Rico Verhoeven has received the green light from the doctors. Badr Hari will fight in Paris in September and Levi Rigters in Bulgaria a month later. And even 47-year-old Melvin Manhoef says he will soon be kickboxing under the Glory banner. Many trusted names will return to the ring at the Dutch kickboxing organization in 2023 – culminating in the Glory Grand Prix in December.
After a long and intensive rehabilitation, Rico Verhoeven (34) is now sure that his heavyweight title fight with Tariq Osaro (27), the interim champion, can continue. He was told that by his doctors. “My road to recovery was challenging because I couldn’t do cardio, but only strength training to build the muscles in my leg after knee surgery,” Verhoeven said on Instagram. He will make his first appearance for Glory in the fall since the end of 2021, when he was too strong for Jamal Ben Saddik in a compelling fight.
Listen to the latest In the Ring, the martial arts podcast from AD, with Tariq Osaro and Remy Bonjasky:
The exact date of Verhoeven’s fight is still unclear. The next Glory event, after Tyjani Beztati and Bahram Rajbazadeh were the trendsetters last Saturday in Rotterdam Ahoy, is on September 9 in Paris. There, another heavyweight great returns to the ring after a long absence. Badr Hari (38) fights his first match since October 2022, against James McSweeney (42). At stake is qualification for the K-1-style eight-man tournament, the Glory Grand Prix, in December this year. In Paris, among others, Tiffany van Soest will also be in action, the bantamweight champion who will put her title on the line against Sarah Moussaddak one last time before ending her career.
On October 7, Glory will travel to Burgas in Bulgaria, where heavyweight Levi Rigters (28) will make his first appearance in a year against an unknown opponent, with a ticket for the Grand Prix at stake. In his last match Rigters won against Osaro, who in the past year became the challenger of Verhoeven for the heavyweight title.
Exclusively live on this site on Saturday: fight for world title boxing between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois
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Melvin Manhoef
And last Saturday, another trusted name in the Dutch martial arts world threw a ball. It could just be that the already 47-year-old Melvin Manhoef will soon fight under the Glory flag. In recent years, Manhoef has focused on mixed martial arts (MMA), but of course also has a great kickboxing past.
At Manhoef, the ring or the cage has always been itchy after his last match at mma organization Bellator in September 2022. A return to Dutch soil is in the making, although Glory does not want to confirm that himself. “I signed, yes,” analyst Manhoef told Videoland on Saturday evening. ,,It is waiting for a fight, but I have signed. It is not for me to say anything more about it.”
When he will take action is still unclear. It is clear that after the Glory events in France and Bulgaria, a title fight between Verhoeven and Osaro will be scheduled in the autumn and that the Glory Grand Prix will be held in December.
Confirmed heavyweights for that eight-man tournament are Osaro (27), Azerbaijani Rajabzadeh (32) and Sofian Laïdouni (28) who fought very impressively again last Saturday. After September 9, we will know whether Hari or McSweeney will join that list and after October 7 whether Rigters can also take a shot at the $ 500,000 that is ready for the winner of the Grand Prix.
Glory tightens anti-doping policy
After a series of doping incidents, Glory wants to make short work of fighters who want to flout the rules. The Dutch kickboxing organization says in a press release that fighters can now also be checked unannounced outside parties. In the person of Nadia Silk, someone has been recruited to comply with the stricter rules. Silk has experience at anti-doping agency USADA and in the past worked on anti-doping policy in MMA organization UFC in the United States. Doping controls are still carried out by the ITA, the International Testing Agency.
Glory is struggling with a negative image in the field of doping after several fighters were caught in a short time, after anti-doping rules were tightened earlier. Alistair Overeem, Jamal Ben Saddik and Luis Tavares were all caught for doping violations. Tavares has since fought again after his suspension, while Overeem and Ben Saddik are nearing the end of their suspensions.
In addition to the tightened test policy, Glory will publish in more detail and prepare a file if a fighter tests positive. He also faces a hefty fine. And where in the past a party was declared invalid in a match won with doping, the organization can now also convert victories into a loss if the anti-doping rules are violated.
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