a slow first round, Bernardo turned the fight into a brawl in the second. The referee gave Aerts a count in round two, and in round three Bernardo knocked Aerts out with a right hook. Bernardo had broken Aerts' nineteen-fight winning run, and became the first man to beat him in since Ernesto Hoost in 1993. Aerts was given the chance to avenge this loss at K-1 Revenge '96 four months later, on September 1, 1996, when the rubber match was made between the pair. Anticipation was high, but the fight was an anticlimax. In the first round, Aerts caught Bernardo with an inadvertent low blow. When Bernardo was unable to continue, Aerts was disqualified. This settled nothing of course, and K-1 quickly booked the rematch to the rematch, this time for October 16 and K-1 Star Wars '96. Aerts knocked Bernardo down in round one and continued to hurt him with low kicks throughout the fight. In round two, the referee gave Aerts a standing eight count but he contested this as he simply stumbled after throwing a kick. By the third round, Aerts had started to take a beating and Bernardo KO'd him with a right hook towards the end of the round. After going undefeated in almost twenty fights over three years, Aerts had now lost three times in-a-row, all to Mike Bernardo. In 1997, Aerts broke his working relationship with Thom Harinck and the Chakuriki Gym and went to train under former opponent Andre Mannaart at the Mejiro Gym. He returned to the ring for the first time since his trilogy with Mike Bernardo on March 16, 1997, at K-1 Kings '97 where he had the first of his four meetings with legendary Swiss Kyokushin fighter Andy Hug. Hug was the 1996 K-1 Grand Prix Champion, but Aerts was able to overwhelm him and forced the referee to stop the match in round one. He then continued to get back on track by TKOing Jean-Claude Leuyer at K-1 Braves '97 on April 29, 1997, and KOing Jérôme Le Banner at K-1 Dream '97 on July 20, 1997. He qualified for the 1997 K-1 GP when he beat James Warring at the K-1 Grand Prix '97 1st Round on September 7, 1997. At the beginning of the fight, Warring pretended that he wanted to sportsmanly touch gloves with Aerts and then attempted to sneakily punch him with