34 Facts About Azem Maksutaj

Azem Maksutaj competed in lightweight, welterweight, middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, cruiserweight, and heavyweight divisions.

Azem Maksutaj eventually moved to heavyweight in 2001, where he spent the remainder of his career, acting as a journeyman in the K-1 promotion and winning four other world titles.

Azem Maksutaj won fourteen world titles in various weight divisions before retiring in 2010 with a hundred professional contests.

Azem Maksutaj's father moved to Switzerland as a guest worker in the late 1970s, so Maksutaj saw him only sparingly while growing up.

Azem Maksutaj lost the world title to Perry Ubeda on 19 March 1995, in Nijmegen, Netherlands, after being knocked down three times in the first round.

On 10 June 1995, Azem Maksutaj was invited to fight at Japan's K-1 Fight Night, the first event held by the K-1 promotion outside Japan, in Zurich, Switzerland.

Azem Maksutaj was knocked down in round two and lost by a unanimous decision after a five-round tussle.

Azem Maksutaj ended that year's campaign with a knockout of Faizal Reding on 2 November 1996, in Zurich, to take the International Sport Karate Association World Super Middleweight championship.

Azem Maksutaj defended his ISKA world title for the first time by defeating Frenchman Moussa Sissoko within three rounds in Winterthur on 7 November 1998.

Azem Maksutaj knocked his opponent out in round four and won both the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations' Pro World Light Heavyweight and the WKA World Super Light Heavyweight belts.

Azem Maksutaj closed the year out with a fifth world championship win, outpointing his Surinamese opponent Ashwin Balrak for the World Professional Kickboxing League World Light Heavyweight title in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on 11 December 1999.

In 2000, Azem Maksutaj moved back down to super middleweight to successfully challenge for the WKA World Super Middleweight Championship, winning on points over Ivica Sukosic in Pristina, Kosovo.

In 2001, Azem Maksutaj moved to the heavyweight division, kicking off his career by winning the WPKC World Super Heavyweight Muay Thai Championship.

Azem Maksutaj competed in eight one-night tournaments in K-1's heavyweight division over the next five years and debuted in the Grand Prix format at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 Preliminary Marseilles on 25 January.

On 13 April 2002, Azem Maksutaj had a re-match with Vitali Akhramenko at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 Preliminary Croatia in Zagreb.

Azem Maksutaj was granted a chance at revenge against Gregory Tony the following month at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 in Paris, but the Frenchman came out on top again by winning a five-round majority decision.

Outside K-1, Azem Maksutaj picked up the WKA World Cruiserweight belt from Chino Mordillo in Zurich.

Azem Maksutaj forced two standing eight counts on the Spaniard, initially by damaging his arm with a blocked roundhouse kick, before defeating him with a high kick in round two.

Azem Maksutaj ended the year on a low note as he was handed his first stoppage loss in seven years by Peter Varga in Padua, Italy on 30 November 2002, losing his WPKC Super Heavyweight Muay Thai title.

Azem Maksutaj returned to Marseille to compete in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 Preliminary France on 24 January 2003.

Azem Maksutaj knocked out Rob Lloyd in the quarter-finals and outpointed Milos Koptak in the semis, before losing to his rival Gregory Tony for the third time in the final by unanimous decision.

Azem Maksutaj lost to Larry Lindwall at the opening stage.

Azem Maksutaj fought Bjorn Bregy in Zurich on 25 September 2004.

Azem Maksutaj was dropped with a right cross at the beginning of the second round but made a comeback soon after when he knocked down his opponent with a right hook.

Azem Maksutaj was drawn against the three-time K-1 North American champion Michael McDonald in the quarter-finals, and the two smaller, more technical heavyweights traded punches back-and-forth.

Azem Maksutaj was knocked down again in the final round after taking a knee from Karaev.

On September 24,2005, in Winterthur, Azem Maksutaj lost his WPKC World Super Heavyweight K-1 rules title, an accolade he had won earlier in the year, to Gary Turner on points.

Azem Maksutaj fared no better in his next match when he took on Jorgen Kruth at the K-1 World MAX North European Qualification 2007 in Stockholm on 24 November 2006, as he lost by KO from a knee midway through the opening round.

Azem Maksutaj struggled with Kaoklai's classical Thai style throughout and was given two contested counts, one in round two and another in the extension round, although both of these strikes seemed to be low blows.

Azem Maksutaj returned to the local circuit to stop his losing streak and took several wins including a points victory over Erhan Deniz in Bratislava, Slovakia on 7 September 2007, before returning to K-1 at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Amsterdam on 26 April 2008, to face an up-and-coming Tyrone Spong.

Azem Maksutaj got dropped from a knee to the body early in the opening stanza and was knocked down again with punches at the end of the round.

The second knockdown did not count as he was saved by the bell, but Spong soon finished him with another knee strike to the body in the second, bringing Azem Maksutaj's losing streak in K-1 to five.

Azem Maksutaj made a brief comeback on 29 January 2010, knocking out Jean-Luc Ajinca in three rounds at Bern's Wankdorfhalle.

Azem Maksutaj got married in Winterthur, Switzerland on 1 June 2007.