Anything can happen in a fight. That is especially true in the GLORY World Series, where each weight class is packed with nothing but the most elite fighters from around the world.
Upsets are always a surprise but, looking back, they often mark the occasion that a fighter became a force in his division.
There were a number of big upsets in the 2013 GLORY World Series season as bookmakerâs favorites went to the ring confident of victory only to find themselves losing to a lower-ranked opponent, usually in spectacular fashion.
Hereâs five of the biggest upsets of 2013 - which was your Upset of the Year?
Andy âThe Machineâ Ristie (41-3-1, 21 KOâs) vs. Giorgio Petrosyan (78-2-1, 35 KOâs)
GLORY 12 NEW YORK Lightweight Championship Tournament
November 23, 2013
When it was announced that Ristie had been paired with Petrosyan for the semi-finals of the GLORY 12 tournament, there were few people outside Ristieâs own team and family who were predicting victory for him.
Petrosyan went in all but unbeaten in eighty fights. A living legend in the sport, he is regarded as almost impossible to hit, let alone beat. Floyd Mayweather Jr was ringside and the commentators were running wild and free with comparisons between the worldâs best defensive boxer and its best defensive kickboxer.
Ristie hadnât read the script. He didnât show Petrosyan a tenth of the respect that the Armenian-Italianâs previous eighty opponents had. Pre-fight he had told anyone who would listen that he would knock Petrosyan out. People thought that was hype - it wasnât.
From the opening bell, Ristie brought the fight to Petrosyan. Everyone who has faced Ristie says he has a strange, unorthodox style. It really threw Petrosyan off - unable to time and predict Ristie, and having broken his hand early in the first round, he found himself in one of the most damaging fights of his career.
Ristie smelled blood in the first round and went for the kill in the second, piling on the pressure until he dropped Petrosyan with a hard left. Madison Square Garden gasped and went silent; Petrosyan failed to beat the refereeâs count and suffered the sole knockout loss of his career. Ristie went on to deliver a KO to Robin Van Roosmalen and win the tournament final.
Joe âStitch âEm Upâ Schilling (16-5, 10 KOâs) vs. Artem âThe Lionâ Levin (46-4-1, 33 KOâs)
GLORY 10 LOS ANGELES Middleweight Championship Tournament
September 28, 2013
Levin has been #1 at Middleweight for quite some time. The tricky Russian has a very unique style and is generally far too mobile and clever for his opposition. He is an effective mixture of evasive skill and punching power, as Sahak Parparyan learned via a broken jaw at GLORY 7.
Schilling was the home town fighter and was expected to make it to the final but lose in dogged, commendable fashion to the worldâs number one. Instead he showed that his own fighting intelligence is up their with Levinâs, avoiding the Russianâs traps and setting a few of his own in the process.
Like Levin, Schilling can also throw with power. The unthinkable happened when he put Levin down with a right-hand Superman Punch at the midpoint of the fight. Levin - who hadnât been dropped in over five years - beat the count but looked groggy. He had to use every trick in his book to avoid being KOâd.
To be fair, Levin did get back into the fight and he scored enough points to get a draw and an extra round from the judges. Schilling sealed his victory when he scored a second (flash) knockdown in this round. The Russianâs supporters disputed it but the job was done - Schilling beat the world #1 to clinch victory in front of a Los Angeles crowd.
Rico Verhoeven (43-9, 10 KOâs) vs. Daniel Ghita (50-10, 39 KOâs)
GLORY 11 CHICAGO Heavyweight Championship Tournament
October 12, 2013
Verhoeven went into the tournament as the rank underdog, with Gokhan Saki and Daniel Ghita the favorites to win.
Saki had been on blistering form ever since his debut at GLORY 1 STOCKHOLM. His knockout of Carter Williams there was the start of a rampage which saw him KO most of the opposition put in front of him, including Anderson âBraddockâ Silva and Japanese hopeful Raomaru.
His crushing finish of Ghita at GLORY 6 ISTANBUL was probably the standout moment of 2013 for most kickboxing fans. The jaw-dropping spectacle started with a 12-hit combination and was such a one-sided defeat that it was speculated Ghita might never come back from it.
As it happened, Ghita had been suffering some personal issues which were affecting his sporting endeavors. But once these were dealt with he was able to come back and score a huge KO win of his own at GLORY 9 NEW YORK to prove that he was still in the contender race.
In the GLORY 11 semi-finals, he stopped âBraddockâ Silva while Verhoeven fought an intelligent fight and took a decision over Saki, his first big upset of the evening. Saki was improperly given a refereeâs count in that fight but it was still Verhoevenâs fight.
And so to the final. Second-favorite Ghita, with years of experience, stood across from the young contender. They went at it, hard. The final round of the fight was like something from a Rocky movie.
It was very close, but the last two minutes were crucial. Verhoeven looked fresh while Ghitaâs pace dropped off slightly and that was probably what swung it for the judges. They came back with a unanimous decision for Verhoeven to award him his first major tournament win.
This year, he is going after the Heavyweight title belt. So is GhitaâŠ.
Ky Hollenbeck (46-3, 23 KOâs) vs. Albert Kraus (73-17-3, 43 KOâs)Â
GLORY 10 LOS ANGELES
September 28, 2013
San Francisco man Hollenbeck fought Giorgio Petrosyan in the GLORY 3 ROME Lightweight Tournament and suffered a badly torn ACL in the process.
The injury and recovery kept him sidelined for nearly a year. Anybody could have forgiven him for looking for a tune-up fight but when GLORY arrived in California and Krausâ opponent dropped out, Hollenbeck could not resist.
He stepped up to face the former world #1 on just over two weeksâ notice. That would be a courageous move at any time, but coming after such a long layoff it seemed almost suicidal brave. Hollenbeck was running the risk of returning to the ring to suffer a bad loss.
Instead, he put on a career-best performance. The way he shut Kraus down and imposed himself on the fight was incredible. Hollenbeck was hardly in trouble from start to finish while Krausâ corner were losing their minds with frustration. Hollenbeck had their man outfoxed.
Afterwards Kraus was shell-shocked, declaring it the worst fight of his career and saying he had âno ideaâ what had happened in the ring. But it wasnât luck - Hollenbeck had demonstrated the heart, skill and intelligence that makes him Americaâs top lightweight.
Mosab Amrani (51-8-4, 15 KOâs) vs. Maasaki Noiri (21-4, 8 KOâs)
GLORY 8 FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
May 3, 2013
Double knee surgery meant Amrani was out of action for fifteen months ahead of a GLORY 5 LONDON showdown with Liam âHitmanâ Harrison.
Few gave him a chance in the March 2013 fight with the dangerous Englishman but Amrani silenced his doubters with an incredible first-round body shot knockout.
So Amrani, a pleasing mix of high aggression and good technicality, was riding high when he went into the GLORY 8 TOKYO Featherweight Championship Tournament, and was one of the favorites to win the eight-man competition.
He won his quarter-final match but the semi-finals would be a surprise, which came in the form of a 19-year-old Japanese fighter going by the name of âThe Amazingâ Maasaki Noiri.
The bold nickname is highly appropriate. Noiri is an incredible talent, one of the most creative fighters in the sport today. His knee strikes are devastating, particularly his left knee, plus he has an array of unique trick shots such as his heel-kick to the back of the opponentâs calf.
Noiri has stopped his first opponent with a trademark knee. He out-struck and out-worked Amrani over three rounds to take a clear decision win, a huge upset in the featherweight ranks.
He wasnât done there either - he was very unlucky not to win the final, suffering two groin shots from Yuta Kubo which surely affected his performance.
In December, Amrani took a win over Kubo to go #1 in the rankings. Noiri is now #3 and a rematch is almost certain in 2014, with Noiri aiming to become GLORYâs youngest #1-ranked fighter.
