UFC Veteran Dustin Jacoby Wins Road To GLORY Tournament on Less than 48 Hours Notice

Highlights of Jacoby’s run through the tournament via Chris Gregory

To say that UFC veteran Dustin Jacoby was a gigantic underdog heading into last night’s Road for Glory USA tournament overstates the obvious. A victim of the UFC’s “0-2, sucks to be you” policy, Jacoby was stepping in for injured heavyweight boxer Manuel Quezada with less than two days to prepare for what would be his professional kickboxing debut. Combined with the fact that Jacoby’s first matchup was against ISKA Heavyweight Champion Randy “Boom Boom” Blake (who you may remember as the guy who cheap-shotted Cro Cop last October), the expectations for Jacoby were pretty damn low.

For the majority of Jacoby’s fight against Randy Blake, Jacoby performed exactly as expected. Blake outworked him throughout the fight, effectively chopping away at Jacoby with leg kicks. But in the third round, Dustin Jacoby let his hands go, realizing that he needed a knockout to advance in the tournament. After stunning Blake with a left hook, Jacoby tagged him with a right cross that caused the referee to stop the fight.


Highlights of Jacoby’s run through the tournament via Chris Gregory

To say that UFC veteran Dustin Jacoby was a gigantic underdog heading into last night’s Road for Glory USA tournament overstates the obvious. A victim of the UFC’s “0-2, sucks to be you” policy, Jacoby was stepping in for injured heavyweight boxer Manuel Quezada with less than two days to prepare for what would be his professional kickboxing debut. Combined with the fact that Jacoby’s first matchup was against ISKA Heavyweight Champion Randy “Boom Boom” Blake (who you may remember as the guy who cheap-shotted Cro Cop last October), the expectations for Jacoby were pretty damn low.

For the majority of Jacoby’s fight against Randy Blake, Jacoby performed exactly as expected. Blake outworked him throughout the fight, effectively chopping away at Jacoby with leg kicks. But in the third round, Dustin Jacoby let his hands go, realizing that he needed a knockout to advance in the tournament. After stunning Blake with a left hook, Jacoby tagged him with a right cross that caused the referee to stop the fight.

Jacoby’s run wouldn’t end there, though. He also earned knockouts over Bellator veteran Roy Boughton and Brian Collette to win the tournament. For his efforts, Jacoby earned $20,000 and a spot on a future GLORY card.

So after watching the highlights, will Dustin Jacoby be just as forgettable in GLORY as he was in the UFC, or will lightening strike twice?

Full Results, via Fighters Only:

Quarterfinal Round:

Roy Boughton def. Daniel Brison via unanimous decision
Dustin Jacoby def. Randy Blake via TKO, Round 3 (1:43)
Kyle Martin def. Myron Dennis via unanimous decision
Brian Collette def. Jeremy Freitag via KO, Round 2 (:14)

Semifinal Round:

Dustin Jacoby def. Roy Boughton via TKO, Round 1 (2:47)
Brian Collette def. Kyle Martin via TKO, Round 1 (1:29)

Grand Final:

Dustin Jacoby def. Brian Collette via KO, Round 1 (3:00)

Video: Mirko Cro Cop Gets Cheap-Shotted at K-1 World Grand Prix Final 16

(Props: OneStopMMASpot via BloodyElbow)

On Sunday at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 Final 16 event in Tokyo, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic learned the hard way that not everyone in the fight business is as sweet as Pat Barry. During the third round of his match against American kickboxer Randy Blake, Cro Cop threw a questionable uppercut at Blake, who was getting to his feet after slipping to the mat. This did not make Randy Blake very happy. The action was called back in, and when Cro Cop moved in to apologize, Blake fired a straight right that put the 38-year-old Croatian on his ass. For the last time: Protect yourself at all times, especially when you’ve just pissed off a former star of the World Combat League.

The moment was reminiscent of Floyd Mayweather‘s controversial stoppage of Victor Ortiz last September, but unlike Ortiz, Cro Cop was able to dust himself off and fight until the last bell, earning a majority decision victory. With the win, Cro Cop qualifies for a spot in the eight-man 2012 Grand Prix Finals bracket, December 26th at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where he hopefully won’t be trying any more of this nice-guy crap.


(Props: OneStopMMASpot via BloodyElbow)

On Sunday at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 Final 16 event in Tokyo, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic learned the hard way that not everyone in the fight business is as sweet as Pat Barry. During the third round of his match against American kickboxer Randy Blake, Cro Cop threw a questionable uppercut at Blake, who was getting to his feet after slipping to the mat. This did not make Randy Blake very happy. The action was called back in, and when Cro Cop moved in to apologize, Blake fired a straight right that put the 38-year-old Croatian on his ass. For the last time: Protect yourself at all times, especially when you’ve just pissed off a former star of the World Combat League.

The moment was reminiscent of Floyd Mayweather‘s controversial stoppage of Victor Ortiz last September, but unlike Ortiz, Cro Cop was able to dust himself off and fight until the last bell, earning a majority decision victory. With the win, Cro Cop qualifies for a spot in the eight-man 2012 Grand Prix Finals bracket, December 26th at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where he hopefully won’t be trying any more of this nice-guy crap.