In a previous article we took a look at the matchmaking process behind the Superfight Series 20 card. Now we turn our attention to the GLORY 20 DUBAI card airing on Spike TV.
With two world title fights and a Middleweight Contender Tournament this is one of the most stacked cards GLORY has ever put together. It is loaded with top talent and this card is likely to produce at least two contenders for the ‘Fight of the Year 2015’ award.
Middleweight Contender Tournament
(187lbs/85kgs)
These four guys are high in the rankings and the winner will challenge Artem ‘The Lion’ Levin for the World Middleweight Title at GLORY 21 SAN DIEGO, unless injury prevents it. Whoever wins this tournament will have beaten two Top Ten fighters in a row and that makes him more than deserving of a title shot.
Joe Schilling and Filip Verlinden are both in a high ranking position, #1 and #2 specifically, but were not immediately available for a title fight. So the winner of this tournament takes that shot and then afterwards you can expect to see Schilling or Verlinden in the mix.
Wayne Barrett (5-2, 4 KO’s) vs. Simon Marcus (40-2-1, 24 KO’s)
I am pleased we can make this match because people have been curious to see Barrett against Marcus. They were both in the LAST MAN STANDING tournament in June last year but they didn’t meet. Marcus went out in the quarter-finals but had a ‘Fight of the Year’ with Joe Schilling while doing so.
Marcus was undefeated prior to coming to GLORY but that was under Muay Thai rules. He is a great, great fighter but relies on his clinch a lot in Muay Thai, which we do not allow in kickboxing. So he’s had a hard start to his kickboxing career but he has a chance here to show that he is adapting his game.
Barrett is coming off a loss to Wilnis at GLORY 18 and lost a close decision to Joe Schilling in the fight before that so there’s probably some pressure here for him, although for me personally the Schilling fight was very close. But the loss to Wilnis was one-sided and Barrett has said he really wants to try and get revenge in this fight.
This is a real clash of styles because Marcus is very traditional Muay Thai in his style, quite static with his footwork and throwing a lot of hard kicks, while Barrett is very unorthodox. He moves around a lot, changes angles, but he has good boxing and good power in his hands. You can see in his KO of Bogdan Stoica that even when he is leaning away he can put KO power in a punch.
Jason Wilnis (23-4-1, 6 KO’s) vs. Alex Pereira (17-2, 10 KO’s)
It was surprising how dominant Wilnis was in his last fight, when he beat Wayne Barrett at GLORY 18. Going into the fight I expected things to be quite even but it was a very dominant performance from Wilnis and his confidence seemed to be really high.
Pereira won the first Middleweight Contender Tournament and earned a spot in the eight-man LAST MAN STANDING tournament. But he met Artem Levin in the quarter-finals and was eliminated, though Levin said he was very impressed with him and Levin has picked him as his favorite for this tournament.
This is a rematch. They fought in 2012 and Wilnis really hurt Pereira with body shots and leg kicks, forced him to retire between rounds. But that doesn’t mean the result of this fight is a given because Pereira has improved a lot since that fight. He came from professional boxing and has been working on his all-round kickboxing game so this is a different Pereira we are seeing.
He has a longer reach than Wilnis and obviously good boxing, he has a good jab and a lot of power in his hands. Wilnis has strong Dutch-style kickboxing with the hard low kicks and he already has a win over Pereira. I think he is the favorite slightly, but Pereira has a good chance still.
People are saying that the winner of this fight is the favorite to beat the winner of the other fight but you have to bear in mind that this fight might result in both guys doing incredible damage to each other, so even the winner might be beaten up at the end and not in good condition for the final. You can never be certain of anything in a tournament.
Mosab Amrani (53-9-4, 16 KO’s) vs. Gabriel Varga (25-2, 8 KO’s)
World Featherweight Championship Fight
Amrani is of Moroccan heritage but born and raised in the Netherlands so he has that Dutch-style kickboxing. Varga comes from karate and he is a very technical fighter with a lot of strategy and technique.
I think this is a pretty even fight. You’ve got two very different fighting styles here but they both have a good chance against each other. Amrani is very aggressive and likes to come forward and do damage whereas Varga likes to set his shots up and hit the openings his opponent leaves for him.
That said, we have seen Varga get into wars like with Shane Oblonksy on his way to winning the GLORY 17 Featherweight Contender Tournament, so he is also ready and willing to get into a fight like that. And of course Amrani can play a technical game as well, he is one of the world’s top talents at this weight.
Varga has the reach advantage so Amrani needs to close the distance but he is used to facing taller opponents so he knows how to do that. It’s a close fight but Amrani being from the Arabic world will have the crowd on his side and that could be a factor. Varga has also had to travel a long way for this fight.
Robin van Roosmalen (33-6, 19 KO’s) vs. Andy Ristie (44-4-1, 24 KO’s)
World Lightweight Championship Fight (154lbs/70kgs)
Ristie surprised everyone when he KO’d both Giorgio Petrosyan and Robin van Roosmalen at GLORY 12 NEW YORK in December 2013. But he has proven himself to be a top contender with a lot of knockouts in GLORY now.
Van Roosmalen’s problem with Ristie is that he has a reach disadvantage so he needs to come forward and attack, but that can also make him predictable and allow Ristie to set him up to walk onto something. At the same time, we saw in Davit Kiria’s performance against Ristie that the way to crack him seems to be to keep pressure on him and keep forcing him to work.
In conditioning terms Van Roosmalen has the advantage, his fitness is always perfect. He needs to take risks and try to tire Ristie out then surprise him. Ristie is very unorthodox and is tricky with his punches and knees from all angles, but that means he leaves openings which Van Roosmalen can maybe put a hook or uppercut through.
This is a difficult fight for Van Roosmalen, no doubt. One thing which works against him is that he is always moving forwards but because he doesn’t change the angle much, it can make him predictable. Ristie has dangerous knees, hooks and uppercuts at short range and he also has a good kicking game at long range.
The longer the fight goes, the more the advantage passes to Van Roosmalen. But in the early rounds Ristie will be extremely dangerous. I think this is one of those fights where you cannot take your eyes off of the television for a moment. Whoever is at their best on the day will win.
GLORY 20 DUBAI airs in the US April 3rd on Spike TV at 10pm ET/9pm CT
