Iska Information

Strikeforce was the leading promotion for ISKA world championship kickboxing in the USA and the main provider of ISKA programming for ESPN TV network for 12 years. Moving with the times, Strikeforce promoter Scott Coker unveiled the Strikeforce Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) series with the Shamrock versus Gracie event on 10 March 2006, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California. The Frank Shamrock versus Cesar Gracie match sold out the HP Pavilion in San Jose attracting a record audience of 18,265. Strikeforce co-produced its first Showtime pay-per-view MMA event featuring a world championship match between Frank Shamrock and Phil Baroni on 22 June 2007. Strikeforce rose to incredible heights, airing a successful television series on SHOWTIME premium network until 2011 when the company was purchased by ZUFFA, the parent company of UFC. While becoming diversified in the regulation of martial arts and combat sports, ISKA also maintained their leadership in the arena of traditional martial arts tournaments. The US OPEN / ISKA World Martial Arts Championships is commonly regarded as the most prestigious event of its kind. The event regularly draws more than 3,500 competitors representing more than 50 different countries. Their spectacular ISKA Night of Champions is aired live on ESPN 3 while highlights are edited into a special presentation for ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN International. In 2012, ISKA was contracted by GLORY World Series to help develop and regulate "Road to GLORY," a developmental kickboxing league designed to identify and cultivate young American kickboxing talent. This lead to the ISKA sanctioning of GLORY's high profile series of events for SPIKE television which features the world's most elite kickboxing athletes in single matches and a four-man tournament format. ISKA continues to contribute in as many ways as possible to providing safe and fair opportunities for deserving athletes while assisting our associated promoters to raise the profile of our sport. This is our mission.