What would be a good way to encourage more amateurs to become pro kickboxers? The pro rankings look pretty sparse right now in comparison to the ams. Any ideas?

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I think a lot of the reason is because the fees in place by state athletic commissions. They are so high in many cases that it would not be worth the extra expense to the promoters to put pros on the card when they are sometimes barely making thier money back at all promoting just amateurs. I don't know the exact amounts, but the fees in Georgia are very high to promote pros. I believe you must pay a fee per pro fight as well. Does anybody out there know what the fees in Ga. or any of the other states are. I will try to find out about Ga., but it would be interesting to see what other promoters are paying.

PJ, What would be the motivation for our Am fighters to become pro? I dont know of many if any at all that make a living at it.

I understand your point guys. I'm just trying to think of ways to get more people interested in the pro game. I am a pro right now (because of my one WCL fight) and I really don't see much going on, especially in this part of the country.

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I would personally like to see K1 reintroduced to the U.S. audience. I would think setting up regional pro tournaments that lead up to a larger U.S. tournament. That way the regionals would create a buzz in all parts of the U.S., not just Vegas. The IKF does a great job of getting everybody involved with the World Classic. I don't see why promoters couldn't use that as a model to stir up some interest. Most of the pro kickboxing in the U.S. seems to be happening in California. The tornament would give other regions the opportunity to showcase some great pro fights. Europe and Asia have lots of pro kickboxing. I wonder what they do to keep the buzz alive? What is different about the way the public views kickboxing over there? Is MMA as big there? Since MMA is so popular right now, I think having a great striker from the UFC or WEC compete in the K1 tournament would add a lot of excitement and interest for the general public. I would love to see Uriah Faber or Jose Aldo from the WEC in a K1 style tournament. I think they would do well and would attract a large viewing audience. What do you guys think?

Mark,
Your logic is sound except the money is the X Factor. MMA is the leading "extreme" fight sport therefore the public is willing to pay for it. Kickboxing USED to be the extreme sport til mma came on the scene. Kickboxing is kinda "old news" so the excitement about it isn't as strong at least in the eyes of the general public. I say too bad. ALL the mma fans love to see ko's (even the grapplers, if they'll admit it) so it would seem that a strickly "striking" sport would be a great draw. There's not enough "extremeness" therefore not many are be willing to watch. No viewers, no ticket or ppv sales. Also, no viewers, no sponsors. At least this is how I see it. What say you?

Yeah, that sounds spot on to me. Again, that was only what I personally would have liked to see happen. The reality is that MMA is where it's at right now. I don't think it is going to lose any popularity contests anytime soon either. If you want to be recognized WORLDWIDE as a great striker you need to start knocking out out some great mixed martial artists, and that means learning the ground game and crossing over into MMA. Although my passion is for kickboxing, MMA and the UFC in particular, are the largest stage on which fighters can be seen by the masses. MMA has yet to see a really great striker like the WONDERBOY. When that happens, maybe we will see a new surge of popularity in the sport of kickboxing. So, Stephan, I think I can safely say that we are ALL pulling for you to shine in MMA as you did in kickboxing!

Right on, Mark!!

It would also help if some of these mma strikers crossed over and competed in striking sports. I see mma fighters compete in jiu jitsu events all the time.

The same goes for the Wonderboy. I hope he tears up the mma scene, but when was the last time an mma guy got $10 million for one fight? Never. Stephen could be a great boxer as well.

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Randy,
Funny you would say that!! I have been in touch with some boxing connections in Montreal that would LOVE for the WB to box there!! I have been entertaining the idea. You never know!!!

Hey guys, I have not been on here in a long time, but I like this thread. What is the model that the Japanese are using? What is it that makes K-1 such a draw over there. What are they doing different that we might copy? What about Europe, do they have a system that makes it work? I would love to see Kickboxing become popular again. I now have a strong group of up and coming fighters ,men and women.now since I reopened. I would love to have events for them to fight on. We need to some how get the K-1 bug going again over here in the states...