For the fourth time in GLORY, Rico Verhoeven has successfully defended his undisputed Heavyweight championship with definitive ease. Although, questions remain over the future of the Dutch “Prince,” and what fights remain open for him should he opt to re-sign with GLORY Kickboxing.
GLORY 28 took over the beautiful city of Paris, France on Saturday night and despite the lack of finishes, the card provided an interesting look into the future for the organisation.
The question arose post-Mladen Brestovac that Verhoeven had potentially cleared out the Heavyweight division, to which the Dutchman grinned and responded: “yeah, maybe a little bit.” Giving as much credit to him as possible – because he genuinely does deserve it – Verhoeven is without question the best Heavyweight kickboxer in the world and arguably one of the most dominant the sport has ever seen.
His very technical, strike, move, clinch style has often frustrated kickboxing fans who know that he possesses the ability to finish fights; personified by his fantastic first round stoppage of Benjamin Adegbuyi last December.
The likes of Gokhan Saki, Daniel Ghita, Errol Zimmerman have all criticised the champion of playing it too safe with his style, but there’s no doubt that it’s the bread and butter of his game and exactly why Verhoeven has staked a claim as one of the greatest ever kickboxing Heavyweights.
One of the main sparring partners of Heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury, from early on in his career Verhoeven has surrounded himself with the best names in combat sport as he has grown from a brash and untamed fighter into one of the most well spoken, technically astute kickboxers in the game.
26-year-old Verhoeven has also been over in San Jose training at American Kickboxing Academy with UFC Light-Heavyweight and Middleweight champions, Daniel Cormier and Luke Rockhold – furthering the claims that a full switch to MMA could be imminent for the GLORY champion.
Having beaten pretty much everyone GLORY have put in front of him, what’s next for the Dutchman? GLORY 28 was reported to be the last fight on his current GLORY contract, although I would expect Verhoeven to re-up until at least the end of the year, especially with the promotion expected to run two shows in Amsterdam this year.
A future in MMA is clearly on the agenda for Verhoeven, but he still only has one fight (and one win) under his belt. With GLORY’s 2016 schedule, pencilling Verhoeven in for June and December, would give him plenty of time to fight at least two more times in MMA before the end of the year.
As for potential opponents, there will be a Heavyweight contender tournament in Copenhagen next month, including the GLORY debut of Ismael Londt – a potential super clash for Verhoeven.
It should also be noted, prior to GLORY 28, Mike Passenier; the head coach of Badr Hari, stated that the Moroccan Heavyweight was looking for one more fight and Passenier stated he would like to see Verhoeven and Hari square off against each other.
In recent years, despite Verhoeven struggling to create a huge buzz for kickboxing in the United States, his star power in Europe is unquestioned. With GLORY expecting to hold four more events in Europe in 2016, keeping hold of Verhoeven until at least 2017 should be a priority of GLORY. There are fights out there for the champion, the promotion just need to find them, as “The Prince of Kickboxing” continues his path towards a King’s coronation.
