Did American rule kickboxing died out?

[kenpeters8]

Did American rule kickboxing died out? All kicks above the waist, was popular back in the mid 60's, 70's, 80's, maybe part of 90's, but was dead after 2000. I never liked it at all, I'm glad it went away. But is it 100% completely dead? I don't see or hear about it anymore.

 

[Blazeblack]

It’s still done in Europe but they call it Full Contact rules over there. Ironically we only do Muay Thai and unified kickboxing rules here in America. FC rules just aren’t done here anymore.

 

[JSN]

If it ever comes back, let's all make a pact that we will hunt it down and drive a stake through its heart.

 

[SuperLuigi]

I know it exists in some capacity even in America because a guy I grew up with became Canadian youth champion and then lost to the American youth champion. These days though the best guys seem to be Russians and Germans.

 

[Snubnoze707]

What was the scene in the 60's? I thought it didn't start till the 70's. I never followed this scene closely however.

It's dead now for sure outside of some lower level regional stuff or Euro.

 

[BigBadKraken]

UK, I wish it would just die already, or call itself some kind of Karate style.

Because on this island, there are still a dozen organisations with some obscure initials that don't define "above waist only" until you might go on their badly managed websites and download their 14 year old pdf rules sheet.

Usually, the way to find out if it is that style is easy. If they offer you a free class and "uniform after direct debit", they are probably above waist only.

A lot in UK call it "shiny pants" kickboxing. Glorified tracksuit bottoms that are too shiny for streetwear.

Can't belittle it that much though.
I started out training for it, many moons ago and it got me comfortably through a couple of scuffles at a nightclub. Short of knees, elbows and clinch, being able to kick high with no tell and box decently with it is solid.

Okay. Maybe it shouldn't die out yet.

 

[Monte Moku]

Funny timing, there's a French guy staying at the gym I'm training at and he only has prior experience with full contact rules; he's only been training MT rules for about a month. I did some sparring with him today, and although I was able to land jabs, low kicks and teeps fairly easily, he whipped out some wild kicks that took me totally off guard. A lightning fast Brazilian kick (he even transitioned a low kick to a head kick, it was pretty cool), a crescent kick and a crescent kick that turned into a teep. His movement and general style of kicking was much different than others I have sparred with before. I never really held much of an opinion about the style, but I started to respect it a bit after sparring with him and watching him have a go with others. It wasn't like Rick Roufus VS Changpuek hahaha

 

[Tayski]

Funny timing, there's a French guy staying at the gym I'm training at and he only has prior experience with full contact rules; he's only been training MT rules for about a month. I did some sparring with him today, and although I was able to land jabs, low kicks and teeps fairly easily, he whipped out some wild kicks that took me totally off guard. A lightning fast Brazilian kick (he even transitioned a low kick to a head kick, it was pretty cool), a crescent kick and a crescent kick that turned into a teep. His movement and general style of kicking was much different than others I have sparred with before. I never really held much of an opinion about the style, but I started to respect it a bit after sparring with him and watching him have a go with others. It wasn't like Rick Roufus VS Changpuek hahaha

It has the element of surprise indeed but low kicks and clinching techniques is usually too much for them.

 

[Monte Moku]

It has the element of surprise indeed but low kicks and clinching techniques is usually too much for them.

I never tried clinching with him, I suck at it and always get caught with a punch trying to tie up haha. The low kicks were really easy to land though. My shin is a little injured at the moment so I was hesitating when I threw them and it seemed like he didn't have the muscle memory for it. He only checked like half of them.

 

[nhbfan8080]

Did American rule kickboxing died out? All kicks above the waist, was popular back in the mid 60's, 70's, 80's, maybe part of 90's, but was dead after 2000. I never liked it at all, I'm glad it went away. But is it 100% completely dead? I don't see or hear about it anymore.

Wasn't American KB its own local style trying to fuse boxing and karate brought back from Japan after WW2? It probably died out when MT with less restrictive rules became more popular.

 

[Kenneth Andrews]

The organizations that exist are poorly run and have crappy marketing and websites.

look up organizations like WAKO and IKF. It looks like their sites haven’t been updated since the 90s. They don’t really put on fights, so amateur fighters have to spend money to travel to a tournament.

personally I spent over $1000 and traveled across the country for a tournament only for nobody in my weight class and division to show up. So I was forced to fight in a different rule set and more advanced division for my first fight.

The state of Muay Thai is no better. Of course there will be no sport here if we have little talent. And of course we have little talent if we have no amateur scene and make it impossible for prospective athletes to get experience without being loaded with cash for traveling and tournament expenses.

 

[kenpeters8]

To be honest, the shiny pants and wearing the black belt just annoys the crap out of me. I'm just glad American rule kickboxing is now dead.

 

[krugansjj]

This has to do with the scoring system. Since in Muaythai the kick scores more for this reason if you see more kick

 

[Mad Dollar]

It’s still well alive in Denmark - there are many different rules in kickboxing here - full or light contact - high kick, low kick, K1 too mention the most common ones

 

[Tayski]

It’s still well alive in Denmark - there are many different rules in kickboxing here - full or light contact - high kick, low kick, K1 too mention the most common ones

In the UK and France it's still alive too, there are probably more American style Kickboxing gyms than there is straight up K-1 style Kickboxing gyms in those 2 countries. However there are tons more Muay Thai gyms (where usually K-1 style Kickboxing is also trained), and of course many more Boxing and MMA gyms.

 

[Mad Dollar]

In the UK and France it's still alive too, there are probably more American style Kickboxing gyms than there is straight up K-1 style Kickboxing gyms in those 2 countries. However there are tons more Muay Thai gyms (where usually K-1 style Kickboxing is also trained), and of course many more Boxing and MMA gyms.

We have several amateur world champs in different kickboxing disciplines from Denmark, the amateur scene is big in Europe !!

 

[Emanuele]

It’s still done in Europe but they call it Full Contact rules over there. Ironically we only do Muay Thai and unified kickboxing rules here in America. FC rules just aren’t done here anymore.

In Europe we have full contact with low kicks; the best kickboxing version IMO. It is done in long trousers, insteps and it has belts system and dan degrees. It allowes foot sweeps, back spinning punches, clinch is restricted like in boxing and knees and elbows are forbidden.

 

[Tayski]

In Europe we have full contact with low kicks; the best kickboxing version IMO. It is done in long trousers, insteps and it has belts system and dan degrees. It allowes foot sweeps, back spinning punches, clinch is restricted like in boxing and knees and elbows are forbidden.

How is this a better Kickboxing version than K-1 rules when there's instep protection and no knees allowed?

 

[Emanuele]

How is this a better Kickboxing version than K-1 rules when there's instep protection and no knees allowed?

Because I don't like K1 nor muay thay, too rough. It is better less techniques but more skills.

 

[kenpeters8]

Because I don't like K1 nor muay thay, too rough. It is better less techniques but more skills.

That's a dumb and pussy ass response. LOL! Seriously?! "too rough"??!?! Go play tennis or golf then. Hahahaha!!!