
Glory heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven just took on UFC veteran Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at Glory 46 in China this Saturday, and needed only two rounds to notch a hard-fought technical knockout victory. It was a non-title affair and marked Silva’s professional kickboxing debut after a lengthy career in mixed martial arts.
Although no one expected Silva to be able to defeat Verhoeven in his first fight, no one expected him to be so terrible either. Silva was slow and powerless, and appeared way out of his element. Many believe that because of his performance, Silva’s kickboxing career may be short-lived. Verhoeven’s coach predicted he only required two rounds to get the job done. Turns out the coach was right on point.
Verhoeven kicks Bigfoot with every weapon he had in his arsenal
Part of Verhoeven’s strategy was to bombard Silva with kicks. This was, of course, kickboxing, and Silva who had grown accustomed to mixed martial arts, simply wasn’t prepared for the amount of kicks that were coming his way.
“The low kicks were part of the gameplan,” Verhoeven said after the win. “He’s from MMA, so low kicks are different in the MMA game, so it was part of the game: hurt him on the leg and finish him on top.”
Verhoeven however, gave the former UFC fighter his props and said Silva performed okay after the fight.
“Coming in throwing bombs, that’s what he did,” he said of Silva’s performance. “He threw some hard kicks as well, so it was a good fight.”
It was an incredible one-sided destruction handed out by Verhoeven. Silva did his best to force his offense, attacking Verhoeven with his combinations. But Verhoeven was simply too much for Silva, and did most of his damage early with vicious leg kicks.
In the second round, Verhoeven tagged Silva with a sick head kick, sending the Brazilian crashing to the canvas. Silva would stand back up but would eat a plethora of strikes along the ropes. The referee had no choice but to stop the fight at this point, awarding Verhoeven with a TKO victory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOa09A4Kg48
Watch the Complete Glory 46 Event Replay on YouTube
Silva began his mixed martial arts career in 2005. His notable wins included victories over Fedor Emelianenko, Ricco Rodriguez, Travis Browne, and Alistair Overeem. He lost the last five bouts in his professional mixed martial arts career, four of which ended with him being brutally stopped. He might want to think about retiring before he suffers permanent damage.
Glory made this Superfight Series available for free on YouTube. So if you weren’t able to catch the action, you can catch it right here. Here are the complete results for the entire card.
Glory 46: China Official Results
Alex Pereira def. Simon Marcus by unanimous decision (48-46, 48-46, 49-45, 49-45, 50-44) – for middleweight title
Chenglong Zhang def. Masaya Kubo by unanimous decision (29-27, 30-26, 30-26, 30-26, 30-26, 30-26) – featherweight tournament final
Junior Tafa def. Quanchao Luo by TKO (referee stoppage). Round 1, 1:34
Chenglong Zhang def. Quade Taranaki by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28, 30-27, 30-27) featherweight tournament semifinal
Masaya Kubo def. Chenchen Li by knockout (left head kick). Round 1, 2:50 – featherweight tournament semifinal
Rico Verhoeven def. Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva by TKO (referee stoppage). Round 2, 0:47
Wei Zhou def. Andre Walker by unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Alan Scheinson def. Shanghai Gao by majority decision (27-29, 30-26, 28-28, 29-27, 29-27)
Sanda: Hongxing Kong def. Yang Sun by knockout (left head kick). Round 1, 0:35
Jia Liu vs. Zaza Sor. Aree ends in no contest (cut on Liu from an illegal elbow strike)
Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao def. Lei Xie by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Pascal Schroth def. Qinghao Meng by split decision (30-27, 27-30, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27)