Andrei Stoica


Andrei Cătălin Stoica is a Romanian kickboxer competing in the Light Heavyweight division of the ONE Championship. He was the first to hold the SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Championship and held the SUPERKOMBAT record for most consecutive title defenses. Andrei Stoica was the No. 5 ranked light heavyweight in the world during his reign as the SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Champion. Stoica is also a three-time wushu national champion and European wushu champion.
While perhaps best known for competing in the Superkombat Fighting Championship, he has also competed for K-1, Glory, LEGEND, DYNAMITE and ONE.

Background

The son of a former boxer, Stoica started training judo at age 11 before switching to wushu and kickboxing at age 17.

Kickboxing career

SUPERKOMBAT Fighting Championship

In November 2010, the SUPERKOMBAT announced that they had signed Andrei Stoica and his younger brother Bogdan to compete in the promotion. Its chairman, Eduard Irimia, felt that the Respect Gym brothers have the potential to become top class fighters.
On February 25, Stoica faced Redouan Cairo in a rematch at the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix I 2012 in Podgorica, Montenegro. Originally, it was announced that Stoica defeated Cairo via decision after 3 rounds. However, SK officials overturned the decision to a no contest as the judges actually scored the bout a majority draw. Stoica had also caused controversy by inadvertently referring to Cairo as "the nigger" in his post-fight interview. Stoica himself apologized for the mistake, blaming his poor command of English.
He next faced Toni Milanović at the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix IV 2012 on October 20 in Arad, Romania and defeated the Croatian via split decision.
Stoica was scheduled to face Zabit Samedov for the inaugural SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Championship at the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2012 Final in Bucharest, Romania on December 22. However, Samedov took ill in the build-up to the fight and replaced by the lower-ranked Arnold Oborotov and so the bout was changed to a title eliminator with the winner facing Samedov. Stoica produced another emotionally-charged performance and knocked Oborotov out in the first round.

K-1

He lost to Agron Preteni via unanimous decision in a non-tournament bout at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 Final in Zagreb, Croatia on March 15, 2013. The fight was all Stoica, until Preteni dropped him with a left hook early in the second round which earned an eight count and really turned the tide of the fight. Mladen Krajnčec, one of the judges said that this was hardest fight to judge and that K-1 rules clearly state that the one who is in a knockdown loses the fight.
He scored a second-round knockout of Zinedine Hameur-Lain at SUPERKOMBAT New Heroes 5 in Târgoviște, Romania on August 30, 2013.
He KOed Dženan Poturak in round two at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III 2013 in Botoșani, Romania on September 28.

LEGEND

He rematched Agron Preteni at Legend 2: Invasion in Moscow, Russia on November 9, 2013, in a reserve bout of Legend Fighting Show -95 kg tournament. Preteni took majority judges decision in a close fight with lots of strong kicks and punches which did not make lots of damage.

SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Champion (2013-Present)

He defeated Ondřej Hutník by unanimous decision to win the vacant SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Championship at the SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2013 Final in Galați, Romania on December 21.

GLORY

Stoica was knocked out by Danyo Ilunga in the tournament reserve bout at in Istanbul, Turkey on April 12, 2014. The two had spirited exchanges in the first round. Ilunga was consistent with his piercing knees to Stoica, who countered them well with his right hand. Both men were successful and landed hard shots before Stoica thought that he had an advantage on a particular combination but just grazed Ilunga with a hook instead of landing clean. This allowed Ilunga to get underneath it and come back with a huge counter right hand that floored and took Stoica out, who didn't have his feet beneath him to answer the ten count. Prior to the fight, he and Benjamin Adegbuyi spent time as sparring partners of Alexander Gustafsson at the Allstars Training Center in Stockholm, Sweden.
He was expected to make the first defence of his SUPERKOMBAT Super Cruiserweight Championship against Boy Boy Martin at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III 2014 in Constanța, Romania on June 21, 2014. Martin withdrew for undisclosed reasons, however, and was replaced by Ali Cenik. Stoica defeated Cenik via unanimous decision to retain the title.
He was scheduled to face Artem Vakhitov in a superfight at the on 3 April 2015 but pulled out for unknown reasons.
Stoica had his second title defense against Moisés Baute on October 25, 2014, at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2014 Final Elimination, where he won via KO in the third round. The win also earned him 2014 Fight of the Year and 2014 Knockout of The Year awards.
Stoica next faced Emilio Vallecillo on November 22, 2014, at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2014 Final, Stoica won via TKO in the first round.
Stoica faced Marcello Adriaansz on March 7, 2015, at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix I 2015 and won via unanimous decision.
Stoica fought Thomas Alizier on May 23, 2015, in his hometown, at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix II 2015, winning the bout by knockout the second round.
Stoica faced Abdarhmane Coulibaly on July 19, 2015, at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix III 2015 in another non-title bout. Stoica won via unanimous decision.
On August 1, 2015, at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix IV 2015 Stoica defended his title by defeating Fred Sikking by first-round KO. He scored with a left that ended the bout in one minute and fifteen seconds. After the win Stoica stated "I told you before. This belt it's mine. Sikking came out aggressive, he threw some shots, but he had no chance."
A superfight against Pavel Voronin took place for October 2, 2015, at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2015 Final Elimination. In the first round Stoica looked to work the head and body with punches while mixing in the occasional kick, Voronin looked to attack Stoica's lead leg with kicks. Stoica took over in the second round as his boxing was too fast and accurate for Voronin. In the third round Stoica connected with a knee to the body that forced Voronin to take a knee. He recovered to make it to the end of the bout, but Stoica took home a clear unanimous decision winning his eight consecutive fight.
Stoica is expected to defend his title against Jorge Loren at SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix 2015 Final.

ONE Championship

On March 9, 2019, Andrei Stoica made his ONE debut against former SUPERKOMBAT World Grand Prix Champion Tarik Khbabez at. However, he was overpowered by the Dutch-Moroccan during the fight. Stoica went on to lose by unanimous decision.
Stoica made his return on April 12, 2019, at, facing Ibrahim El Bouni. He went on to win by unanimous decision.
On December 6, 2019, Andrei Stoica next faced Anderson Silva at in a match that had world title implications. Stoica quickly finished Silva, knocking the Brazilian out at 1:58 of the first round. After the fight, Stoica expressed interest in challenging Roman Kryklia for the ONE Kickboxing Light Heavyweight World Championship. The two have been scheduled to fight for the title at ONE Infinity 1.

Championships and accomplishments

Kickboxing

Mixed martial arts record

Personal life

He is married, and has two sons and a daughter. Andrei Stoica is an Orthodox Christian, often wearing a cross around his neck.