Andy Hug
Andy Hug (September 7, 1964 - August 24, 2000) was a renowned Seidokaikan Karate and kickboxing fighter from Wohlen, Switzerland. Andy Hug was the first Karate-fighter to win the K-1 World Grand Prix Championship in 1996 and was runner up in 1997 and 1998. Hug is widely credited for helping K-1's popularity world-wide, and is one of the most respected and idolized figures in combat sports history. In Japan he was given the name "Blue-Eyed Samurai", even though he had brown eyes. This had a symbolic meaning and referred to Andy's Swiss heritage. He was the only K-1 fighter ever to be rewarded an honorary samurai title by K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii and was widely considered to be the bravest K-1 fighter of all by the Japanese public.
Andy was legendary for his axe kick and scored numerous victories with it against some of the most experienced fighters in the world. The spinning low heel kick, targeting the opponents thigh was another trademark kick. In Japan, it was known as "the Hug Tornado" since no other fighter could perform it with the same perfection as Hug.
Andy defeated Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipović at K-1 Fight Night, on 6/3/00, in Zurich, Switzerland. His last fight was with K-1 against Nobu Hayashi on July 7, 2000. Just a little over a month later, Hug would be dead. On the 24th of August 2000, Andy died unexpectedly as a result of leukemia a few weeks short of his 36th birthday. Due to his kyokushin karate background, Andy Hug's unprecedented popularity made his passing headline news all over Japan and an Andy Hug shrine was shortly arranged in a public place in Tokyo so the Japanese fans had somewhere to pray for Hug and to pay their condolences by offering flowers and other gifts to the fallen fighter.