Peter Aerts

Peter Aerts
Data
Birth Name	Peter Aerts
Fight name	The Dutch Lumberjack
Weight class	Heavyweight
nationality	Dutch
birthday	October 25, 1970
place of birth	Eindhoven
size	1.92 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	85
Victories	62
Knockout victories	43
Defeats	22nd
draw	1

Peter Aerts (born October 25, 1970 in Eindhoven ) is a former Dutch martial artist . He is 192 cm tall and his competition weight was 108 kg. His ring name was "The Dutch Lumberjack" ("the Dutch lumberjack"). This nickname was given to him because of his very strong high kicks.

K-1 career

Peter Aerts made his K-1 debut on April 3, 1993 in the quarter-finals of the first K-1 World Grand Prix final tournament against his Dutch compatriot and today's K-1 legend Ernesto Hoost , which he lost on points. Nevertheless, Aerts was able to draw attention to himself a year later when he won the second final tournament in K-1 history. He eliminated Rob Van Esdonk in the quarter-finals, Patrick Smith in the semi-finals and Masaaki Satake in the final; he even ended the first two fights prematurely by knockout (KO).

Aerts had laid the foundation for a successful career and confirmed this the following year when he was even able to defend his K-1 title: In the quarterfinals he knocked out Toshiyuki Atokawa after just 62 seconds, in the semifinals he was able to beat his compatriot Hoost on points in the extra round and in the final there was again an early knockout, this time against the young and up-and-coming but impetuous Jérôme Le Banner , who was hit by a hard punch after just 97 seconds ; it was Aert's ninth win in a row.

In any case, Aerts was able to win 13 fights in a row after his K-1 debut defeat, 10 of them even prematurely. Only in the quarter-finals of the K-1 World Grand Prix final tournament in 1996 did he lose another fight when he was knocked out for the first time in his career: Mike Bernardo was able to knock him out on May 6, 1996 in the third round .

He also had his next two fights against Bernardo, but lost these fights as well, even though Aerts was disqualified in the first round in the K-1 Revenge tournament of 1996 for a low-kick to the groin of Bernardo, because Bernardo could not continue fighting. The third fight in a row against Bernardo he lost again on October 18, 1996 by a knockout in the third round; the third defeat in five months.

Aerts was still able to recover very well, because he won the next five fights all by knockout, including he won against the strong fighters Hug and Le Banner and on November 9, 1997 in the K-1 quarter-finals again against Mike Bernardo , who was knocked out by Aerts in the first round after just 77 seconds. In the semi-finals, however, Aerts was defeated on points by Hug, whom he had knocked out eight months earlier.

In 1998 Aerts won - superior - his third K-1 World Grand Prix title, this time he knocked out all of his opponents in the first round: In the quarterfinals Masaaki Satake, in the semifinals he met Bernardo again and in the final Andy Hug , who already could be knocked out by Aerts after 70 seconds. In 1999, however, it was already over in the quarterfinals when Le Banner knocked him out after only 71 seconds; the French managed to take revenge for the bitter final defeat of 1995.

Aerts was able to set up a strong winning streak of 10 wins (9 Kos) in a row from September 27, 1998 to October 5, 1999, until Le Banner finally stopped him in the quarter-finals.

Aerts was never able to build on this consistency and so he never won more than five fights in a row. However, it should be noted that Aerts was the only fighter who could qualify for all final tournaments until 2008; this series ended on June 29, 2009, when he lost his elimination fight - at the age of 38 - against Alistair Overeem on points. In 2006 and 2007 he made it back to the K-1 final - also due to his immense fighting experience - but lost there both times against his Dutch compatriot Semmy Schilt, who due to his height of 2.12 meters also as "Hightower" is known and was also the first to win this important tournament three times in a row, drawing level with Aerts: 2005–2007.

2007 was also very unfortunate for Aerts, because he twisted his knee after only 109 seconds and could not continue fighting; In 2006 he lost unanimously on points.

On September 27, 2008, the two fighters even met in the final elimination and Aerts was able to win this fight surprisingly on points; He ended Schilt's winning streak of 13 K-1 fights won in a row and was thus able to set an exclamation point again when he blocked the gate to the final tournament for the K-1 hat-trick winner Schilt.

At the World Grand Prix 2008 he clearly lost the first fight of the tournament against the strong Moroccan Badr Hari by TKO in the second round.

For the World Grand Prix 2009 Peter Aerts could not qualify. He lost to Alistair Overeem in the final elimination on points. However, he was able to win the reserve fight against Gökhan Saki .

For the World Grand Prix 2010 Peter Aerts was able to qualify again after defeating Ewerton Teixeira just after the extra round on points.

At the World Grand Prix 2010 Peter Aerts was able to surprise again. In the first round of the tournament he knocked out Mighty Mo in the first round. In the second fight of the tournament he met champion Semmy Schilt again . Peter Aerts was able to defeat Schilt and is the first to succeed in throwing Schilt out of a tournament. With that, Aerts was in a final again at the age of 40. However, the fight against Schilt had weakened Aerts so much that he could not oppose Alistair Overeem in the final . He was knocked out by Overeem after less than a minute. With this Overeem won its first title. Aerts said later in an interview that a tournament is now very exhausting for him and that individual fights would be better for him.

In 2015, Aerts finally announced his resignation.

Match record

91 K-1 fights; 66 wins (49 (T) KOs) are compared to 25 defeats (11 (T) KOs), with only one draw. 2 MMA fights; a TKO faces a defeat after giving up.

various

Peter Aerts is the cousin of professional soccer goalkeeper Maikel Aerts (2010–2012 with Hertha BSC).

Aerts starred in the 2010 film New Kids Turbo , in which he played himself.

title

• IKBF heavyweight world champion
• WMTA Muay Thai heavyweight world champion
• K-1 GRAND PRIX '97 3rd Place
• K-1 World Grand Prix '2000 3rd Place
• K-1 World Grand Prix '2003 3rd Place
• K-1 World Grand Prix 1994 Champion
• K-1 World Grand Prix 1995 Champion
• K-1 World Grand Prix 1998 Champion
• K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 Las Vegas finalist
• K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 finalist
• K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 finalist
• K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 finalist

Web links

• official homepage
• Fighter profile on K-1sport.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mr. K-1 Peter Aerts officially retires . In: Bloody Elbow . ( bloodyelbow.com [accessed April 22, 2018]).
2. ↑ Crash course in the monastery . In: Berliner Zeitung , July 14, 2010