On January 5, 2017, the press conference of the “KungFu World Cup” was held at Huatian Hotel, Changsha, Hunan. The KungFu World Cup, gathering the top kungfu masters worldwide, is a grand new-year event jointly created by the heavy investments from “Combat World” of CCTV Newtv, Beijing Sport University, Ningxiang County Culture and Sports Radio and Television Bureau, Beijing Chamber of Commerce for Changsha Enterprises and Beijing Bokesen Media Technology Co., Ltd.

The first KungFu World Cup will be held at Ningxiang Stadium, Changsha on January 24-25, 2017 for its first world championship gold belt contest and ranking matches.

As introduced by Liu Lixin, a co-founder of Bokesen and the Head of the Tournament Department of the first KungFu World Cup, the “KungFu World Cup” will be crafted into an international martial arts festival with a great variety of highlights. The tournament will gather the strongest kungfu masters from over ten countries including China, France, Russia, USA, Italy, Germany, South Africa, Mexico, etc. Among them, there are a few champions from well-known tournaments in the world, including Contenders in France, Oktagon in Italy, Bellator and Glory in USA, K-1 in Japan, etc. In the first KungFu World Cup, there are a total of eight categories in two events, Kungfu Mixed Combat and Savate-Pro. Four-player promotional matches will be held for six categories, while the remaining two categories will give out championship gold belts.

The “KungFu World Cup” not only includes the mixed martial arts games of “Kungfu Mixed Combat”, but also the four-player championship matches of Savate-Pro, the origin of the contemporary free combat. In the 75kg category matches, Miao Chenlei, a Chinese boxing champion, will fight against Diaby Mohamed, a world champion in Savate-Pro from France, Haida Mustapha, a K-1 champion and contracted player of Glory from Italy, and Moiseev Anatoly, a K-1 champion and contracted player of Glory from Russia. In the 80kg category matches, Yang Jingyue from Beijing Sport University will fight four-player matches against Chekhonin Andrey, a world champion in kickboxing and contracted player of Glory from Russia, Gallo Nicola, a world champion in kickboxing and contracted player of Glory from Italy, as well as Kada Mohamed Mehdi, an European champion in Savate-Pro from France. It is the first time that five world champions and one European champion are to compete on the same stage in China, which is rarely seen even in first-class fighting contests around the world.

The prize for the champion in Savate-Pro in this tournament is 30 thousand euros, while that for the champion in Kungfu Mixed Combat is 50 thousand euros.