Ben Spijkers

Who is Ben Spijkers?

Bernhard Hendrikus Martinus Spijkers is a retired judoka from the Netherlands, who represented his native country at three consecutive Summer Olympics. He won the bronze medal in the men's middleweight division in Seoul, South Korea, alongside Akinobu Osako from Japan.

In 1995, Spijkers tried his hand at Mixed Martial Arts competition by competing in the World Combat Championship and Shooto events.

His fight with Renzo Gracie in the opening round of the grapplers division at the high production value event World Combat Championships was his most high profile battle. Spijkers managed to win the early exchanges by neatly throwing Gracie to the floor but was quickly overpowered and upon giving up his back, he was relentlessly pounded by Gracie with elbows to the back of the neck and forced to submit at the 3 minute mark. Upon the ending of the battle Gracie stepped on the back of Spijkers head. Renzo later apologised for his unsporting actions. To cap Spijkers nightmare at the WCC, at the airport prior to his flying back to Europe, he was assaulted by an air stewardess after a disagreement and forced to defend himself. He was arraigned by local police although he was released without charge and flew back to Europe a few days later.