Artem Levin breaks down the GLORY 20 DUBAI Middleweight Contender Tourna...

Four top middleweights will travel to Dubai next month for the Middleweight Contender Tournament at GLORY 20 DUBAI.

New York’s Wayne Barrett (5-2, 4 KO’s) faces Canada’s Simon Marcus (40-2-1, 24 KO’s) in the first of the semi-finals while Brazil’s Alex Pereira (17-2, 10 KO’s) faces the Netherland’s Jason Wilnis (23-4-1, 6 KO’s) in the other.

The semi-final winners will meet that same night in the tournament final and the victorious finalist will go forward to face Artem ‘The Lion’ Levin (50-4-1, 33 KO’s) for his World Middleweight Championship at GLORY 21 SAN DIEGO.

It’s a well-balanced tournament; Pereira won the GLORY 14 Middleweight Contender Tournament but has a previous loss to Wilnis; Marcus is ranked #1 in the world at this weight under Muay Thai rules but has found the transition to kickboxing rules tricky.

Barrett has the least experience but has fought at the highest levels, making it to the semi-finals of the eight-man LAST MAN STANDING tournament and only narrowly missing out on making the finals, though he lost to Wilnis in his next fight after the tournament.

Levin says he will be watching the Dubai contest very closely as he waits to see who his next challenger will be. “It will be a very interesting tournament for me. Whoever wins will be my next opponent. I need to get back in the ring and I want to show my friends a new fight,” he says.

Here’s what the reigning World Middleweight Champion thinks of each fighter’s chances:

WAYNE BARRETT

He is a very strong fighter and has very good punches and interesting techniques. Maybe a little bit similar to me. But in his last fight he showed his weakness. Wilnis showed me the way you need to fight against Wayne Barrett. Wilnis [was too] strong for him in the last fight. But for me its a very interesting opponent.

SIMON MARCUS

Simon Marcus…I don’t know. I think Simon should take a little bit of rest. Maybe Joe broke something down in him, I don’t know. In my opinion Simon should rest a little bit. But I await the opportunity for rematch against Simon Marcus. This is very important for me.

ALEX PEREIRA

For me he is the favorite in this tournament. I know his power; this is a very big guy, tall guy, strong guy. I watched his fights many times and this guy can knock out anybody in this tournament. He is my favorite.

JASON WILNIS

This is a soldier, this is a warrior. He has an aggressive style. He will push, push, push. His last fight [against Barrett] showed what he can do.