Melvin Manhoef: Scary Striker

Walter sent me this. Wow. This guy's got power. Roids? I don't know. But he'd be a nice addition to the already stacked LHW division.


Info:

Manhoef was born in Paramaribo, Suriname. When he was three years old his family moved to Rotterdam. Manhoef was involved in soccer during his youth, and was introduced to Muay Thai by his younger brother, Moreno. He soon joined Choku Gym in Zaandam and started training.^{[citation needed]} At 18, he had his first fight, which he won by decision. He made his comeback in September 2001, as part of Chakuriki Gym, in Amsterdam. He made his K-1 debut against Remy Bonjasky in K-1 Holland GP 2002 in Arnhem, Netherlands. Melvin lost the fight by unanimous decision.

In 2004, Manhoef entered the Cage Rage promotion in London. After beating Fabio Piamonte he became the World champion. He successfully defended his title for almost two years, until re-entering the K-1 fighting circuit's, MMA affiliate HERO'S in 2006. He won his first fight at Hero's 4 against Shungo Oyama by technical knockout in first round.

His last kickboxing bouts were in K-1 against Ruslan Karaev, and Remy Bonjasky. Manhoef beat Karaev via knockout, but was KO'd by Bonjasky via 3rd round head kick.

Melvin has switched his main focus to MMA over the past couple of years. He lost to Dong-sik Yoon by submission armbar in K-1 Dynamite!! USA, he defeated Bernard Ackah at K-1 HERO'S 9, and also recently got a TKO win against Fabio Silva, a Chute Boxe fighter, by TKO in K-1 Hero's Middleweight GP Final.

In his latest fight he fought Kazushi Sakuraba at DREAM.4. Manhoef and Sakuraba circled the ring for the first minute of the fight, before Manhoef dropped Sakuraba with a hard right head kick and finished him via TKO (hammerfists) at 90 seconds into Round 1. With the win, Melvin has advanced to the semifinal round of the DREAM Middleweight Grand Prix.

22 Wins (21 (T)KO's, 1 decisions), 4 Losses, 1 Draw
Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Method	Round	Time
06/15/2008	Win	Kazushi Sakuraba	DREAM.4	TKO (Strikes)	1	1:30
05/11/2008	Win	Dae Won Kim	DREAM.3	TKO (Knees and Punches)	1	4:08
12/31/2007	Win	Yosuke Nishijima	K-1 PREMIUM 2007 Dynamite!!	TKO (Punches)	1	1:49
09/17/2007	Win	Fabio Silva	K-1 Hero's Middleweight GP Final	TKO (Strikes)	1
07/16/2007	Win	Bernard Ackah	K-1 Hero's 9	KO (Strikes)	1	2:13
06/02/2007	Loss	Dong Sik Yoon	K-1 Dynamite!! USA	Submission (Armbar)	2	1:17
03/12/2007	Win	Yoshiki Takahashi	K-1 Heros 8, Japan	TKO (Punches)	1	2:36
10/09/2006	Loss	Yoshihiro Akiyama	K-1 Heros 7, Japan	Submission (Armbar)	1	1:58
10/09/2006	Win	Shungo Oyama	K-1 Heros 7, Japan	TKO (Strikes)	1	1:04
08/05/2006	Win	Crosley Gracie	K-1 Heros 6, Japan	TKO (Strikes)	1	9:12
07/01/2006	Win	Ian Freeman	CR 17 - Ultimate Challenge, England	KO (Punches)	1	0:17
03/15/2006	Win	Shungo Oyama	K-1 Heros 4, Japan	TKO (Cut)	1	2:51
02/04/2006	Win	Evangelista Santos	CR 15 - Adrenalin Rush, England	KO (Punches)	2	3:51
09/10/2005	Win	Fabio Piamonte	CR 13 - No Fear	KO	1	0:51
07/03/2005	Win	Paul Cahoon	CFC 4 - Cage Carnage	TKO	1
06/12/2005	Win	Bob Schreiber	It's Showtime - Amsterdam Arena	Decision
04/30/2005	Win	Ladislav Zak	Queens Fight Night, Eindhoven, Netherlands	KO
02/26/2005	Win	Matthias Riccio	CR 10 - Deliverance	KO	1	3:01
05/20/2004	Loss	Rodney Faverus	It's Showtime - Amsterdam Arena	KO
04/08/2004	Win	Slavomir Molnar	HOH - Heaven or Hell	KO	1
04/06/2003	Win	Alexandr Garkushenko	M-1 MFC - Russia vs the World 5	KO	1	6:57
03/16/2003	Loss	Bob Schreiber	2H2H 6 - Simply the Best 6	KO (Punches)	1	4:04
09/29/2002	Win	Mika Ilmen	It's Showtime - As Usual	KO (Left hook)	1	0:35
12/15/2001	Win	Husein Cift	Hoogwoud Fight Gala - Free Fight	KO	1
06/20/1999	Draw	Rodney Faverus	Rings Holland - The Kings of the Magic Ring	Draw	2	5:00
12/02/1995	Win	Jordy Jonkers	BOA - Battle of Amstelveen	TKO