Mixing It Up With Ernesto Hoost
Twenty one championships in a career spanning Twenty seven years is an impressive accomplishment. This becomes more impressive when you factor in that there are four very distinctly different fighting styles involved. Start with Full contact Karate add Savate, Muay Thai and Western Kickboxing. The man who we are speaking of is “Mr.Perfect” himself, Ernesto Hoost.
Being a former physical education teacher Ernesto knew that knowledge is power. Taking this to heart he learned from as many different striking arts that he could.
He learned the French style of kickboxing Savate, The style from Thailand known as Muay Thai, Western boxing and full contact Karate which is very popular in his homeland of the Netherlands.
Outside of Thailand it is not common to encounter a fighter with more than one hundred pro kickboxing matches. Ernesto has almost that many wins in pro competition. Actually he is just one shy at 99 wins. His record does reflect 22 losses.
Ernesto brought power like no one had ever seen before in kickboxing. At 6’2 238 lbs he brought thunder in both his hands and feet. If you type in his name into a search engine a few things are going to pop up. His famous feud with the Behemoth Bob Sapp and several highlight videos of his low kicks.
Looking back there is no doubt he was one of the greatest kickboxers of all time. If you look at the people he has beaten over his career it is like a top 10 list of legends in both MMA and Kickboxing. Names like Maurice Smith(twice), Mirko CroCop Filopavich ,Igor Vovanchyn are just to name a few.
What defined him as such a dominant fighter over the years was his ring generalship that was second to none. His ability to control where a fight takes place during a match is a much underrated skill.
Even in his losses Ernesto was dictating where a fight took place. Bob Sapp who was 300 lbs with abs could not keep Hoost in the corner for long.
Hoost was obviously much more technical than Sapp and showed how technical he could be when he fought another legend Semmy Shilt to a draw. Semmy is a phenom in the ring and is also known for his vicious striking, but their match proved to be the unstoppable force vs the immovable object.
Another key to his success was his punches in bunches style. Very rarely did we see a single kick or punch come from Ernesto. It was almost always a combinations.
Ernesto did not use preset combinations which is commonplace. He used good technique that would allow him to attack spontaneously. This made him unpredictable and harder to counter. Ernesto had the ability to be incredibly efficient in his movement even though he was throwing with incredible power.
Ernesto was known for his middle kicks as well. He would start with a punch combination up toward the head, then slam his shin right into his opponent’s lower ribs. Even though he lost to Bob Sapp in the K-1 Grand Prix Tournament, he was able to move on to the semi finals despite the loss. This was because Sapp had sustained several broken ribs in their fight and could not continue.
Even before his retirement Hoost has been coaching some of the best fighters in MMA. Names like Tyrone Spong, Pat Barry, Fedor Emelianenko(when he was in his prime), Ramazan Ramazanov, Joanna Jędrzejczyk (While she was the UFC Champion) to name a few.
So why do some of the best names seek out Ernesto? It is probably more than one thing, and it is also probable that the reason is different for every student.
First anyone who can last 121 pro kickboxing fights and still speak clearly is legend. Second you will not find a nicer human being on this planet that can also separate you from your consciousness with one shot than Ernesto Hoost, Last I think it is how he approaches fighting.
Take the example of throwing mid kicks in combos, like the ones that broke Bob Sapp’s ribs. Ernesto demonstrates how he approaches both combos and adding in those kicks in the video below.
Ernesto is truly the quintessential example of “Dutch Kickboxing” and he has not just created a tutorial on moves. He has laid the foundation of “How” to be a kickboxer not just with the body, but with the brain. He will be having you thinking like the Dutch fighters do. This is a stark contrast to the common Thai fighters. Thai fighters will just stand in front of each other and go at it, The Dutch take a much more practical approach.
Check out Ernesto's Dutch Kickboxing Blueprint below!