Adamchuk back on title trail as he meets Chikadze in GLORY 33 Contender ...

Former featherweight champion Serhiy Adamchuk (33-6, 16 KO's) is wasting no time in his campaign to win back the featherweight title he lost to Gabriel Varga at GLORY 32 VIRGINIA. The plucky Ukranian is taking part in the GLORY 33 NEW JERSEY Featherweight Contender Tournament and, if he can win two fights in one night, will get a title shot.

That would be his third fight with Varga. They first met at GLORY 25 MILAN when Varga was the defending champion. Their close fight resulted in a split-decision win for Adamchuk, making him the new champion. Varga then sat out until GLORY 32, when he was able to win a unanimous decision over Adamchuk and take the belt back, scoring a knockdown along the way.

Adamchuk has established a reputation for an intelligent and very tricky fighting style in his six appearances under the GLORY banner. In the GLORY 33 tournament semi-finals he will meet an equally tricky fighter in the form of Giga Chikadze (35-4, 21 KO's), a karate black-belt who now trains under former Chute Boxe head coach Rafael Cordeiro at the renowned Kings MMA gym in Huntington Beach, California.

Chikadze's karate background has been mixed with Cordeiro's style to make for an incredibly unorthodox kicking game which is driven by a forward-pressure aggressive approach. It's been a winning formula for Chikadze thus far; two of his three victories in GLORY have been by way of a stunning and brutal body blow dubbed 'The Giga-kick' by his training partners. They endure it on a daily basis and still get caught by it; opponents fighting him for the first time have little chance to see it coming.

“The interesting thing about this fight is it is two fighters with a very intelligent approach. They aren't just going out there swinging, they are opening their opponent up, tricking him and misdirecting him into moving the wrong way. It will be interesting to see which of them can outfox the other,” says GLORY matchmaker Cor Hemmers.

“Adamchuk has a mostly counter-attacking style but when he sees an opening he quickly flicks the switch and moves into attacking mode to pressure him. Chikadze's kicking game is like nobody else's in GLORY, it's very unique, so that can make opponents hesitant to attack. And when they counter, sometimes they will find that Chikadze has baited them into throwing that counter and he has a counter-counter ready.”

Chikadze has been vocal about wanting a title shot since he first arrived in GLORY's featherweight division. At Kings MMA he is surrounded by champions – Rafael Dos Anjos and Fabricio Werdum have both held UFC belts, and former PRIDE FC champion Wanderlei Silva is a regular visitor. Cordeiro is a trainer of multiple world champions in the course of his career and has talked confidently of seeing Chikadze take the GLORY belt at 145lbs.

Adamchuk is likewise surrounded by champions at Mike's Gym in Amsterdam, home to the likes of Badr Hari and Murthel Groenhart. Head coach Mike Passenier says the taciturn Ukrainian is one of the most dedicated and disciplined athletes he has ever worked with and he is certain that he can regain the title in due course.

The other semi-final bracket has South Korean veteran Chibin Lim against Canadian debutant Matt Embree. Both those fighters are no stranger to the championship level either – Embree is a WBC Muay Thai champion – and the final will be a tough test for whichever two fighters make it.

GLORY 33 NEW JERSEY takes place at the Sun National Bank Center in Trenton, NJ on Friday, September 9. It will be aired live on ESPN 2 and 3 and is headlined by heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven defending his belt against Brazilian challenger Anderson 'Braddock' Silva.