Rico Verhoeven

Rico Verhoeven (Ricardo Verhoeven) is a Dutch professional kickboxer who competes at heavyweight. He was born on 10 April 1989 in Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands. He started martial arts at age five, beginning with Kyokushin, and was taught early on by his father, a karate black belt. After taking up kickboxing, he began training at 7 and, because of his size, was competing against adults by 16. He has trained mainly in Zevenbergen under Dennis Krauweel at Superpro Sportcenter, alongside fighters such as Benjamin Adegbuyi, Albert Kraus and Alviar Lima.

Verhoeven’s rise in GLORY was built on tournament success and high-level wins. In October 2013, he won the Glory 11 heavyweight tournament in Hoffman Estates, beating Gökhan Saki by majority decision in the semi-final (scoring a first-round knockdown) and then defeating Daniel Ghiță by unanimous decision in the final. Later that year, he beat Peter Aerts by split decision in Tokyo. In June 2014, he defeated Ghiță again by unanimous decision to win the vacant GLORY Heavyweight Championship. His subsequent title run included notable bouts such as the third fight with Errol Zimmerman (ending in a TKO after Zimmerman injured his knee) and two major fights with Benjamin Adegbuyi, first a unanimous decision with scorecards reported as 49–47, 49–47 and 50–45, then a first-round knockout in their rematch.

His biggest mainstream moments in the Netherlands have often come through events that crossed into national, prime-time visibility. The rematch with Badr Hari at Glory 74 in Arnhem took place in a sold-out GelreDome, reported as 30,000 fans, and the broadcast drew 3.5 million viewers—an estimated 53% of the live TV audience in the Netherlands—figures Wikipedia describes as among the highest for a live sports broadcast in Dutch television history. Beyond the ring, he has also kept a public profile through a YouTube channel and on-screen work, including a Dutch documentary series (“RICO: Dream Big”) and acting roles in film and television.