Rico Verhoeven fighting Oleksandr Usyk in front of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt was undoubtedly historic because of the magnitude of the crossover bout. However, for the GLORY kickboxing champion, the occasion carried a much deeper personal meaning, as he competed in the landmark event shortly after his mother passed away during training camp.
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During a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the Dutchman revealed that he fought at the same location his late mother, Jacqueline Deurloo, had visited 30 years earlier. In an emotional admission, Verhoeven described it as a full-circle moment to face Usyk in Egypt, a place forever connected to the memories of his late mother.
“It was insane, Joe,” Verhoeven said in the latest JRE MMA Show. “Let me tell you another story. So, this also happened while I was in camp. It’s not a nice thing to say, but my mother passed away while I was preparing for this fight. It was hard, and we had to clean out her house. After we finally finished cleaning everything, we came across a bunch of pictures. You can see them on my Instagram. I saw photos of my mother from 30 years earlier standing in front of the pyramids.
“I thought, ‘Wow, why am I seeing these pictures now?’ Knowing that this fight was going to be in front of the pyramids, it was mind-blowing. For me, it was like everything had come full circle. I literally recreated the same photos my mother had taken 30 years earlier before the fight, in front of the Sphinx and the pyramids. That gave me goosebumps. Having that whole experience, fighting in front of the pyramids and recreating those moments, made everything feel like it had come full circle.”
After his mother’s passing, Rico Verhoeven shared a photo of his late mother posing in front of the Pyramids of Giza. Alongside it, he posted another picture of himself recreating the same pose. In the caption, the former GLORY champion wrote a heartfelt message, saying he could not stop thinking about her while in Egypt and describing her as his “guardian angel.”
Emotional admissions like that have often moved Joe Rogan to tears on his podcast. However, as Verhoeven spoke about his late mother, the UFC commentator appeared to hold back his emotions. That became even more apparent when the 58-year-old chose not to dwell on the topic and instead shifted the conversation to Verhoeven’s fight against Oleksandr Usyk. Still, this was not the first time Rogan showed such restraint.
During a conversation with Jeremy Renner last year, the Academy Award-nominated actor opened up about his life and struggles with mental health. Although Rogan became visibly emotional while listening to Renner’s ordeal, he tried not to cry during the conversation.
That said, even though Joe Rogan refrained from shedding tears, it would not be a stretch to say that Rico Verhoeven carried his mother’s memory with him into the fight against Oleksandr Usyk. Although he lost via an 11th-round stoppage, the GLORY kickboxing champion went toe-to-toe with one of the best boxers in the world in only his second professional boxing match, making the story all the more heartfelt.
