Murat Direkçi

Murat Direkçi is a Belgian-Turkish middleweight kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter born on 17 July 1979 in Antwerp, Belgium, to a family originally from Konya in Turkey. He began training in martial arts at fifteen and worked under Jan Gooyvaers and later Jan Pasztjerik. After becoming Belgian, European and world champion in kickboxing and Muay Thai, including the 2003 W.F.C.A. Thai-Boxing World Championship at 70 kg, he made his K-1 debut at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Amsterdam. He became It's Showtime 70MAX Champion in February 2009 by stopping Gago Drago, lost the belt to Chris Ngimbi in December 2010, announced his retirement in 2012, and later returned to fight in Glory and Enfusion.