may have only picked up a single win in the sport of MMA, but it
could not have come at a more opportune time.
At the age of 60, Wiet, a champion in multiple kickboxing and muay
thai organizations and a competitor on the second-ever Ultimate Fighting Championship event, died
after a lengthy battle with an undisclosed illness. As a
professional, Wiet’s record stood at a lone win opposite five
defeats, but that only accounts for his time as a mixed martial
artist. French outlet
Les Infos du Fight broke the news on Thursday.
Born in Suriname and trained in the ways of Dutch kickboxing
alongside legendary names like Ramon Dekkers, Bas Rutten and
Fred Royers, Wiet officially represented kickboxing at UFC 2 in
1994. Inside of the Mammoth Gardens in Denver, “The Gladiator”
picked up his sole career triumph when he beat far larger fellow
kickboxer Robert
Lucarelli so badly that his team had to throw in the towel.
This brutal win helped put European muay thai on the map of the
burgeoning MMA landscape.
Weighing around 70 pounds more than his adversary, Lucarelli
attempted to grapple with the fighter hailing at the time from
France. The smaller, slicker Wiet survived an unorthodox reverse
bulldog choke while on the ground to recover and shellack Lucarelli
with soccer kicks, knees and a torrent of destructive 12-to-6
elbows—rules at the time permitted all of these blows that were
later banned stateside.
Having advanced to the quarterfinals, Wiet was matched against the
massive Remco
Pardoel, who stood at least six inches taller while weighing
around 90 pounds heavier. The relatively diminutive Wiet was hurled
to the mat by the judoka right off the bat, and he could not get
off his back while the gi-clad Pardoel smothered him. His UFC
tournament dreams when up in smoke when Pardoel sent him to
dreamland with a finalizing barrage of devastating elbows.
Wiet returned the following year at the first United Full Contact
Federation event, where he was matched against someone his own size
in American grappler and middleweight Todd
Bjornethun. Wiet succumbed to a triangle choke after over five
minutes of action, which set the stage for the remainder of his
professional career. After a decade away—much of it spent inside of
the kickboxing ring—Wiet tried three more times in his native
Europe to pick up another victory, only for Mario
Stapel, Paul Jenkins
and Zoran
Milovic to tap him out in their respective matches.
Fast as Lightning
Given the spotty nature of recordkeeping for kickboxing and muay
thai, Wiet’s pro record remains a bit nebulous but ran upwards of
180 bouts depending on the source. At the time of his 1994 UFC
debut, announcer Rich Goins claimed his record was 54-9 with 12
knockouts, where he served as the “1993 muay thai world champion”
without designating which organization or location. He was also
said to have “dominated the world of thai boxing for seven years,
fast as lightning.”
In addition to his lengthy kickboxing career that spanned well over
a decade, Wiet competed as a boxer in 23 matches across Asia and
Europe. After four of his first five bouts coming in Yokohama and
Nagoya, Japan, the Netherlands resident returned to his native
Europe to throw down and pick up 11 wins, six of those by stoppage.
Of note, he outpointed up-and-comer Alloua Anko (11-2) in 1997 and
26-3-3 Andras Galfi the year after.
Les Infos du Fight contacted friend and fellow training partner
Gregory Tony, himself a champion-level heavyweight kickboxer from
France. Tony mourned his fallen friend, while giving thanks to
those that took care of him during his illness.
“It’s really sad, I’m really hurt because, again, it’s a departure
too soon,” Tony said, translation via Google Translate. “He gave us
his warrior spirit in the ring. He’s done some amazing things in
boxing all over the world, not to mention the UFC. He was someone
who gave so much to others, as a coach. When Orlando fought, the
crowd moved in en masse to see this formidable boxer. I would like
to thank Chayem
Arezki, who has been taking care of Orlando for more than two
months, giving him all the care he needed, shaving, feeding him,
keeping him company and most of all letting everyone know about the
situation. A big thank you to him.”