Morocco’s Tarik Khbabez Loses to Heavyweight Champion Rico Verhoeven

Rabat – Moroccan kickboxer Tarik Khbabez lost his fight to Dutch heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven in the final of the Glory 77 on Saturday.

The Duch legend defeated the Moroccan kickboxer in the first round, with Tarik Khbabez abandoning the fight at the end of the round due to a hand injury.

“I had surgery on my hand three months ago and I haven’t made a full recovery,” the Moroccan kickboxer said after his defeat.

The world’s kickboxing league, Glory Kickboxing, signed Khbabez in October 2020.

Khbabez started his kickboxing career in 2013.

At the time of signing, Glory announced that the Moorccan-Dutch champion had a professional record of 15 wins, six losses and one draw.

“I don’t come to score points, I come to win. Everyone who stands in front of me in the ring wants to take away from me what I’ve been fighting for ears. I just won’t let that happen,” he said.

Rico Verhoeven, meanwhile, remains undefeated despite successive confrontations with a number of big names in the competition, including Morocco’s Badr Hari.

Hari lost his fight against Verhoeven in December 2019. He, too, had to give up during the match due to a leg injury.

Prior to that, Rico Verhoeven also defeated Badr Hari in December 2016.

Verhoeven is reportedly interested in yet another re-match with the Moroccan champion.