Hesdy Gerges

Hesdy Gerges
Hesdy Gerges
Born	February 20, 1984 (age 42); Amsterdam, Netherlands
Occupation(s)	Kickboxer, mixed martial artist
Years active	2001–present
Known for	It's Showtime World Heavyweight champion (2010–2012)

Hesdy Gerges (born February 20, 1984) is a professional Dutch kickboxer and MMA fighter. He was the holder of the It's Showtime World Heavyweight championship from 2010 until 2012. Throughout his career, Gerges has participated in prominent organizations such as K-1, It's Showtime, SUPERKOMBAT, and Glory.

In November 2014, he received a 54-month prison sentence related to a 2011 drug trafficking case but avoided incarceration by agreeing to abstain from criminal activity in Belgium for a five-year period.

Biography and career

Originating from Amsterdam, Netherlands, Gerges began his kickboxing journey in 2001 at the Chakuriki Gym, training under the guidance of Thom Harinck, who is also known for coaching Badr Hari. Early on, Gerges was recognized for having a challenging personal background outside the sport.

On October 17, 2009, during Ultimate Glory 11: A Decade of Fights held in Amsterdam, he secured a unanimous decision victory over Ruslan Karaev. Subsequently, on May 29, 2010, at It's Showtime 2010 Amsterdam, he claimed the It's Showtime Heavyweight championship following an incident involving Badr Hari.

On October 2, Gerges was selected by fans to compete at the K-1 Final 16 event in Seoul against four-time titleholder Semmy Schilt. Although he delivered a commendable performance, he was defeated by majority decision but was nonetheless chosen as a reserve for the December finals. There, he achieved a TKO victory over the retiring Yusuke Fujimoto.

During 2011, Gerges recorded two wins and one loss; notable victories included triumphs over Daniel Ghiță and Chris Knowles. However, he suffered a narrow defeat to Rico Verhoeven at the SUPERKOMBAT Fight Club. On January 28, 2012, Gerges relinquished his Showtime Heavyweight crown after being knocked out in the first round by Ghiță.

At the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 in Tokyo final 16 event on October 14, 2012, he earned a unanimous decision win against Sergei Lascenko. Later that year, he secured a knockout against Carter Williams during the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix Final held in Bucharest.

At the K-1 World Grand Prix FINAL in Zagreb on March 15, 2013, Gerges was forced to withdraw in the quarter-finals after sustaining a broken nose while competing against Ismael Londt. In June of that year, he defeated Pavel Zhuravlev via unanimous decision at Final Fight Championship 6.

Gerges became part of Glory starting July 2013. He experienced a third-round TKO loss to Errol Zimmerman at Glory 11: Chicago - Heavyweight World Championship Tournament in October but bounced back with victories over Ewerton Teixeira at Glory 13: Tokyo and over Jhonata Diniz at Glory 15: Istanbul.

In June 2014, he claimed a win by disqualification against Jamal Ben Saddik during Qabala Fight Series #1 held in Azerbaijan.

By June 2018, Gerges had signed a multi-fight contract with Bellator, competing across both mixed martial arts and kickboxing disciplines.

He made his kickboxing return at Enfusion 98, where he defeated Mohamed El Bouchaibi via first-round TKO caused by low kicks.

At the event Glory 77 in 2021, Gerges was defeated by unanimous decision against Rico Verhoeven during the semifinals of a four-man heavyweight tournament.

Personal life

Hesdy Gerges was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to a Dutch mother and a father from Suriname, and he was raised by his stepfather who is Egyptian. He is married to the female MMA athlete Denise Kielholtz.

Drug-trafficking conviction

On February 15, 2011, Gerges was taken into custody in Amsterdam under suspicion of participating in a cocaine trafficking operation. Earlier, in May 2010, his half-brother had been detained in Belgium with 128 kg of cocaine, but Gerges was not initially implicated until the investigation was reopened in 2011. Authorities found no cocaine or firearms at Gerges' home. His coach Thom Harinck publicly supported him, emphasizing that Gerges' strict training regimen made involvement improbable.

Gerges was freed from Belgian detention on February 25, 2011; however, he was extradited again in May as Belgian officials believed the drug network operated through Belgium. He was released once more on May 13, 2011, consistently asserting his innocence.

During the trial, Gerges received a conviction and a sentence of 54 months for drug trafficking but avoided imprisonment by agreeing to remain crime-free in Belgium for five years.

Doping suspension

It was revealed on April 20, 2019, that Gerges had failed a doping test conducted before Glory 51: Rotterdam in 2018. He was issued an official warning. His opponent at that event, Badr Hari, also failed the test and faced a 19-month suspension due to breaches of the Netherlands' Doping Authority regulations concerning banned substances for competitive athletes.

Titles

It's Showtime
- 2010 It's Showtime World Heavyweight Champion
Kunlun Fight
- Runner-up in the 2015 Kunlun Fight +100kg World Championship Tournament
World Full Contact Association
- 2009 W.F.C.A. World Super Heavyweight Champion
- 2008 W.F.C.A. European Super Heavyweight Champion
- 2008 W.F.C.A. Benelux Super Heavyweight Champion
- 2007 W.F.C.A. Dutch Super Heavyweight Champion
World Independent Promotor's Union
- 2016 W.I.P.U. "King Of The Ring" Super Heavyweight Champion

Kickboxing record

|- style="background:#fbb;" | 2022-10-29 || Loss ||align=left| Rico Verhoeven || HIT IT || Rotterdam, Netherlands || TKO (Punches) || 5 || 1:58 |- |- style="background:#fbb;" | 2021-01-30 || Loss ||align=left| Rico Verhoeven || Glory 77: Rotterdam Semi Final || Rotterdam, Netherlands || Decision (Unanimous) || 3 || 3:00 |- style="background:#cfc;" | 2020-10-3|| Win ||align=left| Mohamed El Bouchaibi || Enfusion 98 || Alkmaar, Netherlands || TKO (Low kicks) || 1 || 1:58 |- style="background:#c5d2ea;" | 2018-03-03 || NC ||align=left| Badr Hari || Glory 51: Rotterdam || Rotterdam, Netherlands || No contest || 3 || 3:00 |- ! style=background:white colspan=9 | |- |- style="background:#fbb;" | 2017-09-30 || Loss ||align=left| Mladen Brestovac || Glory 45: Amsterdam || Amsterdam, Netherlands || KO (Left high kick) || 1 || 0:36 |- style="background:#cfc;" | 2017-05-20 || Win ||align=left| Tomáš Hron || Glory 41: Holland || Den Bosch, Netherlands || Decision (Unanimous) || 3 || 3:00 |- style="background:#fbb;" | 2016-11-05 || Loss ||align=left| Benjamin Adegbuyi || Glory 35: Nice, Semi Finals || Nice, France || Decision (Unanimous) || 3 || 3:00 |- style="background:#fbb;" | 2016-09-09 || Loss||align=left| Guto Inocente || Glory 33: New Jersey|| Trenton, New Jersey|| Decision (split)||3||3:00 |- style="background:#fbb;" | 2016-06-25|| Loss||align=left| Ismael Londt||Glory 31: Amsterdam||Amsterdam, Netherlands||Decision (split)||3||3:00 |- style="background:#cfc;" |2016-04-24|| Win||align=left| Grégory Tony|| It's Hardcore Time Again 2||Meppen, Germany|| TKO (retirement)||1||3:00 |- style="background:#fbb;" |2015-06-07|| Loss||align=left| Jahfarr Wilnis||Kunlun Fight 26 - Super Heavyweight Tournament Final||Chongqing, China|| Ext. R. Decision (unanimous)||4||3:00 |- style="background:#cfc;" |2015-06-07|| Win||align=left| Andrey Gerasimchuk||Kunlun Fight 26 - Super Heavyweight Tournament Semi Finals||Chongqing, China|| Decision (split)||3||3:00 |- style="background:#cfc;" |2015-03-17|| Win||align=left| Konstantin Gluhov||Kunlun Fight 21 - Super Heavyweight Tournament Quarter Finals||Sanya, China|| TKO (low kicks)||3||0:35 |- style="background:#cfc;" |2015-02-01|| Win||align=left| Igor Bugaenko||Kunlun Fight 18 - Super Heavyweight Tournament Final16||Guangzhou, China||TKO (low kicks)||2|| |- style="background:#fbb;" |2014-11-07|| Loss||align=left| Benjamin Adegbuyi||Glory 18: Oklahoma||Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA||Decision (unanimous)||3||3:00 |- style="background:#cfc;" |2014-06-29|| Win||align=left| Jamal Ben Saddik||Qabala Fight Series #1||Qabala, Azerbaijan|| DQ (attack on downed opponent)||1||0:20 |- style="background:#cfc;" |2014-04-12|| Win||align=left| Jhonata Diniz||Glory 15: Istanbul||Istanbul, Turkey||TKO (corner stoppage)||2||3:00 |- style="background:#cfc;" |2013-12-21|| Win||align=left| Ewerton Teixeira||Glory 13: Tokyo||Tokyo, Japan||Decision (unanimous)||3||3:00 |- style="background:#fbb;" |2013-10-12|| Loss||align=left| Errol Zimmerman||Glory 11: Chicago - Heavyweight World Championship Tournament Reserve Fight|||Hoffman Estates, Illinois, USA|||TKO (right hook)||3||0:38 |- style="background:#cfc;" |2013-06-14|||Win|||align=left| Pavel Zhuravlev|||FFC06: Jurković vs. Poturak|||Poreč, Croatia|||Decision (unanimous)||3|||3:00 |- style="background:#fbb;"

|2013-03-15|||Loss|||align=left | Ismael Londt|||K-1 World Grand Prix FINAL in Zagreb Quarter Finals|||Zagreb, Croatia|||TKO (broken nose)||3|||1:42

|- style="background:#cfc;"

|2012-12-22|||Win|||align=left | Carter Williams|||SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix Final|||Bucharest, Romania|||KO (left knee)||3||

|- style="background:#cfc;"

|2012-10-14|||Win|||align=left | Sergei Lascenko|||K-1 World Grand Prix Tokyo final16 First Round|||Tokyo, Japan|||Decision (unanimous)||3|||3:00

|- style="background:#fbb;"

|2012-06-30|||Loss|||align=left | Rico Verhoeven|||It's Showtime Brussels||||Brussels, Belgium|||Decision (Unanimous)||3|||3:00

|- style="background:#fbb;"

|2012-01-28|||Loss|||align=left | Daniel Ghiţă|||It's Showtime Leeuwarden||||Leeuwarden, Netherlands|||KO (left hook)||1|||2:47

|- style="background:#fbb;"

|2011-11-17|||Loss|||align=left | Rico Verhoeven|||SUPERKOMBAT Fight Club||||Oradea, Romania|||Decision (split)||3|||3:00

|- style="background:#cfc;"

|2011-05-21|||Win|||align=left | Chris Knowles|||It's Showtime Amsterdam||||Amsterdam, Netherlands|||KO (punches)||2|||0:46

|- style="background:#cfc;"

|2011-03-06|||Win|||align=left | Daniel Ghiţă|||It's Showtime Sporthallen Zuid||||Amsterdam, Netherlands|||Decision (unanimous)||3|||3:00

|- style="background:#cfc;"

|2010-12-11|||Win|||align=left | Yusuke Fujimoto|||K-1 World Grand Prix Final||||Tokyo, Japan|||TKO (three knockdown rule)||1|||1:41

|- style="background:#fbb;"

|2010-10-02|||Loss|||align=left | Semmy Schilt|||K-1 World Grand Prix Seoul Final16||||Seoul, South Korea|||Decision (majority)||3|||3:00

|- style="background:#cfc;"

|2010-09-12|||Win|||align=left | Rustemi Kreshnik||||Fightingstars It's Showtime Amsterdam||||Amsterdam, Netherlands|||TKO (low kicks)||2|||2:33

|- style="background:#cfc;"

|2010-05-29|||Win||||Badr Hari||||It's Showtime Amsterdam||||Amsterdam, Netherlands||||Disqualification||||2||

|- style="background:#fbb;"

|2010-03-13||||Loss||||Brice Guidon||||Oktagon It's Showtime Milan||||Milan, Italy||||Ext.R Decision||||4||

|- style="background:#cfc;"

|2010-02-27||||Win||||Ashwin Balrak||||Amsterdam vs Rotterdam||||Amsterdam, Netherlands||||Decision (unanimous)||3||

|- style="background:#cfc;"

|2009–2009 record highlights include multiple wins and title defenses across WFCA and other promotions.

|}

Mixed Martial Arts Record

External links

Fighter Profile at Glory

Biography and career

Personal life

Drug-trafficking conviction

Doping suspension

Titles

Kickboxing record

Mixed Martial Arts Record

See also

External links