Verhoeven: “Amsterdam event is a big deal”

This Friday's GLORY 26 AMSTERDAM event at the RAI Amsterdam is “a very big deal”, according to the heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven.

“The last big event was five years ago. I left Holland with the dream and vision of becoming champion and now five years later I am champion and I’m defending the belt in my home country. That’s amazing. It’s been so long since we had a big event, I think the atmosphere will be great,” he says.

“I understand why the government had its position on kickboxing events for so long but we were able to sit down with the mayor of Amsterdam - not just me, but a lot of important people in the sport. The former heavyweight champions as well, Peter Aerts, Remy Bonjasky, Ernesto Hoost, we met with the mayor and gave him a belt. It was to recognize what he had done in terms of giving us a chance to explain ourselves and explain our sport.

“Marloes Coenen also played a huge part in it. It was her who invited me. She said that she wanted to mayor to hear and feel from us how we feel about the sport and what it does and has done for us and our lives. We met him and he definitely felt it. He said that if a license request came in, he would do everything he could to make it happen. So then there were a lot of rules and hoops to jump through but in the end we made it happen and now it is here.”

'The Prince' defends his belt against Benjamin Adegbuyi in the evening's co-main event. It will be their second meeting; the first was in June of this year and saw Verhoeven retain his title with a masterclass performance over five rounds in the main event of GLORY 22 FRANCE.

“Like I have said before, I think this rematch is coming a little too soon. He could do with more experience before another shot at the title but sometimes life just takes you places so here we are,” Verhoeven says of this rematch.

“I am not underestimating him at all, he is a very dangerous fighter, I rate him highly, especially when you consider he has only been in the sport six or seven years and has come this far. He has accomplished a lot and I respect that.”

Tickets for the event are all but sold out, with the last few remaining expected to be sold out before doors open on Friday.

Most of the Dutch fighters have friends coming by the hundreds and Verhoeven is no exception. He also has some celebrity friends attending, although his close friend Timor Steffens won't be able to make it. Steffens is one of Madonna's main dancers when she is on tour and it was through Steffens that Verhoeven ended up giving private kickboxing lessons to her son last year.

“There’s like 20 celebrities coming. Nicky Romero the DJ will be there. Mr Propz was supposed to be there but he has a performance scheduled so he can’t come, my friend Timor wanted to come but he is on tour with Chris Brown in Australia. There will be rappers, DJ’s, stand-up comedians… that’s what happens when we do a live event here,” he says.

“It is going to be crazy. When I come out and Benny is in the ring, he is going to feel it. He will feel what it is like to fight a Dutchman in Holland. I will have 5,000 extra corner men. But obviously it would be the same if I was to fight him in Romania.”

Friday night will not be the first time that Verhoeven and Adegbuyi have seen each other since their June encounter. Verhoeven is a friend and training partner of the Manchester, England-based heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury, who took the heavyweight crown from Wladimir Klitschko this past weekend.

Verhoeven formed part of Fury's camp for the fight but found he was not the only kickboxer booked for sparring. Fury likes to work with kickboxers because they are willing to get involved in heavier firefights than the average casual boxing sparring partner. He also needed very tall sparring partners to prepare for Klitschko.

“It was funny because he came to Tyson’s camp for a week as well, at the same time I was there - we stayed at the same house! I arrived there and we were picked up from the airport and on the way the driver said he was picking another kickboxer up tomorrow, a Romanian guy called Benny something. I said, “You must be kidding me?! Let me see that list!” and I looked and it was right there, Benjamin Adegbuyi,” Verhoeven laughs.

“I was like ‘OK, this is going to be fun.’ But it turned out all good. At first I thought it was going to be awkward but it was fine. He is a nice guy and we got on fine. We are just two athletes, two sportsmen who want the best for themselves. I wish him all the best, but I wish myself just a little bit more. We are going to put on a good show.”

GLORY 26 AMSTERDAM takes place Friday at the RAI AMSTERDAM and airs live in the US on ESPN 3 at 4 p.m. EST / 1 p.m. PST with a replay on ESPN2 in primetime on Sunday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. EST / 5 p.m. PST.