The Glory kickboxing organization’s heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven emerged victorious by TKO last night against MMA fighter Antonio ‘Bigoot’ Silva.
Silva had been a massive underdog heading into the kickboxing bout at Glory 46 in China, and rightly so, with the Brazilian fighter making his debut in the sport after winning only one of his last 10 fights in MMA, with most of his defeats coming by way of T/KO.
Conversely, Verhoeven had won 13 of his last 14 fights in the ring and so he was expected to make short work of his opponent, but in the opening round he focused more on leg kicks rather than going for the immediate KO.
Verhoeven then turned up the heat in the second round and quickly floored Silva with a head kick.
The Brazilian got back to his feet but then faced a barrage of spinning kicks and punches to the head that convinced the referee that the wobbled fighter had taken enough punishment, declaring Verhoeven the winner by TKO at 0.43mins of the second round.
There have been calls for the 38-year-old Silva to retire for some time now, with even his own manager publicly that he was uncomfortable with him being booked against Verhoeven, but unfortunately the fighter himself has indicated that he needs the money and has no intention of retiring yet.
