Rico Verhoeven

Ricardo "Rico" Verhoeven (born 10 April 1989) is a Dutch professional kickboxer, former professional boxer and mixed martial artist. He formerly competed in the Heavyweight division of GLORY, where he was the promotion’s longest-reigning Heavyweight Champion, while also defending the title a record thirteen times. A professional since 2004, he also competed in K-1, It's Showtime and SUPERKOMBAT. Verhoeven has been continually ranked as the number one heavyweight kickboxer in the world by Combat Press since September 2014, when the rankings were first established.

Verhoeven has been regarded as one of the greatest kickboxers of all time and has held the Glory heavyweight title for 4,220 days, equivalent to over 11 years, winning 26 straight fights under the GLORY banner as champion. Verhoeven holds GLORY’s record in most wins in title bouts (14), the most consecutive title defenses (13), the most wins (28), and the longest winning streak (27), while also tying in the record of the promotion’s most bouts (29).

Early life

Rico Verhoeven was born in Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands. He began learning martial arts at age five, starting with Kyokushin. He was trained by his father, a karate black belt. After transitioning into kickboxing, Verhoeven began training at the age of seven and started competing against adults when he was 16 years old, due to his large size.

He has trained mainly in Zevenbergen under Dennis Krauweel at Superpro Sportcenter, with fellow kickboxers Benjamin Adegbuyi, Albert Kraus and Alviar Lima.

Professional kickboxing career

Glory

After competing in K-1, It's Showtime and SUPERKOMBAT, Verhoeven signed with Glory World Series.