Ricardo “Rico” Verguven is a Dutch professional kickboxer, boxer, and mixed martial artist.
Place of Birth, Education
He was born on April 10, 1989, in Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands.
He started practicing martial arts when he was very young—his first discipline was Kyokushin karate. His father, who held a black belt in karate, was his coach.
At age 7, Verguven switched to kickboxing. By the time he was 16, he was already competing against adult opponents—largely because of his size.
Verguven spent most of his training at the Superpro Sportcenter in Zevenbergen, where he worked with Dennis Krauwel. There, he trained alongside other well-known kickboxers, including Benjamin Adegbui, Albert Kraus, and Alvear Lima.
Career
Glory
2010 – 2015
After competing in K-1, It’s Showtime, and SUPERKOMBAT, Verguven moved to the Glory World Series.
At the 2012 Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam tournament, he first defeated Russian Sergei Kharitonov, but then lost in the quarterfinals to Sammy Schilt, who went on to win the entire tournament.
On April 20, 2013, Verguven defeated Jonath Diniz by unanimous decision at Glory 7 in Milan.
On June 22 at Glory 9 in New York, he faced Errol Zimmerman in a rematch. Although he had one point deducted in the first round for a strike to the back of the head, Verguven generally looked the better fighter throughout the bout and ultimately won by decision.
Last fall, Verguven won the Glory 11 tournament in Chicago. In the semifinals, he defeated Gökhan Saki—not only winning by decision, but also knocking his opponent down in the first round. In the final, Verguven got the better of Daniel Gice and also won the fight by judges’ decision.
After that, he further solidified his standing in the division when he defeated Arts on December 21 at Glory 13 in Tokyo.
On June 21, 2014, Verguen faced Gitze again—this time in a rematch at Glory 17 in Los Angeles. And he won again. After that fight, he became the GLORY heavyweight champion.
2015 – 2017
At Glory 19 in Virginia, Verguven defended his heavyweight championship belt for the first time in a fight against Zimmerman. This was their third matchup—each had one win prior to that.
This time, Verguven fought in his usual style: he kept his distance, relied heavily on straight punches, targeted his opponent’s midsection, and didn’t let his opponent get close. Toward the end of the first round, the fight heated up—after an exchange of blows, Zimmerman was knocked down, and shortly afterward, he went down again after a front kick.
As a result, the fight ended early. Zimmerman injured his left knee when he attempted an unsuccessful spinning kick, and Verguven was awarded the victory by technical knockout.
Verguven then defended his title in a bout against Benjamin Adegbui at Glory 22 in Lille. He managed to land some solid strikes on the champion early on and even looked dangerous in the first round, but from there on, he took control of the fight. With each round, he picked up the pace, landed more strikes, and calmly secured the victory by decision.
After that loss, Adegbui once again earned the right to a title fight—he won the contender tournament and, a few months later, faced Verguven again at Glory 26 in Amsterdam. But the second fight was hardly a contest: Verguven knocked him out with a right hook in the first round.
Verguven then defended his title for the fourth time—at Glory 28 in 2016 in Paris, where he faced Mladen Brestovac. The fight didn’t start off very fast, and one of the judges even scored the first round for his opponent, but after that, Verguven calmly took control of the bout and won by unanimous decision.
His fifth title defense took place at Glory 33 in New Jersey against Brazilian Anderson Silva. In that fight, Verguven immediately focused on low kicks and literally shattered his opponent with them. In the second round, he knocked Silva down three times— first with a kick to the leg, then with a high kick, and finally with a finishing blow. After that, the referee stopped the fight.
One of the most high-profile fights of Verguven’s career took place on December 10, 2016, at the GLORY Collision tournament in Oberhausen, where he faced Badr Hari. Before the fight, Hari promised to knock out his opponent in the first round—and he certainly started off very aggressively. Right at the start of the fight, he even cut Verguven’s nose open, so he took the first round.
But then the situation changed. In the second round, the GLORY champion stepped up his intensity, and the fight suddenly ended due to an arm injury sustained by Hari— he simply couldn’t continue. As a result, Verguven won by technical knockout, marking his 50th career victory as a kickboxer.
After his victory over Hari, it took a long time to find a worthy opponent for Verguven, so Glory gave him two non-title fights.
2017 – 2020
First, at Glory 41 in the Netherlands, he faced Ismael Lazar—the Enfusion super heavyweight champion. Verguven looked significantly stronger in that fight: he controlled the distance, and his shorter opponent was never able to dictate the pace of the fight. In the end, Verguven won by decision. It later came to light that Lazar had failed a doping test and received a four-year suspension.
Verguen was then scheduled for another non-title bout—this time against António Silva. It was over quickly: in the second round, he knocked Silva down with a high kick, after which the fight was stopped.
On December 9, 2017, Verguven defended his championship belt in a fight against Jamal Ben Saddik. This fight was billed as one of the biggest in kickboxing simply because of the size of both fighters—both were very large, even for the heavyweight division. Adding to the intrigue was the fact that Saddiq had won their first bout back in 2011. But since then, the rivals’ careers have taken completely different paths: Verguven has emerged as a dominant champion, while his opponent’s performance has been less consistent.
Saddik looked good at the start and kept the fight close for a while. But then Verguven gradually took control, turned the tide of the bout, and ultimately won by technical knockout in the 5th round.
Verguven then faced Brestovac again—the rematch took place at Glory 54 in Birmingham. There, the champion fought in his usual style: he kept his distance, constantly landed low kicks and front kicks, and then followed up with combinations of punches. In the end, Verguven won the fight hands down—all three judges scored it 50–45 in his favor.
He made his record-breaking eighth title defense at Glory 59 in 2018 in Amsterdam against Guto Inocente. During the fight, his opponent broke the rules several times—specifically with sweeps and takedowns. But even so, Verguven completely controlled the bout and comfortably won all five rounds on every judge’s scorecard.
In the rematch against Hari Verguven, he was defending his title for the ninth time. Harry was coming into this fight after a long hiatus—following his first bout with Verguven, he had spent time in prison and fought only once, though the result of that fight was later overturned.
The rematch itself took place at a packed stadium in Arnhem—there were about 30,000 people in the stands. Verguven unexpectedly started out very aggressively, but found himself on the canvas as early as the first round. He looked better in the second round, but in the third, he found himself back on the canvas after a high kick.
It ended just like their first fight—with a first-round victory for Verguven due to Hari’s injury. This time, his opponent broke his ankle after a missed kick, and the fight was stopped.
2020 – 2022
In October 2020, it was announced that Verguven was set to face Saddiq for the third time. This bout was billed as a decisive one, since they had each won one fight against the other prior to that.
The bout was scheduled for Glory 77, which took place on January 30, 2021. However , 11 days before the event, Sadik withdrew due to a back injury.
After that, Verguven was entered into the heavyweight mini-tournament. In the semifinals, he defeated Gerges by judges’ decision, and in the final, he faced Tarik Khbabez. It was over quickly—after the first round, his opponent refused to continue the fight, and Verguven was awarded the victory by technical knockout.
In August 2021, it was announced that Verguven would make his 10th title defense against Overim. The fight was scheduled for Glory: Collision 3 in October of that year.
However, just before the tournament, Overim was injured during training and had to withdraw. He was then replaced at the last minute by Saddiq, who agreed to step in for the fight less than two weeks before the event.
In the end, Verguven defeated Saddiq again —this time by technical knockout in the 4th round.
2022 – 2025
In 2022, Verguven stepped into the ring for yet another fight against Gerges—it was their fourth matchup. The bout was part of the HIT IT show in Rotterdam.
Prior to this, Verguen had already defeated Gerges three times, and he won the fourth fight as well. This time, it ended with a technical knockout in the fifth round.
The next title unification bout took place on November 4, 2023, at Glory: Collision 6. Verguen faced Osaro and won by unanimous decision.
In March 2024, Verguven won the Glory Heavyweight Grand Prix. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Sofiane Laidouni, and in the semifinals, he defeated Nabil Khachab. He won both fights by decision.
In the final, Verguven stopped Levi Rigters by technical knockout in the second round. He received $500,000 for winning the tournament.
In September, it was reported that Verguven would make another title defense at the Collision 7 tournament, which was scheduled for December 7 in Arnhem. Initially, the champion’s opponent was to be the winner of the bout between Levi Rigters and Bagram Rajabzade, but on November 8, it was officially confirmed that Rigters would face him. In the end, Verguven won by unanimous decision.
In March 2025, news broke of yet another title fight—this time against Artem Vakhitov at Glory 100, scheduled for June 14. Verguven also won this bout by decision—the judges unanimously awarded him the victory.
On November 20, 2025 , the athlete announced that he was relinquishing his Glory heavyweight title. This came after he chose not to renew his contract with the promotion.
A Career in Professional Boxing
Verguven made his professional boxing debut on April 26, 2014, at the Mix Fight Gala XV tournament in Darmstadt, Germany. Originally, his opponent was supposed to be Nikolai Falin, but in the end, he faced Janos Finfer. Verguven won that fight by knockout in the second round.
The fight against Oleksandr Usyk was scheduled to take place on May 23, 2026, in Giza. The bout immediately attracted attention because Verguven had been the Glory heavyweight champion for many years but had very little experience in professional boxing.
Before the fight, the WBA explained that, for Usyk, this bout would count as a defense of his WBA Super title if he won. However, this belt was not available to Verguven. If Usyk loses, the IBF title will become vacant, and if he retains his belts, he must make a mandatory defense within 180 days.
The Usyk vs. Verguven fight took place on May 23, 2026, and—according to Kyiv time—in the early hours of May 24. The bout was held in Egypt, in an open-air arena near the Pyramids of Giza.Usyk won by technical knockout in the 11th round.
