Dustin ‘The Hanyak’ Jacoby is a rather remarkable athlete. A starting quarterback for all of his college years, he took up MMA after graduation and quickly made it to the UFC. Then, with no kickboxing experience at all, he entered an eight-man tournament on 48hrs notice, knocked three people out in one night and earned a GLORY contract. And now he’s got himself a middleweight title shot.
The title shot itself is all the more remarkable because of the road Jacoby (9-6, 6 KO’s) travelled once he reached GLORY. His 2013 tournament win persuaded executives that they may have found the US star they were looking for. But the infamously hard “sink or swim” mentality of the kickboxing world meant that, rather than build him with favorable matchmaking, GLORY elected to have him step in against top-flight international opponents right away.
It didn’t work out in Jacoby’s favor. Suddenly he was fighting opponents who had done nothing but kickboxing from their infant years and the gap showed. He was beaten in five consecutive fights. But while in the UFC an 0-2 run is enough to end your contract, kickboxing is more forgiving. Displays of heart, grit and aggression count for more than a win/loss ratio.
Jacoby surely did also benefit from favored nation status, being an American fighter in an organization hoping to crack the US. But his heart and courage, plus sheer likeability as a person, were the main factors in his retaining a spot on the roster. Those qualities were showcased by the dogged determination with which Jacoby continued to pursue improvement. He took training camps in the Netherlands and trained tirelessly with his own coaches in Denver, CO as he sought to close the skills gap.
At GLORY 20 DUBAI in April last year, the new Jacoby showed through. He faced the 100-fight veteran Mourad Bouzidi, who has faced and beaten a Who’s Who in kickboxing. Victory was presumed to be a given for Bouzidi but instead he got one of the hardest fights of his career from a Jacoby who had clearly begun to absorb large parts of the kickboxing textbook.
He lost a unanimous decision but the performance sparked a turnaround. His confidence surged and a complete reversal in fortunes followed. Jacoby went 5-0 in his next two fights and scored stoppages in each win. The last two wins of the run were in the GLORY 27 CHICAGO Middleweight Contender Tournament. Winning it secured Jacoby a title shot. The perennial underdog is now just potentially a few punches from becoming the division’s top dog.
“They told me the winner of the Chicago tournament would get the next title shot. So I won and then people wondered would I get the shot – you know how it is in the fight game, you never know what’s next. I don’t know how many times I have signed to fight a guy and then on fight night I am facing a completely different opponent, sometimes on a day’s notice or less,” he tells Bloody Elbow.
“So I wasn’t getting my hopes up too much, there were other names in the mix to take a shot ahead of me, but then I finally get the call to face Simon Marcus in Los Angeles and we get it figured out, and yeah, then I was real excited.”
Jacoby’s surge hasn’t gone unnoticed. Bellator recently announced a move into kickboxing and identified him as a target. An offer was put on the table and Jacoby actually went into free agency with his Chicago tournament fights. But he says that, as flattered as he was by Bellator’s offer, his heart lies with GLORY.
“My end goal is to be with GLORY and be the champion. I want to help GLORY blow up in the US and get where the UFC did. My last fight was the last fight of that contract and yeah, Bellator knocked on the door and they are a great organization and made a great offer but at the end of the day I don’t want to fight for anyone else in kickboxing,” he says.
“I’ve been with GLORY since day one, and this where all the top guys are. I want to be one of those top guys and so this is where I want to be. As far as I am concerned, I want to be with GLORY to the end. My vision is that GLORY becomes big like the UFC and when my fighting days are done, I can move into a corporate role with them.”
Jacoby’s comments call to mind the career paths of fights such as Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes, fighters who pinned their colors to the UFC mast throughout their careers and, once retired, were rewarded with white-collar roles by the organization.
“Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, they were company men. They stayed loyal and they put on the fights to get the UFC where they are today. Those four guys right there are responsible pretty much for bringing in fans, selling tickets and boosting the UFC,” he says.
“I see myself and Simon Marcus having the chance in May to put on an epic performance like Bonnar vs. Griffin. It’s going to air nationwide on ESPN 2 and I want us to give a fight that gets people out their chair, non-stop action. Me and Simon are perfectly matched for that kind of fight. I hope we can put on a fight which has millions of people on their feet, excited.”
As a multi-time world champion in Muay Thai, with wins over Artem Levin, Joe Schilling, Filip Verlinden and more, Marcus (43-2-2, 24 KO’s)is the heavy favorite going into the fight, despite only having transitioned to kickboxing himself in June 2014. But Jacoby is confidently predicting another stoppage victory for himself.
“I think my range and power will play a major role. I believe in my power and the things I do. People ask me before fights how I think I will win. It’s always them same: I picture them being knocked out. That’s what I see, them flat on the canvas, and I think this fight is no different,” he says.
“I think Simon Marcus is a hell of a fighter but I am here to prove that I am the cream of the crop and I am just one or two punches away from that. All I have to do now is work hard for seven or eight weeks, do my job, then reap the benefits at the end. I’m excited, I can’t wait.”
Jacoby then reveals that he has already got a plan in mind for his first title defense.
“Joe Schilling. I would love to knock that dude out. He was asked to fight me in Chicago, he came back and said not on two weeks notice. The reason given was that I live at altitude in Denver, so I’d have like a fitness advantage, but then we got into it a bit on social media after he was saying that it was me who turned the fight down,” he says, animated.
“He said I turned down him and Matt Baker! Are you kidding? And I was never even offered Matt Baker anyway. But in the end he deleted it. He can say what he wants, I don’t care. I tell you what, I would love for that fight to happen. My goal is to win this fight and then tell Joe Schilling to put up or shut up. I think he’s a great fighter but as a person I am not a fan. I know I would knock him out and I think he knows it too.”
Ironically, Jacoby and Schilling (21-6 with 11 KO’s and currently second only to Marcus in the rankings) ended up sharing a locker-room backstage in Chicago as Jacoby took part in the middleweight tournament and Schilling faced Mike Lemaire, a fellow Californian. An awkward mood would be understandable but Jacoby says the they “didn’t have a lot to say to each other”.
“We’re both professionals. I wasn’t going to interfere with his job and he wasn’t going to interfere with mine, but I hope there comes a day when we’re in opposite locker rooms and all we have on our minds is each other. Man, I hope that day comes sooner rather than later!”
Jacoby’s challenges Simon Marcus in the headline fight of GLORY 30 LOS ANGELES on Friday, May 13. The event is expected to air live in the US on ESPN 2.