Rico Verhoeven

By Press Release

AMSTERDAM – GLORY today announced the full 14-fight lineup that will cap off a record year for the world’s premier kickboxing league.

Marking the organization’s 13th live event of 2017, GLORY: REDEMPTION will feature four fights, while GLORY 49 SuperFight Series and GLORY 49 Rotterdam will each showcase five fights, comprising a thrilling year-end show from Ahoy Rotterdam in the Netherlands on Saturday, Dec. 9.

Two bouts have already been announced for GLORY: REDEMPTION, the four-fight pay-per-view special event priced at $29.99 or €25 and digitally distributed by UFC.TV, the largest pay-per-view provider in the world.

The headline bout pits GLORY heavyweight world champion and undisputed “King of Kickboxing” Rico Verhoeven (51-10, 14 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands) against No. 3-ranked heavyweight Jamal “The Goliath” Ben Saddik (32-5, 26 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands), a formidable challenger who previously defeated the future champion – 21 years old at the time – by TKO.

No. 4-ranked light heavyweight Michael “Dreamcrusher” Duut (42-8, 29 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands) and Congolese striker Danyo “Dibuba” Ilunga (57-13, 44 KO, fighting out of Germany) meet in the co-headline bout, the rubber match of an instant-classic trilogy that includes 2016’s Fight of the Year.

Joining the two previously announced GLORY: REDEMPTION bouts are a hard-hitting heavyweight tilt and a match-up to determine the featherweight division’s No. 1 contender.

Veteran Anderson “Braddock” Silva (41-17-1, 26 KO, fighting out of Brazil) welcomes American knockout artist Xavier “X-Man” Vigney (10-1, 8, KO, fighting out of the United States) back to the ring at GLORY: REDEMPTION. The heavyweight foes nearly crossed paths at GLORY 41 Holland, booked to compete on opposite sides of a one-night tournament bracket. Vigney, still undefeated under the GLORY banner at 5-0, was forced to withdraw due to injury, while Silva, currently ranked No. 5, won his first round match-up before being narrowly edged in the final round.

Top-10 phenoms “The Professor” Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao (157-36-2, 25 KO, fighting out of Thailand), ranked No. 2, and Zakaria Zouggary (30-3-1, 15 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands), ranked No. 9, will battle at GLORY: REDEMPTION for an opportunity to capture featherweight gold. The winner will be named No. 1 contender and go on to face the reigning GLORY featherweight champion at a later date.

The complete four-fight card for GLORY: REDEMPTION can be found below:

GLORY: REDEMPTION

Heavyweight World Title Bout: Rico Verhoeven vs. Jamal Ben Saddik

Light Heavyweight Bout: Michael Duut vs. Danyo Ilunga

Heavyweight Bout: Anderson Silva vs. Xavier Vigney

Featherweight No. 1 Contender Bout: Petchpanomrung Kiatmookao vs. Zakaria Zouggary

GLORY: REDEMPTION begins at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT on Saturday, Dec. 9 and is available for purchase at UFC.TV for $29.99 or €25.

GLORY 49 SuperFight Series immediately precedes GLORY: REDEMPTION, with top-10 heavyweights Ismael “Mr. Pain” Londt (39-7-1, 18 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands) and Curaçaoan-Dutch striker D’Angelo Marshall (16-2, 9 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands) already announced for the card.

Londt, a perennial contender currently ranked No. 6, has won three of his last four bouts and returns to the GLORY ring after a layoff that lasted a year. Marshall, ranked No 7, last competed in May, dispatching Mohamed Abdallah and the aforementioned Silva during a one-night tournament at GLORY 41 Holland.

Today, GLORY 49 SuperFight Series gets its headline bout, as newly crowned GLORY middleweight champion Alex ‘Po Atan’ Pereira (26-6, 16 KO, fighting out of Brazil) makes his first title defense. Challenging for the middleweight strap will be 25-year-old Dutch-Tunisian Yousri Belgaroui (23-3, 11 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands), the current No. 1 contender.

Pereira, who first appeared for GLORY back in 2014, seized his championship opportunity in October, wrestling the title away from then-champion Simon Marcus. A more recent addition to GLORY’s middleweight division, Belgaroui has worked his way through an impressive list of former champions and title challengers in that time, with a resume that includes wins over Jason Wilnis, Ariel Machado, and Pereira himself.

An exciting match-up initially scheduled for GLORY 45 Amsterdam has been rebooked for GLORY 49 SuperFight Series. Former welterweight champion Nieky “The Natural” Holzken (90-13, 46 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands), fully recovered from a foot injury that delayed the previous bout, will once again prepare to face 23-year-old up-and-comer Alim “Professor” Nabiyev (47-6, 21 KO, fighting out of Russia), who hails from Azerbaijan and is coming off a successful debut at GLORY 47 SuperFight Series.

Eyevan “Mister Cool” Danenberg (25-6, 13 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands), representing Aruba on fight night, locks horns with Road to GLORY UK winner Jamie Bates (24-6, 3 KO, fighting out of England).

GLORY 49 SuperFight Series kicks off with action from 19-year-old featherweight prospects, as Bailey “Bad Boy” Sugden (9-1, 2 KO, fighting out of the United Kingdom) takes on Chenglong Zhang (41-5, 11 KO, fighting out of China), the breakout star of GLORY 46 China following his one-night qualification tournament victory.

The complete five-fight card for GLORY 49 SuperFight Series can be found below:

GLORY 49 SuperFight Series

Middleweight World Title Bout: Alex Pereira vs. Yousri Belgaroui

Heavyweight Bout: Ismael Londt vs. D’Angelo Marshall

Welterweight Bout: Nieky Holzken vs. Alim Nabiyev

Welterweight Bout: Eyevan Danenberg vs. Jamie Bates

Featherweight Bout: Bailey Sugden vs. Chenglong Zhang

GLORY 49 SuperFight Series will stream live and exclusively on UFC FIGHT PASS at 1:30 p.m. ET / 10:30 a.m. PT on Saturday, Dec. 9.

GLORY 49 Rotterdam, the first of three stacked fight cards on Dec. 9, is headlined by the final round of a one-night, four-man lightweight contender tournament.

Danish dynamo Niclas “The Destroyer” Larsen (46-9-2, 24 KO, fighting out of Denmark) and 20-year-old Dutch-Moroccan wunderkind Tyjani “The Wonderboy” Beztati (14-1, 5 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands), ranked No. 4 at lightweight, both compete for the fourth time this year, squaring off in the tournament opening round.

On the other side of the tournament bracket, Bulgarian bruiser Stoyan “The Sniper” Koprivlenski (7-1, 3 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands) meets the returning Maykol Yurk(8-5, 6 KO, fighting out of Brazil), who moves up to lightweight after competing at featherweight for GLORY in the past.

Angola’s Christian “Bad News” Baya (59-5-1, 34 KO, fighting out of the Netherlands) looks to spoil the debut of lightweight Samo Petje (32-6-1, fighting out of Slovenia), who enters the bout as a two-weight champion for European promotion Final Fight Championship.

Plus, Muay Thai stylist Omar Moreno (25-7-1, 9 KO, fighting out of the United States) fights The Ultimate Fighter: China contestant and UFC veteran Anying “Smiley” Wang(10-3, fighting out of China) at welterweight.

The complete five-fight card for GLORY 49 Rotterdam can be found below:

GLORY 49 Rotterdam

Lightweight Tournament Final Bout: Winner of Bout A vs. Winner of Bout B

Lightweight Bout: Christian Baya vs. Samo Petje

Welterweight Bout: Omar Moreno vs. Anying Wang

Lightweight Tournament Semifinal Bout B: Niclas Larsen vs. Tyjani Beztati

Lightweight Tournament Semifinal Bout A: Stoyan Koprivlenski vs. Maykol Yurk

GLORY 49 Rotterdam will be carried live on ESPN3 at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on Saturday, Dec. 9.

Tickets for GLORY: REDEMPTION (which includes entry for GLORY 49 SuperFight Series and GLORY 49 Rotterdam) are on sale now at tickets.glorykickboxing.com.

For more information about GLORY, visit glorykickboxing.com.