Heavyweight kickboxer Jamal Ben Saddik was sentenced to four years in prison on December 9, 2025, by an Antwerp criminal court for his leadership role in the kidnapping of a dockworker. The court found the 34-year-old fighter to be the “driving force” behind the July 2024 abduction, which prosecutors linked to a failed drug extraction operation at the Port of Antwerp. This verdict marks the second major criminal conviction for the GLORY heavyweight in less than six months, following a money laundering sentence handed down in June.
Jamal Ben Saddik’s Team Responds to Four-Year Sentence, Claims “Framing” in Kidnapping Case
Ben Saddik’s legal team immediately rejected the ruling, announcing plans to appeal the decision. In a statement released shortly after the verdict, with Vechtsportinfo, the kickboxer expressed disbelief at the outcome, describing the conviction as a miscarriage of justice based on insufficient proof.
“I am extremely shocked and disappointed by the court’s ruling,” Ben Saddik stated through his spokesperson. “I have been convicted on the basis of a single statement without any supporting evidence. I am innocent and am being framed in a way that does not reflect who I am.” His defense attorney argues that the court’s assessment of Ben Saddik as the leader of the operation is “completely unjustified” and relies too heavily on the testimony of the victim without corroborating forensic evidence.
The charges stem from an incident on July 1, 2024, involving a dockworker who had allegedly accepted an advance payment to retrieve a cocaine shipment but failed to complete the task. The court determined that Ben Saddik and two accomplices assaulted the man on the street before forcing him into a vehicle at gunpoint. During the abduction, the victim was reportedly threatened and told to cooperate while his home was searched by other members of the group. The kidnapping ended only after the victim’s sister contacted the police, prompting his release. The court sentenced the victim’s uncle, who phoned the dockworker during the abduction to urge compliance, to 30 months in prison.
This sentencing adds to a compounding series of legal struggles for the Belgian-Moroccan fighter. In June 2025, the Antwerp Court of Appeal sentenced Ben Saddik to 40 months in prison (20 months suspended) for money laundering and fraud involving over €1.2 million. That case, which also implicated his brother, involved the use of falsified employment contracts and real estate transactions to obscure criminal funds. Additionally, Ben Saddik was previously detained in 2021 during “Operation Sky,” a major police investigation into the sale of encrypted cryptographic phones to criminal organizations.
The conviction places Ben Saddik’s professional future in severe jeopardy at a time when the heavyweight division is undergoing significant changes. GLORY Kickboxing had already suspended him in May 2024 following an altercation in the ring, and his repeated legal issues, including doping violations in 2015 and 2022, have likely permanently severed his standing with the promotion.
