Mike Zambidis

Mike Zambidis, nicknamed Iron Mike, is a legendary Greek fighter with aggressive attacking tactics, European champion, multiple world champion, winner of international mixed martial arts tournaments, was twice a semifinalist of the K-1 MAX Grand Prix, but never won the trophy.

Michalis (Mike) Zambidis was born in the capital of Greece, Athens, on July 15, 1980. The future champion went in for sports from the age of 5. First, he spent 2 years in the gymnastics section, then became interested in martial arts. Mike's first hobby was the Shotokan karate. He mastered the fighting technique together with his older brother Spyros and friend Lazaros Filipos.

The next stage in the formation of the young fighter was kickboxing and other types of martial arts: hand-to-hand combat sanshou, pankration, rooted in ancient Greece, Muay Thai and boxing.

Zambidis quickly mastered the technique and by the age of 18 gained a form that allowed him to participate in competitions on an equal basis with professionals, his height is 167 cm, weight is 70-76 kg. Mike spent his first fights at home, the results allowed him to become one of the best fighters in Greece, a four-time champion of the camp. According to some sources, Zambidis got into the Guinness Book of Records for the result of 48 knockouts in 60 fights.

On the international stage, Zambidis made his debut at the Balkan Championship organized by the Sports Karate Association (ISKA) in 1997, he won the tournament, defeating a number of strong opponents. The following year, Mike became the European professional champion.

In 2000 Zambidis moved to Australia, where kickboxing was well developed and popular. He immediately became the WOKA world welterweight champion and retained the title the following year.

From 2000 to 2002, Mike won a number of status victories; Gürkan Özkan, Baris Nezif, Jenk Behic, Bakari Tounkara, Matteo Sciacca and others could not resist under his onslaught. The fight with the master of taekwondo Hassan Kassrioui ended with a knockout in favor of the Greek. At the end of 2002, Zambidis competed at the K-1 Oceania MAX 2002 tournament, reached the final and defeated 26-year-old John Wayne Parr in a beautiful fight.

In 2003, promoter Tariq Solak organized Zambidis' debut fight in Japan against reigning K-1 MAX champion Albert Kraus. At the 16th second of the 2nd round, Iron Mike attacked with a right hook and knocked out the Dutchman. In the same year, Zambidis scored 2 more victories: at the Kickboxing Superstar XII in Milan, by decision of the judges, he surpassed a fighter from Thailand, and then knocked out the Turkish Gurkan Ozkan in the No Respect 2 competition in Australia.

The K-1 World MAX 2004 World Tournament Open in Tokyo began for the Greek boxer with a victory in the qualifying round, at the end of the fight he advanced to the quarterfinals, but lost it to Japanese karateka Taishin Kohiruimaki. At the end of 2004, Zambidis participated in the A-1 World Combat Cup 2004 in Melbourne, Australia, passed all stages of the tournament and became the champion in the weight up to 76 kg.

In April 2005, at the K-1 World MAX 2005 World Tournament Open, Mike right-hooked the popular "kid" Norifumi Yamamoto out of the competition in front of thousands of Japanese kickboxer fans. Then he defeated the Turkish fighter Kara Murat on his native land. During the year, the Greek athlete had 7 fights, scored 6 victories (4 knockouts).

The defeat in the open tournament K-1 World MAX 2006 World from the Japanese Yoshihiro Sato showed the weak points of the Greek athlete, who missed a large number of low kicks and knees, which allowed the opponent to score points. Nevertheless, Zambidis qualified for the K-1 World MAX 2007 World Championship, but lost the quarterfinals to Ukrainian Artur Kishenko, nicknamed Belka. In the same year, Iron Mike won the world welterweight title in the A-1 World Combat Cup.

2007 ended unsuccessfully for Zambidis, he did not make it to the main event of the K-1 World MAX 2008 World Championship, but he was invited to participate in the Super-Boy, which took place on July 7, 2008. Here he met with the once defeated Albert Kraus. This time, luck was on the side of the Dutchman: the doctors stopped the fight, they awarded him the victory. Mike recovered for a long time after this defeat, until the end of the season did not enter the ring, and in 2009 he had only 4 meetings, 2 of which he lost.

In 2010, the Greek athlete finally made it to the K-1 World MAX 2010 Final, but Zambidis lost to Giorgio Petrosyan in the semifinal match by a controversial decision. In May 2011, a border battle took place between Iron Mike and the Shooter, John Wayne Parr. The fighters met each other 2 times, the score was 1: 1. The fight did not last long: in the 1st round, the Australian knocked down his opponent three times and was declared the winner.

At the end of the same year, within the framework of the Fight Nights show "Battle of Moscow 5", the central event was the battle between Zambidis and Batu Khasikov. The audience was waiting for the spectacle, but the fight ended in round 1: the Russian kicked the opponent in the head with a knee, after the doctor's examination the Greek could not continue the fight, presumably due to a broken jaw.

After the fight, Mike was sent to the Sklifosovsky Institute, where the injury was confirmed. The Greek athlete refused hospitalization in Moscow and flew to his homeland for treatment. It was rumored that Zambidis swallowed the mouthpiece from Hasikov's blow, but the athlete denied this information in an interview.

On December 15, 2012, Zambidis defeated Rhys McAlister by unanimous decision in the K-1 World MAX 2012 World Championship Tournament Final in Athens, Greece. And then he suffered a crushing defeat to Murtel Groenhart in the 2nd round of the semifinals. The Greek fighter was going to participate in the semi-finals of the four at the Legend 1 tournament in Russia on May 25, 2013, but was replaced by Ukrainian kickboxer Enrico Gogokhia.

On March 28, 2014, a rematch between Zambidis and Khasikov took place in Moscow at the Battle of Moscow 15 show. Before the fight, the Russian athlete said that if he won this fight, he intends to end his career, the Greek, in turn, expressed his readiness to immediately give his opponent the opportunity to win back in case of defeat.

The fight began with mutual attacks, in the 3rd round Hasikov hit Mike in the head with a knee and cut his eyebrow, the judges and doctors wanted to stop the fight, but Zambidis's seconds insisted on continuing. As a result, the Russian won by a split decision.

After the fight, the Greek athlete refused to immediately undergo the mandatory doping control procedure, citing injuries that required medical attention. From the hospital, the fighter did not return to the arena and did not pass the test, this gave rise to rumors about the presence of illegal drugs in the athlete's body.

In early 2015, after a fight with Harun Kina at the 2015 Iron Challenge in Athens, which ended in a knockout in favor of Zambidis, the athlete announced his retirement. He said that he will have 2 more fights and leave the ring. The first of the announced fights took place in Cyprus on May 9, 2015 in 5 rounds against the Turk Erkan Varol, Iron Mike won by a judge's decision.

The farewell fight of the legendary Greek took place on June 27, 2015 in his homeland, in Athens, at the Iron Challenge tournament. The titled Australian Steve Moxon became the rival of Zambidis. The fight was spectacular and uncompromising. The opponents worked out 5 allotted rounds. The unanimous decision was awarded to Iron Mike.

Zambidis is the owner of the Zambidis Club gym in the Greek city of Glyfada.

There is little information about the athlete's personal life, presumably he has neither a wife nor children. According to Iron Mike, marriage is "the biggest fight, and he'll give it when he's ready."

An interesting fact in the kickboxer's biography is his participation in the show "Dancing with the Stars" in 2010. Zambidis performed in an unexpected role and took 5th place.

After completing his career in the ring, Iron Mike did not leave the sport. He keeps fit and trains the younger generation of fighters at the Zambidis Club, where he now spends most of his time.

At home, he participates in exhibition fights and shows. On his Instagram page, Zambidis posted a photo of the poster of one of these projects, entitled "The Spirit of the Warrior" and a joint photo with its participants, Hollywood stars Scott Adkins and Silvio Simak.

Mike travels to Greece, conducts kickboxing seminars, he reports on this on Twitter. In addition, the renowned fighter takes part in events outside the country. In 2018 he will be an official guest of the Enfusion show in Germany.

2000 - world champion according to WOKA 2002 - champion of the King of the Ring (Thai boxing) 2003 - champion of the King of the Ring (K-1) 2004 - winner of the A-1 tournament (76 kg) 2005 - world champion according to WKBF 2008 - world champion according to version A-1 2011 - world champion according to W5 (71.8 kg) 2013 - world champion according to SuperKombat (71 kg)

Mike Zambidis ' s estimated Net Worth, Salary, Income, Cars, Lifestyles & many more details have been updated below.

Let's check, How Rich is Mike Zambidis in 2020 ?

Mike Zambidis Net Worth 2021

Mike Zambidis 's revenue is $1M in 2021. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Mike Zambidis and could vary in the range between $962.6K - $1.5M.

Mike Zambidis Net Worth 2020

Mike Zambidis 's revenue is $1.5M in 2020. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Mike Zambidis and could vary in the range between $796.1K - $1.5M.

Mike Zambidis Net Worth 2019

Mike Zambidis 's revenue is $1.6M in 2019. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Mike Zambidis and could vary in the range between $782.7K - $1.6M.

Mike Zambidis Net Worth 2018

Mike Zambidis 's revenue is $1.1M in 2018. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Mike Zambidis and could vary in the range between $656.9K - $2M.

Mike Zambidis Net Worth 2017

Mike Zambidis 's revenue is $1.6M in 2017. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Mike Zambidis and could vary in the range between $550.8K - $1.7M.

Mike Zambidis Net Worth 2016

Mike Zambidis 's revenue is $1.2M in 2016. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Mike Zambidis and could vary in the range between $879K - $1.6M.

Mike Zambidis Net Worth 2015

Mike Zambidis 's revenue is $1.2M in 2015. It is an approximate forecast of how rich is Mike Zambidis and could vary in the range between $927.2K - $1.9M.

It is an overall forecast for the net worth of Mike Zambidis. The evaluation covers the latest 5 years and an approximation for next year. See above to learn how much money does Mike Zambidis makes a year.

The range above shows an estimation based on evaluation generated by public information about sponsorships or other sources found on the internet. It's summarized data from Mike Zambidis's projects existing in AidWiki's repository. It's an approximation of the revenue compiled by AidWiki and may not correspond with the real amount.