Chris Ngimbi

Chris "The African Warrior" Ngimbi (born 18 April 1984 in Kinshasa) is a Congolese-Dutch Muay Thai kickboxer fighting out of Ngimbi Sports Academy in Pelt, Belgium.

After fighting on the local scene for several years, Ngimbi was invited as a member of a Dutch team that would participate in a W.K.A. event in New York City. Due to an impressive knockout of his opponent he would be invited back to the states the following year to contest against Atlanta based Thai Khunpon Dechkampu for the W.K.A. intercontinental title, in what would be the first of a number of title fights on American soil. Ngimbi was successful on his return visit to the United States, winning the belt via KO and as winner of the intercontinental belt Ngimbi would get a shot at the W.K.A. world title in 2007, losing to Shane Campbell in their first match in Richmond, only to win the rematch six months later to claim his first world title.

In between trips across the Atlantic Ngimbi would have a number of fights in the Netherlands, defeating useful fighters such as Ray Staring, Kit Sitpholek and William Diender – the latter in the K-1 MAX Netherlands 2008 tournament in which he made the semi-finals only to lose to eventual winner Warren Stevelmans (who he had beaten back in 2006). He also made his debut with the It's Showtime organization defeating English fighter Rick Barnhill in Alkmaar. In February 2009 Ngimbi had another attempt to qualify for the K-1 MAX via a regional event in Utrecht but lost at the quarter-final stage to Marco Piqué. This decision was modified after protest from Ngimbi's corner. In May 2009 after the fight against Schneidmiller in the Amsterdam Arena he left the Calmaro gym to join Siam Gym in Valkenswaard. The switch had led to victories against fighters as Chahid Oulad el Hadj and Hafid el Boustati.

In 2010, Ngimbi's record with the It's Showtime organization (4 wins, 2 losses) led to the organization inviting him to challenge two-time It's Showtime champion Murat Direkçi for his world title belt in Athens at the end of the year. As the underdog, few expected the African Warrior to triumph but he pulled off a fifth round upset decision win against Direkçi to become the new It's Showtime 70MAX world champion. Ngimbi retained his It's Showtime 70MAX world title at the It's Showtime 2011 Lyon event, outclassing local fighter Willy Borrel on way to a trademark flying knee KO victory.

In December 2011, Ngimbi shocked the kickboxing world when he stated that he would make one more defence of his belt, against Andy Souwer in June 2012, and then retire. He lost the fight, but came back to his decision to retire so he could participate in the K-1 World Max.

He was stopped by Artur Kyshenko in round two at the quarter-finals of the K-1 World MAX 2012 World Championship Tournament Final in Athens, Greece on December 15, 2012.

Ngimbi Took a break from kickboxing in 2013 and came back stronger in 2014 fighting for the biggest organisations in Asia like Kunlun Fight, W5 Professional Kickboxing and the current number 1 biggest media property in martial arts, ONE Championship. Besides he will go on to conquer one more belt in 2016 to become the SUPERKOMBAT Fighting Championship World Champion.

As of 2017 Ngimbi moved to Belgium where he opened the gym Ngimbi Sports Academy in 2019 and is preparing the next generation kickboxers for the big stage.

Titles and accomplishments SUPERKOMBAT Fighting Championship 2016 SUPERKOMBAT Middleweight Champion -72.5 kg. W5 Professional Kickboxing 2015 W5 XXXI Tournament Runner-up -71 kg 2015 W5 XXX Tournament Champion -71 kg It's Showtime 2011 It's Showtime 70MAX world champion -70 kg (2nd title defence) 2010 It's Showtime 70MAX world champion -70 kg World Kickboxing Association 2007 W.K.A. Muay Thai super welterweight world champion -70 kg 2005 W.K.A. Muay Thai super welterweight intercontinental champion -70 kg

Kickboxing record