For Mr. K-1, Peter Aerts, his December schedule was left open for the first time in a very long time as K-1 would not run a World Grand Prix this year. For Aerts this meant time to branch out and fight for other promotions. He has been keeping busy by competing under professional wrestling rules under the IGF banner alongside of other K-1 alumni like Yuichiro “Jienotsu” Nagashima, Jerome Le Banner and Bob Sapp. Aerts is also set to compete on the Genki Desuka!! show on New Year’s Eve, but once again, in a professional wrestling match and not an actual Kickboxing bout.
Over the weekend in Japan, Peter Aerts took on “Mr. Kamikaze,” a Japanese Heavyweight Kickboxer on a show titled Hinokuni Kakuto Densetsu Legend 2. Aerts easily won the bout with three knockdowns in the first round.
Following up on the results for Thai Boxe Mania, we’ve also got videos of the three top fights on the card. Artur Kyshenko vs. Roberto Cocco was a good fight with Kyshenko dominating the action. Yury Bessmertny’s KO of Gago Drago is an early KO of the year candidate. Chingiz Allazov showed why he’s one of the best up and comers in kickboxing with his dominant win over Erkan Varol. Check out the videos. The knockout is at 7:26 of the second video.
We’ll be providing live results of today’s K-1 US Grand Prix from the LA Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California, USA. It’s K-1’s first card in the US in a long, long time and the fight card is filled with American fighters looking to make a name for themselves.
The four Heavyweight Grand Prix fights are to qualify for the Final 16 on October 14 in Tokyo, Japan. There are also four MAX fights, along with four super fights and three undercard fights.
The first three undercard bouts are free on Spike.com or K-1’s Ustream channel. After the three undercard fights, however, the card goes on to PPV for $9.99 USD at the same locations and can only be paid for with credit card.
The undercard bouts kick off at 8PM ET/5PM PT and the main card on PPV starts at 9PM ET/6PM PT. Full fight card here. Myself, @rianscalia and @Liverkickdotcom will be providing live play by play on Twitter.
Undercard
Mike Lemaire def. Glen Spencer by unanimous decision.
Damian Earley def. Jermaine Soto by KO (Right Cross) in Round 3.
James Wilson def. DOug Sauer by KO (Left Hook) in Round 1.
MAX (70kg/154lbs)
Justin Greskiewicz def. Bryce Krause by TKO (Ref Stoppage) in Round 3.
Joey Pagliuso def. Ben Yelle by KO in Round 3.
Michael Mananquil def. Scott Leffler by unanimous decision.
Chaz Mulkey def. Kit Cope by TKO in Round 2.
Super Fights
Shuichi Wentz def. Romie Adanza by KO (High Kick) in Round 1.
En Kang def. Travis Garlits by unanimous decision.
Gabriel Varga def. Lerdsila Chumpairtour by unanimous decision.
Jeremiah Metcalf def. Markhaile Wedderburn by KO (Knee to the Body) in Round 1.
Heavyweights
Xavier Vigney def. Seth Petruzelli by TKO in Round 2.
Rick Roufus def. Mighty Mo by split decision.
Jarrell Miller def. Jack May by KO (Uppercut) in Round 1.
Randy Blake def. Dewey Cooper by unanimous decision.
Fight For Japan: Genki Desu Ka Omisoka 2011 took place today in Tokyo, Japan and featured a few notable kickboxers on the card. Yuta Kubo and Masaaki Noiri, arguably the top two fighters that K-1 has at 63kg, fought in separate bouts. Long time K-1 legends Peter Aerts and Jerome Le Banner both took part in pro wrestling matches.
Yuta Kubo fought Nils Widlund, a Swedish San Shou stylist. The first round saw Widlund treating the fight like a San Shou match, consistently catching Kubo’s kicks and sending him to the ground. Kubo was landing all the notable shots though and began to really take over in the second round. By the third round, Widlund was there to be finished and Kubo turned up the pace, going for the finish. A right high kick followed by a knee to the body dropped Widlund and the Swede didn’t get up. Kubo won all six of his fights in 2011.
Masaaki Noiri took on Kengo Sonoda and took a unanimous decision. Sonoda was able to land a bit, but Noiri’s arms and gloves absorbed most of the shots. Noiri’s offense was just much more dynamic than Sonoda’s and ultimately lead to the win. This win is Noiri’s second of December, coming three weeks after his spectacular KO of Koya Urabe at Krush.14.
Peter Aerts faced long time MMA veteran Kazuyuki Fujita. Aerts hit Fujita with a lot of punches and at one point even hit him with a high kick that seemed to actually hurt Fujita. Fujita got Aerts in a Boston crab and Aerts tapped out. It looked like Aerts may have legitimately hurt his back. Jerome Le Banner was up against former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia. Sylvia took down Le Banner a few times before Jerome figured just to actually hurt Tim. Le Banner hit Sylvia with a liver kick, just like the one he hit Andrei Kirsanov with yesterday and Tim went down. A few knockdowns later and some ground and pound and Jerome Le Banner was declared the winner.
Overall, obviously some more kickboxing would’ve been nice, but we got what we could in terms of fights. Let’s hope good things are in store for kickboxing in 2012.
With October being sucked a stacked month for kickboxing and Muay Thai, there’s obviously some great fights going on. Most of our readers will know of the major, most well known fights going on this month at K-1, GLORY and to a lesser degree, in Thailand, so I’m going to highlight ten marquee fights that you might not know about, that you should know about. I’ll start off with a few fights from the major events that are overshadowed by the big fights on those respective cards.
October 4: Nong-O Gaiyanghadaogym vs. Petboonchu F.A. Group – Rajadamnern Stadium – Bangkok, Thailand
Nong-O has really had Petboonchu’s number over the years, having beaten him five times out of their six fights, including stopping Petboonchu three times. Their last fight, however, was much closer. Petboonchu can draw anyone into his grueling clinch game and one has to think that he’ll eventually beat Nong-O again, with his lone win against him being in 2009. A win for either fighter could definitely get them back closer to a fight with the Saenchais and Singdams of the world.
October 6: Murthel Groenhart vs. Marc de Bonte – GLORY 2 Brussels – Brussels, Belgium
Obviously, all the talk about GLORY 2 Brussels is Remy Bonjasky’s return but one fight you should really look for is this one. The fight takes place at 79kg, much higher than where Murthel usually fights at 70-77kg, but this is normally where Marc de Bonte fights. de Bonte is a very young, but extremely talented fighter from Belgium who’s now getting his opportunity on the big stage. It’s quite an interesting style match-up, with de Bonte being the more technical fighter but as always, you can never count Murthel Groenhart out, even at this weight, as showcased in his victory over Harut Grigorian.
October 6: Amine Kacem vs. Albert Chey – Time Fight 2 – Tours, France
Amine Kacem is yet another successful Muay Thai fighter out of Team Nasser K in France. At the same time, he’s only 18 years old. This fight will be his biggest test to date as he fights Albert Chey, one of the best Muay Thai fighters that France has. Chey has fought the likes of Jomthong Chuwattana and beaten Thong Puidinaidee. Kacem seems to be getting a push lately and whether he passes this test or not, it’s still quite an interesting match-up.
October 6: Cedric Peynaud vs. Modiba Diarra – TK2 World MAX 2012 – Marseilles, France
Although Thomas Adamandopoulos is on this card and both men have lost to him, both have gotten better. The winner of this fight definitely jumps near the top of around 63kg kickboxing in France. Diarra, after a loss to Thomas Adamandopoulos in full contact last year, rebounded with several wins under K-1 rules and Peynaud is his biggest challenge since that fight with Adamandopoulos. Peynaud lost to Masaaki Noiri earlier this year but has been all over the place doing boxing, full contact and kickboxing. This is essentially two fighters trying to get back into the upper echelon of their weight division in kickboxing after having gotten better from previous losses.
October 12: Damien Alamos vs. Diesellek Aoodonmuang – Lumpinee Stadium – Bangkok, Thailand
Damien Alamos currently is the only non-Thai champion at Lumpinee Stadium, also recently becoming the only non-Thai to ever defend a Lumpinee championship. He takes on the extremely tough and resilient Diesellek Aoodonmuang, who he beat a year ago at Lumpinee. Diesellek has gotten better since that fight though, stopping F16 Rajanont impressively, twice in a row and is on fire lately. Both guys are never in a boring fight so this one should be fireworks.
October 13: Pornsaneh Sitmonchai vs. Michael “Tomohawk” Thompson – Caged Muay Thai – Gold Coast, Australia
This match-up would be fireworks with just a ring and normal boxing gloves but with MMA gloves and a cage, I can’t even imagine how crazy it’s going to get. Pornsaneh in particular is super aggressive, throwing punch combinations with bad intentions along with crippling low kicks and is finally getting some international fights. Thompson is also an all action fighter so expect it to be fought at a grueling pace with damage being dished out left, right and center.
October 14: Genji Umeno vs. Chang Hyun Lee – K-1 2012 World Grand Prix Final 16 – Tokyo, Japan
This fight is probably the one that’s getting the least attention on the entire K-1 card. It also happens to be the only non-heavyweight fight, as both fight around 60kg. While not much is known about Lee, Genji Umeno is a Japanese Muay Thai fighter that was ranked #9 at Lumpinee Stadium last year. This will be Umeno’s first K-1 rules fight but make no mistake, he throws with mean intentions and with power and definitely has a style that should transfer over well to kickboxing. There’s also an element of surprise with Lee here, so it should be interesting.
October 20: Steve Moxon vs. Fadi Merza – Powerplay Promotions: Proving Ground – Melbourne, Australia
Steve Moxon is back in his first fight since signing with GLORY, taking on Fadi Merza who will fight anyone, anywhere and has pretty much done that throughout his career. While people generally don’t think of Merza as a top fighter, what makes this fight interesting, aside from the fact that Steve Moxon is fighting, is that Merza was able to give Mike Zambidis some trouble in April. Zambidis and Moxon are quite similar in style, and of course in height so it’s not out of the question that Merza could make it a bit difficult with his dangerous step up knees.
October 25: Javier Hernandez vs. Yuki – RISE 90 – Tokyo, Japan
RISE has been bringing in some foreign opposition lately and Javier Hernandez is to date most definitely the best fighter they’ve brought in. Yuki can be a tough out for anyone and this will also be Hernandez’s first real international fight so it stacks up pretty well. This one has all the makings of a back and forth fight, as Yuki can be susceptible to punchers like Hernandez but at the same time, Masahiro Yamamoto showed that Hernandez can be beaten with a heavy assault of kicks and knees, which is Yuki’s specialty, especially with low kicks.
October 27: Nkosinathi Ximba vs. Konstantin Trishin – Night of Glory – Vienna, Austria
You might remember Konstantin Trishin from a lone K-1 fight back in 2008 at the MAX Final 8 where he defeated Masato protege Susumu Daiguji. After that, his name never really popped up again except at various small shows and IFMA amateur tournaments but he still remains quite a good fighter at 60kg, which is the weight of this fight. There’s no video of Ximba, he’s an up and coming fighter from South Africa with an 18-2 record that is getting his first real shot on the international stage against an opponent like Trishin. It should be particularly interesting to see how Ximba does against a proven opponent like Trishin.
Earlier today at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Shootboxing held its final event before this year’s S-Cup, featuring 3 S-Cup qualifying bouts featuring Shootboxing standouts Hiroki Shishido, Satoru Suzuki and Bovy Sor. Udomson, as well as newcomers Warren Stevelmans, Hinata and Akihiro Gono.
In the night’s main event, Hiroki Shishido secured his spot in his 5th straight S-Cup with a 1st round KO of Satoru Suzuki. Shishido (49-17-0, 21 KO) scored a spinning backfist that dropped Suzuki and kept him down, snapping a 4-fight losing streak for Shishido. He had been struggling as of late, losing 6 of his last 7 with uncharacteristic losses to MMA fighters Toby Imada and “Lion” Takeshi Inoue, but picks up a big win here and should give him some momentum for the S-Cup. In the 2010 S-Cup, he dropped a decision to eventual champion Buakaw Por. Pramuk. Suzuki (8-12-0, 5 KO) had a chance to avenge a loss from his first fight in Shootboxing, but fell in the first round once again. Despite becoming one of Shootboxing’s most popular fighters, it looks like Suzuki will miss out on this year’s S-Cup.
In the co-main event, Shootboxing newcomers and K-1 veterans Warren Stevelmans and Hinata fought for a spot in this year’s S-Cup, with Stevelmans winning a unanimous decision on scores of 30-28, 28-27 and 29-28. Stevelmans (56-16-4, 16 KO) dropped Hinata in the second round and it was enough to get him into this year’s S-Cup. This was his second fight in Shootboxing, previously defeating Hiroki Shishido in the main event of Shootboxing Act.1 earlier this year. Hinata (23-13-1, 8 KO) was also making his second appearance in Shootboxing after a 48 second loss to Andy Souwer in 2010.
In the final S-Cup qualifier, Bovy Sor Udomson made quick work of former PRIDE and UFC star Akihiro Gono with a 1st round TKO at 2:15. Bovy (85-46-2, 53 KO) will make his 2nd S-Cup appearance with this win, losing to Andy Souwer in the quarterfinals of his first S-Cup in 2010. Bovy had most recently lost to Satoru Suzuki, but that is irrelevant as Bovy is in the S-Cup while Suzuki is not. Gono (5-4-0, 1 KO) initially weighed in over weight and had to re-weigh this morning before the event. After retiring from MMA earlier this year and returning to kickboxing in 2011, Gono had stated that he wanted to qualify for the S-Cup. A win in DEEP got him this fight, but he was unable to capitalize and this loss could possibly be the last fight in an entertaining career. If it is, hopefully the Magic Man can continue to find ways to entertain fans outside of fighting.
Assuming Shootboxing will be able to bring back their 4 semifinalists from 2010 (Buakaw Por. Pramuk, Toby Imada, Andy Souwer and Henri van Opstal), there is only 1 open spot remaining. It is possible that the spot could be given to one of today’s losers, presumably Satoru Suzuki, or it could go to Shootboxing Super Lightweight champ Hiroaki Suzuki. With Shishido being the only Japanese fighter to qualify for the tournament, I expect either Suzuki to be a more viable option than a 7th foreigner.
In a 60kg bout, RISE 60kg champ Kosuke Komiyama continued his winning ways with a unanimous decision over Shootboxing Super Featherweight champ Akifumi Utagawa on scores of 30-28 and 30-29(x2). Komiyama (19-2-0, 11 KO) has looked extremely impressive since a questionable split decision loss to Keiji Ozaki in K-1 and is looking for divisional supremacy at 60kg, though that will be hard to claim until he fights against the best that Krush has to offer. To his credit, he has called out Hirotaka Urabe in the past, but nothing has come of it. Utagawa (32-13-1, 1 NC, 15 KO) had his 4-fight winning streak snapped here.
Quick results after the break
70kg S-Cup Qualifier: Hiroki Shishido def. Satoru Suzuki by 1st round KO (spinning back fist) at 1:03
Today in Monaco, GLORY held the draw for their Final 8 70kg tournament which takes place on November 3 in Rome, Italy at GLORY 3 Rome. Extravagantly, the draw was held on a yacht, with all eight Final 8 participants on hand. That would be Giorgio Petrosyan, Robin van Roosmalen, Albert Kraus, Shemsi Beqiri, Sanny Dahlbeck, Ky Hollenbeck, Davit Kyria and Tim Thomas.
The fighters were drawn by their seedings in the GLORY rankings, with #1 Giorgio Petrosyan and #2 Albert Kraus placed on opposite sides of the brackets. The drawn match-ups are as follows:
Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Ky Hollenbeck
Shemsi Beqiri vs. Davit Kyria
Albert Kraus vs. Sanny Dahlbeck
Robin van Roosmalen vs. Tim Thomas
You can watch the full press conference and draw in the video above. The rest of the fight card is as follows:
Reserve fight: Yoshihiro Sato vs. Dzhabar Askerov
Reserve fight: Fabio Pinca vs. Alessandro Campagna
There’s been a lot of speculation lately as to what would happen to Daniel Ghita and Rico Verhoeven, with them being excluded from K-1. Now it’s been announced that they’ve signed with GLORY, adding to their stacked heavyweight roster.
Ghita and Verhoeven are likely to make their debuts for GLORY at the GLORY 4 Tokyo: Grand Slam event on December 2 at the Makuhari Messe in Tokyo, Japan. The event features a one night, 16 man heavyweight tournament with a brand new format.
DYNAMIC HEAVYWEIGHTS SIGN MULTI-YEAR EXCLUSIVE AGREEMENTS WITH WORLD’S PREMIER KICKBOXING LEAGUE
LONDON, U.K. (Oct. 12, 2012) – World champion Daniel Ghita (44-7, 34 KO’s) of Romania and rising star and fellow heavyweight Rico Verhoeven (37-6-1, 8 KO’s) of the Netherlandshave each signed a multi-fight, exclusive agreement with GLORY, the world’s premiere kickboxing league.
The 31-year-old Ghita, the last reigning heavyweight champion for It’s Showtime before the league was acquired by GLORY in June, has terrorized the division of big men with his brutal leg kick attacks that have helped earn him an astonishing 77 percent KO rate and the nickname ‘The Savage Samurai.’ The 1.95 meter (6 foot 5), 114 kilogram (251 pound) Ghita, who fights out of the Romanian capital of Bucharest, is widely regarded as the greatest challenge to Semmy Schilt’s world No. 1 heavyweight ranking.
“I decided that GLORY is the best and only logical fit for me because this is where all of the best heavyweights in the world compete,” said Ghita, who had been sought after by several other leagues. “If you want to be recognized as the best, you have to face and defeat the best and, as a true competitor, I have every intention of distinguishing myself as the No. 1 heavyweight in the world and a GLORY champion.”
“We are very excited to welcome Daniel Ghita to our highly-competitive heavyweight division,” said Marcus Luer, Managing Director of GLORY. “
“With the addition of Daniel, there is effectively not one top tier matchup in kickboxing’s heavyweight division that is not possible.”
While Ghita has been doing damage in the upper echelon of the heavyweight division, the 23-year-old Verhoeven, who fights out of the city of Bergen Op Zoom, has gained recognition as one of the brightest up and coming, new stars in the sport.
The 1.95 meter (6 foot 5), 114 kilogram (250 pound) Verhoeven’s record includes two wins over Hesdy Gerges, a victory over top Australian heavyweight Ben Edwards and a win over fellow GLORY heavyweight rising starFilip Verlinden.
“Verhoeven had some superb performances for It’s Showtime and it was clear,very early, that he has massive potential to become a superstar. I look forward to seeing him meet the challenges he will be faced with in the GLORY heavyweight division,” Luer remarked.
The pair are likely to make their respective debuts for the organisation at GLORY 4 Tokyo HEAVYWEIGHT Grand Slam at Makai Messe (former Nippon Convention Center) on December 2. The event will be headlined by a 16-man single-elimination tournament, which will see the winner fight four times in one night on the way to ultimate victory.
Continuing on from Part 1 of “Fights To Watch In November,” Part 2 includes ten more fights. Some of the fights included in this post are actually ones that are from the same event as fights highlighted in Part 1. Once again, the purpose of these posts is to highlight fights that go under the radar or ones that people might not know about, and to introduce other fighters to fans.
November 10: Pedro Felipe vs. Ruben Almeida – Urban KO III – Barakaldo, Spain
LiverKick’s #8 ranked lightweight, Ruben Almeida, is pretty much there because of a win over Javier Hernandez in April that came in controversial fashion. Almeida will look to prove that he actually belongs on the rankings as he goes into enemy territory to fight Pedro Felipe. A loss for Almeida definitely drops him off the rankings and diminishes his stock. For Felipe, this fight will also be somewhat of a measuring stick and if he wins, you could throw his name in the mix. Almeida is still pretty young at 22 while Felipe is 31.
November 10: Raz Sarkisjan vs. Marcus Vinicius – It’s Showtime Brazil – Sao Paulo, Brazil
Raz Sarkisjan made a name for himself this year when he went to Japan and beat Masaaki Noiri. He was a relative unknown before that fight and has since notched another win just a few weeks ago in Holland. The great thing about this fight is we get to see more of Sarkisjan. Vinicius has a style that should make for a very entertaining fight if he doesn’t get stopped, and looks like the bigger fighter. He won three fights in a tournament to qualify for this fight last month. It’s hard to gauge how he’ll do against Raz, but this is his big opportunity to make a name for himself, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
November 10: Koya Urabe vs. Hisaki Higashimoto – Krush.24 – Tokyo, Japan
This is the finals of Krush’s Youth GP, with Higashimoto being a surprising opponent for Urabe. Higashimoto’s two fights that he won on September 9 to qualify for this fight were the first two professional fights of his career, including a first round stoppage of HIROYA. Urabe is of course the favorite. A win for Urabe will probably set up another match-up against one of the better Japanese fighters of the division again. Higashimoto has nothing to lose. If he loses, it’s only his third pro fight and to Koya Urabe. If he wins, it’s a big upset and would move him up the ranks in Krush and Japan.
November 10: Benjamin Adegbuyi vs. Alexey Ignashov – SuperKombat Final Elimination – Craiova, Romania
Alexey Ignashov is trying to revive his career, with two wins in a week last month. Benny Adegbuyi is on the come up, coming off his short and anticlimatic win over Jafar Ahmadi at the K-1 Final 16 last month. While Ignashov definitely isn’t in his prime, he can still trouble a lot of heavyweights and with a win here would get into the SuperKombat WGP Final in December. Despite Ignashov not being a top guy, he’s still a big name in kickboxing, no matter how far down his career has dropped off since his prime. A win over Ignashov would be a nice feather in Benny Adegbuyi’s cap.
November 18: Steve Moxon vs. Giannis Mixalopoulos – Brute Force 21 – Melbourne, Australia
Steve Moxon signed with GLORY this year and will make his debut for the promotion in 2013. For now, he’s staying very active in Australia and his opponent is coming all the way from Greece. This is a fight where Moxon can showcase all his abilities. Mixalopoulos has a style that should provide for a fun fight, welcoming exchanges, and he can also counter punch but I would definitely expect Moxon to win here. Moxon is a fighter that I think would be a fan favorite if more fans worldwide knew him.
November 22: Bobo Sacko vs. Petasawin Seatransferry – Best of Siam 2 – Paris, France
Bobo Sacko is one of the many upcoming talents in France and recently suffered the first loss of his career last month to Aziz Hlali. Coming off his first loss, Petasawin isn’t an easy fight at all, considering how much experience the Thai has. Though Petasawin is now probably past his prime, Sacko hasn’t faced an opponent like him before and could have trouble. The background makes for an interesting fight, with Sacko looking to prove himself.
November 23: Michael Badato vs. Maseh Nuristani – Rumble in the Jungle 24 – Melton, Australia
Michael Badato and Maseh Nuristani are both Australian fighters that have had success fighting around the light heavyweight division, with Badato recently shining on JWP’s Caged Muay Thai. Nuristani lost to Steve Moxon earlier this year but from all accounts gave him a good fight. Both guys have big power and go for the knockout so don’t be surprised if there’s a big KO from either side.
November 24: Emmanuel Payet vs. Stephane Susperregui – Nuit des Champions – Marseilles, France
This is a battle of tow men who have fought Nathan “Carnage Corbett. Both of them lost, but both of them also gave Corbett a lot of trouble. Payet hurt him with a high kick in the first round of their bout back in 2009. Susperregui fought Corbett in April and gave him a very tough fight over five rounds. Susperregui is a very awkward and unpredictable fighter but effective at the same time and is one of the better fighters at 95kg.
November 24: Karim Ghajji vs. Dmitry Valent – Nuit des Champions – Marseilles, France
Nuit des Champion on November 24 is just a really good card, and so is this match-up. Valent is a very unheralded but good fighter who’s flown under the radar for a long time. He gave John Wayne Parr a very tough fight in 2009. Ghajji has been around for a while and while it seems that Valent has as well, he’s only 24. The fight takes place at 76kg, a normal weight for these two fighters, and is also five rounds.
November 24: Enriko Gogokhia vs. Berneung Topkingboxing – Thai Boxe Mania – Torino, Italy
Enriko Gogokhia is another up and coming talent at 70kg, who I thought should’ve gotten a decision over Mike Zambidis last year. Berneung is a tough test and can still beat and trouble a lot of fighters. Gogokhia’s main flaws have been defense and cardio, and Berneung can wear fighters down, so Gogokhia will need to be in top condition to make this fight competitive.
A serious misfortune has struck the international Kickboxing and Muay Thai community as reports have surfaced that legendary Dutch striker Ramon “Diamond” Dekkers has passed away today at the young age of 43. Reports are coming out of his home town of Breda today that Dekkers was riding his bike when he collapsed in a tunnel after feeling light-headed. A few bystanders attempted to assist him before emergency services arrived and attempted to revive him to no avail.
Dekkers is a former 8-time world champion and one of the first Dutch Kickboxers to really make an impact in Thailand. He was instrumental in helping the sport of Kickboxing to evolve to what it is today and will always be remembered for his accomplishments in and out of the ring.
