(Dekkers, seen here with former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion and Invicta FC fighter Marloes Coenen. Via Coenen’s Twitter.)
Some terrible and unexpected news from the world of kickboxing, Potato Nation. Yesterday afternoon, it was made public that kickboxing legend and former Muay Thai world champion Ramon Dekkers had passed away at the tender age of 43. According to various reports, the Golden Glory coach collapsed in his hometown of Breda, The Netherlands during a bike ride after complaining about light-headedness. Attempts to revive him on the scene were unsuccessful and Dekkers was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
Within hours of the announcement of his death, the MMA community took to the internet to express their condolences, including world-renowned trainer and fellow Muay Thai legend Duke Roufus, who posted the following on the UG:
I wanted to express my gratitude & respect to late great Ramon “Diamond” Dekkers. Ramon & Rob Kaman were my early influence in Muay Thai. The first time I saw Ramon was early 1989 via video tape.
I was in a family of very involved in the PKA Kickboxing. My older brother Rick a Champion & my father a coach, manager, promoter, judge & ref. Pursuing Muay Thai was foolish to them at the time but it paid off. I went to Thailand trained at SitYodtong where Rob & Ramon had before me. I wanted to follow in foot steps of their greatness.
I had to the pleasure to see Ramon fight live in France a few times. I never reached the heights that he did as a fighter but he was inspiration for me follow my dream. I am the coach that I am today because of these guys inspiring me.
1994 down the road from SitYodtong I had my Thai Shorts on after training to get a M150 Sponsor re-hydration drink. A Thai guy says to me “You train Boxing? You want to be the next Lamon Dekkaa”? Yes I did! RIP Champ
Boasting over 180 fights to his credit including 95 KO victories, Dekkers lone MMA appearance resulted in a first round submission via heel hook loss to Genki Sudo under the K-1 banner in 2005.
We’ve placed a fantastic highlight reel showcasing some of Dekkers handiwork below, so give it a look and share your thoughts/condolences in the comments section.