the fight with a swollen face, Aerts won a brilliantly fought decision. However, he had taken a lot of damage in the fight with Schilt and started to cough up blood in his changing room after the fight. He was overwhelmed by a less damaged and much fitter and bigger Alistair Overeem and lost by first-round TKO. Though he was defeated, he broke three world records in K-1: He became the oldest man (at 40 years old) to ever make it to the K-1 World Grand Prix Final, he marked the most appearances (6) that any fighter had ever made it to the Final, and also became the first person to ever beat Semmy Schilt in a tournament. Aerts was expected to face Melvin Manhoef at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2011 in Nanjing Final 16 on 29 October 2011. However, the event was cancelled with K-1 experiencing severe financial problems. With his December schedule clear for the first time in 18 years, he defeated Japanese fighter Mr. Kamikaze by first-round TKO on a show titled Hinokuni Kakuto Densetsu Legend 2 on December 11, 2011. 2012–present: Semi-retirement and sporadic appearances His next fight was a TKO loss against Tyrone Spong at an It's Showtime event on 30 June 2012 in Brussels, Belgium. After that fight, Aerts signed a contract to compete exclusively for at least the next two years with GLORY, a newly formed kickboxing league which numerous top champions joined following the demise of K-1. He competed in the sixteen-man 2012 Glory Heavyweight Grand Slam at Glory 4: Tokyo - 2012 Heavyweight Grand Slam in Saitama, Japan on 31 December 2012 but injury forced him to bow out of the tournament at the first stage. He performed well in round one of his bout with his one-time student Mourad Bouzidi but broke his right hand in the process and was unable to come out for the second round. He fought Jamal Ben Saddik at Glory 8: Tokyo on 3 May 2013 at the Ariake Coliseum. A poor start to the fight for Aerts saw him dropped early and he was fortunate to survive the first round. However, in a dramatic turnaround in the second, he came out aggressive and floored the giant Moroccan three times, forcing a referee stoppage. In what was publicized as his retirement match, Aerts lost a tightly contested split decision to Rico Verhoeven at Glory