Jacoby: "I plan on knocking everybody out"

Fan favorite Dustin Jacoby has a pretty straightforward gameplan for this Friday's Middleweight Contender Tournament at GLORY 27 CHICAGO.

“I plan on getting in there and knocking them all out,” he says.

Jacoby has had one of the most remarkable runs of any fighter in GLORY. He came in as an MMA fighter and UFC veteran who had entered a one-night, eight-man 'Road to GLORY' tournament on 48hrs notice and won it by stopping all three opponents back to back.

He then got dropped in at the GLORY deep end, fighting top Europeans and suffering a run of losses. It started to look like fighting under pure striking rules might not be his best platform, but he worked extremely hard, including training camps in Holland, and steadily improved his skills.

Suddenly it all started coming together for him. At GLORY 20 DUBAI he gave the veteran Mourad Bouzidi an extremely hard fight and even though he lost a decision, it was a career-best performance. He then went on a 3-0 run which culminated in a stoppage of Wayne Barrett at GLORY 24 DENVER in October.

“Yeah man, I feel like my career is surging at the moment!” he laughs.

“I have a lot of momentum built over the last couple of fights. I am very prepared going into this tournament. I am eager to fight. It means everything to me to get this win and get a title shot in GLORY.”

GLORY 27 CHICAGO is headlined by Simon Marcus taking a second crack at middleweight champion Artem Levin. It is an instant rematch of their GLORY 21 SAN DIEGO meeting, which ended in bad blood, controversy and a draw.

Levin was docked a point for stalling. Marcus felt another point should have been taken later in the fight. Had that happened, the result would have been a decision his way and the title would have changed hands.

Jacoby isn't convinced Marcus has grounds to be as annoyed as he was after that fight. “To be the champ you have to beat the champ and I feel like Simon didn't do enough last time. So on Friday he gets another chance,” he says.

“I am looking forward to that fight... because it will be me who is fighting the winner. Whether it is Wayne Barrett or Robert Thomas I meet in the final, both great fighters, but I am planning on knocking them out and getting that title shot.”

GLORY 27 CHICAGO airs this Friday in the US via digital platform ESPN 3 (www.watchESPN.com) at 10:00PM ET, re-airing Sunday, February 28 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

The GLORY SUPERFIGHT SERIES CHICAGO card which precedes GLORY 27 is headlined by Joe Schilling and will air live on UFC FIGHT PASS starting at 7:30 p.m. ET.