Alkayis outclasses De Waele in women's super-bantamweight Grand Prix match

Both fighters were making their GLORY debuts in this reserve match for the Women's Super-Bantamweight Grand Prix. Alkayis brought much more experience to the ring, with a professional record of 28-2, 12 KO's, but De Waele has extensive experience on the European amateur circuit and was confident she would not be outclassed.

It was Alkayis who pushed the pace early, going after De Waele and working high low combinations to push her onto the back foot. De Waele was forced to move constantly for the first round as Alkayis piled the pressure on. De Waele's confidence began to look misplaced.

De Waele rallied in the second and got into the fight more but couldn't put the brakes on Alkayis. The Turkish fighter was frequently able to come in and land her shots then get out and evade the counter. De Waele's attempts at forward offense frequently fell short as she tried to attack from too far outside; Alkayis was able to easily side-step or block many of her efforts.

The fast pace and dexterity of both fighters was notable. As the smallest and lightest of GLORY's weight classes, the super-bantamweight women fighters are nimble and have great gas tanks. Alkayis in particular was able to throw endless strings of combinations including multiple alternating middle kicks with the left and right leg.

In the end the story of the fight is right there in the FightMetrics statistics. Alkayis outlanded her Belgian opponent by nearly three times, scoring 96 strikes landed from 135 thrown. De Waele recorded 33 landed from 106 thrown, illustrating how evasive Alkayis proved when on the defensive.