Rico Verhoeven: Record, Height, and the GOAT Debate

The size that starts the story

Verhoeven was born 10 April 1989 in Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands, and the first thing any scout notices is the frame — Wikipedia’s fighter page lists him at 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) and about 122.8 kg (271 lbs). That makes him a genuine heavyweight in any discipline, but the reason he’s dangerous is that he doesn’t fight like a giant. His footwork is light, his jab is persistent, and his low kicks ruin legs the way a slow boxer’s double-jab is supposed to ruin plans. Most heavyweights that size fight off the back foot; Verhoeven fights moving forward, takes the center of the ring, and makes opponents fight his fight for five, three-minute rounds.

Fighter snapshot, per pro-kickboxing records and the GLORY title history.

A reign written in defenses

The timeline reads like a long-planned coronation, except nobody planned the coronation — he just kept winning.

• 2008: professional debut. A teenager from the Netherlands starts grinding through Dutch fight cards.
• 2013: captures GLORY’s heavyweight title. The division has a new face — and, it turns out, a long one.
• 2016–2020: the golden era of defenses. Yahoo Sports’ coverage of his reign highlights wins over Badr Hari, Daniel Ghita, Benjamin Adegbuyi, and a rotating cast of contenders who all tried the same thing — and all got the same result.
• 2025: still the champion, still undefeated inside GLORY’s heavyweight ranks this cycle — 25 straight wins in the promotion.

The “one loss” on his record predates the GLORY era, which is exactly why the heavyweight math gets interesting: in the era that matters most to his sport, Verhoeven is undefeated.

The GOAT debate is not a debate

Inside kickboxing, the all-time conversation used to revolve around names like Semmy Schilt, Peter Aerts, and Badr Hari — all of them Dutch, all of them huge, all of them dangerous. Verhoeven has beaten the best of that lineage and then outlasted them all. Schilt had size and a legendary four-time K-1 Grand Prix résumé; Aerts brought punching power and three K-1 titles; Hari had the most feared right hand of his generation. Verhoeven is the one who made a decade of title fights look routine.

“Rico Verhoeven is the greatest heavyweight champion in all of combat sports.”

That is not a quote from his own corner. It comes from the 2025 Yahoo Sports headline about his reign — a sentence that almost no one outside his own sport will ever read, which is the strangest part of his career.

“Rico Verhoeven (born 10 April 1989) is a Dutch professional kickboxer.”

That is the first line of Wikipedia’s own page on him — and it is technically the most understated sentence in modern combat sports.

Did Rico Verhoeven ever lose?

The short answer: yes, once. The long answer explains why that loss is a footnote, not a stain.

The one loss on Verhoeven’s record

Verhoeven’s sole professional defeat came against Jamal Ben Saddik in 2013, before he captured the GLORY title. Ben Saddik, a massive Moroccan-Belgian fighter, caught Verhoeven early and stopped him. That fight happened outside GLORY, on a different promotion’s card, and remains the only blemish on his record.

How he bounced back from defeat

Verhoeven avenged that loss twice — once by decision and once by knockout. Since that night in 2013, he has not lost another fight. According to Sherdog’s 2021 breakdown, Verhoeven went 21-1 inside GLORY at that point, with the lone loss dating back nearly a decade. As of 2025, he has won 25 straight inside the promotion.

Is Rico Verhoeven really 6’5?

Yes — and the number matters more than most people think.

Official height from GLORY

Multiple sources confirm Verhoeven’s height at 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in). Wikipedia and IMDb both list him at 6′5″. ESPN’s 2026 profile described him as 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds.

Verhoeven’s height compared to other heavyweights

At 1.96 m, Verhoeven stands taller than most top heavyweight kickboxers. Semmy Schilt (2.12 m) and Badr Hari (1.98 m) are the exceptions. In boxing, he matches up with the tallest heavyweights — Tyson Fury is 2.06 m, Anthony Joshua is 1.98 m. The implication: Verhoeven’s height is elite even among elite combat athletes.

Will Usyk fight Rico Verhoeven?

The fantasy fight that refuses to die.

Rumors and negotiations

No official contract has been signed as of 2025. Both fighters have talked in soundbites rather than pen. Oleksandr Usyk, the unified heavyweight boxing champion, has said he would consider a crossover if the money was right.

Why a crossover fight is plausible

Verhoeven holds the size advantage — ESPN noted in 2026 that Verhoeven would have height and weight advantages over Usyk, who was listed at 6-foot-3 and 227 pounds for his last fight. Verhoeven is heavier and used to fighting taller men.

Boxing vs kickboxing challenges

By the rules of pro boxing, Verhoeven would have to park his entire kicking game at the door. Against an elite boxer like Usyk, that reduces him to a slower, heavier boxer with excellent footwork and no guarantee of landing the same shots he lands in GLORY. The matchup is tantalizing but carries massive risk for both men.

Is Rico Verhoeven one of the best kickboxers ever?

The arguments for and against the GOAT title hinge on a single variable: era depth.

Longevity and dominance in GLORY

Verhoeven has held the GLORY heavyweight title since 2013 and defended it a record number of times — 13, according to Yahoo Sports. The official website calls him the undisputed GLORY Heavyweight World Champion from 2013 until 2025.

Comparison to other greats (e.g., Semmy Schilt, Peter Aerts)

Semmy Schilt had size and four K-1 Grand Prix titles. Peter Aerts had punching power and three K-1 titles. Verhoeven has beaten the best of that lineage. A 2025 Yahoo Sports article called him the greatest heavyweight champion in all of combat sports.

Arguments for and against the GOAT title

Supporters point to his decade-long streak. Critics note that GLORY’s heavyweight division has thinned in the later years of his reign. The truth: Verhoeven dominated the best competition available, and that is all any champion can do.

Who is the current world champion kickboxer?

The answer depends on which organization’s belt you count.

GLORY heavyweight champion

Rico Verhoeven is the reigning GLORY Heavyweight World Champion, a position he has held since 2013. The official website states he stepped away as champion by choice in November 2025 to pursue bigger challenges, but through most of 2025 he still held the belt.

Other major organization champions (ONE, K-1)

In ONE Championship, the heavyweight champion is Roman Kryklia. In K-1, the current heavyweight champion is Liu Ce. Verhoeven’s reign is the longest active in major kickboxing.

Versus Usyk: the heavyweight fight everyone wants, and nobody can make

Every so often, a rumour floats that Verhoeven should cross over and box the unified heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk. The fantasy is obvious: Usyk is roughly 1.90 m with a boxing résumé that includes two wins over Anthony Joshua and undisputed-champion status across two weight divisions. Verhoeven is heavier, slightly taller, and used to fighting taller men — he has spent a decade making hulking GLORY heavyweights miss and then chopping down their legs. The awkward part: Verhoeven is a kickboxer first. By the rules of pro boxing, he would have to park his entire kicking game at the door, and against an elite boxer like Usyk, that reduces him to a slower, heavier boxer with excellent footwork and no guarantee of landing the same shots he lands in GLORY.

The matchup breakdown has circulated enough that even the number crunchers have weighed in: Verhoeven holds the size advantage on paper, and Usyk would have to respect the range of a 6-foot-5-inch champion who has never once looked tired in a GLORY title fight. But kickboxing’s tape doesn’t translate automatically to boxing’s angles. Usyk’s biggest advantage is his ability to set traps on the inside — which is precisely the area where Verhoeven would have to be most careful if the two ever shared a ring.

As of 2025, no official contract has been signed, and both sides have talked in soundbites rather than pen. That has not stopped fans from building the fantasy in their heads: a Dutch kickboxing king versus the Ukrainian master technician, one night, one ruleset, twenty minutes of chaos. The likelihood is still low — but the fact that the idea feels inevitable shows how far Verhoeven has already come.

How to watch a Verhoeven fight, step by step

For boxing fans who have finally decided to check him out, here is what you are watching for when the GLORY cage locks:

1. Watch the first round for the jab-and-check. Verhoeven fights tall the way a boxer should, except he’s twice as willing to eat a punch to land a body kick.
2. Track the low kicks. He chops the lead leg until his opponents start loading up their shots early. That is what turns dangerous power hitters into one-punch gamblers by round three.
3. Wait for the fifth round. The championship rounds are where he beats everyone. Contenders plan to outwork him early; instead, they fade, and he looks fresh.

That pattern — volume early, low kicks in the middle, pressure at the end — is the exact blueprint that has made him nearly impossible to beat.

The bottom line

Bottom line: Rico Verhoeven is the most underrated heavyweight champion in the world because he’s the best at the sport that global audiences refuse to care about. He has defended a major title more times than most boxers can envision, beaten every contender his organisation could find, and done it all while making the hardest weight in combat sports look like a choice. Whether or not the Usyk fight ever happens, the record already states it plainly: a 6-foot-5-inch Dutch technician spent a dozen years as the best heavyweight on the planet — and the only one who could beat him never fought him at all.

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