Fear and wonder follow Melvin Manhoef wherever he goes.
The Mike’s Gym product will compete for the first time in nearly two years when he challenges 2000 Olympic silver medalist Yoel Romer in the Bellator 285 light heavyweight co-main event on Friday at 3Arena in Dublin. A knockout artist of the highest order, Manhoef has parlayed his devastating weaponry into a 32-15-1 record across various organizations, from Bellator MMA, KSW and Dream to Strikeforce and One Championship. Those tools and his penchant for lightning-strike violence have made him one of the most-talked-about mixed martial artists of his generation. Manhoef last appeared at Bellator 251 on Nov. 5, 2020, when he succumbed to a volley of second-round elbow strikes from “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 19 winner Corey Anderson.
As Manhoef approaches his three-round battle at 205 pounds, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied him to this point:
46: Years of age for Manhoef, who was born in Paramaribo, Suriname, on May 11, 1976.
29: Manhoef victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 91% of his career total (32). His list of victims includes Denis Kang, Kazuo Misaki, Mark Hunt, Kazushi Sakuraba and Evangelista Santos (twice). Manhoef owns three other victories by submission.
7: Sub-minute stoppage wins to Manhoef’s credit. He punched out Mika Ilmen in 28 seconds at an It’s Showtime event on Sept. 29, 2002, forced a corner stoppage against Ladislav Zak in 37 seconds under the Queens Fight Night flag on April 30, 2005, cut down Fabio Piemonte with punches in 51 seconds at Cage Rage 13 on Sept. 10, 2005, knocked out Ian Freeman in 17 seconds at Cage Rage 17 on July 1, 2006, laid waste to Hunt with punches in 18 seconds under the K-1 banner on Dec. 31, 2008, buried Kang with a knee strike to the body in 50 seconds at Dream 18 on Dec. 31, 2012 and took care of Santos with punches in 46 seconds at Gringo Super Fight 10 on April 27, 2014.
1: Draw on the Manhoef resume. He battled Rodney Glunder to a two-round stalemate at a Rings show in June 1999.
11: Countries in which Manhoef has plied his mixed martial arts trade. He has gone 12-4 in Japan, 6-2-1 in the Netherlands, 2-6 with one no contest in the United States, 6-0 in England, 1-1 with one no contest in Singapore, 1-1 in Italy, 1-0 in the Czech Republic, 1-0 in Russia, 1-0 in South Korea, 1-0 in Brazil and 0-1 in Poland.
10: Consecutive victories for Manhoef between Feb. 26, 2005 and Oct. 9, 2006. It remains the longest winning streak of his 50-fight career.
21: Calendar years in which Manhoef has fought at least once. He went 1-0 in 1995, 0-0-1 in 1999, 1-0 in 2001, 2-0 in 2002, 1-1 in 2003, 1-1 in 2004, 5-0 in 2005, 5-1 in 2006, 4-1 in 2007, 3-1 in 2008, 1-1 in 2009, 0-2 in 2010, 0-1 in 2011, 3-0 with one no contest in 2012, 0-2 in 2013, 2-1 in 2014, 1-0 with one no contest in 2015, 0-1 in 2016, 0-1 in 2017, 2-0 in 2019 and 0-1 in 2020.
29: Rounds completed by Manhoef since he arrived on the mixed martial arts scene in 1995. He has gone the distance six times and owns a 3-2-1 record in those bouts.
3: Losing streaks endured by Manhoef as a mixed martial artist. He suffered three straight setbacks between Jan. 30, 2010 and March 5, 2011, lost two in a row on April 5, 2013 and June 8, 2013 and took back-to-back defeats on May 20, 2016 and April 8, 2017.
326: Combined wins between the 14 men who have beaten Manhoef: Anderson, Glunder, Rafael Carvalho (twice), Joe Schilling, Mamed Khalidov, Brock Larson, Tim Kennedy, Tatsuya Mizuno, Robbie Lawler, Paulo Filho, Gegard Mousasi, Dong Sik Yoon, Yoshihiro Akiyama and Bob Schrijber. They boast a cumulative record of 326-140-12 (.682).
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