in a World Professional Kickboxing Council (WPKC) World Light Heavyweight (-) title bout in Pavia, Italy before moving up in weight once again to cruiserweight where he knocked out Eddy Corremans in round three to be crowned the WPKC World Cruiserweight (-) Champion in Winterthur. A rematch between Maksutaj and Faizal Reding took place at K-1 Fight Night 2000 on June 3, 2000, and the Albanian came out on top again by way of TKO in round two. Heavyweight division (2001–2010) 2001 saw Maksutaj make the transition to the heavyweight division, kicking off his career at the weight by winning the WPKC World Super Heavyweight (+) Muay Thai Championship. Following this up with a defence of his WPKC Cruiserweight title against Hubert Lisovski in Winterthur, he then earned the biggest victory of his career at that point when he dismantled Canada's Clifton Brown inside one round in front of over 100,000 spectators at the 2001 King's Cup at Sanam Luang in Bangkok, Thailand on December 6. He would go on to compete in eight one-night tournaments in K-1's heavyweight division over the next five years and made his debut in the Grand Prix format at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 Preliminary Marseilles on January 25. Having scored two quick first-round KOs over Abdel Lamidi and Ferenc Gasztany in the run-up, Maksutaj lost a majority decision to Grégory Tony in the final. On April 13, 2002, Maksutaj had a re-match with Vitali Akhramenko at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 Preliminary Croatia in Zagreb. The pair had previously fought to a draw five years earlier and did so again as the judges could not pick a winner after five rounds. He was granted a chance at revenge against Gregory Tony the following month at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 in Paris, but the tall Frenchman came out on top once again by winning a five-round majority decision. The fight was close but Tony was able to floor Maksutaj with a right hand late in the final round to seal the deal. Outside of K-1, Maksutaj picked up the WKA World Cruiserweight (-) belt from Chino Mordillo in Zurich. He forced two standing eight counts on the Spaniard, initially by damaging his arm with a blocked roundhouse kick, before finishing him off with a high kick in round two. He would finish the year on a low note, however, as