Badr Hari is yet to be done with fighting. Although “Golden Boy” or “Bad Boy”, whichever you like, was recently sanctioned for breach of GLORY Kickboxing anti-doping regulations, he has signed a new multi-year deal with the promotion.

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“BREAKING: Badr Hari signs exclusive 3-year contract with GLORY. The heavyweight division awaits his return,” reads the tweet on Thursday.

Hands down, Badr Hari appears as the last global attraction from the world of heavyweight kickboxing, thanks to the golden era of K-1 and It’s Showtime. Gokhan Saki turned MMA fighter signed with the UFC, Remy Bonjasky and Ernesto Hoost are happily retired. This is just to name a few standouts known for over two decades.

BREAKING: Badr Hari signs exclusive 3-year contract with GLORY. The heavyweight division awaits his return! pic.twitter.com/1F2rX2LLdh — GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) May 8, 2019

Indeed, although ONE Championship has signed arguably all top guns from featherweight to super middleweight and everything in between (Yodsanklai Fairtex, Giorgio Petrosyan, Andy Souwer), the roads of heavy-hitters seem to be leading directly to GLORY. The likes of “Slovakian Giant” Tomas Mozny, Australian Junior Tafa, among others, have been recently rising through the ranks.

Rico Verhoeven vs. Badr Hari 2

The current heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven is that matchup for Hari the fans of kickboxing have been definitely waiting for. The pair first met in December 2016 when “The King of Kickboxing” took the win by TKO in the second round due to arm injury of his opponent. Ever since the talks about the rematch were in the air.

No doubts the second battle between Rico and Badr can again generate a significant amount of hype for kickboxing internationally. The most recent global buzz was in October 2017 when Verhoeven fought Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. Despite the matchup was widely criticized it has indeed helped kickboxing popularity (for at least some time) thanks to the big name of the Brazilian fighter earned during his run in MMA. Furthermore, the latter is scheduled for his second kickboxing appearance taking on Greg Tony at the WKN event in Auckland this November.

The list of upcoming bouts for Badr Hari is yet to be announced. More information is expected in the near future.

The next on the promotion’s schedule is GLORY 65 held on May 17 in Utrecht, Netherlands. Kickboxing event features two championship bouts in the lightweight and middleweight classes. The fight card can be found here.