On 20 December 1959 a Muay Thai event was held in Tokyo, Japan, with Thai fighters. Karateka Tatsuo Yamada began to learn the art, with an eye towards introducing contact to karate. Then on 12 February 1963 three Mas Oyama students, Tadashi Nakamura, Kenji Kurosaki and Akio Fujihira journeyed to Thailand’s storied Lumpinee stadium. The trio went 2-1, with only Kurosaki losing. You can view that event above.

Boxing promoter Osamu Noguchi got interested, and held the first event for the new sport called kickboxing, on 11 April 1966 in Osaka. It quickly soared to prominence with multiple events on national television on a weekly basis. Fighters from Japan fought in Thailand and vice versa during the Golden Age of Japanese kickboxing.

Then organized crime elements began to fix fights, and when it became public in 1989, the public withdrew support, and support withered. Kickboxing was moribund until Seidokaikan karate founder Kazuyoshi Ishii started K-1.

The pattern of organized crime infiltrating fight sports was to be repeated with Pride. When it became public, television withdrew support, and MMA in Japan withered.