There have been few decisions in Ky Hollenbeck’s life as hard as the one he had to make last month. But when duty called, Hollenbeck knew there was only one answer he could give.
Having battled his way to #5 in the official GLORY World Rankings, the San Francisco, California native had been due to fight for the vacant World Lightweight Title against Andy ‘The Machine’ Ristie (41-3-1, 21 KO’s) at GLORY 14 ZAGREB on Saturday, March 8.
But Hollenbeck (46-3, 23 KO’s) recently got himself accepted onto the Firefighter Cadet Program in his Bay Area homeland. When he was furnished with training dates for 2014, it became apparent that he would have to choose between fighting fires and fighting for the title.
“Unfortunately the event in Croatia falls on a date that is really important in the Firefighter Cadet Program,” sighs Hollenbeck.
“The program takes up a lot of my time and I don’t have to ability to train the way I would need to train for a fight of this magnitude. I don’t want to stretch myself too thin and be sub-par at the things I’m doing.
“I would rather dedicate myself fully to one thing at a time and excel at it. For a very long time, fighting has been that one thing and that is why I’ve excelled at it.
“But now my focus needs to be dedicated to this. The end goal is to someday become a firefighter and live my life helping people.
“The bulk of the program ends in May so at that point I can start to give more time back to training and fighting.
“I love fighting and testing my skills but I need to grow outside of the ring just as much as I do inside.
“This is in no way the end for me, there will be more fights in my future, I just need to focus on this program right now.”
Hollenbeck was in New York when Ristie won the GLORY 12 NEW YORK Lightweight Championship Tournament.
He saw the Suriname man knock Giorgio Petrosyan (78-2-1, 35 KO’s) and Robin Van Roosmalen (31-6, 19 KO’s) out, and was very impressed with Ristie’s unorthodox style.
“I am pretty bummed that I’m not able to take the fight with Ristie. People that know me or follow my career know that I am not one to decline a fight,” he says.
“I was looking forward to getting to test my style against Ristie because neither of us has a ‘traditional’ style and I really like that about the matchup.
“I have a ton of respect for fighters that chose to do it their own way and don’t follow the ‘norm’ about peoples ideas of how fighting is supposed to be done. If I fought like everyone else does then I’d never have got to where I am today.”
With Hollenbeck out, the #3-ranked Davit Kiria (21-9, 6 KO’s) is next in line to fight for the title. He had a breakout year in 2013, impressing fans with his relentless attacking style, unusual kicks and crisp combination work.
“I think this fight between Ristie and Kiria is a great one,” says Hollenbeck, who considers himself a fan a both men.
“Kiria is a bit undersized in this one but he has an iron chin and some really impressive, powerful kicks. Ristie is on a roll right now though and he is going to give Kiria a hard time.”
“However, I do know that two of Ristie’s three career losses have been in five-round fights which he lost on decision.”
“So if Kiria can find a way to out-work and outpace him, I think he has the chance to shock a lot of people and flip the whole lightweight division on its head.”
GLORY 14 ZAGREB takes place Saturday, March 8 in Zagreb, Croatia. The event airs on SPIKE TV in the US.
Aside from the Lightweight World Championship Title fight between Ristie and Kiria, the event also features a four-man Middleweight Contender Tournament with the winner earning a spot in the Middleweight World Championship Tournament later this year.
