ATHENS, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Murthel Groenhart from the Netherlands won the championship of the kick boxing K-1 World Max 2012 Final 8 in the Greek capital of Athens Saturday night.

Groenhart defeated Artur Kyshenko of Ukraine to claim the title and win the prize of 300,000 U.S. dollars. This came after 26-year-old Groenhart knocked out Mike Zambidis in the semi-finals and Yasuhiro Kido in the preliminary fights.

Kyshenko defeated Andy Souwer (The Netherlands) and Chris Ngimbi (Congo) before reaching into the final with Groenhart.

Reece McAlliste (United Kindom) was defeated by Zambidis, while Andy Ristie (Suriname) lost to Souwer in the preliminary fights.

This is the first time for Greece to host the K-1 World Max 2012 Final 8, the kick boxing "Olympics" worldwide.

Founded in 1993 in Japan, K-1 refers to the initial letter of the words karate, kick boxing and kung fu and the unique position of the world champion, according to the organizer K-1 Global Holdings Limited.

K-1 is a world-wide kick boxing promotion founded in Japan. Its rules are similar to those of kick boxing but they have been simplified to promote exciting matches that may end in a knockout win.