Andrei Stoica

Andrei Cătălin Stoica (born May 1, 1987) is a Romanian kickboxer competing in the Light Heavyweight division.

He was the first to hold the SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Championship and held the SUPERKOMBAT record for most consecutive title defenses.

Stoica was the No. 5 ranked light-heavyweight in the world during his reign as the SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Champion.

He is also a three-time wushu national champion and European wushu champion.

While perhaps best known for competing in the Superkombat Fighting Championship (SUPERKOMBAT), he has also competed for K-1, Glory, LEGEND, Dynamite Fighting Show and ONE Championship, where he is a former ONE Light Heavyweight Championship title challenger

As of 1 January 2023, Stoica is ranked the #10 heavyweight in the world by Beyond Kick.

The son of a former boxer, Stoica started training judo at age 11 before switching to wushu and kickboxing at age 17 (he trained under Cătălin Zmărăndescu at CSA Steaua București).

He has been training in Bucharest, Romania for his entire career.

Stoica first went to Respect Gym, which was run by Alin Panaite, where he trained with fellow kickboxers Bogdan Stoica, Benjamin Adegbuyi, Claudiu Bădoi, Ciprian Șchiopu and Florin Lupu.

In November 2010, the SUPERKOMBAT announced that they had signed Andrei Stoica and his younger brother Bogdan to compete in the promotion.

Its chairman, Eduard Irimia, felt that the Respect Gym brothers have the potential to become top-class fighters.

On February 25, Stoica faced Redouan Cairo in a rematch at the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix I 2012 in Podgorica, Montenegro.

Originally, it was announced that Stoica defeated Cairo via decision after three rounds.

However, SK officials overturned the decision to a no contest as the judges actually scored the bout a majority draw.

Stoica had also caused controversy by inadvertently referring to Cairo as "the nigger" in his post-fight interview.

Stoica himself apologized for the mistake, blaming his poor command of English (Stoica said he meant to use the term "negro" instead, which caused further controversy).

He next faced Toni Milanović at the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix IV 2012 on October 20 in Arad, Romania and defeated the Croatian via split decision.

Stoica was scheduled to face Zabit Samedov for the inaugural SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Championship at the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2012 Final in Bucharest, Romania on December 22.

However, Samedov took ill in the build-up to the fight and replaced by the lower-ranked Arnold Oborotov and so the bout was changed to a title eliminator with the winner facing Samedov.

Stoica produced another emotionally-charged performance and knocked Oborotov out in the first round.

He lost to Agron Preteni via unanimous decision in a non-tournament bout at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 Final in Zagreb, Croatia on March 15, 2013.

The fight was all Stoica, until Preteni dropped him with a left hook early in the second round which earned an eight count and really turned the tide of the fight.

Mladen Krajnčec, one of the judges said that this was hardest fight to judge and that K-1 rules clearly state that the one who is in a knockdown loses the fight.

He scored a second-round knockout of Zinedine Hameur-Lain at SUPERKOMBAT New Heroes 5 in Târgoviște, Romania on August 30, 2013.

He KOed Dženan Poturak in round two at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III 2013 in Botoșani, Romania on September 28.

He rematched Agron Preteni at Legend 2: Invasion in Moscow, Russia on November 9, 2013, in a reserve bout of Legend Fighting Show -95 kg tournament.

Preteni took majority judges decision in a close fight with many strong kicks and punches which effected little damage.

He defeated Ondřej Hutník by unanimous decision to win the vacant SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Championship at the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2013 Final in Galați, Romania on December 21.

Stoica was knocked out by Danyo Ilunga in the tournament reserve bout at GLORY 15 - Light Heavyweight World Championship Tournament in Istanbul, Turkey on April 12, 2014.

The two had spirited exchanges in the first round.

Ilunga was consistent with his piercing knees to Stoica, who countered them well with his right hand.

Both men were successful and landed hard shots before Stoica thought that he had an advantage on a particular combination but just grazed Ilunga with a hook instead of landing clean.

This allowed Ilunga to get underneath it and come back with a huge counter right hand that floored and took Stoica out, who didn't have his feet beneath him to answer the ten count.

Prior to the fight, he and Benjamin Adegbuyi spent time as sparring partners of Alexander Gustafsson at the Allstars Training Center in Stockholm, Sweden.

He was expected to make the first defence of his SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Championship against Boy Boy Martin at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III 2014 in Constanța, Romania on June 21, 2014.

Martin withdrew for undisclosed reasons, however, and was replaced by Ali Cenik.

Stoica defeated Cenik via unanimous decision to retain the title.

Stoica had his second title defense against Moises Baute on October 25, 2014, at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2014 Final Elimination, where he won via KO in the third round.

He was scheduled to face Artem Vakhitov in a superfight at the Glory 20: Dubai on 3 April 2015 but pulled out for unknown reasons.

In 2018, he opened his own gym (Stoica Brothers Fight Academy), and since then he has been training there also under the guidance of the boxing coach Andrei Mircea.