Duut and Brestovac win GLORY 45 fight night awards

Mladen Brestovac and Michael Duut were the fight night award winners at last weekend’s GLORY 45 AMSTERDAM event.    Brestovac’s 36-second stoppage of the distinguished veteran Hesdy Gerges was declared the Knockout of the Night, while Duut’s tear through the light-heavyweight tournament made him the Fighter of the Night.

Mladen Brestovac pays homage once again to Cro-Cop with the headkick KO! #GLORY45 pic.twitter.com/O9hJqOftZz

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) September 30, 2017Brestovac and Gerges fought in the co-headline slot of the event and there was a lot of personal as well as professional pride on the line for Gerges, who is Amsterdam born and raised.    Pre-fight, Gerges talked about defending home soil and said that his Croatian opponent had “zero chance” of beating him in Amsterdam. But, as the saying goes, the gods laugh when men make plans.   Thirty seconds of back-and-forth scoring with kicks led to the establishing of a rhythm in which Gerges attacked the legs and Brestovac attacked the body - until Brestovac suddenly broke that patten in stunning fashion by firing off a head kick counter to a Gerges body kick.   The finish wins ‘Knockout of the Night’ for GLORY 46 and is sure to be a strong contender for ‘Knockout of the Year’ when 2017 closes out.    Duut looked on track to win ‘Knockout of the Night’ himself for his stoppage of Dragos Zubco just 36 seconds into the first round of their semi-final encounter. 

PERFECT TIMING by Michael Duut! He moves on to the tournament finals! #GLORY45 pic.twitter.com/iyIRBuxX4c

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) September 30, 2017  Duut is known for his aggression and power but his coach Melvin Manhoef has instilled a new restraint in him and that was rewarded when Duut calmly KO’d Zubco with a left hook whilst stepping backwards.   It looked like he would meet Imad Hadar in the final but the youngster suffered a freak arm injury in the process of beating Manny Mancha up, which meant that Mancha progressed to the tournament final in his stead.   Mancha didn’t look particularly thrilled to be there when he stood in his corner, facing down Duut in the opposite corner. Duut gave the impression of a bull about to charge and that’s exactly what he did when the bell sounded to start the fight.

Michael Duut is your #GLORY45 light heavyweight contender tournament champion! Congratulations! pic.twitter.com/KyZUktcqoZ

— GLORY Kickboxing (@GLORY_WS) September 30, 2017  Duut careered over to Mancha at a pace, backed him into his own corner and set about him with a barrage of punches. Mancha winged one or two back but once Duut started landing it was all over - Mancha was buffeted back and forth by the blows before being felled by the same left hook which had stopped Zubco earlier in the evening. The whole thing took twelve seconds.   Each bonus award is worth $5,000 and is added to the winning fighter’s payment alongside his purse and any other contractual bonus payments due.   GLORY’s next event takes place this coming weekend and marks the organization’s debut in China.   GLORY 46 CHINA takes place this Saturday October 14 in Guangzhou, China and features Rico Verhoeven vs. Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva plus Simon Marcus vs. Alex Pereira.