The HISTORY
Of The IKF

5 STAR MISSION OF THE IKF
- CLICK HERE -

IKF MUAY THAI

"The goal of the International Kickboxing Muay Thai Federation is to regulate safe and fair rules and regulations and help provide exposure and opportunities for local, regional, national and international competition among Pro and Amateur Kickboxing and Muay Thai fighters, trainers, promoters and officials. We will, through adherence to and enforcement of these rules and regulations, strive to make competitive Kickboxing and Muay Thai fighting a safe and fair sport as we continue to help bring exposure to and enhance the present as well as the future of the sport we serve around the world, Kickboxing and Muay Thai."

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The SHORT Version

The IKF Was Established in July of 1992 by cofounders
Steve Fossum (Left) & Dan Stell (Right).
Both Stell and Fossum created the foundation of the IKF from their knowledge and experience as past
Kickboxers (Over 100 bouts between them and multiple titles), Trainers of Champions and Kickboxing Event Promoters.

In July, of 1996, Mr. Stell stepped down as IKF Vice President to get back in the ring.
During this time he fought 2 Pro kickboxing bouts before retiring from the fighting ring.
Today, along with his other job, he's an event official for not only the IKF but other organizations.

In December of 1996, the IKF website was created by IKF Web Coordinator Yancey Gillis and IKF President Steve Fossum. The site was launched in January 1997 at www.jps.net/ikf. The new site address today is of course, www.IKFKickboxing.com. The ability to provide immediate news updates along with instant updates for events, rankings, rules & regulations to millions around the World was surly the key to the Worldwide success that the IKF has today.

IKF LEADERSHIP IN THE UNITED KINGDOM & IRELAND

IKF expanded it's growth in the United Kingdom with the relationship of Alby Bimpson of England in 1998. Together with his direct associates, Jacqui Thompson (Retired from the IKF Europe in 2005) and Mick Fowles, the IKF started sanctioning events in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales as well as Portugal, Russia, Greece and other European Countries. Bimpson and Fowles played important rolls in sanctioning IKF events throughout Europe in unison with the IKF World Headquarters in California, USA up until their termination in December of 2006

In June of 2007, Neil Holden took the position of Director for IKF Europe. He remained in this position until June, 2009 when increasing family and business commitments no longer gave him the time to do the job that he felt required to do. Holden remains very much a part of the IKF team and continues to promote his very successful events with IKF sanctioning.

In September of 2007, Carl Sams and Colin Payne, took over the official titles of Full Contact rules co-Directors for the United Kingdom.

In December of 2007, Mr. Pete Foley joined the IKF Team and in becoming the representative for Ireland. Pete owns and operates his own gym, the Black Dragon Gym in Galway and had been responsible for most of the competition between Irish and UK fighters for many years and remains in the position of IKF IrelandPresident until this day.

Replacing Holden in 2009 was Carl Sams and Colin Payne, both previously in charge of IKF Full Contact activity in the United Kingdom. Both were part of a strong and hard working IKF Europe Team. They fosused on growth and activity in the United Kingdom as Co-Directors for IKF Europe under all IKF rule styles and they continue this position today.

In 2016 Colin Payne stepped down from his position fo focus more on hi family and his gym. At this point, Carl Sams took over all IKF Full Contact activity in the United Kingdom and was in charge of sanctioning all IKF rule styles in the UK. Carlwent on to build a strong and hard working IKF Europe Team and he continue this position of IKF United Kingdom President & IKF European Director today.

The IKF World Headquarters in the USA oversee IKF World Operations with the rest of the IKF World Team.

The IKF World Headquarters in the USA oversee IKF World Operations with the rest of the IKF World Team.

Along with the IKF, Mr. Fossum also owns and operates a martial arts school (Fossum's Karate) along

with several other business interests that are related to the IKF (Martial Arts, Public Speaking & Instructional Seminars). Fossum is also the President of the first ever Mixed Martial Arts Sanctioning body, (MMA) the
ISCF, International Sport Combat Federation - www.ISCFMMA.com
and the President and CEO of
IFS, International Fight Sports - www.IFightSports.com



which oversees several Fight Sport Companies who all have a mutual goal of fostering National and International Pro and Amateur Fight Sport Competition through the Sanctioning of Fight Sports in the sports of Kickboxing, MMA and Boxing.

From experience the IKF discovered that there are 5 things that make an organization successful.
These 5 things have always been the focus of organizational growth for the IKF World TEAM.
Everyday, the IKF World Team continues to work to create an organization that gives pride and recognition to all 5 of these things,
Fighters, Trainers, Officials, Event Promoters and Sponsors.


HOWEVER, let us add 3 more...
Don't forget the Friends, Family & FANS who make the sport worth it all, The Great Sports of

MUAY THAI & KICKBOXING!!!!!...

The HISTORY
Of The IKF

The Longer - Full Version

Read below how the IKF was formed by a common thought...

"Do Not Follow where others have been, but go instead, where there is no path and leave their own trail..."

The trail of the Largest Kickboxing Sanctioning Body In the World...
The International Kickboxing Federation.

WHY Another SANCTIONING BODY?

Dan Stell Working As A Referee In
At The 2000 IKF USA Nationals













John Anderson
& Juan Torres




The Winning Team,
L-R, Corner Assistant
Maria Hewling,
Fighter Nathan Patterson
Steve Fossum,
Corner Assistant Ron Helling,
Head Trainer Dan Stell and in
the middle, Fighter Jose Martinez
after a win by KO in
Bakersfield, CA, USA. 1991.




The first Miss IKF,
Emily Prince.
Emily was the official
IKF ringcard girl
at nearly all of the first IKF
events in California, USA.
Today she owns her own clothing
design company but is still
available through the IKF for
IKF Events Worldwide.





Andy "The Sandman" Sanchez.
The Second EVER IKF Champion
was Amateur Champion, Sanchez.
He won his bout by TKO 1:25 into the
3rd round over
highly favored
Nathan "The Punisher" Patterson
of Auburn, CA, USA.
The win was on the first IKF
Sanctioned event at the
Roseville Fairgrounds in
Roseville, CA, USA on
August 1st, 1992.
In his first title defense he defeated
Tony Prince of Fairfield, CA, USA
at Travis AFB in Fairfield, CA
by unanimous decision,
48-42, 48-40 & 50-44
on September 18th, 1993.



Kung Fu Master,
Master Tat Mau Wong
(Pictured Left Above)
of San Francisco CA, USA was one
of the first IKF Promoters.
Shown here with one of his associates and
IKF President Steve Fossum.

Before we talk about the beginning of the IKF back in 1992, let's first give you a background of what we've discovered through the years... One question that many wonder is WHY does one decide to start up their own sanctioning body? Well, we can't speak for others but in the case of the IKF it was because we as fighters, trainers and promoters got tired of WONDERING "WHO" was TRULY the best as an amateur. Yes, as an AMATEUR. You see, the IKF was originally started to be just an AMATEUR organization. The reason we started sanctioning pro events was because some pro fighters saw what we were doing and asked us to start working with them as well.

Unlike many other new or smaller sanctioning bodies around the world today, money was the last of the many reasons why. We bring up the issue of money because 95% of the small time sanctioning bodies in the world today were started by promoters who wanted to save sanctioning money on their own shows and still be able to produce their own World Champions. "John from one side of town against Joe from the other side of town etc." In addition, these promoters thought they could sell their titles to other promoters and become wealthy by just selling letters. However, as we all can see, it wasn't as easy as they thought which explains why many of these smaller sanctioning bodies never grow larger than their own town or state. Some make it as far as their own country, but facts show that over the last 20 years, only 3 Kickboxing Sanctioning Bodies have ever become TRUE Worldwide Organizations.

The IKF achieved this status in 1997, 5 years after it's beginning. We must say that the internet was the number 1 reason for our rapid growth. The other 2 organizations were the WKA (World Karate Organization when Howard Hanson was their President) and the ISKA (International Sport Karate Organization, founded from the failed PKA) However during the early 90's these two once proud organizations suffered through internal problems which diminished their size greatly.

When Howard Hanson decided to step down from the WKA, (Approximately 1992) the organization went through several leaders with each damaging the credibility of the organization more and more. These leaders let "Power" be their focus instead of serving the sport. Finally the WKA landed in the hands of Mr. Paul Ingram of England, the current WKA President. Ingram has tried to regain full control of the WKA worldwide but it seems that in various countries around the world, many promoters and "Claimed to be", appointed representatives of the WKA, still use the WKA letters without paying the proper fees to the WKA head office in England. This has also proved to be true with the ISKA which went through a major break-up of representatives worldwide in 1998. From what we know there are now "2" ISKA organizations. USA and Europe. We believe this is the main reason why neither group updates their rankings because even they don't know who holds what titles anymore. Why these groups don't have any amateur rankings makes us here at the IKF wonder, "How can you sell something you don't have?"

Many of the representatives of these two organizations charge fees to individuals under the heading of the WKA or ISKA (As we have found here in the U.S. and other countries) yet WKA England and ISKA USA never sees the income. For this, we truly feel sorry for Ingram's efforts to re-organize the works of the WKA Worldwide and for Mike Sawyer's efforts to keep control of the ISKA. In regards to the WKA, outside of England, it seems that only in Canada are the WKA letters remaining strong and true. There, WKA Promoter and representative Mike Miles truly follows the requirements of WKA England. Miles has been known to have WKA Pro events in the past but mainly amateur events. Miles also sanctions some of his events with the IKF from time to time. Here in the U.S. there are still some WKA "Amateur" events now and then but never anymore WKA Pro events. In other parts of Europe, the WKA and the ISKA are very popular in point karate, but not in kickboxing.

In regards to the "MANY" other sanctioning bodies out there today, we ask all of you to TRULY research WHERE they're sanctioning events around the world and you will find, as we did that although they may be big in one country, they are not actively promoting on every continent around the world. No, the IKF has not promoted in EVERY country around the world but we are currently sanctioning events on every continent in the world today. If you visit other organizations web sites, you will see that they "CLAIM" to be worldwide. However, ask them for an updated events list as we publish here with the IKF and "IF" you get one, you will see that they are not as active as they claim and many of their sanctioned events are Point Karate, NOT Kickboxing.

Of these smaller sanctioning bodies, when they tried to advertise their organizations to other promoters, they found out quickly that like any consumer, people question what they're paying for. What those inquiring promoters found out was that in most cases, these smaller organizations don't even keep track of their rankings let alone have any additional structure behind them such as Rules, Current News, Events List, Regulations, Guidelines, etc. etc.

As the IKF grows, we continue to see "Sanctioning Bodies" bashed by fighters, trainers and promoters and from what some of these organizations offer, we can't say we blame them. Many have a correct answer to the reasons many promoters start up their own sanctioning body. Money! No fees paid for their sanctioning means they can do what they want when they want. But there are other reasons as well as was told to us by many other organizations leaders. For example, they will no longer need to have ANYONE looking over their shoulder anymore such as an organization representative. They can select whomever they want to fight for any of their titles. And the other thing we laugh about is the desire by many of these leaders to someday travel to events around the world.

IN THE BEGINNING...

So WHY the IKF? Well, believe it or not, both Dan Stell and Steve Fossum were WKA supporters before the IKF. So what made them walk away from the WKA? It all started when Fossum met a promoter named Herb Cody (Right) of Rohnert Park, CA, USA (Who later started the IKKC) Cody had told Fossum that he was the Northern California WKA Representative. Fossum wanted to have a WKA Amateur title for one of his fighters, John Anderson of Auburn, CA, USA (Pictured Left - at Left) with the style of belt he was promised. Who owned the belt in the Picture? WKA World Champion Juan Torres, (Who later became the first Pro Men's IKF World Champion in 1994.) next to him, who later became an IKF Pro World Champion. Torres at the time was managed by Cody.) Since Cody was actually the promoter of the event, Cody said he would take care of sanctioning the title through WKA President Howard Hanson.

The day of the event, Anderson's opponent simply didn't show up which obviously upset Fossum and Anderson. When Fossum inquired about what happens to the title before the event started, Cody told him that Anderson wins the title by forfeit and that he would get a title belt soon. However, when no belt came, Fossum decided to contact WKA President Hanson at the WKA headquarters in Southern California, USA about the title and belt. Hanson said he knew nothing of the event even being sanctioned by the WKA.

When Fossum asked if Anderson was ranked now as a WKA Champion, Hanson said "No, we have no record of it." From the conversation, Fossum questioned Cody's representation of the WKA. At the time, Cody was advertising WKA sanctioned events but Hanson said none of them were WKA sanctioned. It wasn't soon after this that Cody started his own sanctioning body, the IKKC and started promoting his own world titles on his promotions.

From this, Fossum started to work on his next promotion. However this time, Fossum was the promoter, not Cody. On this next event, Fossum had a fighter from Bakersfield booked to fight one of Dan Stell's rising stars, Jim Brown of Roseville, CA, USA. Fossum had paid the sanctioning fee for a WKA U.S. Amateur title to Hanson at the WKA headquarters and paid to have another WKA representative travel up from Southern California to be the event Representative. Although Fossum by now was appointed the Northern California WKA Representative by Hanson, he didn't want any conflict of interest since he knew Brown AND since he was the promoter of the event. On Wednesday, the week of the fight, A guy claiming to be the doctor for the title fight fighter called and left a message on Fossum's recorder at his gym saying the fighter cut his lip "SEVERELY" in sparring and won't be coming up. Fossum was obviously upset since he had spent quite a bit on promoting Brown's bout as a U.S. title bout. When Fossum found out Brown didn't have an opponent, he called to talk to WKA President Howard Hanson. He asked Hanson what disciplinary actions are taken in this case and what happens to what was suppose to be a vacant WKA U.S. Amateur Title. It was Hanson's answer that started the questioning of the amateur rankings by Fossum and Stell. He said "None. Why should we, we don't even keep track of amateur titles let alone amateur rankings."

What made the situation worse was that two weeks later Fossum and Stell were in Bakersfield for a WKA event and Fossum saw the fighter who was suppose to be at his event 2 weeks earlier. He asked if he could see his cut. There was none. Fossum became obviously upset about the situation even more now finding out that the trainer and fighter simply didn't want to make the drive up to Northern California without being paid as many amateur fighters do in Southern California, even though Fossum was paying for their travel fees. In addition, he was upset when the WKA would not refund the sanctioning fee OR at least credit it to another event. But it gets worse...

About 3 weeks later, Fossum finds "2 OTHER" fighters at another event in California who showed him their WKA U.S. Title Belts and the dates on them and they "BOTH" held the "SAME" title of WKA US Amateur Champion in the same weight class and rule style Fossum purchased for his event and the two fighters had won their titles within that same year.

From there, Fossum saw the WKA needed work in regards to tracking amateurs so he asked Hanson if he could do RANKINGS for the amateurs and was given the green light. As Hanson and Fossum spoke over the next few weeks, Hanson decided to re-confirm Fossum's appointment as WKA Northern California Representative in November of 1991. From there, Fossum became more motivated to promote the work of the WKA. He was doing lots of work to put WKA amateur rankings together.

But as quickly as Hanson allowed Fossum to try and organize the WKA amateurs ranks in California, with no warning at all, he simply retired as WKA President and gave the organization to Dale Floyd (Right) of Canada. Fossum had never met Floyd and Floyd knew nothing of Fossum. When Fossum got in contact with Floyd, he told Fossum that a big meeting was planned for all the USA WKA representatives and promoters in Las Vegas on March 16th, 1992 since the WKA was sanctioning an event called WMAC.

So Fossum and Stell paid their way to Las Vegas to not only go to the big WKA meeting but to also go to the kickboxing event. Well, to make a long story short, that "BIG" meeting Floyd talked about consisted of 4 people. Dale Floyd, 2 WKA Australian Representatives and Fossum. Floyd told Fossum that he already decided to appoint Herb Cody the WKA Representative. But Cody had already started his IKKC, why would Floyd want Cody to represent the WKA when it was clear that he was now promoting his own events with his own IKKC? Floyd had no explanation and the meeting was over... Fossum was shocked that Floyd had put someone in charge of the WKA California operations that had just started his own sanctioning body. Not to mention all the advertised WKA events that were later discovered to not even be sanctioned by the WKA. Fossum was confused and felt betrayed by Floyd and the WKA for the work he had already put in to try to develop WKA amateur rankings.

After the meeting, Fossum and Stell along with some others went to the WMAC event at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. They saw Dennis Alexio fight a controversial bout with Branko Cikatich of Croatia that many kickboxing fans know about. They saw Kathy Long destroy Kyoko Kamikaze of Japan. Maurice Smith stopped Steven Kruwell by low kicks. Peter Cunningham destroyed fighter Chris Anderson with leg kicks in a leg kick bout. Anderson told everyone later that he had never fought leg kicks before and if that was true, it sure showed. These were just a few of the bouts on the event. It was later found out that most of the fighters checks on the event bounced and no one really knows if everyone got paid. The event was also a PPV disaster, but then again, no PPV kickboxing events have ever made money.

Looking To The Future

When Fossum and Stell returned from Vegas, they started thinking about the ideas of starting their own sanctioning body. What would it take? How would others look at it? What regulations had to be followed? How much would it cost? Who would associate with a new group? It all came together one night at a Denny's Restaurant in Newcastle, CA, USA when Stell, Fossum and a few kickboxing students found themselves complaining about the status of the amateur ranks in California. Finally within the night, they decided they could either continue to complain or they could do something about it. So they decided to "Walk the Walk".

Stell and Fossum didn't want to just make up letters like many promoters did. They wanted to "JUSTIFY" to everyone else why their organization was going to improve the sport and be better than any of the others. They felt if they couldn't make a "Better Product", WHO would ever want to associate with them? Anyone can COPY something but if it were BETTER, than the sport would benefit along with its participants on every level. So the goal in the beginning was always to be BETTER and offer MORE for the price one paid for it, not just duplicate another organization as many continue to do today around the world. They weren't making the product for them, they wanted it to please the entire kickboxing world. So they looked at the state of kickboxing and came up with several great ideas that all focused around their main goal, To "ORGANIZE Everyone Together." This included Trainers, Promoters, Fighters and Officials. They wanted to give them all recognition for their work somehow.

How? Well to begin with, they decided to create an official IKF Rankings book. However, what made this book exceptional was Fossum's idea to list the TRAINERS along with the fighters AND the Trainers CONTACT NUMBER. It began as a single 8½" x 11" sheet of paper folded in half. Over the course of 5 years, the books had grown to over 50 pages and was known to many as "THE BOOK!" Promoters from other organizations along with IKF Promoters started using the book for matchmaking because it made their job A LOT easier than trying to track down fighters and trainers phone numbers through other sources. This was probably the MAIN reason for the IKF's success in the early years. No other organization had helped make fighters so easily available to everyone before "The BOOK!" It was a FIRST for sanctioning bodies and one all should follow today, yet oddly enough, NONE do.

As we all know, "The BOOK" was eventually replaced by the IKF website, IKFKickboxing.com. In December of 1996, IKF Web Designer Yancey Gillis and IKF President Steve Fossum worked together to create the first IKF Website at www.jps.net/ikf. Eventually, the IKF registered their official domain name as IKFKickboxing.com.

Imagine how big the book would be today with all the information you find on the IKF Web Site? Everything on the IKF Web Site was once in the Monthly IKF Rankings books. The Monthly books were like a small "Who's Who" Kickboxing Magazine. Fossum's main goal of the IKF was to establish a ranking system for amateur fighters so the amateurs could determine who their competition was, as well as always know WHO held WHAT Title. As a kickboxer and trainer himself along with Stell, they went through their careers with little recognition. This made even a more important reason for the rankings, which was to register ALL amateur champions so the titles wouldn't be duplicated as in the case of the ISKA, WKA and other smaller organizations. In addition, a champion could show someone their name in the book to prove they were for real. Also, other promoters and matchmakers would see their names as well.

The monthly books included rankings, news stories about events, upcoming events calendar, rules & regulations, trainer's names, IKF Rules & Regulations, officials names some advertising of sponsors and fighters pictures. The books became extremely popular in California and soon they were being mailed around the country as well as around the world. Fighters outside of California were calling to see how they could be listed in what California Kickboxers were calling "THE BOOK!"

However, from the beginning of the IKF in 1992 until late 1997, the only way a fighter could get placed into the IKF Rankings was to fight on an IKF event. In late 1997, the IKF started allowing non-IKF event fighters to be ranked in the rankings, which continue to fill today. Although the Internet site took the place of the Monthly IKF Rankings books, the books will be back again by popular demand in 2004 in a magazine format.

Fossum wasn't content with just ranking fighters though. He also wanted to separate the rankings of different rule styles since he thought it was simply stupid to rank leg kick fighters with full contact fighters. Or Muay Thai fighters with Full Contact fighters. So in the monthly rankings books there were 3 divisions for men and women amateur kickboxers. (Full Contact, International & MuayThai). Later these same divisions were added for pros along with adding San Shou to the rule styles.

The monthly rankings books and the rankings themselves were the foundation of the organization. They were the true reason Fossum and Stell wanted to start the IKF. Not money. Not power. Not Control but "Organization" of the sport they loved. They made it a requirement to interview each fighter at every IKF event and find out all about them. A fighters real fight record was the most important piece of information the IKF needed for the rankings so the mismatched bouts would stop between the fighters with say an 8-1 record fighting a first time fighter. Many times, trainers would never offer a fighters true record just to get them fights. Record tracking became very important for matchmaking as well to see who was truly worthy of a title shot. Even today, the IKF Rankings are still used by promoters and matchmakers of many other organization, not just the IKF because again, they included the fighters trainer name and "CONTACT NUMBER". For every fighter in the IKF Rankings, even a first time amateur, the rankings include their name, hometown, record with KO's, height, weight last fought at, date of birth, trainers name and as said, a contact number. Today with the usefulness of the Internet, e-mail addresses are also included for many trainers.

What's In A Name?

While thinking up names to call the organization, Fossum suggested they not limit the title such as "California Amateur Kickboxing Association". They knew if the idea worked, they would want to work with pro events as well, so the word Amateur was taken out.

INTERNATIONAL
They decided to use the word International for 2 reasons. 1, Fossum's karate school (Fossum's Karate) was already called International Karate for its blend of worldwide styles taught there so they could simply answer the phone "International". Sounds silly, but it's true. 2, The word International would also not limit their growth worldwide for again, if people liked what they were doing, they didn't want to be limited to just California or the USA.

KICKBOXING
The word kickboxing was obvious since this was what they wanted to associate with. The other organizations they compared themselves to at the time used the word "KARATE" instead of KICKBOXING (WKA 'World Karate Association' & ISKA 'International Sport Karate Association', which have both now changed the word Karate to Kickboxing or formed two separate divisions).

FEDERATION
Federation was a no brainier since it meant "To join or unity in Alliance." which was exactly what they were trying to do with everyone in the sport. Also, since the concept was about TEAMWORK, this said it all. They also didn't want more than 3 letters thinking that 3 letters just sounded better. Next came the idea of the IKF logo.

Steve Fossum



IKF President Steve Fossum
with World Kickboxing Champion
Kathy Long and
IKF Champion Toney Hannon.
Hannon won several IKF
Titles in the first 5 years of the IKF
including U.S. and North American. Long
who is one of the most famous female
kickboxers in the World won several
World Titles during her career.
Although she never fought for the
IKF, she had many
of her own fighters that did.



Herb Cody





Dale Floyd










JIM BROWN
First EVER IKF Champion





IKF Cofounder Dan Stell (L)
works out with kickboxer Dave Griffiths (R)
of Fairfield, CA, USA at Fossum's Gym in Newcastle, CA.
Griffiths fought in the first ever IKF
sanctioned bout losing to John Hahn of
Roseville, CA, USA






The first IKF Referee was
Jon D. Schorle II
of Sacramento, CA, USA.
Schorle refereed about 80%
of the first 20 IKF
sanctioned events in California, USA.
Today, like Dan Stell, he still referees
for the IKF
and other organizations.





Abe Belardo




Neil Holden




Colin Payne




Carl Sams

The Beginning

On August 1st, 1992, IKF President Steve Fossum and IKF Vice President Dan Stell hosted the first ever IKF Kickboxing event entitled "The Making of Team USA". The event was held at the Roseville Fairgrounds in Roseville, CA, USA. Some of the special guest included Eugene Ray who was the original trainer of Dennis Alexio and World Champion female Kickboxer Ramona Gatto who would later become the first ever IKF Pro World Champion.

The first recorded IKF bout that night was between Dave Griffiths of Fairfield, CA against John Hahn of Roseville, CA. Hahn won the bout. Also featured on the night were 2 IKF titles. The IKF Light Heavyweight Title and the IKF Heavyweight Title. Andy Sanchez defeated Nathan Patterson by TKO to win the first ever IKF title, the Light Heavyweight FCR Title, while Jim Brown defeated Ken Morgan for the 2nd IKF title awarded, the Heavyweight FCR Title.

After their first event, Stell and Fossum's IKF quickly caught the respect from several other promoters and the IKF trail had begun. Following Fossum's opening IKF event were other promoters willing to work with the IKF. Jacob "Stitch" Duran, Tat Mau Wong, Bob Solano, Abe Belardo (Below Right), Scott Coker, Joe Corley and Howard Petchler just to name a few. Fossum made a promise to the IKF promoters that after he promoted 3 IKF Sanctioned events, he would not promote again to avoid conflicts of interest. From there, even more promoters became involved in the IKF.

Stell's Departure

In July, of 1996, IKF co founder and Vice President Dan Stell stepped down as IKF Vice

President and severed all ownership ties so he could go back to promoting and fighting. He promoted some events in Redding, and Fairfield CA along with fighting 2 more times.

He eventually retired from the ring with a kickboxing record of 16 wins, 1 loss with 13 wins coming by KO/TKO. Once retired, he turned to the officials arena where he excels today working for the California State Athletic Commission. Stell referees both amateur and pro boxing and kickboxing. He's worked with all the major boxing sanctioning bodies and several in kickboxing including the IKF of course, Draka, ISKA and some other smaller organization.

Stell is a neutral referee that works the shows the commission assigns him to along with traveling out of State to work IKF events he is assigned to. Fossum has never had a problem with Stell doing events for other organizations knowing that the more he works, the better he is as a referee.

Stell is also the Chief of Officials for the IKF.

IKF Enters Europe

August 16th, 1998.In 1998 the IKF met Mr. Alby Bimpson of Liverpool, England and started discussing the possibilities of sanctioning the first IKF Event in Europe. With the event confirmed, Bimpson brought over IKF President Steve Fossum and IKF Representative and Pro World Champion Duke Roufus who witnessed England's Chris Wright win the IKF Pro MuayThai Rules Cruiserweight World Title when he defeated Duncan Airlie James of Glasgow, Scotland by head kick KO at 2:04 of round 2 in St. Helens, England on

After the event, Bimpson started his work to bring on board many other European countries in forming the IKF European division in 1998. With Bimpson's Team, IKF sanctioning events in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Portugal, Russia, Greece and other European Countries just to name a few.

Bimpson and his direct associates, Jacqui Thompson (Retired from the IKF Europe in 2005) and referee Mick Fowles were a big part in sanctioning IKF events throughout Europe in unison with the IKF World Headquarters in California, USA. However, as often the case, Bimpson had other ideas in mind while building his IKF European Team. In 2006 Bimpson announced he was starting his own sanctioning body with other IKF Associates and before long, he was taking IKF Events and changing them to his own sanctioned events. Upon this finding, the IKF terminated Bimpson's position as IKF England Director in December of 2006 for pilfering items in association with the IKF name.

In 2007, Neil Holden took the position of Director for IKF Europe. He remained in this position until increasing family and business commitments no longer gave him the time to do the job that he felt required to do. Holden remains very much a part of the IKF team and continues to promote his very successful events with IKF sanctioning.

Being First In North America

In 1999 the IKF teamed up with Joe Taylor of Ringside Products and started what is todayone of the Largest Amateur Kickboxing and Muay Thai Tournaments in the World that allowed ONLY True Amateur Fighters to compete in. It was entitled the IKF Nationals. With athletes from Canada and Mexico wanting to compete in the event, the name was changed to the IKF North American Classic. the popularity of the event continued to spread and today the Tournament is known as the IKF World Classic.

Changes In IKF Europe

In 2009, Carl Sams and Colin Payne, both previously in charge of IKF Full Contact activity in the United Kingdomw replaced Holden. Both were already part of a strong and hard working IKF Europe Team. They fosused on growth and activity in the United Kingdom as Co-Directors for IKF Europe under all IKF rule styles and they continue this position today.

In 2016 Colin Payne stepped down from his position fo focus more on hi family and his gym. At this point, Carl Sams took over all IKF Full Contact activity in the United Kingdom and was in charge of sanctioning all IKF rule styles in the UK. Carlwent on to build a strong and hard working IKF Europe Team and he continue this position today.

The IKF World Headquarters in the USA oversee IKF World Operations with the rest of the
IKF World Team.

________________________

Along with the IKF, Mr. Fossum also owns and operates a martial arts school (Fossum's Karate) along with several other business interests that are related to the IKF (Martial Arts, Public Speaking & Instructional Seminars). Fossum is also the President of the first ever Mixed Martial Arts Sanctioning body, (MMA) the ISCF, International Sport Combat Federation - www.ISCFMMA.com and the President of the IAB International Association of Boxing - www.IABBoxing.com

Fossum combined all of these organizations under one umbrella organization in which he is the President and CEO, the IFS, International Fight Sports - www.IFightSports.com which oversees several Fight Sport Companies who all have a mutual goal of fostering National and International Pro and Amateur Fight Sport Competition through the Sanctioning of Fight Sports in the sports of Kickboxing, MMA and Boxing.

From experience the IKF discovered that there are 5 things that make an organization successful. These 5 things have always been the focus of organizational growth for the IKF World TEAM. Everyday, the IKF World Team continues to work to create an organization that gives pride and recognition to all 5 of these things, Fighters, Trainers, Officials, Event Promoters and Sponsors.

HOWEVER, let us add 3 more... Don't forget the Friends, Family & FANS who make the sport worth it all, The Great Sport of

MUAY THAI & KICKBOXING!

ABOUT THE IKF LOGO

The main structure of the IKF logo at right was designed on a napkin at a Denny's Restaurant in Newcastle, CA, USA by Co-Founders Dan Stell and Steve Fossum in 1992 where they went to dinner most nights after training.

However, the logo at right includes a few things that the very first registered logo didn't.
The changes that were made to the IKF logo during the first several years of the IKF were the addition of the IKF Center letters and the type style of the outside font (letters) from a square font to a more rounded font.

Later in 1999, the IKF logo was changed more dramatically. IKF President Steve Fossum wanted to clean up the edges of the original art work for the new printing that was going to be done on the new IKF T-Shirts. He also wanted to *fix the logo design since they were doing a new medallion mold for the IKF title belts. When he and graphic arts designer Toni Foster (Left, who later married IKF President Steve Fossum in November of 2002) of Foster Graphics in Auburn, CA started working on the logo, he thought it was a good time to change the "Boxer figure" that many people didn't like to a "Kicking figure". During the changes, the IKF letters were moved up to be more centered on the logo as well as made bolder along with adding a new globe and some basic colors changes.

(*) For years, the IKF logo was used without anyone realizing that the overall shape of the logo was not equal on both sides. An error made by the first artist that created the logo back in 1992. The outside shape had to be changed as you may have noticed when Foster discovered that the shape of the logo on the left and the right were not the same at all. To make it the same, the logo was stretched a bit left to right.

At the beginning of 2004, the IKF introduced yet another new logo design which is in use today. The new logo is cleaner and more bold. (At Right)

How important was the
INTERNET
and the IKF Website to the growth and exposure of the IKF?

Why we were never insulted when our competition thought they were insulting us by naming us the
IKF - The INTERNET Kickboxing Federation...

How important was the INTERNET and the IKF Website to the growth and exposure of the IKF? Well one look at the numbers will tell you the whole story. The IKF was started in July of 1992 and there were 2 IKF sanctioned events that year. The first ever IKF Sanctioned event was on August 1st, 1992 at the Roseville Fairgrounds in Roseville, CA, USA. It was promoted by IKF President Steve Fossum to get the word out about the new organization. The second IKF Sanctioned event ever was promoted by IKF Promoter Jacob Duran in Fairfield, CA USA on October 17th.

In 1993 there were 6 IKF Sanctioned Events, 2 of those were promoted by IKF President Steve Fossum and one of them was his last one he ever promoted. He felt Promoting was a conflict of interest and assured all the promoters who worked with the IKF in the beginning that he would only promote 3 events as IKF President. A Promise he kept to everyone.

The IKF continued to grow in 1994 as they sanctioned 11 Events. However the numbers dropped in 1995, 96 & 97 to only 8 IKF Sanctioned events because Mr. Fossum was putting in a lot of his time focusing on the building of a new Martial Arts and Kickboxing club.

After Dan Stell stepped away from the IKF in July of 1996, Fossum took on the task of enlarging the IKF on a true worldwide scale through the use of the worldwide web. In January of 1997, the IKF launched its official IKF Website at a temporary web address located at www.jps.net/ikf. (No longer there) Due to the exposure of the World Wide Web that first year the IKF Sanctioned events outside of USA for the first time ever which included events in Canada and Mexico.

In 1998 the IKF sanctioned 35 major events and about 20 smaller events that included events in the USA, Canada, Mexico, England, Scotland, Armenia, Portugal and several other countries. Quite a jump from 8. All due to Internet exposure through the IKF Website.

In 1999 the IKF created the web address, www.IKFKickboxing.com that was a major addition to marketing the IKF Organization. The growth in 1999 doubling to 71 events and growing more and more ever since. By end of February, 2002 the IKF was sanctioning over 100 "REAL KICKBOXING" (Not semi contact events like other organizations count on their event totals) events per year and became the number 1 sanctioning body in the world.

• Here Is A List Of "Some" of the Promoters Around The World Who Have Sanctioned Their Events With The IKF
  1. Abe Belardo of Bakersfield, California, USA
  2. Dan Stell of Fairfield, California, USA
  3. Tim Stell of Fairfield, California, USA
  4. Jesse Finney of St Louis, Missouri, USA
  5. Alby Bimpson of Merseyside, England
  6. Clement and Rhonda Vierra of Phoenix, Arizona, USA
  7. Rob Zbilski of Lake In The Hills, Illinois, USA
  8. Morris Young of England
  9. Cung Le of San Jose, California, USA
  10. Jimmy Stewart of Butler, Pennsylvania, USA
  11. Andre Thomas of Malaysia
  12. Nigel Thompson of Bedford, England
  13. Ryan Blackorby of Peoria, Illinois, USA
  14. Jan Cree of Scotland
  15. Dave Marinoble of Roseville, California, USA
  16. Al Corte of Phoenix, Arizona, USA
  17. Mick Fowles of England
  18. Dominador Tomate of Bakersfield, California, USA
  19. Orin Gautreaux of Kansas City, Missouri, USA
  20. Dan Tharp of Kansas City, Missouri, USA
  21. Russ O'Connell of Waterloo, Iowa, USA
  22. Bob Leiker of Kansas City, Kansas, USA
  23. Andre McIntyre of Reading England
  24. Joe Corley of Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  25. Howard Petchler of Atlanta, Georgia, USA
  26. Griffin Reynaud of Salt Lake City, Utah
  27. Miguel Reyes of Mexico
  28. Franz Haller of Italy
  29. Mike Wood of Douglasville, Georgia, USA
  30. Larry Sharpe of Manitoba Canadian
  31. Tony Rosalas of New Mexico, USA
  32. Matthew Waller of Griffin, Georgia, USA
  33. Johnny Davis of Rocklin, California, USA
  34. Adrin Silvia of Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
  35. Tom Sullivan of Eau Claire, Wisconsin USA
  36. Doug Dickey of Mexico
  37. Fernando Callaros of El Paso, Texas, USA
  38. Raul Romero of Mexico
  39. David Smith of Casper, Wyoming, USA
  40. Sky Drysdale of Rockford, Illinois, USA
  41. Robert Wilesmith of Sydney, Australia
  42. Mike and Elizabeth Carlson of Augusta, Georgia, USA
  43. Rick Rodriguez of Honolulu, Hawaii
  44. James Corbett of Valdosta, Georgia, USA
  45. David Ross of New York, New York
  46. Tat Mau Wong of San Francisco, California, USA
  47. Wash Stallworth of Monterey, California, USA
  48. Adolfo Lozano of Mexico
  49. Brett Moses of Atlanta Georgia, USA
  50. Steve Jessop of England
  51. Chuck Best of Richardson, Texas, USA
  52. Sean Wohl of Daytona Beach Florida
  53. Lu Hoyer of Holland
  54. Evgeny Kotelnikov of Minsk Belarus
  55. Tim Stell of Fairfield, California, USA
  56. Mick Doyle of Omaha, Nebraska, USA
  57. Craig Lamanna of Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
  58. Trevor Ambrose of Norway
  59. Mitz Bandiera of Ontario, Canada
  60. Mike Miles of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
  61. Russ Williams of Wales
  62. Mario Theodat of Port-au-Prince, Haiti
  63. Ray Thompson of Simpsonville, South Carolina, USA
  64. Craig Smith of Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA
  65. Felix Perez of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
  66. Jeff Mullen of Memphis, Tennessee, USA
  67. Nasser Niavaroni of Roseville, California, USA
  68. Sven Bean of Denver, Colorado, USA
  69. Scott Coker of San Jose, California, USA
  70. Duke Roufus of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
  71. Jacob Duran of Fairfield, California, USA
  72. Dan Verdugo of Redding California, USA
  73. Lyle Cheney of Red Deer, Alberta, Canada
  74. Bob Solono of Watsonville, California
  75. Vic Theriault of Montreal, Quebec, Canada
  76. Gerry Brenner of Fairfield, California, USA
  77. Eric Nolan of Bakersfield, California, USA
  78. Mike Mattox of Dixon, Illinois, USA
  79. Craig Monyelle of Beloit, Wisconsin, USA
  80. Mike Espinoza of Belmont, California, USA
  81. Caroline Mixon of Orlando, Florida
  82. Sam Montgomery of Hayward, California, USA
  83. Mike LaBree of Cable, Wisconsin, USA
  84. Gerardo Salmon of Tijuana, Mexico
  85. Fernando Loio of Portugal
  86. Jack Gluck of Medford, Oregon, USA
  87. Dennis Alexio of Honololu, Hawaii, USA
  88. Stephen Donnelly of Coventry, England
  89. John Rice of Kirkby, Liverpool England
  90. Mark Wilson of Kirkby, Liverpool, England
  91. John Flounders of Coventry, England
  92. Steve Ventura of New York, New York
  93. Steve Sax of Loomis, California, USA
  94. Roger Tompkins of Waterloo, Iowa, USA
  95. Johnny Zarate of Tijuana, Mexico
  96. Christopher Cordeiro of Orlando, Florida, USA
  97. Leon Ramsey of West Virginia
  98. Bruce Marshall of Massachusetts/New England
  99. Tom Moffett of Honololu Hawaii
  100. Shorne Moorcroft & Roleen Coetser of Johannesburg, South Africa
  101. Phil DeRocco of Butler Pennsylvania, USA
  102. Dan Rawlings of Madison, Ohio, USA
  103. Billy Mua & John Cho of Fresno California, USA
  104. Michael & Martin McNamara of Ontario Canada
  105. Tom Morris of Radford, Coventry, England
  106. Paul & Avid Gakhal of Chicago, Illinois, USA
  107. John Turner & Richard Cox of Valdosta, Georgia, USA
  108. Robert Coquete of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
  109. Walt Mason of Texas, USA
  110. Andy Foster of Dalton Georgia, USA
  111. Don Chargin of Sacramento, California, USA
  112. Pedro Fernandez of Tijuana, Mexico
  113. Larry Jones of Daytona Beach, Florida, USA
  114. Michael Nevmovenko of Novosibirsk, Russia
  115. Doug Freeman of Kansas City Missouri, USA
  116. Robert Thomas of Layton, Oklahoma, USA
  117. Bing Tran of Denver, Colorado, USA
  118. Oleg Vadaturskiy of Omsk, Siberia, Russia
  119. Vince McAllister of Fairfield, California, USA
  120. Frank Albo of Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada
  121. Richard Calabera of New Town North Dakota, USA
  122. Steve Gosden, Brighton England
  123. Jay Beckby of Hastings, Nebraska, USA
  124. Youri Belousov of Kaliningrad, Russia
  125. Goff Bates of Newcastle England
  126. Gary Brown of Merraitt, Georgia, USA
  127. Guy Butler of Kettering, North Ants, England
  128. Jerly Diaz of Tijuana, Mexico
  129. Lloyd Brown of Hayward, Wisconsin, USA
  130. Frank J. Maki of Towler Minnesota, USA
  131. Lee Barden of Florida, USA
  132. Nuno Ferreira of Portugal
  133. Paul Swagert of Kansas City Missouri USA
  134. Guy Mezger of Dallas Texas USA
  135. Chuck Gerlach of Pennsylvania, USA
  136. Steven Mair of Wishaw, Glasgow, Scotland
  137. JoJo Rashawans of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, USA
  138. Ray Deburgh of Kettering England
  139. B. J. Huffman of Jefferson City, Missouri, USA
  140. Jimmy Blann of Southhaven Mississippi
  141. Chris Miller of Lancaster, Ohio, USA
  142. Fred Lewis of Stockton, California, USA
  143. Roy Englebrecht of Bakersfield, California, USA
  144. Scott Hicks of Georgia, USA
  145. Noel Darby of Georgia, USA
  146. Franz Hallar of Bolzano Italy
  147. Michael Kossivakis of Greece
  148. Lance Farrell of Des Moines, Iowa, USA
  149. Tom Poey of Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA
  150. Wayne Quintyne of St. Michael Barbados
  151. Kris Ottem of Fargo, North Dakota, USA
  152. Clive Matthews of Moathouse Northampton, England
  153. Bill Lassi of Hinkley, Minnesota, USA
  154. Bobby Anderson of Hinkley, Minnesota, USA
  155. Lee Whittington of Sidcup Kent, England
  156. Dick & Priscilla Marconi of Tustin, California USA
  157. Bob Schirmer of Cicero, Illinois, USA
  158. Yong Yao of San Jose, California USA Promoted In Beijing, China
  159. Eduardo Cano of Tijuana Mexico
  160. Joe Odman of Montreal, Quebec, Canada

And many more around the World...

IKF WEB SITE

By May of 2003 the IKF web site was getting over 1 million hits per month and ranked behind only 1 other kickboxing website on the web (On non "pay for placement search engines) only because the other site uses the word Kickboxing alone in its title, "Kickboxing.com".

However, as ranked by www.Alexa.com, an independent web ranking company, the IKF web site ranks higher than any other site promoting the sport of Kickboxing today. Having a website was not the secret to the IKF's success though...

Doing the Right Thing Was!

Check out the IKF World Advisory Board by clicking HERE!

"IKFKickboxing.com... The Game Has Changed...

For a view of the IKF growth, go to our MEDIA Page by clicking HERE!

Mr. Fossum's Travel Schedule - Click HERE
Mr. Fossum's Karate & Kickboxing Gym

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