Benjamin Adegbuyi
Benjamin Adekunle Miron Adegbuyi is a Romanian kickboxer and professional boxer. He is a two-time Glory Heavyweight Championship challenger and three-time winner of heavyweight tournament. Adegbuyi is also Superkombat World Grand Prix III 2012 tournament winner. A professional since 2011, he also fought in K-1.
As of 1 March 2020, he is ranked the #3 heavyweight in the world by both Combat Press and Glory.
Biography
Adegbuyi was born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania to a Romanian mother and Nigerian father. Since the age of eight, he spent his childhood together with his mother and newborn sister in Aiud, Transylvania.As a child, he competed in sports like shotokan karate, boxing and basketball. He is currently training at Superpro Sportcenter in Zevenbergen, Netherlands. Previously he trained under Alin Panaite at Respect Gym in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
Benjamin claims Yoruba as his father's roots who is currently the dean of a polytechnic university in Nigeria.
Career
Adegbuyi made his kickboxing debut as a professional on March 18, 2011.K-1 debut
He signed with K-1 in August 2012.Adegbuyi faced Jafar Ahmadi in a non-tournament bout at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 in Tokyo Final 16 on October 14. Adegbuyi won via TKO early in the first round after Ahmadi seemingly broke his left hand.
SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2012
After winning the title of the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III 2012 tournament, he was scheduled to fight Alexey Ignashov in the tournament on November 10 in Craiova, Romania at the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2012 Final Elimination. However, Ignashov could not fight due to injury and was replaced by the previous year's SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix Champion, Sergei Lascenko. Adegbuyi battered Lascenko, flooring him twice in the first round before the referee called a halt to the bout.Despite entering as the tournament favourite, Adegbuyi was exposed by eventual champion Pavel Zhuravlev when the Ukrainian KOed him in first round in the semi-finals at the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2012 Final on December 22 in Bucharest.
2013 season: run
He defeated Mohamed Belazaar via first-round TKO due to an injury a SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix I 2013 in Oradea, Romania on April 6.He rematched Jairzinho Rozenstruik at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix II 2013 in Craiova, Romania on May 18, and won by unanimous decision.
He beat Ismael Londt by unanimous decision at Slamm!! Soema Na Basi IV in Paramaribo, Suriname on August 8, 2013.
He defeat Reamon Welboren by unanimous decision at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III 2013 in Botoșani, Romania on September 28.
Adegbuyi vs. Zhuravlev II
He rematched Pavel Zhuravlev at the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2013 Final in Galați, Romania on December 21, 2013, winning by third-round KO.GLORY World Series
Adegbuyi prompted GLORY to pick him up and give him a shot on the best stage, after tearing it up on SUPERKOMBAT.He was scheduled to face Jamal Ben Saddik at ' in Zagreb, Croatia on March 8, 2014. However, Ben Saddik broke his hand while training and was replaced by Dmytro Bezus. Prior to the fight, Adegbuyi and Andrei Stoica spent time as sparring partners of Alexander Gustafsson at the Allstars Training Center in Stockholm, Sweden. Adegbuyi knocked down Bezus three times winning by second-round TKO.
He scored a second-round KO over Daniel Sam at ' in Broomfield, Colorado, United States on May 3, 2014.
In September, Adegbuyi was voted runner-up "Best New Talent" in the official GLORY Half-Year Awards.
Adegbuyi beat Hesdy Gerges in November at on Spike, and became the mandatory challenger for a shot at the heavyweight title.
He faced Daniel Lentie on 7 March 2015 at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix I 2015. Adegbuyi dominated his opponent, winning via unanimous decision.
GLORY Heavyweight Title Shot
Adegbuyi faced GLORY Heavyweight Champion Rico Verhoeven at on June 5, 2015. At the event, Adegbuyi was defeated by unanimous decision. Verhoeven showed his superior technique after a difficult first round and was hardly bothered by Adegbuyi.Adegbuyi shocked the fans in France during the first round, dominating the champion with excellent power punches and a great jab. He showed no fear whatsoever for Verhoeven and used his advantage in reach to perfection, even rocking the Dutchman with one good shot. Verhoeven countered with great kicks in the second round, forcing Adegbuyi to move more and negate the jab. Adegbuyi missed several big shots, and his punching rate dropped considerably. Adegbuyi tired quickly in the third, as Verhoeven started finding his range and speeding up. His corner urged him on to keep moving, taking advantage of Adegbuyi's relative inexperience and evening's tendency to rely on his boxing too much.
He fought mixed martial artist Alexandr Soldatkin at Tatneft Cup 2015 Final on September 4, 2015. Adegbuyi defeated Soldatkin in the third round via TKO.
2015 GLORY Heavyweight Contender Tournament winner
On October 9, 2015, Benjamin Adegbuyi defeated Jahfarr Wilnis by split decision and Mladen Brestovac by TKO to earn the Ramon Dekkers memorial trophy and get a second crack at GLORY heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven.In the semifinal, Adegbuyi chopped down Mladen Brestovac using a relentless leg-kick attack on him to take his bout. Adegbuyi landed 65 leg kicks and systematically wore down his opponent before stopping him in the third round. A hard whacking kick to Brestovac's left thigh sent him to the canvas. Brestovac tried to rise to his feet, but he wasn't there long. Adegbuyi relentlessly attacked Brestovac's injured lower half until his opponent took a knee and gave up the fight. Undercard Superstar complimented Brestovac's effort but acknowledged Adegbuyi's skill level and physical prowess.
In one of the best heavyweight kickboxing bouts of 2015, Adegbuyi pulled out a split-decision victory over Jahfarr Wilnis to claim the tournament finals championship. In the first round, Adegbuyi looked to do some great work with leg kicks, but Wilnis' combination punches were a factor as well. The ebb and flow was gone in the second round. It looked to be all Wilnis. He had more energy and his level of activity seemed to shut Adegbuyi down. Just when it seemed as if Wilnis would run away with the final round, Adegbuyi began to find a home for his straight right hand. The punch repeatedly slowed Wilnis down and apparently did enough to convince two judges that Adegbuyi deserved the third and decisive round, winning the heavyweight brawl in an impressive fight.
Adegbuyi vs. Verhoeven II
Adegbuyi lost by first-round KO in a rematch with Rico Verhoeven for the heavyweight title in the main event of on December 4, 2015.Controversial loss against Guto Inocente
He lost a shocking split-decision to Guto Inocente in the main event of, after appearing to dominate two of the three rounds they had fought. The result was met with boos from the crowd when it was announced and Adegbuyi looked nonplussed. Having visibly rocked Inocente in the first and third rounds, he had been certain the decision was going his way. Unexpectedly, the judges saw the fight very differently from the majority of viewers, leaving Adegbuyi speechless at the official announcement and venting fury on Twitter shortly afterwards.Fighting style
He has power, fluidity and natural athleticism. It is generally agreed that he needs more experience.In the last fights he demonstrated the ability to explore a more diverse range of techniques, from vicious body-shots to devastating low kicks.
Awards, records, and honors
- Glory
- *2018 Fight of the Year vs. Jahfarr Wilnis at
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- *2014 Best New Talent Runner-Up
- SUPERKOMBAT Fighting Championship
- *2012 SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III Tournament Championship
- *2014 International Fighter of the Year
- *2011 Newcomer of the Year
- Combat Press
- *2016 Fighter of the Year nomination
- *2016 Comeback Fighter of the Year nomination
Professional boxing record
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | Notes |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 |  Igor Mihaljević | UD | 4 | 6 Jun 2019 |  Sala Sporturilor Horia Demian, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.png" /> | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 |  Aleksander Lepsveridze | KO | 1, 0:57 | 5 Jul 2018 | Sala Polivalentă, Bucharest, Romania.png" /> | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Aleksandar Todorović | KO | 1, 2:53 | 16 Mar 2018 |  Vienna, Austria.png" /> | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | David Gegeshidze | TKO | 1, 2:48 | 11 Nov 2017 | Sala Sporturilor Lascăr Pană, Baia Mare, Romania.png" /> |