UsefulNotes / Kickboxing

Sweeter than the sweet science.

Kickboxing is a combat sport, or rather an umbrella term for several competitive martial rulesets and systems, based around punching and kicking. It could be intuitively described as "boxing, only with kicks (and possibly other strikes and techniques)".

Unlike other combat sports, kickboxing is hardly an unified discipline: it developed under several forms in very disparage countries and time periods, often with little to no direct contact to each other, which resulted in a myriad of circuits that only gain the appellative of kickboxing by sharing a vaguely similar punch-and-kick ruleset. To blur the lines even more, many traditional martial arts contain elements that would fit this definition as well, like Karate, Muay Thai, Taekwondo and some more, with several of them having contributed actively to their nearest kickboxing style. In synthesis, it is more correct to talk about kickboxing forms, just as "wrestling" can convey a variety of fighting systems instead of an overarching sport.

The term "kickboxing" was a Gratuitous English term created in The '60s by Osamu Noguchi, a Japanese promoter that codified most of the aspects we associate with modern kickboxing. The discipline he would go to promote was shaped by Tatsuo Yamada, a karateka who became fascinated with the full contact nature and liberal rules of Muay Thai. With their influence and that of several publicized challenge matches between karatekas and nak muay, Japan saw the creation of a Kickboxing Association and the rise of a new, exciting professional sport, whose popularity exploded right then and didn’t burn off completely until The '80s. Even then, the seed remained deeply planted, and when Akira Maeda and his collaborators broke off from Professional Wrestling to entertain the idea of real fighting, the return of kickboxing was one of its consequences. With the help of Maeda, a modernized organization named K-1 blossomed, attracting fighters from around the world and exploding in its own boom of fighting culture, dream matches and bone-breaking kicks.

At the same time, United States witnessed a similar evolution. Although some minor martial artists had attempted to create something similar, it was again a disenchanted karateka from The '70s, Joe Lewis, who had the idea (inspired by his training under Bruce Lee) to combine elements of karate and boxing. His creation was initially conceived as a form of full-contact karate, with the term kickboxing being an exotic term that ended up sticking; it was not until the founding of the Professional Karate Association (PKA) and the World Kickboxing Association (WKA, originally the World Karate Association) that their road became bifurcated and took separate directions. Other acronyms like WAKO, IKF and ISKA appeared around this time, shaping it as a relatively popular competition circuit. It is interesting to note that, despite its revolutionary beginning, American kickboxing would differentiate itself from foreign forms by its conservative ruleset, which forbade kicks around the waist and barely allowed striking tools other than fists and feet. This would be a further point of evolution when one of its main stars, Benny "The Jet" Urquídez, made contact with muay thai fighters.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world was taking its own notes. Dutch martial artists influenced by Jon Bluming discovered in mid-80s the remnants of the Japanese circuit and its Thai neighbors, and after deciding it was the coolest thing around, they put their efforts in learn whatever they could and recreate with their own arts what they could not. A long tradition of kickboxers started there, marked by but not limited to a legendary rivalry between Thom Harinck's Chakuriki team and Jan Plas's Mejiro Gym. With the rise of K-1 and the the Japanese branch of Mixed Martial Arts, those Dutch badasses decided to give back more than they had taken and joined them in the journey.

Styles

Nowadays, the main styles or forms of kickboxing are the following ones. Note again that, as mentioned before, traditional martial arts like muay thai and karate can be considered kickboxing modalities as well.

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(North) American kickboxing

Full Contact^notea hold over from when it was referred to as "Full Contact Karate", also short for Full Contact Above The Waist Rules, or simply Above Waist, Knock Out Fighting, High Kick Only^noteor simply High Kick, First-Full^notea name for it in France, American Style, American Rules, or American Kickboxing: born in the United States^notethough countries like the United Kingdom, France, and Germany seems to have an undying affinity for it, this style is, as mentioned before, conservative in its rules and based on early non-contact karate competitions. Its fighters wear long trousers with shin pads and boxing gloves, as well as protective helmets if they are amateur or under 16 and are either bare-chested or wear t-shirts and bouts last usually about 3 to 10 (or 12) rounds of 2 (or 3) minutes each with a 1-minute rest in between rounds depending on the organization sanctioning the events, uses the three knockdown rule system from boxing (though the ISKA doesn't use this and instead is based on the referee's discretion) as well as the 10 point scoring system (though WAKO uses an "open and cumulative" scoring system instead, similar to traditional Muay Thai). On the ring, they can use only punches (though some organizations like the ISKA, WAKO, and WKO ban backfists, both standard and spinning) and kicks (usually with the foot, although the shin is sometimes legal too, and recent years have seen a few organizations allow knee strikes), but kicking about and below the waist is forbidden altogether (though some organizations like WAKO allow for targeting to below the ankle to mid-calf, which is for sweeps and "kicks" that take an opponent off their feet). Clinch-fighting is similarly forbidden, though there is nothing stopping a fighter from landing a few punches before they are broken up by the referee (in pro rules). There was also a "minimum kicking requirement" (MKR) that made it mandatory for fighter to kick at least 6 times for amateurs and 8 for pros per round, points were deducted if the requirement was not met and could also lead to disqualification, until this was removed in July 2009 (though some small organizations in the UK continue to use it), though referees may choose to give a "warning" or even a "point deduction" for a fighter who does not appear to be kicking enough. The Japanese sometimes confusingly refer to it as Martial Arts (with English pronunciation no less)^noteapparently they mistook a statement by Benny Urquidez of himself being a “martial artist” as the name of the style, not helping was Ikki Kajiwara’s contribution to the madness in “Karate Baka Ichidai“ claiming that Urquidez's martial art was a military American fighting style named "Martial Arts". A now-extinct form of the format that was once the predominate style until the rise of the WKA had no sweeps of any kind and only allowed foot kicks and punches. The PKA were the main proponents of this style, which some cynically argued was to protect their middleweight champion, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace, and it more or less died with them.
- Semi-Contact^note, Point(s) Fighting or Point Kickboxing: a variation with a slightly more closed ruleset, usually practiced by younger kickboxers or beginners (though there are pro leagues), it is more similar to Point Karate or ITF Taekwondo (returning to kickboxing's parentage) and some organizations make fighters wear open finger gloves instead of boxing gloves. Instead of knocking out your opponent, you have to gain points in order to win by hitting your opponent. After getting a point, the match is reset and restarted. Different organizations differ on the amount of contact is allowed to the body, but head strikes must be controlled. Also known as First-Contact (after "First-Full" to refer to the Full Contact version) in France, they are mostly used interchangeably with the other two above, though some organizations separate them into different disciples despite having no real differences.
- Light Contact, Light Continuous, Continuous Fighting, Moderate Touch Contact or Light Kickboxing: a ruleset created by Geert Lemmens, co-founder of the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO), as an intermediate stage between semi and full contact. Competitors fight continuously until the referee says so, with points tallied up as they happen and the winner is declared at the end of the rounds. They use techniques from full contact, but these techniques must be well controlled when they land as they cannot be used knockout. In France, it is referred to as Medium Contact (though some use the term to only refer to the level of contact that is allowed) or International Light Contact as they have another ruleset they refer to as "light contact".
  - Light-Contact Français, French Light Contact, Touch Contact, Light Touch Contact or Soft Contact: a variant developed in France mostly for minors. Competitors fight continuously but the power of the strikes used is even more restrained with contact limited to just "touch" contact.
  - No Contact: another variant developed in France for minors, where fighters don't even make contact and is more akin to shadow boxing than anything related to contact sports.
- Low-Kick, Leg Kick or Full Contact with LK: popular in European countries outside The Netherlands, it is essentially a customized version of American kickboxing. It was created by the WKA in 1981, which formed after a split from the PKA in 1976 and was originally known as Kickboxing Rules when Full Contact Rules were still referred to as "Full Contact Karate". Its creation was deemed necessary when WKA founder Howard Hanson realized that while the Americans dominated their style of kickboxing, they would never be able to seriously challenge the other styles (especially the Japanese and Thai styles) without a change in their rules to better prepare for them. Its ruleset is similar to Full Contact, except that it allows kicking to the legs (including with the shin, only above the knees, so no calf kicks or anything below the knees, also no front, side, or spinning back kicks to the thighs and it once banned kicks to the inner thigh, but are now allowed), but disallows backfists (both standard and spinning), kick catches and flashy techniques like "somersault kicks". Footsweeps were originally banned, but modern rule changes (usually) allow them now, also punches are limited to above the waist like in boxing and Full Contact. Aside from WKA, it is also used by the WAKO and WKO. It also get frequently confused with its other variants below as their names are used interchangeably.
  - International: a modified variant of Low Kick used most notably by the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF). Its main difference is that it allows standard and spinning backfists.
  - Freestyle: another modified variant of Low Kick used most notably by the International Sport Karate and Kickboxing Association (ISKA), one of the organizations formed after splitting off from the PKA in 1985^note. Its main difference is that it allows calf kicks and more sweeping options similar to Muay Thai and Oriental Rules.
  - Original WKA Karate: the early rules of the WKA for their first event in 1977 featuring American kickboxers versus Muay Thai practitioners from Thailand, not to be confused with another set of rules they used in Japan (see K-1 below). In order to make the bouts more "even" the rules allowed punches, kick (even calf kicks), sweeps, limited clinching and even throws and takedowns^note, but banned elbows and knees. Fighters wore boxing gloves and foot pads (yes even the Muay Thai guys wore them).
  - Kick Light, Low Kick Light or Light Contact with LK: basically a Light Contact version of International/Low Kick/Freestyle rules.
  - Semi-Contact Low Kick: basically a semi-contact version of Low Kick rules used by some organizations.
  - Point International: basically a semi-contact version of International rules used by the IKF.
- Junior Rules or Junior Kickboxing: not really a style itself, it is a general term for rules specifically tailored to those aged 16 and 17 as they cannot legally compete under the full rules of whatever kickboxing ruleset that requires full contact until they are 18 or have a signed Parental Consent Form, though these rules also apply to younger age divisions of Cadet (generally aged 10 to 15) and Children (generally aged 7 to 9). The major difference between these rules and the senior/adult division is that all strikes to the head are either reduced to light contact or banned altogether depending on the organization, knockouts are not allowed as they wear chest protectors, and round times are shorter. In France, it is called Précombat for some reason.
- Super-Fight: a "triathlon" format created in France by the Fédération Fighting Full Contact et Disciplines Associées (FFFCDA) in 2000. Matches are fought in six rounds with two rounds being under a certain ruleset before switching to a different one and again after another two rounds. The first one used being Semi-Contact, the second being Medium/Light-Contact and the third being Full-Contact.
  - Universal Fighting Rules: a variant used by the Fédération de Boxe Américaine et Disciplines Associées (FBADA). It is a mix of three disciplines in three rounds; Boxing rules in the first round, Full Contact rules in the second, and Low Kick rules in the third.
  - Ultimate Point Fighter: another variant used by the WKO that runs entirely on semi-contact rulesets. It contains is 3 rounds with 1 minutes per round and a 30 seconds break between each round; the first round being what is referred to as "Ken-Do" which is basically semi-contact/point boxing with more freedom in punching variations compared to normal boxing rules, the second being what is referred to as "Tae-Do" (not to be confused with "Tae-Bo") which is semi-contact/point kicking-only rules, and the third and final round is normal semi-contact kickboxing rules. Sweeps are allowed in all 3 rounds and if punch or kick in a round that does not allow it, the offending strike can be deducted in the equivalent points for that type of strike. Points from each round accumulate the winner is awarded to the fighter with the most points after all 3 rounds have concluded, though if extra time is required it will be an extra 30 seconds sudden death match with the winner being who scores first with either a clean punch or kick.
  - Ring Contact Fighting Arts: an organization in South Africa founded by Joe Viljoen, a former PKA fighter. Aside from using Full Contact, Semi-Contact and even Low Kick rules, the organization also promotes what it refers to as "Sport Boxing", basically boxing matches with modifications like allowing spinning backfists, hammer fists, knife hand, ridge hand, blitz punches, Superman punches, other exotic punches and even foot sweeps. It also has a MMA-like ruleset they refer to as "Close Combat" and a 16 man tournament format called "Supreme Fighting Artist", with the first round of the tournament using Sport Boxing rules, the quarter finals using Full Contact rules, the semi-finals using Low Kick rules, and the finals using Close Combat rules.
- Cardio Kickboxing: a workout program of all things created by Frank Thiboutot, but with full intention of being a legitimate method of learning and training in actual kickboxing. It unfortunately has also produced a multitude of individuals who make their own methods (most of which are questionable at best) and call it the same name despite it being trademarked.
- Aerobic Kickboxing or Aero Kick for short: a musical forms competition format that uses kickboxing techniques only. The name sometimes gets used as an alternative to Cardio Kickboxing above, leading to some confusion over the name.
  - Energie-Full or Energy-Full: another musical forms competition format created in the 2000s in France by the FFFCDA, but only uses techniques from Full-Contact Kickboxing.
- Full-Défense: a self-defense program developed in France by the FFFCDA in the 1990s that used techniques from Full Contact Kickboxing but also included throws.
  - Kickboxing-Défense or Kick-Défense: a variation of Full-Défense that includes low kicks created by the Fédération de Kick-Boxing et Discipline Associées (FKDA).
- Circuit Oursons: translated as the Teddy Bear Circuit, it is a technical competition circuit created in the 2000s in France by the FFFCDA. It is exclusively for children and works to highlight and build up the different physical qualities and skills needed for Full-Contact (balance, spatial orientation, address, gestural dexterity, movements, etc).
- Kick Jitsu: a style developed in Italy in 1982 under the WAKO before it went on to have its own separate organization, though it never really caught on outside of Italy and several other parts of Europe. It combined kickboxing that allows punches and kicks to anywhere, and knees only to the body with grappling techniques like clinching, throws, sweeps, pins, and submissions from judo and jiu-jitsu (without the gi of course), making it a proto-MMA style pre-Shooto, Pancrase, and the UFC, though it used boxing gloves instead as open-finger gloves were not a widespread thing at the time and no striking a grounded opponent. It eventually transitioned to MMA gloves and was confusingly renamed Shoot Boxe, though the Kick Jitsu name was kept as the style's Light Contact version (though submissions can still win the fight), while a newer version that allows ground and pound is called Shoot Boxe Ground and Pound. There is a version of the style in Ukraine that still uses boxing gloves, but for some reason they strangely claim that the style comes from Brazil, being a combination of Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
  - Original Oktagon Rules: the original ruleset used by the first event of the Oktagon promotion founded by Carlo Di Blasi in 1996 in Northern Italy. While it promoted itself as "free fighting" (the term for MMA in Europe at the time) and is sometimes considered "shootboxing" (by the English section of The Other Wiki), it was basically a modified version of original Kick Jitsu rules, with the only main difference is that is allows fighters the option of wearing shoes for savate kicks.
- USKA Rules or Original American Kickboxing Rules: the extinct and first official ruleset of American kickboxing. It was created when promoter Lee Faulkner wanted to bring his teacher Joe Lewis out of retirement in a bout against Greg Bairnes at Faulkner’s 1st Pro Team Karate Championships event, a bout which Lewis requested to be full contact, which turned out to be the first American kickboxing match^note. The only known rules of the match were that it didn’t allow kicks to the head or the groin, with the fighters wearing boxing gloves and while Bairnes went barefoot, Lewis wore sneakers. After Lewis won the fight, it convinced Faulkner that full contact bouts were the way to go, and after revising the ruleset a little, he decided to create a promotion based around the ruleset, the United States Kickboxing Association being the result ^note, though it only lasted from 1970 to 1972^note. The rules allowed kicks (even low kicks, though only crescent kicks and round kicks were allowed to the head), punches, footsweeps and surprisingly knee and elbow strikes^note, but also disallowed clinching (and groin shots of course). Bouts consisted of four by three-minute rounds inside a boxing ring, with one-minute rest periods, though interestingly, a knockdown 5 count was used instead of the standard 10. Fighters were also given the option of going barefoot or wear elective gym shoes. It was even used in bouts outside the USKA until the founding of the PKA.
- World Combat League: another defunct promotion that featured team-based full contact kickboxing founded by Chuck Norris. It was fought on a no-rope circle ring (sometimes referred by fans as "the pit"), each match is two rounds in duration, with each round lasting three minutes, with a halftime of five minutes after the first set of rounds, with a five person team this gives each fighter about 20 minutes between rounds so he or she can fight full speed for the entire time allowed. Competitors fight in approved team pants, with gloves and shinguards, though they also originally wore full contact shoes until the 2006-2007 season. Its ruleset is basically Full Contact, but allows limited clinching to throw one knee strike (above the waist of course) but then must release immediately.
Professional Karate or Western Full Contact Karate: a very general term for western^noteor outside Japan in general professional karate rulesets that were greatly inspired from the early years of the PKA. This is also not to be confused with a period from 1968 to 1970 where American promoters tried to professionalize point karate.
- American Full Contact Karate or Original PKA Karate: also known as Contact Karate for short, it refers to the early ruleset (and its various modifications) originally developed by Joe Lewis and Tom Tannenbaum, and used by the PKA in 1974 before it was revised into High Kick Only rules and then modern Full Contact Kickboxing. Before the adoption of boxing gloves, fighters used Safe-T^notedeveloped by Jhoon Rhee, the "Father of American Taekwondo" as he is credited with being the first to have brought taekwondo to the USA brand hand and foot pads (basically an early prototype of what is used in modern WKF/Olympic karate that was introduced to the American Sport Karate scene a year earlier), traditional gi pants and are bare chested. The earliest matches were fought on raised platforms with taped ring mats (normal sport karate venue at the time) and consisted of three two-minute rounds (world title bouts consisted of three rounds), a knockdown 5 count was used and a round would automatically end following a knockdown or if a fighter executed a takedown and "controlled" follow-up punch or kick. Penalty points were assessed for rule violations, such as stepping out of bounds or executing more than three consecutive punches without a kick, and two penalty points in a round automatically ended that round in favor of the opponent. Rounds not ending in a knockdown, completed takedown or double infraction were decided by a vote of the referee and six judges prior to the start of the subsequent round. A fighter winning a bout by decision had to win a minimum of two rounds. The rounds system was revised almost immediately after it was first used so that rounds only end after the time limit due to the previous rule’s unfairness and also changed to use a fifteen one-and-half minute rounds with a 30 second-break in-between, then to nine two minute rounds with one minute break in-between, in addition to the creation of the MKR of 6 kicks per round and the banning of takedowns (and grabbing the legs in general) and the follow-up, though some throws and sweeps other than those using the foot were still legal and could score knockdowns. The PKA would introduce boxing gloves and roped rings in 1976 among other things like banning throws altogether, effectively becoming High Kick Only rules, though it remained the style used in Europe and was officially taken up by the WAKO (its primary founders Mike Anderson and Georg Brueckner were instrumental in forming the PKA and bringing Full Contact to Europe respectively) when started competitions in 1978 as it retained the raised platforms and Safe-T protection pads and the allowance of throws and sweeps, but shortly started using the ring within the next couple of years and switching to modern Full Contact rules over time, though they only switched to boxing gloves in 1987 (during that period they also switched from Safe-T gear to TopTen Bayflex gear). Once these rules were further revised, the name Professional/American Full Contact Karate became an Artifact Title as there would be almost no more distinction between it and modern Full Contact kickboxing, though some organizations like the WKA separate them by using different number of rounds and durations of each round for both. The early rules also inspired the creation of several organizations that used their own variation of the rules, though none of survived after a few years, these organizations include Aaron Banks' World Professional Karate Organization (WPKO), Tommy Lee's World Series of Martial Arts (WSMA), Gary Alexander's United States Kick Fighting League (USKFL), Jhoon Rhee's World Black Belt League (WBBL), Larry Scott, Valerie Williams and Chuck Norris' National Karate League (NKL), Joe Corley's South East Professional Karate Commission (SEPKC), etc^notethere was an event that featured a ruleset where knee strikes were legal except to the kidneys and groin and also gave point for pinning the opponent, but strangely the name of the event is not known or recorded down.
  - World Professional Karate Organization: an early rival promotion to the PKA founded by Aaron Banks. The fights took place for 3 rounds, in a ring. Fighters wore gloves, but no feet protections and knees to the head and body were allowed. The fighters could either go bare chested or wear a gi top.
  - World Series of Martial Arts: an unusual organization promoted by Tommy Lee that featured an open competition in which boxers, wrestlers, judoka, street fighters and even sumo wrestlers could place their skills on the line in full-contact fighting. Fighters wore short-sleeved gis, Safe-T hand and foot pads, with a very open ruleset that stipulated that a win could be recorded by a forfeit, a submission, a seven-count knockout, or a technical knockout. Each match consisted of three three-minute rounds with one-minute breaks after the first and second rounds with a unique point system, three points were allotted for a knockdown or takedowns with a follow-through (which include things such as a hold (pin or submission attempt) for five seconds or a simulated blow or series of blows), two points were given for a takedown without a follow-through, such as tripping, flipping, sweeping, pushing, shoving and any other method imaginable that could have been used to put an opponent on the ground that is not a strike, or by carrying an opponent out of the ring (which according to the rules, was “to facilitate sumo wrestlers”), and any effective or outstanding punches, kick or combination to legal areas constituted one point though it also allowed elbows, knees, low kicks, and headbutts, but no strikes were permitted after the knockdown or while holding the opponent in a controlled or locked position and no points could be gained or lost through fouls. A round was decided by accumulative points. Only a few events took place between 1974 to 1976 and they were known for having a high injury rate.
  - National Karate League: a team-based promotion founded by Larry Scott, Valerie Williams and Chuck Norris (and is sort of a precursor to the WKA and Norris' World Combat League mentioned above). It was very similar in format and ruleset of the WPKO above, but also had an additional rule that stated that a kick must be executed for every 3 punches thrown in a row.
  - Kick Fighting: another extinct form of American kickboxing, despite the name it was kickboxing... with extra steps. Developed by Gary Alexander in the 1975, its rules had fighters wear hand and foot pads and besides punching and kicking (all above the waist of course), they were able to use grabs and throws and were even allowed to attack downed opponents to a certain degree. Bouts consisted of 3 rounds of 2 minutes. It never caught on or got much publicity because of its claim that "It's Kickboxing plus... which means it should turn out to be the roughest, wildest sport around." With claims like that, it turned out to be the kiss of death for the sport as it was seen as too extreme at the time.
  - American Bare Knuckle Full Contact Karate: a few people have claimed to have promoted events that have featured bare knuckle karate matches with the strikes being full contact. The first to claim such was Count Juan Raphael Dante (born John Timothy Keehan) who promoted events under his World Karate Federation (not related to the one connected to the Olympics founded in 1990) in the mid to late 1960s, though no footage of this events exist and no existing documents on the rules have been found. The second to claim such was Frederick J. Hamilton who hosted the first bare knuckle full-contact professional karate tournament and presumably based it on the PKA's rules in 1975, though again no footage of the event has been found.
  - Tough Guy Contest: another extinct format that ran from 1979 to 1983 created by Bill Viola and Frank Caliguri in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania under their company; CV Productions, Inc. and was promoted as "Anything Goes" and "Organized, Legalized, Streetfighting". Also known as Battle of the Tough Guys, Battle of the Brawlers, and Battle of the Super Fighters, it was originally called and promoted as the Tough Man Contest before the name had to be changed to avoid confusion with the other Toughman Contest that features amateur boxing created by Art Dore. Fighters were required to be amateur only and they fought in head gear, Safe-T hand and foot pads and bouts took place in a ring. Events were elimination style tournaments, with each bout contained 3 two minute rounds (though finals bouts used 3 three minute rounds) and were judged using a 10-point-must system. Fighters were allowed to strike (both standing and on the ground) with punches, kicks, elbows and knees, as well as throws, takedowns, sweeps, clinching and submissions, though like American kickboxing at the time, it disallowed strikes below the waist, palm strikes, and even headlocks were specifically banned for some reason. It was outlawed in 1983 with the passage of Senate Bill 632, also known as the "Tough Guy Law" the first legal precedence for MMA, which was why MMA was banned in the state of Pennsylvania before it was re-legalized in 2009. The format was forgotten for a time until modern mixed martial arts broke into the mainstream, with the promotion now being considered the first documented MMA competition in the United States and the first amateur MMA league in the world.
- French Full Contact Karate: styles that were developed in France and governed under the Fédération Française de Karaté et Disciplines Associées (FFKDA).
  - Karaté Contact: a style that was developed by French Full Contact pioneer Dominique "The King" Valera, who is credited as the one who brought Full Contact to France. It is basically a variant of Low Kick rules with the MKR requirement of 6 kicks above the waist, through it also allows a "controlled" follow-up punch or kick taken from sport karate, though only after a footsweep or if the opponent loses balance and falls to the ground on their own. Matches are 2 to 3 rounds of 2 minutes each, held on tatami mats and fighters wear boxing gloves, headgear and shin and foot pads, though it also allows them to choose between wearing long trousers with t-shirts or full karategi.
  - Body Karaté: a Musical Forms style competition based on karate techniques developed in the early 2000s by the FFKDA.
  - Karaté Mix: a style that resembles amateur MMA. Fighters wear MMA gloves, shorts, short sleeve rash guards, shin guards and open face helmets, bouts take place in either a tatami mat or a MMA cage but on a flat surface with a tatami mat instead of the standard raised platform and matches last 2 rounds of 3 minutes (though tournament finals last 2 rounds of 4 minutes). Techniques allowed include punches, kicks, elbows and knees (both to the body only), throws, sweeps, takedowns, submissions, though it bans all strikes to the face on a grounded opponent (body shots are fine though no soccer kicks) and does not use knockdown counts. Has variation called Karaté Mix Elites where helmets are not used and shin guards are removed in the tournament finals, with 3 rounds of 4 minutes used in the finals as well. Also has a light contact version called Karaté Mix Light which uses 2 rounds of 2 minutes 30 seconds.
  - Pro Fight Karaté: a defunct French pro full contact karate organization created by Guy Sauvin and Alain Setrouk in 2010 but was not under the FFKDA. Fighters wear only their gi pants and belts with MMA gloves and elbow pads, matches take place on a tatami mat and allows punching, open hand and palm strikes, kicks, knees, elbows, limited clinching, throws and a limited form of ground-and-pound.
- Karate Combat: an organization that claims to promote the first professional full-contact karate league, founded by Michael DePietro and Robert Bryan in April 2018, with its original rules developed by Hungarian karateka Ádám Kovács. Bouts are contested in the specially designed pit and consists of 3 rounds each lasting 3 minutes with the possibility of 2 additional rounds for championship fights and fighters wear MMA gloves and gi pants. It originally allowed punches (except for short hooks and uppercuts), kicks (except the only low kicks allowed are calf kicks), limited clinching, foot sweeps, reaps and throws (except suplexes or others that go over the head), but submissions, open hand strikes (other than ridge-hand strikes), single and double leg takedowns, knees and elbows are not permitted and a grounded opponent may only use upkicks while the standing opponent (fighter may place a single knee on his downed opponent's body or beside his downed opponent, but once a second knee goes down, both fighters are considered grounded) may only use ground punches (except for hammer fists and the back hands), though it was changed to the grounded opponent being able to use all legal strikes while the standing opponent could also kick to the body and legs of a grounded opponent, with a time limit of 5 seconds allowed on ground each time, also it is not allowed to use the pit wall as a platform to latch attacks, though if an opponent is laying on the pit walls (unless they are facing the walls and have both hands on it), they are not considered down and the attacker can still use all legal standing techniques. In 2022, it became a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) and further rule changes have been made since then, with further changes in 2022 that legalized knees, hook punches and uppercuts (the last two were not voted upon), in 2024 it removed the 5 second ground rule and legalized De La Riva sweeps, Three and Four Point Standup escapes, and various guard clinches for grounded opponents against standing ones, months later it legalized low kicks to the thigh, and months later again it legalized elbow strikes (even 12–6/downward elbow strikes), and in 2025 it legalized hammer fists and back hands on the ground.
  - Ultimate FCK: short for Ultimate Full Contact Karate, it is a pro full-contact league created in 2022, based in England and affiliated with the World Union of Karate Federations and their WUKF Professional initiative, and is basically the first Karate Combat clone as its rules are basically the original rules, but matches take place on tatami mats.
  - Prime Kumite Championship: another pro full-contact karate league based in Indonesia created in 2023. Its rules are basically the rules of Karate Combat, but only when it changed it rules to allow knees, hooks and uppercuts. Matches are fought in an "OCTAPIT" fighting arena.
  - Karate KO: another Karate Combat inspired league, this time based in Chile created in 2023. It is similar to Ultimate FCK, but with a better budget and presentation.
  - Kombat Taekwondo: another pro league created in 2023, this time claiming to be based on taekwondo instead of karate, developed by Rick W. Shin, the former Secretary General of the Pan American Taekwondo Union and a few others. Its rules allow elbows^note and knees (both including to the head, but not on a grounded opponent), hooks, upper cuts, hammer fists, and back fists, through low kicks are banned, fighters cannot sit or mount on a grounded opponent, it uses the three Knockdown rule and the knockdown 10 count with ground and pound only is allowed after throws, sweeps and also takedowns for 10 seconds, and judges give the advantage to the more aggressive fighter if everything else is a tie, though one oddity of the rules is that blocking kicks with the knee or legs is banned. Matches take place in a MMA cage, with fighters wearing shorts, MMA gloves and specially designed thin foot pads. It even has a Tag Team format of sorts.
  - Ippon Shobu Fight Night: a pro league based in the Czech Republic created by Jan Drobeček and Milan Zítko in 2023. Fighters wear full karategis, MMA gloves and shin guards with rounds lasting 3 minutes each, one round for tournament elimination matches unless there is a draw, while the finals use 3 rounds with one minute intervals and uses the knockdown 10 count system. Its rules allow kicks and "straight" punches only above the waist, limited clinching only allowing a maximum of one strike or throws, takedowns, or sweeps and also allows limited ground and pound with a 3 second limit and a maximum of 3 punches or kicks can be used (a prone competitor cannot use any kicks or punches from the bottom position and kicks to the head of a lying opponent is also disallowed).
  - Strike Fight Xtreme Championships or SFX Championships: another Karate Combat-inspired league based in the United Kingdom created in 2024 by Lee Matthews, Andy Cleeves and Damon Samsun, though it refers to its style as "Full Contact Mixed Martial Arts". Matches are fought in an oval pit, rounds last two minutes instead of three, has a Continuous Point System Judging criteria (meaning the results of the bout are based on the total amount of points scored all across in the bout instead of being based on who wins the most rounds), and uses the three knockdown rule. Its rules disallow Muay Thai clinching, backfists, hammerfists, knees, elbows, leg kicks above the calf (unless part of a takedown or sweep), and ground and pound is limited to only three strikes before the fighters are stood, though it does allow single and double leg takedowns. For some reason they made a seperate other league called Total Kombat in 2025, which is basically the same as the above, but in a tournament format instead of just singles bouts.
  - Budo Combat League: yet another league based in the UK created in 2024^note. Matches are fought in a roped ring, and uses a 3 second groundfighting limit each time that allows soccer kicks alongside ground and pound.
  - Karate Xtreme: another league created in 2024 based in Brazil. It uses a Karate Combat's current ruleset, just that bouts take place in a ring instead of the pit.
  - Karate Contact Italia: another league created in 2024 based in Italy under Karate Combat fighter Gabriele Cera. It's main difference from Karate Combat's ruleset is that elbows to the face and kicking a grounded opponent are banned. Unlike the other Karate Combat clones, it also has additional formats that have been adapted for amateur competitions for teens to adults. These formats include; 1) Pro: The main ruleset with fights taking place in the pit. 2) Semi-Pro: Same as "Pro" but fighters also wear shin guards. 3) Light: Fights take place on tatami mats with fighters also wearing shin guards, headgear and gi tops. Has a cadets (14-15) and juniors (16-17) division that places more restrictions, such as knee strikes to the face being banned in juniors while all knee strikes are banned in cadets and knockouts are banned.
Xtreme Arm Wrestling or XARM: an absurd combat sport created in 2008 by UFC co-founder Art Davie that combines kickboxing and grappling with arm wrestling of all things. Davie's reasoning for its creation was that he believed MMA had lost its way and appeal with the extensive amount of ground fighting and claimed his new sport was more intense than MMA. Bouts take place on an arm wrestling table with fighters chained to the table (which keeps the bouts standing) and their grip hands are locked together (with a strap and/or duct tape), they wear MMA gloves, elbow and knee pads and usually wear rash guards and shorts, with shoes being optional. Bouts consist of three one minute rounds with a one minute rest period between rounds, which arm is contested in the first round is determined by the referee’s toss of a coin before the round with the second round being contested with the opposite arm and the third round utilizes the coin toss again to determine the grip hand ("Heads" designates a right-arm bout and "Tails" designates a left-arm bout). Bouts are won by a clean knockout, a TKO, submission, or a decision based on points. Fighters are allowed to strike with the shoulder, either their free fist or the knuckles of the grip hand, the hand, forearm, foot, shin or knee to an opponent’s head or any part of the body, all visible above the table and arm wrestling pins as well as "table general-ship" (how a fighter controls the bout) also score points. Neck cranks, fist chokes, armbars, and collar ties are permitted; but defensive grappling to stall will incur a warning from the referee and only permitted if it advances an offensive technique and/or a strike. An athlete may strike his opponent’s grip hand elbow or arm to avoid a pin with any part of his open hand, but not with his fist, elbow or forearm. Also unlike most combat sports, a certain amount of Trash Talk is permitted with the exception of references to relatives, relationships, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion. It was also geared for the Internet as it was believed that the small circumference of the fighting area and the short length of episodes would be guaranteed to look good on mobile phone screen with claims that it is "the first sport really created for digital media", and also featured other things like the being gloves wired with special sensors that were supposed to tell you how hard those left hooks are landing, a running count of how many punches are being thrown and when they land, the table wired with sensors that record every arm wrestling pin and even the referee has a camera and a microphone mounted right in his eyeglasses so you see action from his perspective too. The end result was a complicated (yet entertaining none the less) mess, and the sport was ridiculed by the MMA fandom due to its absurdity, presentation and poor quality of fighters with its first run between 2008-2009 and its second run between 2011-2012 before seemingly calling it quits. Then it reappeared in 2022 in Russia of all places dubbed Arm Boxing and had a variation that abandoned the arm wrestling aspect as it just chained the fighters to the table, and they even tried to make it into an amateur sport with several federations set up (one that uses English can be found in India of all places), but it seems they abandoned it once again due to the absurdity of the concept and the federations now promote amateur kickboxing and boxing competitions while keeping the Arm Boxing name.
Shoot Striking: a ruleset used by Fightforce, an American Pro-Am MMA promotion in Montana, which is considered part of their kickboxing and Muay Thai category of rulesets. Also confusingly referred to as "Shoot Boxing" despite having nothing to do with the Japanese style, fighters wear MMA gloves and is fought in a MMA cage instead of a ring, it allows punches, kicks, throws, takedowns, clinch-fighting, sweeps, and even submissions both standing and on the ground though it only allows 5 to 10 seconds of groundfighting each time and ground and pound, knee strikes are only allowed to the body and legs, and elbows are banned.

Japanese kickboxing

Japanese Rules, Japanese Style, Japanese Kickboxing, Nihon Kickboxing, or NKB Rules: created by the efforts of Osamu Noguchi and Tatsuo Yamada as mentioned above, it is a mixture of Karate, Muay Thai and Western Boxing, and is the originator of the kickboxing name. Also known as Japanese Muay Thai by the uninformed or Showa Era Kickboxing due to it being developed and having its peak viewership in that era before its decline in popularity^noteand rumors of organizers having ties to Japan’s criminal underground in the 1980s, it nearly faded into obscurity and even more so when K-1 emerged to take its place. It is currently preserved and used by promotions under the Nihon Kick Boxing (NKB) Federation and are certified under the NKB Jikkō Iinkai (NKB Executive Committee). Due to taking major influences from Muay Thai, it allows punches, kicks, elbows, and knees to anywhere on the body except the groin and knee caps, though unlike Muay Thai it doesn't allow throws, clinching is limited to 5 seconds, has more foot sweeping options (Muay Thai disallows sweeps with the back of the ankle), with bouts lasting for 3 or 5 rounds of 3 minutes each and uses a one minute break interval instead of two minutes in Muay Thai, uses the three knockdown rule system and scores all strikes evenly.
- Original Kick Boxing Rules: the extinct original rules of Japanese kickboxing were quite different from its modern form. Formed in 1966 (though it was influenced by the Kyokushin vs Muay Thai challenge fights in 1964 that contained similar rules), to distinguish it as a separate sport from Karate and Muay Thai, it allowed all types of throws and sweeps (Muay Thai does not allow hip throws, shoulder throws, leg throws, or sweeps with the back of the leg), active clinch-fighting was not limited and even headbutts of all things were legal. Changes were eventually made for the safety of the fighters, though it was also due to the influence of the WKA’s challenge to Japanese kickboxers under special modified rules (that greatly resemble K-1 rules) in the late 1970s.
- Gakusei Kickboxing or UKF Rules: an amateur ruleset for university students developed in 1972 by Terutomo Yamazaki (Kyokushin and kickboxing master and champion) and is governed under the University Kickboxing Federation (also known as the All Japan Student Kickboxing Federation). Its rules allow punching, kicking (except push kicks weirdly), foot sweeps and limited clinching, though it bans elbows, backfists, hammer fists, kick catches, throws, takedowns and only allows knees to the body (originally knees were prohibited too). It uses three-minute three-round system (originally only two rounds were used).
- K-1: created by Kazuyoshi Ishii of Seidokaikan Karate for the K-1 promotion^notethe WKA apparently disputes this as it claims that it created and used the ruleset when it came to challenge Japanese kickboxing in the late 1970s and even refers to it as Original WKA Kickboxing, though an organization called the Global Combat Sports Organization (GCO, which seems to have been formed from a split within the WKA) also takes credit for it and is even referred to as Original GCO Kickboxing by the World Kickboxing Union (WKU) operates under the umbrella of the GCO and is adored by the Dutch (and the Russians to a lesser extent). Fighters here wear mainly boxing shorts, although trousers and even full karategi used to be legal, often causing a surprising visual diversity^notethere is also a rule that allows fighters to wear shoes, but fighters wearing them would be banned from kicking, a leftover from the sports early years in the MMA boom. This style is substantially open: fighters can hit with punches (though it seems to have a slight restriction on backfists, except for spinning ones at least and bans hammer fists), kicks, and knees to any part except by the groin, foot sweeps are also allowed but it bans elbows, takedowns and throws. Originally it allowed clinching for 5 seconds and unlimited knee strikes, but in October 2002 it was changed to only allow one knee strike before a fighter had to release the clinch (which is still used by RIZIN for their kickboxing matches and the current rules of RISE), but another rule change in April 2010 limited clinching to one-handed grabs and then another rule change completely banned clinching-fighting altogether (many organizations outside of the K-1 organization that adopted their rules tend to ignore the later two rule changes). Judges also give the advantage to the more aggressive fighter if the scores are equal and only score knockdowns and strikes with power behind them, a scoring system taken from western boxing. Back in the 90s, its main promotion K-1 was essentially the Mecca of kickboxing, so this modality is probably what most non-American fans see when they think about the sport and is frequently mistaken for what kickboxing in Japan has always been. It also gets confused for its other variants below as their names are used interchangeably.
  - Unified Rules: a ruleset adapted from K-1 that had been adopted by many top non-Japanese kickboxing promotions such as ONE Championship (which refers to it as the Global Kickboxing Rule Set and is usually done in a MMA cage), Bellator Kickboxing, and gets its official name from the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combat Sports as approved on 2017, which is why it is also known as ABC Kickboxing Rules. It doesn’t use the standing 8 count (the mandatory 8 count still applies though), disallows sweeps, and kick catches must be countered immediately or risk a foul, and keeps the clinching rules to allow unlimited knees strikes in 5 seconds, though they must do so immediately after entering the clinch or risk committing a foul if they don't separate due to inactive holding. Also the ABC states that maximum number of allowed rounds is 10.
  - GLORY Rules: originally the most prolific user of the Unified Rules was the GLORY kickboxing promotion in the Netherlands (it technically predates it, which is why they were also known as under this name for a long time) until 2025 where it changed its clinching rules to permit only one immediate single strike, after which they must disengage the clinch immediately and continue fighting like in a previous version of K-1 rules and prioritizing "High Impact Damage" in its scoring system which includes objective signs of damage including wobble, staggering, or reduced functionality as a result of a legal strike over other signs of damage.
  - IKF Unified Rules: a version of Unified Rules developed by the IKF in 2015 and is described as a "Modified/Limited Muay Thai - K-1 - Glory Style Rules Combined". The main differences from ABC Rules is that it disallows kick catches entirely and even calf kicks of all things, only allows one-handed clinching with only a single knee strike allowed before they must release the clinch, and doesn't use the three knockdown system (foot sweeps were originally allowed and the three knockdown system was used originally, but both were eventually removed).
  - Oriental Rules, Oriental Style or Asian Rules: basically the original rules of K-1 used by more "amateur focused" promotions like the ISKA, though some like WAKO still refer to them as K-1 rules or K-1 Style (WAKO also uses an "open and cumulative" scoring system instead, similar to traditional Muay Thai) which adds to the confusion between the styles. Its main difference is that it abandoned the three knockdown system but still uses the standing 8 count, bans "somersault kicks", and it scores all clean hits more evenly instead of just counting the ones that land with power.
  - Open Scoring or Olympic Style: a "semi-pro" ruleset created and used by the IKF and AKA, mostly based off Oriental Rules with the intention of making it an Olympic sport with a scoring system similar to Olympic/amateur boxing (but with kicks and knees), though it is currently only being used in Europe, mainly the United Kingdom. Fighters wear headgear, chest protectors, shin and foot pads, boxing gloves, and special forearm-guards. It is separated into two divisions; 1) Novice, which is fought Light-Contact and 2) Senior, which is fought full contact. Its main features that differentiate it from the other formats is the "Out-Class Rule" where the first fighter to score 30 points (formerly 20) wins the bout via TKO, will either be "Open Scoring", where scores will be shown to the audience, players and corner team during the events via the electronic scoreboard display or "Closed Scoring", where scoring will still follow the same method, but only the judges will see the scores via the hand controllers), uses a two knockdown system, and doesn't allow knee strikes to the head. There is also a version of it called Pro-Am Rules that removes the "Out-Class Rule" along with the chest protectors and special forearm guards and is also used in Japan under the F.I.K.A. (Federation International K-1 Association).
  - K-1 Light: basically a Light Contact version of K-1 rules.
  - Open Finger Glove Rules, or OFG Rules: a variant that officially came about in 2022 by the RISE^note promotion and spread to a few other promotions, it is also referred to as Open Finger Kick Rules by some promotions. It is basically K-1 rules where fighters use MMA gloves instead of boxing gloves. A promotion in Brazil called SFT Combat (short for as "Standout Fighting Tournament") refers to this ruleset as "Xtreme" or "SFT Xtreme" which they have used since 2019 and takes place in a cage instead of a ring^note.
  - NEXUS Crazy Rule: a weird triathlon format developed and used by the Fighting Nexus promotion in 2024 with each round being a different fight format. The first round is under K-1 rules, the second is under MMA rules, and the third and final round is under Bare Knuckle Boxing rules.
  - World version W5 or just W5: a defunct promotion based in Bratislava, Slovakia, and Moscow, Russia created by Sergey Chepinoga in 2007. Its rules are based on K-1, but also claims to use additional rules from a Russian army combat system from a school created by Alexander Medvedev called UNIBOS, particularly a subsection of his style called "Bars" (translates as "Leopard"), though it is not really explained how that works. While fights were three rounds (five rounds in title matches) of three minutes each, if the score was tied at the end of the last round, an extra round was granted to determine the winner, with that round having the scores of the previous three rounds are voided and only the result of that round will be considered. Its also uses a more westernized point system like in Oriental Rules. Its main differences from K-1 rules is that clinching is only allowed for one second and only one knee strike can be thrown from there and that only one punch can be thrown after grabbing/catching an opponent's leg. Fights were fought in a circular ring that still holds the squared circle ring ropes setup, where the circle represents infinity and a path of continuous self-development while the square inside it symbolizes equality and justice, aligning with the promotion's stated values.
  - R-1: another defunct promotion based in Russia created by Ruslan Sunovarov, with an international representative in the form of Roy Jones Jr. Instead of kickboxing, it refers to its style of as "Mixed Impact Martial Arts" and aside from their own rules of kickboxing, it also featured a few MMA bouts. Matches use a system of three rounds (five in title bouts) of two minutes each, with a westernized point system and similarly to W5 above should a fight need an extra round, the judges will only judge the fight based on that round. Its main difference from K-1 rules is that it disallows "Muay Thai" head clinching and neck wrestling, but still allows underhooking though it only allows two knee strikes to be thrown there.
  - Universal TNA Rules: This rules were used for an annual tournament called the Tatneft Cup is held in Tatneft Arena in Kazan, Russia since 2008. Bouts consists of 4 rounds of 3 minutes each, with finals using 6 rounds of 3 minutes each. Its main difference from K-1 rules is that it banned clinch-fighting completely a few years before K-1 officially did as well and also allows elbow strikes to the body.
- Shootboxing or Shoot Boxing: a unique Japanese variation created by former kickboxer Caesar Takeshi, who had connections to the Japanese wrestling environment that gave birth to Mixed Martial Arts^noteTakeshi originally wanted to call it Shooting Boxing, but his friend and trainer Satoru Sayama told him to shorten it so as to not to confuse it with his own sport "Shooting", which was the name of the Shooto organization at the time. The most open of all the kickboxing forms, which led to it being called Standing Vale Tudo (and also goes by SB for short), shootboxing allows punches, kicks, knees, elbows (until 2001, but are allowed if both fighters agree to them), clinching, all kinds of throws (including suplexes and slams), sweeps and even submission holds (as long as they are finished standing), and their fighters are clad in pro wrestling-esque long tights and "legger" shin guards. This used to be a very niche sport compared to the other forms, but it has become bigger through the years, and nowadays it has a significant pool of talent. In China it is known as Xiu Bo, Zìyóu Bójī or Rìběn Zìyóu Bójī (the latter two are also used interchangeably for MMA so most use the first one).
  - Shoot-Light: basically a Light Contact version of Shootboxing.
  - SB-OFG Rules: a variant where fighters wear MMA gloves, that have been put on Shootboxing events since 2023^note to compete with the rise in popularity of K-1 style OFG rules, Caged Muay Thai and Muay Xtreme events.
  - MARS Blaster Bout Rules: a ruleset developed in 2007 and used by MARS, a defunct MMA promotion founded and run by the Greatest Common Multiple (GCM) Communication, a company associated with the Wajutsu Keshukai school founded by Yoshinori Nishi. Fighters wore MMA gloves instead of boxing gloves and while it mostly resembles Shootboxing's ruleset, its main difference is that standing submissions could transition to the ground until the opponent submits or escapes it, however long that takes.
- UWFI Standing Bout Rules: a ruleset once used by the Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWF International or UWFI for short), a shoot style wrestling promotion that featured these bouts in their undercards. Matches consisted of five-three minute rounds and its rules were basically Muay Thai with elbow strikes being disallowed (these rules were developed before the creation of K-1). Its point system is what makes it different than any other kickboxing format as it was influenced by the promotion's shoot style wrestling ruleset where instead of scoring points, fighters start with 40 points each and fighters can win by reducing their opponent's score to 0 (which replaces the limited knockdown rule), along with the other usual ways of winning a kickboxing match. 8 points are deducted for suffering knockdowns, 2 points is deducted for losing a round if the opponent clearly dominated the round, 1 point is deduced for losing a round if the opponent was somewhat more effective in the eyes of the judges, both fighters lose 1 point if the round ruled is a draw, though that was later changed to not deduct points, while fouls are at the referee’s discretion. There was even an experimental Tag Team bout where teams start with 21 points (it was what the wrestlers used for their own tag team bouts and used then for some reason) with knockdowns reducing 3 points instead, an additional rule that tagging in and out reduces 1 point from a team's own score, and the match lasted a continuous 20 minutes instead of using rounds. The point system was discontinued after UWFI had their kickboxers competing for, then defending ISKA Freestyle Rules world titles.
- Ultimate Boxing: the competition aspect of Seikendo (also known as Seiken Kaikan), a martial art created by Satoru Sayama, a Japanese pro wrestling legend and founder of the first MMA promotion in the world; Shooto. Sayama originally conceived it as an "urban martial art"^noteit even had the Working Title of "Shigaichi-gata Jissen Kakutōgi" which roughly translates to "Urban Combat Martial Arts" which focused on realistic "street fight" style fighting based on Sayama's MMA expertise, before he eventually made a combat sport out of it, originally calling it SA Boxing or Seikendo Association Boxing and basing it on an earlier pair of rulesets he was developing known as "Alpha"^notea striking only ruleset and "Omega"^notea grappling only ruleset. Its ruleset allows punches, kicks, knees, clinching, throws, sweeps, takedowns, and even ground fighting with no time limit there (limited to pinning and ground and pound punching, though fighters are reset if there is 3 seconds of inactivity), though it banned elbows and submissions and had fighters wear boxing gloves, bouts were 3 rounds of 3minutes with 1 minute breaks in between. Its life as a sport under the Seikendo World Association only lasted for 4 years from 1999 to 2003 with most of the fighters coming from Russia and former Soviet Union countries and while it wasn't really considered an MMA promotion it did feature a few MMA bouts referred to as "Pankration Boxing". In 2023, an apprentice of Sayama named Kozo Urita has been promoting events that feature the Ultimate Boxing ruleset, through for some reason he renamed the ruleset as Ultimate Striker.
  - Ultimate Shooting: a revival/modernization of the Ultimate Boxing ruleset, this time with Sayama's direct involvement with its first event in 2025. While its ruleset is basically unchanged, fighters now wear MMA gloves (customized one developed by Sayama himself) and is fought in an MMA cage.
- ZST Standing Rules: a ruleset that was once used by ZST, an MMA promotion whose roots are deep within the shoot style wrestling movement as it is run by former executives of the RINGS promotion (it also had a partnership with shootboxing in its beginnings) and as such use rulesets that are different from the unified rules of kickboxing, grappling and MMA. This particular ruleset allows all striking techniques other than headbutts, allows foot sweeps, and has limited clinching, though fighters wear MMA gloves instead of boxing gloves. Matches operate under a two knockdown system per round, the first two rounds are 5 minutes each, while the third and final round is 3 minutes. If the time expires, it is only judged by the number of knockdowns, as points based on strikes are not kept.
- KNOCK OUT: a promotion created in 2016 that originally featured NKB Rules and Muay Thai. In 2019, it introduced official rulesets to distinguish itself from other promotions.
  - KNOCK OUT-BLACK: it was originally based on K-1 rules, but a rule change in 2021 made it slightly different from K-1 as it banned underhooks (inserting one or both hands/arms under the opponent's armpits) and changed to the one knee in the clinch only in 2023. Another difference is that it uses a knockdown system similar to Muay Thai where should a fighter be knocked down 5 times in total throughout the bout, they will be considered TKO'd, alongside the three knockdown system in a round.
  - KNOCK OUT-RED: based on NKB Rules and pretty much the same as it, though like BLACK rules, it uses the Muay Thai knockdown system instead. In 2023, the promotion began using MMA gloves for a few special fights, terming them "KNOCK OUT OFG-RED", before they officially replaced boxing gloves in 2025.
  - KNOCK OUT-UNLIMITED: also known as KNOCK OUT-ULT for short, it is a ruleset introduced in 2023^note and is basically MMA rules without submissions allowed (like Ultimate Boxing, but on steroids) with fighters wearing MMA gloves, though it also allows soccer kicks, elbow strikes and knee strikes to a grounded opponent (and yes, including the head) while bouts use 3 rounds of 3 minutes each with a 1 minute break in between rounds.
Knockdown Karate or Japanese Full Contact Karate: also known to the Japanese as Chokusetsu Dageki-sei Karate (Direct Blow Karate), Jissen Karate (Practical Karate), Ateru Karate (Hitting Karate) or Zen Sesshoku Karatedo (All Contact Karatedo). As stated before, karate could be considered a "kickboxing" style in the wider sense, but none is more true then this form. The term can be used to any style of karate where the Kumite is not for points, but for a knockdown, but to avoid confusion with its western counterpart, here it refers to the styles from or took major influence from styles in Japan and normally uses their terminology in their rulesets. There are quite a few subsets of it.
- Kyokushin^notealso known as Kenka Karate by early detractors or Jissen Kumite: The most traditional format is based on Kyokushin, created by Blood Knight Mas Oyama, fighters are bareknuckle (though some modern competitions require fighters to wear thin gloves to protect their hands), can punch and elbow anywhere except the face (and groin, obviously) and kick (including somersault kicks that are banned in many other kickboxing formats, and not really addressed in others) and knee anywhere (including the face!, but not the groin or knee caps), and foot sweeps, though it bans clinching^noteIt actually allowed grabbing, throws and all kinds of sweeps other than those with the foot in its earliest competitions, but rule changes took them out since 1979 and apparently they could attack when a opponent's back was turned until 1984. Unlike modern kickboxing which features standard knockdown 10 count and the standing 8 count, karatekas are only allowed knockdown counts of 3 to 5 depending on the organization and like traditional sport karate a controlled strike to a grounded opponent after a foot sweep or if the opponent loses balance on his own scores a Waza-ari (half point, getting two makes Ippon which wins the match)^notepreviously the "any scoring technique to a grounded opponent after takedown or throw" automatically won the match (it could also be done after knockdown then) until 1971. Kyokushin influenced the creation of Kickboxing and in a roundabout way, many karatekas (even those outside of Kyokushin) were influenced by kickboxing and developed their own full-contact styles with different rules and techniques, though Kyokushin is still the most popular style and is generally what people refer to when they talk about Full Contact/Knockdown Karate.
  - Semi-Knockdown: a variant possibly popularised by the World Oyama Karate organization, which despite the name is actually just regular Kyokushin rules, just with added protective equipment like open face head gear (though some competitions use the more "armoured" helmet types), gloves (either fist protectors or thin MMA gloves), shin and foot guards and chest protectors (though quite a few don't use them). It is mostly for beginners, senior aged competitors and those younger than high school age. It is sometimes confusingly called Semi-Contact.
  - Ashihara or Sabaki Rules: the variant used by the school of the same name founded by Hideyuki Ashihara. It is uses a minor variation to the Kyokushin rules as it allows one-handed grabbing (both hands can be used only for grabbing one side of the body at a time except the head) for a maximum of 3 seconds in order to execute throws, sweeps, and takedowns to score towards Waza-ari and Ippon and also allows only one punch or kick to the head while grabbing (and if one is fast enough, can use a combination of a punch and kick to the head).
  - Enshin or Sabaki Challenge: a variant used by the Enshin Kaikan founded by Joko Ninomiya. It is basically the same as Ashihara rules just with a slightly different scoring system.
  - International Budokai Rules: a variant used by the International Budokai organization founded by Gerard Gordeau (yes that guy). It is basically the same as Ashihara and Enshin rules, except that grabs into throws, sweeps or knee strikes must be done instantaneously and should the bout be ruled a draw after 3 rounds of fighting, fighters will enter into a Tamishiwara (breaking) contest that consists of three rounds (this is actually a holdover from early Seidokaikan competitions as listed below), the first using the fist, the second using the knife hand, and the third and final using the elbow, though if those are ruled a draw, one more round of fighting is done, if that still rules in a draw, the judges will generally pick the lighter fighter as the winner.
  - Shinken Shobu: a variant associated with the Kyokushin-kan, an independent school/organization of Kyokushin founded by Hatsuo Royama, with the belief that their rules are much closer to what Mas Oyama wanted Kyokushin to be. Basically Kyokushin rules with fighters wearing MMA gloves and elbow pads, and allows head punches and palm strikes, elbow strikes to the head, knife hand strikes, back fists, hammer fists, clinching (for 3 seconds), and throws. In 2009, new rules were added to allow standing joint locks and chokes (no neck cranks or guillotine chokes while pulling guard), and striking while grabbing the opponent by the gi or arms.
  - Ultimate Karate League: a weird team format created in 2018 in India by Rajeev Sinha (president of the World Fudokan Federation). Unlike normal Kyokushin team tournaments where it only consists of individual matches to score points, this format has one fighter is pitched against three opponents at a time and uses an "Impact-Based" scoring system where clean, powerful strikes to valid target areas earn points (each strike earns one point), with knockdowns, takedowns (throws or sweeps with controlled punches to a grounded opponent), and K Os earning even more points (takedowns earn 5 points, while over the shoulder throws and knockdowns earn 10 points), though the team with the most cumulative points after the whole thing wins the match. Allowed techniques are basically the same as Ashihara, except knee strikes are banned. Matches are fought in three sets and each set consists of 6 bouts (originally 9 bouts) each and matches are completed usually in around 45 minutes (which including slow-motion replays and commercial breaks). Each of the team consists of 5 males and 1 female, though the females are only involved in having an opening 1 minute bout where the first to score a point wins their team (in place of a coin toss or something similar) the choice of being either the attacker or defender team and in the event there is a need for an equalizer at the end of the sets, another women’s individual match decides the final result. After the selection, the teams select three fighters each and are placed on a opposite sides of the tatami mat, with the attacker team sending one fighter against the three on the defender team's side, where the fighter has one minute to select one opponent and fight until he takedowns or knockdowns the opponent, at which time another of the opponent's teammates will jump in to replace him, though if the attacker is taken down or knocked down, he must return to his team's side to allow another teammate to replace him, and so on until the minute is up with a 1 minute break afterwards and switch roles after the each of the three fighters have had their turn attacking, with a 3 minute break before the switch. The first competitions (which they refer to as Season 1) had the attacker pick up a plastic "ring" when he got to the defender's side and fight with it, but this concept was abandoned in later "seasons".
  - South Africa Taekwondo Union: a defunct organization that for some reason "mixed" the ruleset of Kyokushin with taekwondo. Its rules were basically Kyokushin rules, just without allowing low kicks though it still allowed footsweeps.
  - Pro-Karate: a weird style that has nothing to do with the Pro Karatedo Federation mentioned below, though its weirdness was more on the presentation of its matches than the ruleset itself. Developed in 1974 by Tatsuo Ōtsuka, better known as Gō Ōtsuka, a Chitō-ryū stylist with an additional kung fu background, and governed it under the All Japan Pro Karate Association, it was an attempt to professionalize karate, just not in the way most would expect. Its rules allowed kicks and knees to anywhere except the groin, punches everywhere except to groin and head but open handed/palm strikes could be used to the head instead, with kick catches, upper body throws and slams were allowed though single and double leg takedowns and elbows weren’t and matches use the knockdown 10 count (apparently headbutts were also allowed, but were rarely used). Matches were fought in a roped ring and fighters were bare handed and footed, but wore gis, though were allowed wear colored ones other then white and black, they also could either fight with the jacket on or off. The style’s presentation however was more akin to pro wrestling (and not even the more serious kind like shoot style) instead of anything resembling karate competition, with fighters having ring names, exaggerated personalities both in and out the ring and matches were more focused on spectacle than practical as fighters showed off techniques that like jumping high kicks and karate chops frequently^note. Despite not appearing as authentic competition it was surprisingly popular enough to have lasted nearly a decade while being broadcast nationwide on TV, got a documentary movie done about it in the style of Kyokushin’s "The Strongest Karate" (aka "Fighting Black Kings") series (which it seemed to parody at times and Pro Karate itself was even briefly featured on Part 2 of the series), and even several people from Kyokushin tried to do something similar but failed (twice).
- Glove Karate or Gloved Karate: Basically this format gives fighters boxing gloves with most organizations of this format being Kyokushin rules that now allow punches to the face (along with other things like backfists and hammerfists)^noteand also were inspired by International/Low Kick Rules, but different organizations have different rules regarding clinching (either 3 second limit or disallowed altogether), but throws, kick catches, elbow and knee strikes to the head are generally agreed to be always banned among the amateur organizations.
  - Karate-Boxing: the earliest known instance of this format was created by Tatsuo Yamada (founder of the Nippon Kempo Karatedo school) in 1962 with the name being Working Title of the format and technically predates official Kyokushin competitions. It was a mixture of karate, Muay Thai, and western boxing with fighters wearing boxing gloves, headgear (not that it really helped as most matches ended in KOs), elbow pads, were either bare chested or wore a t-shirt and would wear either gi pants or shorts. Bouts were held in a boxing ring, were officiated by one referee and three assistant referees, lasted 3 to 5 rounds of 3 minutes each with intervals of two minutes, and there were even four weight classes. Its rules allowed for almost anything from punches, kicks, knees, elbows, even grappling with throws and submissions except for the following; attacks to the eyes, attacks to the back of the head, biting, kicks to the knee, headbutts, attacks to the top of the head, strikes on a grounded opponent, strikes on an opponent who is about to rise, grabbing the ring rope, and abusive language towards opponents and referees. It unfortunately was rejected by the karate community at the time, who called his methods heretical to karate. Despite this, Osamu Noguchi would reach out to Yamada for fighters to the developing sport of kickboxing, some of whom became stars in their own right like Toshihiro Nishiki (the first Japanese to knockout a Thai fighter), Kazuaki Eguchi (the first bantamweight champion), etc, and Yamada's school would continue to develop fighters for the sport beyond his death and into the present.
  - Shin Karate: translated as New Karate, this is the style that is so associated with the gloved karate format due to the All Japan Shin Karatedo Federation being the largest organization of the format that many use their names interchangeably which leads to some confusion among other organizations that use the name. It gets its own section on this list due to one clear difference from other gloved karate rules, as this style actually adopted the MKR from American Full Contact (only counts kicks above the waist) as its creator Eiichi Kamimura was a former Kyokushin karateka who turned to kickboxing in the 1970s then met, trained with and became a close friend of Benny "The Jet" Urquidez, and later formed his Kenseikan dojo as a "sister dojo" to Urquidez's Jet Center and even called his style "Yukido". It also only allows one knee strike when clinching and sweeps can only happen from kick catches. It is divided into 3 classes^note; 1) K-2: normal rules without extra protective equipment and also allow knees to the head, 2) K-3: for beginners, with headgear and chest protectors are worn, and the MKR is reduced to six, but disallows knees to the head. 3) K-4: mainly aimed at elementary school students, and disallows punching to the head while wearing K-3 equipment. Oddly it keeps the MKR of eight kicks above the waist count in K-2 and also disallows clinching and kick catching.
  - KWU Rules or Senshi Rules: two gloved rulesets used by the Kyokushin World Union's professional fight league; SENSHI, aside from their MMA-like rules as mentioned above. The first is KWU Full Contact which is basically K-1 rules, and the second is KWU Senshi, which is basically Muay Thai rules as it allows active clinching, no limit to knee strikes in the clinch, elbow strikes, and throws.
  - Combat Karate League Aotearoa: an amateur full contact karate league in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Bouts take place on a 4m x 4m marked area and last 2 rounds each lasting 2 minutes with the possibility of 1 additional round for draws. Its rules allow punches, kicks and knees but not elbows, sweeps, clinching for 5 seconds and takedowns are allowed while in the clinch.
  - Towa Cup Karate Tournament Championship: also known as Towa Cup Karate Japan Open Tournament, it was an annual glove karate tournament that ran from 1991 to 1995 run by the All Japan Shin Karatedo Federation. Its rules were basically Japanese kickboxing rules in karategis as it allowed elbows and knees to the face, though unlike Muay Thai, it disallowed throws. Also if the normal rounds could not determine a winner, additional extension rounds were used infinitely until a clear winner was declared. It unfortunately stopped holding these tournaments due to the rise of K-1, with the planned 1996 tournament getting too few applicants.
  - Shin Kakutojutsu: a variant developed by Kenji Kurosaki in the late 1970s. It was originally a kickboxing organization^note whose rules were basically Muay Thai with a 2 minute time limit instead of the regular 3 minutes as Kurosaki believed it was closer to the reality of fighting in the streets, though it didn’t last long. Kurosaki eventually revised it into a his own school of karate with it competitions being a gloved karate ruleset, though it allows limited clinching and throws.
  - Seidokaikan: an extinct variant used by the school of the same name founded by Kazuyoshi Ishii, the creator of the K-1 promotion and featured in the finals of their tournaments from 1988 to 1995. Matches are first fought under traditional bare handed Kyokushin rules, but if no winner can be declared, further rounds are contested with fighters given boxing gloves and allowing punches to the head, if a winner still can’t be declared after those, the fighters will enter a tameshiwari ("breaking") contest to decide, with the winner being the one who breaks the most tiles. These rules were unfortunately discontinued once K-1 took off in popularity.
- Full Contact Point Karate: it is similar to semi-contact/point fighting (also known as "tournament karate" or "sport karate", though the Japanese refer to them as "Sundome", "Kime", or "Stop Rules"); the only difference is that it allows full contact strikes and if the opponent is knocked out, it is a win instead of a disqualification for excessive contact. Points are scored for clean hits to the specified target zones (mostly the body and head, though low kicks are usually allowed to weaken the opponent) as well as knockdowns, and unless there is an evident knockout or knockdown, the referee resets the bout after each exchange to score the hits. Some styles use protective equipment like gloves, head gear, foot-pads, and rarely chest protectors.
  - POINT&KO Rules: a variant that was created by Katsuaki Satō, the founder of the Sato Juku school, though like Kyokushin, any school can participant under this ruleset. The style is a combination of the bare handed full contact nature of Kyokushin rules with the point and stop system of semi-contact/point fighting (basically "Point Kyokushin" fighting in a nutshell), where one can win by either knockout or by winning a certain number of points or having more points than the opponent after the time limit expires and emphasizes precise knockdown techniques over techniques designed to injure or "knock-out" one's opponent. One oddity of the format's rules is that excessive use of low kicks is considered a foul.
  - Freestyle Karate or Takushin Budo: a variant used by the International Budo-Man Association founded by Akira Masuda. Its rules were similar to Ashihara or Enshin rules, but with a point and stop system that scores knockdowns, throws and controlled striking to a grounded opponent and also allowed two handed grabs even to the head. Fighters originally wore MMA gloves to help score punches, but later were required to go bare knuckle. The rules were discontinued and replaced by the organization's "HITTING SPORTS Project".
  - Kendokai: a variant used by the school of the same name founded by Hideo Nakamura. Fighters (at the highest levels) are bare knuckle and even allows low kicks unlike JKA kumite rules and head punches unlike Kyokushin, but strikes (both punches and kicks) to the face are limited to either semi or touch-contact while every other strike is full contact and it also allows momentary grappling, clinching, sweeping, and throwing.
  - Gensei Juku or Gensei-Ryu: a variant developed in 2000 and used by the Gensei-Ryu Karatedo Gensei Juku school^note. On the surface it looks like sport WKF/Olympic Karate bouts with the modern sport karate gloves, though fighters don't use foot pads. Along with the point system and the techniques of sport karate except that they can be delivered with full force (including punching to the face and limited ground and pound), the style also allows throws, takedowns, sweeps (WKF kumite rules do allow them, but fighters are not allowed to lift both of the opponent's feet off the floor (other than sweeping someone who is kicking), because they consider those "dangerous", while this style has no such restriction), low kicks (though they do not score points), upkicks, and even groin shots with a 3 second limit when grabbing the opponent by the gi, in the clinch (though disallows "neck wrestling" or "Muay Thai head clinching"), or by the legs. Also like sport karate it disallows elbows, knees and palm strikes, and wild swinging punching without control like haymakers. A modified variant used by the Genseiryū Karate-do International Federation Butokukai disallows groin shots.
  - Karate Plus or Karate+: a variant used by the FIKA and Seidokaikan school since 2019. Formerly known as Fullcon Plus (also listed as Full Con Plus or FullCon+), it was developed after the school joined the Japan Karate Federation in 2017. Similarly to Gensei-Ryu above, matches resemble WKF/Olympic karate bouts superficially as fighters use WKF-approved gloves and they don't use footpads and even their rules are almost exactly the same as those used by the Butokukai (which isn't surprising since both are based off the concept of WKF rules, but full contact), though throws and takedowns are similarly limited like in WKF rules and the point system is slightly different. There is also a version for those younger than high school age called Karate Plus Sport, the difference being that fighters wear helmets and footpads.
  - WUKF Professional Karate: a pro league created by the World Union of Karate Federations in 2019 and was their original attempt at a professional league before it switched to the Ultimate FCK above. Basically WKF/Olympic karate with its point and stop system but full contact (it’s also not supposed to allow low kicks, though the referees almost never seem to enforce this rule) and fighters are bare chested and wear MMA gloves instead of the modern sport karate gloves.
  - UKF Professional Karate: a pro league based in Poland of all places under the Ultimate Karate Federation created by Paweł Bombolewski in 2021. It took up and uses the ruleset of WUKF Professional Karate above after they abandoned it for Ultimate FCK.
  - Kyokushin Goshin Karate or Kyokushin Self-Defense Karate: a weird variant developed by Noriyasu Hamai in 2020 and used by the International Karatedo Federation Kyokushin Kaikan Rikishakai. Fighters wear Dragloves (also created by Hamai), which are described as "non-painful" gloves and look like over-sized boxing gloves made of plastic instead of leather, as well as shin guards and even customized groin guards that basically looks like two groin guards stacked on top of one another. Fighters are allowed to punch to the head and even groin shots are legal (even on a grounded opponent, but not stomps), but elbow strikes are banned. Despite its Kyokushin roots, it uses the point and stop system used in sport karate with the same legal areas, but with the addition of also scoring groin shots (both punches and kicks).
- Clicker Fighting or Clicker Kumite: basically a Light Contact variant created by the International Federation of Karate (Kyokushin), most notably used by affiliated schools in the UK. Fighters wear sport karate gloves and foot pads, and has the same legal scoring areas for punches (including the head) and kicks in sport karate with the addition of low kicks (to the thigh). It is sometimes also confusingly referred to as Non Contact Rules and should not to be confused with the clicker system used by the WKF.
  - Ashihara Clicker: a variant used in some Ashihara competitions mostly outside of Japan. Fighters are bare knuckle and have the same legal areas as Kyokushin rules except low kicks are banned as well as throwing and sweeping unlike normal Ashihara rules. Some western Kyokushin schools also use these rules, though some like the International Budokai Kan allow footsweeps.
  - Light Sparring: also known confusingly as Light Contact (both with English pronunciation), a variant used in Japan under the Kawashima Juku school founded by Yū Kawashima. Basically a true light contact version of Kyokushin rules as it still allows low kicks, though fighters wear MMA gloves and shin pads for some reason.
- Sōgō Karate or Hybrid Fighting Karate: styles that took the concept of knockdown karate and added groundfighting into the mix to turn their styles into a more MMA-like rules format, while still keeping the traditional Kyokushin knockdown count. To avoid confusion, this format will be considered a separate category from Kakutō Karate from below despite their names being interchangeable to most people, with this format being where fighters don't wear special helmets (normal MMA headgear doesn't count).
  - Shidokan or Strong Rules: the main ruleset of the Shidokan school founded by Yoshiji Soeno. It is basically Ashihara and Enshin rules, except that it allows clinching or grabbing the gi with both arms for 3 seconds and groundfighting for 5 seconds each time, but only for submission fighting and standing submissions are not allowed.
  - Samurai Rules or Triathlon Rules: a "triathlon" format used by the Shidokan school. The first round is under Strong Rules, the second is under Gloved Karate rules and the third and final round is under MMA rules.
  - Kyokushin Budokai: a variant that was developed in the 1960s by Dutch pioneer Jon Bluming. Also known as All-Round Fighting, it combined Bluming's training in Kyokushin and Judo into a proto-mixed martial art. It keeps Kyokushin's legal striking targets except for the allowance of palm strikes to the head and grappling allows for clinching for 5 seconds, throws, takedowns, sweeps, submissions (even from standing, though it doesn't allow neck cranks) and groundfighting has no time limit, only the referee says when fighters have to stand back up, though it doesn't allow ground and pound. It unfortunately isn't used by the International Budokai Kan (the original organization it was governed under started by Bluming himself) anymore, though one organization in Russia still uses the ruleset.
  - IKB Rules: the current rules used by the International Budokai Kan. Its rules are basically a simpler mix of Kyokushin and Judo as it goes back to Kyokushin's original striking allowances, groundfighting is limited to 30 seconds each time and only pinning is allowed there, as well as submissions being banned. It also has a light contact version.
  - Irikumi: a variant used by a few Goju-Ryu organizations, most notably the International Okinawan Gōjū-ryū Karate-dō Federation. In traditional Goju-ryu, the term refers to its version of "Jiyu Kumite" that is also found in other traditional schools, this version refers to an official competition format, with older rules first being a form of traditional sport karate, then became a more continuous and full contact format in the early 90s where fighter wore sport karate gloves and allowed punches (including to the head), kicks (even low kicks to the thigh), knees (to the body only), throws, sweeps and takedowns, then became a form that resembled Kyokushin style competitions by banning punches to the head, while still allowing throws, sweeps and takedowns (fighters would either be bare knuckle or wear MMA gloves), before it became its current form in the mid to late 2000s. Its modern form has fighters wear MMA headgear, gloves and shin guards (though some competitions will not require headgear and/or shin guards, while a rarer few will use Super Safe helmets instead), and its rules allow punches, kicks (to and around the shin like calf kicks are banned), knees and elbows (not to the face or groin), clinching for 3 seconds, throws, sweeps, takedowns and submissions on the ground only, which is limited to 10 seconds only per attempt and disallows ground and pound unless they are "controlled" strikes. It also uses a two knockdown system and uses the standing eight count system instead of Kyokushin knockdown counts. It has two versions; 1) Irikumi Go: basically the rules above, 2) Irikumi Ju: a light contact version where punching to the head and grabbing the opponent by the neck with both hands is banned (though some competitions will allow touch contact only when punching to the head) and fighters are bare knuckle (though some competitions keep the gloves on).
  - FullContact Shotokan: a variant used by the Shotokan Karate-Do International Association (SKDIA), an independent organization of Shotokan which was founded in 2010 by Masanobu Nihei. The competitors wear protective equipment and fight under a continuous full contact ruleset. Punches, kicks, knees, throws and sweeps are all allowed, with a 5 second rule for attacks on a grounded opponent.
  - Tournament of J or Lumax Cup: an annual tournament that run by the Wajūtsu Keishukai school founded by Yoshinori Nishi that ran from 1994 to 1997. Its rules featured winning by knockout by a 5 knockdown count or submission, and disallows striking on grounded opponents, the 1995 event had fighters adopt MMA gloves from then onwards while the original 1994 event had fighters bare handed but allowed palm strikes to the head. Also the 1994 event used 2 rounds of 4 minutes with a 3 minute overtime if ruled a draw, while the 1995 event onwards used a single round of 5 minutes but used 2 rounds of 3 minutes overtime if ruled a draw.
  - ORG^notethe name supposedly comes from "Origin": a ruleset once used at events hosted by GCM Communication from 1999 to 2002, with the sub-heading Costume Competition, and is basically the Spiritual Successor of the Tournament of J or Lumax Cup events. Fighters wear sleeveless gis and fight on a ring with no ropes and bouts are 3 rounds of 5 minutes each. Basically it is MMA, except elbows are banned and has knockdown 10 counts.
  - Shinbukan or Kyushu Kakutō Karate: a variant used by the school of the same name founded by Hiroshi Honkawa in the city of Fukuoka on Kyūshū island in 1976, though it originally did Kyokushin style competitions before 1988. Its original rules were similar to Kyokushin Budokai as it allowed palm strikes to the head as well as throwing, submission grappling (though it disallows "air" chokes, neck cranks, and heel hooks) with groundfighting having a time limit of 25 seconds (and can only be done twice in a round), but it also allowed ground and pound with palm strikes to the head and body punches as well as knees to the head on a grounded opponent, and elbows strikes are allowed once the tournament reaches the semi-finals, all without protective equipment. Matches are only 3 minutes long (unless it was a draw, in which an additional 3 minutes are used) and can be won knockout, though like traditional knockdown karate rules fighters had only till the count of 5 to get back up, though fighters can also win by earning two points called "Yūkō", which they can earn by throwing the opponent on their back twice (meaning fighters can win by throwing the opponent on their back four times) or uniquely by submitting the opponent (yes fighters can potentially submit the same opponent twice within 3 minutes) or having one Yūkō over the opponent when the time runs out. In 2003, MMA gloves were adopted to allow punches to the head both standing and on the ground until the tournament semi-finals, where the gloves came off and bare knuckle punches to the head were allowed. Unfortunately they abandoned those rules in 2009, with their new rules being a form of Kakutō Karate with fighters wearing Super Safe helmets, MMA gloves for all stages of the tournament and shin guards, with submissions being banned altogether, but on the other hand it now allows headbutts.
  - Zendokai or Real Fighting Karate^note: a variant used by the school of the same name founded by Takashi Ozawa. Its main ruleset, which was referred to as RF All Japan and now RF Karate, is basically an amateur MMA ruleset with fighters wearing MMA gloves, headgear and shin guards, with matches lasting 5 minutes with an overtime/extension round of 3 minutes if the first round is a draw. It allows punches, kicks, knee strikes, as well as elbow strikes and headbutts (though for the latter two, not to the head), clinching, throws, sweeps, takedowns, submissions, ground and pound and even soccer kicks to the body, though groundfighting is limited to 1 minute and 30 seconds (though fighters can go to the ground as many times as they like). It has been divided into 2 versions; 1) Rule A: basically the rules as described, though if there is a weight difference of 10 kg or more, any strike to the face is prohibited, 2) Rule B: it prohibits any strike to the head or face by default and only lasts one round. There are also a few variants to the rules, 1) RF All Japan Reference Match: where groundfighting is limited to only one minute, 2) Clothed Sogo Rookie Match: where matches last 7 minutes with no overtime or extension round and groundfighting lasts 2 minutes, 3) RF Fathers: basically the same as the previous one listed, but disallows strikes to the head when on the ground, 4) Full Contact MMA: where fighters don't wear headgear at all, matches last 12 minutes without overtime or extension, groundfighting is limited to 10 seconds, but strikes to the head other than kicks and knees while standing are banned as well as all strikes to the face on a grounded opponent.
  - Yuseikai or Hybrid Karate: a variant used by the Yuseikai school founded by Toshiki "Toshio" Sakatani, who also founded the Accel promotion (also known as "Kakuto Budokai Accel"). While it refers to itself as "Kakutō Karate" (the Hybrid Karate name is used so as to not cause confusion, and is also what the style is referred to at times) as it originally had fighters wear Super Safe helmets, they were eventually removed after a few tournaments. Tournaments under the ruleset have fighters bare handed and uses the usual Kyokushin striking allowances but also allows palm strikes to the head and groin shots, as well as clinching, throws, submissions, ground and pound (only palm strikes are allowed to the head), soccer kicks and even stomping is legal, though once it reaches the semi-finals, fighters put on MMA gloves and can punch to the head.
  - KWU Open: a ruleset used by the Kyokushin World Union's professional fight league; SENSHI. Basically modified MMA rules with fighters wearing MMA gloves, a 30 second groundfighting limit each time, clinching limited up to 10 seconds, leglocks limited to attacks on the Achilles, disallows neck cranks, elbow strikes to the head in both standing and on grounded opponent, knees to the head when used on a grounded opponent and kicking a grounded opponent.
  - Gan Soo Do: a style developed in the Philippines that is supposed to be mostly based on Tang Soo Do from Korea (mixed with a few other styles), but its competition rules are heavily based on Kyokushin's. Like Shidokan, it also allows limited clinching, throws, sweeps, takedowns and limited groundfighting, except that it only allows ground and pound strikes (full contact) to the body and disallows submissions altogether. Fighters in the past were bare knuckle though for some reason modern competitions have fighters wear MMA gloves and it uses a knockdown 10 count and standing 8 count instead of traditional Kyokushin knockdown counts.
  - Pro Karatedo Rules: an extinct ruleset once used by the Pro Karatedo Federation associated with the Rishin-Juku school founded by Yoshiharu Murai. Its rules allowed punches, kicks, elbow strikes, knee strikes and even headbutts to almost anywhere including to the face (though not the groin), as well as throws, submissions, and ground and pound, though it uses a knockdown 10 count instead of traditional knockdown karate counts of 3 to 5 and fighters only wear karategis and MMA gloves.
  - Tatsujin Neo: a ruleset and event created by the Pro Karatedo Federation and replaces the original Tatsujin rules above (and their "Pro Karatedo Rules" mentioned above). It is basically the Japanese answer to Karate Combat as fighters wear MMA gloves, gi pants and are bare chested, except that it is fought in a ring instead of a pit, kicks to the thigh, knees to the face and elbows were legal since the beginning, is much more lenient on strikes in the clinch, uses a knockdown 10 count, and ground and pound is only allowed after throws, sweeps and takedowns.
  - СЗ or SZ (acronyms for a term meaning "Full Contact in Protective Equipment"^note): a variant developed in Russia under "Vsestilevóe Karaté"^note or "All-Style Karate" in English, which is an organization that allows all schools of karate to compete in their competitions instead of being a style of karate itself. Fighters wear helmets (18 years and older are open faced while younger ages are with plastic face covering, though some competitions use face cage covering instead and even rarer events go without helmets), MMA gloves (rare events will use boxing gloves), and shin guards, though they have the option of wearing either the gi or a t-shirt with shorts and bouts only last either 2 or 3 minutes depending on the age group. It allows punches, kicks, elbow (they are allowed to the face, though some events will limit them to the body) and knee strikes, sweeps, throws, takedowns, clinching for 5 seconds only, submissions (joint locks like armbars and leglocks on the ground only, though strangely chokes can be done both standing and on the ground, and can be done with the gi), ground-and-pound (though if a series of punches to the head (3 or more) are delivered, the fighters are stood up before continuing) and even allows soccer kicks and knees to the head on a grounded opponent (though only for 18 years old and up, and single kick or knee to the head will have the fighters being stood up before continuing) though groundfighting in general is limited to 10 seconds in one position, should a change in position and attempt at a submission happen, another 10 seconds is given, also it uses knockdown counts of 5. All-Style Karate also has two other formats, "PK"^noteПК (acronym for a term meaning "Full Contact"^noteполный контакт) which is basically Ashihara rules and "ОК" (acronym for a term meaning "Limited Contact"^noteограниченный контакт) which is basically Light Contact rules.
  - Kaido: another variant developed in Russia that actually predates the one above, which is a modified version of it. The full name of the style was originally "Karate KAI DO Jitsu" before it was shortened to "Kaido-Jitsu", then to just "Kaido". The only difference between the styles now is that armbars and leglocks can be done standing (though it bans chokes for 16 years old and younger), its ground-and-pound allows elbows to the face and body, and depending on the event, if there no winner is determined after the time limit and the judges decision is a draw, the winner can be decided if the fighter is the lighter of the two or they do a tameshiwari contest between the fighters, with the winner of the contest being the winner of the bout, just like International Budokai Rules above. While this style is referred Full Contact Section by their own rules, it also has other kumite format called "K Section", which is just normal Kyokushin rules, but with tameshiwari and lighter weight stipulation if used at the event.
- Lethwei-Inspired Karate: also known as Sude Ganmen Karate (Bare Knuckle to Face Karate) this format as the name implies are karate rules that are influenced by the rules of Lethwei, allowing bare knuckle punches and elbow strikes to the head, throws, sweeps, and headbutts, all without protective gear, with their own twist to make them their own thing.
  - Chaos Madmax: a defunct promotion associated with the F.S.A. Kenshinkan school founded by Takeyuki Hayama, whose rules (also known as Chaos Shinken) were basically the Japanese answer to Lethwei, as well as allowing standing submissions like shootboxing. These rules were also briefly used by the ACCEL promotion associated with the Yuseikai school founded by Toshiki Sakatani under the name Shin Budokai Rules.
  - Absolute: incredibly enough, the above was actually a Lighter and Softer version of the F.S.A. Kenshinkan's early competition rules which also allowed groin shots(!) and even strikes to the eyes(!!) while only wearing face masks that protect the eyes.
  - Tatsujin: a variant created and formerly used by the Pro Karatedo Federation. It allowed all kinds of strikes to anywhere except to the eyes (and yes the groin is a legal target), but also allows ground and pound, though soccer kicks, open hand and palm strikes are banned and submissions can only be done standing, though they can be finished on the ground if done in 5 seconds, otherwise the fighters are stood back up.
Bōgutsuki Karate: translated as Karate With Armour, it is a direct predecessor of Knockdown/Full Contact Karate. Also known as Bōgu Karate (Armour Karate), Bōgutsuki Shiai (Fight With Armour), or Bōgutsuki Kumite (Kumite with Armour), it dates back to the 1920s when Japan was looking into turning kumite into a sport after Gichin Funakoshi came to Tokyo and began teaching karate. In 1927, The Karate Study Group of Tokyo Imperial University devised its own armoured karate system, but for reasons unknown Funakoshi grew furious with its development and eventually resigned as the instructor of the University of Tokyo in 1945. In 1946, the Kanbukan dojo took up the format for themselves and is credited as being the birthplace of the format. As the dojo also taught Kendo, the karatekas used the kendōgu (protection equipment) whenever the kendokas weren’t using it and modified them over time to suit their needs and eventually held the first national championships in 1954. The format has helped change the landscape in martial arts and combat sports, like the creation of Full Contact Karate starting with Kyokushin after Mas Oyama decided to experience and experiment with full contact without protection, to influencing the development of other arts like Nippon Kempo and likely Taekwondo's (particularly the Kukkiwon's) practice of "hogu daeryon" (“sparring with protective armor”), to influencing the creation of MMA gloves, etc. The particular thing about this format that most variants of it follow is that strikes can only be targeted to the padded up parts of the body, which is mostly just the head and the torso and fighters will have to wear at the least specialised helmets and chest protectors to be considered this style. There are a few variants;
- Renbukai: the oldest existing ruleset of the format used by the All Japan Karatedo Federation Renbukai. It originated the Karatetor equipment that was based directly of kendōgu, though they eventually changed to another armour brand called Strongman. It mostly follows sport WKF/Olympic karate rules with its point system, no kicks below the waist, limited throwing and sweeps (though sweeps were banned when the Karatetor armour was still used), though strikes are full contact due to the protective equipment. Furthermore, for many years, back kicks were banned, but starting with the 40th national tournament, the ban was lifted. As the oldest ruleset of this format, many other schools and organizations have made modifications over the years based off it.
  - Genwakai: the ruleset used by Japan Budo Karate Genwakai organization. Its originally followed the old rules of Renbukai as the style still uses the Karatetor armour, but since 2004, all kicks to the head are banned, which is a rarity among karate match rules.
  - Renshinkan: the ruleset used by the Shorinji-ryu Karate-do Renshinkan school. It uses the Karatetor armour and mostly follows the Renbukai rules, but it additionally allows spinning and jumping punches and kicks that are banned in most point karate competitions.
- Kōshiki Karate: translated as Hard Karate, it is a variant that uses a sort of continuous format instead of the traditional point and stop rules, with its scoring being based on "Ippon Shobu" the idea that a fighter can win with one perfect technique -worth "ippon" or a "full" point and lesser techniques are awarded "wazari" or part points, but a fighter who scores three wazari in a continuous flow (rensoku waza), uninterrupted by defence, counterattack or a missed technique this can also be awarded the win, though these strikes must be clear to the judges. Another feature is that even after a technique scores, it takes some time before the reset is applied, and it uses a point-adding system in which additional strikes connected during that time are also added up. It allows full contact strikes to the front torso, while strikes to the head must be controlled and strikes to the back must be reduced to a light touch when landing. The format was developed at first within the Japan Karatedo Federation Renbukai, but a split from them by the Renbukan, the major dojo of the organization and the one that directly spun off from the Kanbukan, led to the creation of the All Japan Koshiki Karatedo Federation. There are actually two versions of the format, as another split happened within the organization, dividing the style among two different All Japan Koshiki Karatedo Federations;
  - Nakamura Faction or IKKF Faction: it was led by Norio Nakamura and under the control of members of the Renbukan, though Nakamura eventually retired and passed leadership onto Kenjiro Chiba from 2003 to 2019, which is why this side is also known as the Chiba Faction. Its rules have additional ways to victory with the first to reach 5 points wins, or they score more points than the opponent within the time limit. Head kicks score the most points with 2 points while all other strikes to legal areas are 1 point. Fighters wear either Super Safe or K-protector^note helmets, chest protectors, and fist protectors (similar to MMA gloves, but with thinner padding), but foot pads are optional. This faction holds the largest tournaments in Japan, is the style that most people in Japan associate the format with, and is also the preferred style of the Russians under the International Koshiki Karate Federation.
  - Hisaka Faction or WKKF Faction: it is led by Masayuki Hisataka, the original creator of the Super Safe brand protective equipment and the current head of Shōrinjiryū Kenkōkan Karate who inherited it from his father Kōri Hisataka, who was the founder of the style. Unlike the Nakamura Faction, this style doesn't have the first to 5 points wins condition as points are scored continuously within the time limit, but it also allows limited throwing, foot sweeps, low kicks (though it must be followed up by another kind of technique) and even allows chokes and joint locks though these are infrequently attempted and even less often successful as referees will usually break up any protracted clinching or grappling in order to keep the match flowing, so it's not MMA-like. Thrusting strikes and punches are worth 1 point, while kicks are worth 2 points. Fighters only use Super Safe helmets and chest protectors while being bare handed and bare footed^note. While this style isn't well known in its homeland, it is the style that the rest of the world knows more about as almost all organizations outside of Japan (and Russia) associated with Koshiki Karate are under the World Koshiki Karatedo Federation, which is considered the parent organization of their version of the All Japan Koshiki Karatedo Federation, but they are almost the same organization.
- Kakutō Karate: a variant that embraces a truly full contact and continuous format while still wearing gloves and Super Safe helmets (and/or other brands based on it). To avoid confusion, this will be considered a separate category from Sōgō Karate/Hybrid Fighting Karate from above despite their names being interchangeable to most people.
  - Daido Juku or Kudo: the most famous variation of the format founded by Takashi Azuma. It formerly referred to itself as "Kakutō Karate" at one point, though it had to change it for reasons explained below. The first competition of the style had fighters given the choice of wearing the fist protectors or going bare knuckle, only contained stand-up fighting, and the style was referred to as Hokutoki Karate, which was the name of Azuma's Kyokushin style competitions (which kept Kyokushin’s rules before the 1979 rule changes against grabs, sweeping with anything other than the foot and throws) before he created this style as mentioned above. Its rules feature a comprehensive allowance of almost all striking techniques, from punches, kicks, knees, elbows and even headbutts to almost anywhere including the head and groin (it is normally prohibited, but if there is a difference of 20 or more in body mass index, both sides are allowed to attack with a kick, and if there is a difference of 30 or more, punches and palm strikes are allowed), with clinching limited to 10 seconds (all strikes during clinching are normally allowed, but if there is a difference of 20 or more in body mass index, both sides only allowed to attack with kicks, and if there is a difference of 30 or more, it is banned entirely) and also allows throws, takedowns and sweeps, and after the first tournament it added groundfighting though it only allows it twice during a round and is limited to 30 seconds where submissions are allowed (standing submissions are banned) and contrary to popular belief, only controlled ground and pound strikes to the face are allowed in order to score points and bans headbutts from the top position (though it does allow full contact to the body and the grounded opponent can still strike full contact to anywhere they can reach). It also retains Kyokushin's knockdown count of 3 seconds and rounds last 3 minutes. It also has its own point system, with points awarded based on the effectiveness of techniques which is based on how much the opponent has felt the blow, they range from 1 point (koka), 2 points (yuko), 4 points (wazari) and 8 points (ippon) respectively and if the opponent scores 8 points they are awarded the victory. There have been several competitions that have operated under modified rules, with the normal rules being referred to as International Kudo Rules if they are used alongside them. The Daido Juku once ran a series of events called "THE WARS" where some matches featured a variant without the helmet, Australia and Russia has a version they call Padded Kudo and Limited Kudo respectively which bans leglocks and rounds last 2 minutes that is catered to those older than 35 or young children, Australia also has a Kudo Elite division which allows standing submissions and Russia once held a "Professional Kudo" tournament called the "Kudo Challenge 2013" where full contact ground and pound was allowed.
  - RF Access or RF Karate Expert: a variant used by the Zendokai school based off Kudo rules (Zendokai's founder was originally a Daido Juku alumni). Fighters wear Super Safe helmets, fist protectors and shin guards, with matches lasting 3 minutes with an overtime/extension round of 2 minutes should the first round be a draw. Its rules are basically Kudo rules with the addition of allowing full contact ground and pound and groundfighting lasting 50 seconds though it is also only allowed twice during a round, and it disallows groin shots. It has two forms; 1) Rule A: basically the rules above, but if there is a weight difference of 10 kg or more, any striking techniques for head and face blows on the ground are prohibited, 2) Rule B: prohibits all strikes to the head by default. It also has a few modified variants; 1) RF Junior Expert: basically the same as the regular rules, except headbutts, all striking on a grounded opponent, and submissions that use the legs like omoplatas and triangle chokes are banned, 2) RF Budō Karate Rookie Match: matches last 2 minutes 30 seconds and disallow submissions and striking a grounded opponent, with groundfighting being limited to 10 seconds for pinning only, 3) Budō Karate Boys and Girls: for younger ages mostly with Elementary school students matches lasting 1 minute 30 seconds and Junior high school students matches lasting 2 minutes and is based on POINT&KO Rules, if the match is a draw, the winner will be decided by one who scores first in the overtime, 4) RF RB Rule: short for Regular and Beginner Rules, basically the same as the previous one, but with headbutts disallowed, 5) RF Junior Strike: basically stand up only rules and no headbutts.
  - Seikukai: a variant used by the school it’s named after founded by Shingo Ikarii, it was actually developed slightly earlier than Daido Juku and is one of the reasons why the Daido Juku style had to change its name as they claimed the name of "Kakutō Karate" first (ironically the school is now a part of the International Kudo Federation, trains its students in their style and regularly sends its students to their competitions). It was originally based off Koshiki Karate with its use of Super Safe helmets and fist protectors (MMA gloves were eventually allowed in later competitions), but went its own way by abandoning the point system and adopting a more full contact/knockdown nature. Its rules are basically the same as Daido Juku its original form, just without headbutts and groin shots while rounds are 2 minutes each.
  - Sōgō Budō: another variant based of Koshiki Karate used by the Kenshi Ryu Kikuchi Juku school, which is affiliated with the All Japan Koshiki Karatedo Federation of the Nakamura Faction. Similar to Seikukai, fighters wear Super Safe helmets and MMA gloves without chest protectors or shin and foot guards and allows full contact striking and throws, except it operates on POINT&KO Rules, just with head punches included.
  - Mumonkai: a variant used by the school it is named after founded by Yoshimoto Togashi. A more accurate description for the style would be Knockdown Karate with quick draw rules as fighters start in and reset into a fixed distance from each other before attacking, while also containing a point system where clean hits score points as well as stop and reset the bout (though it does allow fighters to chain strikes) within the time limit. Fighters wear protective equipment such as super safe helmets, fist protectors or MMA gloves and shin and foot guards or they can choose none of them at all at their own risk and forgoes chest protectors altogether. Allowed techniques include almost all striking techniques, including bare knuckle punches to the face, elbows, knees, forearm strikes, strikes to the groin, and also allows throws.
  - Ashihara New Style: a variant developed and used in Ashihara Karate competitions since 2016. Fighters wear the Super Safe helmets and MMA gloves and allows head punches, but only allows a three head punch combination limit before they have to use a kick or body punch.
  - Free Contact: a variant that is used by the Kyokushin Kenbukai organization. Fighters wear cage shield helmets (usually of the Isami brand) and MMA gloves and its rules are basically Kyokushin with face punches and stand up grappling with throws, takedowns, and submissions.
  - Chaos Safety: a variant used by the F.S.A. Kenshinkan school. Fighters wear cage shield helmets, shin guards and MMA gloves (junior divisions also wear chest protectors) and its rules allow punches, kicks, elbows and knees to almost anywhere, though it disallows grabs unless it is to do a single knee strike (junior divisions disallow low kicks though). It eventually got replaced by new rules called Chaos Max, which bans backhand strikes, elbow strikes, and hook punches, with fighters wearing Super Safe helmets.
  - Dageki Jissen: a variant used by the All Japan Sogo Karate Federation, which they use in addition to Koshiki Karate rules for their competitions. Fighters wear Super Safe helmets, but without the plexiglass they normally come with as well as MMA gloves and shin guards and its rules are basically Kyokushin rules, with the addition of allowing punches to the face.
  - Super Contact: a variant used by the Seikukai school (not the one above, the full name of this school is "Kokura Karate Sōgō Budō Seikukai"). It is basically almost exactly like Dageki Jissen above except that the Super Safe helmets have the plexiglass and use fist protectors instead of MMA gloves.
  - IKU Jissen Kumite: a variant used by the International Karate Union. Basically its almost like Shidokan Strong Rules though fighters wear helmets with plexiglass face covering, MMA gloves and shin guards, and allows punches to the head and clinching for 5 seconds instead of 3.
  - SVT Knockdown: a variant developed by Liam Harper in Derbyshire, England. Short for Standing Vale Tudo Knockdown, it is a mixture of Knockdown Karate and Shootboxing, meaning it allows punches, kicks, elbows, and knees to almost anywhere, as well as throws, sweeps, takedowns, and standing submissions, with clinching being unlimited, though it also allows headbutts and using the gi against the opponent for clinching and submissions. However, there are three different classes that have slightly differing rules; 1) Class A: basically the rules stated above with fighters wearing MMA gloves, helmets, and shin guards. 2) Class B: no punches, elbows, headbutts, or palm strikes to the head are allowed and fighters are bare knuckle. 3) Class C: no strikes to the head whatsoever, palm strike are banned altogether, and fighters wear MMA gloves. There are also light contact versions of their rules.
  - Sentoukaikan or Sentou Karate: a variant developed in the Philippines by Vincent Vicencio for ToughGuys International, a Christian martial arts ministry of all things, and is also used in his Professional Karate League; Ultimate Karate-1 (UK-1 for short, it also features Kyokushin and traditional sport karate bouts). Previously known as Sentou Jutsu, fighters wear cage shield helmets, MMA gloves and shin guards and allows punches (including backfists and hammerfists), kicks, elbows, knees and palm strikes (though it weirdly bans slaps) to almost anywhere on the body, grabbing the gi is allowed for 10 seconds for throws and striking (though only punches and knees are allowed there), as well as sweeps, takedowns, submissions on the ground (though it only allows armlocks), ground and pound is only allowed for 10 seconds, though kicking to the legs and axe kicks to the stomach when kicking between the legs is allowed for however long that can last, and grounded opponents can up-kick, though weirdly clinching is banned.
- IKO Semi-Contact: a ruleset developed in 2018 by the International Kyokushin Organization. As the name implies, its a point fighting ruleset similar to traditional sport karate and allows "non-contact" punches to the head, though it also disallows elbows and knees (even those to the body), low kicks, head kicks that do not target the side of the head, and 3 or more punches in a row. Also unlike sport karate, strikes are allowed to be full contact (besides punches to the head) and the bout can be won should a single knockdown occur. Fighters wear cage shield helmets, chest protectors, shin guards, and fist protectors.
Full Contact Kempō, Fighting Kempō, or Knockdown Kempō: a format that is stylistically similar to knockdown karate and its many variations, with many of its top practitioners usually crossing over and competing in knockdown karate due to it having a much larger talent pool. Nevertheless, they have their own competitions and rulesets.
- Kenpō Kai: a style with that grew out of a family style called Ishizaka Ha Kenpo (Ishizaka Family Kenpo), which was a formed by combining an art called Kashima Shinto Ryu with Shaolin Quan, and is currently headed by Chiaki Ohashi under the International Kenpo Kai Organization. Its randori rules (at the highest levels) are basically Ashihara or Enshin rules, but fighters are required to wear cage shield helmets and gloves. At lowers levels, it uses a format that is basically the same as the Bōgutsuki Karate of the Renbukai which they refer to as Sora Ran.
- Nippon Kempo or Nihon Kempo: a style founded by Muneomi Sawayama that actually grew from his training in judo, jujitsu and karate with some influences from boxing instead of anything related to kempo, but chose the name to separate itself from karate. Originally called Dainippon Kempo^note and is also called Nikken for short, bouts are between 2 to 3 minutes long with draws adding an additional round of fighting, uses a three knockdown system, fighters wear helmets, chest protectors and specially modified boxing gloves to allow better grappling, its rules allow almost all kinds of strikes (except headbutts), but only to the parts covered up by the protective equipment (meaning no low kicks), and also allows grappling which includes clinching, throwing, takedowns, sweeps, and submissions (though it seems to only allow ones that target the arms and shoulders, while disallowing leglocks, wristlocks, chokes, neck cranks, elbow locks, etc), though it also allows striking a grounded opponent that included punches, elbows and knees to the head and even soccer kicks and stomps (though for some reason only light contact or "simulated" kicks and stomps are allowed).
- Ohshi Juku Taido: a variant created by Michihito Nakai in 1988, who was originally a student of Fudo Zen Shorinji Ryu Kempo. Originally the style's competition rules were basically a modified version of Daido-Juku's rules, allowing all types of strikes like punches, kicks, elbows, knees and headbutts to almost anywhere while fighters wear Super Safe helmets and fist protectors, except that it also disallows any kind of grabs and grappling. It unfortunately abandoned those rules in 2017 and turned into a more "orthodox" kickboxing style similar to gloved karate, with fighters wearing boxing gloves and amateur kickboxing headgear. Not to be confused with the martial art developed by Seiken Shukumine as a modification of his original created style of Gensei-Ryu karate nor the aikido school called Shin'ei Taidō (originally Shinwa Taido).
- Lutte Contact: a variant created in France in the 1990s by Christian and Michèle Ribert, both former practitioners of Shorinji Kempo. Fighters wear sleeveless kimonos and MMA gloves and bouts are usually a single 4 minute round with a 2 minute extension if a winner is not decided with a 1 minute 30 second break in-between, though some bouts use 2 rounds of 4 minutes each. Allowed techniques include punches, kicks, knees (to the body only), clinching, throws, takedowns, sweeps, and submissions (on the ground only) though it bans any ground-and-pound.
- Kenpokan: another variant created in France in 1988 by Patrick Lombardo. Its first tournament in 1990; the Ultra Fight Kenpokan Tournament is considered the first MMA-like tournament in France though fighters were in gis and bouts were bare knuckle, but palm strikes to the head were allowed but not closed fisted punches, though later tournaments had fighters use MMA gloves and punches to the face. Lombardo later "created" Pankido in 1997, which was basically a continuation of the Kenpokan tournaments, though strangely it went back to bare knuckle, palm strikes to the head, no closed fists rule, though it eventually brought back the gloves in the early 2000s and even ditched the gi tops around the late 2000s (but still kept the gi pants). Originally bouts last a single eight minute round, though if the fight is ruled a draw, an extension is given to determine the winner, which had no time limit, modern bouts are three rounds of three minutes each with a 1 minute break in-between rounds, though it still keeps the no time limit extension in the case of a draw. Modern rules allow punches, palm strikes, kicks, elbows, forearm strikes, and knees (the last three to the body and legs only), clinching, throws, sweeps, takedowns, submissions and ground-and-pound (only to body and legs) and can take place in a tatami mat, ring or MMA cage.
- Kenpo 5.0: a style developed by Jeff Speakman, short for American Kenpo version 5.0 which as the name implies is a modified style of American Kenpo with its own competition ruleset. Said ruleset is amateur MMA-like as it allows standing and ground fighting, except that all striking in light contact, punches, elbows and knees to the head are not allowed, kicks to the head only are allowed to the side of the head (no face or neck targeting), spinning backfists are banned, no pulling guard while standing, though the groin is considered a legal target both standing and on the ground.
Ganryujima: a promotion with a unique ruleset and presentation and while it considers itself as a "new mixed martial arts" style, its rules heavily focus on striking over grappling. Bouts take place on a 8-meter diameter and 60 cm high circle stage with no ropes or cage, with dry ice surrounding the stage to simulate a moat of water, matches last 3 rounds of 3 minutes each, with 1 round extension, 1 minute between each round (however, the time and number of rounds may be changed if both sides agree) with fighters wearing sleeveless gi tops, MMA gloves and shorts. In addition to the regular ways one can win in MMA, a win can come if one opponent falls off the stage 3 times in one round. Originally the rules allowed all kinds of striking including headbutts and elbows to the head, grappling that includes clinching, throws, takedowns, sweeps, and even standing submissions though those were immediately broken up when fighters go to the ground as they weren't allowed there and groundfighting is limited to 15 seconds at a time, which allows ground and pound and even kicks and knees to the body. Its current ruleset disallows headbutts and elbows to the head, and standing submissions that transition to the ground is now subject to the 15 second groundfighting limit.
- SEI☆ZA: a Distaff Counterpart promotion to the above under a modified ruleset, with the differences being no knees to the head, ground and pound is only allowed to the body, groundfighting is limited to 30 seconds at a time, 3 second pinfalls and escaping submissions by countering with one's own submission are scored and knockdown 10 counts are used. The promotion itself unfortunately was very short-lived.
Chika Kakutōgi: translated as Underground Fighting or more commonly Underground Martial Arts (or UMA for short), it refers to a ruleset that is supposedly made to resemble a street fight as close as possible while still within the safety of having rules that seems to have become a trend starting in the early 2010s among a few "less reputable" fight promoters. In practice however, these bouts look like MMA bouts with fighters wearing MMA gloves and is usually fought in a ring or cage, but with limited groundfighting (usually allowed from 5 to 30 seconds at a time depending on the promotion), bouts usually last 1-3 minutes only (with an extension of 30 seconds to 1 minute 30 seconds when a draw is declared depending on the promotion, and also tournament rules usually feature 2 rounds to better determine a winner) and most promotions will ban submissions, but others will allow them. This is not to be confused with bouts that happen in underground Japanese fight clubs, which is more pure old school Vale Tudo-like rules (or lack thereof).
- Number1 UMA Rules: the main ruleset of the Number1 promotion, though it also features regular kickboxing bouts under K-1 rules and unique boxing matches with MMA gloves instead of boxing gloves. Its rules are unique among the UMA promotions as it is more Vale Tudo-like as it allows elbows (most Japanese MMA promotions that don't follow the Unified MMA rules ban elbows) and headbutts, but it only allows chokes for submissions, with a 5 second limit for groundfighting though it bans soccer kicks, stomps, and knees to the head of a grounded opponent like Unified MMA rules, through every other strike (yes including the headbutts) is allowed there (alongside chokes).

Dutch kickboxing

Dutch Rules, Dutch Style or Dutch Kickboxing: an old ruleset that came about when Japanese kickboxing was first introduced in Holland in the mid 70s. It began its development when Jan Plas, Peter van den Hemel and Jan van Looijen went to Japan to train in Taikiken under its founder Kenichi Sawai, then trained in Kyokushin at the original Oyama Dojo, then with Tokyo police force in jujitsu and Kendo, before discovering the burgeoning kickboxing scene and a chance encounter with Toshio Fujiwara led them to train under Kenji Kurosaki, and they brought back whatever they learned to The Netherlands and began training other Dutchmen in the style, which led to competitive bouts starting in 1976, then the founding the Netherland Kick Boxing Bond in the 1979, which led to changes being made and aimed at reducing injuries and making bouts more accessible to Dutch audiences and TV viewers, compared to the original Japanese style. The rules prohibited elbow strikes (unless both parties agree to them) and limited knee strikes to the body only, but also it also banned throws, sweeps and trips and clinching was limited to 5 seconds (same as Japanese rules) and bouts follow Japanese standards for rounds. It pretty much has been replaced by K-1, Unified Rules, and Oriental Rules by the top promotions in The Netherlands, though it was instrumental in their modern development.
ECE Xtreme Stand Up: a ruleset devised in 2019 that are featured alongside MMA bouts for Enfusion's^note ECE (Enfusion Cage Events) shows. It is basically Shootboxing rules with fighters instead wearing MMA gloves and fought in a MMA cage instead of a ring, though it also allows stepping on the opponent's feet and if a submission goes to the ground, the action will continue with a limited time of 15 seconds or if the opponent submits, though it bans jumping submissions like flying armbars, triangles, guillotines, leglocks, anything that involves pulling guard, etc.
Chakuriki: a style developed by Thom Harinck in 1972 before kickboxing officially arrived in the Netherlands, and then he would exclusively focused on training kickboxers. His style was a mixture of techniques from boxing, Kyokushin karate, judo, jujutsu, wrestling, Japanese kickboxing and savate.
Carbin All Style: a style developed by Lucien Carbin. Also known as All Style Muay Thai, it combines his knowledge in Kyokushin, kickboxing, Muay Thai and savate into a comprehensive striking system.

Southeast Asian or Indochinese kickboxing

Muay: the current ethnic neutral term for the boxing styles in Southeast Asia, due to the many similarities of their styles. Other names previously suggested were Sovannaphum Boxing or SEA Boxing.
- Muay Thai^notesometime listed as Muaythai, Thai Boxing^notesometimes listed as Thaiboxing, Siamese Boxing, or Siam Boxing: a Thai style that arguably inspired the kickboxing craze started by Japan and the USA. Known poetically as "The Art/Science of Eight Limbs", in other words, you can punch, kick, use elbows (even 12-6 strikes, though some western organizations ban them from their competitions) and knees to pretty much any part of the body (before you ask, even in the groin, well, at least before the 1980s (though some events in Thailand still allow them and though only through teep kicks), and even kicking and kneeing the opponent's back scores points), it has extensive clinch work and allows many sweeps (sweeps and foot trips didn't become fully legal until the early 2000s as before that there were unwritten rules against sweeps due to the Japanese occupation of Thailand in World War Two, though sweeps with the back of the leg and bottom of the foot are still illegal as they can only use the side and top of the foot while also only allowed to target the base of the leg and not to or above the ankle, alao hooking or immobilizing the opponent’s legs with one's own legs is illegal) and some throws (hip throws, shoulder throws, leg throws, lifting the other fighter through hugging the body and tackling the body or leg for takedowns are illegal), making it one of the most "complete" kickboxing styles, though modern rules also has the "two-step rule" which is applied to leg grabs/kick catches where they cannot exceed two forward steps (but they can move backwards, to the side, or around the opponent however much they want) before they must either let go of the leg, attempt a throw or sweep, or strike with either a kick or knee.^noteThis is to prevent what is call "ploughing", which is the act of catching an opponent’s leg, charging them across the ring, and throwing them against the ropes with the intention of using them to slingshot the opponent back into a heavy kick or knee.. It has a long story dating back to the 15th and 16th century, but it wasn't until the king Rama VII codified the modern rules in the early 20th century after some influence from British Boxers turned into the modern sport. It is Thailand's national sport and is deeply steeped into its cultural background which can be seen on the pre-match ritual dance and in the use of traditional headbands and prajied leg/arm bands. Muay Thai was initially secluded to its native Thailand, but it started to reach international audiences by various challenges, including the famous one against Karate Kyokushin in the 1960s which gave birth to Japanese kickboxing, and in the 1980s when American Kickboxing world champion Rick Roufus was defeated by Thai champion Changpuek Kiatsongrit in an exhibition superfight, Kiatsongrit wasn't allowed to use knees, elbows or sweeps but was allowed to use leg kicks (see International/Freestyle kickboxing ruleset above). However, it exploded in popularity with the rise of Mixed Martial Arts in the late 90s and early 2000s, especially by Brazilian fighters coming from Vale Tudo, as you can use pretty much every weapon from Muay Thai's arsenal in MMA, reaching the point that Thai boxing is pretty much the standard striking basis for MMA. That said, the sport isn't truly unified as it has several different formats to it despite keeping its arsenal intact in most events, mostly due to the how differently scoring works in different organizations and governing bodies.
  - Traditional Rules, Classic Rules or Stadium Rules: the predominant format that is used mostly in Thailand in its most famous arenas (at least before the raise of the Entertainment format) and internationally under the World Muaythai Council (WMC), the World Muaythai Organization (WMO), and International Boxing Federation (IBF) Muaythai organization, and is also the ruleset that almost everyone refers to when talking about the sport. Bouts use a system of 5 rounds of 3 minutes each, with a break of 2 minutes between rounds, also unlike other kickboxing rulesets, it uses a knockdown system where should a fighter be knocked down 5 times throughout the whole fight, the bout is ruled a technical knockout, though it has modernized to allow a technical knock out when a fighter be knocked down 3 times in a round. Also while it uses the standard 10 point must system taken from boxing (originally before the 90s, a round was scored out of 5 instead), the traditional scoring system of Muay Thai has judges use an "open and cumulative" scoring system that scores every bout in its entirety and although every round is still listed with a 6/7/8/9/10 point recording system on a judge’s scorecard, the difference is that whatever is recorded and noted per round is meant only to help the judges paint an overall picture of the fight, though judging is also not very results-oriented like in most full contact combat sports as it is heavily based on the narrative, tempo, or "flow" of the bout (rounds one and two are more for fighters to feel out each other out and it’s an almost unspoken rule to not go too aggressive in these rounds and usually end in draws unless one fighter clearly dominates, rounds three and four are where the fight gets into the action fully, while round five depends on round four’s outcome, either the fight is on full blast to the end or should one fighter clearly dominant the fight (or at least think they did) they can prove it by being less aggressive and engage primarily in defensive fighting, in fact if the same winning fighter fights aggressively in the fifth, they may come across as desperate to win thus giving judges the impression that they are not the clear victor), the fighter's poise (if they are known by a particular style, should they deviate from it at anytime the judges will score them lower, they also score a fighter lower if the fighter tries to be more evasive during the bout, as it's believed that moving backwards, side-to-side or simply to evade an attack is contrary to the spirit of the sport; the "right" strategy is to charge forward and absorb all the enemy hits that cannot be blocked or checked and even visible fatigue is often interpreted as a lack of strength, conditioning, and/or resilience and affects scoring), and scoring strikes must be powerful and/or hurt the opponent or knock them off balance, with kicks (especially to the body) being the highest scoring strikes with knees coming in second, then elbows, and then punches (rapid-fire striking combinations are not really encouraged under this system as they tend to confuse the judges and fighters that No-Sell strikes often get the benefit of the doubt and those strikes are not scored), and clinch domination is heavily favoured, though of course this only applies if a bout needs the judges decision should there be no knockout and even then different stadiums in Thailand and the worldwide organizations have their own nuances that make their scoring different from each other (this is mostly due to the gambling culture involved in this stadium matches).
  - Entertainment Rules or Entertainment Muay Thai: a modernized format from Thailand, also known as Modern Muay Thai or MAX Muay Thai after the promotion that first used and popularized the format in 2013 and is also used by the Super Champ Muay Thai, Fairtex Fight, and Rajadamnern World Series promotions in order to make Muay Thai more mainstream and TV Friendly by making fight more action packed throughout the whole match. Bouts consists of three, three-minute rounds (except for some five-round title fights) with 1 minute breaks in between, and its modernized scoring system weighs rounds equally, meaning whoever wins the most rounds wins the match (though an unspoken rule is that rounds 2 and 3 are often given higher priority by judges), with strikes scored based on effect and who lands the most strikes with effect wins the round, though clinch dominance also scores heavily, ring position is considered and maintaining the center ring and controlling the pace of a fight is considered if the scoring strikes are equal and skillful displays of defensive techniques impact the scorecards if all else is equal.
  - WBC Muaythai Rules: the format used by the World Boxing Council (WBC) Muaythai organization. While bout duration is the same as Traditional Rules, the scoring criteria are very similar to that of Entertainment Rules, but its differences are that rounds are not weighed as the judges consider the whole fight before deciding the winner and also the WBC also makes note that ringcraft to them is not defined by aggression and holding the center position, it is the ability to control the flow and pace of a fight and values technical excellence and defensive techniques over aggression with certain strikes scoring higher or lower based on its difficulty and how effective it was at the point it was thrown in the bout. Also it doesn't use the standing 8 count (mandatory 8 count is still in effect) and does not have the three knockdown system.
  - European Muay Thai, Dutch Muay Thai, or Westernized Muay Thai^note: also referred to confusingly as just Thai Boxing Rules by some organizations, it is a slightly modified version of Muay Thai created in 1983 by Thom Harinck of Chakuriki Gym, who trained in and brought Muay Thai to the Netherlands in 1978 and formed the Muay Thai Bond Nederland to officially have competitions around it, and with the help of associations in the other participating countries, started an organisation called the European Muay Thai Association and then the World Muay Thai Association, both in 1984^note and is also used by other organizations like the WKA and Enfusion today (the ISKA also used this ruleset until the creation of "Unified Rules", see below), but like Dutch Kickboxing Rules, had to change things from the traditional Thai to make it easier to understand for the Dutch audience and TV viewers and safer for the Dutch fighters. Its main difference from Dutch Rules is that elbows are allowed to the body without negotiation (Enfusion however just bans them outright like in K-1 rules), knees to the head are allowed (the WKA once limited knee strikes to the body), and it uses the Muay Thai rules for clinching, throws, sweeps, and trips (originally throws, sweeps and trips were banned and clinching was limited to 5 seconds, but the rules were eventually revised to allow the traditional Muay Thai allowances for them in mid 2010), while using the same scoring system as western boxing instead of the traditional Thai system and uses the three knockdown system with four knockdowns in total throughout the whole is a TKO (also used in Dutch Rules) instead of the traditional five knockdowns in total (it also skips the traditional Thai ritual dance and ditches the music). Bouts governed under the WMTA originally use 1 minute and 30 second breaks in between rounds, though most other organizations today use a 1 minute break instead.
  - Full Muay Thai Rules, Full Rules Muay Thai, Muay Thai Full Rules, Full Thai Rules^noteeven the rare Thai Full Rules, FTR^note, or True Muay Thai Rules: the WMTA‘s ruleset for "international" competition, though most organizations will separate European and Full rules into their own divisions. It is basically Muay Thai with its complete arsenal (with elbows to the head allowed, but as stated above, originally with throws, sweeps and trips banned and clinching limited to 5 seconds until mid 2010), but still uses the western scoring system and knockdown system rules instead of the traditional Thai method.
  - IKF Muay Thai Rules: a modified version of European FTR used by the International Kickboxing Federation in their "Full Muay Thai Rules" bouts since the early 1990s. Its main difference from European and their Full Thai Rules is that it bans sweeps and trips (it specifically states that "karate style" sweeps with the foot’s instep is illegal), though it allows fighters to "kick" an opponent off their feet with the top of the foot and/or front of the shin. It is possible to hook the foot and kick as long as the top of the foot and/or shin, but not the side of the foot, contacts to the opponent's leg. Also throws allowed in the Traditional Rules were legal even before the European's version rule change in mid 2010.
  - Modified Muay Thai, MOD Muay Thai, MOD Thai, MOD Rules, or Limited Muay Thai: a variant of European Thai Boxing developed and used by the IKF. It’s main difference from European Thai Boxing (aside from their sweep and trip "ban") is that use of knees and elbows depends on the how events structure the ruleset due to regulations set by the State Athletic/Boxing Commissions that has jurisdiction over the bout and/or due to negotiations with the fighters (either one of them is banned outright, both are limited to the body only, or one of them is allowed to the head while the other isn't), and it also affects clinching as can either be unlimited (though usually broken up if there is 3 seconds on inactivity), limited to 5 seconds or banned outright depending on the fighters agreement.
  - Unified Rules: a format based upon several variants of Muay Thai listed above and hopes to unite them into single agreed upon format, that was officially approved in 2024 by the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combat Sports, which is why it is also known as ABC Muay Thai Rules, and is used by organizations the ISKA. It's scoring system is based on the western boxing though rounds are weighed like in Traditional Rules, 1 minute breaks in between rounds instead of the traditional 2 minutes, bouts are either 3 to 5 rounds, doesn't use the standing 8 count (mandatory 8 count is still in effect) nor have the three knockdown system and bans sweeps and trips, but allows fighters to "kick" an opponent off their feet.
  - USA Muaythai Rules: the format used by the USA Muaythai organization (formerly the United States Muaythai Federation until 2023). It is based on Unified Rules, except that its scoring system is based on Traditional Rules as the organization is now a representative of the WMC.
  - Caged Muay Thai: created by Australian Muay Thai legend John Wayne Parr in 2012 with his own promotion of the same name, it is designed for people who like MMA, but complain when the fights go to the ground. Aside from using a MMA cage instead of a boxing ring, fighters also wear MMA gloves instead of regular boxing gloves and the scoring system is more in line with K-1 than traditional Thai Boxing (where all strikes score equally and is based on the damage they cause, then the volume of clean strikes landed is considered, then aggression and superior ring position are considered when all else is equal and rounds are weighed equally, so whoever wins more rounds wins the match, also clinching is not favoured unlike Traditional and Entertainment scoring), fighters that suffer 4 knockdowns throughout the whole bout lose it alongside the three knockdown rule, and uses 3 x 3-minute rounds (championship bouts are 5 rounds) with a 1 minute break in-between rounds instead of the traditional two minute break. Aside from Parr’s promotion, it is notably a featured ruleset used by the ONE Championship promotion, who refer to those bouts as the being under the Global Muay Thai Rule Set (most fans refer to it as ONE Muay Thai though it states it bans throws and clinching is notoriously broken up very quickly compared to traditional rules bouts) and also the Budo Sento Championship (a Mexican MMA promotion, thought their bouts use a system of 3 rounds of four minutes each). There were other promotions in the past that had Muay Thai bouts with MMA gloves and/or in a MMA cage here and there, but they never brought it to acclaim like Parr and ONE did.
  - MX Muay Xtreme: a promotion formed in 2017 by the Top King Boxing brand (which sells fight gear) that also uses MMA gloves instead of boxing gloves, but is done in a ring instead of a MMA cage and uses the Entertainment scoring system instead of the one used in Caged Muay Thai, the format is also known as Muay Thai Extreme. Other promotions that use this ruleset include the defunct Muay Hardcore promotion, Fairtex Fight, ONE Championship events at Lumpinee Stadium since 2023 use a ring instead of the cage (which uses ONE scoring system of course), and the Attack Fight promotion in Brazil.
  - Muay Kard Chuek: translated as Rope-Bound Boxing and also referred to as just Kard Chuek^notealso spelt as Kaad Chuek or Khat Chueak, it is basically old school Muay Thai, as they used hemp rope bindings around the hands before they replaced them with hand wraps and boxing gloves. A throwback to the ancient style of Muay Boran (some promotiond referred to their Kard Chuek bouts as "Muay Boran"), it originally fell out of style in favour of the modern rules for safety reasons as a sanctioned fight in 1928 between a Thai fighter and a Khmer boxer from the Cambodian city of Battambang ended in the third round when the Thai dropped his Khmer opponent with a flurry of punches and the Cambonian died on the way to the hospital. It is believed that the rope bindings allow fighters to deliver more force compared gloves due to the smaller area of impact and it is also believed there were fighters in the past who would dip their wrapped hands in resin and broken glass (though this myth was likely popularized by the final fight scene in Kickboxer). Today, Kard Chuek competitions have come back and are held on several Thai televised boxing events, most notably by the Thai Fight promotion and are also occasionally held on temple festivals celebrated in the countryside around Thailand. Modern Kard Chuek fights are less brutal as fighters put on thin padded gloves before wrapping their hands with ropes. Bouts were originally fought in sand pits in the early days, while modern bouts are fought in the ring. Most bouts are fought under old school rules, where fights can only end in knockouts or draws, though some like the Thai Fight promotion use the Entertainment scoring system in judging bouts.
  - IFMA Rules: basically an amateur Muay Thai with protective equipment in headgear, elbow pads, and shin guards and is governed under the International Federation of Muaythai Associations (originally the International Federation of Muaythai Amateur until 2019) in order to make a version Muay Thai for the Olympic Games. Bouts are 3 x 3-minute rounds with a 1-minute rest period in between rounds and the volume of scoring techniques landed takes priority (given they are thrown with power), with damage and effect only being considered by the judges if the number of scoring strikes is equal.
  - WMF Rules: the "other" organization that wants to make a version of Muay Thai for the Olympics is the World Muaythai Federation (WMF) as well as the Pro-Am level (it also does sanction professional Muay Thai events under their WMF Pro branch). The main difference from IFMA are that amateur bouts are 3 X 2-minute rounds with a 1-minute break in between rounds while Pro/Am bouts are 3 x 3-minute rounds with a 2-minute break in between rounds and uses a unique 20 point must system where 20 points shall be awarded for each round to the better fighter and the opponent shall gain proportionally less (if the fighters are equally skilled, each shall receive 20 points). Additional points are earned for correct hits, three hits for one point (in the event that time runs out with only one hit scored, and two more still needed for a point, the boxer shall be awarded one point even though there are not three hits), though it weirdly doesn't score knockdowns. If at the end of a bout the scores are equal, victory shall awarded to the boxer who has done most of the leading the bout or who has shown the better style (if both have performed equally leading roles), and if both are still equal in that respect, the one who had has shown better defence.
  - Muay Thai Light: basically a Light Contact version of Muay Thai used by very small amateur organizations.
  - Point Muay Thai: another ruleset invented by the IKF. Basically a semi-contact version of Muay Thai rules.
  - Bare Knuckle Thai: a special ruleset used by the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Thailand (BKFC Thailand), officially known as Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Asia (BKFC Asia). Basically Muay Thai without gloves or Kard Chuek, but with modern hand wraps and matches consist of five two minute rounds with a one-minute break in-between inside the BKFC "Squared Circle". The rules permit the use of kicks, punches, elbows, and knees, but explicitly prohibit throws, trips and sweeps, also it limits clinching as a fighter must remain active in a clinch, which lasts for three seconds or separate immediately. In the event of a draw, a sixth extension round will be fought to determine a winner and doesn't use the three knockdown rule. There is promotion in Ukraine called Pit Bull Fight that have been holding bare knuckle Muay Thai fights since 2021 though, which they refer to as Muay Thai na Bintax^noteМуай Тай на Бинтах which roughly translates to "Muay Thai on Bandages".
  - Tag Team Muay Thai: yes you read that right, I am honestly not making this up. And its not even done in Japan like how they experiment with Tag Team MMA and Grappling matches (though it was arguably done there first when the shoot style promotion UWF-I did a Tag Team Kickboxing rules match with legit kickboxers), these fights are a niche limited to Australia and New Zealand for some reason.
  - WMBF Rules, Mae Mai Muay Thai or Amateur Muay Boran: an amateur competition format created by the World Muay Boran Federation. It is basically amateur Muay Thai, but allows throws and back of the leg sweeps that are not allowed in modern Muay Thai.
  - Wai Kru: the ritual dance that Nak Muay perform before their bouts, which was made into a competition disciple by the International Federation of Muaythai Associations (IFMA).
  - Mai Muay: a competition created by the IFMA that features combat choreography between two people based on Muay Thai techniques to try score points based on technicality and tactics. The duo can either be the same or different sexes. The maximum combined total score of 100 points that can be earned is divided between the Wai Kru where 35 points maximum can be earned, with the remaining 65 points maximum being from the actually performance.
  - Lor Pao: translated as "Padwork", it is a team based competition created by the IFMA, where fighters perform striking combinations on pads held by their coach. Like Mai Muay, its scoring system is based on the Wai Kru and the actually padwork.
  - Chok Lom: translated as "Shadow Boxing", another competition disciple created by the IFMA, which is basically a solo Musical Forms style competition based on Muay Thai techniques. Like Mai Muay and Lor Pao, its scoring system is based on the Wai Kru and the actually techniques demonstrated.
  - Keeta, Kita or Aerobics Muay Thai: a team musical forms competition that blends Muay Thai with dance from other cultures and techniques from other martial art styles, allowing greater creativity than Chok Lom.
  - Muay Aerobic: not to be confused with Keeta above, it is a workout program similar to Cardio Kickboxing, just based on Muay Thai techniques instead.
  - Muay Talay: translated as "Sea Boxing" or "Water Boxing", matches take place over a pool of water while fighters sit on a poll (usually made of bamboo) or a log with the goal of knocking the opponent into the pool, also fighters can wrap their legs (and arms) around the poll or log and are allowed fight upside down should they be high enough, fighters are still allowed to kick though they have to be very careful as to not lose balance.
  - IFMA Muay Talay: the IFMA's own version of Muay Talay for 10-17 year olds, with matches take place on a buoyant platform over a pool of water. Fighters wearing shorts, chest pads, head-gear, boxing gloves, shin guards and elbow pads and bouts are 3 rounds of 2 minute each with a 1 minute break in-between for 14-17 year olds, 3 rounds of 1 minute and 30 seconds each for 12-13 year olds and 3 rounds of 1 minute each for 10-11 year olds. While 14-17 year olds are allowed to use the full Muay Thai arsenal, 12-13 year olds are not allowed to knee and elbow to the head (though they can still be used on the body), while 10-11 year olds cannot strike the head at all.
- Lethwei^notesometimes spelt as Lethawae, Letway or Letwhay, Burmese Boxing, or Burmese Bare Knuckle Fighting: you think Muay Thai is crazy? Lethwei is from Myanmar and resembles the ruleset of Muay Thai a lot, allowing the use of punches, kicks, elbows, knees, throws, sweeps and clinchwork, as well as their rounds system, but with two major changes: fights are bareknuckle (which allows for palm strikes in addition with closed fist punches, though modern bouts have hands wrapped in gauze) and headbutts are allowed, because of that, it is known poetically as "The Art of Nine Limbs", though the official full name of the style is Myanma yoe yar Letway ("Myanmar Traditional Boxing")^notethe Japanese also refer to it as Bando Karate, Burmese Kenpo and confusingly also mistake it for "Muay Kard Chuek". There are a few "minor" differences as well, unlike Muay Thai it allows all kinds of throws (as well suplexes and even slams) and sweeps without restriction and lacks the restriction in Muay Thai known as the "two-step rule". It uses a knockdown rule system similar to amateur boxing and Low Kick Rules where 4 knockdowns throughout the whole fight will be declared a TKO, though the standard three knockdowns in one round will also be considered a TKO, also knockdowns last for 20 seconds (they count it as the standard 10 count, but every count is made in 2 seconds) and seconds can request that their fighter can take a special 2 minute time-out to recover (which they can only do once per bout, is considered a knockdown, and cannot be used in the final round), the fighter can choose whether they wish to continue the bout or not after the time-out. Until the early 90’s it was more common to also have 2 referees present (which still happens usually for bouts with younger fighters, and they also partly act like unofficial seconds to the fighters), matches could be staged as 7, 10 or 12 rounds (or just one long continuous round) though modern bouts will use 3 to 5 rounds of 3 minutes each (though some special matches will use more rounds and longer time limits in each round), and fights were held outdoors in circular sandpits (which are still used today in festivals and other events in Myanmar). This makes Lethwei be one of bloodiest and most violent combat sports/martial arts out there and the one among the other Indochinese Boxing styles that kept closest to its roots. Despite that, Lethwei has never been as popular as Muay Thai for a few reasons: it was never thoroughly codified until mid-20th century, not having a big championship and a solid ruleset until 1996, and Myanmar has always been poorer and more unstable than Thailand, which results in less investment, less spectators with less expendable income and as a result, a smaller talent pool because a sports career in such dangerous sports isn't attractive, plus its bare knuckle, headbutts allowed ruleset makes it nightmare to try to sanction and the sport is illegal in most countries outside of Myanmar. This has been changing, as the sport has been growing by attracting foreign fighters, creating an international promotion (World Lethwei Championship) and spreading through the world.
  - Yoe Yar Rules or Traditional Rules: the ruleset mostly used in its home country of Myanmar (and in Japan under the International Lethwei Federation Japan), though it is also referred to as Sein Khaw Pwe ("Challenge Fight Rules"), Pyain Pwe ("Event Fight Rules") or KO Rules. It is notorious for not using a scoring system (as there were no judges in the early days) and the only way to win is by knockout, meaning that if the two fighters are still standing, even if one fighter dominated the fight, the match is declared a draw.
  - Golden Belt Rules: created in 1996 by the Myanmar Lethwei Federation (previously known as the Myanmar Traditional Boxing Federation (Lethwei) or Myanmar Tradition Lethwei Federation) for the annual Golden Belt Championship tournaments^note. The two-minute timeouts are removed and it uses a scoring system to pick the winner should the fight go the distance. This modified ruleset prevents the outcome of a draw and helped choose a winner to advance in the tournament. It is also the ruleset used by the World Lethwei Championship, which is why it is also known as International Rules or Modern Rules. It is also known as Region & State Rules when used for tournaments for novice fighters in Myanmar. It is also the ruleset used by the Marshall Fighting Championship^note a MMA promotion created in 2022 that heavily features Lethwei bouts alongside as it is run by a notable Lethwei champion in Dave Leduc and claims to be the "world’s first cryptocurrency-based real world combat league", with a difference in that bouts take place in a MMA cage (though the other promotions like ONE Championship did it first in 2015 under Traditional Rules, then again in 2017 under Modern Rules, and other promotions like Sparta Sport & Entertainment have done it before MFC).
  - Aunglan Rules or Aung Lan Lu Pwe: translated as Flag Fight Rules another tournament format used only in Myanmar, that normally features 4 or 8 participants fighting on consecutive days in order to capture the "victory flag" in the finals and uses two referees and is fought in three rounds. These fights are also fought round-by-round, meaning fighters are replaced with the other fighters in tournaments every time a round ends, giving the fighters in the tournament more rest than other similar combat sport tournaments. In the last round, when a fighter knocks their opponent down, the referee will take their hand and circle the ring three times, every time they passes the downed opponent, they will challenge him by slapping the opponent's elbow, if the opponent does not get up after the third challenge, they loses the fight and bouts cannot end in draw, there must be a winner. If an Aung Lan fight has no winner after the 3 rounds, the final round is extended for 30 minutes. Seconds will not be allowed to contact the fighters and a two minute rest period can granted after 15 minutes only if both parties agree. Yet if no winner is decided after that, either a lot will be drawn or a coin will be tossed to decide a victor.
  - Kyar Pwe: translated as Interval Fight Rules, it is a format used exclusively in Myanmar and as the name suggests is usually held in-between tournament matches. Matches are not continuous but fought round-by-round. The fighters are usually children or teenage beginners (they do not wear protective equipment other than hand wraps and foot wraps), so each round is fought separately and two referees are present in the ring. There are no timeouts, instead the referees will aid in massaging, stretching or comforting the fighters before resuming the action. Each round is roughly three minutes, but may be ended by the referees or judges even after two minutes if someone is knocked down. Sometimes two fights take place in the ring at the same time, each with their own referee. There is usually no winner, even if one of the kids gets knocked down. These kids will use this one-round system before moving on to bouts with 2 or more rounds. One variant known as Aung Lan Htein is used in-between Aung Lan fights to keep the momentum going. These fights tend to be last two rounds and are added to the cycle of the Aung Lan fights to let those fighters take an extra few minutes to recover (and so that the audience doesn’t have to sit around for 15 minutes after each cycle). Another variant is a tournament format similar to Aung Lan Lu Pwe, except that fights can end in a draw and there is no time extension.
  - Hanthawaddy Burmese Bando Boxing, or Bando Kickboxing: a watered down, Americanized version of Lethwei introduced by Dr. Maung Gyi in the late 1950s. Also known as "Four Armed Burmese Boxing" or even "Six Armed Burmese Boxing", it allowed for punching, kicking above the waist, kicking to the legs, and even knees, which was already revolutionary by the start of American kickboxing and this version was even briefly sanctioned in the early 1970s by the International Kick-Boxing Association run by Raymond Cooper Sr. (also known as Nganga Tolo Naa) and based in Chicago, with bouts using 3 rounds of 3 minutes each with a 2 minute break in between. In the early-to-mid-1990s out of a fear of injury and potential litigation, Dr. Gyi and the American Bando Association further modified the rules by prohibiting the use of knees and elbows, making it almost no different from International/Low Kick/Freestyle kickboxing. Unlike Lethwei however, it required the use of gloves and neither allow headbutts, elbows, knees, throws, or techniques in the clinch. As such, these prohibitions moved it even farther away from its traditional Lethwei roots, removed the vast majority of techniques and tactics of traditional Lethwei, and it also de-emphasized most of the cultural traditions associated with the practice of Lethwei. By the mid-to-late 1990s, it was on the decline and quietly disappeared when the focus within the American Bando Association moved away from it and towards more historical and traditional practices of Myanmar Bando, as well as the trend in the US towards harder, more physically rugged combat sports such as Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA. However it seems that it still exists in some form in Europe, a revised form was introduced to England in the early 1960s by U Hla Win and Jonathan Collins, an American student of Dr. Maung Gyi introduced it to France, Switzerland and Spain in 1986, with France having a light contact version called Controlled Bando, Lethwei Contrôlé or Burmese Boxing Assault (though they are modified to allows throws and knees to the body). It also has a workout version called Cardio-Lethwei.
  - Lethwei Lite, or Amateur Lethwei: a westernized yet more faithful format to the original style originally developed in France by Alain-André Feschet and governed under the World Bando Thaing Lethwei Federation (WBTLF), the Union Française de Lethwei & Bando (UFDL&B), and the Federation Nationale de Bando, Lethwei & Disciplines Associees (FNBL&DA) and also since 2019 used by the British Lethwei Council (formerly the British Lethwei Association). It is basically Golden Belt/International/Modern Lethwei rules, but in protective equipment as fighters are required to wear MMA gloves (though some events will not use them), helmets, elbow pads, knee pads, shin guards and foot guards, and uses more western standardized knockdown counts, 1 minute breaks between rounds, and bouts last either 3 to 5 rounds of 2 minutes each or 5 to 7 rounds of 3 minutes each depending on the competition class level. Originally before the recognition of Lethwei on an international level with the World Lethwei Championship, headbutts were not allowed, making it basically Muay Thai with MMA gloves and with less restrictions on throws and sweeps, with the old ruleset being referred to as Lethwei Plein-Contact (8 Armes) (Full Contact Lethwei (8 Weapons)).
- Tomoi: from Malaysia, a direct descendent of Muay Thai brought over by Siamese immigrants that settled down in the Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu states before the Islamization movement in the 80s. There are however some claims that a few Silat practitioners "exchanged" techniques with Muay Boran practitioners during the 1st century of the Kedah Sultanate all the way to when it became a State of Siam to create a style appropriately called Silat Tomoi, with its name combining Silat with " Dhoi Muay or Dhee Muay", an alternate name for Muay Boran. It was outlawed in 1990; however by 2006 the ban was abolished and Tomoi was again allowed to be practiced under the new name of Moi Kelate or Muay Kelate which means Kelantan Boxing in the local dialect, though most practitioners still call it Tomoi. Its main difference from its neighbouring counterparts is the lack of ritual dance and ceremonies before bouts, since Islam bans that sort of thing, and replaced it with Quranic prayers recitals, though music is still played during bouts and also some events require fighters to wear t-shirts to cover their chests and also to cover their "awrah/aurat", which is from their navel to the knee.
- Kun Khmer, Pradal Serey^notesometimes spelt as Pradal Serei, Khmer Pradal Serey, or Pradal Khmer: from Cambodia, the official Khmer name of the sport is Kbach Kun Pradal Khmer ("Khmer Martial Art of Boxing") and is sometimes known by foreigners as Muay Khmer, Khmer Boxing, or Cambodian Boxing. In the great debate on the origin of the boxing styles of the region, Cambodians threw their hats in the ring by claiming it came from them during the Khmer Empire, which dominated and controlled most of what is now Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and parts of Vietnam from the 9th to the 15th centuries. Similar to Muay Thai, it codified its modern rules after influence from colonists during Cambodia's time as a protectorate within French Indochina. While also stylistically similar in its rules, it never got to be a popular as its Thai alternative due reasons similar to Lethwei, Cambodia's involvement in the Vietnam War and the resulting instability from the Cambonian Civil War afterwards, where the sport was banned and many boxers were executed or worked to death, and its status as a fourth world country renders a lack of funding. It has been making efforts to expand, with local weekly television matches, several schools and organizations (including major ones the ISKA and the WKN) set up in the USA, Europe, Vietnam and Australia, exposure to the western world from travel journalists and tourists, and their own fighters representing it on the international stage. It is stated that fighter of this style usually use a more "upright" stance than what is seen in Muay Thai.
  - Original Rules: the earliest recorded bouts were fought in dirt pits with limited rules (strikes back to the head were apparently legal, though it is unknown if headbutts were allowed or not), with no weight classes and no time limits, with the only way to win is by knockout, while hands were either wrapped in rope like in Muay Kard Chuek matches or truly bare knuckle, though according to some sources, bouts in Battambang province, during the early 20th century, had fighters utilize glove-like knuckle dusters made from shells. A variant known as "Royal Traditional Rules" was used during the reign of King Sisowath and used 12 round bouts, though it is unknown if these rounds were based on time limits or knockdowns.
  - 1940-1975 Rules: the ruleset of the style used in the years after use of the traditional rules were dying down and before the modern rules took its place during the sport's revival. It was inspired by the ruleset used in Võ Tự Do bouts in Vietnam at the time (see below), as the Cambodians also crossed over to compete there as well. Bouts were 5 rounds of 3 minutes each, fought exclusively in boxing gloves, and for some reason specifically banned kicks to the butt.
  - Modern Rules: The current ruleset used by most promotions of the sport. It uses the three knockdown rule system, and its main differences compared to its counterparts in the region is that elbow strikes score the highest in its point system (though it bans 12-6 strikes) with punches coming in second (compared to Muay Thai where kicks score the highest then knees), kneeing inside the thigh is banned (due to several low blow incidents), sweeps do not score points, and it uses a unique 20 point scoring system (though the ISKA still uses the 10 point scoring system) which is more "westernized" than traditional Muay Thai judging as it is more based on knockdowns and clean strikes. Also several promotions in Cambodia also use either a circular boxing ring, 6 or 8-sided rings aside from the regular "squared circle" ring. Rounds last 3 minutes each with a 2 minute break in between rounds, but the sport has two different classifications for matches based on the number of rounds used in a bout; "National Friendly" matches are 5 rounds while "International Friendly" matches are 3 rounds, though some special matches will use 5 to 7 minute rounds.
  - Ambos Chhao^note or Raw Yarn Rules: a minor variant that is basically the Cambodia equivalent of modern Muay Kard Chuek, just under modern Kun Khmer rules and fighters hands are wrapped in ropes made of raw yarn instead of hemp ropes or modern gauze wraps.
  - Kun Khmer Rules MMA Gloves: another minor variant used in a few Kun Khmer events, most notably the promotion sponsored by Boostrong (an energy drink company). As the name states fighters wear MMA gloves instead of boxing gloves but are still fought under modern Kun Khmer rules.
  - Bokator or Kun L'bokator^note: basically what Muay Boran is to Muay Thai, an ancient battlefield art that incorporates grappling and ground fighting alongside striking, though unlike Muay Boran it also incorporates weapons training instead of separating it into another art like Krabi-Krabong, and does have a modern unarmed competition format. Such matches take place in a circular mat, in five-three minute rounds, fighters wear shorts and MMA gloves and are accompanied by music (which is different from Muay Thai and Kun Khmer). The rules allow basically all the usual techniques allowed in the other Muay styles (except the headbutts from Lethwei), with the addition of allowing all kinds of throws, sweeps, and submissions (on the ground only), though it bans striking a grounded opponent, with referees usually standing up the fighters quickly (though at their own discretion). Aside from the ritual dance before bouts, fighters usually dance during bouts before initiating attacks, a characteristic of the style based on an old legend which says that warriors who fought against animals performed a dance to enchant (or confuse) them and to better neutralize them.
- Muay Lao or Lao Boxing: from Laos, another stylistically similar alternative to its neighbouring counterparts. The origin of Muay Lao can be traced back to the 14th century in the form of military combat by the troops of Fa Ngum, the king who first unified the country and created the Lan Xang Empire. Compared to its counterparts, most practitioners use a stance that has feet firmly planted and the body slightly turned, in order to allow fighters to quickly advance or retreat, and also tend to withhold elbows until the later rounds (except for when going against foreign fighters, then they use elbows from the start of the match). Other than that, aside from the different terminology and pre-fight rituals due to different language and culture, most practitioners will admit that the sport itself is the same as Muay Thai unlike the practitioners of the other regional counterparts. It unfortunately doesn't produce as many fighters as the others (except perhaps Tomoi) due to its significantly smaller population (even though the country itself is bigger than Cambodia, which is the smallest one on this list), and nearly all of its development happening in and around its capital, Vientiane. All of which is due to Laos’ instability since the Laotian Civil War (the so-called Secret War to Americans) similar to Cambodia above. In 2016 due to financial difficulties, competitions were not held, with most practitioners at the quitting the sport or fighting in Thailand, but the Muay Lao Federation and the Muay Lao National Federation has been making efforts to expand the sport's popularity.
- Võ Tự Do or Vietnamese Boxing: from Vietnam, yet another stylistically similar alternative to its neighbouring counterparts, or at least it was until the last competitions in Vietnam took place in the early 1970s in Saigon. According to historical documents, traditional Võ Tự Do was created in 1312 through exchanges between the Người Mường and the Thais, though it was only recognized officially in 1922 and was an open competition that allowed many disciplines and schools of martial arts to show their strength, though in practice it looked a lot like the other boxing styles in the region with punches, kicks, elbows, knees and didn't allow groundfighting of course, though it bouts were fought in 4 or 6 rounds of 2 minutes each, and both parties must agree with each other to fight with either boxing gloves or go bare knuckle, also it had a weird rule where kicks to the butt were specifically banned. Its traditional form almost disappeared thanks to the communists taking over Vietnam in the Vietnam War and banning it along with all other martial arts, though they eventually lifted it, they did not bring it back alongside the others, at least not in its original form.
  - Thi Đấu Võ Cổ Truyền Đối Kháng or Thi Đấu Đối Kháng Võ Cổ Truyền: both roughly meaning "Traditional Martial Arts Fighting Competition", also simply known as Võ Cổ Truyền ("Traditional Martial Arts"), since Võ Tự Do now refers to MMA by the Vietnamese today. Originally fighters fought in bouts are fought in tank tops and gi pants with head gear and chest protectors over them and disallowed elbows, knees, clinch-fighting and has a weird rule where throws and sweeps could only be done after a kick catch, with bouts being three rounds of 3 minutes each with a 1 minute break in-between rounds. The style has updated to be more Muay-like in 2021, as the ruleset is basically just Muay Thai now, with the gi pants replaced by shorts, though elbow pads have been adopted to help differentiate it from its Thai counterpart and to allow "safe" elbow strikes, shin guards are optional depending on the event, though bouts are two rounds of 3 minutes each with 1 minute breaks in-between rounds. While it hasn't had a pro circuit thus far, some recent events have had bouts where the more advanced fighters only wear shorts with elbow pads and boxing gloves. Bouts can take place in either tatami mats or a ring. The original competition style still exists though oddly it seems to be used exclusively by the Vietnamese Army under the name Võ Chiến Đấu Tay Không (roughly meaning "Unarmed Combat"), though fighters wear army uniform pants and t-shirts instead (referees wear full army uniform), with bouts being three rounds of 2 minutes each with a 30 second break in-between rounds and now uses an Olympic scoring system similar to WT Taekwondo and WVVF Vovinam competitions (additionally low kicks are allowed but don't score points).
  - Boxe Vietnamienne or French Vo Tu Do: a variant that is used in France and governed under the Fédération Française de Karaté et Disciplines Associées. Matches take place on tatami mats with fighters wearing Vo Phucs (Vovinam uniforms that resemble the keikogi), boxing gloves, headgear and foot pads. Its rules allow throws, sweeps and takedowns that are not allowed in Thai Boxing, bans both elbows and knees to the head, and also allows for 10 seconds of groundfighting for controlled strikes, pins and even submissions, with rounds lasting 2 minutes.
- Gelut Sabung or Tarung Bebas: translated as free fighting, this refer to styles in Indonesia that resemble and/or were inspired by the other Muay styles, though one of them claims to being directly related to the other Muay styles.
  - Bénjang or Gelut Galuh: originating from the Sundanese people from West Java. Several claims have been made that Muay Thai got its origins from there and got to Thailand through warriors of the Sunda Kingdom that existed between from the 7th to the 16th century, though the claims are dubious as the names in modern times are more associated with a style of folk wrestling instead of anything kickboxing-like, the claims excuse this by saying that the original style was banned during the Dutch colonial era and eventually got lost and died out.
  - Pencak Dor: a variant that was developed in Kediri, East Java, first appearing at the Pondok Pesantren Lirboyo (Lirboyo Islamic Boarding School) in 1969 under the direction of KH. Abdullah Maksum Jauhari, better known as Gus Maksum, the first chairman of the Pencak Silat Nahdlatul Ulama Pagar Nusa organization, later spread to the Ponorogo regency among the Islamic boarding schools, then to various clubs or martial arts colleges in East Java, then eventually to rest of Java, with out-of-towners getting into it as well. Also known as Sambung Tarung in southern Java and Seni Kembangan in northern Java. Matches are fought in a ring made of bamboo with ring ropes replaced by bamboo poles and traditionally there was no mat covering the ring though modern bouts have them, fighters are usually bare knuckle though some modern bouts have fighters wear MMA gloves in order to keep the authorities from getting involved, bouts use two referees instead of one, and music from jidor drums is played throughout, which is where the style gets its name. Its rules only specify no spitting at the opponent, no groundfighting, and no hitting of vital parts like the eyes and groin, other than that almost anything goes until the opponent cannot fight back. Due to not being an official sport, there are no prizes or championships to win with fights being mostly a means of testing oneself instead.
  - Tarung Bebas Genggong: a variant that was developed in 2007 at the Pesantren Zainul Hasan Genggong (Zainul Hasan Genggong Islamic Boarding School) located at the Genggong complex in the Pajarakan District of the Probolinggo Regency. Its basically the same as Pencak Dor, except matches are fought in a normal ring, though some modern bouts are fought in a MMA cage with MMA gloves.
  - Tarung Derajat: a unique variation, created by Haji Achmad Dradjat in Kota Bandung, through his experience as a street fighter during the 1960s and his training in styles like pencak silat, boxing, karate, taekwondo, aikido, jujitsu and Muay Thai. In 1968, when he was 18 years old, his friends and other youngsters came to him and asked him to teach them. Then in 1972, he created a shelter for his students, called AA BOXER and became well known enough that his martial art was referred to as BOXER. In his opinion, a martial art created in Indonesia must have a name in Bahasa Indonesia, so he changed "BOXER" to "Tarung Derajat". The word "tarung" means fight and the word "derajat" means pride, dignity, or prestige, so concisely, 'Tarung Derajat' means "Fighting For Pride", though the official full name of the style is Ilmu Olahraga Seni Pembelaan Diri Tarung Derajat (The Martial Art Sport Science of Tarung Derajat). At first glance, it resembles taekwondo due to the similar uniforms they wear and although it emphasizes on striking, it also focuses on grappling and sweeping, things that taekwondo does not do in its modern form. Since the 1990s, Tarung Derajat has been refined for sport, with its modern rules being quite similar to American High Kick rules as it only allows strikes above the waist and is fought with boxing gloves, though it originally also allowed clinching, throws, sweeps, takedowns, elbows and knees to the head and body, with fights being bare knuckle until 1994 where they adopted MMA gloves, but changed to boxing gloves sometime in the late 1990s or the early 2000s, and added the wearing chest protectors and headgear in 2012. It is officially recognized as a national sport since 1997 and used as basic martial arts training for the Indonesian Armed Forces and Indonesian National Police.
Pencak Silat Adu Bebas, Adu Silat, Silat Bebas, Freestyle Silat or Combat Silat^noteor Combat Sport Silat: rules for sport silat that are freer than Traditional/International Rules of sport silat fighting/tanding from the Persekutuan Pencak Silat Antarabangsa (PERSILAT or the International Pencak Silat Federation, IPSF), done without chest protectors and encouraging knockouts over points.
- Adu Bebas PSHT or Adu Bebas SH Terate: a variant developed by the Persaudaraan Setia Hati Terate school in the early 2000s and is possibly the earliest variant developed, which is why it is also known as Adu Silat Tradisi, as well as the most used as some Indonesian MMA promotions feature these kind of fights at their events. Matches originally were fought in a roped ring in six-two rounds and fighters are bare knuckle and wear traditional silat uniforms. Its old rules were a modified version of old IPSF rules (before the 2020 rules changes), meaning no strikes (both punches and kicks) to the head, no elbows or knees, but allowed low kicks, sweeps and takedowns. It later had fighters wear MMA gloves (some minor variants have fighters bare chested with gi pants on instead of the traditional silat uniform), adopted three-3 minute rounds, could also be fought in a MMA cage, and allowed punching and kicking to the head and knees to the body, though a few minor variants have allowed a limited amount of ground and pound.
- OneSilat Championships: a defunct promotion founded in 2015 based in Malaysia. Matches take place in a circular pit under three-3 minute rounds with fighters wearing MMA gloves, rash guards and gi pants. Its rules allowed punches, kicks (including to the knee unlike most striking sports), elbows and knees (but not to the face when clinching, though stomps to the feet while clinching is allowed), throws, takedowns, sweeps, submissions (both standing and on the ground), though groundfighting is limited to ten seconds each time and allows ground and pound (to the face and body) and kicks (to the body only).
- Professional Pencak Silat Championships: a defunct promotion founded in 2019 based in Indonesia. Matches take place on a raised matted platform under three-five minute rounds with fighters wearing MMA gloves, gi pants and are bare chested like its a Karate Combat clone. Its rules allow punches, kicks, elbows, knees, clinching, throws, takedowns, sweeps (though not "hook sweeps"), submissions (can only be initiated from standing and after a throw, not when knocked down), and ground and pound is limited to 4 punches. There was a plan to promote events under the ruleset in the USA under the United States Sport Silat Association, but the COVID pandemic put a stop to those plans and the promotion itself.
- Full Contact Silat Championships: a promotion founded in 2022 based in Malaysia. Matches take place on tatami mats, with fighters wearing boxing gloves and traditional silat uniforms. Its basically Muay Thai rules with more freedom in sweeps.
Baku Hantam Championships: an Indonesian promotion founded in 2022 by Rudy "Golden Boy" Agustian that features presents itself as "underground fight fighting" with a few unique rulesets. Technically it has three official rulesets, but only two are relevant here, with the third one of them being a modified boxing ruleset called "Baku Pukul" (it also features other rulesets as well like 2-on-2 Baku Pukul fights, Silat Bebas, a savate match with no shoes of all things, and even 3-on-1 bouts). While most of their events have taken place in a ring, later events under their Baku Hantam Street Fight (BHSF) shows having featured them in on concrete building floors with tatami mats (and sometimes without the mats), which also contain KO-only rules for their bouts as there are no rounds or time limits, and also allows fighters to wear shoes.
- Baku Hajar: a ruleset that is basically Muay Thai with no elbows allowed like European Thai Boxing, originally it was done with boxing gloves, but were eventually replaced with MMA gloves. Bouts are 4 or 5 rounds of 3 minutes each with a 2 minute break in between rounds when in the ring.
- Baku Tumbuk: basically MMA rules without submissions allowed with fighters wearing MMA gloves, though it also allows soccer kicks, elbow strikes and knee strikes to a grounded opponent (and yes, including the head), predating KNOCK OUT's UNLIMITED rules by about a year, though their bouts use 3 rounds of 5 minutes each with a 2 minute break in between rounds when in the ring.
Kick Striking or Kickstriking: a weird format developed in 2025 by the Byon Combat promotion in Indonesia in collaboration with the Uni Combat Council. A modified version of Japanese kickboxing rules like NKB, K-1, Glory and mostly Unified rules (the promotion had ISKA sanctioning for their kickboxing bouts which are under Unified), bouts are 3 or 5 rounds of 3 minutes each with a 1 minute break in between rounds, allows the standard techniques like punches, kicks, knees, but also allows elbow strikes but in a limited capacity (they cannot be spammed), clinching is banned (technically the referee will separate the fighters asap, but fighters can shoot off a knee strike or two before that happens), throws and sweeps are illegal, and has a prohibition against "swapping" techniques (namely excessive exchange of positions/stances or passive defensive styles like excessive dodging, basically anything that would slow down the match tempo).
Integral Vovinam: a modernized version of the Vietnamese martial art, Vovinam (also known as Võ Việt Nam or Việt Võ Đạo) created by Patrick Levet and Rachid Nasri in 2010 and governed under the Integral Vovinam Federation. Also known as Integral Fighting System, the creators were unhappy with how the World Vovinam Federation (WVVF) was handling the art, especially with turning their competition fighting rules to some more similar to WTF Taekwondo, just with boxing gloves, the allowance of throws, sweeps, and scissors takedowns (all of which must be performed instantly, so no clinch-fighting) and is semi-contact (it somewhat allows kicking to the legs, but scores no points), and the fact that Levet was the founder of the Intercontinental Vovinam Federation in 1997, ten years before the WVVF existed and handed over their members once the WVVF was founded in the hopes that the art would be supported as they envisioned. Aside from their wrestling bouts (named "Dau Vat", though is simply referred to as "Vat"), their "ground fights" and their "sword fights" (which they call "Kiếm Combat", which also allows kicks), their fighting rules are more full contact than those used by the WVVF, as they lack chest protectors unlike the WVVF, but still use boxing gloves.
- Integral Standing Fights or Classic Vovinam Rules: based on the first Vovinam competitions held in Europe in the 1970's (Vietnam only started having them in 1992). It allows punches, kicks (including low kicks), knees to the body, as well as clinching, throws (though throwing while holding the neck will only be authorised if it is performed without any compression on the neck with the hands, meaning it will usually be executed with only one arm forcing on the neck, though throws while holding the neck with 2 hands is authorized only if one of the opponent's arms is caught in between the forcing arms), takedowns (though "one leg takedowns" with the both arms is authorized only if the shoulder is applied above the knee and must be done right after a strike) and sweeps.
- Intergral Mixed Standing and Ground Fights: basically similar to Kick Jitsu, as it is like the rules above with the addition of groundfighting, though only submissions are allowed there (no standing submissions and guillotine chokes can only be done one-handed), though pulling guard (which must be followed from a strike) awards 1 point to the opponent if not followed by a submission or reversal attempt as it is considered as falling on the ground alone.

Filipino kickboxing

Suntukan: the general term for the empty handed techniques of Filipino martial arts. It also known by many other names depending on the region of the Philippines it is taught in like, Pangamot, Pakamot, Sumbagay, Bakbakan, Mano-Mano, De Cadena, Cadena de Mano, Arnis de Mano, etc, while in the west it known as Panantukan, Panununtukan (these two were supposedly used as to not be confused with Shotokan Karate), Filipino Boxing, or just Dirty Boxing. While it usually refers to upper body striking techniques like punches, elbows, headbutts, shoulder strikes, and limb destructions, most masters will teach them alongside kicks, knees, stomps and trips (which they will refer to as Sikaran, Paninipa, Pagsipa, Pananadiyak, Pagtadiyak, etc in the Phillipines, while it is known as Pananjkman/Panandiakman in the west) and grappling (which is usually refered to as Dumog or Buno, along with many other names depending on which region and/or ethic group of the Phillipines it is practiced in, though most masters discourage prolonged exchanges). Unlike most martial arts, empty handed techniques are for the higher grades after weapons training has been mastered, as advanced students are expected to be able to apply experience with weapons to unarmed fighting (though there are a few masters that start with (and even fewer that only teach) empty hands fighting). This is because almost all techniques are directly based on weapon usage and why they also feature things like elbow blocks, bolo punches and other chopping strikes, and an emphasis on evasive maneuvers and parrying stances, with practitioners typically circling constantly to avoid getting hit and look for openings, just like with knife fighting. While it is not meant for sport, several practitioners had sucess in boxing, kickboxing and MMA by adapting some of the techniques for the respective sports.
Sayaw ng Kamatayan or Yaw-Yan for short: from the Philippines comes this unique variation. Translated to English as The Dance of Death, it was developed and publicly presented in 1972 by master Napoleon A. Fernandez who had a background in various martial arts such as traditional jujitsu, Jeet Kune Do, Karate, Eskrima, Aikido, and Judo, and claims to have modified and fused them to create a martial art that is a gift to his fellow Filipinos. It differs from the other arts on this list in the hip-torquing motion as well as the downward-cutting nature of its kicks, emphasizes on delivering attacks from long range instead of clinching, and uses empty-hand translations of the bladed weapons from traditional Filipino martial arts in their punches, elbows, forearm and palm strikes, with a focus on a variety of "bolo punches". It has also faced criticism due to its cult-like rituals, in particular the branding of the art’s symbol onto the chest of practitioners, though modern gyms have mostly moved away from that practice. While the style doesn’t have its own competition format, it’s practitioners dominated the Filipino kickboxing scene in the 70s to 90s and has also been a constant presence in the Filipino MMA scene as it also includes training in grappling and even traditional Filipino weapon training. Most practitioners however stick to the kickboxing aspect of it, as it is the most well known part of the art, though its pool of talent has been growing steadily and now has a small presence internationally.
Sikadtukan: a striking system that makes up the empty hand system of Garimot Arnis that was developed by Gat Puno (Chieftain) Abon Baet. It is named after a combination of the terms Suntukan and Sikaran. It should be noted however that his use of empty hand striking was more to set up attacks for and compliment his skills in Harimaw Buno, a particular folk wrestling style to the Manyans, of Mindoro, Island and Infanta, Quezon in Luzoan Philippines, of which he is a master of and even founded the World Harimaw Buno Federation.
Bokaido: a kickboxing system with a rather unexpected origin. Created by master Ambrosio "Monching" J. Gavileño, one of the first Filipinos to hold a black belt in Aikido (Aikikai style) of all things, who decided to expand his style by studying other arts like karate, western boxing and suntukan to create a new combative art and even founded the Philippine Bokaido Kickboxing International in 1992. It is now a part of his Tapondo organization which includes it as well as his other styles of Combat Aikido and Modified Arnis.
Sagasa: a kickboxing system based on the principles and concepts originated by Dr. Guillermo Lengson of the Karate Federation of the Philippines. It was developed by Christopher "Topher" Ricketts and Rey Galang and is a part of their curriculum for the Bakbakan International martial arts association that they founded.
Tadyakamao: a striking system developed by Filipino martial arts master Vicente "Vic" Ferrer as a part of his empty hand section of his "Disiplinados Kali" system. Originally calling it Mano-Mano/Sikaran or Mano-Mano Boksing in order not to confuse it with his Mano-Mano self-defense system (which in addition to everything in Tadyakamao, includes training in weapon awareness and dumog, Ferrer derived its techniques from several Philippine practices of training and self-defence, most notably Mano-Mano, Sikaran (the Filipino martial art of foot-fighting with an oral history since the 1500s from the Rizal province of which Ferrer is a ranked master of, which is confusingly also used for general kicking techniques), and Ferrer’s training with Lethwei practitioner Jose Nunez Lim. It places an intense emphasis on infighting with the use of the sturdiest bones of the body; open hand, closed fists, elbows, forearms, knees, shins, and heels. Other unique aspects is that both defence and offence are emphasized simultaneously in a concept called "suntokalasag", where striking and blocking have the same shape and posture, and it also uses fluid weaving motions that are designed to conserve energy. Due to its movement and stances that resemble the careful and silent motion of a tiger stalking its prey, it has been nicknamed Boksing Tigre ("Tiger Boxing"). It also features a belt ranking system.
Stickboxing: a blend of Filipino stickfighting and kickboxing... yes really. Its creation is credited to the late master Theodore "Ted" Lucaylucay, one of the first graduates of Dan Inosanto’s Academy in both Kali and Jeet Kune Do with training in many other forms of martial arts aside from those, namely being a western boxing champion in Hawaii like his father and grandfather. It is supposedly a modified version of Filipino stickfighting duels done before World War Two, as the US army banned its original form due to it being too dangerous as it is said that duels usually ended in permanent injury and disability or death, either for one or sometimes both opponents. Originally, the duels allowed participants the use of sticks called “bahi” or “kamagoon” which were made from ironwood, a wood heavier and harder than rattan training sticks, while stickboxing uses long cylindrical nylon stick padded with canvas and only a single stick is used in competitions. Additionally, stickboxing uses light protective equipment compared modern arnis competitions which uses head to toe padding covered armor, with headgear that consists of a wire mesh face cage attached to boxing-style headgear or a hockey-type helmet, padded gloves for both hands, one to hold the stick to strike with and the other hand is "bare", elbow pads are used but knee pads usually are not because of the limitations they place on mobility. Strikes can be delivered with the tip, the center and the butt of the stick as well as with the hand that grips it, in conjunction with the "empty" hand for blocking and punching along with both elbow and knee strikes from both sides (offensive knee strikes, though legal, are delivered at less than full power, with the objective being not to injure but to score points). Competition fights consist of rounds timed at either two or three minutes depending on the class and skill level of the fighters. Outside competition, techniques taught include headbutts, throws, takedowns, and even ground fighting with submissions for self defense. It eventually got taken up and expanded upon by other Inosanto students like the infamous Dog Brothers who took the concept and allowed in grappling (as well as headbutts and even groin shots) and using other weapons in their "Real Contact Stick Fighting" bouts during their "gatherings" and lesser known groups like Sayoc Kali practitioners, who also follows the Dog Brothers example and sometimes even organize matches without the use of protective equipment at all.

Indian kickboxing

Musti-Yuddha: an umbrella term for any boxing art from India, though it mostly refers to a particular ancient sport that may have influenced other forms of martial arts found in other parts of the Indian cultural sphere, most famously the boxing styles of Southeast Asia. Aspiring fighters were said to undergo years of apprenticeship, toughening their fists against stone and other hard surfaces, until they are able to break coconuts and rocks with their bare hands. Any part of the body may be targeted (except the groin of course), but the prime targets are the head and chest. Techniques incorporate punches, kicks, elbows, knees and grabs (headbutts also were said to be included in ancient texts). Boxers wear no form of protection and fight bare-fisted with only attire being a kowpeenam or loincloth, and bouts took place on dug up sand pits, the same as what is used for Pehlwani/Kushti (an Indian style of wrestling) matches today. Uniquely matches may be one-on-one, one against a group, or group against group. The introduction of western boxing in the 1890s caused a decline, until only a variation called Muki Boxing survived in Varanasi as part of religious celebrations. Illegal matches are still held in Kolkata and are frequented by gamblers.
- Loh-Musti: a variant from Punjab used mostly by the Sikhs, in which fighters wear a kara (an iron ring that is usually wore as a bracelet) on one hand or both hands.
- Vajra-Musti: a variant that makes use of a knuckleduster-like weapon usually made of ivory or buffalo horn tied to one hand, which the name also refers to. Translated as Thunder Fist or Diamond Fist though the weapon itself is sometimes called "Indra-musti" ("Indra's fist"), it is actually considered a wrestling style as aside from striking (surviving text about it for some reason doesn't mention elbows or headbutts), it features grappling, submissions and ground fighting, though it also disallows strikes below the waist. Traditionally matches are won by submission, disarming the opponent, or knock out (or death), but modern ritual bouts use knuckle-dusters with blunt studs and the fight ends immediately after first blood is drawn. The actual weapon is not used for training bouts due to the risk of injury with fighters substituting it with a cloth woven between the fingers and dipped in red ochre so that hits may be confirmed.
Adithada or Adithadi: an umbrella term that refers to the preliminary empty hand techniques of the Tamil people in southern India and northern Sri Lanka, found in martial arts like Southern-style Kalaripayttu and Adimurai. It incorporates both stand-up grappling and striking, as well as a detailed study of pressure points called Varma Adi or Varma Kalai. Practitioners are trained in using bare knuckles, feet, knees, elbows, and forehead strikes usually as preparation for weapons training. A variation called Kuttu Varisai also exists as the unarmed techniques of the Tamil martial art of Silambam.
Verumkai: a term that refers to the empty hand techniques of Northern-style Kalaripayttu that is usually taught as the final of four stages of training. It has a modern sport version used in most modern Kalaripayttu competitions, but it has three different versions. The first one has fighters wear chest protectors, headgear, and boxing gloves, but without any foot or shin protection with the rules only allowing punching and kicking (including low kicks). The second one has fighters wear chest protectors, headgear, shin and foot guards and use sport karate gloves and allows punching and kicking like the first one, but also allows throws, takedowns and sweeps. The third one has fighters go bare handed and wear chest protectors, but depending on the competition promoter either requires headgear, shin and foot guards, only one of those, or none of those, with its rules disallowing strikes (both punches and kicks) to the head but keeping the other allows techniques from the second one.

French kickboxing

Savate or Boxe Française^noteas well as many other repetitive variants like French Boxing, French Kickboxing, French Foot Fighting, French Foot Fencing, Savate Boxe Française, Boxe-Française Savate, Art de la Savate, Modern Savate, Boxe Française Savate Moderne, B.F, B.F.S., or S.B.F.: a French variation with an interesting history and distinct appearance and nicknames like The Noble Art (of Self Defence), Fighting with Four Fists or Fencing with Four Limbs. Originally developed by French sailors from the ports of Marseille to supplement their weapons when boarded by pirates (with names referring to that early style like Jeu Marseillais ("Game from Marseille"), Chausson ("Slipper") or Chausson Marseillais) and then exported to street fighting (where it was known and spelt as "Savatte") into cities like Paris, mainly based on kicks and palm strikes as the French government had considered that the closed fist was an illegal deadly weapon at the beginning of the 19th Century. It later added English boxing, French folk wrestling, and even weapons training with sticks, staffs, canes, daggers, knives, even overcoats and chairs to its curriculum as it was used in the street fights in Paris between the 1870s and World War I, to eventually have it restricted again and become the modern sport version seen today since around the 1960s. Official competitions use the intégrale (looks like a wrestling singlet with long pants) or a customized vest and trousers combination as the uniform, and is the only kickboxing-like sport where shoes are not only legal, but mandatory^notethe Indonesian combat sports promotion Baku Hantam Championship did however have a savate match with no shoes used at one of their events. Practitioners uses glove colours to indicate a fighter's level similar to the belt system in other arts, with beginners having no colours. There are three different rank paths practitioners are allowed to follow: 1) The Technical Road, which covers the level one is allowed to learn the techniques of the art, 2) The Competition Road, which covers the level of competition one is allowed to engage in, 3) The Instructor Road, which covers the level one is allowed to teach techniques, as well as other stuff like anatomy, regulations of savate, first aid certification, and even refereeing. Moving to a higher colour rank is a ceremonial role as buying gloves of different colours would be impractical and expensive, with qualifications for competitions differing between associations or commissions. Competitions also make practitioners use a rather limited arsenal, as there are only four kinds of kicks allowed (all foot kicks only) along with foot sweeps and the four kinds of punches allowed in regular boxing, with no grappling of any kind allowed, though the best practitioners know how to get creative with them (kicks are allowed almost anywhere including the back, the legs which include the knees, and even the groin, while punches are only allowed to the front of the opponent above the waist like in regular boxing rules, and is why it is no longer permitted to touch the floor with the hands when kicking unlike the old Chausson style) - and outside competition maintains its old streetfighting arsenal^noteunder names like Savate de Dėfense ("Défense Savate"), Savate Bâton Défense (because the baton was the most common weapon of the style and is also why savate is closely related to the sports of Canne de Combat (alsoknown as Canne D'Arme or simply La Canne), Bâton Fédéral (also known as Bâton Français, Bâton de Combat or Le Baton) and the rare Canne Chausson (a combination of La Canne with savate kicks)), Defense dans la Rue ("Defense in the Street") or Savate de Rue ("Street Savate"), other self defense systems that use savate as its base like Danse de Rue Savate ("Dance of the Street Savate", created in Texas of all places by Professor Paul-Raymond Buitron III, which combines old school savate with zipota, a martial art with questionable origins that is said to be related to savate, also taught primarily in Texas), Boxe de Rue ("Street Boxing", created by Robert Paturel, which notably adds its own tonfa training method to its list of weapons training, which is officially used by the French police), Méthode R.&J. Lafond (also known as Panaché), created by Roger Lafond in the 1950s, Automatic Defense or Army Savate, created by Charles Charlemont who exported savate to the United States and the United Kingdom and taught it to their armed forces, and the rarer Re-Constructed Historical Savate (or to detractors "Re-Enacted Savate", a style constructed from the old textbooks written in the late 19th or early 20th century, which is considered a part of Historical European Martial Arts by serious practitioners or a joke by detractors). Modern codified sport savate uses three levels of competition:
- Assault or Assaut: the least intense level, basically the Light Contact version of the style that requires the competitors to focus on their techniques while still making contact to score points; referees will assign penalties for the use of excessive force.
- Pre-Combat: the intermediate intense level, allows for full-strength fighting so long as the fighters wear protective gear such as helmets and shinguards.
- Combat: the most intense level, is the same as pre-combat, but protective gear other than groin protection and mouthguards are prohibited.
- Savate Forme: a workout program co-ordinated to music using Savate punches and kicks created in France by Alain Delmas in 1975, basically "Cardio-Savate". It was originally called Music-B.F. until the 1990s.
- Duo or Demonstration: an extinct format that was started in 1985. It was a kind of combat choreography between two people based on savate techniques to try score points based on technicality and tactics. The duo can either be the same or different sexes. However, it did not appeal to spectators and has been abandoned.
Old School Savate or Old Style Savate: savate formats that existed before its modernization in the 1960s (besides the self-defence one).
- First Touch, Announced Touch, Original Assaut, Academic Style, Gymnastic Style, Beau Style, or Charlemont Method: an extinct style that directly preceded modern savate competition and was the predominate format of the style before the 1960s. It was based on traditional fencing and bare knuckle duels (which were more to settle conflicts in a "civilized" way that abided by the rules of honor in fencing duels than anything like a no-holds-barred bout) before the creation of the "Marquess of Queensberry Rules" of Boxing and was heavily advocated by the father and son duo of Joseph and Charles Charlemont and their students. Its rules were actually quite similar to Semi-Contact/Point Fighting (and is believed by some to have inspired the format that would become "sport karate") as its aim was to move savate away from its reputation as a style for ruffians and thugs, though strikes were allowed to be full contact before a stop (or as the French at the time would say "Touché") was called, fighters as a show of good sportsmanship had to announce when they have been hit, and it also allowed grabbing and catching the legs for takedowns (some variants also banned low kicks and kicks to the arms for some reason).
- Savate Saltimbanque, Acrobat Style, or Music Hall Style: the other extinct style of savate that was performed at music halls and was the more spectacular form of the art more akin to pro wrestling and the above mentioned Duo format than a true combat sport. With its focus on entertainment rather than efficiency, techniques by the boxers included Awesome, but Impractical techniques like kicking while doing cartwheels, jumping punches in mid-air, capoeira-like techniques, and other extraordinary manoeuvres they could think of. Several practitioners of this style did test their skills against English bare knuckle boxers in early mixed rules fights, though most were not successful, those who were became notable figures of the time with some of them opening schools of their own. It eventually died out during period of the Second French Empire as savate was banned during that time due to its street fighting reputation (the style above survived due to the Charlemonts having fled to Belgium beforehand, while other styles had to disguise themselves as a dance or gymnastics to survive).
Chauss'fight: a French style that was once very closely associated with savate and was hosted by the Fédération Française de SAVATE Boxe Française et Disciplines Associées until 2009 and is now hosted by the Fédération Française de Kickboxing, Muaythai et Disciplines Associées. Created in January 2007 by Christian Robert, Jean Louis Borg, Frédéric Baret, and Laurent Bois with the aim of offering savate, kickboxing and Muay Thai practitioners a discipline that is halfway between the styles, its creators try to differentiate the style from savate by claiming it to be a modern and slightly more faithful recreation of "Chausson Marseillais". The uniform is long pants similar to American Kickboxing with the addition of savate shoes, with the allowance of the use of the shin to block and kick, and sweeps are also allowed, though clinching, knees and elbows are not allowed and bouts last 2 to 7 rounds of 2 minutes each. There was an attempt by Milan Vanik in 2016 to bring it to the United Kingdom under the name "Chauss Boxing" (with him being credited as its creator for some reason), but it never caught on. It has three levels of sparring: 1) Combat: the basic rules above. 2) Technical Assault: basically the equivalent of light contact or savate's Assault level, which enables boxers to oppose each other by emphasizing their body language and avoiding powerful blows on impact. 3) Non-contact: this level is reserved for young children, a form of playful, technical opposition, with no touching of the opponent allowed.
- Savate Pro: technically the fourth level of savate competition and was created to replace Chauss'fight when its jurisdiction was moved from the FF Savate to the FFKMDA in 2009. It is basically the same as Chauss'fight, just with no sweeping.
Pàijeda: a martial art from Monaco created in 2020 by Claude Pouget. Referred to as "The Combat Sports Quadrathlon" or "Force 4", its competition bouts contains 3 rounds, the first 2 being "defense" rounds at 15 seconds each, where one of the two competitors must demonstrate their ability to defend themselves against an attacker using a technique with a specific theme like the foam stick) and switch roles between rounds. The third round is 4 minutes and 30 seconds of Assaut level combat, meaning all strikes are controlled, though it also contained grappling with throws, takedowns, sweeps, and submissions and even the use of the foam weapons (above the waist only) alongside the punches (though it bans hammerfists), kicks and knee strikes (to the body and legs only), though it bans ground-and-pound.

Chinese kickboxing

Full Contact Kung Fu: it should come as no surprise that kung fu practitioners would also attempt to prove themselves in the world of full contact. Given the multitude of styles in existence, it would be impossible account for all of them and their varied rulesets, so the following styles will account for the most "open" of formats. Not to be confused with competitions that use the name, but are really under American Kickboxing rules.
- Sanshou or Sanda: a Chinese variation similar to Shootboxing, just without the standing submissions. Originally developed as a military fighting system (known as Junshi Sanshou/Sanda) based on the study of various styles of kung fu, the sport version (known as Yundong or Jinzheng Sanshou/Sanda) ultimately became kickboxing-like, only with the addition of all kinds of throws, takedowns, sweeps and even leg catches, aa typical in kung fu styles, though it usually bans elbows strikes, though some organizations (mostly for professional bouts) will allow for ones to the body only and even a rarer few will allow them to the head. Bouts usually last 3 rounds of 2 minutes with a 1 minute rest in between each round (though professional bouts will usually use 5 rounds of 3 minutes each) and uniquely, matches can take place in either a boxing ring (for professional bouts exclusively) or more often an elevated platform called a lei tai, which is basically a ring without ropes and is a throwback to the old days of Chinese kung fu duels. Matches on the lei tai contain different rules, for it allows (in fact encourages) throwing opponents off the platform to score points and/or defeat the opponent should they be thrown off enough times. Like Muay Thai in Thailand, it is the most popular combat sport in its country of origin and it has steadily been growing its pool of talent on the international scale since the 90s. Sanda also enjoys official backing from the Chinese government and is considered one of the two "official" Wushu styles, along with Taolou — forms or sequences of movements. The International Kung Fu Federation, an organization that was formed in 2003 for the purpose of making kung fu an Olympic sport, just not under the wushu label and is considered a "conflicting organization" by the International Wushu Federation since 2016, refers to it as Kung Fu Full.
  - Qingda or Qinda: basically the Light Contact version of Sanshou/Sanda also known as Light Sanda. The International Kung Fu Federation refers to it as Kung Fu Light, though the World Traditional Kung-Fu Federation refers to it as Non Contact Sanda and uses MMA gloves for some reason. The WTKF also has a weird variant called Lighting Fighting Sanda, where throws and sweeps are disallowed and only controlled striking (head strikes are touch contact only) occurs.
  - Ultimate Sanda: an MMA-like ruleset based on Sanshou/Sanda created and used by the World Fighting Martial Arts Federation. Fighters wear MMA gloves and headgear, with the rules allowing groundfighting for 10 seconds each time, except it doesn't allow striking to a grounded opponent so only submissions are allowed there as standing submissions aren't allowed either, also elbows and knee strikes are banned altogether. The International Kung Fu Federation refers to it as Kung Fu Extra Full, though its version has fighters use boxing gloves instead. The World Traditional Kung-Fu Federation has a variant called Total Contact Fighting or Full Fighting Sanda (also sometimes confusingly referred to as Full Fighting Jeet Kune Do in some official rules and regulations documents), it differs from Ultimate Sanda by allowing elbows and knees to the head and body with fighters wearing boxing gloves.
- Guoshu Lei Tai or Kuoshu Lei Tai: a lesser known Chinese variation developed in Taiwan. It has its foundations from the Central Guoshu/Kuoshu Academy formed in Nanjing in 1928, before the Communists took over China and the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan. The term Guoshu/Kuoshu means "national art" and is a politically charged way of saying "kung fu" by being democratically opposed to its rival Communist sibling, the better-known Mainland Chinese wushu ("war art"). Its early tournaments were eerily similar to the first UFC events, just without any groundfighting or the confines of the cage obviously, and almost got outlawed after the 5th World Chinese Kuoshu Tournament in 1986 due to the many injuries from green fighters, charges of rampant favoritism in the judging and the requirement that the fighters wear garden gloves. This led to changes to the rules and structure of their competitions for safety and fairness in judging. Matches exclusively use the lei tai platform, though unlike like its more popular cousin, fighters wear MMA gloves instead of boxing gloves which allow for better grappling and also allows shoes to be worn. Also unlike its mainland cousin, it is not a unified disciple, with two different organizations using slightly different rulesets, though both only allow 5 seconds of active clinching (meaning one fighter attempts to throw the other), 3 seconds for passive clinching (which for some reason does not count striking in the clinch as "active"), has the three knockdown system, and allows palm strikes.
  - TWKSF Rules: the ruleset used by The World Kuo Shu Federation (yes the "the" is part of the name of the organization), which is the more well known organization (at least in English speaking countries like the USA and the UK). It does not give points for calf kicks (also low kicks to the inner thigh are illegal, though outer thigh is fine and scores points), elbow and knee strikes from the clinch (though they are still legal strikes from that position and points are given if they are thrown when not clinching), the back being a legal scoring area (except to the kidney and spine area), throws that end with the thrower landing on top of the opponent covering the opponent’s torso scores one point, while throws where the thrower stays standing scores two points and fighters don't wear chest protectors or shin guards and for uniforms wear t-shirts and long lantern-style trousers. There is also a point fighting version confusingly known as San Shou Rules, where the first fighter to score three points wins, and also disallows elbows, knees, and throws.
  - ICKF Rules: the ruleset used by the International Chinese Kuoshu Federation^note, which is the more "traditional" ruleset compared to the TWKSF's ruleset and referred to as Bare-Hand Leitai in their documents. It seems to allow striking to the back (including the kidney and spine area) and kicks to the inner thigh (and score calf kicks), throws that have the thrower remain standing are the only throws that score points (2 points like TWKSF, it doesn't score throws where the thrower falls as well). Uniquely fighters are allowed to fall down to the ground of their own accord to either kick or sweep their opponent, they have to stand up immediately after in order to earn points or else their opponent shall be awarded 2 points if they are unable to stand up right away, also a fighter who holds their opponent by chin na technique (standing joint lock) and keeps them from disengaging for 15 seconds shall be named the winner of the fight. Fighters wear chest protectors and shin guards, and for uniforms wear Tang suit shirts and either long or short lantern-style trousers.
  - Pro KuoShu UK: an organisation that attempted make a pro league for the sport. It is based on TWSKF Rules, with a modification that took out headgear and added a 10 second limit for groundfighting each time, if a submission hold (they can only be applied on the ground) is applied within this time, an additional 10 seconds will be added to make your opponent submit. It seems to be defunct since 2013.
- Shou Bo: a modern offshoot of the Chinese wrestling martial art of shuai jiao. Created in France of all places by a Chinese shuai jiao practitioner named Yuan Zumou who wanted to spread shuai jiao in France, founded the French Association of Shuai Jiao to do so and created a new ruleset in the hopes that it would help popularise it and the French Shou Bo Association to spread it. There are records dating back to the Han dynasty of a style of unarmed, no-holds-barred fighting called shou bo, which is where modern shou bo gets its name, though obviously nowhere near as brutal as depicted in the past. Like normal shuai jiao it requires its competitors to wear a yi (jacket), dai (belt), kuzi (trousers), and xie (wrestling boots), though unlike regular shuai jiao they also need MMA gloves and headgear and because it is supposed to be more focused on the wrestling part of the sport, the rules prohibit kicking with the shin, knee strikes, elbow strikes, punches to the face, and striking while holding the jacket.
- Dui Kong Choi: the free fighting aspect of Wing Chun competition. Also known as Wing Chun Free Fighting, Wing Chun Actual Combat, or Wing Chun Full Contact, these rules are the Wing Chun equivalent of Sanshou and Guoshu Leitai as Wing Chun competitions also include its own taolu and chi sao competitions. Fighters wear headgear, MMA gloves, chest protectors, shin pads and elbow pads. The rules generally allow punches, palm strikes, kicks (does not score calf kicks), elbows, knees (only to the body scores points but is allowed to the head or other parts of the body), throws, sweeps, some throws and some amount clinch-fighting is tolerated though it doesn’t score points, however all techniques must be recognized as part of the Wing Chun curriculum and any use of "non-Wing Chun" techniques will be subject to penalties. Several organizations have their own variant of the rules as the art is not unified.
  - IWOC Rules: the ruleset used by the International Wing Chun Organization and is probably the first one to had been developed. It is basically the rules as stated above.
  - IWUF Rules: the ruleset used by the International Wushu Federation. It disallows kicks to the head and strangely doesn't mention anything about elbows, but also seems to score calf kicks.
  - Mai San Jong: a weird ruleset that oddly seems to be used exclusively in the Americas (both North and South) under the Pan American Wushu Federation. Matches take place on a raised 12’ x 12’ platform or mat and are fought in three one-minute rounds, with the first two rounds designating "challenger" and "defender" roles that switch between rounds. The structure of match involves both fighters using "Jong Sau" at the start of the match for a maximum of 6 seconds, so the challenger must initiate an attack within 5 seconds or lose the challenge/round, the defender is not allowed to initiate an attack, but upon being attacked, the defender can move, disengage, or otherwise defend and counter-attack. The final round is a "free challenge" with both fighters allowed to initiate the first strike. The rules disallow clinching or wrestling (which it defines as a hold or grab lasting more than 1/2 second or a failed takedown followed by a second takedown attempt), more than 2 consecutive strikes to the head (only light contact is allowed there) and elbows to the head, though it weirdly doesn't say anything about knees. Also points will be awarded if a fighter pushes his opponent out of the fighting area or if a fighter falls down because of his own loss of balance or steps both feet off the platform or mat while retreating.
- Full Contact Boxing Association: a defunct promotion and fight club in Hong Kong that existed in the 1980s founded by Wai Kee-shun (a Hong Kong sports administrator), James Elms (a policeman) and Kong Fu-tak (the guy who fought Benny Urquidez in a "death match"). It claims to have combined rules from kung fu, karate, kickboxing and Muay Thai for their bouts, though the exactly rules haven't been made clear. It was shut down by the government in the mid-1980s due to a number of factors; there had been a recent death in a martial arts bout at the time, a number of questionable bouts from other "promotions", rumours of fixed fights, and the secret and often massive illegal side betting, which by the time they presented their rules to the appropriate government departments to have them officially ratified, only to be told that shut down, though they claim it was because thinking was that Hong Kong had to follow what other people did and should not create something unique.
MAS Fight: a promotion based in Macau/Macao (and also has events in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, and Sichuan) created in 2017 by Tony Chen with a unique ruleset^noteit claims to be inspired by the "spirit" of traditional Chinese martial arts and other combat sports around the world, the "MAS" in its name is short for Martialism Square. Its matches have no judges so points don't matter and the only way to win is by KO, TKO (three knockdown system), or by submission as it allows standing submissions like in Shootboxing along with punches, kicks, knees, elbows, clinching, throws and sweeps as well, bouts are declared draws if neither fighter secures a knockout or submission within the allotted time, which is set in a single 9-minute round. In 2019, it was brought to Cambodia (particularly in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville) with events featured weekly on the Town Full HDTV channel, which features MAS Fight matches alongside regular Kun Khmer bouts in its undercards, which is why some mistake it as a Kun Khmer promotion due to the majority of bouts being found there. While it is usually done with boxing gloves, special matches will have fighters use MMA gloves instead and at least one bout has been fought with Ambos Chhao (see the Kun Khmer section above) in a special fight between Dave Leduc (in his retirement fight) against Prom Samnang. Events have also been held in the Philippines (mostly Manila), and Thailand (Bangkok and Pattaya).
- MAS Fight MMA: a variant created in 2025, which is basically MMA rules (with the MMA gloves) except for the single-9 minute round time limit and the win by KO/Submission or draw only condition.

Korean kickboxing

Kyuk Too Ki, Gyeog Tu Gi or Korean Kickboxing: an extinct form of kickboxing developed by Koo Pan-Hong, the then head of the Korea Taekwondo Association in Gwangju, Jeonnam (South Jeolla Province) in 1964, at least according to the Korea Kickboxing Association. In an effort to create the most effective martial art possible, Pan-Hong mixed his taekwondo with boxing, judo and wrestling, into an art which allowed punches, kicks, throws, even joint locks and chokes. All of that development was abandoned when Osamu Noguchi came to Korea in 1968 to invite Korean fighters to participate in his kickboxing events and it was eventually decided that Kyuk Too Ki/Gyeog Tu Gi would be classified as kickboxing, and agreed on international exchanges between Korea and Japan. Its name is now used as a general term for kickboxing and even MMA in Korea. Not to be confused with the martial art developed by Yun Sae-kwon (Yoon Sae Gwan), another one developed by Huh Mon Gil (both men were Hapkido grandmasters and both developed their versions in the 1970s coincidently), or yet another one developed by Jung Yong Han (2004 Asian under 84kg Taekwondo champion) in 1995, though those three are basically kickboxing styles as well.
Pro Taekwondo: like karate, taekwondo could also be considered a "kickboxing" style in the wider sense, though pro taekwondo embodies it the best. It is basically taekwondo fought with boxing gloves and allows full contact head punches unlike WTF-style taekwondo, though it features a rule where points are deducted if more than two punches are thrown before a kick is thrown and is also fought in a ring instead of tatami mats. It was formed by Shin Yoon-heon and Park Youn-Soo of the Moon Moo Kwan in the early 1960s in order to focus on developing practical techniques for taekwondo (probably inspired by development of kickboxing and Kyuk Too Ki above), forming their own competition rules for taekwondo before founding the Korea Pro Taekwondo Federation in 1970s (now the World Korea Pro Taekwondo Federation), though another master named Soo Hyun Ye split off to created the International Pro Taekwondo Federation/Association in 1979. While pro is in the name, it is misleading as it also has amateur competitions. It sort of underwent an experimental phase in the late 90s, doing things like fighting in shorts or long trousers instead of the traditional dorok etc, before it course corrected to avoid looking like a cheap knock off of other kickboxing styles. There are also a few unrelated styles that were also called Pro Taekwondo.
- Pro TKD: the first was developed by United States Taekwondo Committee president Doug Fuechsel under modified WTF rules that got some attention as a series on ESPN2, though it only lasted from 1997 to 1998. Fighters had no protective equipment and was fought on tatami mats.
- World Taekwondo League: the second was developed by James Bernstein and Master Sejin Park in 2002, but only lasted until 2005. It utilizes a scoring system whereby competitors are awarded more points for aerial spins and contact to the head and face and also makes use of a 10-second clock in which each fighter has to throw a punch. Fighters wore headgear, chest protectors, shin and foot pads, hand guards, and dobok, while matches take place on a circular arena.
- KOK: the third was developed by Taekwondo T.K.D., a dojo belonging to the Japan Taekwondo Federation in 2006. Fighters wore doboks, MMA gloves and foot guards and took place in a ring.
- ITF Pro: the fourth was developed by Croatian ITF stylist Anto Nobilo (under the ITF based on Austria) starting in 2007 with the hope of creating a "World Pro Taekwondo League", it differs from the above by limiting hand strikes to straight punches, with a maximum two can be thrown in a series before a kick like the original one above, all other hand punches (hook, uppercut, elbow) be penalized by penalty points and can be fought on tatami and the ring. Fighters wear sleeveless doboks and boxing gloves.
- Pro-Taekwon Kickboxing or PTK for short: the fifth is a system developed in 2009, which is exclusive and unique to schools under the UK ITF organisation (which is a branch under Choi Jung Hwa's ITF). It is ITF-style taekwondo mixed with western boxing in a continuous full contact setting with competitions fought in the ring.
Kun Gek Do or Gwon Gyok Do: a Korean kickboxing style that blends Taekwondo and Muay Thai. According to its history, it was founded by Jung Do-Mo who had nearly 30 years' experience in the martial arts, particularly Taekwondo, witnessed a demonstration match between a traditional Taekwondo stylist and a Muay Thai fighter, which ended with taekwondo stylist being soundly beaten, which led him to training in Muay Thai for a few years and then decided that the combination of Taekwondo and Muay Thai could create a martial art stronger than Muay Thai or Taekwondo alone. It still retains a belt system and uniform from Taekwondo, though practitioners generally wear standard kickboxing attire when in competing in matches. It does not have a unique ruleset by itself, but its fighters are allowed to compete in all styles of kickboxing and even recently in MMA.

Russian kickboxing

Draka: a Russian variation that looks like a slightly modified version of Chinese sanda. Its origins are greatly contested except that it was developed in the late 80s, one group says it was developed by Nikolai Romanov at the Rossich Sports Club from a fusion of boxing, judo, karate, sambo, Muay Thai and other martial arts, another group says it was developed by veterans of the counter terrorism group Spetsgruppa "A" (also known as Alpha Group or Alfa) based on a modified form of ARB (see Sambo), while yet another group says it was created by a few sanda practitioners who decided to "Russianize" it into their own sport. It gained a bit of attention due to a few Pay-Per-Views in the US, brought over by Igor Ejov and his wife Marina Radionova, though kind of dropped out off the map after those events for a while. Unlike sanda though, elbow strikes to the head are allowed and matches take place in a roped ring and bouts were 5 rounds of 2 minutes each with a 1 minute break in between rounds (title bouts however use 7, 9, or 10 rounds depending on national, international, or world title level). However, it now seems to have further evolved into a more MMA-style sport now referred to as Draka MMA (with the old style being referred to as Draka Old School), with MMA gloves, can also take place in a cage, has a 30 second time limit for groundfighting each time, though without knockdown counts in pro rules (amateur rules apparently each fighter is allowed two standing eight counts before the next knockdown means defeat) and with the allowance of ground-and-pound, though it banned elbows and bouts are 3 rounds of 3 minutes each with a 1 minute break in between rounds (similar to kickboxing rounds instead of MMA). Its modern form is known as Xtreme Gladiator in the USA and used by events promoted by the International Kickboxing Federation and the International Sport Combat Federation (where it is called DRAKA XG), with the difference being that bouts are 3 or 5 rounds of 5 minutes each with a 1 minute break in between rounds and allows elbows back in.
Crimean Style: a variation created by Mekhtiyev Igor' Volodiyevich in the Republic of Crimea in 1995 based on other forms of kickboxing and Russian fist fighting traditions with the first competitions held in 2000. Originally called "Crimean Boxing", it features a couple of weird rulesets, both with light and full contact versions and both consists of 3 rounds. The first is simply called Crimean Style and has different rules in each round, the first round is like normal boxing, but is also allows backfists and hammerfists, the second round is basically the equivalent of American High Kick Only Rules, and the third round is basically Low Kick Rules except that kicking the inner thigh is banned. The other one is called Crimean Fist Fight, which is just 3 rounds with the rules of the first round of Crimean Style.
KE^noteКомплексное единоборство (acronym for a term meaning "Complex/Comprehensive Martial Arts"): a variation created in 1990s, though was only officially codified in 2003. It actually consists of two versions, both of different origins, yet both came together under the same federation due to their similarities. Both are fought on either a tatami or wrestling mat.
- SP^noteCпортивно-прикладной (acronym for a term meaning "Sports Applied"): This version was developed in 1996 at the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and is the more well known one. Bouts consists of two rounds of 3 minutes each with a one minute break in between. The first round has fighters wear boxing gloves, headgear, shorts and chest protectors, with the option of wearing shin guards and even wrestling shoes, allowed techniques consists only of punches and kicks above the waist and no clinch-fighting similar to American Full Contact Rules and uses the three-knockdown rule. The second round has fighters remove the gloves, headgear and chest protectors (and shin guards if used, though it also lets one keep on their wrestling shoes if used), and is held under submission grappling rules though it seems to ban chokes and foot locks (leglocks like kneebars are still legal) and submissions can only be done on the ground. The winner is determined by the largest number of points scored in two rounds or by knockout in the first round or submission in the second.
- UP^note (acronym for a term meaning "Universal Full Contact"): This version was developed in 1992 at the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Bouts consists of three rounds of 2 minutes each with a one minute break in between. Fighters wear boxing gloves, shorts, with the option of wearing shin guards or not and different events will mandate headgear or not. Allowed techniques are basically all the allowed techniques of the other version above, just mixing both of the rounds together into a more MMA-style bout, though ground-and-pound and striking in the clinch is not allowed.

African kickboxing

Dambe or Dembe: a variation from the Hausa people of Nigeria. Similar to the Irish Travellers bare-knuckle boxing traditions, its origins come from clans of Hausa fisherman and butcher caste groups traveling to farm villages at harvest time to challenge each other to settle disputes before it evolved into local harvest festival entertainment, apparently as a result of translating spear and shield fighting to a relatively safer hand-to-hand contest. Its unique features start with how the hands are used, one hand is considered the strong-side fist, traditionally known as the "spear", is wrapped in a piece of cloth covered by tightly knotted cord and used to strike the opponent (some sources claim that boxers in the past would dip their spear in sticky resin mixed with bits of broken glass and was eventually banned, just like a similar myth from Muay Thai). The other hand, called the "shield", would as the name implies act as a defensive hand, is held as a bare open palm facing toward the opponent, said hand can be used to block, grab, or clinch. Kicks and sweeps are also usually allowed (some older rulesets don't allow them since you aren't really expected to kick efficiently with a real spear and shield), with sources claiming that traditional matches required fighters to have one leg wrapped in a chain, though modern matches have done away with that. Matches last three rounds, though modern rules use time limits, traditionally there weren't any so rounds ended when: 1) there is no activity, 2) one of the participants or an official calls a halt, or 3) a participant's hand, knee, or body touches the ground, which is considered "killing the opponent", these rules are still in effect today. Traditional bouts had fighters wear a loincloth called warki, though modern bouts have participants wear shorts instead. Traditional matches took place in a cleared area called the "battlefield", with spectators forming the boundaries of the area, some modern urban bouts take place in temporary rings, often setup outside meatpacking plants as members of traditional butcher castes still predominate, while larger bouts in large towns use sand filled West African Lutte Traditionnelle (traditional wrestling) arenas. While it is not well known, the sport has received mainstream attention from Nigeria's Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development as its minister, Sunday Dare pledged in December 2019 to create a national league plus cooperating with the Dambe Sport Association to form a federation for organizing competitions and tournaments across and outside Nigeria, and several organizations like the African Warriors Fighting Championship and Dambe Warriors Championship have been bringing it to English speaking audiences.
Moraingy or Morengy: a variation from Madagascar. Originating from the Maroseranana dynasty of the Sakalava Kingdom of western coastal Madagascar, it is a bare-fisted (though modern bouts allow fighters to wear hand wraps) fighting sport and martial art with punches predominating but with some kicks permitted. Matches by tradition are accompanied by music, often salegy (a popular music genre from Madagascar) to induce a trance-like state in the fighters and participants, contributing to the spiritual and communal experience of the fight. As part of this experience, participants typically engage in dances during and between the matches that are meant to provoke the supporters of the opposing party, while the crowd cheers and jeers loudly. A typical competition consists of a series of matches pitting two fighters, typically from different villages, against one another. Prior to the fight, all the fighters parade around in the outdoor arena (typically a soccer field) to size up and select their potential adversaries, while the spectators who ring the field cheer, sing and attempt to provoke the fighters. The matches are announced and each clan sings its own chant in support of the fighter from its village. Traditional matches last only one round and ends when one of the fighters exits the arena, faints, is no longer able to defend himself, is clearly unequal to the other, or is determined to be seriously injured, though modern matches have at least 2 rounds and a single "ring rope" is set up to prevent fighters from stepping out of the arena. The judges of the match declare a victor and no contesting of the determination is permitted; both participants are cheered by the spectators for their efforts in the match. Although moraingy is primarily concentrated in the coastal regions of Madagascar where it was historically popularized, Malagasy migrants took the sport with them when traveling overseas and spread to neighboring Indian Ocean islands including Réunion, Mayotte, Comoros, Seychelles and Mauritius. In Reunion Island, a French territory 500 kilometers east of Madagascar, where a large number of Malagasy people were brought by the French to work as slave laborers on sugar plantations, the sport took root under the name Moringue or Batay Kreol. Originally limited to the laborer's quarters of the sugar plantations, in 2005 it was recognized by the Reunion government as an official sport of the island. The popularization of the sport is in part due to a growing acknowledgement of the Malagasy and African origins of the island's Creole community. The Reunionais form of moraingy is less violent and more inspired by the choreography and acrobatics of Brazilian Capoeira than the original Malagasy form which was supposedly inspired by the Polynesian martial art of Kapu Kuialua and Malaysian Tomoi. The use of jumps and stomping makes it spectacular. As in Madagascar, music is played throughout moringue matches, typically consisting of percussion or Reunionais maloya music. The government recognition of the sport was intended to foster a sense of pride and identity for the large Creole youth population of Reunion island. Moringue is now organized like other mainstream sports, with about 1000 licensees, and receives local media attention.

South American kickboxing

Burlamaqui‘s Rules: a ruleset developed for Capoeira of all things in the 1920s in an attempt to legitimize it into a Brazilian national sport. Created by Anibal “Mestre Zuma” Burlamaqui, an advocate for a more fighting-oriented style of capoeira which he referred to as Gymnástica Nacional (“National Gymnastics”) since capoeira was still a stigmatized street practice at the time. In 1928, he published the first capoeira training manual, “Gymnástica nacional (capoeiragem), methodisada e regrada”, where he introduced “boxing-like” rules for capoeira competition, specifically adapting it for fights in the ring. It was done without music, had three minutes rounds with two minutes of rest in between and capoeiristas were to dress in shorts, shirts and boxing ankle boots. Techniques allowed included; kicks, open hand strikes (they wore no gloves), sweeps, takedowns, and even headbutts, though on at least one occasion, a modification was allowed for groundfighting (striking only). Unfortunately, the rules seemed to mostly be used to settle duels between different schools of capoeira, if they didn’t just do it through full vale tudo rules, and eventually fell out of favour for what capoeira is now.
Takanakuy: an annual Peruvian festival held on Christmas Day by the inhabitants of Chumbivilcas Province, near Cuzco that consists of dancing and most notably one-on-one fights to settle conflicts. Rules in the fights allow only punching and kicking and instantly disqualifies offenses like biting, hitting a grounded opponent, and pulling hair. Fighters traditionally have to wrap their hands in cloth, though there is an allowance for them to just go bare handed and modern hand wraps and MMA gloves are allowed now and footwear is rather liberal as they can fight barefoot, in sandals, in shoes, or in boots. While traditionally women were not allowed to fight, though modern times have allowed them to and these fights are called Warmi Takanakuy, but uniquely many choose to fight in traditional dresses and skirts on for some reason even though they are allowed more casual/practical wear. Fights are won by knockout (more like knockdown) or intervention by the official with most fights lasting less than three minutes, but if the loser of the fight disagrees with the outcome, he or she can appeal for another fight. At the start and at the end of the fight, the opponents must shake hands or give each other a hug.
Runa Tinku or just Tinku: an annual Bolivian Aymara festival held on May 3th and 4th (and sometimes even extends to the 5th) that is similar to Takanakuy above. The differences from Takanakuy are that it also features brawls between groups, and historically fighters will often carry rocks in their hands to have greater force in their punches, or they will just throw them at opponents and even slingshots and whips are used. In fact, because of the similarities between Takanakuy and Tinku one-on-one fights, there has been some people who regularly travel from Peru to Bolivia and vice versa that go to each others festivals to fight.

"Greek/Hellenic" kickboxing

Pyx-Lax, Orthostadin Pagration, Ano Machia, or Ano Pankration: the kickboxing section of modern Pankration Athlima, created by Simos Zahopoulos and was actually developed before the more MMA-like rules of Pankration Athlima were. It is still unclear whether the Ancient Greeks had a kickboxing-like component to go along with its boxing (pygmē/pygmachia), wrestling (palē) and pankration traditions (some historians mention minor regional forms of pankration that didn’t allow grappling), but that hasn’t stopped modern practitioners from allowing themselves to have one. Athletes wear the traditional uniform called endyma, composed of two parts: the upper part called cheitonion which is white and represents the clouds surrounding the planet earth and the bottom part named periskelis which is blue and represents the sea surrounding the continents. The technical and refereeing (hellanodikes) terms are in Greek. There is however differences between the rules from different organizations around the world.
- The World Pangration Athlima Federation uses three (3) two (2) minute rounds with an interval of one (1) minute between each round. In case of a tie, an addition of one extra round is fought to decide the victor. In cases of large participation, the time of each round can be reduced to one minute and thirty seconds and the break between rounds down to thirty seconds. Blows to the face are allowed, knees and elbows are banned while the techniques like sweeps and stand up grappling are sort of unclear in their legality, the only way to score points is through punching and kicking.
- The Australian Federation of Pankration Athlima uses two (2) two (2) minute rounds, allows elbows and knees to the body and scores points with them, all strikes to the face are banned, and allows throws, takedowns, clinching, sweeps, and trips. The rules are also referred to as Pankration Striking Rules.
- The World Pan Hellenic United Pankration Athlima Federation and the American Pankration Athlima Federation (both founded by Bill Zahopoulos, Simos' brother) has two rulesets; Pyx-Lax Machia (striking only) and Pyx-Lax Rassein Apaly (striking with throws and takedowns). In both, while punching and kicking to the face is fine, elbows and knees are limited to the body though they do not score points, low kicks are similarly allowed but don’t score points, and sweeps are limited to the calves only.

Iranian/Persian kickboxing

Kung Fu Toa: an Iranian martial created by Ibrahim Mirzaei (also spelt as Ebrahim Mirzaii) in the 1960s through a combination of taekwondo, Goju-ryu karate, Shaolin Kung Fu and Yoga with some Tai Chi influence. It has three unarmed competition formats. Not to be confused with "Kung Fu Toa-21" a modification of the style created by Dr. Ahmed Salami that does not hold competitions, which is why the original style is also referred to as Mirzaie Style or Mirzaii Style.
- Stand Up Fight: a ruleset that resembles K-1 rules (and their older rules when clinching was allowed for 5 seconds), but knee strikes to the head are banned now.
- Mayanna or Mayaneh: a ruleset used separate from Stand Up Fights before they were eventually abandoned for some reason. Fighters wear MMA gloves and headgear and it rules disallowed punches to the head, as well as grappling, elbows and knees entirely and repetitive kicks to the same place were considered a foul.
- Freestyle: basically an amateur MMA-like format, as fighters wear MMA gloves and groundfighting is allowed, though it bans elbow and forearm strikes, knees, heel hooks and ground-and-pound. Bouts are three two-minute rounds, with one-minute rest periods in between rounds and there are no draws.
O-Sport: a weird style developed in Iran in 2005 by Mohammad Ghasem Manouchehri. Its name was originally short for Oriental Combat Sports^notenamed after the Alvand mountains, a subsection of the Zagros Mountains in Iran, northern Iraq, and southeastern Turkey, which has an ancient alternate name as "Orient", and not because of any Asian influence or Original Persian Sports, then to Oriental Sports in 2017, though it now refers to Obstacle Sports since 2020. Fighters originally wore singlets similar to ones found in amateur wrestling as their attire with MMA gloves, though it was eventually changed to shorts and t-shirts. It originally had several different fighting competition formats (which will be the ones explained here), though it also has non-fighting divisions that consists of traditional Iranian wood play mixed with martial arts techniques called "Alak Dolak" and gymnastics movements (basically Musical Forms style format) such as Shadow, Weapons, Fast Demo and Self Defense as well as other things like arm wrestling, Dooz, slingshot shooting, Ley ley, Isatis, swimming, Chase Tag, free-running, and obstacle course racing. They began focusing on "Multi Stage Multi Competing" formats with their name change in 2020 and abandoned most of their fight formats, though the one that do have fighting resemble Unifight bouts (see Sambo).
- Ahmatan or Part Fight: stand up fighting with strikes and throws resembling Ashihara karate rules, as it disallows punching to the face, and also bans elbows, knees to the head, backfists (both standard and spinning). Bouts are 2 rounds of 2 minutes each.
- Aksaya, Axaya, Mixed Fight, Free Fight, or Ultimate Fight: basically amateur MMA with the three knockdown system and the four knockdown in a bout system, though it bans elbow strikes, and originally banned submissions and even grabbing the legs for things like takedowns when the sport still used boxing gloves, but eventually allowed those in. Also originally had only a 10 second limit for grappling on the ground for pinning and ground-and-pound, but was extended to 20 seconds when they allowed submissions. Bouts are 2 rounds of 2 minutes each.
- Safe Fight: basically Aksaya/Axaya rules but with a protective plastic face covered helmet.
- Agmatano or Shoot Fight: basically K-1 rules, but it allows throwing from the clinch.
- Maad Fight: basically American Full Contact kickboxing, but allows clinching for throwing only.
- Point Fight: basically the same as semi-contact kickboxing, but allows clinching for throwing only.
- Amaday: the original obstacle combat sport format of this style, its first round consists of slingshot shooting which consists of 45 seconds to wrist up the slingshot before hitting the target, then running 100 meters from right to left in beach and 40 meters swimming from right to left if on a beach or going thorough an obstacle course race if indoors. The second round is the fighting round and was basically the old version of Aksaya/Axaya, but without kicks to the head allowed, the round lasts 3 minutes. If the 2 rounds haven't decided the winner, a third round is used where fighters will break boards with a thickness of 5 cm in the height of each athlete with flying kicks and will continue with different types of flying kicks until a winner is determined.

Others

Broughton Rules or Broughton’s Rules: the first standardized rules of English boxing when it was still bare knuckle only. Created by John "Jack" Broughton in 16 August 1743 in an attempt to lower the number of fatalities coming out of the ring due to its lack of rules, especially since he unintentionally killed an opponent of his named George Stevenson two years prior. It was a list of seven rules, most of which are still used in modern boxing, which introduced concepts like; hitting a downed opponent being forbidden, no grabbing of clothing or below the waist, referees to officiate the matches, and seconds (cornermen). Under Broughton’s rules though, instead of timed rounds and the modern 10-count knockdown rule, a round continued until a man went down (or on a knee); after 30 seconds he had to face his opponent (square off), standing no more than a yard (about a metre) away, or be declared beaten. Also since there is no mention of it in the rules, other strikes like kicks, elbows, knees, headbutts and even gouging and scratching were still technically allowed even though they were considered "unmanly", as well as grappling above the waist which included throws, clinching, strangulations, and even fibbing (where a boxer grabs hold of an opponent by the neck or hair and pummels him). These rules were eventually replaced by London Prize Ring Rules after almost a 100 years of use.
Jun Fan Gung Fu, Jun Fan Kickboxing or Jeet Kune Do Kickboxing: Bruce Lee's school of martial arts before he farther developed it into Jeet Kune Do and arguably the main inspiration that lead to the birth of American Kickboxing. Development goes back to 1962, where it was described as a heavily modified version of Wing Chun as it kept its trapping techniques alongside the striking techniques of several other kung fu styles and later added striking arts like boxing, savate, Muay Thai and several Filipino martial arts. Today it serves as the "base" of Jeet Kune Do, basically it is the beginning martial or physical aspect of JKD, taught alongside its concepts and philosophy.
Kung Do Te: also known as Ruy San Ryu, it is a system developed by Ruy Manuel Raposo de Mendonça in Portugal in the 60s. A black belt in Shotokai karate and Ninjutsu Bunjinkan and also a trainer in the Portuguese military, he was inspired by what he believed to be the "completeness" of kung fu and then traveled to several countries to observe the best techniques of different fighting disciplines and began to test those techniques with his students. After a few years of improvement, he realized the potential of the new style for competitions and incorporated some techniques and characteristics of Western boxing, including gloves and the ring, making Kung Do Te one of the first full-contact martial art forms, even before the creation of American Kickboxing. It eventually became more of a MMA-style sport in the mid 2000s and shortened the name to Kung Do under José Sousa.
Savate-Thai Cross Training or STX Kickboxing for short: a hybrid striking system developed by Dan Inosanto student and Shooto champion Erik Paulson as a compliment to his grappling/MMA system; Combat Submission Wrestling. It takes techniques from boxing, panantukan, taekwondo, Jun Fan/Jeet Kune Do Kickboxing, and especially from Savate and Muay Thai as stated in the name.
Kali-Thaiboxing Cross Training or KTX Kickboxing for short: another hybrid striking system founded by Anton St James in 2015. It combines the Filipino martial arts concept of "de-fanging the snake" which focuses on the destruction of hands and limbs in order to gain entry to the vulnerable parts of the body combined with the striking skills and power of Muay Thai along with the versatility of boxing and kicks from American kickboxing.
Premier Kickboxing: yet another hybrid striking system, this time by Chris Foran. A unique blend takes the discipline, structure and dynamic kicking techniques from Olympic Taekwondo and blends it with the power of Muay Thai and the head movement and speed of western boxing. Also known as Korean/Thai Xross Training or KTX Kickboxing for short which sometimes leads to confusion with the other one above.
WKF Extreme Combat Sports or WKFECS for short: a weird "pentathlon" format used by the World Kickboxing Federation. Matches contain 5 rounds, but each round held under different rules, the first round is Boxing Rules, the second is Full Contact, the third is K-1, the fourth is Muay Thai and the fifth and final round is MMA Rules.
Xplosion X-Rule: a "triathlon" format seldomly used by the defunct Australian Muay Thai promotion Xplosion. The first round lasts 3 minutes that is limited to striking only, the second round lasts 4 minutes that allows striking and throwing like Sanshou and the third and final round lasts 5 minutes and allows striking, throwing, and submissions on the ground.
Algaput: a martial art developed in Azerbaijan by Vasif İmran oğlu Namazov that is said to be based on traditional Turkic Martial Arts and the founder even calls it a “Turan martial art”, though it is also very obviously based extensively on his own training in Kyokushin, Ashihara and Enshin karate, as well as judo, sambo and MMA. Fighters wear modified gis called "chapans" and white gi pants with Algaput logos. The art has five competition systems, with each match lasting 3 minutes, though tournament finals bouts contain two rounds of 3 mintues, it should also be noted that those that include striking all ban punches and elbows to the head and face just like Kyokushin, despite fighters wearing headgear, shin guards, and gloves for those. Only three will be covered here;
- Ayça: also known as Aycha or Aypara, its rules allow striking with throws, sweeps and trips with fighters wearing MMA gloves, though it disallows clinching and grabbing the legs with two hands.
- Batur: MMA rules with a 20 second limit for groundwork and the aforementioned ban on head punches and elbows.
- Caymaz: done with boxing gloves and also allows ankle trips (without grips), again with the aforementioned ban on head punches and elbows.
Hard Combat Champs League: a promotion in Ukraine created in 2021 which is known for it 2-on-2 bouts they refer to as "2x2 FIGHT"... yes really. All four fighters are in the ring at the start wearing boxing gloves and shorts, and bouts are fought in three rounds of 2 minute each. Allowed techniques include punches, kicks and knee strikes (no elbows), and also allows grappling including sweeps, takedowns, throws, limited clinch-fighting, submissions (on the ground only) and even ground-and-pound (punches to the head are legal, but kicks and knees are limited to body and legs) and should a fighter be KO'd or submitted, that fighter is eliminated from the bout and the remaining fighters are stood up before the bout continues and the winners are the ones that eliminate both fighters on the other team. Also because both teams are in the ring at the same time, teams can attack a single opponent at the same time should the opportunity arise. The promotion also features 1-on-1 bouts, which are just K-1 rules (with 3 second clinching) matches they refer to as "K-Combat".

Tropes associated with kickboxing

The Ace:
- In American circuits, probably Benny "The Jet" Urquidez comes the closest in the early years as he was a champion in multiple promotions while most only limited themselves to only one, and was the only one who got constant victories against his Thai and Japanese challengers at the time... as controversial as some of those fights were.
- If talking exclusively about the PKA, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace fits the bill as he went undefeated from the first event where he captured the middleweight title and defended until his retirement in 1980.
- In the early years of Japanese kickboxing, Tadashi Sawamura (real name Hideki Shiraha) was this as he is credited as one of the drivers of the Shōwa era kickboxing boom and retired with a record of 241 fights, 232 wins (228 by KO), 5 losses and 4 draws.
- Toshio Fujiwara was next one after Sawamura, with a record of 141 fights, 126 wins (99 by KO), 13 losses, and 2 draws. Most notably, he was the first non-Thai to win a national Muay Thai title belt in Bangkok.
Dangerous Forbidden Technique: For some reason, the biggest American kickboxing organizations like the WKA, ISKA and WKN (with a notable exception in the IKF) ban backfists in their Full Contact and Low Kick/International/Freestyle rulesets (for the WKA they once banned spinning backfists in their Muay Thai bouts of all things).
Extremity Extremist:
- Bill "Superfoot" Wallace Played With this during his career, as he would punch and kick....almost exclusively with his left arm and leg because of a Career-Ending Injury he suffered to his right leg when he did judo^note.
- Surprisingly, a female Japanese kickboxer named Mona Kimura has been compared as a Distaff Counterpart to Wallace as her unusual fighting style involves a southpaw sideways stance and primarily using the right lead leg to keep her opponent at bay and prod them with side, hook and roundhouse kicks to the face and body. Downplayed however as ironically she was an amateur boxing champion before her kickboxing career and even her first pro kickboxing bout ended with her knocking out her opponent with a right hook.
Red Baron: Plenty in American circuits. Benny "The Jet" Urquidez^note, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace, Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Dennis "The Terminator" Alexio, Peter "Sugarfoot" Cunningham, Jean-Yves "Iceman" Theriault, Billye "Billy Jack" Jackson, Rick "The Jet" (again) Roufus, Dominique "The King" Valera…

Kickboxing as depicted in fiction:

Anime and Manga

Ayane's High Kick: the main character Ayane Mitsui begins training in kickboxing after failing a pro wrestling tryout and after being scouted by Kunimitsu, she is under the mistaken belief that his training will help prepare her for her next tryout attempt, when in reality Kunimitsu preparing her for to be a kickboxing champion.

Film — Live-Action

Kickboxer: Kurt and Eric Sloane are kickboxers who go to Bangkok to challenge Tong Po, Thailand's undefeated Kickboxing champion. After a brutal first round, Kurt realizes that the two are out of their league against this guy, and tries to convince his brother to stop the fight, but Eric is unwilling to give up and goes for a second round against him. Tong Po proceeds to hand Eric the worst beating of his life, culminating in paralyzing him from the waist down despite Kurt throwing in the towel in a bid to stop the fight. Kurt is mad as hell and vows to avenge his brother by defeating Tong Po.
Kickboxer's Tears: loosely inspired by the first Kickboxer movie above, it is pretty much a Gender Flipped Foreign Remake, with Moon Lee as Li Feng, a budding fighter who witnessed her brother being killed in a rigged kickboxing tournament. Swearing revenge, Li Feng decides to train herself to be stronger, better, and avenge her brother's defeat, only to bring the ire of Madam Wong (Oshima), wife of the champion, who wants Li to be dead as well.
Kickboxing Academy: students from the titular Kickboxing academy face off against the rival school, Fatal Combat. The reason for that is because the academy's lease will not be renewed, and the rival school plans to take control of it. Along the way, they also see Danny, a former kickboxer who decided to quit when he nearly killed an opponent. With that in mind, the students must convince him to help them defeat Fatal Combat and its leader, Captain Tarbeck, in order to save their school.

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Kickboxing as depicted in fiction:

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