Prior to Rico Verhoeven's successful title defense against Errol Zimmerman at GLORY 19 this past February, there was a noticeable fire in his eyes. The smiles and charismatic personality were conspicuously absent. Seeing him in the fighter's hotel in Hampton, Va., the Dutch champion -- known as "The Prince" -- had a steely focus and intense demeanor ahead of the highly-touted rematch.
He was 100 percent dialed in.
That's because one month earlier, Verhoeven took a fight in China and lost by decision to Andre Gerasimchuk at Kunlun Fight 15. His wife was pregnant with their second daughter, Jazlyn, and was very close to her due date at the time. In hindsight, the champion revealed to MMAmania.com in a recent interview that it probably "wasn't smart" for him to have taken that fight, but, like any fighter, he wanted to stay busy.
"There was just so many things going on back then," said Verhoeven, who faces Benjamin Adegbuyi at GLORY 22, which takes place at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, France, this Friday afternoon (June 5, 2015). "You know, I was just stressed. I was there for a day and my wife had to go to the hospital to get checked out. You just hope the baby stays in until you are back home again. So much stress.... The preparation wasn't 100 percent as well. I was a little bit too heavy. I wasn't smart at that moment. I had been doing so much stuff: TV, sponsorships, stuff like that, all besides the kickboxing and training. It was all a little bit too much. It took the focus of the main thing and that's winning a fight.
"Maybe even underestimating my opponent a little bit. That all added together brought me to that result. I think things are destined to happen. I think sometimes you can't help if you lose or win or whatever. I have the feeling always that the outcome is already planned for you. So, whatever outcome is there, is there for a reason. Of course it hurts to lose. In the end, I still have the belt and that is most important. I feel like it was an important lesson for me to make sure that when I fight that is my main focus and not all that stuff around it."
Verhoeven, 26, is often panned for not knocking out opponents and going the distance in a division that is known for violent and fan-friendly finishes. But, at GLORY 19, he fought with a ferocity that surprised many, trading his usual game of chess for Russian roulette.
Zimmerman would succumb to a knee injury, giving Verhoeven the victory and improving his record to 45-10-1 (8-1 GLORY). But, the champion came out firing on all cylinders with something to prove that night. "The Prince" threw caution to the wind, sitting in the pocket, trading punches and going against his usual mantra of minimizing risk.
He often says he prefers to be the butcher and not the meat, and from the start of the fight, he was turning the GLORY ring into his personal abattoir with a very uncharacteristic aggressive attack.
The January loss to Gerasimchuk clearly ignited a fire inside of him.
"That made me 100 percent more sharp for Errol, then not having that fight," he said. "Maybe if I won that fight, maybe I wouldn't be in the same mindset."
There was a ton of trash talk between both fighters leading up to the fight, but later on that evening the two fighters shared a brief conversation.
"For me it is what it is," Verhoeven said. "He says a lot. I know what kind of guy he is. He is a good person, but sometimes he lets himself get carried away by what other people tell him. So, I think that was a little bit of what happened. He apologized as well for some of the things he said. It's all good. For me, it's a sport and you can say a lot of stuff about each other. Words don't hurt me, so it doesn't matter."
With that chapter out of the way, Verhoeven recently visited South Florida in April to train with the Blackzilians and help prepare Anthony Johnson for his UFC 187 title fight against Daniel Cormier. He worked with "Rumble" for a few weeks, and even cross-trained and got in some wrestling and grappling. In fact, in the future he may even try his hand at MMA. He returned home to finish up his final preparations for his GLORY 22 showdown with the No. 2-ranked heavyweight contender, Adegbuyi.
The champion was asked about his Romanian opponent, who is now undefeated (3-0) in GLORY competition.
"I think it's a good match up," Verhoeven said. "I already felt this match up coming because he is an upcoming guy. He is doing really well. I said it a year ago. They asked me ‘who do you see coming up?' I said ‘I think Benny will be one of my future opponents,' and now he is here."
The Netherlands native is excited about fighting in France because it's fairly close to home and he hasn't fought anywhere remotely close to it in a few years now. The majority of his fights in GLORY have been in the United States and Japan.
"It's close to home," he said. "It's always fun to fight close to home. It's easier for a lot of people to come and watch the fight because I have a lot of friends of mine that want to see me fight. They love that I am fighting here. From my house it's only a little over two years. It's so close."
Family is very important to the father of two daughters. "It's fun. I love it and it also gives me the motivation to fight hard and fight good and keep performing and providing for my family," he says.
His oldest, Mikayla, just turned four and his seen him fight on television before, but he doesn't think she totally understands it yet. "It's funny they always say my name ‘in the red corner, Rico Verhoeven,' and she will say ‘no, it's not Rico Verhoeven, it's Daddy.' It's so funny."
He loves those kinds of responses from his daughter and opened up about speaking with the younger kickboxing fans.
"There reactions are pure," he said. "For me, talking to kids and connecting with my younger fans. I love that, because if they like you, they like you because of you. They don't like you for whatever other reason there could be, they like you because of you. They are so pure and I love that."
Once June 5 hits, Verhoeven will return to the intensity level he had at GLORY 19. The smiles will once again vanish and he will step in to defend his GLORY heavyweight title for the second time. With the experience of his last two fights, he knows now what he needs to do and where he needs to be mentally.
"For me, I have to be focused. So, whatever fight is there I just need to be focused 100 percent. Even if it's a title fight or not, I need to be focused. I think that is most important because I always feel like, the day you are fighting the light needs to be shining on you."