Rico Verhoeven is the talk of the MMA world as his next fight is against heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The former GLORY kickboxer was speaking on Ariel Helwani’s latest show and brought up how actor Jason Statham helped him get the fight.
Helwani asked the Dutchman if there was any truth to the rumors that he would have fought Anthony Joshua after the Jake Paul fight. Verhoeven confirmed the same and then brought up his discussions with the UFC and Turki Alalshikh.
“I was at the Usyk-Tyson Fury fight, my good friend, Jason Statham was there. We were talking, he was like ‘this is the place to be, this is where you got to be,’ let’s do it, you know? He slowly introduced me there.”
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Statham was also present during a GLORY event where Verhoeven beat three stars up to keep the gold. The Dutchman then caught a glimpse of the movie star attending the Canelo Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford fight, and he contacted the star:
“I texted him…we talked about it, we should do something, he was like ‘yep, I am going to bring it up.’”
The Dutch star then revealed that the next morning, after the fight, Statham called him:
“He said, ‘I talked to His Excellency, and he was down. He says let’s do it.’ Like, what does that mean? ‘We are going to do it.’ He said, ‘I gave his number, they are going to reach out and talk about it,’ and that’s what had happened.”
However, Verhoeven was also warned about his next fight. The team wanted him to face a big name, given his champion status and didn’t want him to disappoint anyone.
Verhoeven was confident of his ability and claimed he had been boxing for years. He was also offered his choice of opponent, but was willing to take on anyone. The former GLORY star was offered Joshua and he took it up.
Check out Rico Verhoeven’s discussion with Ariel Helwani below:
Verhoeven is now set to fight Usyk for the heavyweight title in Giza on 23 May, 2026. The fight came as a surprise to many as the UFC were in negotiations with the Dutchman.
However, Verhoeven explained what took place during the negotiations and why he took up the boxing fight instead of signing with the UFC, who offered him Derrick Lewis.
Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim