{"id":231490,"date":"2026-03-04T14:05:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/how-did-jason-statham-help-rico-verhoeven-dutch-star-shares-incredible-story-of-actor-setting-up-boxing-fight\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T14:05:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:05:42","slug":"how-did-jason-statham-help-rico-verhoeven-dutch-star-shares-incredible-story-of-actor-setting-up-boxing-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/04\/how-did-jason-statham-help-rico-verhoeven-dutch-star-shares-incredible-story-of-actor-setting-up-boxing-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"How did Jason Statham help Rico Verhoeven? Dutch star shares incredible story of actor setting up boxing fight\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"article-content\" data-postid=\"5133077\" data-slug-id=\"2745487\">\n<div class=\"vidazoo-player-container\">\n<span class=\"vidazoo-close-btn  hidden \"><br \/>\n<img data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/cmc-predictor\/v2\/cross-icon.png?w=40\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" alt=\"close\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rico Verhoeven is the talk of the MMA world as his next fight is against heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk.<\/p>\n<p>The former GLORY kickboxer was speaking on Ariel Helwani\u2019s latest show and brought up how actor Jason Statham helped him get the fight.<\/p>\n<p>Helwani asked the Dutchman if there was any truth to the rumors that he would have fought Anthony Joshua after the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/player\/jake-paul\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Jake Paul<\/a> fight. Verhoeven confirmed the same and then brought up his discussions with the UFC and Turki Alalshikh.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI was at the Usyk-Tyson Fury fight, my good friend, Jason Statham was there. We were talking, he was like \u2018this is the place to be, this is where you got to be,\u2019 let\u2019s do it, you know? He slowly introduced me there.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><template id=\"also-read-articles-template\"><\/p>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"bottom-tagline top\" data-tab=\"top\">\n<p>Get the latest updates on One Championship <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/one-championship-rankings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\" class=\"bottom_tagline_link\" data-tab=\"top\">Rankings<\/a> at Sportskeeda and more<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/player\/canelo-alvarez\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Canelo Alvarez<\/a> vs. Terence Crawford fight, and he contacted the star:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI texted him\u2026we talked about it, we should do something, he was like \u2018yep, I am going to bring it up.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Dutch star then revealed that the next morning, after the fight, Statham called him:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cHe said, \u2018I talked to His Excellency, and he was down. He says let\u2019s do it.\u2019 Like, what does that mean? \u2018We are going to do it.\u2019 He said, \u2018I gave his number, they are going to reach out and talk about it,\u2019 and that\u2019s what had happened.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>However, Verhoeven was also warned about his next fight. The team wanted him to face a big name, given his champion status and didn\u2019t want him to disappoint anyone.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><em>Check out Rico Verhoeven\u2019s discussion with Ariel Helwani below:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>However, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/news-did-ufc-offer-rico-verhoeven-less-glory-deal-dutch-star-sets-record-straight-prepares-oleksandr-usyk-fight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-is-sponsored=\"false\">Verhoeven explained<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-post-rating-widget\">\n<p><template id=\"post-rating-feedback-modal-template\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-feedback-box\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-content\">\n<div class=\"post-rating-feedback-data\">\n<p>Why did you not like this content?<\/p>\n<p><textarea id=\"dislike-feedback-text\" rows=\"4\" placeholder=\"Please type your feedback...\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<button class=\"close\">Cancel<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"submit\">Submit<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/template><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-widget-parent hidden\">\n<div class=\"rating-parent-container\">\n<div class=\"rating-content-holder\">\n<p>Was this article helpful?<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-rating-action-container\">\n<div class=\"like-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-like-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"like\" title=\"like article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"like selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dislike-container\">\n<button class=\"post-rating-dislike-button post-rating-button\" data-action=\"dislike\" title=\"dislike article\"><br \/>\n<img class=\"post-dis-like-image post-rating-image\" data-lazy=\"\/\/staticg.sportskeeda.com\/like-articles\/upvote-icon-grey.svg\" height=\"20\" width=\"20\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"avatar selected\"\/><br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nThank You for feedback\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n<span class=\"publisher-name\">Edited by Saiyed Adeem Karim<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportskeeda.com\/mma\/news-how-jason-statham-help-rico-verhoeven-dutch-star-shares-incredible-story-actor-setting-boxing-fight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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\u2019s 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 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":231491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6806],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-231490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gossip"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}