The Most Famous

MARTIAL ARTS from Netherlands

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This page contains a list of the greatest Dutch Martial Arts. The pantheon dataset contains 179 Martial Arts, 2 of which were born in Netherlands. This makes Netherlands the birth place of the 10th most number of Martial Arts behind Azerbaijan, and Russia.

Top 5

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Dutch Martial Arts of all time. This list of famous Dutch Martial Arts is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Semmy Schilt

1. Semmy Schilt (b. 1973)

With an HPI of 51.07, Semmy Schilt is the most famous Dutch Martial Arts.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages on wikipedia.

Sem "Semmy" Schilt (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈsɛmi ˈsxɪlt]; born 27 October 1973) is a Dutch actor and former kickboxer, Ashihara karateka and mixed martial artist. He stands 212 cm and weighs 155 kg. Schilt holds the distinction of being the only kickboxer to have won 5 major heavyweight tournaments, being a four-time K-1 World Grand Prix Champion and one time Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam Champion. He also held the K-1 Super Heavyweight Championship and the Glory Heavyweight Championship titles. He is the only fighter in K-1 history to win the world championship three times in a row, and also shares the record with Ernesto Hoost for most Grands Prix won, with four. Schilt began his professional career in 1996 as a mixed martial artist competing in Pancrase, where he is a former Openweight King Of Pancrase. He has also competed in Pride Fighting Championship and the UFC. Schilt is one of the most decorated heavyweight kickboxers in history, having won five major tournaments. He is widely regarded as one of the division's all-time greats.

Photo of Peter Aerts

2. Peter Aerts (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 49.36, Peter Aerts is the 2nd most famous Dutch Martial Arts.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Peter Aerts (born 25 October 1970) is a Dutch retired kickboxer. Known for his devastating high kicks, which earned him the nickname "The Dutch Lumberjack", he is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time. Born in Eindhoven, Netherlands, Aerts began training in Taekwondo at the age of fourteen. He won his first world title when he was nineteen years old in 1990, taking the International Kick Boxing Federation's Heavyweight Championship. He would also add the Dutch heavyweight title and the World Muay Thai Association's heavyweight title to his mantelpiece before going on to compete in Japan. He competed in every K-1 World Grand Prix except one, in 2009. A three-time K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, he debuted at the inaugural K-1 World GP in 1993 where he was eliminated by fellow K-1 legend Ernesto Hoost. He won his first Grand Prix in 1994 by knocking out Rob van Esdonk and Patrick Smith in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, respectively, before taking a unanimous decision over Masaaki Satake in the finals. However, he was stopped on more than one occasion by Mike Bernardo, being memorably knocked out of the 1996 K-1 World GP at the quarter-finals, as part of his series of wins over Aerts. Aerts also won the GP the following year when he beat Toshiyuki Atokawa, Ernesto Hoost and then stopped Jérôme Le Banner in the finals. He would not win the tournament again until 1998 when he stopped all three of his opponents in front of 63,800 spectators at the Tokyo Dome. In what is considered to be one of the best Grands Prix ever, and the pinnacle of Aerts' career, he stopped Masaaki Satake with a knee strike in the quarters, forced the referee to stop his semi-final match with long-time rival Mike Bernardo and knocked out Andy Hug with one of his famous high kicks in the final. He won this tournament in six minutes and forty-three seconds, which was the quickest K-1 GP win ever at the time. This record stood until 2009 when it was beaten by rival Semmy Schilt. Although 1998 was his last Grand Prix win, Aerts continued to compete and reached the final a further three times (in 2006, 2007 and 2010).

Photo of Bas Rutten

3. Bas Rutten (b. 1965)

With an HPI of 44.33, Bas Rutten is the 3rd most famous Dutch Martial Arts.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Sebastiaan "Bas" Rutten (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɑs ˈrʏtə(n)]; born 24 February 1965) is a Dutch-American actor, former mixed martial artist, kickboxer and professional wrestler. As a kickboxer, he fought 16 times, winning the first 14 matches by knockout, 13 in the first round, and losing his final two fights, one of them against Frank Lobman for the European Muay Thai title in 1991, with Rutten losing by knockout in the first round. In MMA, he was a UFC Heavyweight Champion and a three-time King of Pancrase world champion. After his loss to Ken Shamrock in 1995, he finished his MMA career on a 22 fight unbeaten streak (21 wins, 1 draw). As a professional fighter, one of his favorite tactics was the liver shot (both punch and kick), and he popularized its use in MMA. Since his retirement, he has worked as a color commentator in several MMA organizations, including Pride, and has appeared in numerous television shows, movies, and video games. From 2007 to 2016, he was the co-host of Inside MMA on AXS TV. Rutten also coaches MMA and has authored several instructional materials. In 2008, Rutten was ranked by Inside MMA as the fourth-greatest mixed martial arts fighter of all time. In 2015, he was inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame. Rutten became a naturalized American citizen in the late 1990s.

Photo of Gökhan Saki

4. Gökhan Saki (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 37.81, Gökhan Saki is the 4th most famous Dutch Martial Arts.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Gökhan Saki (born 18 October 1983) is a Turkish-Dutch kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He is a Dutch, European and World Muay Thai champion, K-1 World GP 2006 in Amsterdam tournament finalist, K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Hawaii champion and former Glory Light Heavyweight Champion. Saki also competed in the light heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Photo of Germaine de Randamie

5. Germaine de Randamie (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 27.45, Germaine de Randamie is the 5th most famous Dutch Martial Arts.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Germaine de Randamie (born April 24, 1984) is a Dutch former mixed martial artist and kickboxer. Undefeated in sanctioned kickboxing bouts, she competed in the women's Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and was the first UFC Women's Featherweight Champion. Prior to joining the UFC, de Randamie competed in the Strikeforce featherweight division.

People

Pantheon has 5 people classified as Dutch martial arts born between 1965 and 1984. Of these 5, 5 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Dutch martial arts include Semmy Schilt, Peter Aerts, and Bas Rutten. As of April 2024, 3 new Dutch martial arts have been added to Pantheon including Bas Rutten, Gökhan Saki, and Germaine de Randamie.

Living Dutch Martial Arts

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Newly Added Dutch Martial Arts (2024)

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