Speaker
Rico Verhoeven
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Rico's appeal confirmed the fight was stopped after the bell rang, and the ringside doctor found no concussion or disorientation — yet the result was never overturned.
Rico Verhoeven had only one professional boxing match before fighting undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for the WBC title.
Despite having just one pro boxing match, Rico Verhoeven had been training boxing for 15 years alongside his kickboxing career.
Rico used a full 6 months to transition from kickboxing stance to a proper boxing stance under trainer Peter Fury, calling it essential rewiring.
Rico Verhoeven has had approximately 75 professional kickboxing fights, giving him a massive combat sports experience advantage over pure boxers.
Rico suffered a bucket handle meniscus tear and ACL injury three years ago, recovered in 6 months, and now uses an anti-gravity treadmill to protect his joints.
Rico's strength and conditioning program involves full-body circuits 3 times a week with 20+ reps per exercise and only 30-second rest periods to build endurance simultaneously.
Rico Verhoeven claimed kickboxing is the second most popular sport in the Netherlands, behind only soccer, yet it remains almost non-existent in the American market.
Rico's mother passed away while he was in training camp for the Usyk fight, and he discovered photos of her at the Egyptian pyramids from 30 years earlier — mirroring the fight's location.
Despite Rico and his corner believing he was winning comfortably, trainer Peter Fury revealed after round 8 that the official scorecards had the fight completely even.
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.
Jason Statham, a friend of Rico's, first showed Rico's highlight videos to boxing promoters and personally introduced him to the network that led to the Usyk fight.
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.
Rico's mother died during his fight camp. While clearing her house, his family found photos of her standing at the Egyptian pyramids from 30 years earlier — the exact fight venue he was preparing for. He made the same photos before the fight. Then he punched the ground and the pyramids lit up for the first time that night.
Aspinall is a close training partner of Rico's who stopped a fight after a knuckle-deep eye poke from Cyril Gane. The crowd turned on him. Rico and Rogan both defend Aspinall: a foul ended the fight, not weakness — and he's had two eye surgeries since. Fans who think he should've continued through a gouged eye are out of line.
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.
Rico's father died before the Ben Saddik fight. His mother died during Usyk fight camp. Both times, he converted the grief into fuel for the ring rather than processing it. He watched his mother's funeral recording for the first time 4 months after her death. He now recognizes this pattern as psychologically harmful and is working on it.
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.
At 260 pounds, Rico Verhoeven does full-body circuit training 3 times a week with 20-rep sets and only 30-second rests between exercises — building endurance and strength simultaneously in 35 minutes. His conditioning edge isn't physical — it's mental. When he starts feeling tired, he knows his opponent is already suffering.
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.
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.
The UFC did contact Rico and discussed a fight with Derrick Lewis, but the financial gap between boxing and UFC was simply too large. After his Usyk performance, that gap has only widened. Rico says he'd need the deal to genuinely make sense — and historically, that's not how the UFC operates at this level.
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.
The calf kick went from obscure to fight-ending in a few years. Conor McGregor never faced it before his return — and Dustin Poirier destroyed his leg in the first round. But the technique carries a dark trade-off: unlike most strikes, a properly landed calf kick can cause long-term injury, costing fighters months of their already short careers.
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.
Rico has already appeared in Den of Thieves, Den of Thieves 2, and Roadhouse alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Dave Bautista. Jason Statham is developing a specific role for him. Working alongside elite actors taught Rico something about himself: the emotional suppression that makes him a great fighter is exactly the material that makes great acting — if he learns to stop pushing it away.
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.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Sports 56%
- Health & Fitness 33%
- Arts 11%
Connections
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