The title K-1 USA refers to the host country of the tournament. It is not exclusively a US national title. The fighters typically come from the Americas [North and South] though a few have come from other parts of the world. In fact, five of the eight titles were won by non-US citizens.

Notes: The most wins any fighter can get in one tournament is 3. 

The list is in order of wins. However, where two or more fighters have the same number of wins, the one with the fewest losses is higher on the list.　

1998

K-1 USA

1999

N/A

2000

K-1 USA

2001

K-1 USA and K-1 Las Vegas

2002

K-1 Milwaukee , K-1 USA and K-1 Las Vegas

2003

K-1 Brazil , K-1 USA and K-1 Las Vegas

2004

K-1 USA and K-1 Las Vegas

2006

K-1 USA

The K-1 USA held its first event in 1998. In 2000, it returned on a much smaller scale. In 2001, the K-1 USA was joined by the K-1 Las Vegas. Unlike the K-1 USA, fighters from outside the Americas were included. In 2002, the K-1 Milwaukee became the first qualifying event for the K-1 USA. In 2003, the K-1 Brazil produced a representative. In 2004 and 2005, the K-1 reduced its events from 3 to 2.

Ideally, the K-1 will want to expand. One possibility is to have more qualifying events similar to the K-1 Milwaukee in 2002 and K-1 Brazil in 2003. In 2008, the K-1 will celebrate its 10^th anniversary in the US . It will be a shame to only have 2 events per year at that stage, especially when one considers how many young athletes enrolled for the tryouts in 2004.

1998

Jerome Turcan

1999

N/A

2000

Andrei Dudko

2001

Gunter Singer

2002

No one

2003

Yusuke Fujimoto

2004

Nobu Hayashi and Tatsufumi Tomihira

2005

Yusuke Fujimoto and Tsuyoshi Nakasako

The K-1 USA has maintained one theme since 1998. The fighters are from either North or South America. Eight berths over the course of 7 events have been filled with fighters who were not from the Americas. With the exception of Fujimoto, none have been invited back.

1998

Ernesto Hoost defeated Maurice Smith by DEC-5
Andy Hug defeated Mike LaBree by KO-1

1999

N/A

2000

None

2001

None

2002

None

2003

Stefan Leko defeated Kenji Kusatsu by KO-2
Mark Hunt defeated Gary Goodridge by DEC-5
Akio Mori defeated Nobuaki Kakuda by DEC-3

2004

Bob Sapp defeated Tommy Glanville by KO-1
Gary Goodridge defeated Paul Kingi by KO-1

2005

Mou Siliga defeated Remy Bonjasky by DEC-3
Akio Mori defeated Rick Roufus by DEC-3

The above superfight analysis shows the matchups that included at least one fighter who had made it as far as the K-1 Grand Prix Eliminations. From 2000 to 2002, the K-1 USA appeared to be on an anemic budget. Since then, the number and quality of the super fights have both increased. In 2004, both fights were simple brawls. In 2005, the age old formula of mixing styles gave the fans something worth the price of a ticket.

1^st Timers

Invited Back

Never Invited Back

1998

8

Rick Roufus, Pedro Fernandez, Jean Claude Leuyer, and Tomas Kucharzewski

Jerome Turcan, Espedito Silva, Curtis Schuster and Jean Riviere

1999

N/A

N/A

N/A

2000

6

Paul Lalonde, Glaube Feitosa and George Randolf

Andrei Dudko, Roman Roytberg, and Jason Johnson

2001

4

Michael McDonald, and Maurice Smith

Jeff Roufus, and Gunter Singer

2002

4

Giuseppe DeNatale, and Dewey Cooper

Jeff Ford, and Kurt Hasley

2003

3

Carter Williams, and Yusuke Fujimoto

Eduardo Maiorino

2004

5

None to date

Mou Siliga, Nobu Hayashi, Marvin Eastman, Kelly Leo and Tatsufumi Tomihira

2005

It is always amusing to see someone play poker and asked four 4 new cards and hold onto one. It is also unusual to see the K-1 USA stage an event that has more than half the vacancies filled by first time fighters.

How many is the best number? If eight is too many unless, like 1998, it is the inaugural event. Zero may be too few unless there are 8 dynamite fighters who block the way for newcomers. Ideally, 2 or three new faces should give a balance between developing new talent and keeping the recognizable fighters in front of the audience and cameras. Four newcomers is the borderline. Five is too many.

The column on the far right shows the newcomers were never invited back. For the most part, half get the second chance. In 2003, both Carter Williams and Yusuke Fujimoto were invited back to produce the best rookie ratio. Two thirds.

When a fighter doesn’t get invited back, conclusions can be drawn. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been there in the first place. In the case of Curtis Schuster, it was an injury that ended his career. For many others, it had to do with being good enough to fight at this level or fitting in to the tournament theme.

Fights won

Country

Fighters

31

United States

Rick Roufus, Curtis Schuster, Jean Claude Leuyer, Maurice Smith, Jeff Ford, Dewey Cooper, Carter Williams, Mo Siliga, Kelly Leo, Mark Selbee and Scott Lighty

15

Canada

Paul Lalonde, Tomas Kucharzewski, Michael McDonald, Gary Goodridge

5

Russia

Andrei Dudko, Aleksandr Pitchkounov

4  

Brazil

Glaube Feitosa

2

Germany

1

Japan

Yusuke Fujimoto

1

France

Jerome Turcan

1

Austria

Gunter Singer

1

South Africa

K-1 USA 1998

Rick Roufus defeated Pedro Fernandez by KO-2
Jerome Turcan defeated Espedito Silva by DEC-3
Jean Claude Leuyer defeated Tomas Kucharzewski by TKO-1
Curtis Schuster defeated Jean Riviere by KO-2
Rick Roufus defeated Jerome Turcan by KO-2
Curtis Schuster defeated Jean Claude Leuyer by KO-2
Rick Roufus declared winner by forfeit.

K-1 Las Vegas 1998

No event.

K-1 USA 1999

There was no K-1 USA tournament in 1999. This year marks the only step backward for the K-1 on US soil.

K-1 Las Vegas 1999

No event

K-1 USA 2000

Andrei Dudko defeated Roman Roytberg by TKO-2
Paul Lalonde defeated Jean Claude Leuyer by TKO-2
Tomas Kucharzewski defeated Jason Johnson by TKO-1
Glaube Feitosa defeated George Randolf by KO-1
Andrei Dudko defeated Paul Lalonde by KO-1
Tomas Kucharzewski defeated Glaube Feitosa by KO-1
Andrei Dudko defeated Tomas Kucharzewski by KO-1

K-1 Las Vegas 2000

No event

K-1 USA 2001

May 5th
Jeff Roufus defeated Tomas Kucharzewski by KO-1
Michael McDonald defeated Jean Claude Leuyer by DEC-3
Maurice Smith defeated Pedro Fernandez by DEC-3
Gunter Singer defeated Paul Lalonde by TKO-2
Michael McDonald defeated Jeff Roufus by DEC-3
Maurice Smith defeated Gunter Singer by KO-2
Maurice Smith defeated Michael McDonald by DEC-4

K-1 Las Vegas 2001

Peter Aerts defeated Noboru Uchida by KO-3
Maurice Smith defeated Jurgen Krut by DEC-3
Sergei Ivanovich defeated Francisco Filho by DEC-4
Stefan Leko defeated Jeff Roufus by KO-1
Peter Aerts defeated Maurice Smith by DEC-4
Stefan Leko defeated Sergei Ivanovich by TKO
Stefan Leko defeated Peter Aerts by KO

K-1 USA 2002

May 3rd
Michael McDonald defeated Giuseppe DeNatale by DEC-3
Jeff Ford defeated George Randolph by DEC-3
Dewey Cooper defeated Jean Claude Leuyer by DEC-3
Rick Roufus defeated Kurt Hasley by DEC-3
Michael McDonald defeated Jeff Ford by TKO-2
Rick Roufus defeated Dewey Cooper by DEC-3
Michael McDonald defeated Rick Roufus by TKO-3

K-1 Las Vegas 2002

Michael McDonald defeated Ricardo Duenas by TKO-1
Tony Gregory defeated Petr Vandrachek by TKO-1
Pavel Majer defeated Adam Watt by DEC-3
Errol Parris defeated Andrew Thompson by TKO-1
Michael McDonald defeated Tony Gregory by DEC-3
Pavel Majer defeated Errol Parris by DEC-3
Michael McDonald defeated Pavel Majer by TKO-2

K-1 USA 2003

May 2nd
Carter Williams defeated Michael McDonald by DEC-3
Yusuke Fujimoto defeated Dewey Cooper by DEC-3
Rick Roufus defeated Eduardo Maiorino by TKO-1
Maurice Smith defeated Giuseppe DeNatale by DEC-3
Carter Williams defeated Yusuke Fujimoto by TKO-2
Rick Roufus defeated Maurice Smith by DEC-3
Carter Williams defeated Rick Roufus by KO-1

K-1 Las Vegas 2003

Michael McDonald defeated Jefferson Silva by TKO-2
Aziz Khattou defeated Raul Romero by DEC
Remy Bonjasky defeated Vernon White by KO-2
Rick Roufus defeated Jeff Ford by DEC-3
Michael McDonald defeated George Randolph [Reserve] by KO-1
Remy Bonjasky defeated Jeff Ford [Reserve] by KO-1
Remy Bonjasky defeated Michael McDonald by DEC-4

K-1 USA 2004

April 30th
Mou Siliga defeated Carter Williams by TKO-3
Dewey Cooper defeated Nobu Hayashi by DEC-3
Michael McDonald defeated Marvin Eastman TKO-2
Kelly Leo defeated Tatsufumi Tomihira by DEC-3
Dewey Cooper defeated Mou Siliga by DEC-3
Michael McDonald defeated Kelly Leo by KO-1
Michael McDonald defeated Dewey Cooper by DEC-3

K-1 Las Vegas 2004

Brecht Wallis defeated Carter Williams by KO-3
Jurgen Krut defeated Ron Sefo by DEC-3
Alexander Ustinov defeated Jan Nortje by DEC-3
Mou Siliga defeated Sergei Gur by DEC-3
Brecht Wallis defeated Jurgen Krut by DEC-3
Mou Siliga defeated Scott Lighty [Reserve] by KO-1
Mou Siliga defeated Brecht Wallis by KO

K-1 USA 2005

April 30th
Mark Selbee defeated Tsuyoshi Nakasako by DEC-3
Gary Goodridge defeated Sean O’Haire by KO-1
Glaube Feitosa defeated Dewey Cooper by DEC-3
Carter Williams and Yusuke Fujimoto ended in a no contest.
Gary Goodridge defeated Scott Lighty by KO-1
Glaube Feitosa defeated Carter Williams by KO-2
Glaube Feitosa defeated Gary Goodridge by KO-1　

K-1 Hawaii

K-1 Las Vegas

April 29th
Gary Goodridge defeated Kengo Watanabe by KO-1
Scott Lighty defeated Dewey Cooper by DEC-3
Chalid Arrab defeated Sean O'Haire by KO-1
Carter Williams defeated Yusuke Fujimoto by DEC-3
Gary Goodridge defeated Scott Lighty by KO-1
Carter Williams defeated Chalid Arrab by DEC-3
Chalid Arrab defeated Gary Goodridge by KO-3