During his incredible kickboxing career, Ernesto Hoost shared the ring with some fellow combat sports icons.
The four-time K-1 champion left behind a remarkable legacy as one of the greatest of all time after competing for the last time in 2014.
Having come up against so many different styles and challenges in his career, Hoost recently gave his insight into fighting awkward opponents like Dricus du Plessis ahead of UFC 319.
While Hoost is still frustrated by his shocking losses to Bob Sapp, he also holds some truly legacy-defining victories.
Several of these wins came against a rival whom he believes was the toughest opponent he faced.
Ernesto Hoost names fellow Dutch kickboxer Peter Aerts as the toughest opponent of his career
From Bob Sapp to Mark Hunt to Mirko Cro Cop, Ernesto Hoost fought some big names that crossed over into mixed martial arts.
However, perhaps unsurprisingly, the opponent whom he believes presented him with the most difficult test was a fellow Dutch kickboxer.
Hoost collided with Peter Aerts on six occasions, with the two men going head-to-head at all different stages of their careers.
‘Mr. Perfect’ even faced off with his former rival in his last ever fight after he decided to briefly return following an eight-year hiatus.
| Ernesto Hoost vs. Peter Aerts fights | Result |
| 1 – November 1988 | Hoost via decision |
| 2 – April 1993 in K-1 | Hoost via majority decision |
| 3 – May 1995 in K-1 | Aerts via decision |
| 4 – April 1998 in K-1 | Aerts via majority decision |
| 5 – May 2006 in K-1 | Hoost via majority decision |
| 6 – October 2014 in WKO | Hoost via unanimous decision |
Despite beating Aerts on four occasions, as Hoost told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive interview, he always had to be ready for his opponent to push him to the limit.
“Yeah I think it was Peter, Peter Aerts. Because, if I was winning or losing, it was always difficult. It was never an easy fight, never easy to fight with Peter because Peter would always put pressure on me. He would always come forward and not all the fighters do that. Peter would always, even if he was losing, he would always try to come forward. So Peter was always a very difficult opponent for me.”
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Ernesto Hoost went on to build up a strong working relationship with Peter Aerts after facing him for the last time
Since retiring from fighting, Ernesto Hoost has been able to achieve success in coaching seminars, with some of them taking place alongside Peter Aerts.
The success the two men had when working alongside each other eventually led them both to the SENSHI training camp, which Hoost will return to next month.
He told Bloody Elbow the story of how he initially got involved with this, and how it wasn’t planned between them that he and Aerts would reunite under this roof.
“When I do it together with Peter, it’s like one and one makes three or something because the both of us doing a seminar will attract a lot of people. The seminar was a success and after that, many organizations and people asked us to come and do a seminar.
“They asked me, I think they asked Peter too. Then there was SENSHI. I didn’t know the name of SENSHI then. Actually we decided to do that without knowing it from each other so we met each other at the airport.”