Benjamin Adekunle Miron Adegbuyi (born January 24, 1985) 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 and 2018 Glory Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament runner-up. A professional since 2011, he also fought in K-1.
As of December 13, 2022, he is #5 in the Combat Press heavyweight rankings.[2] Combat Press has ranked him in the top 5 since November 2014.[3][4] As of 1 January 2023, he is also ranked the #5 heavyweight in the world by Beyond Kick.[5]
Early life
Adegbuyi was born in Cluj-Napoca, Romania to a Romanian mother and Nigerian yoruba father. Since the age of eight, he spent his childhood together with his mother and newborn sister in Aiud, Transylvania.[6]
Adegbuyi faced Jafar Ahmadi in a non-tournament bout at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 in Tokyo final 16 on October 14.[9][10] Adegbuyi won via TKO early in the first round after Ahmadi seemingly broke his left arm upon impact with Benny’s upper leg as he landed a middle kick on Jafar.[11][12]
SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2012
After winning the title of the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III 2012 tournament (in which he defeated the highly rated and experienced Croat Mladen Brestovac), 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.[13][14] However, Ignashov could not fight due to injury and was replaced by the previous year's SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix Champion, Sergei Lascenko.[15] Adegbuyi battered Lascenko, flooring him twice in the first round before the referee called a halt to the bout.[16]
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.[17][18][19]
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.[20][21]
He rematched Jairzinho Rozenstruik at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix II 2013 in Craiova, Romania on May 18, and won by unanimous decision.[22][23][24]
He beat Ismael Londt by unanimous decision at Slamm!! Soema Na Basi IV in Paramaribo, Suriname on August 8, 2013.[25][26]
He defeat Reamon Welboren by unanimous decision at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III 2013 in Botoșani, Romania on September 28.[27][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.[29]
GLORY
Adegbuyi prompted GLORY to pick him up and give him a shot on the best stage, after tearing it up on SUPERKOMBAT.
He faced Daniel Lentie on 7 March 2015 at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix I 2015. Adegbuyi dominated his opponent, winning via unanimous decision.[42]
GLORY Heavyweight Title Shot
Adegbuyi faced GLORY Heavyweight ChampionRico Verhoeven at Glory 22: Lille on June 5, 2015. At the event, Adegbuyi was defeated by unanimous decision (49-46, 49–46, 50–45). 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.[43][44]
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.[45]
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.[47]
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.[48]
Adegbuyi lost by first-round KO in a rematch with Rico Verhoeven for the heavyweight title in the main event of Glory 26: Amsterdam on December 4, 2015.[49]
Controversial loss against Guto Inocente
He lost a shocking split-decision to Guto Inocente in the main event of Glory 43: New York, 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.[50][51]
2018 GLORY Contender Tournament
Adegbuyi participated in the 2018 Glory four man heavyweight tournament, alongside D'Angelo Marshall, Guto Inocente and Junior Tafa.[52][53] In the semi-final bout he faced D'Angelo Marshall. Marshall looked to pressure and threw several flurries. Adegbuyi timed him coming into his range, during one of these flurries, and countered him with a right overhand, to knock Marshall out in just half a minute.[54][55] He advanced to the finals, where he met Junior Tafa. Tafa lost his fight to Inocente, but advanced due to Inocente suffering a cut during their bout. Adegbuyi focused on landing leg kicks, and won the fight in the second round by TKO, after dropping Tafa three times with leg kicks.[56][57]
2018 GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix
Following his contender tournament win, Adegbuyi fought Jahfarr Wilnis during Glory 58 in Chicago.[58] Benjamin won the fight by a unanimous decision.[59]
Adegbuyi then took part in the eight man Heavyweight Grand Prix.[60] In the quarter finals he faced Arkadiusz Wrzosek. Adegbuyi dominated the entire fight, managing to drop the Polish fighter in round two, and a second time in round three. He won a unanimous decision (30-25, 30–25, 30–25).[61][62]
Advancing to the semifinals, he once again fought Jahfarr Wilnis. While the first round featured outfighting and probing kicks, Adegbuyi looked to pressure in the second round, and managed to stagger Wilnis with an uppercut during one of the exchanges. In the third round, he knocked Jahfarr out with a head kick.[63][64]
In the finals, Adegbuyi fought Jamal Ben Saddik. Ben Saddik pressured from the opening bell, and halfway through the first round, dropped Benjamin with a series of uppercuts. Adegbuyi was unable to stand in time to beat the ten count.[65]
After losing the Grand Prix final, Adegbuyi returned to Glory after 11 months to fight a rematch with D'Angelo Marshall. He won the fight by a unanimous decision.[66]
Adegbuyi vs. Hari
Adegbuyi was scheduled to fight Badr Hari on 20 June 2020 in Rotterdam. The fight was set to be a title eliminator.[67] The bout was subsequently cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[68] and the fight was rescheduled for Glory 76 on November 7,[69] but fell through again, as Badr Hari contracted COVID-19.[70][71] The fight was rescheduled for December 19.[72] Adegbuyi won the fight by KO in the third round, finishing Hari with a kick to the body.[73][74]
Hari started aggressively, looking for a knockout with heavy punches. Adegbuyi attempted to cover the shots and was countering. Mid round, Adegbuyi caught a good left, his opponent taking a step back. Hari looked affected. Adegbuyi pressed, using again kicks to keep the Dutch-Moroccan away. At the end of a balanced round, two judges scored the round for Hari while one gave it to Adegbuyi.
In round two, Hari slowed down. Adegbuyi kept stepping forward and continued throwing kicks. With 45 seconds left in the round, Hari tagged Adegbuyi with a right hook followed by a flurry of punches. The Romanian dropped, but beat the count and survived the round. Adegbuyi finished the round standing.
At the beginning of the final round, Hari again tried to put the pressure on his opponent but he was caught by an Adegbuyi right hand thrown from a southpaw stance. The Dutch-Moroccan was in trouble and was given a standing count. Hari did eventually stand up and the fight resumed, but only to be finished in the first exchange, courtesy of left body kick thrown by the Romanian, which sent Hari to the canvas for the second time, and this time bleeding from his nose he would not get up.
The next day, Glory vice-chairman Scott Rudmann revealed that Hari suffered a double break in his nose on knockout.
[75]
Adegbuyi vs. Plazibat
Adegbuyi was scheduled to fight a rematch with Jamal Ben Saddik at Glory: Collision 3 on October 23, 2021. The two previously fought at Glory 62: Rotterdam, in the finals of the 2018 Glory Heavyweight Contender tournament, with Ben Saddik winning by a first-round knockout.[76] Adegbuyi was later rescheduled to face Antonio Plazibat at the same event.[77] He lost the fight via knockout in round two.[78]
Adegbuyi vs. Ben Saddik II
Adegbuyi faced Jamal Ben Saddik in a rematch and an eliminator for the interim Glory heavyweight championship at Glory 81: Ben Saddik vs. Adegbuyi 2 on August 20, 2022. He was defeated by knockout in the first round.[79] On February 8, 2023, it was announced that Ben Saddik had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. As a result, his victory over Adegbuyi was overturned to a no contest.[80] Ben Saddik was also suspended for 15 months, beginning with August 20.[81]
Training and fighting style
Adegbuyi has been training in his native Romania for the most part of his career, currently still in the capital Bucharest but also at Superpro Team in Sibiu, Transylvania for boxing. He first went to Respect Gym, which was run by Alin Panaite, where he trained with fellow kickboxers Andrei Stoica, Bogdan Stoica, Claudiu Bădoi, Ciprian Șchiopu and Florin Lupu.[82]
Since 2015, Adegbuyi has been training mainly in Zevenbergen, Netherlands under Dennis Krauweel at Superpro Sportcenter,[83] with fellow kickboxers Rico Verhoeven, Dexter Suisse and Max van Gelder.[84]
He has power, fluidity and athleticism. In the last fights, he demonstrated the ability to explore a more diverse range of techniques, from vicious body-shots to devastating low kicks.
Adegbuyi claims Yoruba as his father's roots who is currently the dean of a polytechnic university in Nigeria.[100]
He appeared playing the role of a fighter in action-oriented underground fighting film Forced to Fight (2011), starring Gary Daniels and Peter Weller.[101]
In May 2013, Adegbuyi was found not guilty by the Supreme Court of Romania in the Yax nightclub brawl where a man was severely beaten. However, three people were sentenced after assaulting the bouncer.[102]
Being married to Elena, he became a father in 2015 when his son Patrick was born.[103][104]
^"GLORY 76: Benny BEATS Badr". kickboxingz.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"KICKEND EN BOKSEND NAAR DE TOP" (in Dutch). nieuwsredactie.fhj.nl. 15 September 2016. Archived from the original on 19 September 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
