Kickboxing Star Ben Saddik Shifts Focus from Glory Title, Dismisses Rivalry with Verhoeven

"The world title means nothing to me anymore. I no longer want to fight for this title. This tournament is where the real fighters compete. This Last Heavyweight Standing tournament is the greatest tournament on earth, the rest has no value. If you win this tournament, you don’t need a champion’s belt. He (Verhoeven) can keep that champion’s belt," Ben Saddik said on Saturday after his unanimous decision victory over Romanian Christian Ristea at the Last Heavyweight Standing in Ahoy.

Yet in February, when the Moroccan kickboxer made his return to the Glory ring after a two-and-a-half-year absence, he was still aiming for that world title. "But in a few weeks, a lot can change," says The Goliath. In reality, "what has changed is the fact that on Saturday, June 14, Verhoeven will not be fighting Ben Saddik, but the Russian Artem Vakhitov in an attempt to retain his Glory heavyweight world title for the fourteenth time. This choice has caused outrage in the world of kickboxing," explains Tim Hartman, a combat sports journalist.

"Vakhitov is respected for his qualities, but he remains a former light heavyweight, so about thirty kilos less than Verhoeven. Many - including Ben Saddik - therefore believe that Verhoeven will have an overly easy path to a new world title," Hartman continues, indicating that "fans would like to see a third confrontation between Verhoeven and Ben Saddik for the world title, but Verhoeven has repeatedly said he sees no point in it, and he repeated it again this week. Thus, Ben Saddik’s hope seems to have evaporated and he now chooses to consider Verhoeven’s world titles as worthless, and to make the Last Heavyweight Standing title a priority."

By defeating Ristea on Saturday in Ahoy, despite his injured shin, Ben Saddik qualified for the second round of the Last Heavyweight Standing scheduled for June at Glory 100. "It takes two fighters to make a good fight. In this tournament, I am the one who has to be beaten, and all those who face me give everything. For them, it is the fight of their life. That’s why the main thing is that I come out of the ring victorious," said the 34-year-old Moroccan fighter after his painful victory.