he was handed his first stoppage loss in seven years by Peter Varga in Padua, Italy on November 30, 2002, to lose his WPKC Super Heavyweight Muay Thai strap. Maksutaj returned to Marseille to compete in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 Preliminary France on January 24, 2003. He knocked out Rob Lloyd in the quarter-finals and outpointed Miloš Koptak in the semis, before losing to his rival Gregory Tony for the third time in the final by unanimous decision. With K-1 heading back to Switzerland with the K-1 World Grand Prix 2003 in Basel tournament on May 30, 2003, Maksutaj was invited as a participant along with seven other European heavyweight prospects. He was unable to impress in front of his home crowd, however, as he dropped a decision at the hands of Larry Lindwall at the opening stage. In his next outing a month later, Maksutaj fought outside Europe for the first time, losing a unanimous judges' decision to Shingo Koyasu at K-1 Beast II 2003 in Saitama, Japan on June 29, 2003. Breaking a three-fight losing streak, he defeated Hungarian journeyman Tihamér Brunner by decision on December 13, 2003, for the WMTA World Super Heavyweight title in a victorious homecoming to Winterthur. Fighting at the annual Marseille K-1 qualifier for the third year running, Maksutaj went toe-to-toe with Aziz Khattou in a non-tournament bout at K-1 Marseilles 2004 World Qualification on January 24, 2004, and came out on the losing side of a split decision. A rematch with Clifton Brown in Bangkok was next up on June 11, 2004, and the outcome was the same, as Maksutaj stopped the Canadian inside the opening frame. Then, in a contest to crown arguably Switzerland's top heavyweight, he fought Björn Bregy in Zurich on September 25, 2004. Maksutaj gave up in height and around in weight and took a beating in round one, receiving a barrage of knees and punches. He was also dropped with a right cross at the beginning of the second but made a massive comeback soon after when he felled his giant opponent with a right hook. After a poor start to 2005 when he lost to Christian N'ka at the opening round of the K-1 France Grand Prix 2005 in Marseilles on January 19, 2005, Maksutaj next competed in the K-1 Scandinavia Grand Prix 2005 held on May 21 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was drawn