ISKA (sports governing body)

Not to be confused with Iška, a river in Slovenia.

The ISKA (originally International Sport Karate Association, later also called the International Sport Kickboxing Association^[1][2]) is international bodies regulating sport karate and kickboxing matches. It is based in the United States. It was established in 1985 as a response to legal and revenue issues that sent the Professional Karate Association (PKA) into decline.^[3]

International Sport Karate and Kickboxing Association

Company type	Private
Industry	Kickboxing,Kun Khmer, MMA, and Sport Karate promotion
Founded	1985 (1985)
Headquarters	United States
Key people	Cory Schafer (President)
Website	www.iska.com

History

From 1974 until 1985, the PKA had been the most recognized worldwide kickboxing sanctioning group. It was instrumental in establishing public relay of the sport via ESPN, helping to introduce the burgeoning sport to a wider audience,^[4] and had also developed the first fighter's ratings systems. Five major U.S.-based promoters and resigning PKA executives created the new body, the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA), with an official announcement on July 16, 1986. The first U.S. directors were Mike Sawyer, Karyn Turner, Tony Thompson, John Worley and Scott Coker. It currently runs the biggest martial arts tournament in the world, The U.S Open. Thousands of competitors from around the world participate every year.^[5][6]

Many of the major PKA promoters began sanctioning their events with the ISKA and several also joined its administration.^[7] ISKA also secured ESPN broadcasts of its major title bouts in 1986, thus helping bring quick credibility and recognition to the new association.^[8][9]

Since the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations (WAKO) was mostly active in Europe and the World Kickboxing Association (WKA) in Asia, ISKA was quick to expand through its own European Directors starting October 1986 with Olivier Muller, Jérome Canabate and Mohamed Hosseini. American Richard Mayor oversaw the establishment of this European wing as European President between 1986 and 1988.^[10]

By 1991, the worldwide control of the ISKA was shared by two co-chairmen: Mike Sawyer and Olivier Muller.^[11] International TV coverage was secured, and united separate organizations were formed worldwide to handle responsibility for international sanctioning and grading.^[12]

In 1997, Cory Schafer was appointed ISKA President.^[13] By the early 2000s ISKA began sanctioning K-1 events such as K1-MAX and K-1 USA, and for several years they also sanctioned both kickboxing and MMA events for Strikeforce.^[14] Starting from 2012, ISKA sanctioned events for the kickboxing promotion GLORY.^[15]

Current activities

Professional competition

ISKA is the sanctioning body in the United States and over 50 countries worldwide which sanctions all styles of kickboxing which includes K-1 Rules, Full Contact, Oriental Rules, Muay Thai, Semi Contact, and Low kick.

Amateur competition

ISKA's Martial Arts World Championships are held yearly at the US Open of Martial Arts in Disney World, Orlando, Florida. The US Open ISKA World Martial Arts Championships is held annually every year on the Fourth of July weekend.^[16] More than 8,000 competitors and 12,000 spectators attend the two-day event each year. The event closes with the Night of Champions featuring the ISKA World Martial Arts Championships, which was featured on ESPN in both live and pre-recorded segments.^[17][18][19] The US Open was the longest continuously running martial arts event on ESPN until 2023, when it moved to FITE.^[20] The US Open highlights continue to air throughout the year on CSI Sports networks, reaching approximately 85 million households.^[21]

Full Contact World Champions

The list includes full contact world title holders.^[22] (title defenses are not included).

Super Heavyweight

• Brad Hefton (1988) — defeats Raymond Horsey

• Vitali Klitschko (1992)

• Vitali Klitschko (1994) - defeats Richard Vince

• Duke Roufus (1995) — defeats Stan Longinidis

• Dennis Alexio (1996) — defeats Stéphane Réveillon

• Sundae Abiqudun (2000)

• Enver Idrizi (2002)

• Anatoly Nosyrev (2007) — defeats Leo Kelly

• Daniel Quigley (2012)

• Alex Rossi (2013) — defeats Gary McLeary

Heavyweight

• Jeff Hollins (1986) — defeats Dino Homsy

• Dennis Alexio (1987)

• Rick Roufus (1996) — defeats Igor Sharapov

• Sundae Abiqudun (1997)

• Derek Panza (2001) — defeats Simon Dore

• Daniel Quigley (2011) — defeats Pacôme Assi

• Yuri Farcas (2022) — defeats Guillaume Hinguant

Super Cruiserweight

• Aziz Khattou (1995)

• Antoine McRae (2007)

• Patrick Nwamu (2011) — defeats Dakoru Dakoru

• Riyadh Al-Azzawi (2017) — defeats Ian McCarthy

Cruiserweight

• Dennis Alexio (1986)

• Przemysław Saleta (1990)

• Darrell Henegan (1993)

• Rick Roufus (1997) — defeats Igor Sharapov

• Waine Turner (2007) — defeats Paul Hill

• Daniel Quigley (2008)

• Dominik Haselbeck (2012) — defeats Mitch Whitesel

Light Cruiserweight

• Don Wilson (1988) — defeats Rob Salazar

• Javier Mendez (1992)

• Marek Piotrowski (1994)

• Werner Konings (1999)

• Lubomir Suda (2000)

• Mladen Steko (2003) — defeats Massimiliano Catasta

• Kadir Kadri (2007)

• Sergei Bogdan (2008)

• Andrew Tate (2013) — defeats Vincent Petitjean

• Emmanuel Mahout (2018) — defeats Ricardo Fernandez

Light Heavyweight

• Jean-Marc Tonus (1987) — defeats Bob Thurman

• Jean-Yves Thériault (kickboxer) (1988) — defeats Bob Thurman

• Rick Roufus (1991) — defeats Marek Piotrowski

• Ernesto Hoost (1994)

• Jean-Yves Thériault (kickboxer) (1995) — defeats Marcus Reed

• Simon Gonzales (1998)

• Orlando Rivera (1999)

• Ken Hewski (2007) — defeats Muzammal Nawaz

• Herbert Danois (2007)

• Marlon Hunt (2009) — defeats Lukas Wolf

• Jean-Luc Benoit (2011) — defeats Andrew Tate

• Andrew Tate (2011)

• Jon Durrant (2018) — defeats Bruno Brreto

• Karim Taquet (2022)

Super Middleweight

• Jean-Yves Thériault (kickboxer) (1986)

• Jean-Yves Thériault (kickboxer) (1992) — defeats Leo De Snoo

• Pablo Sanchez (1997)

• Max Greco (1999)

• Tony Ventura (2002) — defeats Abu Zayd Nawaz

• Randy Pogue (2003)

• Brian Schwartz (2004) — defeats Tom Bottone

• Jens Lintow (2006)

• Brian Aston (2007) — defeats Dale Wood

• Dale Wood (2007)

• Marc Apelè (2008) — defeats Brian Aston

• Simon Poskotin (2012) — defeats Mate Vundac

• Stathis Benov (2012)

• Simon Poskotin (2013)

• Mondhor Yacoubi (2017) — defeats Rachid Boumalek

Middleweight

• John Longstreet (1986) — defeats John Moncayo

• Michel Mangeot (1990)

• Robert Harris (1991)

• Christian Battesti (1992)

• Billy Murray (1997)

• Trevor Ambrose (1998)

• Lex Easton (1999)

• Eric Reagan (2000)

• Roberto Cocco (2001) — defeats Carlos Heredia

• Jens Lintow (2005) — defeats Anthony Bartinelli

• Dominick Haselbeck (2008)

• Jens Lintow (2009) — defeats Tommy McCaffery

• Tommy McCaffery (2009)

• Sebastian Pace (2013)

• Mikey Worswick (2016) — defeats Pedro Martinez

• Mehdi Kada (2020) — defeats Jai Meyrick

Light Middleweight

• Curtis Bush (1990) — defeats Emmanuel Essissima

• Denis Fioraso (1991)

• Francis Farley (1993) — defeats Pascal Batifol

• Trevor Ambrose (1996)

• Sergei Lapinski (1998)

• Angelo DiBella (2000)

• Fran Zuccala (2004)

• Willy Borrel (2006)

• Fran Zuccala (2008) — defeats Ibrahim Cicek

• Tommy McCaffery (2008)

• Vinny Di Rucio (2013)

• José Rodriguez (2016)

Super Welterweight

• Curtis Bush (1995) — defeats Tom Montgomery

• Mark Weller (1997)

• Mostafa Oumrani (1999)

• Juan Paredes (2000)

• Jim Caldecourt (2001)

• Victor Hoffman (2008) — defeats Max Shalnev

• Aidan Lafferty (2012) — defeats Aaron Robinson

• Geatan Delacher (2017) — defeats Claudio Ivaldi

• Edouard Bernadou (2020) — defeats Giorgos Koulalis

Welterweight

• Richard Hill (1987)

• Bill Murray (1989)

• Curtis Bush (1991) — defeats Piotr Falender

• Gerald Mamadeus (1994)

• Paul Biafore (1997)

• Pierluigi Giaccari (2006)

• Chris Algieri (2007) — defeats Scott Mukaddam

• Tim Drury (2010) — defeats Nagawa Yudachi

• Sukhy Saroya (2013)

• Cedrick Peynaud (2016) — defeats David Mejia

• Bertrand Fleuret (2016) — defeats Antonio Gualtieri

• Cedrick Peynaud (2017) — defeats Olivier Lagarrigue

• Jean-Marie Pietrzak (2020) — defeats Nickolaj Christensen

• Cedrick Peynaud (2020)

• Bobby Campbell (2021) — defeats Jason Hinds

• Alan Berube (2023) — defeats Rudy Mendes (interim)

• Lewis Garside (2023) — defeats Steven Cook

Light Welterweight

• Cliff Thomas (1987) — defeats Thomas Chesterfield

• Abel El Quadili (1997)

• Herve Busonera (1998)

• Anthony Fernandez (2000)

• Wayne Jones (2001)

• Marty Cox Jr. (2008) — defeats John Paul Soames

• Denis Lukashov (2012)

• Sam Allan (2013) — defeats Bertrand Fleuret

• Romain Lombardo (2014) — defeats Ali Dursun

• Mohamed Larabi (2017) — defeats Aziz Mazar

• Vladislav Melmik (2019) — defeats Yoann Portallier

Super Lightweight

• Michel Rochette (1992)

• Troy Dorsey (1994)

• Johnny Cañabate (1997)

• Juan de Valle Moran (2006)

• Qasim Nisar (2007) — defeats Momo Galaoui

• Marty Cox Jr. (2008)

• Bruce Codron (2011) — defeats Modibo Diarra

• Abubaker Kaabunga (2012) — defeats Skraps Hazjeri

• Yoann Portallier (2013)

Lightweight

• Pat Romero (1987)

• Abel El Quandili (1996)

• Dave Newbrook (2000)

• Jorgen Sorenson (2013)

• Nabil Becharef (2015) — defeats Kevin Iscanez

• Aggelos Martinos (2023) — defeats Jonathan Maine

Super Featherweight

• Johannes Wolf (2014)

• Jonathan Pastorino (2020) — defeats Jan Szajko

Featherweight

• Refugio Flores (1981)

• Geronimo/Jerome Cañabate (1987)

• Santae Wilson (1987)

• Troy Dorsey (1994)

• Alexei Nechaev (1997)

• Johannes Wolf (2009) — defeats Alexander Shamray

• Marvin Falk (2013)

• Arnaud Charrier (2017) — defeats Luigi Vaccarella

• Jerome Ardissone (2020) — defeats Fionnbarr Thompson

Super Bantamweight

• Danny Melendez (1997)

Bantamweight

• Felipe Garcia (1986)

• Troy Dorsey (1987)

• Rico Brockington (1991)

• Dmitry Zrelov (1997)

• Devon Cormack (2001)

• Ilnaz Sayfullin (2013) — defeats Alexandre Prilip

Flyweight

• Jerry Clark (1986)

• Carl Sklavos (1987)

• Darius Jung (1997)

• Herve Grivot (1999)

• Mathieu Damiano (2016) — defeats Luigi Vaccarella

Light Flyweight

• Rico Brockington (1987)

Women Super Welterweight

• Cathy Le Mée (2017) — defeats Laura Burnett

Women Light Welterweight

• Valérie Hénin (1993)

• Stacey Parker (2015) — defeats Roxane Pinson

Women Super Lightweight

• Valérie Hénin (1994) — defeats Zelda Tekin

• Fredia Gibbs (1994)

• Irene Martens (2017) — defeats Carole Puissant

Women Lightweight

• Michele Aboro (1995) — defeats Stephanie Curtis

• Natalia Larionova (1997)

• Christine Theiss (2012) — defeats Sanja Samardzic

Women Featherweight

• Kathy Long (1991) — defeats Ramona Gatto

• Ramona Gatto (1992) — defeats Debbie Page

• Bridgett Riley (1994) — defeats Natalia Larionova

• Natalie McCarron (2012)

Women Super Bantamweight

• Ramona Gatto (1997)

Women Bantamweight

• Brigitte Pastore (1997)

• Natalie McCarron (2011) — defeats Katie Sendall

Women Super Flyweight

• Chantal Menard (1997)

• Nadia Debras (1997)

• Esther Paez (1999)

• Chantal Nadone (2001)

• Gina Chamie (2006)

• Natalie McCarron (2011) — defeats Helene Nielsen

• Lizzie Largillière (2017) — defeats Valeria Calabrese

Women Flyweight

• Ramona Gatto (1992)

• Olga Vlasova (1995)

• Severine Grandsire (1997)

• Chantal Nadone (2001) — defeats Mary Hart

• Natalie McCarron (2012) — defeats Andrea Warbrick

• Ludivine Lasnier (2015) — defeats Sarah Falchetti

Women Strawweight

• Djouahra Chafia (2015) — defeats Sarah Falchetti

Women Atomweight

• Emilie Machut (2017) — defeats Yanira Martin

• Simona Di Dio Martello (2021)