The preview of COLLISION 7’s main event is powered by Unibet.
This Saturday night, December 7, will see the biggest kickboxing event of the year as GLORY COLLISION 7 takes place inside the GelreDome football stadium in Arnhem, Netherlands.
This event will feature twelve incredible bouts headlined by a five-round title fight between GLORY Heavyweight World Champion Rico Verhoeven (64-10, 21 KO) and challenger Levi Rigters (19-2, 9 KO). The ‘King of Kickboxing’ will look to defend his belt for the twelfth time inside the GLORY ring against Rigters, who earned his place after an impressive win over Bahram Rajabzadeh at GLORY 95 in Zagreb this past September.
Both men already met in the final of the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix back in March with Rico Verhoeven earning a TKO win despite having been knocked down by Rigters’ spinning backfist in the second round. COLLISION 7 will occur close to 12 years after Rico’s first and only defeat in the GLORY ring, a testimony to his incredible career. However, Levi is no rookie either as he already competed 11 times in less than 4 years in GLORY, winning 9 of those fights.
A true clash between the two best heavyweights on the planet, this will be the fifth time that Rico headlines the prestigious COLLISION series. His experience on the biggest stages will no doubt be a factor in this fight. The champion has taken part in some of the most anticipated kickboxing bouts of all time clashing with & defeating the likes of Badr Hari and Jamal Ben Saddik in front of massive audiences.
Not one to be easily impressed, Levi Rigters has proven that he could handle pressure back in September. His victory in the main-event of GLORY 95 against Bahram Rajabzadeh proved the doubters wrong as the ‘Prince of Kickboxing’ emerged victorious from a grueling and violent fight displaying a level of grit that some fans didn’t believe he had in him.
Rico’s ability to handle a five rounds fight has been proven many times. The champion is a specialist when it comes to setting his own pace, getting comfortable at range and mixing his attacks with a very tight defense system. A real specialist when it comes to thwarting aggressive opponents, he will have to compete with a very patient Levi Rigters who is not one to take ill-considered risks.
A lot of observers are expecting a real chess match between two of the most technical heavyweights of all time and it’s easy to understand why. Both fighters are exceptional when it comes to using kicks to control range and picking their moment to be aggressive. Statistically speaking, Rico throws a bit more than Rigters and gets hit a little less. This is the result of his willingness to push the pace and be offensive if the matchup dictates it as we’ve seen against Sofian Laidouni earlier this year.
The champion will have to be especially careful in the early stages of the fight as Levi will probably try to accumulate damages on Rico’s legs to take the control of the later rounds. However, we’ve never seen Levi in those championship rounds and they are Rico’s territory. The ‘King of Kickboxing’ has shown many times his capacity to be dangerous when his opponent slows down and his explosiveness after ten minutes of fighting is not matched by many.
This fight promises to be a demonstration of technical prowess. Given his experience in the GLORY ring, Rico is the favorite for the fight but Levi represents a whole new kind of challenge for the champion and should not be underestimated. If the challenger is able to control the pace of the fight and unroll his gameplan, Rico could be drawn into a very uncomfortable bout.