Rico Verhoeven's Real Name: Rico Verhoeven

Quick answer: Rico Verhoeven's real name is Rico Verhoeven. He is a Dutch kickboxer, later Glory's long-reigning heavyweight champion, who voluntarily vacated that title in 2025.

Real name and early life

He is known professionally as Rico Verhoeven. Independent publishers used here record that public name rather than a longer legal form, so the public name is used in the title. An exact birth date is not independently recorded in the sources cited here. Omroep Brabant, in a November 20, 2025, report, calls him a 36-year-old kickboxer from Halsteren. The Ring, in a June 2, 2026, report, calls him 37 and of Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands. This page records both place and age wordings rather than choosing one hometown.

Omroep Brabant says he began karate at age 7, started kickboxing soon afterward, and that his father was his first trainer. It says he became active professionally from 2004 before debuting at Glory in 2012.

Career highlights

Omroep Brabant says that in 2013 he won his first heavyweight tournament by beating Gökhan Saki and Daniel Ghiță, and that on June 21, 2014, he crowned himself world heavyweight champion by beating Ghiță again, then defended the title for years against opponents including Badr Hari. It says a 2019 fight with Hari at the GelreDome drew wide attention, and that in 2024 he won the Glory Heavyweight Grand Prix. The Ring independently says he reigned as the Glory Kickboxing heavyweight champion from 2013 to 2025 before vacating the title, and lists a kickboxing record of 66-10, including 21 knockouts. This page records Omroep Brabant's June 21, 2014, world-title date and The Ring's 2013–2025 reign wording rather than treating them as identical.

Omroep Brabant, on November 20, 2025, says he ended more than 12 years as Glory heavyweight champion and voluntarily gave up the title to pursue new opportunities in combat sports, and that he was stopping at Glory. The Ring independently says he vacated the title after that 2013–2025 reign. The Ring, dated June 2, 2026, also says that on May 23, on its card at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, he faced Oleksandr Usyk for The Ring and WBC heavyweight titles and was stopped late in the 11th round, a stoppage the magazine says came as the bell rang. It lists his boxing record at that time as 1-1, with one knockout.

Name notes for searchers

People looking up Rico Verhoeven are looking for the Dutch kickboxer described here.