Personally I think kickboxers want to claim K1 and even thai as "just another form of kickbxoxing" because, yeah as someone said above, its about associating itself with what is obviously, and is perceived by even joe public as, a tougher sport.

And just to make it clear, I'm not making allusions to how hard people have to try in the sport or how much effort/skill is required. It's that the fighters themselves are taking, and are capable of dealing, far more damage in K1, and more still, in muay thai.

It makes kickboxers look "crazy" by association. "what me? yeah i do kickboxing - its like what they do in UFC but without the crap ground fighting" lol the amount of times I've heard shite like that is unreal. It's like all the old guys from the 60s who could genuinely fight who to this day, if asked about bruce lee, will tell you he was "an awesome fighta!" - because it makes them look cool to have been associated with him.