasn’t able to continue due to the damage he received in his legs. The Japanese superstar eventually won the tournament again a year later and decided he’d retire in 2009, after he face three opponents, with the last one being the MAX tournament winner.

Masato clearly hoped for Souwer to win so that he could end his career with a win over his nemesis. But the new kid on the block—Giorgio Petrosyan—won the tournament. At that stage perhaps this would have been an unfair matchup for the legend to take with one foot out of the door, BUT karma was on Masato’s side: Petrosyan broke his hand during the tournament.

So it was Souwer that was chosen to fight Masato at the Dynamite event. A five round fight, Masato was able to show he was one of the very best, and won a great battle.

Other notables rivalries : Buakaw vs Kraus (2-1 in K-1 plus another fight won VERY controversially by Kraus in Holland), Souwer vs Kyshenko (1-1 in K-1), Masato vs Sato (1-0 for the Japan supremacy)

Extremely Artistic

From K-1 fans.com, the poster annoucing the event that followed K-1 World MAX 2006 Final and Buakaw’s second crowning

Baba: The quality of the production? Through the roof. Lighting, filming, camera angles, everything was so great. Add to that the fantastic fireworks, fighters entrances, packed crowds, video introductions, etc. When you were watching a K-1 event, you were watching a great spectacle, and the MAX events were insane.

Shunsuke: I was Stunned. I was fascinated. This looked like a video game to me. The entrances, the arena, the decors, and of course the fighters. It was grandiose. MAX means Middle-weight Artistic Xtreme. The Artistic word couldnʼt be more spot on.

The fights were high paced, the fighters were skilled, their movements were beautiful to behold and each had their unique style. The first thing that clicked with me was how charismatic the fighters were. I was in the same weight class and I loved that fact , I wanted to fight like them. Like many fighters my dream was to fight there (hey you can dream). K-1 really made the smart move making a 70kg division, it was in my opinion the best weight class to attract fans and fighters worldwide. Itʼs not too light nor too heavy. It touches a really big demographic of fighters. You get powerful and really fast fighters.

Baba : Just as Shun was and thousands around the world, I was completely amazed by the show. The fighters were highlighted, and they looked like real life superheroes. The storytelling was on point, fierce rivalries were greatly created and brought to the fans. The fighters weren’t much older than me so I could really relate with a lot of things, the way they conducted themselves, how they were talking. They were oozing with confidence and it was amazing to watch.

Shunsuke : These fighters, because they were a few, the elite, they got me emotionally invested. It was easier to attach to one fighter because there was less fighters, more rematches, more rivalries. It was a Better way to know who was the best, how a fighter evolved and adapted from previous fights. How he would do in the rematch. Because rematches were almost guaranteed to happen. Rivalries were a big part of The K-1 World MAX storyline. And through this storyline we felt a connection with these fighters.Having seen Masato lose each attempt since 2004, each defeat left me depressed, that's how invested we were seeing our fighters fight. Finally seeing him win in 2008 live, I literally said ‘I could die happy now’!

Baba : Oh, yeah, i remember that very well! And it clearly shows in your MASATO FINAL movie, a must watch for every fighting fan in the world by the way. And when you look at the footage, it feels like everything was coming from a movie.

Age of the Highlights

BABA : Shunsuke was a very important part of the fact that everyone was constantly hyped, including between events. He and other creators were constantly bringing us content, creating highlights and movies of fighters and events. A lot of people, fighters, trainers, will agree that Shun is probably the most important fan of that era, so it’s only right if he we let him talk about it (Editor’s Note: Plenty of kickboxing professionals follow Shunsuke on his Instagram page)

Shunsuke : I was watching many highlights when I started Muay Thai. The Ramon Dekkers HL by KYHO motivated me to train. Highlight makers like Hero1 inspired me to do the same but The K-1 World MAX 2003 HL by sudoraba is really the one that made me want to start doing highlights. And more importantly to highlight my favourite fighter Masato. (I remember my friend was spending his days playing World of Warcraft and i heard the song « Let the bodies hit the floor» in one of the videos he was watching. I thought, damn, thatʼs a cool song for a highlight)

After discovering K-1 MAX I wanted to display to my friends this fighter (Masato) without them having to watch all the fights. At the time it was just a one time thing, but people liked it. More fights happened, I got them on K-1 Fans and started doing more and more. At one point I thought it would be good for everyone if i started highlighting more fighters. Thatʼs when more people started watching. Then I thought it would be cool to make a highlight after each big events so I kept doing it. I thought if I made something stylish, nobody would dislike it.

Iʼve got to say K-1 MAX helped a lot. The broadcast was always top notch, Fights were exciting. A Highlight makerʼs wet dream. Now, you have to visualise what works and what doesnʼt, and movies/video games influenced my style of editing a lot. My style was fast paced editing, Just like what K-1 MAX is.
The important thing for me was always to deliver a message though them. It will probably sound corny but we need this kind of message: Never give up, keep training, come back stronger...

I also wanted to stand out as a highlight maker, I would not make them just for the sake of it. Once i started making Highlights, I stopped watching other highlights. I needed to do my own thing without copying other HL makers. Without trying to sound cocky, I like to think there is a shunsuke style of editing.

Baba: Those highlights and movies were nothing short of fantastic. I probably watched them more times than the actual fights! What did making those bring you? Were you able to do things you never thought you could?

Shunsuke: Making highlights for K-1 World MAX have been the highlight of my life, no pun intended. Iʼve never felt more proud and happy doing them.

Sharing them after weeks and weeks of sleepless nights of work was a moment I truly loved. The reaction is always the reward. I connected with so many great people, had work opportunities and met my idols, traveled to places and met more amazing people because of K-1/K-1 MAX and of course K-1fans.com.

Iʼm glad if I got people to watch fights because of the highlights. Even if i donʼt do them anymore, people still reach out to tell me how it motivated them to train, went through surgery , overcame their losses and kept pushing after watching some of my work. Thereʼs nothing that makes me more proud. In this small life of mine, I feel like i accomplished something good.

Throughout the years, I received many request by pro fighters for a highlight, I did it once or twice and unless itʼs a fighter i really enjoy watching, iʼll never do it again because thereʼs no passion behind it if i do it that way.

With K-1 MAX I had the material, the vision and the drive to do it. I would skip training to work on a highlight which says a lot about my drive because I love training more than everything else.

Baba: K-1 World MAX - EVOLUTION by Shunsuke is my favourite one. Shun released it right before the 2009 Final 4. In the second part, he puts the light of the man responsible for the evolution of MAX. Buakaw stormed his way in the promotion and became a global superstar.

By the numbers and facts

*Giorgio Petrosyan, first defending champion to win the title back to back in 2010 against Yoshihiro Sato*

Nine tournaments, excluding events after 2010 from the mix, because they happened after the era was really over and under new management
Five tournaments champions : Masato, Buakaw, Andy Souwer and Giorgio Petrosyan twice each; Albert Kraus once, inaugural
Buakaw is the first fighter to win the tournament two times (2004 and 2006)
Giorgio Petrosyan is the first and only fighter to have won the title back to back (2009 and 2010)
From 2002 to 2008, the final always involved the previous winner or runner up
At 21 years and 9 months, Albert Kraus is the youngest tournament winner (2002)
At 29 years and 7 months, Masato is the oldest tournament winner (2008)
Buakaw is the fastest one night tournament winner (2006, 14min 31 sec) and the longest (2004, 27min 42 sec)

“SURVIVE” By Shunsuke is all about the crowning of the best 70kg fighter ever, ‘The Doctor” himself, Giorgio Petrosyan

Final Thoughts

BABA : The K-1 World MAX era was incredible. I can only recommend any fight fan to watch all the tournaments. Some fights are among the best kickboxing fights you will ever see, such as the incredible 2010 brawl between Mike Zambidis and Chahid Oulad El Hadj, Buakaw’s breathtaking performance in 2004 against Masato and their 2007 epic rematch with the Japanese legend exacting revenge.

Masato’s 2008 run was nothing short of brutal poetry. Buakaw savagely running through the field in 2006. And of course, the emergence of Petrosyan and his impressive crowning.

There were so many great rivalries, Masato and Kraus fighting each other four times in two years, Kraus and Buakaw, Masato and Taishin Kohiruimaki, and of course Masato ending his career by finaly beating Souwer in a 5 rounds fast and furious bout. During nine years, we were presented an incredible and unforgettable show, and truly, the greatest era of kickboxing.

I will let Shunsuke have the final word, but I will say this : go on his youtube page, and enjoy everyone of his highlights, and the formidable MASATO FINAL movie.

Shunsuke: Today, there's just too many fighters and fights and I feel like it's harder to keep up, or I might just be too old! To me each K-1 World MAX tournament felt like Christmas and I donʼt think iʼll get ever tired watching and re-watching these events. K-1 is still awesome and there are still highlights to come.

MAX First Class by Shunsuke is the best review of the K-1 World MAX you’ll ever get

K-1 World MAX : The Golden Era of Kickboxing (Featuring Shunsuke)