Thomas: "Barrett can be broken"

Four fighters are squaring off on Friday night for the chance to earn a shot at the GLORY World Middleweight Championship.

Dustin Jacoby (7-6, 6 KO's) of Denver, Colorado faces Karl Roberson (0-1 as a kickboxer, see below) of New Jersey in one of the Middleweight Contender Tournament semi-final matches, while Robert Thomas (8-3, 5 KO's) of Toronto, Canada faces Wayne Barrett (5-4, 4 KO's) of New York in the other.

It is an evenly balanced tournament: Jacoby has a stoppage win over Barrett, but Barrett has a stoppage win over Mike Lemaire, who stopped Jacoby, as does Thomas. These are all capable of beating each other on any given day.

Lemaire is now out of the tournament, fighting Joe Schilling on the Superfight Series card, and his place is taken by newcomer Karl Roberson, the tournament dark horse. He has an interesting background: an MMA fighter by trade, last year he took a late notice kickboxing match with heavyweight legend Jerome Le Banner in France, and had victory stolen from him by a blatant piece of biased refereeing.

Shortly afterwards, he was due to fight Pat Barry at heavyweight on the GLORY 24 DENVER card, but Barry pulled out and Roberson was removed from the card. He walks around at heavyweight but competes at middleweight when he has a full camp and time to cut weight, so this is an interesting addition to the tournament line-up.

Thomas says that through fight math he sees himself as the tournament favorite and that it gives him “a huge mental edge”. He is also looking forward to the chance to get a shot at the belt if he wins.

“When I started obviously the goal was to be the best in the world and now that goal is right here, in this tournament, I win the tournament and get the title shot. I've been working towards this for like half of my life, all through my teenage years,” says the 23-year-old.

With a background in orthodox Muay Thai, Thomas had possibly the hardest debut any fighter has ever had in GLORY. Russian standout Artem Levin needed an opponent on short notice so Thomas stepped up to face him in what was also his debut under kickboxing rules.

He lost a decision but impressed with his heart and grit; Levin went on to win the eight-man LAST MAN STANDING tournament shortly afterwards.

“Levin was the Muay Thai world champion at this weight before I even started, I think. When we fought [at GLORY 16] I guess I was kind of shocked to be in there stood opposite him, I think I froze up under the lights,” he reflects.

“I was a pure Muay Thai stylist having my first fight under kickboxing rules. I was trying to lead with kicks and kind of lunging in. But Artem is a tricky tactical guy and he can just pick you apart.”

Muay Thai fights look similar to kickboxing matches but there are fundamental differences. One of them is that Muay Thai bouts tend to start very slowly. They play out over five rounds and the first round is usually 'thrown away' as a feeling-out round, with the fight proper commencing in the second round.

“That's true, and stylistically I have been really slow starting [in GLORY] so it seems like I am getting overwhelmed early on in the fight. They come out fast and put the pressure on me. So I have to match that intensity [from the outset].

“[Preparing for this tournament] I have been boxing a lot, studying 'the sweet science' – the art of hitting without getting hit. I want to get in there and get my shots off and then get out.

“Wayne Barrett is a bit unorthodox, he moves around a lot and throws tricky shots and tries to lure you in for that big shot. But then if he doesn't hurt you with it, he seems to break.”

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 which precedes GLORY 27 – headlined by Joe Schilling - will air live on UFC FIGHT PASS starting at 7:30 p.m. ET.