Abena VS. Latescu Fight Preview

The Quarterfinal 2 fight preview of the GLORY Light Heavyweight Grand Prix is powered by Unibet.

He may be the youngest fighter in the GLORY Light Heavyweight Grand Prix, but Stefan Latescu (17-2, 8 KO) went straight after the highest possible ranked fighter in the tournament when he called out former champion Donegi Abena (27-10, 7 KO).

The 22-year-old Romanian burst into GLORY in 2023 with two explosive back-to-back victories to capture the ‘GLORY Newcomer of the Year’ award. His fighting style is one of the most exciting in the tournament and he possesses true KO power and speed.

While Abena is just four years his senior, he has been around GLORY since 2018. He knows what it’s like to be the new kid on the block and also won his first two fights in the promotion. Fast forward six years and five title fights later, the Dutch-Surinamese fighter is one of the most tenured athletes in the division.

Over the years, Abena has evolved into a very clever fighter and likes to assess the situation and read his opponent as the fight continues. This has become both a benefit and a detriment to his fights. As he searches for his moments, allowing his opponent to move forward, he finds some great opportunities to land offense but also gives his opponent the chance to attack. We saw both sides of this in his last fight against Khbabez.

This would be a dangerous game plan against a fighter like Latescu who loves to come forward and press the action and look for those big shots. Much like with Abena, this style of fighting can go either way. Going for the big punches opens you up to counters but if you press the action, you fight at your pace.

This is a great stylistic match-up and a very even fight which has great potential to end in a KO.

GLORY Light Heavyweight Grand Prix Full Fight Card

Grand Prix Final
Winner of SF 1 vs. Winner of SF 2

Heavyweight
Murat Aygun (32-3, 8 KO) vs. Ionut Iancu (28-9, 10 KO)

Middleweight
#9 Ramy Deghir (6-1, 1 KO) vs. #10 Brice Kombou (18-3, 3 KO)

Semi-Final 2
Winner of QF3 vs. Winner of QF 4

Semi-Final 1
Winner of QF 1 vs. Winner of QF 2

Quarter-Final 4
#4 Ibrahim El Bouni (41-9-1, 22 KO) vs. #5 Bahram Rajabzadeh (67-2, 59 KO)

Quarter-Final 3
#2 Sergej Maslobojev (38-6, 23 KO) vs. #7 Bogdan Stoica (58-14, 40 KO)

Quarter-Final 2
#3 Stefan Latescu (17-2, 8 KO) vs. #1 Donegi Abena (27-10, 7 KO)

Quarter-Final 1
#C Tarik Khbabez (50-10-1, 28 KO) vs. #6 Pascal Toure (20-6, 7 KO)

Welterweight
Soufiane Abdelkhalek (4-2-1, 2 KO) vs. Ilyass Chakir (16-4-1, 6 KO)

Light Heavyweight Reserve Bout
#8 Mohamed Amine (29-7, 16 KO) vs. Cem Caceres (15-1, 12 KO)