Mourad Bouzidi

Biography and career

Mourad Bouzidi was born in The Hague, Netherlands and started practicing Muay Thai at the age of 10. He had his first fight at the age of 13. Bouzidi still resides in The Hague and trains both at Team Kamakura and Team Aerts under Peter Aerts.

Bouzidi rose to prominence in May 2004 when he defeated Sergey Razvodovskiy, Szilard Szecsei and Konstantin Gluhov on the same night to win the Draka European Championships at +90 kg. He then beat Daniel Leko on March 25, 2005 to win the WKN European Muay Thai title at -96 kg. However, he lost the belt only two months later when he was defeated by Daniel Ghita at Local Kombat 14 "Lupta capitală".

On June 3, 2006, he made his K-1 debut in the 8-man tournament at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Seoul. He defeated Iranian strongman Mehdi Mirdavoudi by unanimous decision in the quarter-finals, but then lost out to local fighter Kim Min-Soo in the semis. In June the following year, he lost to Gökhan Saki at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Amsterdam. He then returned in February 2008 when he beat Hesdy Gerges at K-1 MAX Netherlands 2008 The Final Qualification.

He defeated Henriques Zowa via unanimous decision on June 15, 2008 to win the WFCA Dutch Muaythai Super Heavyweight (+95 kg) title.

Bouzidi then began competing for the It's Showtime promotion regularly and took wins over Hasan Gul, Rustemi Kreshnik and Errol Zimmerman between 2008 and 2009 before recording his first promotional loss to Brice Guidon at It's Showtime 2009 Barneveld in November 2009. On February 13, 2010, he faced Badr Hari for the It's Showtime Heavyweight Championship at It's Showtime 2010 Prague and was knocked out in the second round.

On October 16, 2010, he beat Anderson "Braddock" Silva in the quarter-finals of the 2010/11 United Glory World Series at United Glory 12 in Amsterdam. Advancing to the semi-finals in Charleroi on March 19, 2011, Bouzidi lost to Brice Guidon via technical knockout at United Glory 13. He then faced Errol Zimmerman for the second time in his career in a super fight at United Glory 14 in Moscow, losing via decision to bring the pair's rivalry to 1-1.

He faced Gökhan Saki at Glory 2: Brussels on October 6, 2012 in Brussels, Belgium and lost by unanimous decision.

He competed in the sixteen-man 2012 Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam at Glory 4: Tokyo - 2012 Heavyweight Grand Slam in Saitama, Japan on December 31, 2012 and arm injuries were the story of the night for Bouzidi. At the tournament's opening stage, he was drawn against his trainer, the legendary Peter Aerts. Aerts took the first round but broke his right hand and was unable to come out for the second, gifting Bouzidi a passage to the quarter-finals where he came up against Daniel Ghiţă. After a close first round, Bouzidi injured his right arm in round two by throwing an awkward punch that was then countered by a powerful kick from Ghiţă. He was unable to continue and was counted out by the referee.

He defeated Fabiano Cyclone via TKO due to corner stoppage in round two at Glory 6: Istanbul in Istanbul, Turkey on April 6, 2013.

He competed in the Glory 9: New York - 2013 95kg Slam in New York City on June 22, 2013, losing out to Danyo Ilunga by unanimous decision in the quarter-finals.

He lost to Saulo Cavalari by first-round KO on the Glory 12: New York - Lightweight World Championship Tournament undercard in New York City, New York, US on November 23, 2013.

He was expected to face Brian Collette at Glory 15: Istanbul in Istanbul, Turkey on April 12, 2014 but Collette withdrew after suffering an injury and was replaced by Randy Blake. Bouzidi defeated Blake via unanimous decision.

Titles