GLORY HW champ Verhoeven thinks he can crack skulls in the UFC

[FadeToBlack]

Is he right TMMAC? I'd love to see guys like this crossover.

The world's best heavyweight kickboxer is fixed on becoming the world's best heavyweight MMA fighter.

Rico Verhoeven, the GLORY kickboxing heavyweight champion, is extremely serious about his crossing over into MMA. So much so that he says he's actually more excited about training in mixed martial arts than kickboxing right now.

"On the MMA side, everything is new," Verhoeven told MMA Fighting. "The grappling, the submissions. Stuff like that. All those things are new. When you feel things are working during sparring, that's great. You feel you are getting better and things are working for you. That's a part that brings more excitement, because new things are coming and there are new things that I'm learning. UFC and Bellator are getting bigger. Japanese organizations are coming up.

"Those things all combined give me the feeling in my gut that I have to change something and do a little more MMA as well."

LINK: Kickboxing's best heavyweight Rico Verhoeven 'confident' he can beat top-10 MMA fighters right now

 

[Super Dave]

He may be a better striker than the majority of heavyweights but we've seen a lack of ground game can get you.
I don't know that he beats anyone in the top 5.
A fight against Overeem would be a fun debut.

 

[Left Hook Larry]

Don't forget with those 5 ounce gloves kickboxers don't have those big pillows on their hands to block strikes.

 

[ECC170]

Don't forget with those 5 ounce gloves kickboxers don't have those big pillows on their hands to block strikes.

that's why reem did better in k1...that shelling up shit don't fly in the cage

 

[Disciplined Galt]

Would love to see it. I do not like Verhoevens style at all though, he's doing the shelling up like above posters mentioned. That shit does not work bareknuckle or with small gloves. In a proper fight you can't build a pillow fortress.

 

[Wild]

I dont think he would do well against the Top 10-15 in the UFC. One, you have to think his ground game is likely severely lacking. Two, I'm not so sure his striking style would translate to dominance in MMA.

 

[Ryann Von Doom]

6 months sprawl training.

 

[Ranger]

Bellator Kickboxing here we come, but I hope he goes to bellator it would be perfect for him. He can take kickboxing fights and develop his mma skills against lesser opponents until his tdd and ground game gets better.

 

[Hwoarang]

6 months sprawl training.

Dude's been training grappling for 4 years already.




He's on to side- stepping.

 

[Mishima Zaibatsu]

He's only had one MMA fight and has stated he's still getting familiar with grappling.

He's been training it for 4 years or something, but he doesn't have the in cage experience with it.

He'd need to get some real experience on the lower level circuit, then fight some top 30 contenders in the UFC to be any kind of contender for the UFC's top 10.

And that's coming from a Glory Kickboxing fan.

Great strikers from other sports can come into MMA and do well, but they need to get experience and work hard on their grappling and get used to using their striking in an MMA setting.

 

[Rambo John J]

He could

Nobody can hang with him standing, technique and heavy hands...plus he is built like a Greek God

And HW takedown artists are like the dodo bird....extinct

Dude has amazing cardio also

 

[FadeToBlack]

I'm surprised nobody posted the video to his first MMA fight.

I must say, nothing really impressed me about him in this fight, but then again, that was his first MMA fight. LOL. Either way, I want to see more elite strikers (and just elite martial artists from other disciplines in general) test themselves against the latest crop of MMA talent.



Interesting interview he did with Mike Tyson:

 

[Rambo John J]

that's why reem did better in k1...that shelling up shit don't fly in the cage

Reem hurts anything he touches....not like he lost to anyone without hurting them badly....he just doesn't have a ton of Gas in the tank...rico has great conditioning and he wins fights on that alone

I agree....Shell defense is not great with small gloves...but the experience and technique is what sets the elite kick boxers apart

HWs only need one strike to change a fight....so that is the good and bad of smaller gloves...Rico would be a beast and could take any HW out on a given night right now

 

[Rambo John J]

just can't teach that kinda size either

He is about as big as HWs come and has lots of speed

 

[ECC170]

Reem hurts anything he touches....not like he lost to anyone without hurting them badly....he just doesn't have a ton of Gas in the tank...rico has great conditioning and he wins fights on that alone

I agree....Shell defense is not great with small gloves...but the experience and technique is what sets the elite kick boxers apart

HWs only need one strike to change a fight....so that is the good and bad of smaller gloves...Rico would be a beast and could take any HW out on a given night right now

i love Reem...just sayin He usually gets hurt when he shells up like he did at times in K-1...rico could KO anybody but its a different world when Takedowns are allowed...I would love to see him in the ufc..I wish Spong would get a legit test in MMA too

 

[regular john]

I wish Spong would get a legit test in MMA too

yes he could make waves imo. Rico not so much unless he takes all the time in the world developing a tdd game on the regional level. but I believe Spong is a boxer now.

 

[FadeToBlack]

Who do you guys see as the biggest crossover star that could make waves in MMA?

Ed Ruth? Tyrell Fortune? Tyson Fury?

 

[ECC170]

yes he could make waves imo. Rico not so much unless he takes all the time in the world developing a tdd game on the regional level. but I believe Spong is a boxer now.

yep and fighting every now in then in wsof