Tyrone Spong was born in Suriname. In 1990 at the age of five, he moved to the Netherlands with his family. Growing up in the Bijlmermeer neighborhood of Amsterdam, he was often involved in street fighting and began training in kickboxing at the age of thirteen, under the guidance of Lucien Carbin. After getting his "ass whooped" in his first day of training, he was motivated to improve. He had his first match at fifteen and won by first-round knockout.[1] Some of his early sparring partners included Alistair and Valentijn Overeem, and Gilbert Yvel.[2]
Kickboxing career
In 2003, his first year as a professional, Spong won 12 fights. In 2004, he fought Rafi Zouheir at the Battle of Zaandam, winning his first European Muay Thai Title (World Kickboxing Network). In 2004, Spong visited Japan to compete in Shootboxing, losing to Ryuji Goto via unanimous decision. His next fight, in April 2005, was against Belgian Mohammed Ouali for another European Title (WPKL). Spong won the fight by unanimous decision.
In December 2005, at the A-1 Combat Cup in Duisburg, Spong won his first tournament Championship after winning three consecutive fights by knockout.
In 2006, Spong had two significant victories, knockout wins over Muay Thai veteran Joerie Mes and, two weeks later, K-1 fighter Kaoklai Kaennorsing, from Thailand.
In 2007, Spong won the SLAMM world title up to 79 kg by defeating the Thai Yodchai Wor Petchpun via first-round TKO. In the following match, he defeated the Belarusian Dmitry Shakuta.
On 26 January 2008 Spong won the World Full Contact Association (WFCA) World Thaiboxing Cruiserweight Championship by defeating Aurelien Duarte. Following this, he won the KO World Series 2008 by defeating Nikos Sokolis via knockout in the first round, and defended his WFCA Muay Thai title by finishing Ondrej Hutnik with a left liver punch in the second round. On 26 April 2008 Spong faced Azem Maksutaj at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2008 in Amsterdam, winning by knockout in the second round. He then defeated Gary Turner via TKO in the first round. On 29 November 2008 he became the inaugural It's Showtime 95MAX World champion after beating Zabit Samedov by unanimous decision.
On 28 March 2009 Spong participated in the first K-1 Heavyweight (−100 kg) Title tournament, held in Yokohama, Japan. He was beaten in the semifinals by Gokhan Saki, who won by KO in the extra round.[3]
Spong met Nathan Corbett at Champions of Champions II on 27 June 2009, in what was widely considered a battle between the two best Muay Thai fighters in the world at their weight class, for the W.M.C. world title −93 kg. The fight was close, with Spong knocking Corbett down in the second round, and ended with a controversial decision. In the third round, Corbett knocked Spong out with a right hook causing the referee to stop the fight. However, due to the referee's misleading hand signals, Corbett rushed back in and knock Spong down once more, not sure that the fight had been stopped. After considerable confusion, the fight was declared a no contest.
After defeating the Worlds heavyweight champion, Kyotaro, on 5 December 2009, Spong fought Jerome Le Banner in April 2010. Similarly to the Corbett fight, Spong broke his right hand in the first round and was knocked down. Despite coming back strongly, he lost by decision. At the end of the year, he qualified for the K-1 World Grand Prix 2010 Final, defeating veteran Ray Sefo in an elimination match, only to lose to eventual winner Alistair Overeem at the quarter final stage in what was a more competitive fight than most had predicted, as Overeem was much the bigger fighter. At the start of 2011, Spong had to vacate the It's Showtime 95MAX world title due to a number of issues, such as not having had a title defense in the allocated two years and his management stating that he had moved up in weight to fight as a heavyweight.[4]
Spong knocked out Igor Mihaljevic with a left knee in the first round at It's Showtime 2011 Lyon on 14 May 2011. He defeated Loren Javier Jorge by unanimous decision at It's Showtime Madrid 2011 on 18 June 2011.
Spong faced Melvin Manhoef at It's Showtime 2012 in Leeuwarden on 28 January 2012 and won by unanimous decision. He faced the legendary Dutchman Peter Aerts at an It's Showtime event in Brussels, Belgium, on 30 June 2012 and won by knockout in the third round.
Spong returned to 95 kg to fight in the Glory 9: New York - 2013 95kg Slam in New York City, New York, United States on 22 June 2013.[12][13] He had a scare in the quarter-finals when he was dropped by Michael Duut soon after the bout started, although it was not counted by the referee. Just moments after returning to his feet, Spong landed a crushing right hand on Duut, knocking Duut out and ensuring Spong's passage to the semifinals against Filip Verlinden.[14] The Verlinden match was a technical battle, with Spong outpointing the Belgian and taking a unanimous decision. A match with Danyo Ilunga awaited him in the final but it ended in a controversial and anticlimactic fashion. As the fight began, both fighters met in the center of the ring and Spong unloaded a flurry of punches. As Ilunga covered up and prepared to counter, referee Mufadel Elghazaoui jumped in and stopped the fight, giving Spong the TKO win at just sixteen seconds of the first round.[15][16][17] Although, it was later revealed that there was a "no standing eight count" rule in effect at the event as per the New York State Athletic Commission's regulations, the stoppage was still deemed premature by much of the kickboxing community.[18][19]
Spong underwent surgery to repair his broken leg and returned to training in October 2014.[28] On 14 April 2016 he announced that he had retired from kickboxing and was looking forward to new challenges.
Mixed martial arts career
World Series of Fighting
Spong made his highly anticipated MMA debut against Travis Bartlett at World Series of Fighting 1 on 3 November 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the light heavyweight (205 lb) division. For his MMA debut he trained with the Blackzilians for over a year with such fighters as K-1 World Grand Prix winner and former Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem and former UFC light heavyweight champions Rashad Evans and Vitor Belfort.[29] Spong knocked out Bartlett at 3:15 of the first round with a straight right.
Spong faced Angel DeAnda at World Series of Fighting 4 on 10 August 2013 in the main event.[30] Spong won via unanimous decision.
Eagle Fighting Championship
Spong was scheduled to face Bigfoot Silva on 28 January 2022 at EFC 44.[31] However, Silva pulled out of the bout and was replaced by Sergei Kharitonov.[32] Spong lost the fight by technical knockout in the second round.[33]
Boxing career
Spong decided to begin a career in professional boxing at age 29. His first boxing match was on 6 March 2015, beating Gabor Farkas by KO in the first round. Spong defeated Juan Carlos Salas by KO in Round 1 at Brave Warriors in Action PPV event on 27 May 2017 in Mexico.[34] On 7 October 2017 Spong won the WBC Latino Heavyweight Championship.
Spong vs. Silgado
On 31 August 2018 Spong defeated Santander Silago via KO in the first round.[35]
Spong vs. Perea
In his next fight, Spong defeated Ytalo Perea via split decision. The scorecards read 97–93, 96–94 and 94–96 in favor of Spong.[36]
Spong vs. Minda
His following bout came against Jeyson Minda. Spong ended the bout early via a second-round KO.[37]
Spong was due to face Oleksandr Usyk on 12 October 2019 but the bout was called off after Spong tested positive for the banned substance clomifene.[38] However, his third sample, which was tested by VADA, came back negative.[39]
Spong has four children.[42] He is an avid animal enthusiast, as is evidenced by the majority of his tattoos. He is the owner of several pit bull terriers, which he bred himself.[43] Spong has trained in the United States with Floyd Mayweather Sr.[44] He has also been decorated with the Honorary Order of the Yellow Star the highest order of Suriname by President Dési Bouterse.[45]
