The Big Kickboxing News & Rumors Thread [2023]

[K1power]

Glory is in a bit of a bind.

I've seen people write that Glory should strip Rico of the title and stop suspending fighters, but what will that accomplish? Rico will remain the man to beat and I'm sure Glory doesn't WANT to suspend fighters who get caught, but they don't have much of a choice if they want to do events in the Netherlands. It's really that simple.

I agree with signing some new talent and bringing some forgotten names back, but the PEDs problem isn't going away; especially at the higher weights where the issue seems more rampant, people will keep pissing hot and get suspended. I'm not sure if/how that can reconciled, unless Glory moves away from the Netherlands.

[K1power]

Happening this Friday: One Lumpinee 1.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ONE_Lumpinee_1

[K1power]

Happening this Saturday: Krush.145.

www.k-1.co.jp/schedule/16583/

[K1power]

Benjamin Adegbuyi and Nidal Bchiri will fight yet to be named opponents at OSS Fighters 09: Desert Storm in Dubai on March 12th.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_in_Romanian_kickboxing#OSS_Fighters_09

[Fox]

Nong-O vs Ramazanov in a ring is going to be awesome.

[Shadess]

Murthel Groenhart supposedly close to signing with Glory again. Bit of an odd couple year MMA detour for him if he does indeed come back to kickboxing. He didn't really seem to be pissed at Glory or anything when he left for MMA either. Was he just bored with kick?

Same Dutch insta account saying Manhoef rumoured for Glory and that Glory is interested in doing an 8-man HW tournament now with Rico gone for a while. Will see if any of that comes to fruition.

8-man tournament could kinda make sense now, otherwise what will they do while waiting for Rico? Then again if JBS is out on a doping suspension the only HW they really might have to worry about keeping busy is Plazibat.

Manhoef I'd much rather like to see retire already.

[K1power]

Maybe Groenhart got a good offer. With Doumbé gone his chances of regaining the belt would be realistic.

As for Manhoef, while he ended his kickboxing career on a high note with that victory over Remy - which I thought was a fair decision - he was on a losing streak before that.

Unless it's a one-off/veteran fight type of deal I'm not really interested in Manhoef at 46 getting destroyed by young blood in Glory.

And the 8-man HW tournament has been talked about for at least a couple of years now. Their previous tournament in 2018 was pretty good and they could easily do a fun lineup even without some of their big guns being available:

- Levi Rigters vs. Uku Jürjendal
- Jahfarr Wilnis vs. Ibrahim El Bouni
- Nordine Mahieddine vs. Gökhan Saki
- Benjamin Adegbuyi vs. Michał Blawdziewicz

Reserve Fight
Raul Catinas vs. Tomas Mozny

Of course I'm just spitballing here and you could mix and match with other names for better lineups.

Tournament winner gets a direct title shot after Plazibat or fights in an eliminator against JBS once his suspension is done if they want to stretch it out.

Edit: I just remember Manhoef recently talking about being open to a return to kickboxing if he could fight Saki again. I can see Glory making that happen and honestly it's one of the few matchups I wouldn't mind for Melvin.

[Shadess]

Saki vs Manhoef wouldn't be the worst.

[lero]

Badr retired and Rico injured in 2023; there is only one thing Glory can do:

http://instagram.com/p/CnezX7HueuQ

[K1power]

Lol. I wonder if Spong is still as much of a draw as he was before he left kickboxing.

[K1power]

Been watching some vids today from Remy's "Warrior Code" talkshow/podcast and heard some interesting tidbits:

- Mohamed 'Hamicha' Mezouari hasn't been fighting, because he underwent crucial ligament reconstruction. This was mentioned when Remy was discussing Hamicha's availability with Hans Kroon and Jay Overmeer. Can't recall if this was publically known yet.

- Murthel Groenhart said he keeps the door open for a kickboxing return. This is in line with rumours of him returning to Glory. When he talked MMA I got the impression that no big promotion has made him a serious offer.

- Robin van Roosmalen said he might do a farewell fight if his body heals up to the point he feels confident enough to take a fight.

It's a pretty decent format and a bit of a shame that they don't offer English subs for their Dutch videos.

[Shadess]

Tim Wheaton talked with Serkan Ozcaglayan who apparently said Glory tried to make Saki vs Manhoef, but both declined citing injuries.

[K1power]

Yeah, Remy asked Hans Kroon if Saki would return and he wasn't sure.

I think Saki is 39 now? It's now or never if he has any serious ambitions.

[K1power]

Just listened to the latest "In De Ring" Podcast from a few weeks ago with Remy and Hoost.

Some interesting bits:

- Hoost complained about not being invited to Glory events anymore and that he more or less stopped watching: "I'm not going to beg for tickets, but I'm also not going to buy them or out of my way to watch their events."

Remy tried to nuance it a bit by bringing up that perhaps the Dutch don't honor their heroes compared to other countries. Hoost said fans still very much pay him respects, but promotions don't. Wondering if that's the reason we saw Hoost at the presser last week.

Hoost went on to vent his frustrations when Remy brought up Glory's Hall of Fame and its inductees.

Remy: "Bazooka Joe is in it."
Hoost: "Who's Bazooka Joe?"
Remy: "Joseph Valtellini."
Hoost: "Are you in the hall of fame?"
Remy: "No, not yet"
Hoost: "Why is Bazooka Joe there, but not you?"

- They spoke about Badr's future and Hoost said while he can't look into his bank account, he can't imagine why someone would still want to fight after so many losses in a row.

- Hoost still feels a lot of frustration about his losses to Bob Sapp.

- There's also still frustration with Hoost over not getting the nod when he fought Remy.
Hoost feels K-1 rigged the score so that Musashi would end up fighting Remy in the tournament:

Hoost: "That's how they did it. The Japanese are not as respectful as they seem."
Remy: "Not all Japanese people are the same."
Hoost: "Think about Pearl Harbour and the war and that should tell you enough."
Remy: "But that were different people, different Japanese"
Hoost: "No, that's just the Japanese mentality. That's how I see it...
...They are absolutely respectful, but they also wanted it to be about them [referring to K-1]"
Hoost: "Musashi did well against Remy the year before, despite losing. K-1 thought Musashi would stand a better chance against Remy than me."

It went on for a bit and while both Hoost and Remy also reminisced about the magic of Japan, I'm not sure Hoost did himself any favors with this podcast.

While he may have hit on some truths here, it all very much came across as sour grapes and, frankly, borderline racist.
For once I was picking Remy's more nuanced side rather than Hoost's.

[K1power]

Zapped past FightBox earlier today and KOK Heroes was on; they used the classic K-1 music between rounds!
It was a bit of a nostalgia rush.