Alex Pereira (Picture by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
3 fighters from GLORY Kickboxing the UFC should sign.
GLORY Kickboxing, the world’s premier kickboxing organization, which just recently aired solely on UFC Fight Pass, is reportedly close to filing for bankruptcy, according to a report from TSN’s Aaron Bronsteter.
GLORY had actually held simply one event in 2020– GLORY 75 at the Main Studios in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on February 29– prior to the business was required to hold off all future prepared occasions in the year due to the continuous coronavirus pandemic.
Previously this year, Marshall Zelaznik resigned as CEO after taking control of the role from Jon J. Franklin– who had actually led GLORY to the No. 1 promo in the sport given that 2014– in 2018.
According to reporter Giovanni Tjin (through Beyond Kickboxing) reports were that executives Cor Hemmers and Remon Daalder had actually been fired. In addition, the promo’s head office in the Netherlands were closed and fighters who completed at the significant GLORY Accident 2 event in December had still yet to be paid.
In the United States, GLORY Kickboxing formerly was included on Spike TELEVISION (now Paramount Network) and ESPN prior to airing solely on UFC Battle Pass, which Zelaznik is credited with producing, in2019 Prior to the exclusivity, UFC Battle Pass entirely aired each GLORY card’s SuperFight Series part.
GLORY was established in 2012 after the purchases of the United Glory, Golden Glory and It’s Showtime promos.
Which fighters from GLORY Kickboxing should the UFC sign immediately?
In Spite Of a few of Mixed Martial Arts’s biggest battles being stand-up, back-and-forth trading of strikes, GLORY Kickboxing simply could not get the sort of audience and appeal Mixed Martial Arts takes pleasure in– a minimum of in America.
Numerous kickboxing greats have actually completed in the organization from long time heavyweight champ Rico Verhoeven to long time light-weight king Sitthichai Sitsongpeenong, to legends like Peter Aerts and Semmy Schilt. In addition, the promo has hosted names that would call a bell with Mixed Martial Arts fans, consisting of Schilt, existing UFC middleweight champ Israel Adesanya, Joe Schilling, Nieky Holzken, Gabriel Varga and Robin van Roosmalen.
With GLORY hosting a few of the best strikers in the world, and with some currently having a bit of Mixed Martial Arts experience, the UFC might capitalize and sign a few of thesefighters Here are 3 in specific.
Alex Pereira
Alex Pereira has actually done something that nobody in the world of Mixed Martial Arts has yet to do– defeat Israel Adesanya. And he not just beat Adesanya when they met at Glory of Heroes 7 in his native Brazil, he knocked out Adesanya.
In Between 2015 and 2016, Pereira completed in 3 defend the Jungle Battle Mixed Martial Arts promo, losing to Quemuel Ottoni by submission at Jungle Battle 82 prior to scoring-back-to-back surfaces of Marcelo Cruz and Marcus Vinicius Fialho da Silveira at Jungle Battle 85 and Jungle Battle 87, respectively.
In November 2018, Pereira announced his intentions to return to MMA, and chase after an MMA bout with Adesanya, when his agreement with GLORY ended the following April, however Pereira elected to re-sign with the promo under the guarantee of the chance to contend in some Mixed Martial Arts bouts.
Pereira beat Simon Marcus at GLORY 46 in October 2017 to win the promo’s middleweight championship, protecting the belt 5 times and most just recently knocking out Ertugrul Bayrak at the end of the first round of their GLORY Accident 2 bout to keep the belt in December.
He likewise knocked out Donegi Abena at GLORY 68 in September to win the interim GLORY light heavyweight championship, ending up being the first (and now just) fighter in GLORY history to hold GLORY titles in 2 weight classes all at once.
Rico Verhoeven
A list of the best kickboxers in the world today can not be total without calling Rico Verhoeven, the longtime GLORY heavyweight champ thought about “The King of Kickboxing” and commonly thought about the No. 1 kickboxer in the world for many years now.
After success in promos like K-1 and It’s Showtime, Verhoeven first completed in GLORY at GLORY 4, beating existing Bellator heavyweight Sergei Kharitonov in the opening round of the Heavyweight Grand Slam Competition prior to losing to Semmy Schilt in the nextround Given That the loss to Schilt, Verhoeven has actually lost simply among his last 19 kickboxing bouts– and the just loss because period was Verhoeven’s only battle outside of GLORY given that.
After winning the GLORY 11 Heavyweight World Championship Competition, Verhoeven beat the famous Peter Aerts prior to beating Daniel Ghita to win the GLORY heavyweight title at GLORY17 Ever since, Verhoeven protected the title 9 times, beating the likes of Errol Zimmerman, Benjamin Adegbuyi, Jamal Ben Saddik, Mladen Brestovac, Guto Inocente and Badr Hari.
In truth, Verhoeven and Hari had a set of extreme and highly-hyped bouts in GLORY, with Verhoeven winning both in frustrating style after injuries to Hari. Verhoeven likewise holds a kickboxing win over UFC and Strikeforce veteran Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.
Verhoeven, who has actually trained at the American Kickboxing Academy with a number of Mixed Martial Arts names, consisting of Daniel Cormier, completed in one expert Mixed Martial Arts bout in October 2015, throughout his GLORY heavyweight title run, scoring a first-round finish of Viktor Bogutzki.
Tiffany Van Soest
GLORY Kickboxing had simply one woman championship by the time of its closure, and it was just presented in2016 In the time given that her 2009 debut, Tiffany Van Soest has actually ended up being one of the best Muay Thai women and professionals’s professional athletes in the sport.
Prior to her days in GLORY, Van Soest declared the WBC Muay Thai International super bantamweight championship and the Lion Battle women’s featherweight championship (two times).
After a success GLORY debut over Esma Hasshass at GLORY 30, Van Soest beat Jessica Gladstone and Amel Dehby at GLORY 36 to win a one-night competition to end up being the inaugural GLORY women’s super bantamweight champ.
Van Soest kept the title versus Meryem Uslu at GLORY 44 prior to losing it to Anissa Meksen at GLORY48 After a rebound win over Sofia Olofsson at GLORY 55, Van Soest lost a title rematch with Meksen at GLORY 64 prior to winning the belt back in a trilogy bout with Meksen at GLORY 71 in November.
Van Soest, who is likewise a black belt in karate, completed in 2 expert Mixed Martial Arts bouts in between 2016 and 2017, both in Invicta. She was sent by Kalyn Schwartz at Invicta 19 and scored a consentaneous decision win over Christine Ferea at Invicta 23.
Van Soest might need to continue to deal with the shift from kickboxing to Mixed Martial Arts, particularly when it concerns the ground game and submissions, however she ‘d make a fascinating addition, particularly with her striking, to either the UFC’s strawweight or flyweight departments.
Respectable Reference: Chi-Lewis Parry
Chi-Lewis Parry hasn’t completed for GLORY given that 2016 and has actually given that moved from kickboxing to Mixed Martial Arts. Parry has actually confessed that his Mixed Martial Arts profession has actually been more about enjoyable than going after champions, and the 36- year-old might not be as appealing a finalizing for theUFC if there’s the chance for a one-off bout, there would be one fascinating– though possibly not the most competitive– match for Parry: Jon Jones.
Parry and Jones have a beef that extends back to Parry’s days of training with Cormier, Jones’ biggest competitor. The 2 supposedly have had a variety of fights, consisting of a May 2019 incident at a fitness event in England. In a recent interview, Parry has actually mentioned he does not dislike Jones and would want to assist him turn his life outside the cage around, however he feels Jones will never ever be a great individual.
Even if the battle is gimmicky and winds up lame, such a battle’s buzz and construct would be rather heated and Mixed Martial Arts (and kickboxing fans) may heat it up, particularly when they discover of the history in between these 2.
Next: Top 30 Mixed Martial Arts knockouts of perpetuity
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Source: https://worldweeklynews.com/3-fighters-the-ufc-should-sign-immediately-if-glory-goes-under/
