Glory 25 took place today in Milan, Italy. The promotion made it’s debut on ESPN 3 with Robin van Roosmalen and Sittichai Sitsongpeenong fighting for the Glory Lightweight Championship in the main event and Giorgio Petrosyan making his return to the Glory ring in the co-main event.

Sittichai Sitsongpeenong looked sharp against Robin van Roosmalen. He delivered a steady stream of left kicks to the body and legs of van Roosmalen with some strong knees mixed in. He controlled the fight as van Roosmalen didn’t seem as active as we have come accustomed to seeing from him. He opened up a bit more in the third round but Sittichai dictated the pace of the fight from start to finish. It seemed a new Glory Lightweight Champion would be crowned, but much to the displeasure of the fans in attendance van Roosmalen was declared the winner by unanimous decision with scores of 48-47 from all three judges. Fans booed the decision and van Roosmalen told them he didn’t care if they booed afterwards during his post fight interview. Definitely a controversial ending and an unfortunate one for Sittichai.

In the co-main event Giorgio Petrosyan returned to Glory for the first time in two years. Looking to spoil his return was Canada’s Josh Jauncey, but despite his efforts Petrosyan was on point. The Doctor was surgical with his strikes. He was very accurate and his evasive defensive skills were near perfect. Jauncey put forward a valiant effort as he did not back away from Petrosyan, but it was impossible for him to land anything significant on Petrosyan while not being able to avoid Petrosyan’s strikes. In the end it was a successful return for Petrosyan who took home a unanimous decision victory.

In the welterweight contender tournament Murthel Groenhart and Karim Ghajji met in the finals to see who would win a shot at Nieky Holzken’s welterweight title. Groenhart made it to the finals by scoring a stoppage over Nicola Gallo after a knee opened a cut that forced the fight to be stopped. Ghajji defeated Yoann Kongolo by majority decision in his semi-final bout in a very close fight.

In the tournament final Groenhart came out looking to end things early. A right hand knocked Ghajji down and after he answered the count Groenhart went in for the kill unleashing flurry after flurry trying to put Ghajji out, but he was able to survive the round. In the second Groenhart looked a bit slower than the first and Ghajji started to get back into the fight with some nice combinations. In the third round Groenhart and Ghajji went toe to toe and when it was over Groenhart took home a unanimous decision. With the win Groenhart will now face Nieky Holzken for the Glory Welterweight title.

Glory Featherweight Champion Gabriel Varga was unsuccessful in his first title defense. Serhiy Adamchuck was crowned the new champion with a unanimous decision win in what was a close fight.

Giorgio Petrosyan def. Josh Jauncey via Unanimous Decision

Serhiy Adamchuck def. Gabriel Varga via Unanimous Decision

Artem Vahkitov def. Danyo Illuna via Unanimous Decision

Vittorio Lemano def. Samir Boukhidous via (T)KO (Cut) in Rd. 2

Stefano Bruno def. Hosam Radwan via (T)KO in Rd. 2

Anatoly Moiseev def. Teo Mikelic via Unanimous Decision

Murthel Groenhart def. Nicola Gallo via (T)KO (Cut) in Rd. 2

Karim Ghajji def. Yoann Kongolo via Majority Decision

Murthel Groenhart def. Karim Ghajji via Unanimous Decision

Glory 25 takes place this Friday November 6 in Milan, Italy. It will be Glory’s first show since officially announcing their events will no longer air on Spike TV. The current information on how the event can be seen is unknown, but the fight card is still stacked.

The main event will feature Glory Lightweight Champion Robin van Roosmalen as he puts his title on the line against Sittichai Sitsongpeenong. This bout will be van Roosmalen’s second title defense with his most recent being a decision victory over former champion Andy Ristie. Sittichai won the Glory 22 contender tournament and since then has won four more bouts in other promotions leading to his showdown with van Roosmalen. It should be fireworks between these two.

The co-main event will feature the return of Giorgio Petrosyan as he takes on Josh Jauncey. Petrosyan has not fought for Glory since Glory 12 on November of 2013 where he lost for only the second time in his career. Since the loss Petrosyan has fought only three times with all of them ending in victories. He defeated Erkan Varol, Enriko Kehl, and most recently Xu Yan. Jauncey has taken the Kickboxing world by storm since debuting in 2014. He has gone 4-1 with three of his wins coming by knockout. He last competed at Glory 22 this past June in the lightweight tournament where he won his semi-final bout against Djime Coulibaly by (T)KO, but came up short in a decision to Sittichai Sitsongpeenong in the tournament finals. 

A four man tournament in the Glory welterweight division will take place. The semi-final bouts for the tournament are Murthel Groenhart vs. Nicola Galo and Karim Ghajji vs. Yoann Kongolo.

The Super Fight Series portion of the card will also feature some big names. Glory Featherweight Champion Gabriel Varga will make his first title defense against Serhiy Adamchuk. The pair was previously set to fight on the Bellator 142: Dynamite event, but an injury forced Varga to withdraw from the bout.

Danyo Illunga and Artem Vakhitov will also square off at Glory 25. Illunga was a hot prospect when Glory first launched, but has struggled as of late going 2-3 in his last five fights. Vakhitov most recently competed for Glory at Glory 20 where he dropped a split decision to current Glory Light Heavyweight Champion Saulo Cavalari. Before the loss to Cavalari, Vakhitov had won eight consecutive bouts.

Fight Card:

Robin van Roosmalen (c) vs. Sittichai Sitsongpeenong for Glory Lightweight Championship

Giorgio Petrosyan vs. Josh Jauncey

Gabriel Varga (c) vs. Serhiy Adamchuk for Glory Featherweight Championship

Danyo Illunga vs. Artem Vakhitov

Samir Boukhidous vs. Vittorio Iermano

Stefano Bruno vs. Hosam Radwan

Anatoly Moiseev vs. Teo Mikelic

Glory Welterweight Tournament:

Murthel Groenhart vs. Nicola Galo

Karim Ghajji vs. Yoann Kongolo

Paul Daley has been confirmed to be fighting in a Kickboxing bout for Glory at Bellator 142: Dynamite for quite some time now, however, no opponent had been announced. Glory Welterweight Champion Nieky Holzken issued a challenge Daley a few weeks prior to winning his title at Glory 23 this past weekend and it got fans talking about the potential match up. Yesterday the plans for the Holzken vs. Daley match up were squashed when it was announced that Daley would be facing Fernando Gonzalez. 

Daley is no stranger to the Kickboxing ring as he spent most of 2014 competing in the sport. Daley has amassed a 20-3 record in Kickboxing with 14 of those wins coming by knockout.Like Daley, Gonzalez is no stranger to striking only, he has competed in Muay Thai for WCK Muay Thai and has also done his fair share of boxing.

This is the fourth Kickboxing bout confirmed for the event and joins the two title fights already scheduled for the event of Saulo Cavalari vs. Zack Mwekassa and Gabriel Varga vs. Serhiy Adamchuck.

Bellator 142: Dynamite will take place on September 19 at the SAP Center in San Jose, CA. The event will feature both MMA and Kickboxing bouts with a cage and a ring set up at the venue.

Fight Card:

Saulo Cavalari vs. Zack Mwekassa for Glory Light Heavyweight Championship

Gabriel Varga vs. Serhiy Adamchuck for Glory Featherweight Championship

Paul Daley vs. Fernando Gonzalez

Jose Palacios vs. TJ Arcangel

Another title bout has been confirmed for the Glory portion of Bellator 142: Dynamite. Glory Featherweight Champion Gabriel Varga will make his first title defense against Serhiy Adamchuck. The event which takes place September 19 from the SAP Center in San Jose, CA will also feature the already announced Glory Heavyweight Title bout between Zack Mwekassa and Saulo Cavalari.

Glory Sports International announces their 20th event set for Dubai. The kickboxing giant will make its way back to using international arenas after 4 consecutive USA events in Virginia, Oklahoma, California, and Colorado. This marks the first event for Glory in the Middle East martial arts hub of Dubai.

The main event features Mosab Amrani and Gabriel Varga, set to fight for the vacant featherweight title, Varga having won his shot at the title by winning the 4-man featherweight contender tournament at Glory 17. 

Pat Berry and Morad Bouzidi make up the co-main event.  Berry last competed for Glory against Zack Mwekassa, suffering a KO loss to the heavy handed boxer.  Bouzidi’s last Glory appearance was against Randy Blake, taking a decision win over Blake.

Also set for Glory 20 is a 4-man middleweight contender tournament.  Jason Wilnis will face Alex Pereira and Wayne
Barrett, Simon Marcus.  Wilnis last fought for Glory at their 18th event with a decision win over Barrett.  Pereira returns after dropping a decision to Artem Levin in the first round of Glory 17’s Last Man Standing 4-man tournament.  Barrett looks to bounce back with a win after losses to Joe Schilling at Glory 17 and Jason Wilnis at Glory 18.  Marcus once again steps away from from regular competition in Muay to return to the Glory stage, last losing to Joe Schilling via KO.

Fight Card:

Main Card:

Gabriel Varga vs. Mosab Amrani

Pat Barry vs. Morad Bouzidi

4-Man Middleweight Tournament:

Jason Wilnis vs. Alex Pereira

Wayne Barrett vs. Simon Marcus

The K-1: China vs. USA event is set for January 1, 2015 in China. Rumors of the fight card were reported  about a month ago. They included Kevin Ross and Tiffany van Soest as part of team USA, but those rumors turned out not to be true. Ross and van Soest had contractual obligations with Lion Fight which did not allow them to compete despite the initial reports from K-1.

The new fight card will now feature Andrew Tate, Justin Greskiewicz and Gabriel Varga. It is unknown if Varga’s fight will be considered part of the China vs. USA portion of the card being that Varga is Canadian.

Tate will face Lian Ling, it will be Tate’s first fight since winning the Enfusion cruiserweight title by defeating Wendell Roache by (T)KO. Varga who was last in action at Glory 17 when he won the Glory featherweight contenders tournament will take on Dong Soo Kim.

Fight Card:
Gabriel Varga vs. Dong Soo Kim
Andrew Tate vs. Lian Ling
Justin Greskiewicz vs. Li Yun Kun
Sanja Sucevic vs. E Meidie
Lei Peng Hui vs. Joe Logan
Wang Zhi Wei vs. Arthur Sorso
Tian Xian vs. Tony Hervey
Zhou Zhi Peng vs. Stavone Warren

There is some shake up in the rankings this time around. Ross reclaims the number one spot he held a few years ago after his current three fight win streak that ended with him winning the Lion Fight Super Lightweight World Title. Former number one ranked Sean Kearney falls to number two and Matt Embree falls from two to three.

The super lightweight division in North America is stacked and any of these top five fighters can have an argument made for them that they deserve to be ranked higher. It will be interesting to see how the divisions sorts out in the next few months.
 

1. Kevin Ross (20-10) (@DaSoulAssassin)

Ross has been on a tear as of late.
He has now rattled off three consecutive wins, including his latest dominant
decision victory over Australia’s Michael “Tomahawk” Thompson which won him the
Lion Fight Super Lightweight Championship. Ross also evened the score with Matt
Embree by taking a split decision back in February, and in May scored a (T)KO
over up and comer Chris Mauceri. With Ross now the Lion Fight champion there
are a slew of possible match ups so it will be interesting to see who the
promotion chooses for Ross to defend his title against first.

2. Sean Kearney (25-9)

After earning a huge win over Matt
Embree in September of 2013 Kearney headed back to Thailand. He decided to jump
back up to 147 pounds to take on Thai powerhouse Singmanee Kaewsamrit. Kearney
has currently been out of action since the loss to Singmanee in December of
2013. Kearney will be competing on the Max Muay Thai event taking place on
August 3^rd against Sanpetch Kiatpetchnoi in Thailand.

3. Matt Embree (25-6) (@Muay_Matics)

Embree has gone 1-2 in his last three bouts, although his
two losses have been narrow and to the two men currently ranked above him. He
dropped a split a split decision to Sean Kearney at PKP “World Stand Off 5” in
September of 2013, then got back on the winning track in October of 2013 by
winning a one sided decision against Zhang Haishun at Foshan Championships in
China. Most recently he dropped a split decision to Kevin Ross at Lion Fight in
February. He is currently set to fight Justin Greskiewicz in September at USKA
Fight Night.

4. Gabriel Varga (10-2) 

Varga followed up a solid showing at
the Glory 8 featherweight tournament (Super Lightweight) with a win over Jose
Palacios at Glory 11 in Chicago and just recently won the Glory featherweight tournament
at Glory 17 in Los Angeles. He defeated Yodkhunpon Sitmonchai and Shane
Oblonsky by decision. Currently under contract to Glory it is unknown when
Varga will compete again.

5. Hakeem Dawodu (7-0) 

Dawodu has run his pro record to 7-0
and most recently defeated Junpei Hiari by (T)KO and and Sam Samut by decision.
Dawodu has started to dabble in MMA, hopefully for Muay Thai and Kickboxing
fans this young talent does not fully transition to MMA because it he is
definitely someone that could be sitting at the top of these rankings in years
to come. His next Muay Thai bout is currently unkown. .

Rankings qualification – Muay Thai
and Kickboxing bouts are all taken into consideration for the rankings. These
rankings are not only based on Muay Thai Fights as many fighters compete in
both full rules Muay Thai and Kickboxing bouts. Fighters are not to be inactive
for any period longer than 12 months or they will be dropped from the rankings
unless a fight is schedule within a month from the date they become ineligible.
Fighters must be born in North America or permanently reside in North America
and be active in the North American fight circuit are eligible for the
rankings.

Glory 17 took place June 21st at The Forum in Los Angeles California. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic vs. Jarrell Miller headlined in a re-match from their bout that took place under the K-1 banner in 2013. in their initial encounter Filipovic took home a controversial decision over Miller, but in the re-match Filipovic would silence critics and he out pointed the New York based fighter en route to unanimous decision.

Andy Ristie and Ky Hollonbeck squared off in a fight fans were excited for. It was over in a mere 30 seconds as Ristie connected with a left hook that wobbled Hollenbeck then finished him with a follow up left hook that sent him to the canvas. Hollenbeck was not able to beat the referee’s count giving Ristie the impressive knockout. 

Gabriel Varga won the 4-man featherweight tournament. He faced Shane Oblonsky in the finale and out pointed the Team Oyama fighter to take home a unanimous decision.

Results:

Featherweight Tournament Semi-Finals

Gabriel Varga def. Yodkhunpon Sitmonchai via Unanimous Decision

Shane Oblonsky def. Marcus Vinicius via Unanimous Decision

Featherweight Tournament Final

Gabriel Varga def. Shane Oblonsky via Unanimous Decision

Super Fights

Mirko Cro Cop def. Jarrell Miller via Unanimous Decision

Andy Ristie def. Ky Hollenbeck via KO in Rd. 1

Mike Lemaire def. Dustin Jacoby via Unanimous Decision

Ron Cruz def. Sonny Singh via Unanimous Decision

Brian Bruns def Joe Davis via TKO (Strikes) at 1:10 of Rd. 2

Spencer Mix def. Jules Wallace via Unanimous Decision

Jay Alvarez def. Chris Henry via Unanimous Decision

Some shake up in the rankings since the last update. After putting together a 4-1 record in the last few months including a victory over Matt Embree, Sean Kearney jumps up to the number one spot. Matt Embree, Kevin Ross, and Gabriel Varga who were all ranked above Kearney all drop down one spot, while Hakeem Dawodu holds firm at number five.
 

1. Sean Kearney (25-8)

After some short notice fights at 147lbs it seems Sean Kearney returned to his preferred weight class at 140lbs. The lengthy Canadian scored the biggest win of his career when he took home a split decision over former number one ranked fighter Matt Embree at PKP “World Stand Off 5”. With the win and a 4-1 run in his last five fights, Kearney jumps to the top spot. There are several rumors floating around as to who Kearney might fight next but nothing is set yet. One fight that Kearney as his team have expressed interested in is a bout with Kevin Ross, but only time will tell who he will fight next.
 

2. Matt Embree (25-5)

 After scoring the biggest win of his career at Lion Fight 10 against Kevin Ross, Embree dropped a split decision to Sean Kearney at PKP “World Stand Off 5”. He jumped back on the winning track on October 25th by winning a one sided decision against Zhang Haishun at Foshan Championships. Embree’s next fight is not currently scheduled.

 

3. Kevin Ross (17-10) (@DaSoulAssassin)

After starting the year off 2-0, Ross has dropped his last two fights. Both of his losses came by decision, unanimous against Matt Embree and most recently a split decision against Tetsuya Yamato at Lion Fight 11. There are many interesting match ups for Ross, with one of the most interesting in the North American circuit being against Sean Kearney. Ross’s next fight date is unknown, but we should expect it to be against a quality opponent, a fight fans have been talking about for a while would be against Liam Harrison, but only time will tell if that will happen.
 

4. Gabriel Varga (8-2) 

Varga had a solid showing at the Glory 8 featherweight tournament winning his first bout against Abdellah Ezbiri by decision before dropping a decision to eventual tournament winner Yuta Kubo in the semi-finals. He most recently defeated Jose Palacios at Glory 11 in Chicago. He won a unanimous decision after three rounds.

 

5. Hakeem Dawodu (5-0) 

Dawodu turned pro earlier this year after a stellar amateur career. Dawodu has pushed his pro record to 5-0 after winning an 8-man one night tournament in Trinidad & Tobago. Unfortunately for Dawodu he has had a streak of bad luck that has forced his last four scheduled fights to be cancelled.

 

Rankings qualification – Muay Thai and Kickboxing bouts are all taken into consideration for the rankings. These rankings are not only based on Muay Thai Fights as many fighters compete in both full rules Muay Thai and Kickboxing bouts. Fighters are not to be inactive for any period longer than 12 months or they will be dropped from the rankings unless a fight is schedule within a month from the date they become ineligible. Fighters must be born in North America or permanently reside in North America and be active in the North American fight circuit are eligible for the rankings.

Jose Palacios will get his chance on the Glory stage at Glory 11. The Northern California based fighter will step in and replace an injured Shane Oblonsky against Canada’s Gabriel Varga at Glory 11 in Chicago on Saturday, October 12. 

Palacios is coming off a controversial loss to Scotty Leffler at Lion Fight 11 and a win against a prospect like Varga would be a huge boost for him. Varga last competed at Glory 8 in Japan and had a good showing at the tournament. He won his opening round fight against Abdellah Ezbiri and then lost by decision to eventual tournament winner Yuta Kubo

Heavyweight Tournament

Daniel Ghita vs. Anderson Silva

Gokhan Saki vs. Rico Verhoeven

Tournament Reserve Bout

Errol Zimmerman vs. Hesdy Gerges

Super Fights