GLORY 35 Fighter of the Night

GLORY 42 Lightweight Contender Tournament Champion

Chris 'Bad News' Baya came into his GLORY 35 fight with Josh Jauncey on five day's notice, the third change of opponent that Jauncey had since being put on the GLORY 35 card. 

Initially Jauncey was set to face France's Dylan Salvador, then Salvador's replacement Serhiy Adamchuk, the latter pulling out when his brother was tragically killed back home in Ukraine.

Mike Passenier said at the time that Baya is one of those guys who is always ready and always fit. A string of stoppage wins on his record also testified to the power that Passenier said could end a fight at any moment.

What we saw from Baya in that fight was the classic forward-pressure, hands-and-low kick combination work that Mike's Gym fighters are known for. He was able to draw Jauncey into firefight and then made him pay for that by knocking him down in the second round.

Jauncey had to go all out in the third and he did, but it wasn't enough to tip the scores his way. Two judges scored it a draw, the other three had it for Baya and so he took a good name scalp in his debut.

“The gameplan was to throw bombs and that's what we did. I caught him with a few good punches and he wobbled, and that was it,” he said of his second round knockdown.

Since that debut, Baya has further proved his quality by winning a Lightweight Contender Tournament to put his name immediately into the contender mix in one of kickboxing’s toughest divisions.