Rodney Glunder

Rodney Glunder (born as Rodney Faverus, March 1, 1975) is a retired Dutch professional kickboxer, mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and boxer, current actor, entrepreneur, bodybuilder and convicted rapist. He has fought for M-1 Global, Cage Rage, K-1, PRIDE Fighting Championship, RINGS, Glory, Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki, It's Showtime, SuperKombat, SLAMM!! Events and Art of War Fighting Championship. Glunder holds notable wins over top contenders Cheick Kongo, Valentijn Overeem, Joe Riggs, Melvin Manhoef, Cyrille Diabaté, Brian Douwes and Gregory Tony.

In March 2022 Glunder was charged with rape, aggravated assault and attempted manslaughter by the Dutch authorities.

On March 25, 2022, he was found guilty of four counts of rape, three counts of aggravated assault and attempted manslaughter. He has been sentenced to 5 years in prison, which was increased to 7 years in appeal.

Mixed martial arts and kickboxing career

Glunder began practicing martial arts at the age of 18, with Kyokushin kaikan and Taekwondo. He has a son who fights as a professional kickboxer, Massaro Glunder (born in 1994). In 1997, he won the European full contact karate championships. Rodney began competing in mixed martial arts in 1996, and is a journeyman of the sport with almost fifty fights. Rodney has never been knocked out in professional kickboxing, in late-2014 Glunder was knocked out with a knee to the body in a kickboxing bout, but has been knocked out only once in professional mixed martial arts competition by former UFC contender and fellow Dutch fighter Gilbert Yvel who knocked Glunder unconscious with a series of punches at 2 Hot 2 Handle: Pride and Honor in 2006. Glunder is also the first person to ever defeat veterans Brian Douwes and Mikko Rupponen by technical knockout.

In April 2003, Rodney made his K-1 debut against former UFC and Strikeforce contender Joe Riggs at the K-1 Holland Grand Prix 2003 and won via knockout within the first round. He won his first K-1 GP in June 2006, when he defeated three opponents in one night to be crowned the K-1 Canarias 2006 champion.

In May 2012, Glunder entered the SuperKombat World GP to accept a fight against Romanian kickboxer Andrei Stoica after Stoica referred to Glunder's sparring partner and fellow Surinamese fighter Redouan Cairo as "the nigger" in a post fight interview after Stoica's recent fight with Cairo. Glunder later lost the fight via decision in a fight many believe Glunder had won, after the fight Glunder went on to say he felt he lost the fight due to Stoica being the "poster boy" for SuperKombat and Romanian judges biased toward Surinamese fighters.

Rodney replaced injured K-1 legend Jérôme Le Banner against Marcin Różalski at KSW 20, losing the fight via unanimous decision.

On April 20, 2013, at the Rumble of the North II event Glunder fought his last career fight, this time under boxing rules. He defeated Janos Tiborcz by first-round KO and retired from contact sports shortly after.

On May 31, 2014, Rodney has decided to come out of retirement to take a fight against Porud Gym fighter Koos Wessels Boer for the vacant M.O.N Muay Thai European Championship at Rumble of the North IV.

Professional wrestling career

After retiring from fighting Glunder has decided to once again pursue a career in professional wrestling, Rodney was previously the owner of New Blood Wrestling in Jan 2004, the promotion folded a year later near the end of 2005, and also occasionally wrestled for German promotion Westside Xtreme Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Holland after his promotion folded. On June 22, 2013, Glunder is set to make his return to wrestling at a Pro Wrestling Showdown event in a tag team match, teaming with former WWE competitor Joe E. Legend after Legend's partner Sean Lucas suffered an injury during training. After winning this match with Legend he later joined the Red Star Empire stable alongside Rico Bushido and Adam Polak, replacing Red Star member Lloyd Pengel after Pengel cost the team to lose a number of previous matches. Pengel was later allowed back into the Red Star Empire after suffering a beating at the hands of Glunder and Bushido.

After a couple weeks of inactivity Glunder returned with his Red Star team to challenge WWE Hall of Fame inductee Tony Atlas to a match after Glunder told Atlas he is a better bodybuilder than Atlas ever was, Glunder recently started bodybuilding in 2013 and Atlas is a 30-year bodybuilding veteran, Glunder also went on to say he wanted the match to be a no holds barred match, Atlas later accepted the match and is set to take place at the PWS 13 event on February 23, 2014, in Purmerend, Netherlands. The match was declared a no-contest by the referee when Glunder refused to release his guillotine choke submission after Atlas fell unconscious as he grabbed the ring ropes, Glunder was later suspended by PWS executives for several months. A year after his suspension ended Rodney made sporadic appearances on the Holland independent circuit, Glunder later decided to re-retire from professional wrestling in March 2016 to pursue a career in acting, specifically in direct to TV films in the Netherlands.

Titles and championships

Source:

• CFC World Heavyweight Champion (one time, last)
• ISKA Cruiserweight (86–95 kg) Champion (one time)
• IKBO World Heavyweight Champion (one time)
• 2006 K-1 Canarias GP Champion
• IMA Mix Fight World Champion (one time)
• RINGS Intercontinental Champion (two times)
• IMA Mix Fight European Champion (one time)
• 2003 RINGS Durata GP Champion
• RINGS Free Fight Dutch Champion (three times, last)
• 2000 Mix Fight European Champion
• 1997 Full Contact Karate European Champion

Mixed martial arts record

Kickboxing record

Boxing record

Entrance music

See also

• List of K-1 events
• List of K-1 champions
• List of male kickboxers
• List of male mixed martial artists
• List of male boxers

External links

• from Sherdog
• 2009-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
• 2015-02-24 at the Wayback Machine