Daniel Ghiță

Daniel Ghiţă
Born (1981-04-22) April 22, 1981
Bucharest, Romania
Other names The Savage Samurai
Sniper
Nationality Romanian
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Weight 111.4 kg (246 lb; 17 st 8 lb)
Division Super Heavyweight
Reach 77.2 in (196 cm)
Style Kickboxing, Muay Thai
Fighting out of Netherlands
Years active 1999–present
Kickboxing record
Total 61
Wins 50
By knockout 39
Losses 11
By knockout 3
Other information
Website http://danielghita.ro/index.php
last updated on: June 21, 2014

Daniel Ghiţă (Romanian pronunciation: [daniel ɡhit͡sə], born April 22, 1981) is a Romanian super heavyweight kickboxer signed to the GLORY promotion where he has been the runner-up of the 2012 Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam, losing to kickboxing's best Semmy Schilt. He is also a former K-1 and Local Kombat fighter and the last It's Showtime World Heavyweight champion. Known for his devastating leg kicks, which earned him the nickname "The Savage Samurai" in Japan, he is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers in activity.

Biography

Ghiţă was born on April 22, 1981. Aside from kickboxing, from 2001 to 2008, Ghiţă worked as a (SPP) agent assigned to protect the Romanian President.[1]

Kickboxing career

Early career

"The Savage Samurai" made his debut in the World Muay Thai Championships in 1999 in Bangkok, Thailand. Daniel won all his matches by knockout before the semifinal, where he lost against Alexey Ignashov by one round (the only match the Belarusian won by decision and not KO).

Ghiţă's career continued with outstanding performances: European Muay Thai champion in Germany in 2000, bronze medal at the World Muay Thai Championships in Thailand in 2001 and European Muay Thai runner-up in Portugal in 2002. In 2003, he recorded the fastest KO at the World Muay Thai Championships in Thailand, 30 seconds against an Australian fighter.

K-1 debut

In 2004, Ghiţă entered the Local Kombat fighting circuit in Romania. His good record there gave him the opportunity to fight also in the K-1 fighting circuit. His K-1 debut was in 2007 at K-1 Fighting Network Romania 2007 against Nobu Hayashi.[2]

On August 11, 2009, Ghiţă broke Peter Aerts' record of fastest K-1 tournament win by defeating all three of his opponents in a total of 5 minutes and 15 seconds. Peter Aerts' record at that time was 6:43 and stood for 10 years before Ghiţă's milestone, however, Aerts' record was set at a K-1 Grand Prix Final Round, whereas Ghiţă's record was set in a qualifying GP.[3]

In October 2010, Daniel Ghiţă became the first Romanian fighter to qualify for the K-1 World Grand Prix Final in Tokyo, defeating Errol Zimmerman by KO in the last qualifying tournament in Seoul. At the tournament he fought Gokhan Saki in the quarterfinals. He however turned up to the fight with an injury to his leg and it showed in the fight as he was unable to dictate the pace of the fight at all. He managed to get an extra round after it seemed Saki had already won. He started to get more tired in the round and lost by decision.

First world title shot

On March 6, 2011, Daniel Ghiţă faced the Chakuriki fighter Hesdy Gerges and the current It's Showtime Heavyweight champion in Amsterdam. Ghiţă was a slight underdog as Gerges almost beat Semmy Schilt the previous year and gave Badr Hari trouble in their fight. Though from the first round Ghiţă scored more effective shots, until the second round where a knee that skimmed his groin was ruled an 8 count. Ghiţă dominated the third round throughout but lost by unanimous decision. However it was only because of the wrong 8 count which, if it had not been counted, then an extra round would have been held, where many people thought Ghiţă would have won.

Ghiţă was scheduled to face Polish-Australian fighter Paul Slowinski at the It's Showtime 2011 Lyon, but his opponent pulled out and was replaced by Fikri Ameziane. As expected the fight was one-sided for one round, with Ghiţă beating his opponent with ease in the first round.

It's Showtime World title win

On January 28, 2012 at It's Showtime in Leeuwarden, Ghiţă rematched Hesdy Gerges for the It's Showtime Heavyweight World title. After backing up Gerges to the neutral corner in the first round he knocked Hesdy out with a left hook and won his biggest world title to date in the process.[4]

On 10 March 2012, it was Sergei Lascenko's turn to lose to the Savage Samurai via third round round TKO (head kick) at Mirko Filipović's Final Fight in Zagreb, Croatia.[5]

On May 12, the Romanian beat Brian Douwes at It's Showtime 56 in the second round (2:16) by KO with a single counter left hook. His strong punch sent the Dutchman to the canvas thus adding another highlight reel KO win to his record.[6]

At the It's Showtime 2012 Brussels, he scored his 7th straight win by KO with a 2nd round liver kick of his Bosnian opponent on Dževad Poturak.[7] In his previous fight at the K-1 World Grand Prix in Madrid, Ghiţă battered a brave Wendell Roche until his corner threw in the towel in round two.[8]

Although he was expected to fight in the 2012 K-1 World Grand Prix, Daniel was shockingly left out of the tournament.

Glory World Series

Ghiţă then signed with rival promotion Glory and currently the biggest kickboxing organisation in the world in October 2012.[9][10]

He was set to face Fabiano Cyclone in the first round of the 2012 Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam at Glory 4: Tokyo - 2012 Heavyweight Grand Slam in Saitama, Japan on December 31, 2012.[11] However, Cyclone pulled out of the bout and was replaced by fellow countryman Jhonata Diniz.[12] He defeated Diniz by unanimous decision after two, two-minute rounds due to the tournament's "best of three" format and advanced to the quarter-finals to face Mourad Bouzidi. After a close opening round, Ghiţă stopped Bouzidi with a kick which injured his arm in the second. In the semis, he came upainst the surprise package of the tournament, Jamal Ben Saddik, and dispatched of him within seconds, sending the big Moroccan with a single kick to the body. A highly-anticipated rematch with the legendary Semmy Schilt awaited him in the final and, after a slow start to the three-minute first round, the giant Dutchman sent Ghiţă to the canvas with a left high kick. Despite seemingly recovering from the blow, referee Joop Ubeda controversially called a halt to the contest, giving Schilt the TKO win.[11][13][14] He received a $100,000 check as the runner up on the tournament.[15][15]

Ghiţă rematched Gökhan Saki at Glory 6: Istanbul in Istanbul, Turkey on April 6, 2013 in a #1 contender's bout for the Glory Heavyweight Championship held by Semmy Schilt.[16] The fight started out a little rough, as Saki caught a kick from the Romanian. He then backed Ghiţă up and threw him to the mat with a sweep. Ghiţă landed hard, looking to have suffered an arm injury. According to Glory's official rules, leg sweeps and trips are illegal moves and should thusly be counted as such. Instead, referee Joop Ubeda counted it as a down as Ghiţă took a while to get to his feet.[17] Even though injured, round two saw again Ghiţă being more consistent but midway through the round, the Turk began landing heavy punches on him and simply did not let up, dropping the Romanian thrice to take a win via TKO after the referee stepped in, calling the fight.[18][19]

He halted his two-fight losing streak with a first round knockout of Brice Guidon at Glory 9: New York - 2013 95kg Slam in New York City, New York, USA on June 22, 2013.[20] He hurt Guidon with kicks and punches to the body, forcing him into the corner. As the Frenchman covered up, Ghiță waited for his opportunity and ended the fight with a crushing left hook when Guidon tried to punch his way out.[21][22][23][24]

In the semi-finals of Glory 11: Chicago - Heavyweight World Championship Tournament in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States in October 2013,[25][26][27] Ghiță stopped Anderson "Braddock" Silva with a first round body kick. Meeting Rico Verhoeven in the final, he suffered an upset loss as he slumped to a unanimous decision defeat.[28][29]

He rematched Errol Zimmerman at Glory 13: Tokyo - Welterweight World Championship Tournament in Tokyo, Japan on December 21, 2013 and knocked Zimmerman out for the second time, hurting him just seconds into the match and keeping up the pressure before putting him away with a his patented left hook at the 0:35 mark of round one.[30][31][32][33]

He rematched Rico Verhoeven in a bout for the vacant Glory Heavyweight (+95 kg/209 lb) Championship at Glory 17: Los Angeles in Inglewood, California, US on June 21, 2014, losing a unanimous decision.[34][35][36]

Titles

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record

Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest       Notes

Personal life

He supports UNICEF charities.[41]

Acting

"Cât Poţi Tu De Tare" with Daniel Ghiță

Ghiță appeared in the music video for Romanian hip hop group B.U.G. Mafia's song "Cât Poţi Tu De Tare" ("The Best You Can Be"). It was released on YouTube and the group's official website on December 31, 2010.[42]

Theme music

Promotion Entrance
It's Showtime & K-1 Ciprian Porumbescu – Ballad for Violin and Orchestra (Emil Lassaria Remix)
Glory Globus – Preliator

See also

References

  1. ↑ An interview 2009-09-24(Japanese)
  2. ↑ "K-1 Romania Bucureşti 4 mai". www.fight.ro. Archived from the original on February 28, 2007. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
  3. ↑ Daniel Ghiţă Records Fastest K-1 Win Ever
  4. ↑ Daniel Ghita flattens Hesdy Gerges to win It's Showtime Heavyweight title
  5. ↑ Cro Cop Final Fight Live Results
  6. ↑ Kickboxing Results: Daniel Ghita Wins, Ignashov Loses, SuperKombat, More
  7. ↑ It's Showtime Results: Great Action Overshadowed By Big Announcement
  8. ↑ http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/5/27/3037928/k-1-rising-2012-live-stream-discussion-badr-hari-k1
  9. ↑ Glory signs Daniel Ghita and Rico Verhoeven
  10. ↑ HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION DANIEL GHITA AND RISING STAR RICO VERHOEVEN SIGN WITH GLORY
  11. 1 2 GLORY 4 Tokyo Grand Slam Tournament Match-Ups Set
  12. ↑ Jhonata Diniz steps in to fight Daniel Ghita, 2 more fights added to DREAM 18/GLORY 4
  13. ↑ DREAM 18 / GLORY 4 Tokyo Live Results
  14. ↑ Semmy Schilt Wins Over Daniel Ghita to Claim GLORY Grand Slam Crown
  15. 1 2 Asian MMA: DREAM 18 - GLORY 4 NYE Special Live Video Stream, Results, and Discussion
  16. ↑ Gokhan Saki vs. Daniel Ghita II at GLORY 6 in Istanbul
  17. ↑ Glory 6 Istanbul Ghita vs. Saki results, discussion, live stream, and full fight coverage
  18. ↑ GLORY 6 Istanbul: Daniel Ghita vs. Gokhan Saki, Live Results
  19. ↑ Gokhan Saki Levels Daniel Ghita, Moves on to Fight Sem Schilt
  20. ↑ GLORY 9 New York Gets Ghita vs. Guidon, Valtellini vs. Ambang
  21. ↑ Daniel Ghita Just Flatlined Brice Guidon at Glory 9 NY
  22. ↑ Glory 9 Results and Recap: Tyrone Spong Wins Light Heavyweight Tournament
  23. ↑ GLORY 9 Results and Review: Tyrone Spong Wins Light Heavyweight Tournament, Ghita Dominates Guidon
  24. ↑ GLORY 9 New York Live Results and Updates
  25. ↑ 4 Man Tournament with Daniel Ghita and Gohkan Saki Set for GLORY 11
  26. ↑ GLORY 11 Main Event Confirmed as Corbett vs. Spong
  27. ↑ Tyrone Spong vs. Nathan Corbett and more confirmed for Glory 11 in Chicago
  28. ↑ GLORY 11 Chicago Live Results and Discussion
  29. ↑ Glory 11 Results and Recap
  30. ↑ GLORY SuperFight Series Tokyo and GLORY 13 Spoilers
  31. ↑ Glory 13 Results and Recap
  32. ↑ Glory 13 Tokyo results and gifs: Rico Verhoeven, Daniel Ghita, and Nieky Holzken win big in Japan
  33. ↑ GLORY 13 Results: Verhoeven, Ghita and Holzken pick up victories
  34. ↑ Glory 17 and Last Man Standing Live Results
  35. ↑ Glory's Last Man Standing Results
  36. ↑ Glory results: Artem Levin, Rico Verhoeven and Joseph Valtellini take home Glory gold
  37. ↑ http://www.liverkick.com/index.php/item/2252-liverkick-com-rankings-july-2012/2252-liverkick-com-rankings-july-2012
  38. ↑ "Castigatorii premiilor SUPERKOMBAT WGP 2011" (in Romanian). Gladiatorium. 4 December 2011.
  39. ↑ http://www.prosport.ro/articole/ghita-luptatorul-anului-2006/25907/
  40. ↑ http://forum.getfit.ro/showthread.php?4132-Gala-Premiilor-Fight.ro-2005
  41. ↑ Daniel Ghita & Gabi Cazan Special Project: "Life is Real"
  42. ↑ Video Gallery on Danielghita.ro

External links

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