Knock Out (kickboxing) explained

Knock Out
Type:	Private
Foundation:	2016
Location City:	Tokyo
Location Country:	Japan
Founders:	Riki Onodera, Bushido Road
Key People:	Mitsuru Miyata
Industry:	Martial arts entertainment planning and promotion
Owner:	Def Fellow
Homepage:	Knockout Kickboxing

Knock Out (stylized as KNOCK OUT) is a Japanese martial arts promotion and brand established in 2016 by the Bushido Road subsidiary Kixroad. It is currently run by Def Fellow.

In 2019, the promotion established two different rulesets. The Knock Out-Red ruleset allowed elbow strikes, sweeps and throws. The Knock Out-Black ruleset followed the traditional K-1 ruleset, which allowed kicks and strikes with fists or knees, while extended clinching, elbow strikes and throws of any kind were prohibited.^[1]

Current champions

Division	Red Champion	Black Champion
Super Middleweight (-75 kg)	Vacant	Vacant
Super Welterweight (-70 kg)	Kuntap Charoenchai	Kaito Ono
Welterweight (-67.5 kg)	Vacant	Ryotaro
Super Lightweight (-65 kg)	Bazooka Koki	Chihiro Suzuki
Lightweight (-62.5 kg)	Yota Shigemori	Taimu Hisai
Super Featherweight (-60 kg)	Vacant	Taimu Hisai
Featherweight (-57.5 kg)		Vacant
Super Bantamweight (-55 kg)	Issei SaenchaiGym	Seiya Furuki
Bantamweight (-53.5 kg)	Riku Otsu	Vacant
Super Flyweight (-52 kg)	Vacant	Vacant
Female Minimumweight (-47.5 kg)	Vacant	Vacant
Female Atomweight (-46 kg)	Vacant	Vacant

History

On September 14, 2016, Bushido Road announced the establishment of a new kickboxing promotion called Knock Out. The promotion was founded jointly by Riki Onodera and Road Fight, and initially partnered with another kickboxing promotion "NO KICK NO LIFE".^[2]

KNOCK OUT held their first event, called "Knock Out vol.0", at the Tokyo Dome City Hall on December 5, 2016. It was headlined by a muay thai bout between Sirimongkol PKsaenchaimuaythaigym and the Rajadamnern 135 lbs champion Genji Umeno. Tenshin Nasukawa faced the two-weight Lumpinee champion Wanchalong PK.Saenchai in the co-headliner.^[3] A half hour segment of the event was later broadcast by Tokyo MX on December 31, 2016.^[4] The event was fully broadcast on January 1, 2017.^[5]

Riki Onodera retired from the position of producer on April 29, 2019.^[6] On May 20, 2019, it was announced that he would be replaced by Genki Yamaguchi. On the same day, Knock Out announced that they had entered into a partnership agreement with Rebels, another kickboxing and muay thai promotion.^[7]

On June 15, 2020, Bushido Road sold Knock Out ownership rights to Def Fellow, the operating company of Rebels.^[8]

At a press conference held on September 28, 2020, producer Genki Yamaguchi announced his retirement. Former K-1 producer and Good Loser president Mitsuru Miyata was announced as his replacement.^[9]

On December 18, 2020, Def Fellow announced they would merge Rebels into the Knock Out brand. The merger occurred in March 2021.^[10]

Rules

The current rules were last revised in February 2023, and are as follows:^[11] ^[12]

Matches are won by knockout, technical knockout, disqualification or judges decision.
- A knockout victory is awarded if one competitor is rendered unable to continue competing as a result of a single strike.
- A technical knockout victory is awarded is one of the following cases:
  - (1) if one of the competitors is unable to rise in time (i.e. within 10 seconds) following a knockdown
  - (2) if one of the competitors suffers three knockdowns inside of a single round
  - (3) if the corner-men of one of the competitors throws in the towel, or opts to retire their fighter at the end of the round
  - (4) if the referee decides that a competitor cannot continue fighting due to an injury, or if they receive significant damage without intelligently defending themselves
- Matches are scored based on the following criteria:
  - (1) number of knockdowns
  - (2) presence or absence of damage done to the opponent
  - (3) number of clean hits
  - (4) aggressiveness
- In case of a draw, an extension round will be fought, after which one competitor will necessarily be declared a winner
Spitting, headbutts, biting, groin strikes, strikes to the back of the head, striking after the round has ended or the referee has called for a break, striking while the opponent is knocked down and excessive holding are all considered fouls. Furthermore, under the KNOCKOUT BLACK ruleset, sweeps, throws, and strikes with the elbow are prohibited. Fights under the BLACK rules allow a fighter to land a single strike while holding an opponent's leg, if it was caught after an attempted kick
- If one of the competitors commits a foul, they will be given a caution and a warning. If the foul is repeated, they will be given a yellow card, which results in a point deduction. Should the foul be committed once again, the competitor will be given a red card, and will be disqualified.

Championship history

King of Knock Out

Super Lightweight Championship

Weight limit: 65 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Fukashi (def. Hideki)	align=center	August 19, 2018

Lightweight Championship

Weight limit: 61.5 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Yosuke Morii (def. Katsuji)	align=center	December 10, 2017
align=center	2	align=left	Yodlekpet Or. Pitisak (def. Yosuke Morii)	align=center	August 14, 2018	def. Chan Hyung Lee on April 29, 2019

Super Bantamweight Championship

Weight limit: 55 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Rui Ebata (def. Eisaku Ogasawara)	align=center	September 18, 2019

Flyweight Championship

Weight limit: 51 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Issei Ishii (def. Kazuki Osaki)	align=center	December 9, 2018

Knock Out-Red

Red Super Welterweight Championship

Weight limit: 70 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Eiji Yoshida (def. Yoshiro Tsuzaki)	align=center	October 16, 2019
align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"	2	align=left	Kuntap Charoenchai (def. Yoshiro Tsuzaki)	align=center	December 11, 2022

Red Super Lightweight Championship

Weight limit: 65 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"	1	align=left	Bazooka Koki (def. Ryotaro)	align=center	September 16, 2023

Red Lightweight Championship

Weight limit: 62.5 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Suarek Rukkukamui (def. Yota Shigemori)	align=center	September 22, 2020
align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"	2	align=left	Yota Shigemori (def. Suarek Rukkukamui)	align=center	July 18, 2021

Red Super Featherweight Championship

Weight limit: 60 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Taimu Hisai (def. Soichiro Arata)	align=center	December 11, 2022
Hisai vacated the title in 2023 in order to move u in weight

Red Featherweight Championship

Weight limit: 57.5 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Haruto Yasumoto (def. Shogo Kuriaki)	align=center	June 9, 2019
Yasumoto vacated the title on July 28, 2022, after signing with RISE.^[13]
align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"	2	align=left	Eisaku Ogasawara (def. Takeru Owaki)	align=center	September 23, 2022

Red Super Bantamweight Championship

Weight limit: 55 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Eisaku Ogasawara (def. King Kyosuke)	align=center	March 13, 2021	def. Issei Saenchaigym on November 28, 2021
Ogasawara vacated the title on August 18, 2022, in order to move up to featherweight.^[14]
align=center	2	align=left	Issei SaenchaiGym (def. Yuki Morioka)	align=center	November 19, 2022
align=center	3	align=left	Hikaru Furumura (def. Issei SaenchaiGym)	align=center	August 6, 2023
align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"	4	align=left	Issei SaenchaiGym (2) (def. Hikaru Furumura)	align=center	April 27, 2024

Red Bantamweight Championship

Weight limit: 53.5 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Kyoha (def. Kohei Adachi)	align=center	September 25, 2021
Kyoha vacated the title in 2022.
align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"	2	align=left	Riku Otsu (def. Shinta)	align=center	August 6, 2023

Red Super Flyweight Championship

Weight limit: 52 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Yusei Shirahata (def. Ryuto Oinuma)	align=center	February 28, 2021
Shirahata vacated the title on March 3, 2022.^[15]
align=center	2	align=left	Shinta (def. Riku Otsu)	align=center	December 11, 2022
Shinta vacated the title on 2023, in order to move up to bantamweight.

Knock Out-Black

Black Super Middleweight Championship

Weight limit: 75 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Shintaro Matsukura (def. Hijiri Tamura)	align=center	July 18, 2021
Matsukura vacated the title on March 3, 2022.^[16]

Black Super Welterweight Championship

Weight limit: 70 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"	1	align=left	Kaito Ono (def. Hinata)	align=center	February 28, 2021

Black Welterweight Championship

Weight limit: 67.5 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Ryotaro (def. Daiki Watabe)	align=center	September 23, 2022

Black Super Lightweight Championship

Weight limit: 65 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"	1	align=left	Chihiro Suzuki (def. Keijirō Miyakoshi)	align=center	July 18, 2021

Black Lightweight Championship

Weight limit: 62.5 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Bazooka Koki (def. Keisuke Niwa)	align=center	August 30, 2020	def. Shoji Otani on May 22, 2021
Bazooka Koki vacated the title in 2023 in order to move up in weight
align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"	2	align=left	Taimu Hisai (def. Shoji Otani)	align=center	September 16, 2023

Black Super Featherweight Championship

Weight limit: 60 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"	1	align=left	Taimu Hisai (def. Ryusei)	align=center	June 23, 2024

Black Featherweight Championship

Weight limit: 57.5 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Ryusei (def. Ginji)	align=center	October 29, 2021
Ryusei vacated the title on July 11, 2024 in order to move up in weight^[17]

Black Super Bantamweight Championship

Weight limit: 55 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center bgcolor="#FFFF99"	1	align=left	Seiya Furuki (def. Reo "red" Kudo)	align=center	December 11, 2022	def. Takaya Ogura on August 6, 2023

Black Super Flyweight Championship

Weight limit: 52 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Ryu Hanaoka (def. Takumi Hamada)	align=center	September 25, 2021
Hanaoka vacated the title on July 28, 2022, after signing with RISE.^[18]

Black Female Minimumweight Championship

Weight limit: 47.5 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Panchan Rina (def. Miki Kitamura)	align=center	March 12, 2022
Rina vacated the title on February 17, 2023, after being arrested on fraud charges^[19]

Black Female Atomweight Championship

Weight limit: 46 kg

style= width:1%;"	No.	style= width:21%;"	Name	style=width:13%;"	Date	style= width:49%;"	Defenses
align=center	1	align=left	Panchan Rina (def. Misaki)	align=center	August 30, 2020
Rina vacated the title on December 19, 2021, in order to move up in weight.^[20]

Grand Prix

+ Knock Out Black -64kg Grand Prix
Date	Champion	Nationality	Event	Location	Runner-up	Nationality
2020-02-11		Japan	Knock Out Championship.1			Japan

Notes and References

Web site: KNOCK OUT 肘有りは「REDルール」、肘無しは「BLACKルール」に。2.11 大田で肘無し64kgトーナメント . boutreview.com . 14 November 2019 . 8 February 2022.
Web site: ブシロードがキックボクシング界へ殴り込み！！株式会社キックスロード設立並びにキックボクシング新イベント「KNOCK OUT」発表記者会見開催のお知らせ . prtimes.jp . September 2016 . 8 February 2022.
Web site: 【KNOCK OUT】ルンピニー現役王者をKOした那須川、さらなる強豪を求める . efight.jp . 6 December 2016 . 8 February 2022.
Web site: 【2016年版】年末年始に見ておきたいアニメ一覧 #もりたセレクト . liginc.co.jp . 29 December 2016 . 8 February 2022.
Web site: 【KNOCK OUT】テレビで毎週放映のレギュラー番組を開始 . efight.jp . 5 January 2017 . 8 February 2022.
Web site: 「ＫＮＯＣＫＯＵＴ」小野寺力プロデューサーが退任「これまでの流れは壊せた」 . hochi.news . 29 April 2019 . 8 February 2022.
Web site: ＲＥＢＥＬＳ代表・山口元気氏が「ＫＮＯＣＫＯＵＴ」プロデューサー就任 . excite.co.jp . 8 February 2022.
Web site: 【KNOCK OUT】ブシロードがKNOCK OUT事業から退き、山口元気プロデューサーが引き継ぐ＝新型コロナも影響 . gonkaku.jp . 8 February 2022.
Web site: KNOCK OUT・REBELSの新プロデューサーに宮田充氏が就任「K-1を真似しちゃいけない」、山口元気氏「宮田さんの色に染めてもらいたい」 . boutreview.com . 28 September 2020 . 8 February 2022.
Web site: 2021年2月に「REBELS」を封印し「KNOCK OUT」へのブランド統合を発表【REBELS】 . tokyoheadline.com . 18 December 2020 . 8 February 2022.
Web site: 【KNOCK OUT】プロ大会公式ルール改定、REDルールとBLACKルールの相違点がヒジ打ちと脇差しの有無のみとなる、延長Rはマスト判定に . gonkaku.jp . 8 February 2022 . 6 July 2021.
Web site: 【KNOCK OUT】BLACKルールを"ワンキャッチ・ワンアタック"のルールに改定、3.5代々木大会より実施 . efight.jp . 17 February 2023 . 17 February 2023.
Web site: 橋本道場の安本晴翔と花岡竜がKNOCK OUT王座を返上 . boutreview.com . 28 July 2022 . 28 July 2022.
Web site: 【KNOCK OUT】小笠原瑛作が2階級制覇を狙ってTAKERUと対戦、良太郎と渡部太基が王座を懸けてダイレクトリマッチ、REDスーパーバンタム級王座決定トーナメントも . gonkaku.jp . 18 August 2022.
Web site: 【KNOCK OUT】松倉信太郎と白幡裕星が王座返上、次なる挑戦へ . efight.jp . 4 March 2022 . 4 March 2022.
Web site: 【KNOCK OUT】松倉信太郎と白幡裕星が王座返上、次なる挑戦へ . efight.jp . 4 March 2022 . 4 March 2022.
Web site: 龍聖が久井大夢へのリベンジ目指し8月大会に緊急参戦。ベルトを返上し1989年の猪木さんを思い出させる第1試合から出直し【KNOCK OUT】 . tokyoheadline.com . 11 July 2024 . ja.
Web site: 橋本道場の安本晴翔と花岡竜がKNOCK OUT王座を返上 . boutreview.com . 28 July 2022 . 28 July 2022.
Web site: ぱんちゃん璃奈、KNOCK OUT王座返上を発表 12月に詐欺容疑で逮捕後初の会見で謝罪 . nikkansports.com . 17 February 2023.
Web site: ぱんちゃん璃奈、２階級制覇を目指し初代ミニマム級決定戦に出場. Nikkan Sports. Japanese. 2021-12-19 . 2022-05-16.