Author: Michael Stets

“The Octopus” remains undefeated after picking up his tenth career victory.

Tom Breese (10-0) defeated Keita Nakamura (31-7-2 1NC) by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 84 earlier tonight (Sat. Feb. 27, 2016) inside The O2 Arena in London, England.

Two judges scored the bout 30-27. The other judges scored it 29-28.

Nakamura went in on a body lock and landed a takedown a little over one minute into the opening round. The 31-year-old Japanese veteran transitioned into mount with ease, but Breese escaped and threatened with a leg lock. “The Octopus” pressed Nakamura against the fence and threw a couple of punches to the body before Nakamura circled out. K-Taro landed a nice combination and went in for a takedown, but Breese easily defended it toward the end of the round.

In the second, Breese, 24, came forward and threw a pair of punches to get inside the clinch. Nakamura then worked an inside trip, then an outside to score the takedown. Once again, Nakamura transitioned into mount and Breese escaped an attacked with a leg lock. Breese ended up in half guard after a brief scramble and began to work to pass. Breese landed a few strikes, but nothing significant. However he was completely controlling Nakamura. Nakamura recovered to full guard, but Breese made him pay with some nasty strikes from up top. Nakamura attacked with an omniplata, but Breese escaped it. The round ended with Nakamura in side control.

Nakamura worked for a takedown in the third round, but Breese defended it and landed a few elbows with his back against the fence. Nakamura got the takedown evenutally, but Breese attacked with a leg lock when the two hit the mat. Nakamura ended up in favorable position, but Breese pushed him over and tried for inverted triangle, and landed several clean punches, but Nakamura survived

A solid victory for the Tristar Gym-trained fighter, who went to the judges for the first time in his career. Breese is very young, but it looks like he has a very high ceiling. He is now 3-0 in the UFC.

Nakamura drops to 1-1 in UFC competition.

For complete UFC Fight Night 84 “Silva vs. Bisping” results, including play-by-play updates, click here.

GLORY and ESPN have come to an agreement on a multi-year deal, the world’s leading kickboxing promotion announced Friday night (Feb. 26, 2016) during their GLORY 27 Superfight Series.

GLORY reached a deal with ESPN back in November of 2015, and has since broadcast GLORY 25, GLORY 26 and also tonight’s GLORY 27 fight card on ESPN platforms.

The multi-year agreement begins tonight with GLORY 27, which will air live on ESPN3 at 10 p.m. ET and replay on Sunday night (Feb. 28, 2016) at 9 p.m. ET and again on Monday, March 7, 2016 on ESPN Deportes at 9 pm. ET.

“Working with the team at ESPN has been an absolute pleasure,” said GLORY CEO Jon J. Franklin. “We’re two, after tonight three, events into this relationship and excited that GLORY is part of ESPN’s sports portfolio. There’s no better television home in the United States for the GLORY numbered series.”

“There was certainly a phase where they wanted to see how it looked, how the production went, how the delivery went,” Franklin told MMAmania.com. “They hadn’t had kickboxing on in a long time and they haven’t had MMA on ever.”

ESPN3 may have the live feed for the main GLORY cards right now, but Franklin said that will be changing in the future.

“The plan going forward is for the U.S. events to be live on ESPN2 and 3,” he said. “The future foreign events will be more like we are doing here live on ESPN3 live.

“This agreement allows us to continue serving this passionate fan base,” said Matthew Volk, Director, ESPN Programming and Acquisitions. “We look forward to continuing our relationship with GLORY to provide their content throughout the U.S.”

GLORY kickboxing sets up shop at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill. later tonight (Fri., Feb. 26, 2016) for GLORY 27, the promotion’s first fight card of 2016.

The five-fight main card kicks off live on ESPN3 at 10 p.m. EST / 7 p.m. PST, with a replay on ESPN2 in primetime on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 9 p.m. EST / 6 p.m. PST.

GLORY 27 will be headlined by a Middleweight title fight between current champion, Artem “The Lion” Levin (50-4-2), and No. 3-ranked contender Simon “Bad Bwoy” Marcus (42-2-2).

There will also be a one-night four-man middleweight “Contender” tournament. In the semi-finals Wayne Barrett (5-4) will take on Robert Thomas (8-3) and Dustin Jacoby (7-6) will face Karl Roberson (2-1).

The GLORY 27 “Superfight Series” will stream live online via UFC Fight Pass, starting at 7:30 p.m. EST / 4:30 p.m. PST. That card will be headlined by a Middleweight bout between No.1-ranked Joe Schilling (20-6) and the No. 9-ranked Mike Lemaire (14-2).

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE fight coverage of GLORY 27’s “Superfight Series” that begins online at 7:30 p.m this evening.

MMAmania.com will also deliver live coverage of the ESPN3 (ESPN3.com) main card, which begins at 10 p.m. ET.

GLORY 27 Quick Results

Artem Levin vs. Simon Marcus

Tournament Final TBA

Giga Chikadze vs. Kevin VanNostrand

Wayne Barrett vs. Robert Thomas

Dustin Jacoby vs. Karl Roberson

GLORY 27 Superfight Series Quick Results

Joe Schilling vs. Mike Lemaire

Anderson Silva vs. Maurice Greene

Demoreo Dennis vs. Guto Inocente

Richard Abraham vs. Pawel Jedrzejczyk

Casey Greene vs. Daniel Morales

GLORY 27 Play-by-Play ESPN3 Results:

Artem Levin vs. Simon Marcus:

RD1

RD2

RD3

RD4

RD5

Final result:

Tournament Final TBA:

RD1

RD2

RD3

Final result:

Giga Chikadze vs. Kevin VanNostrand

RD1

RD2

RD3

Final result:

Tournament Semifinal: Wayne Barrett vs. Robert Thomas

RD1

RD2

RD3

Final result:

Tournament Semifinal: Dustin Jacoby vs. Karl Roberson

RD1

RD2

RD3

Final result:

GLORY 27 Superfight Series Play-by-Play results:

Joe Schilling vs. Mike Lemaire

RD1

RD2

RD3

Final result:

Anderson Silva vs. Maurice Greene

RD1

RD2

RD3

Final result:

Demoreo Dennis vs. Guto Inocente

RD1

RD2

RD3

Final result:

Richard Abraham vs. Pawel Jedrzejczyk

RD1

RD2

RD3

Final result:

Casey Greene vs. Daniel Morales

Earlier today, (Thurs., Feb. 26, 2016) GLORY hosted the weigh-ins for GLORY 27 and its “Superfight Series.”

The five-fight card for GLORY 27 kicks off live on ESPN3, tomorrow at 10 p.m. EST / 7 p.m. PST, with a replay on ESPN2 in primetime on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 9 p.m. EST / 6 p.m. PST. The event takes place at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

GLORY 27 will be headlined by a Middleweight title fight between current champion, Artem “The Lion” Levin (50-4-2), and No. 3-ranked contender Simon “Bad Bwoy” Marcus (42-2-2).

The GLORY 27 “Superfight Series” will stream live online via UFC Fight Pass, starting at 7:30 p.m. EST / 4:30 p.m. PST. That card will be headlined by a Middleweight bout between No.1-ranked Joe Schilling (20-6) and the No. 9-ranked Mike Lemaire (14-2).

Full results of today’s weigh-ins below:

GLORY 27 CHICAGO WEIGH-IN RESULTS

Middleweight Title Headline Bout:
Artem Levin (186 lb / 84.4 kg) vs. Simon Marcus (185 lb / 83.9 kg)
Featherweight Co-Headline Bout:
Giga Chikadze (144 lb / 65.3 kg) vs. Kevin VanNostrand (143 lb / 64.9 kg)
Middleweight Contender Tournament Bout:
Dustin Jacoby (187 lb / 84.8 kg) vs. Karl Roberson (188 lb / 85.3 kg)
Middleweight Contender Tournament Bout :
Wayne Barrett (186 lb / 84.4 kg) vs. Robert Thomas (186 lb / 84.4 kg)

GLORY SUPERFIGHT SERIES CHICAGO WEIGH-IN RESULTS

Middleweight Headline Bout:
Joe Schilling (188 lb / 85.3 kg) vs. Mike Lemaire (188 lb / 85.3 kg)
Heavyweight Co-Headline Bout:
Anderson Silva (246 lb / 111.6 kg) vs. Maurice Greene (250 lb / 113.4 kg)
Heavyweight Bout:
Demoreo Dennis (245 lb / 111.1 kg) vs. Guto Inocente (244 lb / 110.7 kg)
Welterweight Bout:
Richard Abraham (171 lb / 77.6 kg) vs. Pawel Jedrzejczyk (168 lb / 76.2 kg)
Welterweight Bout:
Casey Greene (170 lb / 77.1 kg) vs. Daniel Morales (170 lb / 77.1 kg)

GLORY makes its stateside return on Friday night (Feb. 26, 2016) with GLORY 27 at Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill., the kickboxing promotion’s first offering of the new year.

The card will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between current champ, Artem “The Lion” Levin (50-4-2) and the No. 2-ranked contender, Simon “Bad Bwoy” Marcus (42-2-2). This matchup will be the rubber match between the two fighters, who fought to a draw in their last fight at GLORY 21 in San Diego last May.

The main event was originally scheduled for GLORY 24 this past October, but Marcus had to withdraw with an injury. Levin vs. Schilling was booked in its place, but then the champion had to pull out with an injury of his own. While Marcus has been on the mend, Levin has remained active, winning four straight fights in his native country of Russia.

In the co-main, Giga Chikadze (33-4) will face undefeated newcomer Kevin VanNostrand (11-0) in a featherweight bout. VanNostrand steps in for the injured Anvar Boynazarov, who defeated Chikadze by split decision at GLORY 24.

There will also be a one-night, four-man “Contender” tournament taking place in the middleweight division. The semifinal matchups are Dustin Jacoby (7-6) vs. Karl Roberson (2-1) and Wayne Barrett (5-4) vs. Robert Thomas (8-3).

Let’s take a closer look at the matchups:

Artem “The Lion” Levin (50-4-2) vs. Simon “Bad Bwoy” Marcus (42-2-2) middleweight title fight

Their last encounter was a fierce and closely-contested one, and Friday’s should be no different. Marcus has made vast improvements in his game and many felt he had won the five-round war vs. Levin at GLORY 21–especially after Levin had a point deducted for holding. Levin is as technical and crafty as they come, but against Marcus he has his work cut out for him. On the flip side, Marcus is strong and powerful with his striking, particularly his leg kicks, excellent in the clinch, and he too will have to earn everything he gets against the champion. Both fighters will stymie the other, and it will lead to a stalemate and a struggle like the last fight. They will truly have to dig deep to find a way to convince the judges in what should be another gritty and tough five-round decision. And with how the officiating has been in GLORY’s last two fight cards no one is safe. I’ll side with the challenger here.

Prediction: Simon Marcus by split decision

Giga Chikadze (33-4) Kevin VanNostrand (11-0)

While the two names won’t jump out at anyone, this fight could turn out into being the most entertaining of the evening. Chikadze, who trains at Kings MMA under the tutelage of Rafael Cordeiro, has an aggressive style, can switch stances and will come with creative and unorthodox attacks like rolling thunder kicks and jumping knees. In his first GLORY fight at GLORY 24 he dropped Ken Tran with a body kick to win by knockout. VanNostrand has a vast repertoire of side kicks, spinning-back kicks and will often fight out of sideways stance. He will also attack from that stance with kicks and also with a very rare step-in right hook at times. This fight has fireworks written all over it and based on the two styles could be a coin flip. I don’t believe it will go the full three rounds. I think Chikadze gets it done.

Prediction: Giga Chikadze by TKO RD 2

Dustin Jacoby (7-6) vs. Karl Roberson (2-1) Tournament Semifinal

If there is one thing Jacoby is quite proficient in it’s tournament experience. The Colorado native won the GLORY 23 tournament last August, and back in 2013 on the “Road to GLORY” tournament to earn his contract with the promotion. Jacoby has competed in a light-heavyweight tournament at GLORY 9, and also an additional middleweight “Contender” tournament at GLORY 14. Walking into GLORY 27, no one matches him in that department. Jacoby took his lumps early on in his GLORY tenure against superior competition, and at GLORY 23 that experience paid dividends as he knocked out both Ariel Sepulveda and Casey Greene to earn the Ramon Dekkers trophy. Then–and to the surprise of many–he knocked out Wayne Barrett at GLORY 24. Roberson–like Jacoby–also competes in MMA. His last kickboxing outing he lost a controversial decision to legend Jerome LeBanner in France, in a fight where he knocked him down twice. Roberson has some quickness and some pop in his punches, but this is Jacoby’s fight to lose. Jacoby is never flashy, but he has knockout power, and uses his length and reach very well.

Prediction: Jacoby by TKO RD 2

Wayne Barrett (5-4) vs. Robert Thomas (8-3) Tournament Semifinal

Barrett is arguable the biggest enigma within the middleweight division. The New Yorker is far removed from his upset over Joe Schilling at GLORY 12 in his hometown and a decent outing at GLORY “Last Man Standing,” where he knocked out Bogdan Stoica before losing a close decision in rematch against Schilling. Since then, Barrett has lost to Jason Wilnis at GLORY 18, Simon Marcus in the semifinals of the tournament at GLORY 20, and got knocked out in the third round by Jacoby at GLORY 24. It goes without saying it’s a must win for Barrett, who still possesses knockout power and unorthodox movement that has confused his past opponents. Thomas likes to keep a high guard and will march forward looking to unload with punches. He is well mix things up with some knees from the clinch and an occasional teep or high kick, but the Canadian likes to get in the pocket and throw. It’s also worth noting Thomas has fought both Schilling and Levin, losing both, but gaining much needed experience against top competition. This could be a very close fight, but I just don’t have the confidence in Barrett any more to pick him.

Prediction: Thomas by unanimous decision

Tournament Final: Jacoby vs. Thomas:

If the tournament shakes out the way I think it will, then this could be a highly entertaining final. I’m going to ride with the hot hand and say Jacoby continues his surge of momentum and picks himself up another Ramon Dekkers trophy. This will be a back and forth slug fest with both fighters not being afraid to stand and trade in the pocket. I don’t think we see a knockout, but perhaps a pivotal knockdown, and I think “The Hanyak” does enough to get the nod from the judges.

Prediction: Jacoby by unanimous decison

Bellator is now in the kickboxing business and president Scott Coker and Spike TV senior vice president of sports, Jon Slusser, are confident that under the Viacom/Spike/Bellator umbrella, they will be able to make the sport thrive in the U.S. where it hasn’t truly caught on with the American television audience.

HOUSTON–The writing has been on the wall for quite some time that Scott Coker was seeking to put together a kickboxing promotion for Spike TV — even when GLORY was still a part of the channel — and late last week Bellator Kickboxing became official.

Bellator president Scott Coker announced the first show will take place on Sat., April 16, 2016 at the Pala Alpitour in Torino, Italy, and will be co-promoted with Bellator Kickboxing as well as the Italian promotion, Oktagon Kickboxing. The main event will be Melvin Manhoef vs. Alexandru Negrea and the show will air on Spike at 9 p.m. ET on tape delay. Earlier in the day, Spike will air Bellator 152 live at 3 p.m. ET.

Coker was joined by Spike TV Senior Vice President of Sports, Jon Slusser, on the dais at Thursday’s (Feb. 18, 2015) press conference inside the Toyota Center, as well as Oktagon president Carlo Diblasi and fighters Joe Schilling, Raymond Daniels, Kevin Ross, Anastasia Yankova and Keri Melendez, who were all announced as part of the new promotion.

There are many questions to be asked about this new kickboxing venture as well as why the last one with GLORY didn’t continue. It seems more or less that their desire was just do their own thing under the Viacom and Bellator umbrella.

“When the GLORY relationship ended, we had a conversation,” Coker told MMAmania.com. “Are we going to go look for another promotional company to bring in? And I said, ‘you know what, why don’t we just do it ourselves?’ I think the infrastructure is here. The television network is here. We know how to do this. We are better than everybody because this kickboxing business is something I’ve been doing for a long time. It’s something that I felt we could do properly. Let’s get our fighters that want to fight kickboxing that are fighting MMA right now and let them fight on both sides of the ledger let’s say.”

“We still talk to the GLORY guys, Slusser told MMAmania.com after the press conference. “It’s all good. We see an opportunity with the infrastructure and the platform we are already on. Here we are sitting on assets and great people and infrastructure that is really first class and why not take advantage of it to squeeze more efficiency out of it in a sport that we know has potential and we know has a future for the U.S. audience that it just doesn’t have today.”

It was also Coker’s history with kickboxing that made the decision an easy one to make, according to Slusser, who called Coker the “best promoter in the business” and sang his praises.

“We are thrilled to partner with him on Bellator Kickboxing,” Slusser said. “We love kickboxing. With kickboxing, you need to build recognizable stars that the U.S. audience cheers for. No one is better suited for that task than Scott Coker. You’ve seen with Strikeforce, K-1, and now he is doing it here as you can see with this terrific event. And we are thrilled to help him do that with Bellator kickboxing. So, Spike is fully behind Scott’s efforts in this new venture and we can’t wait to help him build something great.

With fighters like Joe Schilling, who fights in Bellator MMA and has been a GLORY mainstay and Raymond Daniels coming over, Coker was asked if he intends to continue adding high-level talent from GLORY, especially since many GLORY fighters are not under an exclusive contract and already fight in different promotions.

“I think we have enough fighters right now,” Coker said. “We are looking for a certain type of fighter. We are looking for a certain type of personality in the fighter. That’s really what it comes down to. Not every fighter that fights for GLORY or any other kickboxing organization around the world is going to fit here in Bellator Kickboxing. We will be scouting the planet for the fighters that we want and those are the fighters we are going to invest in and build.”

Coker also mentioned that fighters will have an “open door” to compete in either MMA or in kickboxing, which he thinks is a big positive in resonating with the fans.

Schilling brought up pulling off the combat sports hat trick and adding PBC boxing — which is also featured on Spike TV — to the mix.

“I would like to be the first one to raise my hand and do all three,” Schilling volunteered. “I’m the guy for the job. Like you said, it’s up to the fighters. I’m that fighter. I’ll fight boxing. I’ll fight kickboxing. I’ll fight MMA. That’s who I am as a person.”

“Stitch ’em Up” fights Mike Lemaire at GLORY 27 next Friday night (Feb. 26, 2016) and has two fights left with GLORY and said, “from then on I intend to fight for Bellator Kickboxing.”

“To stay on Spike TV just made the most sense,” he said.

“GLORY has gone on to a smaller platform, so to speak, and I’ve been so successful and so well taken care of and it’s been great for my career being on Spike so it was an obvious decision to stick with Spike and stick with Bellator,” Schilling continued.

Former GLORY welterweight, Raymond Daniels, shared similar sentiments.

“When I heard that Bellator was doing it with Spike that was the determining factor,” Daniels told MMAmania.com. “And then having Scott, who my original first kickboxing fight was with. He kind of has that Midas touch. Everything he touches he turns to gold. I”m looking forward to being involved with Bellator as it turns to gold on Spike TV.”

Diblasi has known Coker for almost a decade and said he has tried to get the former Strikeforce president to come back into kickboxing for a long time. And when Coker told him it was happening and he wanted to work with him, he was pleasantly surprised.

“He came to Italy and we had dinner,” Dilblasi told MMAmania.com. “I made the question again and he said, ‘you know Carlo, it’s time.’ I said, ‘are you kidding?’ I was falling from my chair. He said, ‘no, no I’m coming back.’ A few weeks ago I was in Los Angeles to meet him and we started  talking about it and now this dream is coming true. When I heard about this chance I was really amazed. I was really, ‘okay let’s do it.’ If Scott is there it will be a success. It’s not just that I’m a friend. I’m a professional and I know he can do it.”

Coker said working with Diblasi and Oktagon will not be a “one off,” and they will keep the relationship going past April 16th and put together “Road to Bellator” tournaments in Italy and other parts of Europe.

As for rule sets, the fights will look similar to that of GLORY and K-1 rules. Coker said there will be no elbows allowed despite bringing in several muay thai practitioners like Ross, Schilling, and Yankova.

It’s fair to say that GLORY was not heavily promoted and often aired during late time windows or tape delayed cards. Bellator Kickboxing should undoubtedly receive a much larger and widespread promotional push, but will it be enough to catch on with the U.S. crowd, who has yet to really respond to kickboxing as a whole?  That remains to be seen and that fickleness and lack of popularity has been ongoing since the sport was on ESPN all the way back in the eighties.

To that end, Slusser is willing to be very patient, while feeling very confident that with Bellator, Spike, and Viacom behind it, it will eventually thrive and be a hit with American television audiences.

“We have time,” Slusser said. “This isn’t going to happen overnight. This is something that we are investing in a long-term way. If we came in and we said, ‘this needs to be a success and we have certain metrics we need to hit immediately.’ Then we would be under different constraints, different pressures that would make it grow artificially. Meaning, if you let it grow correctly, organically. If you build stars organically and we promote those stars to our Spike audience and we piggy back on the efficiencies and infrastructure of both Bellator, Spike, and Viacom. In time we think that is a winning formula with Scott Coker at the helm. It’s not an overnight, flip the switch and the world loves kickboxing they like the NFL. Not going to happen. It will happen eventually if we put all these factors together and we do it and we give it time to mature.”

And the most important factor for him is their confidence and trust in Coker. That’s why they ultimately believe it will succeed.

“Yes, we wouldn’t do anything if we didn’t think we could be very successful and Scott Coker has proven that he can make things successful.”