Antonio Plazibat is a Croatian heavyweight kickboxer, winner of K-1 World GP 2017 Heavyweight Championship Tournament. He also fought in SUPERKOMBAT and FFC. He is currently signed with Glory, where he is the #5 ranked heavyweight, as of 2 May 2020. Liverkick.com awarded him the Knockout of the Year award in 2017, for his knockout of Makoto Uehara. In 2019 Glory awarded him the Newcomer of the Year award and the Fight of the Year award.
Kickboxing career
Amateur career
Antonio Plazibat began his kickboxing career as an amateur, training with Ameno Gym. His first fight was against Dražen Kuraja in the semifinal bout of the 2013 Croatian Kickboxing Championship 91 kg tournament. Despite being the underdog, Plazibat knocked Kuraja down twice, and would go on to win a unanimous decision. In the finals he faced Andrija Lekić. Despite fighting with a broken hand, he managed to knock him down once, and won a unanimous decision. He would again fight in the Croatian Kickboxing Championship, when he entered their 2014 91 kg tournament. Despite beginning with two wins, he lost to Andrija Lekić in the semifinals, but would beat Matijas Barić to secure a third place finish. In the 2015 edition of the 91 kg Croatian Kickboxing Championship torunament, he would make it to the finals, to once again face Andrija Lekić. He would seal the trilogy with a win, becoming the 2015 91 kg tournament champion. Plazibat fought in the 2015 W.A.K.O World Championship. He won his first three fights, but lost to Basir Abakarov in the finals, securing a second place finish. He won the Croatian Kickboxing Championship tournament for the second time in 2016, beating Anto Širić by unanimous decision. His last feature in an amateur tournament was in 2018 edition of the W.A.K.O European Championships. He would go a perfect 3-0, to win his last amateur title.
Early career
His professional debut came in 2013, with a KO win over Marko Vidović of Serbia. He would accumulate an 11-1 professional record, fighting with various promotions, most notably SUPERKOMBAT and Final Fight Championship. During this time he won the FFC Futures Kickboxing Light Heavyweight Tournament, and achieved a win over the former SUPERKOMBAT Cruiserweight and future EnfusionLight Heavyweight championBogdan Stoica who suffered leg injury in the second round. In 2017, Plazibat signed with K-1, entering their annual Heavyweight Championship Tournament. Aftering beating K-Jee by KO and Makoto Uehara by a flying knee KO, he faced Ibrahim El Bouni in the tournament finals. He won a unanimous decision to become the 2017 K-1 Heavyweight Champion. He would lose the title in his first defense against Roel Mannaart by a unanimous decision. He would further lose to Sergej Maslobojev.
GLORY
Plazibat subsequently left Ameno Gym and joined Mike's Gym. In his first fight Plazibat beat Nordine Mahieddine. In his next fight he achieved a dominant win over Tomas Mozny. In his third fight, Plazibat would get his career best win in the heavyweight division, with a split decision win over Jahfarr Wilnis.
