Manhoef accuses Verlinden of “running away” during fight

Melvin Manhoef (47-12, 37 KO’s) is one of only a handful of professional fighters to have competed in three weight classes during his career: heavyweight, light-heavyweight and middleweight

The fearless Manhoef - who stands 5’8”/1.74m - set a record when he became the first fighter to score a clean KO of heavyweight Mark Hunt with punches, a feat no fighter has yet repeated.

Last weekend he debuted for GLORY in the LAST MAN STANDING Middleweight Championship Tournament, weighing in at 187lbs (84.7kgs) for his quarter-final fight with Filip Verlinden (43-12-1, 16 KO’s).

“Yeah for sure middleweight is the place to be,” says ‘No Mercy’ Manhoef, kickboxing in his natural weight-class for the first time since winning the It’s Showtime version of the Middleweight title back in 2009.

The fight with Verlinden didn’t go Manhoef’s way but says he is happy with his performance, if not with the judges.

“I am proud of myself. For me if the fans enjoy it I am satisfied. I am not so satisfied about the decision, but I am satisfied if the fans are satisfied,” he says.

One person Manhoef isn’t happy with is Verlinden. He accuses the Belgian fighter - by coincidence, also a middleweight who has previously fought at heavyweight - of running away from him.

“I came to fight and did what I had to do but there was nobody to fight with,” says Manhoef.  “He was running away the whole time. He was running for the whole fight.

“I don’t know if it was the right tactic but I was putting pressure on him. If I’m walking [forward] and somebody is running it is hard to fight. You need to two to tango I think.”

Verlinden used his reach to keep the shorter Manhoef out on the end of kicks and straight punches, trying to shut down Manhoef’s deadly short-range hooks. When Manhoef could get inside, it was particularly noticeable that he was working body shots whenever he could.

“I didn’t do enough [body shots], I needed to do more. I did a lot but I had to do more. I had to kill the body first, that was our gameplan. We knew he would be running away,” he says.

At the end of three rounds the judges returned a majority decision for Verlinden. Two had it at 30-27 for the Belgian while the other judge had it a draw at 28-28, even with Manhoef having been knocked down once.

“[A draw] is how I think and one judge thought the same way. The 30-27 [score] was not normal,” says Manhoef.

“I think the judge who gave it 28-28 had it right. I pressed hard to go for the extra round and it didn’t happen. That’s a shame, I think I deserved that extra round.”

His dispute with the judges aside, Manhoef - also well known in the MMA world - says he enjoyed himself fighting for GLORY and would like further opportunities.

“It has been along time since I did kickboxing, about eight months [before this event]. I hope GLORY will give me [more fights], otherwise we will see what happens,” he says.

GLORY LAST MAN STANDING aired on pay-per-view. The action-packed card was one of the most stacked in kickboxing history, featuring the eight-man Middleweight tournament plus title fights in the Heavyweight and Welterweight divisions.