Murthel Groenhart Voorbereiding Glory 31

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• published: 05 Aug 2016
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THE PEOPLE’S CHAMP AND TOURNAMENT KILLER: MURTHEL “THE PREDATOR” GROENHART Murthel Groenhart was born on October 10 1986 in the city of Amsterdam with roots from the beautiful country Suriname. He was raised in a big family having 5 brothers and sisters. At the age of 15 years Murthel was getting rebellious as he liked to hang out on the streets with his friends goofing around and doing things that could get him arrested. Luckily for him and his family he found his passion in sports. Playing soccer is the number one outside activity of the youth in Holland especially in Amsterdam. While they are plenty of fields to play soccer Murthel and his friends used the shopping mall as their courtyard. Many people shopping didn’t had the guts to talk back to them youngsters except one man, Michael Passenier aka Mike. While Mike was shopping with his family he got hit with the ball and he wasn’t happy that these kids used his shopping mall as playground so he told them to play elsewhere. Well, Murthel and his friends weren’t taking that so a verbal sparring session was the result. Mike dared the guys to come to his gym and see if they still have a big mouth. Murthel was brave and said that he will accept the challenge so the same evening Murthel and his friends entered the gym with the same attitude but got humiliated by Mike during sparring. That was the moment Murthel knew that only a big mouth and the right attitude isn’t enough to become champion in life so he kept coming back and he never left. He started his professional career in 2004 at the age of 18 and was undefeated for two years straight. In 2007 he competed in his first tournament in Poland winning all three fights via (T)KO and became the -75kg Angels of Fire winner. He continued to do well as tournament fighter when he won the K-1 Italy Oktagon defeating all of his three opponents via KO in a sold out arena in the beautiful Milan. During his career Groenhart have fought in all the major kickboxing promotions and has fought over 85 fights. One of his biggest achievements came in 2012 where he entered the big K-1 World Max tournament after qualifying himself for the tournament by defeating Harut Grigorian via KO in the third round at the final 16 event in Japan. In December that year 8 of the best lightweights came to Greece, Athene for the most prestige kickboxing tournament in the world. Groenhart was the big underdog that night but he shocked the world by defeating Yasuhiro Kido in the quarterfinal, hometown favorite Mike Zambidis in the semifinal and Artur Kyshenko in the final and you guessed it; all by KO! After that tournament there was no doubt that Groenhart is one of the best welterweight fighters in the world. He’s now the number one contender for the Glory belt and has proved it the hard way by winning two 4 man Glory contender tournaments back to back. The current champion Nieky Holzken is considered by many to be the pound for pound best fighter in the world but still he holds two very controversial wins over Murthel Groenhart. Many believe that Groenhart won both fights and the outrage was big when Holzken again got the judges’ decision in 2015 while winning a controversial fight in 2010. Now he’s ready to meet Holzken again as Groenhart qualified himself for the rematch by defeating Karim Benmansour and Yoann Kongolo in June 2016 and follow his journey to get what belongs to him, the Glory welterweight belt. Although Groenhart doesn’t hold the belt now, the real kickboxing fans know who’s the real champion, that’s why many call him the people champ. His fighting style can be described as quick, violent and relentless and his KO victories prove that he’s the product of the Mike’s gym style. A famous quote of trainer Mike describe his fighters the best: “We want to win belts but we rather win the hearts of the fans”. That exciting fight style makes Mike’s gym one of the most asked gyms in the world and many of his teammates are fighting around the world as they all help each other to become better. Follow the Predator on this facebook page and make sure to watch www.murthelgroenhart.com for the latest news and videos. Quick Stats: Name: Murthel Groenhart Nickname: The Predator Record: 62-22-3 Trainers: Mike Passenier, Oscar Roque, Walter da Silva, Joeri Mes and Melayno Titles and achievements: 2016 Glory Welterweight Contender Tournament Winner 2016 WFL -76 kg Tournament Champion 2015 Glory Welterweight Contender Tournament Winner K-1 World MAX 2012 World Championship Tournament Champion 2010 E.M.T.A. K-1 rules European champion −76 kg 2008 K-1 Italy Oktagon tournament champion −75 kg 2007 Angels of Fire II tournament title −75 kg Notable victories: Artur Kyshenko, Marc de Bonte, Harut Grigorian, Yoann Kongolo, Mike Zambidis, Dzhabar Askerov, Karim Ghajji, Amir Zeyada, Darryl Sichtman, Marco Pique and Sem Braan