Knock Out (stylized as KNOCK OUT) is a Japanese martial arts promotion and brand established in 2016 by the Bushido Road subsidiary Kixroad. It is currently run by Def Fellow.
In 2019, the promotion established two different rulesets. The Knock Out-Red ruleset allowed elbow strikes, sweeps and throws. The Knock Out-Black ruleset followed the traditional K-1 ruleset, which allowed kicks and strikes with fists or knees, while extended clinching, elbow strikes and throws of any kind were prohibited.
Current champions DivisionRed ChampionBlack Champion Super Middleweight (-75 kg) Vacant Vacant Super Welterweight (-70 kg) Yoshiro Tsuzaki Ryoki Welterweight (-67.5 kg) Vacant Yulian Pozdniakov Super Lightweight (-65 kg) Dansiam Weerasakreck Chihiro Suzuki Lightweight (-62.5 kg) Taimu Hisai Fumiya Osawa Super Featherweight (-60 kg) Vacant Ryusei Featherweight (-57.5 kg) Vacant Seiya Furuki Super Bantamweight (-55 kg) Yuki Morioka Koki Bantamweight (-53.5 kg) Riku Otsu Vacant Super Flyweight (-52 kg) Vacant Vacant Minimumweight (-47.5 kg) Vacant Vacant Atomweight (-46 kg) Vacant Mako Yamada
History On September 14, 2016, Bushido Road announced the establishment of a new kickboxing promotion called Knock Out. The promotion was founded jointly by Riki Onodera and Road Fight, and initially partnered with another kickboxing promotion "NO KICK NO LIFE".
KNOCK OUT held their first event, called "Knock Out vol.0", at the Tokyo Dome City Hall on December 5, 2016. It was headlined by a muay thai bout between Sirimongkol PKsaenchaimuaythaigym and the Rajadamnern 135 lbs champion Genji Umeno. Tenshin Nasukawa faced the two-weight Lumpinee champion Wanchalong PK.Saenchai in the co-headliner. A half hour segment of the event was later broadcast by Tokyo MX on December 31, 2016. The event was fully broadcast on January 1, 2017.
Riki Onodera retired from the position of producer on April 29, 2019. On May 20, 2019, it was announced that he would be replaced by Genki Yamaguchi. On the same day, Knock Out announced that they had entered into a partnership agreement with Rebels, another kickboxing and muay thai promotion.
On June 15, 2020, Bushido Road sold Knock Out ownership rights to Def Fellow, the operating company of Rebels.
At a press conference held on September 28, 2020, producer Genki Yamaguchi announced his retirement. Former K-1 producer and Good Loser president Mitsuru Miyata was announced as his replacement.
On December 18, 2020, Def Fellow announced they would merge Rebels into the Knock Out brand. The merger occurred in March 2021.
Rules The current rules were last revised in February 2023, and are as follows:
Matches are won by knockout, technical knockout, disqualification or judges decision. A knockout victory is awarded if one competitor is rendered unable to continue competing as a result of a single strike. A technical knockout victory is awarded is one of the following cases: (1) if one of the competitors is unable to rise in time (i.e. within 10 seconds) following a knockdown (2) if one of the competitors suffers three knockdowns inside of a single round (3) if the corner-men of one of the competitors throws in the towel, or opts to retire their fighter at the end of the round (4) if the referee decides that a competitor cannot continue fighting due to an injury, or if they receive significant damage without intelligently defending themselves Matches are scored based on the following criteria: (1) number of knockdowns (2) presence or absence of damage done to the opponent (3) number of clean hits (4) aggressiveness In case of a draw, an extension round will be fought, after which one competitor will necessarily be declared a winner Spitting, headbutts, biting, groin strikes, strikes to the back of the head, striking after the round has ended or the referee has called for a break, striking while the opponent is knocked down and excessive holding are all considered fouls. Furthermore, under the KNOCKOUT BLACK ruleset, sweeps, throws, and strikes with the elbow are prohibited. Fights under the BLACK rules allow a fighter to land a single strike while holding an opponent's leg, if it was caught after an attempted kick If one of the competitors commits a foul, they will be given a caution and a warning. If the foul is repeated, they will be given a yellow card, which results in a point deduction. Should the foul be committed once again, the competitor will be given a red card, and will be disqualified.
Championship history King of Knock Out Super Lightweight Championship Weight limit: 65 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Fukashi (def. Hideki) August 19, 2018
Lightweight Championship Weight limit: 61.5 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Yosuke Morii (def. Katsuji) December 10, 2017 2 Yodlekpet Or. Pitisak (def. Yosuke Morii) August 14, 2018def. Chan Hyung Lee on April 29, 2019
Super Bantamweight Championship Weight limit: 55 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Rui Ebata (def. Eisaku Ogasawara) September 18, 2019
Flyweight Championship Weight limit: 51 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Issei Ishii (def. Kazuki Osaki) December 9, 2018
Knock Out-Red Red Super Welterweight Championship Weight limit: 70 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Eiji Yoshida (def. Yoshiro Tsuzaki) October 16, 2019 2 Kuntap Charoenchai (def. Yoshiro Tsuzaki) December 11, 2022def. Yoshiro Tsuzaki on December 1, 2024 3 Yoshiro Tsuzaki (def. Kuntap Charoenchai) May 18, 2025
Red Super Lightweight Championship Weight limit: 65 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Bazooka Koki(def. Ryotaro) September 16, 2023 Bazooka Koki vacated the belt in 2024. 2 Dansiam Weerasakreck(def. Ryotaro) December 1, 2024def. Taimu Hisai on June 21, 2026
Red Lightweight Championship Weight limit: 62.5 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Suarek Rukkukamui (def. Yota Shigemori) September 22, 2020 2 Yota Shigemori (def. Suarek Rukkukamui) July 18, 2021 3 Kongnapa Weerasakreck(def. Yota Shigemori) June 22, 2025 4 Taimu Hisai(def. Kongnapa Weerasakreck) December 30, 2025draws vs. Kongnapa Weerasakreck on February 15, 2026
Red Super Featherweight Championship Weight limit: 60 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Taimu Hisai (def. Soichiro Arata) December 11, 2022 Hisai vacated the title in 2023 in order to move up in weight 2 Taimu Hisai (def. Kanata Shimoji) December 30, 2024 Hisai vacated the title on July 9, 2025 in order to move up in weight 3 Ryusei(def. Kaewkangwan Torfunfarm) September 5, 2026
Red Featherweight Championship Weight limit: 57.5 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Haruto Yasumoto (def. Shogo Kuriaki) June 9, 2019 Yasumoto vacated the title on July 28, 2022, after signing with RISE. 2 Eisaku Ogasawara (def. Takeru Owaki) September 23, 2022 Ogasawara vacated the title in 2025. 3 Surasak KrudamGym (def. Kyoken Jin) August 8, 2026
Red Super Bantamweight Championship Weight limit: 55 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Eisaku Ogasawara (def. King Kyosuke) March 13, 2021def. Issei Saenchaigym on November 28, 2021 Ogasawara vacated the title on August 18, 2022, in order to move up to featherweight. 2 Issei SaenchaiGym (def. Yuki Morioka) November 19, 2022 3 Hikaru Furumura (def. Issei SaenchaiGym) August 6, 2023 4 Issei SaenchaiGym (2)(def. Hikaru Furumura) April 27, 2024 5 Yuki Morioka(def. Issei SaenchaiGym) June 22, 2025
Red Bantamweight Championship Weight limit: 53.5 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Kyoha (def. Kohei Adachi) September 25, 2021 Kyoha vacated the title in 2022. 2 Riku Otsu (def. Shinta) August 6, 2023
Red Super Flyweight Championship Weight limit: 52 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Yusei Shirahata (def. Ryuto Oinuma) February 28, 2021 Shirahata vacated the title on March 3, 2022. 2 Shinta(def. Riku Otsu) December 11, 2022 Shinta vacated the title on 2023, in order to move up to bantamweight.
Red Light Flyweight Championship Weight limit:49 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Arina Kobayashi (def. Sanengarm Sakchamni) August 8, 2026
Knock Out-Black Black Super Middleweight Championship Weight limit: 75 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Shintaro Matsukura (def. Hijiri Tamura) July 18, 2021 Matsukura vacated the title on March 3, 2022.
Black Super Welterweight Championship Weight limit: 70 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Kaito Ono (def. Hinata) February 28, 2021def. Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong on December 30, 2025 Kaito vacated the title on February 24, 2026. Interim champion Ryoki was elevated to regular champion 2 Ryoki (def. Hiroki Nakajima for the interim title) May 18, 2025draws with Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong on April 18, 2026
Black Welterweight Championship Weight limit: 67.5 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Ryotaro (def. Daiki Watabe) September 23, 2022 2 Rei Nakajima(def. Daiki Watabe) December 30, 2024 3 Yulian Pozdniakov(def. Rei Nakajima) December 30, 2025
Black Super Lightweight Championship Weight limit: 65 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Chihiro Suzuki (def. Keijirō Miyakoshi) July 18, 2021
Black Lightweight Championship Weight limit: 62.5 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Bazooka Koki (def. Keisuke Niwa) August 30, 2020def. Shoji Otani on May 22, 2021 Bazooka Koki vacated the title in 2023 in order to move up in weight 2 Taimu Hisai (def. Shoji Otani) September 16, 2023 Hisai vacated the title in 2024 in order to focus on his Super featherweight title 3 Shoji Otani (def. Saengdawlek Y’ZD Gym) December 1, 2024 4 Fumiya Osawa (def. Shoji Otani) May 18, 2025
Black Super Featherweight Championship Weight limit: 60 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Taimu Hisai (def. Ryusei) June 23, 2024def. Ryusei on June 22, 2025 Hisai vacated the title on July 9, 2025, in order to move up in weight 2 Ryusei (def. Reiya Komori) June 21, 2026
Black Featherweight Championship Weight limit: 57.5 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Ryusei (def. Ginji) October 29, 2021 Ryusei vacated the title on July 11, 2024 in order to move up in weight 2 Shogo Kuriaki (def. Qumuxifu) October 12, 2024 Kuriaki vacated the title in 2025 in order to transition to mixed martial arts 3 Seiya Furuki (def. Ryota Naito) September 23, 2025 4 Qumuxifu(def. Seiya Furuki) February 15, 2026
Black Super Bantamweight Championship Weight limit: 55 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Seiya Furuki (def. Reo "red" Kudo) December 11, 2022def. Takaya Ogura on August 6, 2023 Furuki vacated the title in 2025 in order to move up in weight 2 Yuki Morioka (def. Takumi Fukuda) September 23, 2025 3 Koki (def. Yuki Morioka) June 21, 2026
Black Super Flyweight Championship Weight limit: 52 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Ryu Hanaoka (def. Takumi Hamada) September 25, 2021 Hanaoka vacated the title on July 28, 2022, after signing with RISE.
Black Female Minimumweight Championship Weight limit: 47.5 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Panchan Rina (def. Miki Kitamura) March 12, 2022 Rina vacated the title on February 17, 2023, after being arrested on fraud charges
Black Female Atomweight Championship Weight limit: 46 kg
No.NameDateDefenses 1 Panchan Rina (def. Misaki) August 30, 2020 Rina vacated the title on December 19, 2021, in order to move up in weight. 2 Kiho (def. Mako Yamada) September 23, 2025 3 Mako Yamada(def. Kiho) December 30, 2025 4 Koto Hiraoka(def. Mako Yamada) September 5, 2026
Grand Prix + Knock Out Black -64kg Grand Prix Date Champion Nationality Event Location Runner-up Nationality 2020-02-11 Renta Nishioka Japan Knock Out Championship.1 Tokyo, Japan Koki Bazooka Japan
References