1/2 Robbie Hageman hugs opponent Rachid Belaini.
He looked forward to this evening for a long time. The seriously ill Robbie Hageman said goodbye as a kickboxer in ‘his Eindhoven’. His last match against Rachid Belaini was spectacular and had two winners. The fighting in the ring is now over, but Robbie’s fight against the tumor in his head continues outside.
Robbie fought two hundred matches, culminating in two world titles. His career came to a temporary end in 2019, after a brain tumor was detected during a scan. What followed was a long journey. He underwent two surgeries on his tumor and recently received chemotherapy. Despite his terminal illness, Robbie wanted to end his career in front of his own audience.
The Indoor Sports Center in Eindhoven was filled with more than a thousand martial arts enthusiasts during the A1 World Combat Cup. The opponent was Rachid Belaini (47), who had stopped since 2015, who made his one-off comeback especially for this match. The spectators were not disappointed and a fascinating fight ensued between The Rabbit (Robbie) and the Man of Steel. After three rounds, the judges declared both fighters the winners.
“Rachid is also a real winner.”
Hageman was disappointed that shortly before the match, the martial arts authority ruled that hitting and kicking on the head was prohibited. “If that were allowed, it would have ended sooner. On the other hand, it’s nice, because Rachid is also a real winner. Before and after the game we have a lot of respect for each other, but during the game we go full steam ahead.”
An impressive moment was the emergence of Robbie. Together with his three sons he walked to the ring. On his pants were the names of the boys and also the name of his wife Chantal and Eva, their daughter who will be born soon. “I’m going to focus on my family and want to be a support for my wife. She always is for me.”
Chantal looks at Robbie and her children with tears in her eyes when she says: “Our family is always number 1. I am so proud of them. I told Eva to stay in my belly until daddy’s party sit down, now she can come.”
“I believe that I will get better.”
Robbie never had any doubts about entering the ring despite his illness. “If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have stopped and I would have made my comeback,” he says. “I feel very fit. But I keep my word, this was my last game.”
Robbie now focuses on his other goal: treatment with a specialist in America. This will hopefully extend his life expectancy by about thirty years. If he stays in the Netherlands, he will have almost finished his treatment and he is expected to live a maximum of five years.
The treatment in America has a huge price tag of about 475,000 euros. More than 155,000 euros have been raised through crowdfunding and a considerable amount has also been deposited directly with the foundation. “I will go to America anyway and believe that I will get better. With the help of God.”
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