Tag: Interviews

The long-reigning heavyweight king of kickboxing Rico Verhoeven wants a match against Francis Ngannou, the lineal UFC champion and current PFL heavyweight titleholder. This would be a battle of combat sports superstars.

Rico Verhoeven vs. Francis Ngannou

The Dutch-born Rico Verhoeven has held the GLORY heavyweight kickboxing world title for a decade and has an incredible 11 title defenses to his name. Along the way, he’s defeated incredible fighters such as Badr Hari, Jamal Ben Saddik, and many others. Earlier this year he defeated three opponents in a single night to capture the Grand Prix title. Now, he will look to defend his throne at Glory Collision 7, on December 7, against Levi Rigters.

Cameroon’s Francis Ngannou entered the UFC and quickly made a name for himself due to his fearsome power. He captured the heavyweight crown with a series of knockout wins and defended his UFC before leaving the organization. He then took on blockbuster boxing matches against heavyweight boxing royalty before capturing the PFL MMA world title by first-round knockout.

Both Rico Verhoeven and Francis Ngannou have experience across multiple combat sports; each man has competed at the professional level across Kickboxing, MMA, and boxing. However, Ngannou has far more experience in MMA while Verhoeven has far more experience in kickboxing.

Rico Verhoeven discussed the match with me in an interview, he explained:

“I would love that. That would definitely make sense, especially if we’re talking about the baddest man on the planet. Absolutely. Yeah, I think we’re both in that conversation. MMA, boxing, and kickboxing—let’s throw everybody in one jar and put them all together. Let’s do it!”

Both the PFL and GLORY would likely be okay doing a crossover event, but picking the right regulations would be an issue. As for the rules and gloves, Verhoeven is ready for anything. He continued:

“Let’s see what they offer and what they have in mind. A boxing match would be nice. It would be interesting because we both come out of our own worlds and do something else. Of course, in MMA, he would have an advantage. In kickboxing, I would have the advantage. Let’s see.”

Interestingly, Ngannou and Verhoevern have actually trained together before. The Dutch striker said:

“The training we had was so light, it was just fun. I was in town, and we were just hanging out. I know Eric is his trainer, and he’s really good. We just had fun, showed him some stuff I use within kickboxing, and yeah, we just hung out.”

Francis Ngannou currently has no match scheduled in the near future. Rico Verhoeven is looking to cement his place as an all-time great in kickboxing with another defense of his title booked for December 7 at Glory Collision 7 facing the dangerous kicker Levi Rigters.