Yousri Belgaroui

Yoursi Belgaroui is the new breed of fighter: highly-skilled and dangerous in the ring, outside of it he is polished and educated, with the professional demeanor which defines the modern athlete.

Born and raised in North Amsterdam to parents who immigrated from Tunisia, from an early age he found himself riding two rails side by side.

On the one hand, the area was not a good one and trouble was never far away. The young Belgaroui had to learn to defend himself and how to navigate the meaner back alleys.

On the other hand, he was intelligent and academically gifted. Studies came easy to him and he eventually graduated from the University of Amsterdam with a degree in Public Governance and Management.

A corporate career didn’t interest him when he graduated though: the lure of the ring was too strong. Thus far, it’s proven to be the right choice. Belgaroui quickly made it onto the GLORY roster and quickly rose to contender level.

Along the way he’s had strong rivalries with Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya in particular, but his main goal has always been to capture the GLORY World Middleweight Championship.

When he’s not competing, Belgaroui can often be found on Netherlands television as a fight pundit and commentator.

He’s also a humanitarian: the 2015 refugee crisis, in which millions of displaced people made their way to the EU looking for succor, moved him to travel to Greece at his own expense and spend weeks working in a refugee processing center