Jamal Ben Saddik hopes GLORY heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven will be well prepared for their upcoming title fight at GLORY Redemption.
“The Goliath” wants the Dutchman to know that it’s gonna be different fight than Verhoeven’s last outing, in which he beat Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva inside four minutes on GLORY 46: China.
“He (Silva) is a great MMA fighter, but it’s not the same as kickboxing”, Ben Saddik told MMA Plus after a heated press conference with his foe.
“It was an easy fight for him (Verhoeven), congratulations, but the ninth of December is gonna be different. I come to fight on the ninth of December, not to laugh. I hope he’ll be ready because I’m gonna be ready.”
GLORY play-by-play commentator Todd Grisham told James Lynch in August that Verhoeven was matched up with Silva last October because ‘he was the first person that came to mind’ to prepare “The King of Kickboxing” for someone of the size of Ben Saddik.
Although Ben Saddik says he didn’t watch the fight, he warns Verhoeven that he’s on a higher level than the Brazilian: “I’m not Bigfoot Silva. I’m a fighter, I come to fight. I fight every day. All the respect to Bigfoot Silva, he’s a great MMA fighter, but I am not Bigfoot Silva. I haven’t seen that fight, I heard it was boring. I am not Bigfoot Silva.”
