Robin van Roosmalen is “living in a dream world” if he thinks he can retain the GLORY World Lightweight Championship, according to Andy ‘The Machine’ Ristie.
The two will meet in the main event of GLORY 20 DUBAI on Friday April 3 in what is one of the most anticipated rematches in recent kickboxing history. Ristie (44-4-1, 24 KO’s) stopped Van Roosmalen (33-6, 19 KO’s) in the final of the GLORY 12 NEW YORK lightweight tournament - and stopped Giorgio Petrosyan in the semi-finals - to announce himself as the division’s new threat.
Ristie’s tricky style caught both Petrosyan and Van Roosmalen out that night and has since outfoxed Steve Moxon and Ky Hollenbeck. Karate stylist Davit Kiria almost had his name added to the list before Ristie gassed out in his attempts to destroy him and fell victim to an incredible comeback in their GLORY 14 ZAGREB fight for the then-vacant World Lightweight Championship.
“I don’t know if this fight is going to look the same as the first one did, because this time I am [actually] prepared for him. So maybe it will go even faster,” says Ristie.
“Now I’ve had a chance to watch his videos and see his weak points, I have good solutions for his style. That’s why I think it could end faster. Maybe he will come with a new plan, let’s see. But I will see my opening, get my chance and then finish him.
“I think his thing will be to try and make me get tired. I saw an interview where he said he thinks I am a three-round fighter. But that was a mistake I made against Davit Kiria. It had been a long time - a long, long time - since I had fought five rounds before that fight.
“But now I have been training for the five-round fight. I could fight for ten rounds if I need to. Now I don’t need to be afraid of my conditioning.”
Having spent a year seeing ‘The Comeback of the Century’ everywhere he turns, Ristie also wants to let people know a few things about the Kiria fight and what he thinks played a part in his losing a fight he had been winning handily.
“It had been several years since I fought five rounds. And also there was a little bit of a problem in my corner between the trainers. I didn’t understand what they were saying because both of them were screaming at me. They didn’t tell me things I needed to hear, like to keep my distance or when there was only thirty seconds left in the round,” he says.
“I think they didn’t have the necessary experience for fights at that level. After I left Lucien Carbin [in 2013] I had to pick some trainers quick, because I didn’t have any and I had the [GLORY 12] fights coming up. But now I don’t work with those guys any more.
“I want that rematch because I need to show him that I can beat him. He knows that he lost that fight really, it was only by my mistake that he got me.”
Ristie’s main coach now is Roberto Flamingo, of Surinamese descent like himself and a former professional kickboxer of more than two decades’ experience. Flamingo has close ties to The Blackzilians team in Florida and has worked with the likes of Rashad Evans and Alistair Overeem there.
“I have my own ‘Team Machine’ now and I rent a gym where I do my training. I have only personal trainers now and we bring guys in for sparring. It is better now because I work on everything that I need to. The focus is on me now, I didn’t get that when I was with Lucien,” says Ristie.
Despite being fed up of hearing about the GLORY 14 loss to Kiria and how much his gas-tank played a part in that, Ristie isn’t taking Van Roosmalen’s comments to heart. In fact he doesn’t seem to give them any weight at all. If ever a fighter sounded confident ahead of a big fight like this, it is Ristie.
“Well he has to say something, you know? If he doesn’t say anything then it looks like he is afraid. I know I have beaten him before already and I know it wasn’t a difficult fight,” he laughs.
“He can say that he had to fight one fight already that night before me but so did I. If he was a fighter who could give me problems then he would have showed me that in the first fight. Honestly I don’t think he has a chance, he is living in a dream world.”
GLORY 20 takes place Friday April 3 with Van Roosmalen and Ristie in the headline slot. The co-main event features Canada’s Gabriel Varga facing Mosab Amrani for the vacant World Featherweight Championship.
Also on the card is a four-man Middleweight Contender Tournament with Wayne Barrett, Simon Marcus, Jason Wilnis and Alex Pereira.
The event airs in the US on Spike TV at 10pm CT/9pm ET and can also be watched live via a pay-per-view HD stream priced at $9.99
