2015 Awards Nominations: Fighter of the Year
The end of 2015 is almost upon us and it's been another action-packed year for GLORY Kickboxing. Our non-stop knockout action went on tour around the world with events in the USA, France, United Arab Emirates, Italy and the Netherlands.
Along the way we saw champions rise and fall and new contenders emerge as every fighter in each division chases his dream of being the best in the world at his weight.
There were so many standout performances that it was difficult to choose a shortlist of only four fighters for the Fighter of the Year nomination. But the final shortlisted four all had a great 2015, each of them winning or retaining their division's championship title.
And so now it's time for you the fans to vote for who you think is GLORY Kickboxing's 2015 Fighter of the Year. There are four nominees – we need you to pick just one fighter from the shortlist, the one who you think has had a better 2015 than the others. The winner will be announced at the end of the year.
Rico Verhoeven
World Heavyweight Champion
A dream came true for Rico Verhoeven as he retained the World Heavyweight Championship at GLORY 26 AMSTERDAM by way of a first-round knockout. 'The Prince' became 'The King' as he dispatched top contender Benjamin Adegbuyi and created a clear gap between himself and the rest of the division as we head into 2016.
Nieky Holzken
World Welterweight Champion
Holzken also featured on the Amsterdam card as he retained the World Welterweight Championship with a close decision win over Murthel Groenhart. At the start of the year he returned from injury to win a contender tournament and then captured the vacant title at GLORY 23 LAS VEGAS by stopping Los Angeles-based rival Raymond 'Real Deal' Daniels.
Robin van Roosmalen
World Lightweight Champion
Lightweight champion Van Roosmalen successfully defended his belt twice in 2015. At GLORY 20 DUBAI he also got revenge as he soundly beat Andy 'The Machine' Ristie over five rounds to even the score between them. In November he met top Thai contender Sittichai and had a close, hard fight before winning a judges' decision.
Saulo Cavalari
World Light-Heavyweight Champion
From his childhood days Saulo Cavalari dreamed of being a champion fighter like his idol Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) and this year he achieved that, beating Zack Mwekassa in California to capture the vacant belt. Earlier in the year he beat Russian standout Artem Vakhitov to place himself in pole position as the top contender.
So, there's the nominations for Fighter of the Year 2015. Leave your vote in the comments box below or leave a post on our Facebook page or Twitter feed. And watch out for more awards nominations later this week, including Fight of the Year and Knockout of the Year...