MMA fans boo when fights go to the ground. They love stand-up. Kickboxing is pure stand-up. Yet it barely exists in America while boxing and MMA are enormous. Rogan's diagnosis: no promotion machine. If the UFC got behind kickboxing the way they've built MMA, it would explode. The talent is there — the storytelling machine is not.
Where this was said
At 20:52 · chapter starts 18:15
Rico walks through one of the most extraordinary backstories in recent boxing history [1] — Rico Verhoeven "Rico texted Jason Statham during the Canelo-Crawford fight. Statham showed Rico's highlight videos to promoters. Two days later, Rico was o…" 14:15 . It begins with a text to Jason Statham during the Canelo-Crawford fight in Vegas. Statham showed Rico's fight videos to promoters, the room went crazy, and within days Rico was on a call about fighting Anthony Joshua. The deal was in motion when Rico was on the set of Roadhouse 2, training during takes. Joshua then accepted the Jake Paul fight and pushed their bout, then was involved in a tragic car accident that derailed everything. Rather than walk away, Rico proposed his own alternative: undisputed kickboxing champion versus undisputed boxing champion. He pitched it. There was a silence. Then: 'We love it.' Usyk's team said yes in two weeks. The fight was signed.
The Usyk vs. Verhoeven fight concept was Rico's own idea — pitching it as undisputed kickboxing champion vs. undisputed boxing champion — and Usyk accepted voluntarily.
Thomas's wife deferred her CrossFit career — she's in the global top 1% of athletes — to put him through law school debt-free. He wants her to chase the dream now; she wants the emergency fund and house down payment first. On a $200K lawyer income with no debt, the opportunity cost is just a few months of slower saving.
Underground calisthenics battles are exactly like UFC meets a rap battle — 150 people crowded around a circle, fighters walking out with masks and chains, nicknames like 'Extra Money' vs 'Calisthenics the Prince,' and people throwing money and betting. The battle set: 100 burpees, 50 muscle-ups, 75 dips, 75 squats with a 65-pound dumbbell. This is the next big spectator sport.
Rico Verhoeven controlled the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion for approximately 10 rounds — and had his appeal upheld when officials admitted the fight was stopped after the bell. The result was never overturned. Rogan calls it either incompetence or corruption, and argues the money behind Usyk made an upset politically inconvenient.
Rogan lays out a blunt case: boxing's 3-judge system is structurally broken, and the judges know who the promoter wants to win. Glory's 5-judge format is the right model. Corruption doesn't have to be conscious — just knowing Usyk is the cash cow is enough to tilt the scales.
With the Usyk-Wilder fight stalling and Fury-Joshua coming too late, the real fight the world wants is the rematch. Rico is a free agent. Usyk vacated his belts. The story is unfinished and both Rogan and Rico know it. His Excellency Turki Alasheikh already called for it ringside — the question is money.
Rico texted Jason Statham during the Canelo-Crawford fight. Statham showed Rico's highlight videos to promoters. Two days later, Rico was on a call about fighting Anthony Joshua. When Joshua pulled out, Rico pitched Usyk himself — Undisputed vs. Undisputed. Usyk said yes in two weeks. The whole thing started with one text.
Every heavyweight who faced Usyk tried to move to the right — straight into his power hand. Rico and Peter Fury identified the obvious solution: move left, away from the left hand, and smother him with size. It sounds simple. Nobody had done it. That one adjustment was the foundation of 10 dominant rounds.
A nation of 17 million people gave the world Ramon Deckers, Peter Aerts, Badr Hari, Melvin Manhoef, Rob Kamen, Ernesto Hoost, and Rico Verhoeven. Rico's theory: the country is so small that every gym shares knowledge freely. In the US, you need a flight. In Holland, you drive 40 minutes and spar the national champion.
Rogan and Rico credit His Excellency Turki Alasheikh with making fights that promoters couldn't or wouldn't: Usyk vs. Verhoeven, Ngannou vs. Fury, Crawford vs. Canelo, even a fight on Times Square. His edge: when people say it's impossible, that's his signal to make it happen — and an unlimited checkbook doesn't hurt.
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