Jérôme Le Banner
He returned to the ring for the first time since his trilogy with Mike Bernardo on March 16, 1997 at "K-1 Kings '97" where he had the first of his four meetings with legendary Swiss Kyokushin fighter Andy Hug. Hug was the 1996 K-1 Grand Prix Champion, but Aerts was able to overwhelm him and forced the referee to stop the match in round one. He then continued to get back on track by TKOing Jean-Claude Leuyer at "K-1 Braves '97" on April 29, 1997 and KOing Jérôme Le Banner at "K-1 Dream '97" on July 20, 1997.