first round which he lost with one of the judges. He won the fight by unanimous decision (49–46, 50–45, 50–45). For his fifth consecutive title defense, Verhoeven was to face the Brazilian Anderson Braddock Silva at Glory 33: New Jersey. Verhoeven began the fight with several leg kicks, which he would keep throwing for the duration of the bout, landing 16 kicks from 22 attempts in the first round alone. Early in the second round, he knocked Silva down with an inside right leg kick. After 40 seconds in the second round, Verhoeven once again knocked Silva down, this time with a left leg head kick. He would knock Silva down for the third time with five seconds left in the second round, forcing the referee to wave the fight off. Verhoeven vs. Hari The 10 December 2016 bout against former world champion Badr Hari at GLORY Collision in Oberhausen, Germany, was considered a watershed moment for Verhoeven's career, with Hari being a very entertaining, albeit controversial fighter, who had been a dominant force in the kickboxing community, while also being taller (1.98 to 1.96 m) with a reach advantage over Verhoeven. Competing for the first time in over a year, Hari promised he would knock out Verhoeven in the first round. Intending to keep his promise, Hari came out aggressively in the first round, opening a cut on Verhoeven's nose early in the fight. Hari won the first round. The GLORY heavyweight champion returned more aggressive in the second round, but the fight ended by an injury at Hari's arm after which he couldn't continue the fight. Verhoeven scored the 50th victory of his kickboxing career with a TKO. After defeating Hari, Glory was unable to find an appropriate opponent for Verhoeven, and so arranged for him to fight the reigning Enfusion Super Heavyweight champion Ismael Lazaar in a non-title fight at Glory 41: Holland. Verhoeven dominated the fight, with Lazaar being unable to cover the distance, being six inches shorter than the champion. He won the fight by unanimous decision. Lazaar would later fail a doping test and was suspended for four years. Glory would once again book Verhoeven in a non-title match against Antônio Silva, in what the website Bloody Elbow called a "gross mismatch". Silva was given a 35-1 odds to win. Verhoeven abandoned his usual strategy of outfighting, unleashing several combinations on the MMA fighter.