King Striking Series (KINGSS) was founded with a simple goal: to give amateur striking athletes a safe, sanctioned, and professional platform worthy of the work they put into their sport.
Based in Windsor, Ontario, KINGSS brings together athletes, coaches, gyms, officials, volunteers, partners, and fight fans from Canada and the United States for amateur kickboxing events built around athlete development, quality matchmaking, professional production, and an exciting live event experience.
We believe amateur athletes deserve more than simply a place to compete. They deserve an environment where their safety comes first, their preparation is respected, and every competition can become another step in their development.
MAKING HISTORY IN WINDSOR-ESSEX
KINGSS was founded to bring sanctioned amateur kickboxing back to Windsor and create opportunities for local athletes to compete in front of their home community.
King Striking Series became the first kickboxing event in Windsor to partner with kickboxing’s National Sport Organization, WAKO Canada, and the first sanctioned kickboxing event held in Windsor in more than two decades.
That inaugural event represented much more than the beginning of a new fight series. It established a sanctioned competitive platform in Windsor-Essex and gave athletes from the region an opportunity to compete within the rules, standards, and safety framework of Canada’s nationally recognized kickboxing organization.
What began as an effort to create opportunities locally has continued to grow into a platform connecting athletes and gyms from Windsor-Essex with competitors from across Ontario, Canada, and the United States.
A PATHWAY FOR ATHLETES
Athlete development is at the heart of KINGSS.
Creating sanctioned competition locally means athletes do not simply have somewhere to fight—it gives them an opportunity to become part of a larger competitive pathway.
An athlete can begin by gaining experience at the local level, continue developing through sanctioned competition, pursue provincial and national opportunities, and ultimately work toward representing Canada internationally.
That pathway has already become a reality for multiple athletes who have competed on KINGSS and gone on to represent Canada at the WAKO Junior and Senior World Championships and Pan-American competition.
For developing athletes in Windsor-Essex, seeing competitors who have stepped into the KINGSS ring continue on to represent their country demonstrates what can be possible beyond the local level.
Whether someone is entering the ring for their first sanctioned bout or is already pursuing national and international competition, KINGSS exists to provide meaningful competition and another opportunity to move forward.
BUILT FOR THE ATHLETES
Every fighter who competes has spent countless hours training, sacrificing, and preparing for the opportunity to test themselves.
Our responsibility is to create an environment that recognizes that commitment.
Safety, appropriate matchmaking, sanctioned competition, qualified officials, and adherence to established rules provide the foundation. Around that foundation, KINGSS works to create an event experience that makes amateur athletes feel that what they have accomplished matters.
From fighter announcements and event promotion to professional production, photography, video, walkouts, and the competition itself, KINGSS strives to give developing athletes an experience that prepares them for increasingly higher levels of competition.
When an athlete steps onto a KINGSS event, they are not only competing for themselves. They have an opportunity to represent their gym, coaches, teammates, family, community, and, for some, eventually their country.
RAISING THE STANDARD
KINGSS was built around the belief that amateur combat sports can be presented at a high level without losing sight of what matters most: the athletes and the competition.
Quality venues, carefully considered matchmaking, professional event production, athlete promotion, photography and video, community partnerships, and an engaging spectator experience all contribute to the environment we aim to create.
Our partnership with WAKO Canada provides the sanctioning framework for KINGSS competition, while participating gyms, coaches, officials, volunteers, businesses, sponsors, and community organizations help make each event possible.
KINGSS also provides a meeting point between combat sports communities on both sides of the Canada-United States border. Bringing together athletes from different cities, gyms, regions, and countries creates new matchups, relationships, and opportunities for developing competitors.
MORE THAN FIGHT NIGHT
The impact of KINGSS should extend beyond what happens when the bell rings.
Our events bring together athletes, families, spectators, officials, coaches, volunteers, local businesses, community organizations, and visitors to Windsor-Essex.
Those relationships allow KINGSS to create competitive opportunities while contributing to a larger combat sports community.
As KINGSS grows, our objective is not simply to produce more events. It is to help build a sustainable system through which athletes can participate, develop, compete, gain experience, and progress while creating opportunities for the coaches, officials, volunteers, businesses, and communities around them.
KINGSS COMBAT SPORTS FOUNDATION
KINGSS is presented by the KINGSS Combat Sports Foundation, a non-profit organization created to support the long-term growth and development of combat sports.
The Foundation expands the purpose of KINGSS beyond promoting individual events. Our vision is to help build the people, opportunities, partnerships, and infrastructure necessary for combat sports to grow sustainably—beginning in Windsor-Essex and extending beyond our region.
OUR MISSION
Committed to building a sustainable and inclusive pathway for combat sports in Ontario, beginning in Windsor-Essex and expanding across Canada. Our mission is to foster athletic excellence by developing athletes, referees, judges, and officials through sanctioned events, training opportunities, and mentorship programs. We aim to leave lasting legacies in the communities we serve by creating accessible platforms for participation, volunteerism, and skills development. By investing in the sport infrastructure and nurturing local partnerships, KINGSS generates meaningful employment, drives tourism, and contributes to the regional economy, all while strengthening Canada’s capacity to host high-quality, nationally recognized sport events.
This mission reflects where we believe combat sports development needs to go.
Building the sport requires more than developing fighters. It requires trained referees and judges, knowledgeable coaches and officials, volunteers, venues, community partners, event infrastructure, and opportunities for people to develop skills and experience.
By investing in each of these areas, KINGSS Combat Sports Foundation aims to create something that lasts beyond any individual event.
THE NEXT GENERATION
Every international athlete was once a local athlete.
Every experienced competitor once stepped into competition for the first time. Every established coach, referee, judge, and official began by learning their role.
KINGSS exists to help create opportunities for those next steps.
For some athletes, that may mean experiencing sanctioned competition for the first time. For others, it may mean pursuing provincial and national competition. And for a select group, that pathway may eventually lead to wearing the Canadian flag on the international stage.
At the same time, the future of combat sports depends on developing the people surrounding those athletes—the next generation of coaches, referees, judges, officials, volunteers, organizers, and community leaders.
That is the larger vision behind KINGSS and the KINGSS Combat Sports Foundation:
Build the opportunity locally. Develop the people around it. Create a pathway to the highest levels of the sport.