Matchmaker’s Breakdown: Saulo Cavalari vs. Zack Mwekassa

This Saturday night the GLORY World Light-Heavyweight Championship will be on the line as Zack ‘The Black Warrior’ Mwekassa (13-2, 12 KO’s) and Saulo ‘Cassius Clay’ Cavalari (31-2, 19 KO’s) square off for the right to be crowned champion of their division.

They fought once before, in the final of the GLORY 18 OKLAHOMA Light-Heavyweight Contender Tournament, and it was a good fight with heavy firepower from both sides. Cavalari won by knockout in the third round with a left head-kick and went to #1 in the contender rankings, while Mwekassa bounced back with a KO win at GLORY 22 FRANCE in June to stay in the contender conversation.

Mwekassa has had plenty of things to say about Cavalari as he has prepared for this rematch. He blames himself for the loss at GLORY 18 and says it was only because he lost focus that Cavalari was able to catch him. Cavalari says different, that it was because of his strategy and his more rounded skills that he was able to win.

Mwekassa is so compact. He reminds me a little of one of the old-school guys, Chalid Arrab, a stocky, powerful guy who if he gets on the inside and hits you, he will KO you or give you an eight-count. He moves his upper body like a boxer and that’s a mixed thing. It leaves him open in some ways but it also means he can move in and pressure guys and get where he needs to be.

Cavalari is the more complete kickboxer whereas Zack is primarily a boxer, but he has been working hard on his kickboxing game and has spent time training in Holland for this fight. We see more complete kickboxing from him in every fight. In boxing you don’t need to defend things like leg-kick and head-kicks and that isn’t something you learn overnight.

The last fight was a tournament situation. Cavalari had a tough three-round fight with Danyo Ilunga and Mwekassa had a relatively quick fight against Brian Collette, he won by KO, so that gave him some physical advantage for the final because he was more fresh.

I think there is a little advantage for Cavalari because he won the last fight and he is more complete as a kickboxer and also has more experience. But the power advantage is with Mwekassa and in France [at GLORY 22] we saw that his kicking game is also coming on and has power. He is compact but massively powerful and he uses his whole body in everything he does. We can’t underestimate his kicking power as well as his punching power.

This rematch, it is not easy to say who will be a winner. What we can say is that it is unlikely to be a five-round fight. These are two guys who knock people out and with their history and their style of fighting I expect a knockout. It can come from either guy, a punch or kick from Cavalari or a punch from Mwekassa.