Who would have thought that a couple of former video game nerds would challenge each other in a sport that involves physical contact? Bertrand “ElkY” Grospellier and Lex Veldhuis are currently working on the details regarding their kickboxing match against one another that will happen before the WSOP. These two dweebs have been friends ever since they were on the StarCraft circuit several years ago. If you’re unfamiliar with StarCraft, it’s a military science fiction game that’s somewhat like World of Warcraft – not that I know anything about that J
Getting back to the kickboxing match, these two aren’t fighting over anything serious; it’s just a prop bet that Veldhuis made public when he tweeted, “I’m fighting ElkY in Las Vegas this summer. Last week of May right before WSOP probably. This all because of a side bet!”
Veldhuis is expected to win this kickboxing match because he’s already been training in the sport. In fact, there was even a post on the TwoPlusTwo forums from a Dutch guy that says, “I’ll take Lex for sure. Don’t know about ElkY, but I know Lex has been training for a long time in one of the best gyms in the Netherlands. And we have a lot of those here!”
Veldhuis wins my vote as well only because skinny, pale French boys like Grospellier aren’t typically known for their kickboxing exploits. Maybe ElkY will have more of a chance now that he is visiting the gym more often, but I doubt it.
This isn’t the first martial arts prop bet made between poker players, but it’s the first kickboxing matchup we’ve seen. Theo Jorgensen defeated Gus Hansen in a boxing match that took place before the Scandinavian Poker Open. Liv Boeree also beat up on poker reporter Melissa Castro in a boxing match for charity.