Tag: GLORY Kickboxing

Alex Pereira inducted into GLORY Kickboxing Hall of Fame ahead of UFC 295 title fight return

Alex Pereira inducted into GLORY Kickboxing Hall of Fame ahead of UFC 295 title fight returnAhead of his Octagon return next week in an attempt to become a two-division UFC championship winner, former two-weight…

Alex Pereira inducted into GLORY Kickboxing Hall of Fame ahead of UFC 295 title fight return

Ahead of his Octagon return next week in an attempt to become a two-division UFC championship winner, former two-weight GLORY Kickboxing titleholder, Alex Pereira has become the third fighter under the London-based organization’s banner to receive an induction into their Hall of Fame.

Pereira, a former undisputed middleweight champion under the banner of the Dana White-led promotion, makes his return to the Octagon next weekend atop UFC 295 in Madison Square Garden in New York – taking on former light heavyweight champion, Jiri Prochazka in a vacant divisional title fight in ‘The Big Apple’.

Last time out, the Sao Paulo knockout artist co-headlined UFC 291 back in July, turning in a close, split decision win over former champion, Jan Blachowicz in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Alex Pereira inducted into GLORY Kickboxing Hall of Fame

And ahead of his return next weekend in New York – Pereira, who held both middleweight and light heavyweight gold under the banner of GLORY Kickboxing, received an induction into the organization’s Hall of Fame.

“Congratulations to @AlexPereiraUFC on becoming the newest inductee into the GLORY Hall of Fame,” GLORY Kickboxing posted on their official X account. 

Departing GLORY Kickboxing back in 2021 ahead of his UFC debut in November of that year at Madison Square Garden, Pereira landed notable victories over the likes of Dustin Jacoby, Israel Adesanya, Simon Marcus, Yousri Belgaroui, Jason Wilnis, and Artem Vakhitov. 

Winning undisputed UFC middleweight gold against arch-rival, Adesanya back in November of last year, Brazilian knockout force, Pereira won the divisional title with a fifth round rallying TKO win – handing the City Kickboxing striker his first loss at the middleweight limit in mixed martial arts competition. 

Do you expect to see Alex Pereira win gold next weekend in the main event of UFC 295?

Alistair Overeem looks unrecognizable following latest banned substance suspension

Alistair OvereemAlistair Overeem looks practically unrecognizable in a recent photo taken alongside RIZIN CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara. Overeem, once touted as one of the biggest, strongest, and most dangerous competitors in combat sports, is looking roughly half the size he used to in a recent snap taken over the weekend. “Alistair Overeem is looking slim! The Dutch […]

Alistair Overeem

Alistair Overeem looks practically unrecognizable in a recent photo taken alongside RIZIN CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara.

Overeem, once touted as one of the biggest, strongest, and most dangerous competitors in combat sports, is looking roughly half the size he used to in a recent snap taken over the weekend. “Alistair Overeem is looking slim! The Dutch legend met up with RIZIN CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara last weekend,” Beyond Kickboxing posted on Twitter. “He’s currently serving a suspension but is rumored to return for the GLORY Heavyweight Grand Prix in December, with $500,000 on the line.“

Of course, you can’t mention Alistar Overeem’s history as one of MMA’s most notable big men without addressing his laundry list of banned substance abuse violations that have plagued him throughout his career. Currently, ‘The Reem’ is serving a 12-month suspension after a failed drug test following his unanimous decision win over Badr Hari at GLORY: Collision 4 last October. The decision was overturned six weeks later.

PED Use Derailed Alistair Overeem’s First UFC Title Fight

In 2012, Alistair Overeem was tipped for a UFC heavyweight title fight against then-champion Junior dos Santos at UFC 146. A month before the fight, Overeem was revealed to have failed his pre-fight drug test by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The UFC was forced to remove him from the bout, replacing him with Frank Mir.

As the tweet above states, Alistair Overeem is planning a return to GLORY Kickboxing once his current suspension expires in October.

Closing in on 25 years as a professional fighter, Alistar Overeem has competed in some of the world’s biggest organizations, including PRIDE, Strikeforce, Dream, K-1, GLORY, and of course, the UFC. During his tenure, Overeem has squared off with some of the biggest names in the sport, such as ‘Shogun’ Rua, Vitor Belfort, Fabricio Werdum, Mark Hunt, Mirko Cro Cop, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, and Stipe Miocic.

Overeem captured heavyweight titles in both Strikeforce and Dream in addition to winning K-1’s World Grand Prix in 2010.

Ranked UFC lightweight banned from Twitch for live streaming GLORY Kickboxing: ‘Sh*t was live and free’

TwitchLightweight contender Renato Moicano found himself swiftly banned by the popular streaming platform Twitch after streaming a live broadcast of GLORY Kickboxing’s latest event. Moicano, the No. 13 ranked lightweight in the UFC, was looking to catch a few fights during a rare week off for the UFC. GLORY Kickboxing opted to fill the gap […]

Twitch

Lightweight contender Renato Moicano found himself swiftly banned by the popular streaming platform Twitch after streaming a live broadcast of GLORY Kickboxing’s latest event.

Moicano, the No. 13 ranked lightweight in the UFC, was looking to catch a few fights during a rare week off for the UFC. GLORY Kickboxing opted to fill the gap with last weekend’s GLORY 86 event. Deciding to do his fans a solid, Moicano broadcast the event on his Twitch channel, assuming there would be no issue as the event was being broadcast both live and for free on the GLORY YouTube channel. Unfortunately, that did not matter as Moicano was in clear violation of Twitch’s community guidelines.

As a result, he was promptly banned from the platform. “Just got banned from Twitch for watching GLORY kickboxing that was live on YouTube,” Moicano wrote on Twitter. “Crazy. Sh*t was live and free. No UFC today just wanted to watch some fights!!! Help me to get unbanned ossss.”

Renato Moicano Was in Clear Violation of Twitch Guidelines

According to the Twitch community guidelines, the streaming platform does not allow “users to share content on their Twitch channel that they do not own or otherwise have rights to share.” This specifically includes “Movies, television shows, or sports matches.” Even though the event was broadcast free for the world to see, Moicano is still in violation of intellectual property rights and is unlikely to have his ban lifted.

Renato Moicano was last seen inside the Octagon in November, earning a first-round rear-naked choke against Brad Riddell. Since debuting for the promotion in 2014, Moicano is 9-5 under the UFC banner and a winner in three of his last four, his lone loss during that stretch coming against former lightweight world champion Rafael dos Anjos. Moicano was expected to square off with Arman Tsarukyan on April 29, but the bout was canceled after Moicano suffered an injury forcing him to withdraw.

Artem Vakhitov, the last man to defeat UFC star Alex Pereira in GLORY, set to make his MMA debut

Artem Vakhitov books MMA debut last man to beat UFC champion Alex PereiraArtem Vakhitov, the last man to defeat former UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira in kickboxing has booked his mixed martial arts debut. Armet Vakhitov, a two-time GLORY Kickboxing light heavyweight champion, holds the distinction of being the last man to hand Alex Pereira a loss before the Brazilian boogeyman made his own transition to MMA. […]

Artem Vakhitov books MMA debut last man to beat UFC champion Alex Pereira

Artem Vakhitov, the last man to defeat former UFC middleweight champion Alex Pereira in kickboxing has booked his mixed martial arts debut.

Armet Vakhitov, a two-time GLORY Kickboxing light heavyweight champion, holds the distinction of being the last man to hand Alex Pereira a loss before the Brazilian boogeyman made his own transition to MMA. Of course, we all know how well that turned out with ‘Poatan’ scoring a shocking fifth-round knockout against longtime rival Israel Adesanya to capture the UFC’s 185-pound crown at UFC 281 in November. Vakhitov hopes to follow a similar path as he begins his own mixed martial arts career in his native Russia.

As confirmed by MMA Fighting, Artem Vakhitov will make his debut at Open FC 31 in Shergesh, Russia, on June 11. He is set to square off with ‘The Egypitian Lion’ Ashraf Bashandy, a fighter who will be making his own pro MMA debut after going 4-1 as an amateur with three of those victories coming by way of submission.

Artem Vakhitov Closed Out His GLORY Kickboxing Career with a Majority Decision Over Alex Pereira

The 32-year-old Russian striking standout has an impressive 23 wins in the world of kickboxing with eight via knockout. Vakhitov defended the GLORY world championship five times before surrendering the belt to Alex Pereira via a closely-contested split decision at GLORY 77. Eight months later, Vakhitov would reclaim the title, securing a majority decision over Pereira in what would be the Brazilian’s last fight with the promotion before moving on to the UFC.

Vakhitov parted ways with GLORY in 2022, intent on making his MMA debut under one of North America’s premiere combat sports promotions. Instead, Vakhitov will look to earn his first win in mixed martial arts on the Russian regional scene.

Artem Vakhitov vs. Ashraf Bashandy will serve at the main event for the June 11 showcase in his homeland.

Alistair Overeem, team deny PED use following one year GLORY suspension: ‘it surprised him’

Alistair Overeem GLORY Suspension Surprised HimAlistair Overeem’s team vehemently denies the use of any performance-enhancing drugs following a 12-month suspension handed down by GLORY Kickboxing. The promotion announced that ‘The Demolition Man’ had been suspended for one year after testing positive for a banned substance surrounding his October trilogy bout with Badr Hari at GLORY COLLISION 4. “Alistair Overeem has […]

Alistair Overeem GLORY Suspension Surprised Him

Alistair Overeem’s team vehemently denies the use of any performance-enhancing drugs following a 12-month suspension handed down by GLORY Kickboxing.

The promotion announced that ‘The Demolition Man’ had been suspended for one year after testing positive for a banned substance surrounding his October trilogy bout with Badr Hari at GLORY COLLISION 4.

“Alistair Overeem has been removed from the GLORY rankings and his fight again Badr Hari is ruled a ‘No Contest’ due to a violation of GLORY’s anti-doping rules,” GLORY announced in an official statement. “His suspension is for 12 months, starting at his last fight – COLLISION 4. And he must return a percentage of his wages.”

Following the promotion’s announcement, Alistair Overeem’s trainer Nick Hemmers went on record stating that an anti-inflammatory medication was responsible for the positive test and not a performance-enhancing drug.

“Apparently a minimal amount of it was found in his blood…. He has not used any means to be stronger in the ring,” Hemmers stated. “I think it’s nonsense that his victory was taken away. We simply won that match against Badr, and I will always say that.”

Alistair Overeem’s Team Released an Official Statement

Alistair Overeem’s management team also issued a statement on the situation, saying:

“We have taken note of the removal of Alistair from the ranking. After the B-sample was also positive, it was to be expected that his fight against Badr Hari would be converted to ‘No Contest’. We are talking about trace amounts of a supplement that Alistair has used for recovery from an injury, which is not performance-enhancing.

“This injury occurred during the preparations for his fight with Rico (Verhoeven). It surprised Alistair that after eight months traces were still found in his system. For now, we will rest and wait and see what comes next.”

This is not the first time that Alistair Overeem has tested positive for banned substances in his combat sports career. In 2012, ‘The Demolition Man’ was scheduled to challenge then-UFC champion Junior dos Santos at UFC 146. Weeks before the bout, it was revealed by the NSAC that Overeem had an abnormally high testosterone-to-epitestosterone (T/E) ratio which he attributed to a doctor-prescribed “anti-inflammatory medication that was mixed with testosterone.”

Ex-UFC title chaser Alistair Overeem slapped with one year suspension following doping violation

Alistair Overeem suspension GLORYFormer UFC heavyweight title challenger, Alistair Overeem have been slapped with a one-year retroactive suspension after the Dutch kickboxer tested positive for a banned substance in both A and B test samples following his GLORY Kickboxing fight against Moroccan striker, Badr Hari back in October of last year.  Headlining the GLORY Collision 4 event in […]

Alistair Overeem suspension GLORY

Former UFC heavyweight title challenger, Alistair Overeem have been slapped with a one-year retroactive suspension after the Dutch kickboxer tested positive for a banned substance in both A and B test samples following his GLORY Kickboxing fight against Moroccan striker, Badr Hari back in October of last year. 

Headlining the GLORY Collision 4 event in his first combat sports outing since his departure from the UFC the year prior, Overeem initially landed a unanimous decision victory over Hari, however, the bout has since been overturned to an official ‘No Contest’ in November after it was revealed he had tested positive for a banned substance.

Alistair Overeem has also turned over a percentage of his fight purse

News of Overeem’s one-year suspension and subsequent removal from the official GLORY rankings and the return of a percentage of his fight purse, was initially reported by VechtsportInfo. 

Violating GLORY’s anti-doping policy, the reported banned substance which Alistair Overeem tested positive for in both his A and B test samples has yet to be disclosed, however, the former Strikforce, K-1, and Dream gold holder has been issued a one-year suspension from competition. 

Boasting a 47-19(1) professional mixed martila arts record, Alistair Overeem, an alum of the UFC, most recently featured professionally in the sport against recent winner, Alexander Volkov, suffering a second round TKO loss to the Russian striker in February 2021. 

Competing for undisputed UFC heavyweight gold against former two-time division champion, Stipe Miocic back in 2016 in the main event of UFC 203 in Cleveland, Ohio, Overeem suffered a first round KO loss to the former, despite landing his own knockdown and threatening with a guillotine submission earlier in the round. 

In his time with the Dana White-led organization, Overeem was also hit with a nine-month retroacitvr suspension, which was issued by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, after he tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone. 

A revered knockout and submission artist, Alistair Overeem holds UFC victories over the likes of Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, Junior dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski, Mark Hunt, Fabricio Werdum, Sergei Pavlovich, and Aleksei Olienik.