Sherdog’s Top 10: Greatest Combat Athletes

7. Semmy Schilt

The 6-foot-11 Dutchman is an utterly unique entry in this list. First, he is one of only two fighters not to have appeared in any previous installments of the series. Secondly, he achieved his greatness in a second combat sport after he had retired from MMA, which is unique among all the entries. Schilt did karate growing up, but never actually competed in kickboxing before starting MMA in the 90s. He started out in Pancrase where, after some early losses, he eventually won the Pancrase Openweight title by defeating Yuki Kondo, a man who was 3-0 against Schilt going into the showdown. Amusingly, the Dutchman beat Kondo by rear-naked choke, not a knockout as one may expect. He also scored knockouts over Guy Mezger, Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki.

Schilt would eventually fight in the UFC and Pride Fighting Championships, where he would have mixed success. His deadly striking and solid submission skills off his back gave him some nice wins, like a knockout of former UFC heavyweight title challenger Pete Williams or a soccer kick finish of Akira Shoji in Pride. However, he was no match for the elite heavyweights, who simply took him down and dominated him there, losing twice by armbar to Josh Barnett, once in the UFC and once in Pride, getting submitted by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, knocked out by Sergei Kharitonov, and beaten up for all 20 minutes in Pride by a debuting Russian named Fedor Emelianenko.

Here's where the story becomes very interesting, though. Realizing that he would never become a world champion in a major MMA promotion, Schilt began competing in kickboxing in 2002. Schilt was already 28 years old at the time and as I've noted, had no background in that discipline. The reason I keep stressing is that in my opinion and that of many others, Schilt went on to become the greatest heavyweight kickboxer of all time. With shockingly good speed and technique for a man who an inch shy of 7 feet tall, Schilt appeared unbeatable in his prime. Stand too far back and he would pick you apart with his vicious, long kicks and punches, including perhaps the hardest jab that heavyweight kickboxing has ever seen. Get too close, and his knees were overwhelming. He won an unprecedented four K-1 Grand Prix championships, was the Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam Champion, and was the K-1 Super Heavyweight Champion as well as the Glory Heavyweight Champion.

In addition to winning more titles more times than anyone else, Schilt proved his superiority against his fellow legends. He was 3-0 against Remy Bonjasky, with two knockouts. He had two wins and a draw against Ernesto Hoost, including a knockout. He was 4-0 against Jerome Le Banner, including two knockouts. A lot of people claim that Peter Aerts, another candidate for greatest heavyweight kickboxer ever, had Schilt's number, but I disagree. Schilt went 2-3 against him but his two triumphs were a clear decision and a knockout, while Aerts’ wins were majority decisions that could have easily been draws or gone to Schilt.

Most, myself included, assumed that Schilt's era of dominance was over in May 2009 when he was knocked out in just 45 seconds by Badr Hari. Hari seemed to be the new greatest heavyweight ever and superior to Schilt in every way, including speed, technique, and power. But the Dutchman was far from finished. When he rematched Hari in December 2009 at the relatively advanced age of 36, the result was the exact opposite, as Schilt brutally knocked down his rival again and again, prompting a stoppage due to the three-knockdown rule after just 74 seconds. In Schilt's last appearance, he won four fights in a single night. He defeated another legend in Gohkan Saki in the semifinals and knocked out highly skilled Daniel Ghita in the finals with a head kick, but the most significant win was one he recorded in the quarterfinals over a 23-year-old upstart named Rico Verhoeven, who has been the king of heavyweight kickboxing since Schilt's retirement. Certainly, Verhoeven wasn't yet in his prime, but neither was the 39-year-old Schilt. It's unclear how much longer Schilt would have continued ruling kickboxing, as it was discovered that he had a serious heart condition, and he was forced to retire in 2013. While his MMA career was merely good, there's an awful lot be said for being possibly the greatest heavyweight kickboxer ever.

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