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6. Ramon Dekker
K-1 Hero’s 1
March 26, 2005 | Saitama, Japan
Along with his friend and longtime training partner Rob Kaman, Dekker was largely responsible for bringing the Netherlands into the mainstream of muay Thai and worldwide kickboxing. He was one of the first foreigners to go to Thailand and fight the best of the best in their houses and under their rule sets and to be competitive doing so, if not always winning outright.

A stylistic innovator who helped show the kickboxing world the effectiveness of punch-kick combinations and crisp, high-output boxing, Dekker’s four-fight series with Coban is usually rated as one of if not the best in the history of muay Thai. Over a 20-year kickboxing career, Dekker fought essentially everyone of note close to his weight both in Thailand and worldwide, from Coban to Duane Ludwig, whom he literally beat with one hand.

Dekker was a pure striker, but he did make a single foray into MMA. In 2005, as his kickboxing career was winding down, Dekker signed with K-1 to compete against the legendary Genki Sudo in its Hero’s organization. To add to the challenge, Dekker took the fight on only a few days’ notice. As one would expect in a matchup between a total novice and a grappler of Sudo’s caliber, however, the fight was over quickly: The Japanese fighter tapped him with a heel hook a little over two minutes into the bout, and Dekker failed to land a single strike.

Dekker competed only twice more in kickboxing before retiring and focusing on training up-and-coming fighters. Tragically, he passed away in 2013 at the age of 43 from a heart attack.

Number 5 » He was not a former professional kickboxer or wrestler, and he had zero name value coming into the bout; instead, he was a local tough guy who reportedly had some amateur boxing experience but nothing of any real quality on his record.