Tyrone Spong

Tyrone Clinton Spong (born 3 September 1985) is a Surinamese-Dutch professional boxer and mixed martial artist and former kickboxer.

In 1990 at the age of five, he moved to the Netherlands with his family.

Growing up in the Bijlmermeer neighborhood of Amsterdam, he was often involved in street fighting and began training in kickboxing at the age of thirteen, under the guidance of Lucien Carbin.

After getting his "ass whooped" in his first day of training, he was motivated to improve.

He had his first match at fifteen and won by first-round knockout.

Some of his early sparring partners included Alistair and Valentijn Overeem, and Gilbert Yvel.

In 2003, his first year as a professional, Spong won 12 fights.

In 2004, he fought Rafi Zouheir at the Battle of Zaandam, winning his first European Muay Thai Title (World Kickboxing Network).

In 2004, Spong visited Japan to compete in Shootboxing, losing to Ryuji Goto via unanimous decision.

His next fight, in April 2005, was against Belgian Mohammed Ouali for another European Title (WPKL).

Spong won the fight by unanimous decision.

In December 2005, at the A-1 Combat Cup in Duisburg, Spong won his first tournament Championship after winning three consecutive fights by knockout.

In 2006, Spong had two significant victories, knockout wins over Muay Thai veteran Joerie Mes and, two weeks later, K-1 fighter Kaoklai Kaennorsing, from Thailand.

In 2007, Spong won the SLAMM world title up to 79 kg by defeating the Thai Yodchai Wor Petchpun via first-round TKO.

In the following match, he defeated the Belarusian Dmitry Shakuta.

On 26 January 2008 Spong won the World Full Contact Association (WFCA) World Thaiboxing Cruiserweight Championship by defeating Aurelien Duarte.

Following this, he won the KO World Series 2008 by defeating Nikos Sokolis via knockout in the first round, and defended his WFCA Muay Thai title by finishing Ondrej Hutnik with a left liver punch in the second round.

On 26 April 2008 Spong faced Azem Maksutaj at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Amsterdam, winning by knockout in the second round.

He then defeated Gary Turner via TKO in the first round.

On 29 November 2008 he became the inaugural It's Showtime 95MAX World champion after beating Zabit Samedov by unanimous decision.

On 28 March 2009 Spong participated in the first K-1 Heavyweight (−100 kg) Title tournament, held in Yokohama, Japan.

He was beaten in the semifinals by Gokhan Saki, who won by KO in the extra round.

Spong met Nathan Corbett at Champions of Champions II on 27 June 2009, in what was widely considered a battle between the two best Muay Thai fighters in the world at their weight class, for the W.M.C. world title −93 kg. The fight was close, with Spong knocking Corbett down in the second round, and ended with a controversial decision.

In the third round, Corbett knocked Spong out with a right hook causing the referee to stop the fight.

However, due to the referee's misleading hand signals, Corbett rushed back in and knock Spong down once more, not sure that the fight had been stopped.

After considerable confusion, the fight was declared a no contest.

After defeating the Worlds heavyweight champion, Kyotaro, on 5 December 2009, Spong fought Jerome Le Banner in April 2010.

Similarly to the Corbett fight, Spong broke his right hand in the first round and was knocked down.

Despite coming back strongly, he lost by decision.

At the end of the year, he qualified for the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 Final, defeating veteran Ray Sefo in an elimination match, only to lose to eventual winner Alistair Overeem at the quarter final stage in what was a more competitive fight than most had predicted, as Overeem was much the bigger fighter.

At the start of 2011, Spong had to vacate the It's Showtime 95MAX world title due to a number of issues, such as not having had a title defense in the allocated two years and his management stating that he had moved up in weight to fight as a heavyweight.

Spong knocked out Igor Mihaljevic with a left knee in the first round at It's Showtime 2011 Lyon on 14 May 2011.

He defeated Loren Javier Jorge by unanimous decision at It's Showtime Madrid 2011 on 18 June 2011.

Spong faced Melvin Manhoef at It's Showtime 2012 in Leeuwarden on 28 January 2012 and won by unanimous decision.

He faced the legendary Dutchman Peter Aerts at an It's Showtime event in Brussels, Belgium, on 30 June 2012 and won by knockout in the third round.

Spong fought Remy Bonjasky at Glory 5: London in London, England, on 23 March 2013.

Spong won via one-punch KO with a right hook in the second round.

As a boxer, he held the WBC and WBO Latino heavyweight titles in 2018.

In kickboxing, he is the former WFCA cruiserweight champion, Glory 95kg Slam Champion and It's Showtime 95MAX World champion.

Tyrone Spong was born in Suriname.