GLORY has today confirmed three key clashes for the GLORY 65 UTRECHT event taking place Friday, May 17 at Central Studios in Utrecht, Netherlands.
On the main card, Yousri Belgaroui (25-5, 13 KO’s) faces off with Donovan Wisse (11-1, 7 KO’s) in a battle between an established middleweight contenders and its rising new threat.
On the Superfight Series card, top lightweight contenders Tyjani Beztati (18-3, 6 KO’s) and Josh Jauncey (29-9, 15 KO’s) will meet in a pivotal lightweight clash and Eyevan Danenberg (28-7, 13 KO’s), previously a leading welterweight contender, moves up in weight to make his middleweight debut against Yassine Ahaggan (33-6, 22 KO’s).
Belgaroui debuted at GLORY 34 and came runner-up in the event’s four-man Middleweight Contender Tournament, losing a decision to Israel Adesanya in the final, before going on to win the GLORY 40 Middleweight Contender Tournament, scoring a decision over Alex Pereira in the final.
Pereira later went on to win the middleweight title and Belgaroui has been on his trail ever since. Two previous attempts to take the belt from the Brazilian have failed. Belgaroui hopes the third time will be the charm, but to stay in the title-shot chase he first needs to defeat Wisse.
Debuting in GLORY with a 9-0 record, Wisse quickly raised himself to 11-1. In his most recent appearance, at GLORY 64, he won by way of an emphatic knockout late in the second round. A win over Belgaroui would elevate him into the division’s top five and potentially into title contention.
Beztati and Jauncey are two of the lightweight division’s brightest talents and a showdown between the two was always inevitable. This is a highly-anticipated first encounter, one which has strong implications for the lightweight contender picture.
Both have eight wins in GLORY: Beztati has gone 8-2 with two wins by knockout and Jauncey 8-6 with five wins by knockout. Both also had their first title shots last year and both gave defending champion Sitthichai a strong test before ultimately losing a judges’ decision.
Jauncey and Beztati are now seeking their second title shot: the road to that shot brings them to this meeting in Utrecht.
Eyevan Danenberg went 5-2 as a GLORY welterweight and cracked the top five, placing himself in title contention, but found the weight cut increasingly difficult and has now elected to move up to middleweight to continue his title campaign.
Ahaggan, fighting out of Bordeaux, France, has gone 1-1 in GLORY since making his debut at GLORY 47 and has no intention of being Danenberg’s first middleweight victim. He will be giving Danenberg a cold welcome to his new weight class.
