Rico Verhoeven hints at fighting in UFC

[Mike K.O]

Whats his ground game like????

........ I'm waiting..........

You don't need ground game anymore
Swangin and bangin

 

[Iroh]

No idea, but obviously not his strongest point.

I'm pretty sure he stated even when he was an up and comer that MMA would be a thing he was planning to go into and that was a long time ago. So it could be decent. But I haven't seen him seriously mentioning training anything MMA related since, so I don't know.

 

[Grijswaarde]

To be fair, the earlier days of K-1 also didn't have the biggest talent pool.

I also think Rico just makes the rest of the division look really bad too. So I don't think it's as thin as a lot of people think.

Glory had a lot of (really) overweight fighters last years which made them look like shit... but the last months/year the sport became way bigger (mostly because of Rico's succes and the Rico-Badr fight which was HUGE over here) and the rest of the fighters seem to have taken the sport more serious since. Belly's disappeared and cardio and speed improved.

I think the current HW roster is actually the strongest we had in the last 5 years for sure.

 

[Me&MrJones]

Yeah he'll love the 20k/20k contract.

 

[Gitanos]

Whats his ground game like????

........ I'm waiting..........

Whuhahaha non-exist, this is just some shouting to put pressure on Glory, he have to resign with the company and there is no real opposition left for him!

 

[Grijswaarde]

Whuhahaha non-exist, this is just some shouting to put pressure on Glory, he have to resign with the company and there is no real opposition left for him!

Well in all fairness he won his only MMA fight with a sweep and ground n pound. But yeah no grappling was involved there... you might be right.

 

[Iroh]

Glory had a lot of (really) overweight fighters last years which made them look like shit... but the last months/year the sport became way bigger (mostly because of Rico's succes and the Rico-Badr fight which was HUGE over here) and the rest of the fighters seem to have taken the sport more serious since. Belly's disappeared and cardio and speed improved.

I think the current HW roster is actually the strongest we had in the last 5 years for sure.

Yeah, guys like Adegbuyi, Gerges and Ben Saddik shouldn't be underrated. Officially they still have Hari too. Hope he will fight soon. Maybe he is scheduled to though, IDK.

 

[Grijswaarde]

Yeah, guys like Adegbuyi, Gerges and Ben Saddik shouldn't be underated. Officially they still have Hari too. Hope he will fight soon. Maybe he is scheduled to though, IDK.

Hari is supposed to fight Ben Saddik who challenged him (and Hari accepted), but there is so much bullshit talk in kickboxing that you never know for sure.

 

[Miiiiiiighty]

Well... he is the 9 time world champion, so in that regard he is without a doubt the most succesful kickboxer ever.

If he is the best kickboxer ever is up for debate. In the 90's K-1 period most fighters took WAY more risk, went more for the KO and fought more spectacular... but Rico being more defensive / point fighting might actually be the reason he is undefeated for so long.

But yes the playing field is also thinner, that much is true. Hard to tell.

Another reason is the drastic drop off of high level kickboxers available.
Just compare today's HW division to late 90's/early 2000's one..
There are very few good HW and the few are mostly past their physical prime..

He would have got murked if he fought back then when K1 was a shark tank with Aerts, Hoost, JLB, Prime Hunto, Sefo, Bernardo, Hug, Filho, Bonjasky, Ignashov, Schilt...

He is very good but his opposition isn't exactly stellar.. Not his fault though, but he is far from the best ever.
That's why I'd like to see him against Hari again, even if Badr is past his prime (imo). He is still a very dangerous opponent, and I'd like to see how this fight goes shall it last more than it did last time.

Don't know about MMA though, unless he has been training ground game for a few years he is probably gonne get the Gokhan treatment, especially since his defensive style will be a lot harder to implement with smaller gloves and the takedown threat...

 

[MuayThai101]

What about Rico Verhoeven vs Badr Hari 2?

Rico shouldn't waste time and go to MMA. Now he is 29 years old.

Its the HW division. Look at what Francis managed to do with the little time training. Rico would just need like 3 years of fighting in smaller leagues then make the move. By 33 he can be an issue for many of UFC's roster. Even if he is not a champion, he will still make more money in MMA than in kickboxing.

 

[TheLinguist]

Doubt he gets past USADA

 

[Gitanos]

Well in all fairness he won his only MMA fight with a sweep and ground n pound. But yeah no grappling was involved there... you might be right.

Yes thats true but this was against a mediocre fighter so we have to see what is next for him. The problem with Rico is, he is never tested and i want to see how durable he is and if he can over come advisary.

 

[Me&MrJones]

Doubt he gets past USADA

Good point.

 

[MuayThai101]

His typical head forward boxing gloves defense will make him go the way of Saki and Overeem whenever he tries to do that against fighters who will simply punch through it and knock him out.

Overeem doesnt fight like that in MMA though.

Tell you what though, rico has one of the best inside low kicks in the game. That goes hand in hand with the high block defence. I see him making a lot of fighter stumble with that kick as they try to get in close to box.

 

[Grijswaarde]

Its the HW division. Look at what Francis managed to do with the little time training. Rico would just need like 3 years of fighting in smaller leagues then make the move. By 33 he can be an issue for many of UFC's roster. Even if he is not a champion, he will still make more money in MMA than in kickboxing.

Well he makes 250.000 per championship fight and is the 9 time champion... kinda depends how good he will be in MMA if he is to make that much. It's less than the UFC champs make, but still way more than the average fighter.

 

[Mattitude V1]

Assuming it will be a pure striking match Rico should win this pretty easy imo. Only question mark is how to deal with thinner gloves... but there are more than enough examples how to NOT do it, and Rico is a very very smart fighter. Should be huge favorite.

Lewis almost always winds up in top position in his fights. His ground and pound is insane.

 

[Grijswaarde]

Lewis almost always winds up in top position in his fights. His ground and pound is insane.

Yes but again assuming it is a pure striking match. His groundgame is suspect/a mystery against any UFC HW i guess..

 

[SouthSide971]

Is that the guy who run as fast as a 12 years old girl? JK I know who he is and I hope the UFC sign him

 

[MuayThai101]

Well he makes 250.000 per championship fight and is the 9 time champion... kinda depends how good he will be in MMA if he is to make that much. It's less than the UFC champs make, but still way more than the average fighter.

Hmm, that is quite a lot of money to pass up on for a sport you arnt good at. Maybe One Championship can fork up the money to have him fight some low level guy to build up his game. He might be able to beat brandon vera and be champ. That would be the perfect feather in his cap to prove he is UFC ready.

 

[Me&MrJones]

Saki didn't do so well.

We're kickboxers, we're not MMA fighters.