Rico Verhoeven and Badr Hari are THE biggest stars in kickboxing right now. With them at the tail end of their careers I asked myself: “How does the kickboxing landscape look like after Rico and Badr inevitably retire?” Who will follow in their footsteps? But wait, why are there just two big kickboxing superstars? With Rico and Badr on their way out, kickboxing is in dire need of new superstars. But how are superstars built? 🤔
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Timestamps
0:00 - The most important fight in modern kickboxing history
2:58 - History of the Heavyweight division
4:58 - Comparing Rico Verhoeven with K-1 legends
5:47 - The decline of heavyweight kickboxing (?)
7:13 - Stars regardless of weight class (Tenshin Nasukawa vs Takeru)
7:52 - Why kickboxing still feels like a niche
8:34 - The future of kickboxing after Rico and Badr retire
9:06 - Storytelling is everything
11:09 - Make the fans care
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