A victorious Mananquil (Photo credit: Jeff Tackmier/GLORY)

By GLORY (via press release)

MILWAUKEE, WIS. (May 11, 2013) – Two-time world Muay Thai champion Michael Mananquil (29-4-1, 9 KOs) of San Bruno, Calif. put forth a spectacular effort, defeating three consecutive opponents in one night to earn the developmental Road To GLORY USA lightweight (154 pounds/70 kilograms) tournament championship at Rave Eagles Club Grand Ballroom in Milwaukee, Wis. on Saturday, May 11.

Mananquil’s performance in the tournament earned him a $20,000 grand prize and a multi-fight contract with GLORY, the world’s premier kickboxing league that launched the developmental Road To GLORY tournament series in February in order to identify potential future kickboxing champions and superstars.

“I have so much respect for all of the fighters who came to fight in tonight’s tournament,” said the 31-year-old Mananquil, a student of Muay Thai since the age of 15 and a protégé of Kru (trainer) Sam Phimsoutham.  “I am excited about my future and having the opportunity to compete amongst the best fighters in the world in GLORY.”

In the quarterfinal stage of the tournament, Mananquil found himself in a tough fight against Jameel “The Real Deal” Massouh (28-10, 8 KOs) of Milwaukee.  Massouh, a mixed martial artist as well as a kickboxer, took the fight to Mananquil, but Mananquil intelligently utilized his superior kicks and punches to edge out a split decision and advance to the semifinal stage of the tournament where he met battle-tested Muhsin Corbbrey (34-11-2) of Tulsa, Okla.

Corbbrey, who dominated Dustin Johnson (17-6, 10 KOs) of Baton Rouge, La. in the quarterfinal stage of the tournament, scoring a knockdown on Johnson in the second round before claiming victory by way of unanimous decision, was more cautious and somewhat tentative in the ring against Mananquil for the majority of their bout.

In the third round, though, Corbbrey and Mananquil turned up the tempo and began slugging it out.  Corbbrey opened up his guard, allowing Mananquil to connect with a solid left hook and high right round kick that put Corbbrey down for the 10 count, sending Mananquil to the championship round of the tournament where he faced off with Troy Sheridan (21-3, 9 KOs) of Stouffville, Ontario, Canada.

Sheridan reached the championship stage of the event by earning unanimous decisions over Cyrus “Black Dynamite” Washington (53-22, 48 KOs) of Saginaw, Mich. and Jose Palacios (43-11, 13 KOs) of Fremont, Calif. in the quarterfinal and semifinal stages, respectively.

Despite having fought six full rounds to reach the championship bout, Sheridan showed little fatigue against Mananquil and the two engaged in an all-out war, trading punch combinations and kicks from the outset.  It was Mananquil’s superior offense and aggression, though, that gave him the edge and convinced all three judges scoring the fight to award him the decision.

GLORY action resumes on Saturday, June 22 with the league’s first-ever championship series event in the U.S.  GLORY 9 New York takes place at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City and will be headlined by a one-night, eight-man single-elimination light heavyweight (209 pounds/95 kilograms) tournament loaded with a collection of the sport’s superstars including Tyrone “King of the Ring” Spong (69-6-1 43 KOs) of Boca Raton, Fla. via Suriname;Steve McKinnon (42-5, 29 KOs) of Australia; Danyo Ilunga (51-4, 41 KOs) of Germany; and Filip Verlinden (40-9-1, 16 KOs) of Belgium.

COMPLETE ROAD TO GLORY USA LIGHTWEIGHT TOURNAMENT RESULTS:

Quarterfinal Round:

Michael Mananquil def. Jameel Massouh via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)

Muhsin Corbbrey def. Dustin Johnson via unanimous decision (28-27, 30-27, 30-26)

Jose Palacios def. Ben Yelle via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Troy Sheridan def. Cyrus Washington via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Semifinal Round:

Michael Mananquil def. Muhsin Corbbrey via KO – Round 3 (:46)

Troy Sheridan def. Jose Palacios via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

Championship Round:

Michael Mananquil def. Troy Sheridan via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

Reserve Bout:

Jon Henderson def. Gustavo Rodriguez via KO – Round 2 (2:20)

Corbbrey (photo via GLORY)

By GLORY (via press release)

SINGAPORE (May 2, 2013) – Glory Sports International (GSI), the parent company of the world’s premier kickboxing league, announced today that it will bring its developmental Road To GLORY USA tournament series established to identify America’s next great Kickboxing superstars, to the historic Rave Eagles Club Grand Ballroom, 2401 W. Wisconsin Ave in Milwaukee, WI with a one-night, 8-man, single-elimination lightweight (154 pounds/70 kilograms) tournament on Saturday, May 11, 2013.

Advanced priced tickets for Road to GLORY USA are $35.00 GA ($40.00 door), $60.00 VIP Ringside or VIP Stage ($70.00 door) and $100.00 VIP Front Row ($110.00 door), and can be purchased in advance at Cagetix.com, NAFC.tv, The Rave/Eagles Club box office, by phone at 414-967-7767 or at the door.

The tournament is being held as part of four-time Muay Thai and kickboxing world champion and famed fight trainer Duke Roufus’ and his business partner Scott Joffe’s North American Fighting Championship (NAFC) “Knockout Kings” Muay Thai and Kickboxing show.

The winner of the Road to GLORY USA Milwaukee tournament, featuring a host of prolific prospects, will be awarded a $20,000 grand prize and a multi-year contract with GLORY, where they will have the opportunity to compete against some of the world’s elite kickboxing champions and superstars.

Dustin Johnson (photo via GLORY)

“We are looking forward to continuing what has been an extremely productive and exciting search for new, undiscovered martial arts athletic talent in a country that has traditionally excelled in professional sports, but has yet to truly demonstrate its potential in the kickboxing ring,” said Glory Sports International CEO Andrew Whitaker.  “With the athletes we’ve identified in our Road To GLORY USA tournament series thus far, the stage is being set for a major, future growth spurt in American Kickboxing talent.”

Slated for action in the Road To GLORY USA lightweight tournament are KO artist Cyrus “Black Dynamite “Washington (53-21, 48 KOs) of Saginaw, MI; Shidokan Karate, boxing and Muay Thai expert Muhsin Corbbrey (33-10-2) of Tulsa, OK; Muay Thai champion Michael Mananquil (26-4-1, 8 KOs) of San Bruno, CA; battle-tested striking sensation Jose Palacios (42-10, 13 KOs) of Fremont, CA; rising star Jameel “The Real Deal” Massouh (28-9, 8 KOs) of Milwaukee; kickboxing star and police officer Dustin Johnson (17-5, 10 KOs) of Baton Rouge, LA; national and North American Muay Thai champion Ben “Stone-Man” Yelle (23-15-1, 10 KOs) of Marquette, MI; and six-time kickboxing and Muay Thai champion Troy Sheridan (19-2, 9 KOs) of Stouffville, Ontario, Canada.

A draw to determine the Road To GLORY USA lightweight tournament’s quarterfinal stage matchups will take place on a date and location to be announced soon.

In the event that any of the quarterfinal stage fight winners sustain an injury that precludes him from returning to the ring for the tournament’s semifinal stage, the winner of a tournament “alternate” bout between Gustavo Rodriguez (17-4) of Rockford, IL, and Jon Henderson (9-1) of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada will replace the injured fighter in the tournament.

Doors at The Rave Eagles Club Grand Ballroom will open for the event at 4:00 p.m. CST and the first preliminary bout begins at 4:15 p.m.

World Series of Fighting President and six-time world kickboxing champion Ray Sefo launches his new MMA fight promotion live on NBC Sports Network tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 3

By Joshua Molina

In his epic, 87-fight career, Ray Sefo has fought the some of best (Mirko Cro Cop) and undoubtedly the worst (Bob Sapp).

He’s an indefatigable warrior who spent a majority of his career as a K-1 kickboxing star, but who has also fought inside the cage and as professional boxer.

And now the scrappy 41-year-old is taking on a new fight, one that just might be the most challenging of his enduring career.

Sefo on Saturday night will debut his World Series of Fighting Mixed Martial Arts promotion from Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, in a fight that will be televised live on the NBC Sports network.

At a time when mixed martial arts has emerged as the fastest-growing sport in the world, led by the rise of the UFC, the WSOF is looking to usher in the next big era of the sport and take advantage of the UFC’s slight drop in popularity.

It’s a tall task, but as any fighter knows, no one or no thing is unbeatable; it’s all about timing, seizing opportunities and being unafraid to fail.

An air of intrigue surrounds the debut of the show. The MMA media, the UFC and Bellator and hardcore fans will watch to look at the production quality, the live attendance, and the quality of the fights.

While the UFC has barely acknowledged the show, everybody knows that there’s a lot a stake in how the show comes off. NBC sports has committed to televising the first show; unless the ratings are horrible, it’s likely that NBC Sports will televise a second show.

But others are watching. With Strikeforce in shambles, Showtime might be looking for a new MMA company to partner with in 2013.

Will the World Series of Fighting be one and done? Or are we watching the birth of the next big thing in MMA? We don’t know yet.

What we do know is that the show has a strong main event. Former UFC champion Andre Arlovski will battle one-time rising star Devin Cole.

Arlovski is an enigma. He looks great (but can he please replace the ridiculous vampire mouthpiece?) and with power in his hands can undoubtedly can fight. But he can’t take a punch. After lose four straight fights, three by knockout, Arlovski has put together three straight impressive performances. His last fight was declared a NC because of an illegal kick, but Arlovski was well in control at the time.

If he can beat Cole Saturday, then we can say that Arlovski is back. That’s because Cole, a former All-American wrestler, will be Arlovski’s toughest opponent since he fought the tough, at-the-time confident Brett Rogers. Cole has won eight out of his last 11 fights. He would likely be fighting in the UFC right now, but an arrest on sex assault charges prompted the UFC to back out of doing business with him. The charges were eventually reduced to assault and sexual harassment.

Cole, who went three rounds with Daniel Cormier,  is hungry to redeem himself.

Both fighters are hungry to redeem themselves. They both stand in each others’ way.

The card is stacked with 10 fights, including Anthony Johnson vs. DJ Linderman and Miguel Torres vs. Marlon Moraes.

Saturday’s show is also important because it gives fighters another option to make a living. These days, the UFC routinely dismisses fighters because the company has little fear that they will be successful in another promotion.

Competition will only make every company better. In the vicious business of MMA, fighters need options so that they don’t live or die on the whims of one or two power brokers.

Sefo now enters the business of MMA. Round 1 begins Saturday night on NBC Sports at 7:30 PST.

Saturday night also features an exciting kickboxing Pay Per View (also an iPPV on GloryWorldseries.com) event put on by the GLORY. In MMA, (unless your Ovince St. Preux in 2010), fighters compete, twice, maybe three times a year.

Imagine competing three times in one night? GLORY will hold the Final 8 tournament in Rome, Italy Saturday night. The winner of the single-elimination, one-night tournament will win $300,000 — an amazing amount considering that fighters in the UFC don’t make nearly that kind of money, (except for a handful of guys at the top).

The stand-up fighting promotions are growing in popularity and appear to represent a significant growth area for the combat sports movement.