is a defunct martial arts entertainment planning and promotion brand, which was established in 2010 and merged into Knock Out in 2021.

History Rebels was established by the former two-weight Martial Arts Japan kickboxing champion Genki Yamaguchi on December 1, 2009, with the aim of popularizing the sport of muay thai in Japan. The inaugural event was held jointly by M-1 Challenge and Cross-Point on January 29, 2010, and was headline by a lightweight bout between Arashi Fujihara and TOMONORI. Starting with the third event, Rebels-EX, Cross Point broke their partnership with M-1 and remained as the sole promoter and organizer of the events.

On June 11, 2011, Rebels announced a partnership with the Dutch-based It's Showtime, which allowed cross-promotion and mutual exchange of fighters under contract. The first joint event was held on July 18, 2011, under the name “Stand up JAPAN!” REBELS × IT'S SHOWTIME 〜 REBELS.8 〜 and was headlined by a -61 kg title eliminator between Rebels contracted Kan Itabashi and Genki Yamamoto.

On October 28, 2012, Rebels announced events from that point forward would be held under two rulesets: Rebels rules, which was similar to K-1 and Rebels Muay Thai rules, which allowed for elbows, sweeps and five-round bouts.

Rebels entered into a partnership with Knock Out on May 20, 2019, which likewise held events under kickboxing and muay thai rules. On June 15, 2020, Bushido Road sold Knock Out ownership rights to Def Fellow, the operating company of Rebels. The final Rebels event, "REBELS～The FINAL～", was held on February 28, 2021. A month later, the brand was merged with Knock Out.

Rules Rebels Rules: Strikes with the fist, knee and leg were allowed; elbow strikes, clinching and sweeps were prohibited. Matches were contested in three, three-minute rounds. Rebels Muay Thai: Strikes with the fist, knee, leg and elbows were allowed; clinching was allowed so long as one of the fighters remains active. Matches were contested in five, three-minute rounds. Fouls: Spitting, biting, strikes to the groin, strikes to the back of the head, strikes after the referee has called for a break and strikes thrown at an opponent in a state of knockdown were considered fouls under both rules-sets. Additionally, elbows strikes and prolonged clinching were considered founds under the Rebels Rules. Scoring: Number of knockdowns and presence or absence of damage was the primary scoring criteria, with three knockdowns in a single round resulting in an automatic technical knockout. Number of clean strikes and ring generalship was the secondary scoring criteria.

Championships history Rebels Super Welterweight Championship Weight limit: Rebels Rules NameDateDefenses Hinata (def. Takuma Konishi) April 14, 2013def. Kentaro Hokuto on March 16, 2014 def. Sibmean Sitchefboontham on February 17, 2019 Kaito Ono (def. Hinata) February 28, 2021

Rebels Muay Thai Rules NameDateDefenses T-98 (def. Kentarō Hokuto) April 19, 2015 T-98 vacated the title on June 14, 2019 Eiji Yoshida (def. Yoshiro Tsuzaki) October 16, 2019

Rebels Welterweight Championship Weight limit: Rebels Rules NameDateDefenses UMA (def. Caz Janjira) October 6, 2019 UMA vacated the title on December 15, 2020, after suffering a retinal detachment

Rebels Muay Thai Rules NameDateDefenses Naoto Itakura (def. Daisuke Tsutsumi) October 20, 2013 Itakura retired from professional competition on July 25, 2014

Rebels Super Lightweight Championship Weight limit: Rebels Rules NameDateDefenses Zen Fujita (def. Mohan Dragon) October 28, 2012 Fujita vacated the title on May 16, 2014, as he was unable to defend the title UMA (def. Hiroki Nakamura) July 25, 2014 Yōsuke Mizouchi (def. UMA) April 19, 2015

Rebels Muay Thai Rules NameDateDefenses Yōsuke Mizouchi (def. Hiroyuki Norose) October 26, 2014 Hachimaki (def. Yōsuke Mizouchi) January 25, 2015def. Shinji Suzuki on July 12, 2015 Fukashi Mizutani (def. Hachimaki) November 30, 2016 Fukashi vacated the title in 2017 Suarek Rukkukamui (def. Shinji Suzuki) November 24, 2017def. Takuya Sugimoto on June 6, 2018

Rebels Lightweight Championship Weight limit: Rebels Rules NameDateDefenses Keisuke Niwa (def. Tatsuya Inaishi) April 20, 2019 Bazooka Koki (def. Keisuke Niwa) August 30, 2020

Rebels Muay Thai Rules NameDateDefenses Hachimaki (def. Akihiro Kuroda) July 21, 2013 Hachimaki vacated the title on May 14, 2014 to move up to super lightweight Sho Ogawa (def. Yukimitsu Takahashi) September 28, 2014 Hiroaki Raiden (def. Sho Ogawa) July 12, 2015 Raiden retired from professional competition on June 11, 2017 Ryotaro (def. Santana Pilano) November 24, 2017 Suarek Rukkukamui (def. Shunsuke Miyabi for the interim title) October 6, 2019

Rebels Super Featherweight Championship Weight limit: Rebels Rules NameDateDefenses Hikaru Machida (def. Fukashi) October 20, 2013def. SHIGERU on October 26, 2015 def. Riki Goshu on July 12, 2015 Machida vacated the title on May 16, 2019 Hiroki Suzuki (def. Kenshiro Aoi) June 9, 2019def. Shely Santana on February 29, 2020 Suzuki vacated the title on December 20, 2020, after moving to boxing

Rebels Muay Thai Rules NameDateDefenses Yasuyuki (def. SHIGERU) January 26, 2014

Rebels Featherweight Championship Weight limit: Rebels Rules NameDateDefenses Kazuki Koyano (def. Kenta Yagami) October 23, 2016

Rebels Muay Thai Rules NameDateDefenses Yuya Kiyokawa (def. KING Kōhei) December 23, 2014 Kiyokawa retired from professional competition on December 22, 2016 Kenta Yagami (def. Takahiro Sakuragi) December 23, 2014 Yagami vacated the title on April 20, 2019, after losing in a non-title bout Haruto Yasumoto (def. Shogo Kuriaki) June 9, 2019

Rebels Super Bantamweight Championship Weight limit:

Rebels Muay Thai Rules NameDateDefenses Ryuya Kusakabe(def. Taisuke Degai) July 21, 2013 Kusakabe vacated the title on February 19, 2014 when he went to boxing. Masahide Kudo(def. Takeo Oode) May 10, 2015def. Shuto Miyazaki on April 3, 2016 Kudo vacated the title in 2017 when he signed with the RISE promotion. KOUMA (def. Hidemaru) June 11, 2017 KING Kyosuke (def. KOUMA) April 27, 2018 Kyosuke vacated the title on June 9, 2019, after losing in a non-title bout

Rebels Super Flyweight Championship Weight limit: Rebels Rules NameDateDefenses Ryuji Kato (def. Masataka Seki) July 25, 2014 Eisaku Ogasawara (def. Yuki Ueba) July 12, 2015 Ogasawara vacated the title on September 6, 2017, after winning the ISKA title

Rebels Muay Thai Rules NameDateDefenses Kiminori Matsuzaki (def. Michael FlySkyGym) October 23, 2016 Haruto Yasumoto (def. Kiminori Matsuzaki) June 11, 2017 Yasumoto vacated the title in December 2019 Ryuto Oinuma (def. Shinjiro Sato) June 6, 2018def. Takuya Hasunuma on December 5, 2018 Yusei Shirahata (def. Ryuto Oinuma) February 28, 2021

Rebels Flyweight Championship Weight limit: Rebels Muay Thai Rules NameDateDefenses Eisaku Ogasawara (def. Hiroyuki Yamano) May 6, 2013 Ogasawara vacated the title on May 16, 2014 in order to move up in weight Kiminori Matsuzaki (def. Naoya Yajima) March 4, 2015 Kazuya Okuwaki (def. Matsuzaki Kiminori) January 24, 2016 Satsuma 3373 (def. Kazuya Okuwaki) August 7, 2016

Rebels Women's Atomweight Championship Weight limit: Rebels Muay Thai Rules NameDateDefenses Panchan Rina (def. MISAKI) August 30, 2020

References