Randy ‘Boom Boom’ Blake (31-3, 13 KO’s) is on his way to Istanbul.
The American karate stylist is stepping in for an injured Brian ‘The Lion’ Collette to face the veteran Mourad Bouzidi (75-22-2, 34 KO’s), of Tunisia via Holland.
Collette suffered an injury in training and will be sidelined for some weeks while the damage is assessed. No sooner did he fall than Blake stepped up to pick up the Stars and Stripes and carry it into the GLORY 15 ISTANBUL ring on Saturday April 12.
“The full extent of Collette’s injury is still being assessed, we’re waiting for the results of scans,” says Cor Hemmers, GLORY Head of Talent Operations.
“But as soon as Collette was out, Blake stepped up. The fight remains one that pits a top American talent against an experienced and accomplished European opponent. A win would do big things for Blake’s standing and his career.”
Bouzidi is a close friend and training partner of Peter Aerts. He spent most of his career at heavyweight, recently deciding to drop down when GLORY made its light-heavyweight division into one of the toughest in all of full-contact martial arts.
Blake’s base is in karate, though the Oklahoma native first took up kickboxing after a childhood viewing of the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie ‘Bloodsport’. He says he has seen the movie “probably a thousand times” since he first came across it as a seven-year-old boy.
A run in Chuck Norris’ World Combat League established him as one of the top talents in the US. He has gone 1-1 in GLORY, beating Japan’s Koichi Watanabe and - ironically - dropping a decision to Muay Thai stylist Brian Collette.
GLORY’s next event takes place Saturday April 12 in Istanbul, Turkey and features a four-man light-heavyweight tournament with the World Championship Title on the line.
Tyrone Spong (90-5, 60 KO’s), Gokhan Saki (79-16, 56 KO’s), Nathan ‘Carnage’ Corbett (57-4, 45 KO’s) and Saulo Cavalari (28-2, 18 KO’s) will battle it out in a night of knockout action which will leave only one of them standing as champion at GLORY 15 ISTANBUL.
GLORY 15 ISTANBUL will air in the US on SPIKE TV and will be broadcast to over 150 territories worldwide.
