Former GLORY welterweight champion missing in the Netherlands

Six days ago, Marc de Bonte was supposed to meet his girlfriend in Best, Netherlands but never showed up. Matters took a turn for…

By: Karim Zidan | 7 years ago
Former GLORY welterweight champion missing in the Netherlands
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Six days ago, Marc de Bonte was supposed to meet his girlfriend in Best, Netherlands but never showed up. Matters took a turn for the worse when de Bonte’s car was discovered the following day, a black Renault Clio abandoned on a random road.

The former GLORY welterweight champion had gone missing without a trace.

Once it became clear that the 26-year-old fighter could be in danger, police initiated a search of the city, including by helicopter.

According to reports, De Bonte was driving from his native Belgium to see his girlfriend when he disappeared. He was last seen at his gym in Turnhout, Belgium, where he left around midnight to begin the drive to the Netherlands.

Heeft iemand marc nog gezien of gesproken vandaag/ vannacht? Hij zou vannacht vanit bladel naar turnhout en daarna naar…

Posted by Marly de Laat on Saturday, November 5, 2016

Following a loss to Canada’s Joseph Valtellini in 2014, De Bonte left kickboxing to try his hand at boxing. He returned to kickboxing recently for the Kunlun Fights 80kg tournament, and defeated Artur Gorlov by TKO in September.

De Bonte’s family, who conducted a search on Wednesday with other members of the community, has begun to fear the worst.

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About the author
Karim Zidan
Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.

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