Taiei Kin

Kin Taiei (; born July 8, 1970) is a Korean-Japanese light heavyweight karateka, kickboxer and mixed martial artist competing in K-1 and DREAM.

Before switching to MMA, According to Peter Aerts and Ernesto Hoost, Kin was the best fighter to come out of Asia during his time competing in K-1.

Biography

Early years Kin Taiei (金泰泳) was born as the eldest son in Amagasaki city of Hyogo prefecture, Japan on July 8, 1970. As he is the eldest son, he's got a younger brother. Both of his parents worked till late at night, he was sent to Karate dojo for combing the care with a nursery school. He took an interest in football (soccer) at 4th year of elementary school, and dropped out training karate at 6th year. He won the Japanese national championship for junior high schools at the 3rd year. When he was a student of Kobe Korean Senior High school, he tried to start practicing boxing because he had a longing for foreign boxers, but he joined karate team in his school because his parents objected strongly. For this reason, he also joined the karate team of Korea University in Tokyo when he became a university student. During his university life, he participated a full contact karate championship promoted by Sato juku, but he was beaten by Nobuaki Kakuda. Although he lost, he was evaluated highly by Kazuyoshi Ishii, and he was invited to Seidokaikan. Thus, Kin became a student of Seidokaikan in Osaka after graduation of university.

Debut On January 31, 1993, Kin participated "The 2nd Towa Cup Karate Japan Open Tournament", but he was beaten by Masaaki Satake in the final.

On June 25, he fought against Changpuek Kiatsongrit from Thailand for the vacant title of UKF World Light heavyweight championship at the event of "Sanctuary III", but he lost by decision.

Work as Trainer During the years 2006 and 2007, he trained Hong-man Choi in his K-1 career. Choi showed notable improvement during the time Kin was in his corner. They worked together for almost two years in which Choi had nine fights. He won six of them and lost three, twice against Jérôme Le Banner and once against Mighty Mo (kickboxer). Among his six wins was a win over K-1 Dominator Semmy Schilt and a Rematch win over Mighty Mo, in which Kin changed Choi's fighting style from orthodox to southpaw to block Mo's devastating overhand right better.

Titles 2009 K-1 World Grand Prix in Seoul finalist 1996 WMTC World Junior middleweight champion 1995 Karate World Cup champion 1995 K-3 Grand Prix runner up 1994 UKF World Light heavyweight champion 1994 Karate Japan Open finalist 1993 Karate World Cup 3rd Place 1993 Karate Japan Open finalist 1992 Karate World Cup finalist (lost to Andy Hug)

Kickboxing record

Karate record

Mixed martial arts record Win

Sentoryū Henri TKO (corner stoppage) Heat - Heat 16

Osaka, Japan Loss

Zelg Galesic TKO (elbow injury) Dream 4: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 Second Round

Yokohama, Japan Win

Ikuhisa Minowa Decision (unanimous) Dream 2: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 First Round

Saitama, Japan Loss

Zelg Galešić TKO (doctor stoppage) Hero's 2007 in Korea

Seoul, South Korea Win

Kiyoshi Tamura Decision (unanimous) Hero's 9

Yokohama, Japan Win

Tokimitsu Ishizawa KO (head kick) K-1 Premium Dynamite!! 2006

Osaka, Japan Loss

Yoshihiro Akiyama Technical Submission (armbar) Hero's 6

Tokyo, Japan