Author: Michael Stets

GLORY has announced a new headlining bout for GLORY 34, which takes place on Fri., Oct. 21, 2016 inside 1STBANK Center in Broomfield, Colorado.

Current GLORY welterweight champion, Nieky Holzken (89-11) will defend his title against No. 2-ranked contender, Murthel Groenhart (60-20-3) in a trilogy fight. The promotion announced the news in a press release on Wednesday (Sept. 28, 2016).

This will be the second time the two welterweights have faced off in the GLORY ring. Holzken defeated Groenhart by split decision back at GLORY 26 last December in Amsterdam.

Since that showdown, Holzken defeated Yoann Kongolo at GLORY 29 to defend his title for a second consecutive time. Meanwhile, Groenhart has gone 2-1, losing a decision to Cedric Doumbe at GLORY 28 before defeating both Karim Benmansour and Kongolo at GLORY 31 to win the welterweight “Contender” tournament.

The featherweight title fight between champion Gabriel Varga and Robin van Roosmalen — which was originally slated to headline GLORY 34 — will not headline the GLORY 34 Superfight Series.

The co-main event will feature light heavyweight Dustin Jacoby against an opponent to be named later.

The one-night, four-man contender tournament will take place in the middleweight division. In the semifinal matchups, Alex Pereira (20-4) faces GLORY newcomer, Yousmi Belgaroui, and Israel Adesanya (63-3) takes on Robert Thomas (8-4).

Also of note on the GLORY 34 Superfight Series card, Richard Abraham (10-3) and Casey Greene (5-6), who were originally supposed to face each other in a welterweight bout, will now face new opponents. Abraham now square off with Michael Mathatha and Greene takes on Thongchai Sitsongpeenong

GLORY 34 Denver airs live on ESPN3 at midnight ET / 9 p.m. PT on Friday, Oct. 21, with a replay broadcast on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on Sunday, Oct. 23.

GLORY 34 SuperFight Series streams lives on UFC Fight Pass at 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT on Friday, Oct. 21.

The announced fights for GLORY 34 and GLORY 34 Superfight Series can be viewed below:

GLORY 34
Welterweight World Title Headline Bout: Nieky Holzken (c) vs. Murthel Groenhart
Middleweight Tournament Final Bout: Winner of Bout A vs. Winner of Bout B
Middleweight Co-Headline Bout: Dustin Jacoby vs. TBA
Middleweight Tournament Semifinal Bout B: Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Thomas
Middleweight Tournament Semifinal Bout A: Yousri Belgaroui vs. Alex Pereira

GLORY 34 SuperFight Series
Featherweight World Title Bout: Gabriel Varga (c) vs. Robin Van Roosmalen
Light Heavyweight Bout: Saulo Cavalari vs. Brian Douwes
Welterweight Bout: Richard Abraham vs. Michael Mathatha
Welterweight Bout: Casey Greene vs. Tongchai Sitsongpeenong
Featherweight Bout: Justin Houghton vs. Jonathon Wyderko

On the heels of GLORY 33, which took place last weekend (Fri., Sept. 9, 2016), Yao Capital — the private equity firm of former NBA player Yao Ming — has acquired a significant and strategic stake in GLORY kickboxing. GLORY announced the news via press release earlier this week. Financials were not disclosed, but it was revealed that Liberty Global has also invested.

“To me, the sport of kickboxing is a synonym for courage, grit and the will to succeed,” said Yao Ming, chairman and co-founder, Yao Capital. “As kickboxing is gaining worldwide popularity among the younger generation, Yao Capital is pleased to partner with GLORY, the world’s number one league in this field. Today, we join forces to promote the sport of kickboxing and encourage more young people to be involved in this sport to become the hero in their own life.”

According to the press release, GLORY plans to expand its live events to 18 in 2017, reaching into into southeast Asia and also Latin America. That is a huge increase for the promotion, which held eight events in 2015 and will finish out 2016 with 10 shows. In addition, GLORY and Yao Capital plan to commit significant capital for a joint venture in China.

“We are delighted that Yao Capital has become a major strategic investor in GLORY,” said Pierre Andurand, chairman and co-founder of GLORY. “Yao Capital has a remarkable, successful team with deep experience in growing sports businesses. GLORY will benefit from their expertise and participation as we grow the league globally, and in particular, in China where we see great potential and exciting fighters. Liberty Global adds unmatched knowledge and media resources to the ownership group.”

Yao Capital was founded in January of this year by Ming and veteran investor, David Han, the former chief investment officer of Wanda Group and former managing director of The Carlyle Group. Liberty Global is the world’s largest international television and broadband company, with operations in more than 30 countries across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Kickboxing has been making excellent strides in China with Kunlun and other promotions, while GLORY has remained mostly in Europe and the United States since launching in 2012. Now in 2017, GLORY will look to carry the momentum of 2016 — it’s first year on ESPN programming — and enter the Asian market backed by the firm of one of the most popular sports figures in China.

Rico Verhoeven (49-10) defended his GLORY Heavyweight title for a fifth straight time at GLORY 33 on Friday night (September 9, 2016), turning in another masterfully executed performance in his latest victory, a complete dismantling of Anderson “Braddock” Silva.

Verhoeven, 27, defeated Silva (40-15-1) by technical knockout (three knockdown rule) in the main event inside Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, NJ.

The official time of the stoppage came at 2:57 of round two.

“9.5,” Verhoeven told Todd Grisham during the post-fight interview after being asked to grade his performance. “Pretty good. Almost everything we trained on and we felt would work was working right from the beginning of the fight so, yeah, it wasn’t too bad.”

The champion from the Netherlands proved once again why he is the greatest and most technically skilled heavyweight kickboxer alive. The win marks his eleventh straight victory in GLORY, where he is now 12-1 overall.

Verhoeven started to warm up in the first round, landing his usual combinations and inside low kicks while controlling distance and cutting angles throughout.

In the second, the champion dropped the Brazilian for the first time with a perfectly placed inside low kick to the right leg, sending him down to the canvas. The No.4-ranked GLORY heavyweight would beat the count, but get dropped again moments later after Verhoeven connected with a high kick to his head. Silva made it back to his feet once again and after another exchange where Verhoeven missed a right high kick, the champion came back with a left hook that Silva blocked, before landing another inside low kick to drop Silva for the final time in the fight as referee Justin Greskiewicz stepped in to call it a day.

Verhoeven will face Badr Hari next on December 10, 2016 at GLORY: COLLISION and he was asked about the highly anticipated matchup by Grisham. “I don’t Badr,” he said, drawing a laugh.

Grisham also asked Verhoeven about “Chopper” Chi Lewis-Parry, who has made a habit out of calling out the champion and did so again after his win in earlier in the night. “If he is going to fight me, oh my God, I would dismantle this man in 30 seconds,” Verhoeven said. Lewis-Parry then got called into the ring and the two engaged in some lighthearted trash talk before hugging and shaking hands.

Guto Inocente (32-7) defeated Hedsy Gerges (49-17-1) by split decision in the heavyweight co-main event.

Two of the judges scored the contest 29-28 for Inocente, with the third scoring it 20-28 for Gerges.

The decision was a bit of a head scratcher as Inocente didn’t seem to land much of anything over the course of the three-round affair, while Gerges appeared to be the more effective striker. Inocente improves to 3-0 in GLORY competition. Meanwhile, Gerges drops to 2-4 in defeat.

Matt Embree (39-7) certainly made a huge splash in his GLORY debut and showcased some serious power in his punches. The Canadian newcomer finished both Chibin Lim (69-19) and Giga Chikadze (36-5) to win the featherweight “Contender” tournament.

“I’ve been on the scene for a while,” Embree told Grisham after the final. “I may have flown under the radar, but the real fighters know me and I feel like I’m here to stay. So everybody, what’s up?”

In the tournament final, Embree knocked Chikadze down in the first round with a big right hand right before the end of the frame. In the second, he absolutely flattened Chikadze with another huge right hand, putting him flat on his back for the knockout victory.

The official time of the stoppage came at 1:28 of round two.

After a 1-1 night, Chikadze is now 4-2 in GLORY.

In the tournament semi-final round, Embree knocked Lim down twice in the second round to earn the technical knockout victory, punching his ticket to the tournament final.

The official time of that stoppage came at 3:00 of the second round.

Embree knocked Lim down for the first time with a left hook that dropped the South Korean veteran. Then, right as the bell sounded at the end of the round two he landed a picturesque left hook, dropping Lin for a second time to win the bout. Lim falls to 0-3 in GLORY in defeat.

In the opening fight of the featherweight “Contender” tournament, Chikadze earned a razor close split decision over former featherweight champion, Serhiy Adamchuk (33-7) to advance to the tournament final. That is the second loss in a row for Adamchuk, who won five straight in GLORY before losing the featherweight title to Gabriel Varga at GLORY 32.

Two of the judges had it 29-28 for Chikadze, wile the third judge had it 29-28 for Adamchuk.

Jason Wilnis (29-6-1) sure didn’t get off to a great start last night (Fri., Sept. 9, 2016) in the headlining bout of the GLORY 33 Superfight Series, but he overcame his early mistakes and overwhelmed “Bad Bwoy” Simon Marcus (44-3-2) with punches in the third round to become the new GLORY middleweight champion.

Wilnis, 25, defeated Marcus by technical knockout (three knockdowns) inside Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, NJ, in a rematch from their first encounter in the middleweight “Contender” tournament final at GLORY 20 Dubai back in April of 2015, where Marcus won by split decision.

The official time of the stoppage came at 1:14 of Round 3.

The first round was all Marcus has he continuously landed body kicks and knees to the body of Wilnis, who couldn’t seem to get going. There was controversy toward the end of the second round as the Dutch middleweight was awarded a knockdown from referee Justin Greskiewicz. Wilnis was landing several clean blows on Marcus, who was showboating in the corner, but he did not appear to be hurt. It was without a doubt a highly questionable decision to award a knockdown for Wilnis at that point. Plus, there are no standing eight counts under GLORY rules.

Once the third round began, it was clear that Marcus was angry and frustrated with the controversial knockdown and he began to fight way too emotionally and was charging forward recklessly, which would lead to his demise.

Wilnis tagged Marcus with punches, which sent him stumbling across the ring where he fell to a knee for the first knockdown. The Canadian veteran would beat the count and once the action resumed, Wilnis came on fast and furious and clipped him again. Once Marcus began to wobble, referee Greskiewicz stepped in to administer a count for the second knockdown of the round. Marcus beat that count also, and when the action continued on he got hit by a left hook, which put him on wobbly legs for the third time in the round and referee Greskiewicz stepped into wave the bout off for good.

“F***ng amazing!” Wilnis exclaimed when Todd Grisham asked him how it felt to win the GLORY middleweight title during the post-fight interview.

Sensational win for Wilnis, who had he won by decision would’ve had an asterisk placed on the win due to the controversial knockdown in round two. He removed that from the equation by beating the brakes off of one of the best middleweights on the planet in the third round to close the show. Wilnis improves to 6-4 in GLORY competition and has now won three straight.

Horrible loss for Marcus, who let his emotions get the best of him due to the controversial knockdown after having such an outstanding start to the five-round title fight. He falls to 4-2-1 in GLORY.

For complete GLORY 33 ‘Verhoeven vs. SIlva’ results, including play-by-play updates, click here.

GLORY kickboxers hit the scales on Thursday evening (September 8, 2016) at Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pennsylvania for the GLORY 33 fight card, which takes place later tonight (Fri. September 9, 2016) at Sun National Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey.

The five-fight main card airs live on ESPN2 at 11 p.m ET and features a heavyweight title bout between current champion, Rico Verhoeven (48-10) and No.4-ranked contender, Anderson “Braddock” Silva (40-14-1).

In the co-main event, Hedsy Gerges (49-16) takes on Guto Inocente (31-7) in another heavyweight clash.

In addition to those two bouts, a four-man, one-night tournament is taking place in the featherweight division. In the semi-final matchups, Serhiy Adamchuk (33-6) will face Giga Chikadze (35-4) and in the opposing bracket, Chibin Lim (69-18) squares off against Matt Embree (37-7).

GLORY 33 WEIGH-IN RESULTS

Heavyweight Title Headline Bout:
Rico Verhoeven (261 lb / 118.4 kg) vs. Anderson Silva (248 lb / 112.5 kg)

Heavyweight Co-Headline Bout:
Hesdy Gerges (240 lb / 108.9 kg) vs. Guto Inocente (244 lb / 110.7 kg)

Featherweight Contender Tournament Bout:
Chibin Lim (144 lb / 65.3 kg) vs. Matt Embree (143 lb / 64.9 kg)

Featherweight Contender Tournament Bout:
Serhiy Adamchuk (143 lb / 64.9 kg) vs. Giga Chikadze (143 lb / 64.9 kg)

GLORY 33 SUPERFIGHT SERIES WEIGH-IN RESULTS

Middleweight Title Headline Bout:
Simon Marcus (186 lb / 84.4 kg) vs. Jason Wilnis (187 lb / 84.8 kg)

Heavyweight Co-Headline Bout:
Chi Lewis-Parry (234 lb / 106.1 kg) vs. Anthony McDonald (266 lb / 120.7 kg)

Super Bantamweight Bout:
Daniela Graf (121 lb / 54.9 kg) vs. Jessica Gladstone (122 lb / 55.3 kg)

Welterweight Bout:
Francois Ambang (170 lb / 77.1 kg) vs. Daniel Morales (170 lb / 77.1 kg)

Featherweight Bout:
Kevin Vannostrand (143 lb / 64.9 kg) vs. David Moore (142 lb / 64.4 kg)

UNDERCARD BOUTS TO STREAM ON UFC FIGHT PASS

Catchweight (135 lb / 61.2 kg) Bout:
Zarrukh Adashev (136 lb / 61.7 kg) vs. Amine Ballafrikh (136 lb / 61.7)

Catchweight (135 lb / 61.2 kg) Bout:
Anna Shearer (127.5 lb / 57.8 kg) vs. Jennie Nedell (135 lb / 61.2 kg)

Gabriel Varga felt strongly that he never truly lost the GLORY featherweight title when he was defeated by Serhiy Adamchuk in a highly controversial bout back at GLORY 25.

Eight months later he’s champion once again.

Varga (27-3) defeated Adamchuk (33-6) by majority decision at GLORY 32 earlier tonight (July 22, 2016) at Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Virginia.

48-47, 48-46 and 48-48 were the scorecards handed in by the three judges.

The key moment of the fight came in the second round, when Varga landed a beautiful three punch combination after ducking under a right hand by Adamchuk. The Canadian two-time champion landed a left to the body, and followed that up with a right/left combination that sent Adamchuk to the canvas.

Varga suffered a cut in the opening round after an accidental headbutt, but was not hindered by it during the five-round title fight. The bout was clinch heavy, but nothing as ugly as their first encounter where Adamchuk was warned countless times for holding and stalling. Varga was the more efficient striker and landed the more significant strikes. Adamchuk had some success, especially with his low leg kicks, but the knockdown was too much to overcome.

The co-main event was a light heavyweight rematch between Brian Collette (23-3) and Myron Dennis (18-5) from their first encounter at GLORY 19 last year, which saw Collette win by unanimous decision. The Virginia native would get his hand raised once again, earning another unanimous nod by the judges.

Two judges scored it 30-27, with the third handing in a 29-28 score card.

Collette nearly put Dennis away after landing a head kick in the second round, but Dennis was able to weather the storm and survive. Collette couldn’t get the finish, but he remained in control to get his fourth GLORY win.

Zinedine Hameur-Lain (56-13) won the four-man light heavyweight “Contender” tournament by knocking out Ariel Machado (43-7) and Warren Thompson (11-4) to earn the Ramon Dekkers memorial trophy and a future shot at the light heavyweight title. He will have to wait for the winner of the title unification bout between current champion Artem Vakhitov and interim champion Zack Mwekassa, which has yet to be scheduled.

In the tournament final, the Frenchman landed a big left hook that sent Machado reeling into the ropes and finished him off with a perfectly-timed knee to the body off the carom.

The official time of the stoppage came at 1:00 of the second round.

Hameur-Lain advanced to the tournament final in emphatic fashion, knocking Warren Thompson out cold with a vicious right hand in the opening seconds, which face planted “The Destroyer” into the canvas where he remained for several minutes. The win was a surefire candidate for the $5,000 “Knockout of the Night” bonus that the promotion recently added to fight cards.

The official time of the stoppage came at 0:12 of round one.

GLORY Kickboxing delivering the best knockouts at #GLORY32 LIVE on @ESPN3 @SportsCenter RETWEET if you’re a fan! pic.twitter.com/8yVBQoBTKx

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) July 23, 2016

In the opening semi-final bout of the evening, Machado took the fight against Pavel Zhuravlev (69-11) when several others would not, and he upset the savvy veteran by unanimous decision to punch his ticket to the tournament final.

Two of the judges scored it 30-27 for Machado, with the third scoring the bout 29-28.

The Brazilian—who was making his GLORY debut—used a steady diet of low kicks and solid footwork to outwork the Ukrainian throughout the three-round contest and pick up his first win inside the GLORY ring.